If somehow, in the year 2012, you're still looking for evidence of the changing face of the record industry, consider that the Sacramento noise/punk-rap trio Death Grips was recently signed to Epic Records by L.A. Reid, the man responsible for the careers of Justin Bieber, Dido, Ciara and P!nk.
Yet not only is the impeccably dressed music executive and sometimes X-Factor judge releasing two provocative Death Grips albums in the span of six months, most recently,… more »
James Joyce wrote that his weapons as an artist would be "silence, exile and cunning." Silence isn't generally useful for musicians, and cunning comes with the territory for anyone who wants to play the pop-music game of one-upmanship. In 2004, though, a lot of the best indie records latched onto exile as a weapon, or as a metaphor, or even as their central subject. The international political landscape had collapsed into a mess of lies,… more »