Latest news with #ComeAsYouAre
Mint
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Mint
How music discovery became predictable
If I could, I'd pay serious money to travel 20-something years back in time to experience Nirvana's ground-breaking album, Nevermind, for the very first time again. Having borrowed a cassette from a schoolfriend, I found an opportune time to go to my parents' room and use the two-in-one music system—a 'deck". This wasn't a parent-friendly record; on Smells Like Teen Spirit, the main guy, Kurt Cobain, screams about his libido repeatedly. While I'd heard one Nirvana song—Come As You Are, via a stray MP3 on someone's CD—I had little idea what was coming next: a sonic thunderstorm that would blow my teenage brain right out of my ears. All of this today sounds like gibberish. 'Two-in-one"? 'Cassette"? 'MP3"? In the early-to-mid-2000s, these were essential terms in the cultural lexicon. Music consumption and discovery, as with every generation prior and since, was for millennials too dictated by the prevailing technology of the time, and indeed its limitations. Only, that particular period is the most tumultuous in recent music history. It was an era of upheaval, transformation, and chaos, as the world shifted from the physical to the digital: cassettes were commonplace and affordable (a standard ₹125), but they were being phased out. CDs were a popular if rather more expensive format. These were found, neatly arranged by name and genre, in brick-and-mortar shops, imagine. MP3s, available for download online, became a convenient and free alternative, existing in a lawless, peer-to-peer digital jungle via file-sharing software Napster and the clones that followed. While no longer a complete novelty, digital music wasn't yet pervasive either. But it was gaining traction, leaving the industry in turmoil as bands lost significant revenue and labels' bottomline got wrecked. Everything was illegal, pirated by amoral music nerds and spread widely by internet anarchists. Starved as we were of a lot of current music that just wouldn't release in India via conventional routes, we hit the download button. These trends defined how young people discovered their music. You could go to a Planet M to window-shop, and you'd end up finding a random band or artist that could ruin your week or change your life. Grey market spaces like Palika Bazaar—an underground and 100% illegal market in the heart of Delhi—became a source for complete (pirated) discographies, sorted into digestible MP3 folders. Cable TV, pre-streaming, was another place to find music. MTV and Channel V and, later, a channel called VH1, would play music videos all day long. NO MORE BARRIER TO ENTRY Musical tastes, for millennials and those preceding them, were shaped by a range of eclectic factors. The most exciting among these were the happy discoveries. The life-changing accidents. A random untitled mix-CD from a friend's friend's friend. A mislabelled song on the pirate software Limewire. Something you stumble upon on VH1 while channel-surfing. The songs you've never heard before, that catch you by surprise. It's this feeling where a greater force takes over your being, and compels you to dig deeper, and find out everything about that band. You have no choice but to start a new obsession immediately. Much of these tools of discovery have now, for reasons good and bad, been rendered obsolete. And while it's tempting to romanticise the past, it was also genuinely exhausting to hunt for music. Nothing ever released here on time; they played the same 50 songs on TV; MP3s were mislabelled and impossible to sift through; downloads took hours, days, weeks; tapes were dying, CDs were pricey. Today, for the price of a single cassette, a hundred-and-bit rupees, I have access to Spotify's entire library of over 100 million songs. (A relevant counterpoint here is that you're only renting this music; it could disappear tomorrow.) There was a prolonged battle for the soul of music but, by the mid-2010s, streaming had won out, becoming the preferred mode of listening globally. The barrier to entry was decimated. There are dozens of streaming platforms—the chief ones being Spotify, YouTube Music and Apple Music—each one offering (to Indians) affordable prices for their premium versions and free versions with ads. A quick sidenote: streaming platforms are a net evil to society; they've done untold damage to artists by offering them literal peanuts and devaluing art, while training listeners to never pay for what they consume. It's legalised theft. The P2P MP3 era that pioneered digitisation, while not without its problems, had a sense of reckless freedom and idealism to it. That chaos and anarchism has been replaced by a cold-blooded capitalism where the artist gets shafted while the guy above him lines his pockets. Indeed, Spotify—the loudest player in the market—faces regular criticism and has been the subject of high-profile boycotts and walkouts. (They've all returned, hat in hand, as bands are left in a no-win situation, having to pick between fans and principles.) And yet, at the same time the tech has liberated the listener by opening up access in this way. It's all very messy. NEEDLE DROPS We'll come back to streaming since it's such an omnipresent force in the world of discovery. But the olden methods—cable TV, physical stores, and such—have either withered away or been re-interpreted in modern settings. Instead of Channel V late-night broadcasts curated by Luke Kenny, people are discovering music accidentally through 'needle drops" on TV/web series they're watching on second screens. This is a curious inversion; previously, shows would use popular, recognisable songs as a cheat code to signal a pre-determined mood to the viewer. Like how no medical drama could resist throwing in the awful How to Save a Life by the Fray for a while. Now, that arrangement has flipped. Songs on shows—which are experienced differently as the viewer has an existing emotional relationship with the show's characters, as well as visual cues for context—take on new meaning and serve as introduction to an artist. Excited, the viewers rush to YouTube to comment in solidarity. They search online for more needle drops. SEO-driven aggregator websites and click-hungry publications rush to compile a list of all the songs featured on a show, which is duly converted into playlists by fans. There's also the rather more controversial method of discovery: Instagram Reels. There can be an inauthenticity and, if I may, a dishonesty about music written expressly for the purpose of going viral on social media in 30-second teasers. But it works because we all spend an inordinate amount of time on social media. Often, these songs have inescapable hooks. The format of social media short-form videos is such that the same template is reused, recycled, and rejigged during its window of relevance. Just by repeat exposure, these songs can get stuck in one's head and lead the listener on to a path of greater discovery. A lot of music listening, thus, seems to have shifted online. And to the ever-present cellphone. While previously there were different avenues—computers, music systems, Walkman or Discman, iPods—a streamlining of technology has meant that the phone is the primary device now. By way of outliers, we do have vinyl fetishists with record players; audiophiles; music nerds going deep on centralised forums like Reddit or Discord, using the Bandcamp/SoundCloud online catalogues, even buying CDs directly from young, independent bands. But mainstream habits revolve very much around streaming. In physical spaces, too, you may—at a restaurant or a bar—come across someone pointing their phone at the speaker playing music. They're 'Shazaming" a song so they can hear it again. Shazam, an app that processes a song being played and provides all details related to it, has been around forever. But it really caught fire over the past decade, and was acquired by Apple in 2018. Previously, you'd have to memorise the lyrics to look up later, or hope to hear the song again. It's a nice reminder, again, that technology can be such a valuable asset in the process of discovery. And just as often a hindrance. LIMITS OF THE ALGORITHM Which brings us to the elephant. The algorithm. Recently, I discovered something called Spotify Blend. Users can 'blend" your profile with that of a friend's, and Spotify will do its algorithm witchcraft to create a custom, shared playlist incorporating both people's musical preferences. It even offers a 'match score" to see if your music tastes align, a quick and foolproof way to tell if the relationship is going to last. You can add up to 10 friends in a Group Blend, each with their unique taste profile coming together to create one giant khichdi playlist for everyone to parse through. This is a modern retelling of community exchange; people have forever shared their music with friends in group settings. Except that we have an additional friend in the mix here: the algorithm. Streaming services offer a series of playlist options, from user playlists to 'algatorial" ones. The ones driven by the algorithm are of particular interest here. On Spotify, you get Time Capsules, Discover playlists, homepage recommendations, autoplay options—the algo never sleeps. Multiple AI and machine-learning processes work simultaneously to create this entity. Based on research, theories, and information available, the technology analyses songs via content filtering—looking at a song in isolation, studying its metadata and such—and collaborative filtering, where it's placed within a larger context. User behaviour, search history, lyrical themes, compositional structures—they're all factored in to craft personalised recommendations. I've even noticed the algorithm sometimes picking up the key in which a song is composed, and playing a series of songs that all start in that same key. Regardless of one's principled opposition to streaming, these features aid the process of discovery and make it so much easier. The algorithm is sharp, well-informed, intuitive, and will instantly gauge a listener's interest, guiding them to new places. But it raises a couple of semi-philosophical questions. For one, why should I allow the machine to tell me what to listen to? There's a volatility attached to discovery—repeat trial-and-errors driven by human emotions and external variance. Streaming, with its robotic efficiency, can flatten that unpredictability into a horizontal structure leaving little room for experiments. It knows what I like, and it'll keep feeding me. More importantly, what about the music that even I don't know I like? At a time when my music habits exclusively comprised alt-rocker misanthropes, I stumbled, on MTV, upon a song called Surfing on a Rocket by French electronica/dream pop duo Air. It led me down a circuitous path of cool electronic music I'd never have found otherwise. Algorithms—on Netflix, on social media, on music streaming—can create bubbles and echo chambers. They keep feeding you versions of things you already like and engage with. And they hide you from a world of discovery that you don't even realise exists. Those avenues for happy accidents, while very much still around, can get constricted by the self-limiting nature of algorithmic excellence. It's a complex subject, riddled with questions around access, ethics, tech manipulation, listener behaviour, maybe some moral panic—as such, all discussions around art and consumption do eventually circulate within these idealism labyrinths. And conversations around the algorithm deserve critical examination without being tainted by generational bias. But what remains steady is that new generations find novel ways to access and consume music; it can feel alienating—even existentially distressing—to those on the outside. Maybe we're losing some recipes. But the music landscape is forever fluid and evolving. And people within it will always find systems that work for them. Akhil Sood is a Delhi-based writer.
USA Today
12-04-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Record Store Day 2025: Get special vinyl releases from Post Malone, Taylor Swift and more
Record Store Day 2025: Get special vinyl releases from Post Malone, Taylor Swift and more Show Caption Hide Caption Starting a vinyl record collection? Here's what you need to know This video provides essential tips for individuals looking to start their own vinyl record collection. Music lovers who swear by vinyl LPs always want to add another disc to the stack and Record Store Day on April 12 is a day to get some coveted special releases. About 330 new and limited-edition vinyl releases featuring artists ranging from Gracie Abrams to Waxahatchee are planned to hit nearly 1,600 record shops across the U.S. on Saturday. And, yes, there's something from Taylor Swift, too. Vinyl remains a special format for many music lovers. Even though the century old-LP was expected to be replaced by compact discs, digital downloads and streaming music, spending on vinyl records has increased each of the last 18 years, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. Vinyl sales rose 7% in 2024 to $1.4 billion, surpassing CDs, which sold $541.1 million, RIAA said. Paid music subscriptions ($11.7 billion) rose 5% and made up 79% of music spending. AC/DC: Hard rockers storm back on Power Up tour, the band's first US trek in nearly a decade For many, vinyl makes music special. "We get a lot of younger people coming in that show interest in it and there's a lot of big pop stars that have started taking over the vinyl market," said Sam Reiman, assistant manager at Shuga Records in Chicago's Logan Square. "Taylor Swift is definitely a big example of that. She kind of dominated that over the past couple years. People have definitely shown a bigger interest in it than ever before these past several years." Record Store Day is usually one of the busiest days of the year at Shuga Records, he said. Local artists and bands will perform all day at the company's main location in Wicker Park. Customers can buy special Record Store Day T-shirts, too. "We always have people lining up at the door in the morning," Reiman said. "But, you know, people always like, shuffle in throughout the day to look for anything that's left over." Record Store Day 2025 highlights Here's a snapshot of a dozen Record Store Day releases. For the full list of releases and stores, go to the Record Store Day website. Happy hunting! Post Malone: 'Tribute to Nirvana' yellow vinyl Record Store Day LP Post Malone, who's serving as this year's Record Store Day's Ambassador, has a yellow vinyl release of his April 24, 2000 livestream tribute to Nirvana — songs include 'Come As You Are' and 'In Bloom' – his supporting band included blink-182's Travis Barker on drums. All net proceeds from the sale will be donated to Musicares' Addiction Recovery and Mental Health division. "Record Store Day is so important and I really hope to do my part to keep it alive," he said in a Record Store Day statement. "We love hitting local shops when we're on the road, seeing all the crazy artwork, the whole energy in a record store is just super inspiring. … Keep supporting y'all and let's keep records and these local shops going strong. Happy Record Store Day everybody!" Taylor Swift: 'Fortnight' (featuring Post Malone) 7-inch RSD release This special 7-inch white vinyl disc has the single "Fortnight," Swift's collaboration with Post Malone from "The Tortured Poets Department," and the 'Fortnight (BLOND:ISH Remix)'. Charli XCX: 'Number 1 Angel' Record Store Day release Now on red vinyl, a collection of ten tracks recorded in L.A. and the U.K., originally released in 2017 by Charli XCX as a mixtape. Rage Against the Machine: 'Live on Tour 1993' Rage Against The Machine apparently won't tour again. But you can get get this two-disc 'Live On Tour 1993' of live recordings from the band's first world tour. You get music on three sides and an etching on the fourth, plus "explosive renditions of such Rage anthems as 'Bombtrack,' 'Killing in the Name' and 'Freedom'," writes Ron Hart on Fleetwood Mac: 'Fleetwood Mac' Record Store Day picture disc The pop-rock classic that spawned singles "Rhiannon," "Say You Love Me," and "Over My Head," gets a picture disc release on its 50th anniversary. MJ Lenderman And the Wind: 'Live and Loose!' A 15-song live recording from the rising singer-songwriter and his band recorded in 2022 and released in 2023, but now available on vinyl. Grateful Dead: 'On A Back Porch' Record Store Day collection Rhino Records and Dogfish Head Craft Brewery collaborated on this vinyl LP collection of Grateful Dead classics including 'Eyes Of The World,' 'Here Comes Sunshine,' plus more rare tracks such as 'Easy Wind,' and 'Big Railroad Blues.' Grateful Dead fans may want to look out for these other Record Store Day releases: the five-LP set Grateful Dead, "Beacon Theatre, New York, NY 6/14/76,"; the 4-LP set Jerry Garcia Band, "Don't Let Go: Orpheum Theatre, San Francisco - May 21, 1976," and Robert Hunter, "Tiger Rose Rarities." David Bowie: 'Ready, Set, Go! (Live, Riverside Studios '03)' Record Store Day marks the first physical release of Bowie's live Sept. 8, 2003 concert in London transmitted via satellite to movie theaters across the globe. This two-LP set on 180-gram black vinyl (17,400 available worldwide) comes with a replica poster of the original event. Also available: 3,600 CD copies. Pharoah Sanders: 'Izipho Zam (My Gifts)' This 1973 release from the tenor saxophonist, who passed away in 2022, finally comes to CD and digital platforms – and a special Record Store Day 180-gram vinyl release, with new liner notes and photos. If you are into spiritual jazz – à la John Coltrane and Kamasi Washington – "this is the real deal," writes Morgan Enos on Tracking Angle, an audio news site. Emmylou Harris: 'Spyboy' returns for Record Store Day Released on CD in 1998, this live album comes to vinyl for the first time with written reflections from Harris and Buddy Miller, who was part of her backing band Spyboy. There's also five previously unreleased tracks. 'Brittany Howard: Live from Austin City Limits' The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter's performance recorded on April 29, 2024 at the Moody Theater and broadcast October 26, 2024 is captured on electric blue vinyl. 'Wicked: The Soundtrack' - Record Store Day glitter vinyl LPs This double-LP set will be popular with fans of the movie, thanks to its green glitter and pink glitter vinyl, special Record Store Day cover art, enclosed poster and bonus track "Ozdust Duet." Mike Snider is a reporter on USA TODAY's Trending team. You can follow him on Threads, Bluesky, X and email him at mikegsnider & @ & @mikesnider & msnider@ What's everyone talking about? Sign up for our trending newsletter to get the latest news of the day
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘We do it ourselves': Project Mayhem returns to Boardman
BOARDMAN, Ohio (WKBN) – Rock music, spectacular lights and songs from several decades: It's Project Mayhem at Boardman High School, performed by student musicians. Read next: Ohio boys basketball All-State awards: Complete list for all divisions The high school's family-friendly annual concert returns Friday night at the Boardman Performing Arts Center. The show is nothing less than a professional rock concert with all of the students auditioning to be a part of it. The students sing all of the songs, play all of the instruments, and put on a show packed with intense musical energy. 'We have an incoming group of people, which they've really stepped up to the plate. Last year, we had an amazing array of singers and performers, but they've definitely stepped up this year,' said Boardman High School senior Julianna Douglass, who plays the electric violin in the show. 'Project Mayhem is a rock orchestra. We have the four core instruments — violin, viola, cello, bass — and then they're electrified.' You'll get to rock out to drums, singers, guitarists and an array of songs for everyone from different decades, like 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' by the Beatles and 'Come As You Are' by Nirvana. It's something the students not only have to audition for but also start rehearsing for months in advance. 'We start from the very first week of school, and we do it once a week, and then around this time, we're here every day for hours, and it pays off, though it's really tough,' said Douglass. 'I really love that when it comes down to the show, it's student-run. We do it completely ourselves, like we do it, start to finish. And then you feel like I did this, you know, like we did this as a group.' All of the money is reinvested into the program. 'Pretty much all the money we make with these concerts goes back into equipment for these concerts. This year, we bought in ear monitors for the singers and the guitar players,' said Bill Amendol, who is one of the orchestra directors with the school. 'One of our goals is to give these kids the experience of using professional gear — using it, operating it, learning how to work with it, so that's part of the education piece.' If you want tickets, you need to get them now because the school is projecting another sell-out performance. Tickets can be picked up at Boardman High School between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Thursday and Friday at the front entrance of Boardman High School. Tickets cost $10 each and can be paid for by cash or check only. The Boardman Orchestra's Project Mayhem is on Friday, March 28, at the Boardman High School Performing Arts Center at 7777 Glenwood Avenue. The show starts at 7 p.m. and is one performance only. For more information, head to Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Tony Hawk Reveals Why He Wishes Kurt Cobain Was Still Alive, And It'll Break Your Heart
If Tony Hawk's moving tribute to Kurt Cobain makes you cry, all apologies. Over the weekend, Hawk decided to honor the late Nirvana frontman after stumbling upon an old ticket stub from a concert he went to on Oct. 20, 1991. Posting an image of the stub to his Instagram story, Hawk explained that after he competed in a skateboarding competition in Houston, Texas, he decided to check out an alternative rock band from Seattle called Nirvana — who had just released the hit 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' just two months prior. 'Went straight from S.U.A.S event at Houston skatepark to this concert in 1991,' he wrote. 'It was as transformative as live music can possibly be: We all experienced something rare and powerful that night. The world would never be the same.' Although many rock fans likely share the same sentiment about the band, which consisted of Cobain, Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic at the height of their fame — Hawk's post then takes a very personal turn. Cobain died by suicide in 1994, leaving his wife, musician and actor Courtney Love, to raise their 20-month-old daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, on her own. In 2023, Frances Bean Cobain married Tony Hawk's son, Riley Hawk. A year later, the couple welcomed a son, Ronin Walker Cobain Hawk. This means that the skateboarding legend and late grunge icon share a grandson. 'I wish Kurt were here,' Hawk concluded. 'So he could see the incredible woman his daughter has become, meet her devoted, caring husband, and hold our wondrous grandchild.' I am sobbing at Tony Hawk posting about his grandchild who is also Kurt Cobain's grandchild — Sara 'anthem boo endorser' Civian (@SaraCivian) February 24, 2025 When a screenshot of Hawk's post made its way to X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday, fans got pretty emotional. 'Who the fuck is cutting onions?' one X user wrote. 'it's 7 in the morning and this made me sob in public,' echoed another. 'I choose to believe in the multi-verse bc there has to be a timeline where Kurt Cobain and Tony Hawk are hanging out together, being the coolest F*ing grandpas ever. That has to exist. I choose that in a parallel world, it does,' another said. 'American royalty I can get behind,' said a fourth user. On the 30th anniversary of Kurt Cobain's death in April 2024, Frances Bean Cobain posted a tribute to her dad on Instagram in which she admitted that she's been grieving him 'for almost as long as I've been conscious.' 'I wish I could've known my Dad,' Frances Bean Cobain wrote. 'I wish I knew the cadence of his voice, how he liked his coffee or the way it felt to be tucked in after a bedtime story. I always wondered if he would've caught tadpoles with me during the muggy Washington summers, or if he smelled of Camel Lights & strawberry nesquik (his favorites, I've been told).' Although she never really knew her dad, the 'Come As You Are' singer's daughter said mourning someone her entire life has led her on 'an expedited path to understanding how precious life is.' She also noted that she also feels a closeness to her father, whom, she's been told, had the same hands as her. 'Kurt wrote me a letter before I was born. The last line of it reads, 'wherever you go or wherever I go, I will always be with you,'' Frances Bean Cobain wrote. 'He kept this promise because he is present in so many ways. Whether it's by hearing a song or through the hands we share, in those moments I get to spend a little time with my dad & he feels transcendent.'
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Tony Hawk Reveals Why He Wishes Kurt Cobain Was Still Alive, And It'll Break Your Heart
If Tony Hawk's moving tribute to Kurt Cobain makes you cry, all apologies. Over the weekend, Hawk decided to honor the late Nirvana frontman after stumbling upon an old ticket stub from a concert he went to on Oct. 20, 1991. Posting an image of the stub to his Instagram story, Hawk explained that after he competed in a skateboarding competition in Houston, Texas, he decided to check out an alternative rock band from Seattle called Nirvana — who had just released the hit 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' just two months prior. 'Went straight from S.U.A.S event at Houston skatepark to this concert in 1991,' he wrote. 'It was as transformative as live music can possibly be: We all experienced something rare and powerful that night. The world would never be the same.' Although many rock fans likely share the same sentiment about the band, which consisted of Cobain, Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic at the height of their fame — Hawk's post then takes a very personal turn. Cobain died by suicide in 1994, leaving his wife, musician and actor Courtney Love, to raise their 20-month-old daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, on her own. In 2023, Frances Bean Cobain married Tony Hawk's son, Riley Hawk. A year later, the couple welcomed a son, Ronin Walker Cobain Hawk. This means that the skateboarding legend and late grunge icon share a grandson. 'I wish Kurt were here,' Hawk concluded. 'So he could see the incredible woman his daughter has become, meet her devoted, caring husband, and hold our wondrous grandchild.' I am sobbing at Tony Hawk posting about his grandchild who is also Kurt Cobain's grandchild — Sara 'anthem boo endorser' Civian (@SaraCivian) February 24, 2025 When a screenshot of Hawk's post made its way to X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday, fans got pretty emotional. 'Who the fuck is cutting onions?' one X user wrote. 'it's 7 in the morning and this made me sob in public,' echoed another. 'I choose to believe in the multi-verse bc there has to be a timeline where Kurt Cobain and Tony Hawk are hanging out together, being the coolest F*ing grandpas ever. That has to exist. I choose that in a parallel world, it does,' another said. 'American royalty I can get behind,' said a fourth user. On the 30th anniversary of Kurt Cobain's death in April 2024, Frances Bean Cobain posted a tribute to her dad on Instagram in which she admitted that she's been grieving him 'for almost as long as I've been conscious.' 'I wish I could've known my Dad,' Frances Bean Cobain wrote. 'I wish I knew the cadence of his voice, how he liked his coffee or the way it felt to be tucked in after a bedtime story. I always wondered if he would've caught tadpoles with me during the muggy Washington summers, or if he smelled of Camel Lights & strawberry nesquik (his favorites, I've been told).' Although she never really knew her dad, the 'Come As You Are' singer's daughter said mourning someone her entire life has led her on 'an expedited path to understanding how precious life is.' She also noted that she also feels a closeness to her father, whom, she's been told, had the same hands as her. 'Kurt wrote me a letter before I was born. The last line of it reads, 'wherever you go or wherever I go, I will always be with you,'' Frances Bean Cobain wrote. 'He kept this promise because he is present in so many ways. Whether it's by hearing a song or through the hands we share, in those moments I get to spend a little time with my dad & he feels transcendent.'
