PWR BTTM and the Music Industry’s Skewed Priorities

/in /by

I discovered PWR BTTM only a month ago, and they probably wouldn’t have crossed my radar without a little stoking from Apple Music. One Friday in early May, a raw punk thrasher called “Big Beautiful Day” from their new release “Pageant” found its way onto my New Music playlist. I was immediately enamored. As I began to read about their image of queer advocacy, the hook sunk deeper. Here were a pair of gender non-conforming musicians rocking drag, while howling out songs about bodily autonomy. I dug it in a big way, especially since the DIY punk scene I’m fluent in is built on the back of white privilege and hypocrisy.

I immediately set out to tell all my friends about them. These were artists I considered important. I wanted their music, image, and message to reach as many people as possible.

Then, something bizarre happened. I typed their name into the search bar of my iPhone and nothing populated the screen except the spinning march of the loading wheel. Even the songs I had downloaded became a dull, unplayable grey. A quick look at Spotify revealed the same. PWR BTTM had all but disappeared from the Internet. Total erasure.

…

Read the rest of this post on Writtalin

Why You Should Care About Kesha’s Comeback

/in /by

It’s been a while since we’ve been able to read Kesha’s name in the news without biting back some kind of frustration. Since 2014, the pop superstar has been locked in a legal battle with former manager and producer Dr. Luke (aka Lukas Gottwald) alleging sexual assault and emotional manipulation, while seeking an injunction to be freed from her contract with Sony. So far the law has predictably come down on the side of the record label and the accused (which I’ve already aired my grievances about), but the cloud isn’t without its silver lining — or Rainbow rather.

Earlier this month, Kesha dropped her first track in four years (excluding last year’s collaboration with Zedd), the swelling, life-affirming “Praying.” To sum up its impact in a single word, “wow.”

During her 2010 to 2012 zeitgeist, you would not have found me among her loyal elite. I counted myself among her most vocal (and pretentious if you asked my “friends” at the time) critics. I thought I was better than the jukebox pop music that ruled every sandwich shop on the Isla Vista loop. And let’s face it, “Tik Tok” isn’t one of the more artistic pieces to top the charts (Kesha herself told the Herald Sun she “thought it sucked”).

…

Read the rest of this post on Medium

The 30 Best Songs of 2017

/in /by

Remember when we thought 2016 was bad? We crawled out of that year beaten, bloodied, and positive that nothing could possibly be worse. Then 2017 happened.

Whether you’re reeling from the endless onslaught of mass shootings, the revelation of all your favorite people as sexual predators, or literally anything the Trump administration has done, it seemed like this year would never end.

Thankfully though, today is the last day of 2017. So let’s take a look at the things that didn’t make us want to tear out our hair in frustration. For every time the news told us the world was ending, we could always mute it and put on a solid jam. Then we could pretend just for a moment that everything wasn’t crumbling around us. Every year is a good year for music, but 2017 was so brutal, that the escape these songs gave us might have been just a little sweeter than batches from years past. Whether it be the unstoppable reggaetón of “Despacito,” the funk revival captured by our favorite hip-hop artists, or a life affirming anthem from Kesha of all people, these songs lifted us out of the doldrums three to five minutes at a time.

So without further ado, let’s pay tribute to the thirty best tracks of 2017, and hope that maybe 2018 won’t be any worse.

…

Read the rest of this post on Medium