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Release Roundup: Young Stoner Records – Slime Language 2

Slime Language 2

Young Stoner Life Records released their second label compilation Slime Language 2 this Friday marking another major slew of high profile collaborations.

It is the official continuation of their 2018 record; Slime Language and features several notable names like Travis Scott, Drake, NAV, Future, Skepta, Lil Baby, Lil Uzi Vert, YMW Melly, Big Sean and Kid Cudi.

Of course, all members under YSL Records are all present on the album as well including Young Thug and Gunna themselves, who are no stranger to big collaborations. However, with this record it’s nature of kinship is very much intentional.

The cover for the album features the collective in a large-scale family style portrait reflecting the familial nature of the album. Something the trailer for the record also emphasizes heavily as YSL Records refers to themselves as “The biggest family in the world.”

The tracks also reflect this notion as well. Thugger appears in nearly every track carrying the album all the way to the finish. “Proud of You” sings the praises of Lil Uzi Vert who’s featured on the track and even Young Thug’s brother Unfoonk snags a verse on “Real.”

It’s a more personal record to the collective and Young Thug than one may initially expect. The group has undeniable chemistry and their connection only seems to exude in each track that follows.

Slime Language 2 is available everywhere.

My Bloody Valentine teases something new

My Bloody Valentines official Instagram suddenly became active again after nearly a year of silence to tease something new releasing on March 31st.

The cryptic teaser in question, features visuals lifted from their album Loveless, as their song Only Tomorrow plays in the background. Text in their iconic rounded typeface spells out, “M B V 31 03.” A link to their website is in the caption for the video which has become a mostly blank page where an email sign up is available. Many fans believe this is the band promoting an official release of their 2013 album MBV to streaming services.

Due to the album being self released it has never seen any outside of their personal website since its debut. Much of the rest of their catalog has also practically disappeared from streaming services up till recently.

With all that being said some eager fans have also come to the conclusion that the band is gearing up to release a brand new project. The band has reportedly been working on new material since 2018 but has since not met any deadlines promised. The most recent lead comes from Writer and Producer Andy Savors biography on his personal website which states he has “been recording the new album for MY BLOODY VALENTINE and worked with KEVIN SHIELDS on remastering ‘loveless’ and ‘isn’t anything’ for Vinyl.”

With all their info currently being updated on streaming services fans will have to wait a very short amount of time to figure out what it all means for the iconic act.

Justice files cease and desist against Justin Bieber stolen cover designs

Electronic duo Justice sent a cease and desist letter to Justin Bieber following the release of his newest record under the same name, according to Rolling Stone.

The duo claims the album cover and subsequent merchandise makes use of their “cross” logo which has been trademarked in both France and the European Union.

Justice’s co-manager Tyler Goldberg in a statement to Rolling Stone said, “Aside from seeing it all over the internet ourselves, we heard from hundreds of people throughout the day — industry people, Justice fans — and the Justice guys received a ton of messages, not only compelled to point out the similarities between the Justice Justin Bieber album, but confused. ‘Is this a Justice collaboration?’”

In the letter, Justice alleges that the use of the logo was intentionally designed to “deceive” and “confuse” customers. The letter also includes an email conversation between a Bieber representative and Justice representative, about how they would go about finding the original designer of Justice’s logo. However, after a meeting was proposed Biebers team ceased contact.

“Not only was Bieber’s team actually aware of Justice’s use of the Mark, they sought to use the same artist to essentially duplicate it for the Album.,” the letter reads.

As of now, Justin Bieber has made no official statement regarding the cease and desist.

Soundcloud rolls out new payout method to help independent artists

SoundCloud Launching "Fan-Powered" Streaming Payouts For 100,000 Independent Artists - Magnetic Magazine

Artists who monetize from SoundCloud will be able to enjoy a brand new fan-powered payout method innovated by Soundcloud themselves beginning in April.

Fan-powered Royalties is the new way SoundCloud plans to payout artists who use their monetization features. They explain it as a more “equitable” and “transparent” way for independent artists to get paid. “The more fans listen on SoundCloud, and listen to your music, the more you get paid,” said the platform.

This is SoundCloud’s newest system designed to pay more artists fairly and create more full-time musicians.

Before this new model, payout was divided up from a giant pool of money that was later paid out based on artists share of total streams. It was a model that as SoundCloud described, “mostly benefits mega stars.”

However, now artists are going to be paid directly based on fans’ actual listening habits. A model meant to benefit independent artists.

On their page they noted two artists, Chevy and Vincent who both saw an outstanding increase in payout after switching to Fan-powered Royalties.

Last year, SoundCloud introduced Repost, a new avenue for artists to spread their music to major streaming platforms, gaining a wider audience. It would seem Fan-powered Royalties are yet another way SoundCloud is trying to innovate their systems in order to better support their massive independent user-base.

Fan-powered Royalties will begin rolling out April 1st, 2021.

The Weeknd plans to boycott all future Grammy’s

The Weeknd 'will no longer submit music to Grammy Awards' after snub - BBC News

The Weekend is officially boycotting the Grammy’s according to a statement given to The New York Times.

“I will no longer allow my label to submit my music to the Grammys,” said the popstar in regards to the most recent Grammy’s which did not nominate his hit single “Blinding Lights” which broke the record for most weeks spent in the top five on the Hot 100 chart.

The Weeknd has been upset with the lack of transparency of the Grammy’s since the nominations were announced November of last year. Initially tweeting, “The Grammys remain corrupt. You owe me, my fans and the industry transparency…”

The Toronto-born crooner then followed up alleging that he wasn’t even invited to the Grammy’s in a second tweet that read, “Collaboratively planning a performance for weeks to not being invited? In my opinion zero nominations = you’re not invited!”

The artist cites the “secret committees” as his reason for boycotting one of the music industry’s most esteemed awards and joins a plethora of other artists who have all spoken out against the Grammy’s and their lack of black representation.

The last black artist to win album of the year was Herbie Hancock in 2008. However, in total since the inception of the Grammy’s in 1957, only ten black artists have won the award.

With that being said, Recording Academy chief Harvey Mason Jr. said there was no ulterior motives to The Weeknd’s snub. “Y’know, it really just comes down to the voting body that decides. We have eight nomination slots to fill in [the “Big Four” categories: Best Album, Song, Record and New Artist], five in others, and the voters vote for their favorites. It’s really interesting, though,” Mason said to Variety.

However, the voting bodies that choose the nominations are most often what is criticized during the nominations process. Many including the Weeknd allege a lack of transparency between them and the committees that make nominations despite being composed of industry artists, producers and other executives.

“We look at it every year and make tweaks and revisions to the process; we did it this year, last year, we’ll do it next year. And I don’t think this calls it [The Weeknd’s Snub] into question, honestly….. I was in the “core room” this year [which decides the Big Four] and I observed, and the people that were in it are music professionals…,” said Mason.

Regardless, the 63rd annual Grammy awards are set to air on Sunday, March 14 remotely from the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Ruby’s Diner closes two pier locations

Ruby's Diner at end of Huntington Beach Pier serves its last shake, but a new eatery may take its place - Los Angeles Times

After an almost 30 year run Ruby’s Diner announced the permanent shut down of both their Huntington Beach and Oceanside locations on Friday.

In an Instagram post made by their official account they said, “We are deeply saddened to be closing our doors, but we are so thankful for all the wonderful memories that were shared over the years at the end of these two iconic piers.”

The post prompted some to ask whether other locations would meet the same fate, such as their location in Laguna Beach. Ruby’s Diner assured everyone in a secondary post to Instagram that their other locations would remain open.

“Many people have asked if we are shutting down all of our locations. This is not true at all. A lot of our locations across Orange County and beyond are still open and serving our famous burgers, shakes and fries,” the post said.

The diner continued to remain optimistic about the future promising their patrons they have “exciting” plans in the works.

Since the inception of the pandemic, thousands of restaurants across California have closed down. According to a survey conducted by the California Restaurant Association, 30 percent of restaurants say they will either close their restaurant permanently, or they will downsize by closing some locations.

With that being said, no official reason has been given for the closure of both establishments.

missing my 2-year anniversary

So, its been two years I’ve been using this website, and I just have to say wow. To anyone that reads or even gives me a passing glance, thank you.

I started this website with the idea of sharing my opinion and building a portfolio for my future career as a journalist. However, its shaped itself into something so much more meaningful.

This place is like an archive filled to the brim with everything I love. I know I haven’t updated this website much in the past year, but trust be that hasn’t been by choice.

I’m a creative in every sense of the word, so I fill as much time as I can doing something stimulating. Sometimes that doesn’t mean I’m writing here. I’ve also been hard at work writing articles for scriberr. Everything that doesn’t get accepted there goes here. So pretty soon I’m going to be releasing a Lana article they haven’t edited.

I still love talking about music and my love for writing hasn’t dwindled at all.

This summer I’m going to focus my efforts on writing and moving toward my future. I hope to see all of you there.

Thank you and please turn off the bright lights.

How to find new music during the corona season

Study finds listening to music has negative impact on creativity ...Happy quarantine season everyone. I’m currently writing from my soft bed, listening to tunes I’ve already heard thousands of times over. So I figured now is the right time to find something new. Around this time last year, I gave everyone three tips on how to find new music in the flooded market we call the industry. Now here I am again, a year later, back for another installment of this possibly-annual series. Without further ado, let’s get started.

  • Listen to featured artists’ solo music.

Features are the backbone of many albums, more specifically Hip-Hop and Pop records, the two most popular genres out there right now. So many artists spend thousands of dollars every year to get one person on their record and typically it’s for good reason. Whether it’s a contractual agreement or something is organically grown, in most cases, features on records can make a track, that much better. This is why if you end up liking the feature you should try getting into that artist too, provided you haven’t already of course.

In my own experience, this is how I got into artists like Don Toliver and Dababy, the ladder of which has been so prolific on features its starting to become a joke in the Hip-Hop industry. However, both artists have a pretty decent selection of solo works under their belt. I know for a fact I wouldn’t have tried to get into their music if I hadn’t heard them on someone else’s track. Sometimes it’s scary to jump into someone new blindly, so think of features like a test to see if you enjoy the way a particular artist sounds.

  • Look at charts

Be honest with yourself. Have you looked past the top ten spots of the Billboard Hot 100? Well if you haven’t, I highly recommend it. I can almost guarantee that you haven’t listened to every song or artist on the entire list. Charts like these help gain insight into what many people are listening to and if so many others enjoy these artists, there’s a decent chance you might too.

But you don’t have to just look at what’s charting overall. There are thousands of charts available for every nation and genre available. The amount of music trending and being shared is at an all-time high, which rankings constantly shifting and trends consistently evolving over time.

It’s perfect for trying to get into a new genre as well. I know personally I was lacking a lot of music in the country genre, but thanks to Billboards lists I was able to find a few artists I really enjoyed.

  • Follow music Twitter or Instagram pages

This is a technique I recently started employing and it has worked wonders for me. All across the vast scope of the internet are heaps of individuals dedicated to something. Whether it is music, movies or games. Any form of media likely has someone working tirelessly to promote the experiences they create.

What I recommend is seeking those people out. On Twitter, on Instagram, or even on a blog like this one. I follow a variety of pages online that give out music recs every day and I always take the time to get through them. Some of my favorite albums have come from recommendations from these pages and I couldn’t be happier.

While it’s true the times are bleak, it’s always a good idea to sit back and smell the roses. Appreciate the finer things in life as they say. However, I know the same as anyone its hard to find them sometimes. Whatever medium you’re interested in go out and seek more of it. Step out of your comfort zone. Learn something new about yourself.

Stay safe, stay home and wear a damn mask.

I joined a start-up company!

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I’ve kept this quiet for some time now, but now I think its time I talk about something new in my life. I was recently accepted to work at an amazing start-up company based in California. The Company is called Scriberr.

Scriberr is a news media site focused on delivering free speech media that represents all views accurately even if it disagrees with them. The people here have been especially kind to my writing process and schedule so from now on I am going to be writing for them.

What does this mean for this website? Well sadly my work on here is going to be slowed, yet again. However, that doesn’t mean I’m through with this place. There are ideas I have for articles that may work here but won’t work on Scriberr. That is essentially what this website is going to be used for from now on.

Things like my lists, music opinions and personal stories about artists will likely be kept here as well as a few Op-eds.

I’d like to thank all of you for sticking with me and supporting my thoughts and opinions. This website has served its purpose for now but I am happy to keep it going as its own little publication.

As an incentive, there is a brand new article up featuring an interview with an artist I’ve been a fan of for some time now! Go check it out on Scriberr.

Understanding the artist behind streetwear’s most creative pieces.

 

I wrote something new but it isn’t here.

As some of you may know Evan “Burning the Celluloid” Ambrose and I are pretty good friends. His website primarily focuses on critiquing the film industry. While I focus on analyzing music and other forms of media.

For a while now, we’ve wanted to write something together. Evan proposed a so-called duo-review. While I still don’t consider myself a reviewer, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to talk about BROCKHAMPTON’s newest album. Evan and I have such differing views on music and different approaches to writing so I believe the article has a lot to offer for people on all sides of the viewing spectrum.

The review is up on Evan’s website and I will leave a link to it below. There’s a lot of hot takes and fun banter throughout the review. I had a blast creating it with Evan.

Aside from that, I have a few articles and interviews that are set to come out in the near future. I’m already working on my top albums of the year list too. Stay tuned.

The Review.