Music — Music — Maelstrom

With When I Get Home, Solange Knowles Reaffirms What It Means to Be a Black Woman, and an Auteur

The album is an attempt, conscious or unconscious, to recalibrate the way black women and art have been pejoratively interlaced.

MusicA. MartineApril 9, 2019solange, solange knowles, music, blackness, blm, representation, auteur, art, classism, classicism, music industry, racism, black women, black singers, kelis, fka twigs, janelle monae, dawn richard, jacques brel, nina simone, grace jones, danity kane, mainstream music, artist, indie, quirky, weird, odd, strange, business, black lives matter, culture, character, divisive, discovery, identity, feminism, inspiration, idolization, indie rock, intimate, love, life, misogyny, POC, WOC, rock music, record, sexism, universal, value, wisdom, diary, polarizing Comment

Kicking and Screaming: the Rejection of Tired Tropes by Indie Rock’s Next Generation of Women

The resulting candor is a measure of how layered and arresting women’s experiences can be for those songwriters brave enough to remain unflinching.

MusicA. MartineDecember 9, 2018feminism, riot grrrl, sleater-kinney, sexism, misogyny, rock, indie rock, rock music, stevie nicks, pj harvey, skin, shirley manson, kim deal, kathleen hanna, kim gordon, heart, joan jett, janis joplin, sinead o'conner, sinéad o'connor, joni mitchell, feist, leslie feist, karen o, interpol, arctic monkeys, queens of the stone age, the strokes, the black keys, jenny lewis, florence welch, brittany howard, 2000s, 2000's, stereotypes, solange knowles, solange, hate crimes, music, music industry, beth ditto, st vincent, st. vincent, kandle, kandle osborne, alexandra savior, nico, alex turner, miya folick, marika hackman, lesbian, queer, queerness, toxic masculinity, cheating, mean, not nice, niceness, nice, romanticize, glamorize, elle king Comment

Validating Unchecked Anger: Solange, E. E. Cummings, and the Power of Enduring Fury

Letting things go is synonymous with grace and release. But there’s another form of release, raw and liberating, that can be found in anger.

MusicA. MartineJuly 26, 2018poetry, e.e. cummings, ee cummings, e e cummings, music, solange, solange knowles, anger, rage, social justice, composure, wisdom, life, closure, acceptance, racism, injustice, inner peace, peace, black lives matter, #blm, #metoo, me too, feminism, POC, WOC, mental illnessComment

Confronting the Damaging Myth of the Artistic Genius

“Geniuses” rely on a voracious public ready to forgive the previous offense, as long as the coming one even is more deliciously shocking.

A Coming of Age in 26 Songs: on Womanhood and Emotional Awakenings

These songs remind me what troubled times make easy to forget: that womanhood is a language that is often thankless, but always, always worth it.

MusicA. MartineJune 24, 2018music, popular culture, objectifying, misogyny, emily haines, feist, stevie nicks, feminism, coming of age, coming-of-age, character, identity, inspiration, icon, culture, film, television, tropes, stereotypes, love, sex, discovery, artist, album, amy winehouse, value, substance abuse, celebrity, change, rock, compassion, death, depression, idolization, diary, mental illness, metric, fame, grief, pj harvey, indie rock, indie, intimate, loss, heartbreak, poetry, connection, suicide, universal, evolution, philosophyComment

With Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, Arctic Monkeys Have Finally Blended with The Last Shadow Puppets

As Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino has come along, the question isn’t how we got here, but rather: how didn’t we get here sooner?

MusicA. MartineMay 13, 2018arctic monkeys, indie rock, indie, rock, tranquility base, strokes, uk, british, sheffield, retro, vintage, serge gainsbourg, new wave, evolution, change, artist, album, record, music, reception, fans, polarizing, divisive, 2000's, 2000s, jazz, piano, guitar Comment

How Emily Haines' Diary of Grief, Loss and Loneliness Became My Own

I worked through Haines’ songs, as she patched together instances of her life with her father, and I also found myself, inexorably, doing the same.

MusicA. MartineMay 10, 2018metric, grief, loss, depression, death, music, emily haines, family, trauma, diary, intimate, universal, grandmother, father, poetry, poet, jazz, paul haines, album, idolization, connectionComment

The Case for Napster, Some Fifteen Years Later: Hindsight and Regret in 2013's Downloaded

Napster is the catalyst which was needed to spearhead the movement. But sadly, it is also the ship that had to sink so that others learned how not to approach these critical issues.

MusicA. MartineJanuary 30, 2018file sharing, napster, p2p, metallica, music, music industry, RIAA, spotify, tower record, blockbuster, '90s, dr. dre, lars ulrich Comment

Idolizing Those Who Cannot Save Themselves

How do you look at your own suffering and healing, when the artists who have told you to hope and hold on end their own lives?

MusicA. MartineJanuary 23, 2018depression, suicide, death, music, amy winehouse, tom petty, nirvana, audioslave, soundgarden, pj harvey, emily haines, billy talent, idolization, mental illnessComment

On Value versus Profit

Evidently, an artist has to make ends meet, and that sometimes means more practical decision-making. But this should never distract from the idea that art should not be corporatized. Rosy-colored, right? Hear me out.

MusicA. MartineJanuary 8, 2018value, profit, record labels, music industry, file sharing, commercial, business, philosophy, ethics, morals, dilemmaComment

On Personal Tragedies and Public Mournings: When Death Kindles Uneasy Compassion

I cannot help but wonder whether it could have made a difference to know that no one was judging her, that it was okay to fall, because a net of worldwide grace and understanding would have cushioned her.

MusicA. MartineJanuary 8, 2018music, amy winehouse, celebrity, fame, suicide, substance abuse, mental illness, public mournings, popular culture, overdose, alcoholism, heroin, compassionComment

FOLLOW A. MARTINE