HOT: Phoenix Tries RoboMerch
Certain government officials justify efforts to crack down on immigration to the U.S. as a job-saving tactic. Meanwhile, robots continue their takeover of the global workforce without a peep. French band Phoenix unveiled a new way to sell T-shirts at its recent tour kickoff; instead of waiting in line at a table and having to speak to someone to get your merch, fans could visit the band’s automated vending machine. If the trend takes off, look for merch-booth workers to promote their competitive edge with signs reading, “We take crumpled bills!”
WARM: Not Knowing Adam From Adam
A track on KRS-One’s new album about great Hip Hop artists who have died mentions “King Ad-Rock,” which is the nom de rap of Ad-Rock’s fellow Beastie Boy Adam Horowitz, who is not dead. The MC apologized saying he meant Adam “MCA” Yauch, and pretty much everyone rightly forgot about it because KRS is a legend. Since the album was released digitally through Bandcamp, KRS had the luxury of pulling the track and re-recording it, though the error might not have happened if it had gone through traditional release channels where someone else could’ve had a chance to catch it.
COLD: BTTM Dwellers
Indie Punk duo PWR BTTM went from rising stars with a message of empowerment for LGTBQ music lovers and a promising album set for release to likely the end of its career in the course of five days. After one of the members was accused of sexual assault and predatory behavior in a Facebook post, it quickly spread and led to further corroborating claims and a statement of contrition from the band that failed to deny any of the claims. Then all of the dominoes fell — the band’s album release show was canceled (its album was slated for release smack dab in the middle of all of the fallout), opening acts dropped off its tour, touring band members quit, management bailed and venues canceled tour dates almost immediately. The label Polyvinyl soon announced it would no longer be selling any PWR BTTM product (reportedly even planning to yank it from digital outlets) and dropped the duo. Eventually the band announced it was canceling the tour less than a week after the backlash started. In other words, karma is real.
