Hi Everyone!
Welcome back to another edition of our regularly irregular newsletter!
Before we dig into our regular programming, we have some VERY exciting news: Money 4 Nothing is doing it’s FIRST EVER live show, on Wednesday November 9th, as part of the Penny Fractions 5th Anniversary Party at Nowadays in Brooklyn! We’re part of an absolutely STACKED panel (including past guests Cherie Hu, Liz Pelly, and of COURSE David Turner himself). We (or at least Sam) are holding down part 2 of the evening, following a live episode of the truly excellent Art + Labor podcast. A night not to be missed—so be sure to come down if you can! We’re very much looking forward to meeting folks IRL…
OK: Shows.
We’ve been all over the map this past month or so, following up on some old stories, making some new friends, and introducing at least one new entry into our personal historical pantheon.
First, we dug into the astounding story of the KLF, a band that started by plundering the archives of recorded sound, tricked its way to the top of the pops, got serious about groove and beauty and finally decided that…it just wasn’t worth it. And then exploded into silence by burning 1,000,000 pounds. Cash. We examine their history, read their (still relevant?) manual for hitting the UK Top 10, and try to face up to the question they tried so hard to answer: What if music isn’t enough?
You can listen to that hear (Apple), hear (Spotify), or hear (Podbean)
Next, we had the true and genuine pleasure of speaking with the one-and-only Damon Krukowski (of Galaxie 500 + Ways of Hearing fame) about his latest chapter: rabble-rousing organizer with the Union of Musicians and Allied Workers, a new organization that seeks to bring together musicians and performers to demand justice from the companies dominating the industry. We talk about UMAW formed, explore its goals, and think through how the conditions of streaming have managed to unify once scattered artists on a new type of digital shop floor.
You can listen to that hear (Apple), hear (Spotify), or hear (Podbean)
Finally, we spent the last episode touching back in on the (now slowing/collapsing) wave of catalog sales that has remade music publishing over the last few years. Companies, most notably sector-leader Hipgnosis, probably aren’t going to see the rosy returns they once promised but…has so much cash been poured into the space that it’s just too big and well connected to fail? And if so…how will it change music? We explore new Grammy categories, legal lobbying, and why Future sold his futures.
You can listen to that hear (Apple), hear (Spotify), or hear (Podbean)
Department of Actual Music:
Sam: “The sound of my fall has been “The Waters of March” by Antônio Carlos Jobim. ‘A stick, a stone / It's the end of the road / It's the rest of a stump /It's a little alone.’ You know? It’s better in Portuguese, but sharing it with the English because the lyrics are truly astonishing.”
Saxon: “Not sure how I missed this southern underground supergroup record from 2018 that sounds like Three Six made a record on shrooms…but you shouldn’t.”
RIP Mike Davis.
Saxon and Sam