• Yesterday, Billboard reported that Drake has signed on to be part of Apple’s new music service. (Rumor has it an announcement about the service will be made at the Worldwide Developer’s Conference next week.) According to the article, Drake was originally supposed to one of the 16 artist partners in TIDAL, but he bailed on Jay-Z two days before that nightmare of a press conference.
In all fairness, Drake appears to have been waiting on those checks from Cash Money and it doesn’t look like TIDAL is going to be rolling in dough any time soon. Why disentangle yourself from one mess only to hop directly into another? (But wait, do you think he demanded the Apple Watch as part of his contract?)
• Australia has discovered Courtney Barnett! The singer was recently featured on Australia’s Channel Seven as an up-and-coming artist. If you’re like, “Lindsay, wait a minute? Isn’t Barnett from Australia?” Why, yes. Yes, she is. And if your follow-up questions are, “But Lindsay, didn’t the first of her EPs come out in 2012? Hasn’t her album been out since like, March?” The answer to both those questions is yes, as well. Meanwhile, as her homeland plays catch-up, Barnett performed with her band on Conan last night.
• Sun Kil Moon played the Barbican Centre in London last night and Mark Kozelek was his usual charming self. According to John Mulvey of Uncut Magazine, Kozelek verbally attacked a female journalist—who also works with Mulvey—for reasons unknown. From the show review:
First he names a British journalist who has, for reasons that are not entirely clear, annoyed him… Then he begins a spontaneous song about the writer – a woman – about how she “totally wants to fuck me” and how she should “get in line, bitch”… Kozelek would inevitably excuse it as his much-vaunted “great sense of humour” and indeed once he’s finished the next songs – “I Can’t Live Without My Mother’s Love” and “Caroline”, about probably the two most important women in his life, ironically enough – he returns to the subject. He calls the writer “nice,” “sweet,” “cute,” as if that would make things better, and claims he was “just kidding.” He then sings the song again.
Honestly, it’s gotten to the point where I dread seeing this dude’s name in my newsfeed. And I liked Benji! What do we even DO with this kind of behavior? Ignore it? Engage it? Either choice is infuriating. I feel like we’ve become pawns in Kozelek’s shitty art school performance side project. Whatever reaction I have is the one he wants. One minute, he’s telling El-P, “Spending the rest of my life with the person I’m currently with is my biggest priority in life. She’s everything to me,” and the next, he’s being a total douche. And here we all are, writing about it like a bunch of chumps.
However, I do think this needs to be said in defense of female music critics everywhere. None of us want to fuck you, Mark Kozelek. Not a one. And you can feel free to read that over some sad indie dude guitar strumming if you feel like it.
Happy Tuesday.