#Hook Knowles & Co.

[lookingbackatfashionhistory]

• Travelling Gown: Dress, Shoes and Stockings.

Designer/Maker: Hook, Knowles & Co.

Date: 1905

[bowerbirde]

Mary Jane shoes by Hook, Knowles & Co. Ltd, 1920s

'Machine-woven silk satin edged with machine-woven silk ribbon in two-shaft binding, lining of machine-woven cotton satin and leather, metal buckle with glass stones, leather sole, gluing, stapling and machine and hand stitching.'

Stiftelsen Kunstindustrimuseet, Designsamlingene

[the1920sinpictures]

1910 c. Evening shoe by Hook, Knowles & Co. It is made of satin and is beaded. From Nothing But Dresses as Art, FB.

[lost-in-centuries-long-gone]

Pair of evening shoes

Date: ca. 1910

Place: London

Artist/maker: Hook, Knowles & Co

V&A museum

[logobosskingdom]

Beyonce he still loves me bpm

It is considered to be an electro pop song. The lyrics are tongue in cheek and the vocal is almost spoken. The theme of the song is Eilish talking to her partner and taunting him for being a ‘bad guy’. “Bad guy” was written by Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas O’Connell. The tempo is 84bpm and it is in the key of F# major. It is reportedly written about unrequited love and was one of Will Young’s most successful songs. “Leave Right Now” was written by Eg White (who has been on the judging panel for several Song Academy Young Songwriter competitions!) and performed by Will Young. The tempo is a moderate 96bpm and it is in the key of G major. It is considered to be a pop/rock power ballad. It is a love song written about the relationship between the two leads in the film. It was written by Lady Gaga, Andrew Wyatt (Miike Snow), Anthony Rossomando (Dirty Pretty Things) and Mark Ronson. “Shallow” was written as the lead single from the soundtrack to “A Star is Born”, which stars both Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. Shallow – Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper (2018) The tempo is 128bpm and it is in the key of F# major.

It is considered to be in the electro house/pop genre. The song mainly revolves around the main hook “we found love in a hopeless place”, and Rihanna’s vocal is fairly relaxed, contrasting with the high energy beat. “We Found Love” is a song recorded by Calvin Harris and Rihanna, but was written and produced solely by Calvin Harris. We Found Love – Calvin Harris ft Rihanna (2011) The tempo is a moderate 110bpm and it is in the key of F major and D minor (the relative minor of F major). It is a pop song with elements of hip hop, funk and R&B. “Crazy in Love” was written by Rich Harrison, Beyoncé Knowles, Shawn Carter (Jay-Z) and Eugene Record (included as a writer of the original song the song samples, “Are You My Woman? (Tell Me So)” by The Chi-Lites. The tempo is 120bpm and it is in the key of C# minor. It was originally titled “Starlight” but after some discussion with the production team (including Quincy Jones) the title eventually ended up being “Thriller”. It has a very theatrical theme, as Jackson was a huge fan of film. “Thriller” is one of the best-selling singles of all time, and was written by English songwriter Rod Temperton. The tempo is 120bpm and it is in the key of D major. It is one of the best-selling pop singles in the United States. She took inspiration from the plot of Romeo & Juliet but changed it to a happy ending, instead of the tragedy ending of the original. The song was inspired by the storyline of Romeo & Juliet but also a situation that Swift was in herself with a love interest and her family. It was the lead single from her second album. “Love Story” was written and recorded by Taylor Swift, and she co-produced it with Nathan Chapman. The tempo is 134bpm and it is in the key of A major.

It is considered to be a pop song with elements of soul and R&B music. Whitney Houston’s version was recorded for the film “The Bodyguard” in 1992. It is a traditional love song and the lyrics reflect that! She also wrote arguably her best known song, “Jolene”, on the same day. “I Will Always Love You” was originally written and recorded by Dolly Parton, who achieved commercial success with it, reaching the top spot of the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart not once, but twice. I Will Always Love You – Whitney Houston (1974) Have a listen and more information on each song is shown below. We’ve created a playlist full of inspiring songs across different genres for broadening young people’s knowledge of popular music.

[lissten]

A Look Back at Beychella

revisiting Beyoncé’s world-stopping 2018 Coachella performance

If I could travel back in time and experience anything for the first time again, I know it would be the thrill of Beyoncé’s Coachella performance in April of this year. And I was only watching it through the livestream. 

What made this performance so spectacular, in my opinion (more than the live marching band, or the huge troupe of dancers and performers) was Knowles’ auditory language. Beyoncé and her creative team created a collage, not only made of the artist’s own music, but a juxtaposition of images: of man and woman, black and white, weakness and strength. Knowles encompasses both identities at all times; she is the most disrespected person in America, and she is the lion. Knowles makes use of these kinds of call and response throughout the entirety of her two hour set list; moving between different modes of language and music to reach the effect of total immersion for her audience (both the in person, and on screen). Knowles makes use of her own voice – occasionally distorted - as a call to action for the audience: Pay Attention to What I Have To Say. 

The raw power Beyoncé exudes in patching these sounds in next to each other, the effect of the phantom voices of Malcolm X, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the whole of America’s disenfranchised black community in her reprisal of “Lift Every Voice and Sing”, rings through her audience: I am Black. I am a Woman. I am here, I am proud, and though you don’t like it, still I will say: I am Black I am a Woman I am Here I am Proud.

Here’s one one example of call and response between Knowles and the ghostly finale to Malcolm X’s “Who Taught You to Hate Yourself?”:

The most disrespected person in America is the black woman,

I am the dragon breathing fire,

The most unprotected person in America is the black woman,

Beautiful man I’m the lion

Beyoncé has been criticized, most shockingly I think, by prominent black feminist bell hooks for her sudden co-option of the feminist rhetoric during promotions of visual album Lemonade in 2016, accusing Knowles of using the term “feminist” as a marketing tool, a way to seem more appealing to new audiences and demographics – much of the sexualized black bodies and violence in Lemonade left hooks feeling that Beyoncé was promoting hate and a regression of gendered relations into violence (most notably in the video for song Hold Up, in which Beyonce swings around a baseball bat, threatening husband Jay-Z for  cheating on her). But I felt none of this disingenuous feminism in her performance at Coachella.

We must remember, Knowles is the first black woman to headline a music festival. The first in Coachella’s eighteen years. Beyoncé knows this; and in her embodiment of absolute power, she reminds us of who she is. She dresses as Pharaoh because she in Queen, because she has earned her place as one of the highest paid performers to ever live. She claims what is rightfully hers. 

When I watch Beychella (as it is coyly termed by Knowles’ fans, the Bee Hive), all two hours of it – costume changes, dance interludes, and all – something happens to the audience. We leave feeling stronger. Knowles’ unwavering confidence makes me stronger. She asks me, “Are you a strong woman?”

Of course she brings her family along; Knowles welcomes to the stage Jay-Z for a performance of "Dèjá Vu”, sister Solange joined in to dance on stage, and former Destiny’s Child members Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams were welcomed back for a medley of the greatest hits.

Knowles also welcomes a family of new faces, I like to think of them as her royal court: the members of BDK (that’s Belta Delta Kappa), Beyonce’s version of an HBCU marching band, color guard, and step team. They all wear yellow and black, the uniform of the Bey Hive. They scream: We are here, We are black, We are all together.

[mscoyditch]

Fashion Museum Bath.

"It’s #ShoesdayTuesday and time for a ruby red treat from our current #Shoephoria exhibition! ❤️ Dating to about 1900, these red leather shoes with velvet bows feature a gold maker’s stamp on the insole from Hook Knowles & Co, New Bond Street, London".

[timbalandd]

Timbaland‘s latest protégé TINK made us think of the slew of talent that he has had a hand in mentoring and producing. What’s his track record? Whatever happened to so-and-so? Who’s still pursuing the dream? And whom did I forget about until they turned up on a reality show? Get ready for all those questions and more to be answered right now.

Here is a list of Timbo's protégés, along with a little info one where they’ve been and how far they’ve come.

Keri Hilson

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Introduced: 2004 Albums: In a Perfect World (2009), No Boys Allowed (2011) Hit Singles: “Turnin Me On,” “Pretty Girl Rock” While the world hashtags #PoorMichelle, it has no such compassion for Keri Hilson. The infamous Ms. Keri Baby got her start as a writer and background singer for producer Anthony Dent. Later, she wrote songs for Britney Spears and Mary J. Blige as part of production and songwriting team The Clutch and worked with Polow da Don.Keri soon caught the attention of Timbaland and was signed to his Mosley Music Group label, continuing to write and sing hooks. After achieving solo success with the Lil' Wayne-assisted single “Turnin Me On,” Keri got a little beside herself with fame and called out a certain R&B diva on the remix, which wasn’t well received. Since then, she’s been working hard to overcome the backlash. While Keri released a second album, No Boys Allowed, it failed to live up to expectations and we’re still waiting on a third. However, some would say no matter how her career goes, she calls basketball player Serge Ibaka bae, so maybe she doesn’t deserve anyone’s pity after all Bubba Sparxxx

Introduced: 2001

Albums: Dark Days, Bright Nights (2001), Deliverance (2003), The Charm (2006), Pain Management (2013), Made on McCosh Mill Road (2014)

Hit Singles: "Ugly," "Deliverance," "Ms. New Booty "

Noteworthy Factoid: After hitting the weights and losing weight, Bubba looks younger now than he did in 2001.

While a number of bands, most famously REM, got their start in Athens, GA, you’d be hard pressed to name any hip-hop acts coming from this corner of the dirty south. Except, that is, Bubba Sparxxx. A Georgia Boy by birth, Bubba learned about rap music through mixtapes his neighbor received from NYC. After creating a buzz for himself at the University of Georgia, Timbaland scooped him up for his Beat Club label.

His first album, Dark Days, Bright Nights, was certified gold, and Bubba seemed to be on the fast track to superstar status, showing up on Saturday Night Live, late night talk shows, being featured in the Def Jam: Fight for NY and Madden NFL 2004 video games and even collaborating with the production team behind Girls Gone Wild to shoot two DVDs detailing the life of a big rap star. However, his second album, Deliverance, which was critically acclaimed, failed to sell. After leaving Timbo, Sparxxx found his greatest musical success with the down south ass-shaking anthem “Ms. New Booty,” featuring such memorable lines as, “booty booty booty booty rockin’ everywhere!”

We later learned that Mr. Sparxxx, while getting the musical high of his career, was also getting high on opiates. Severely addicted at the time, Bubba spent years in and out of rehab. Sparxxx couldn’t balance the life of celebrity with sobriety and decided the best thing to do was to go live on a farm and take a step back from it all. Since then, he’s returned doing music and has also been hitting the weight room.

Ms. Jade

Introduced: 2002

Albums: Girl Interrupted (2002)

Hit Singles: “Ching Ching”

Noteworthy Factoid:  Surprised Jay Z was on Ms. Jade’s first album? So was she. Timbaland didn’t let her know about the features on her own album.

Ms. Jade lucked up on a chance meeting with Missy through her management and rapped for Timbaland over speakerphone. The next thing the Philly rapstress knew, she was trading lyrics with Da Brat and Missy on “Slap! Slap! Slap!” off the Miss E...So Addictivealbum, soon followed up with her own 2002 album, Girl Interrupted. Jade had an album full of phenomenal beats (that a number of other rappers used for mixtapes), guest spots from Jay Z, Missy and Nate Dogg and a hit single with Nelly Furtado. However, like most of the artists on Tim’s fledgling Beat Club label, the album failed to succeed commercially, both from a lack of promotion and the growing pains of a new artist finding their voice.

While Ms. Jade kept her comments about Missy and Timbaland pretty friendly after the break up, a few years later she had less than kind words to say about her former mentors, especially Missy, who she feels jacked her 'round the way girl look. Today, Ms. Jade is still rapping, releasing mixtapes and an EP called Beautiful Mess and working with fellow Philly MC Nina Ross, forming the rap duo Thelma & Louise.

Kiley Dean

Introduced: 2003

Albums:  Simple Girl (unreleased), Changes (2010)

Hit Singles: None

Noteworthy Factoid: Originally from Arkansas, Kiley followed the Mickey Mouse path to stardom, moving to Orlando and catching the attention of Britney Spears.

Who remembers this blue-eyed soul songstress? Kiley Dean got her start singing backup for Britney Spears on her first two tours. After meeting Tim during a GRAMMY telecast, the singer was signed to Timbaland’s Beat Club Record label. But while the LA Timesproclaimed that Kiley had conquered urban radio, the truth was far less exciting for her. After two singles and no success, her “debut” album, Simple Girl, was shelved.

Undeterred, Kiley signed with Mathew Knowles’ Music World Entertainment in 2007, but she left after six months. Dean finally released an album, Changes, digitally on ReverbNation, and continues to sing back up for stars like New Kids On The Block, Matthew Morrison and Madonna.

D.O.E.

Introduced: 2005

Albums: None

Hit Singles: None

Notable Acts: D.O.E. changed his rap name from John Doe after his label, Interscope, judged it too generic.

Pop Quiz! What does D.O.E. stand for? If you said “Dominant Over Everyone,” you’d be right. Originally know as John Doe, the Queens rapper was signed to Timbaland’s Beat Club label. However, when the imprint folded, he was sent back to the locker room with the rest of Timbaland’s ghostwriters until Tim started his new label, the Mosley Music Group. Still, D.O.E. remained on the bench as Tim focused on projects by other artists.

While D.O.E. wrote for Tim and was a regular feature on album tracks, he finally got his big break on the hit “The Way I Are” off of Timbaland’s Shock Value album, and even got to perform the song on an episode of ABC’s One Life to Live. While D.O.E. has worked with everyone from Robin Thicke to Brandy and has consistently dropped mixtapes, he still has yet to drop an actual LP. Attitude

Introduced: 2005

Albums: None

Hit Singles: None

Noteworthy Factoid: Known primarily for rap, Attitude also co-wrote Keri Hilson’s single, “Breaking Point.”

Attitude’s name is probably familiar with fans of Timbaland. He’s been part of Tim’s Beat Club crew of ghostwriters for years, writing verses on “Say Something,” “Give It to Me” and Nelly Furtado’s “Promiscuous,” and he is prominently featured on the Shock Value albums.

The Alabama MC made a name for himself on the independent scene and bounced between various rap cliques such as DJ Drama’s Aphilliates Music Group and Bubba Sparxxx's 11th Hour Entertainment, which led to his meeting Tim, which then led to a new hustle writing songs for both Tim and Sean “Diddy” Combs. However, besides releasing a few mixtapes, he’s failed to achieve solo stardom. Recently, Attitude formed a group with actor Jason Weaver and fellow musician Sky Keeton called the Triangle Sound Project and released their first single, “We Like Em All,” in spring 2014.

Sebastian 

Introduced: 2000

Albums: None

Hit Singles: None

Noteworthy Factoid: Timbaland once suffered a debilitating gunshot wound to the chest while working at Red Lobster. Sebastian helped nurse his big bro back to health.

Garland Mosley, better known as Sebastian, the younger brother of Timbaland, has been a fixture of Tim’s career since the very beginning. Timbo took Sebastian under his wing while touring in the '90s. He later became part of Tim’s crew of ghostwriters, contributing to most of his brother's albums and being featured on some of his biggest hits, including “All Ya’ll” and “The Way I Are,” and even scoring writing credits for “On the Run (Part II)” for Jay Z and “Grown Woman” for Beyoncé. However, when it comes to launching his own career, things have been as “Wobbley” as his first single. While he’s been threatening to release his album, Cruel Intentions, we’re still waiting for him to finally make good on his promise.

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Who's Your Favorite Timbaland's Protégé ?

Keri Hilson

Attitude

Sebastian

D.O.E.

Kiley Dean

Bubba Sparxxx

Ms. Jade

TINK

Survey Maker

thanks to soulbounce.com

[sethisrael]

right/wrong/neither

I recommend listening to this song while reading; it helps me focus and it might help you too. :)

When I began our class in public art in sound and listening, my way of thinking was very much rooted in discernible outcomes and notions of success. This was largely a product of the environments I had existed in growing up: intense, competitive academic spaces, playing sports, going to a well-regarded college. Even in my first year at Brown, the notion of comparative success was pushed forth; I was denied entry to classes due to a comparatively worse portfolio, writing sample, or application. Not only were opportunities to learn limited, once in class, creative assignments I submitted were deemed poor in quality because they were not up to par with the level of the rest of the class or did not meet expectations of a rigid rubric imposed by the professor. I questioned why the system existed in the way that promoted uniformity and rewarded following rigid instructions over organic growth and learning.

Even at a place like Brown University where a liberal education is championed, I felt limited in my ability to make choices for myself, questioning my every decision and my place on campus. Why did every decision I made feel “wrong”? Why did I constantly feel like I was in the “wrong” place, doing the “wrong” things? It was around this time of self-doubt that we read Miwon Kwon’s “The Wrong Place” and Judith Halberstam’s The Queer Art of Failure. For a long time, it had been explained to me that the greatest growth and discovery was made when I failed, when things didn’t work out, but I was still resistant. Halberstam’s writing expressed a similar sentiment in a way that spoke to me greatly. As Halberstam explains in the introduction, “Failure preserves some of the wondrous anarchy of childhood and disturbs the supposedly clean boundaries between adults and children, winners and losers,” and later points out that “[failure] provides the opportunity to use these negative affects to poke holes in the toxic positivity of contemporary life” (Halberstam 3). Halberstam’s argument recognizes the importance of positivity but also the ability for negativity to shift our perspective and view things through a different or critical scope.

In a similar vane, Kwon’s writing recognizes that objective rights/wrongs are nonexistent, but our relationship to objects, beings, and places is what defines our sense of right and wrong: “The determination of right and wrong is never derived from an innate quality of the object in question, even if some moral absolutes might seem to preside over the object. Rather, right and wrong are qualities that an object has in relation to something outside itself… The more important point here is that it is we who are wrong for this kind of ‘new’ space” (Kwon 38-39). Kwon explains that ending up in the “wrong” place can often lead us to new discoveries about ourselves that we would miss if we follow rigid, “correct” paths. I really love one of her closing statements in the piece:

“Often we are comforted by the thought that a place is ours, that we belong to it, perhaps even come from it, and therefore are tied to it in some fundamental way. Such places (‘right’ places) are thought to reaffirms our sense of self, reflecting back to us an unthreatening picture of a grounded identity. This kind of continuous relationship between a place and a person is what is deemed lost, and needed in contemporary society. In contrast, the wrong place is generally thought of as a place where one fells one does not belong—unfamiliar, disorienting, destabilizing, even threatening. This kind of stressful relationship to a place is, in turn, though to be detrimental to a subject’s capacity to constitute a coherent sense of self and the world” (Kwon 42).

Kwon and Halberstam’s discussion of failure and place bring me to one of the first posts I made on our class soundblog, a podcast profiling the artist Emily A. Sprague, a founding member of the band Florist and an independent artists as well, working primarily in ambient music and creating with Eurorack modular synthesizers. Hailing from a rural community in the Catskill Mountains, Sprague explains how space has shaped her processes of creation: “Every studio I’ve ever had has been in the place that I’ve been living in… You learn from that, being in spaces that aren’t ‘Studio Bs’… You just learn to work with what you have” (Sound + Process). On her origins, Sprague later explains, “Community has always been something that I’ve known to be incredibly hard to find and also the best and most rewarding and inspiring thing that you can experience. I’m from a small town in a pretty rural area; I didn’t really find people until I was older than I really felt a part of a community with, with making music” (Sound + Process). Like Halberstam’s argument, Sprague has repeatedly tried and experimented with space and technique, creating new ways to approach modular synth and pushing the boundaries of genre. Like Kwon explains, Sprague has made new discoveries in her process of making through the space she’s in—not that place is right or wrong, but just that they are different, and produce a different result.

With her process of making rooted in modular synthesis, it is hard to deny Sprague’s precedents. On June 7th, 2017, Sprague made an Instagram post of a single book on a hardwood table: Daphne Oram’s An Individual Note of Music Sound, and Electronics. Daphne Oram, born in 1925 and passed away in 2003, was one of the central figures in the development of British experimental electronic music (Anomie Publishing). Oram declined a place at the Royal College of Music to become a music balancer at the BBC, and she went on to become the co-founder and first director of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop (Anomie). Leaving the BBC in 1959 to pursue commercial work in television, advertising, film and theater, Oram also made her own music for recording and performance, continuing her personal research into sound technology. Sound technology was a passion Oram cultivated since her childhood in rural Wiltshire (Anomie). Eventually her home in Kent became an unorthodox studio and workshop, which she crafted on a minimal budget (Anomie). Additionally, Oram developed her pioneering equipment, sounds, and ideas at her home studio. A significant part of her personal research was the invention of a machine that offered a new form of sound synthesis – the Oramics machine (Anomie). Her biography further cements her as influential to contemporary electronic artists, with Oram’s contribution to electronic music receiving considerable attention from new generations of composers, sound engineers, musicians, musicologists and music lovers around the world (Anomie).

Like Wendy Carlos, Oram was a pioneer of synthesizer music and technology, definitively changing the ways her contemporaries approached synthesis, as well as generations for years to come. It seems as though Carlos, Oram, and Sprague are inextricably linked. As Carlos focuses intently on her studio in her website/primary form of external communication, it is evident that the artist considers her studio as a point of pride and importance (Wendy Carlos website). If Wendy Carlos’s studio is Persian rugs, felines, and the crackle of a fireplace on a frigid winter day and Oram’s is a quiet converted oasthouse, then Sprague’s studio is a surfboard leaned against a corner next to a human-sized floor plant as sun pours in through a skylight on a warm California morning (Kheshti). Like Kheshti’s relationship with Carlos, I feel connected to Sprague in a similar way. I do not mean to equate our relationships or interpolate myself in the discussion of electronic musicians, but I do find great joy in listening to electronic music and feel that it is an important part of my life, similar to the way Kheshti describes.

There is something extremely childlike, imaginative, and fantastical about home studios. They are places for experimentation and imagination, mostly unbounded by judgement or criticism, creating a place to take risks and make new discoveries. In many ways a home studio allows for a democratic education of sorts, a place where a creator can speak their own language and have internal dialogue, unrestricted by rigid constraints that may be imposed externally otherwise, and even explore the inherent fun in learning (hooks 43-44).

The ability for these artists to create in unexpected places and to push the boundaries of their genre and craft remind me of Fluxus artists like Yoko Ono or Alison Knowles. There is an ambiguity in place and correctness of a Fluxus score. They are not defined by doing things in a certain way or a certain place or for a certain outcome, but doing for the sake of doing, trying, experimenting, learning, and moving forward. I recently watched a film that referenced Yoko Ono’s “Ceiling Painting, Yes Painting” (1966), where the person interacting climbs a ladder to a magnifying glass in order to discern a tiny speck on the ceiling that reads “YES” (Guggenheim Bilbao). I think this piece is beautifully poetic in a number of ways, but specifically for its affirmation in discovery, and doing so in a playful, almost childlike and imaginative manner. On this note, I want to include some scores I wrote throughout the course of the semester for consideration, reflection, and response (dots indicate separate scores):

sit on a bench and be the last to break eye contact with a stranger • collect fallen leaves from the ground into a paper bag and deliver to someone • learn the language of a Tree and have a conversation • ask a loved one (or a complete stranger) to name a favorite song and listen to it in full • listen to your breath as you run up a steep hill and walk down slowly; listen to your breath as you walk up a steep hill and run down slowly • cut holes in an umbrella during a rainstorm and listen to the irony pour through • get a bicycle and ride across America • hold your palms and fingers gently over the tips of grass at dawn and wipe the dew across your cheeks • do nothing • sitting cross-legged on the floor, recount in detail to an audience (of any or no size) the most recent dream that you can remember • make a friend • look at the Atlantic Ocean; turn 180 degrees; walk; look at the Pacific Ocean • grab a cactus / smash a guitar • move fast so that wind becomes music

Through all these artists, authors, activists, and beyond, like Ono, Knowles, Carlos, Oram, Halberstam, Kwon, hooks, Kheshti, it is clear that approaching things not with notions of right or wrong, but with the intention of discovery, experimentation, and playful imagination is a valuable way of living. In the inscription to hook’s Teaching Community, the author quotes Paulo Freire: “It is imperative that we maintain hope even when the harshness of reality may suggest the opposite.” In many ways, these figures stand for just that: a rejection of the harshness of reality through creativity, experimentation, discovery, and a love for learning.

Bibliography

“Ceiling Painting, Yes Painting (1966).” Guggenheim Bilbao, http://yokoono.guggenheim-bilbao.eus/en/artworks/ceiling-painting-yes-painting.html.

“Daphne Oram – An Individual Note of Music, Sound and Electronics.” Anomie Publishing, Anomie Publishing and The Daphne Oram Trust.

“Emily Sprague: SOUND PROCESS #8.” SoundCloud, 2017, https://soundcloud.com/sound-and-process/es_ep8.

Halberstam, Judith. The Queer Art of Failure. Duke University Press, 2011.

Hooks, Bell. Teaching Community. Routledge, 2003.

Kheshti, Roshanak. Swithced-on Bach. Bloomsbury Academic, 2019.

Kwon, Miwon. “The Wrong Place.” Art Journal, vol. 59, no. 1, 2000, pp. 33–43. JSTOR, doi:10.2307/778080.

“Wendy Carlos.” Wendy Carlos, http://www.wendycarlos.com/.

[the1920sinpictures]

1914 Silk embroidered shoes, English, by Hook, Knowles and Co., Ltd. From LACMA.

[wiremagazine]

CALM DOWN, IT'S THE MTV VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS WITH OUR FAVORITE DIVAS, DIVOS & FRESH NEW ARTISTS!

By DJ FR8-O

The world's most unpredictable awards show just threw us another curveball. Hosting this year's hottest night in music is comedian and actor Sebastian Maniscalco. Yeah, never heard of him either, but the outspoken Italian is ready to bring the laughs and the chutzpah back into the VMAs. Joining him will be all our favorite divas, divos and fresh new artists who've been dominating our playlists over the last 12 months. This year's ceremony is going to be a battle of the pop princesses with both Ariana Grande and Taylor Swift snatching 10 nominations each. Who will take home the most Moon Persons is yet to be seen, but here are my top picks.  

BEST NEW ARTIST Ava Max Billie Eilish H.E.R. Lil Nas X Rosalía

Lizzo It may seem like Lizzo just came out of nowhere and went straight to the front of the class, but she's been schooling her fans since she was 14 years old. In an industry that puts so much pressure on image and tries to hide flaws with photoshop and camera tricks, Lizzo celebrates her curves and literally puts it all out there. Her confidence is only overshadowed by her talent, with a stream of hits and sold-out shows over the past year.  

BEST COLLABORATION BTS (featuring Halsey): "Boy with Luv" Lil Nas X (featuring Billy Ray Cyrus): "Old Town Road (Remix)" Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello: "Señorita" Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber: "I Don't Care" Taylor Swift (featuring Brendon Urie of Panic! at the Disco): "Me!"

Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper: "Shallow" As if she wasn't jaw-droppingly gifted all on her own, no one has ever brought the on-screen chemistry as Gaga and Cooper did in the big-screen blockbuster A Star is Born. The heat was so intense that it raised suspicions of the two being more than just co-stars. While those rumors have since been squashed, I still get a few raised hairs every time I hear their duet from the diva's Oscar-winning film.

BEST POP 5 Seconds of Summer: "Easier" Cardi B and Bruno Mars: "Please Me" Billie Eilish: "Bad Guy" Ariana Grande: "Thank U, Next" Khalid: "Talk" Taylor Swift: "You Need to Calm Down"

Jonas Brothers: "Sucker" Everyone has their opinion of what makes a great pop song, or in this case a great pop video, but I'm sure you would agree that Nick soaking in a claw foot tub and Joe tied up in his underwear would be somewhere at the top of the list. Not only does this earworm bury deep into your brain with its throwback vibe and razor-sharp hook, but watching these guys all grown up and having more fun than ever makes this clip as timeless as the track. Did I mention the bathtub?

BEST HIP HOP 21 Savage (featuring J. Cole): "A Lot" Cardi B: "Money" DJ Khaled (featuring Nipsey Hussle and John Legend): "Higher" Lil Nas X (featuring Billy Ray Cyrus): "Old Town Road (Remix)" Travis Scott (featuring Drake): "Sicko Mode"

2 Chainz (featuring Ariana Grande): "Rule the World" Is there nothing that Ari can't do? It's hard to tell who the actual guest artist is on this track, but are we really surprised? Even during her early days on "Bang Bang," she managed to hold her own with two powerhouse divas. Now it looks like she's the one bringing the noise.

BEST R&B Childish Gambino: "Feels Like Summer" H.E.R. (featuring Bryson Tiller): "Could've Been" Alicia Keys: "Raise a Man" Normani (featuring 6lack): "Waves" Anderson .Paak (featuring Smokey Robinson): "Make It Better"

Ella Mai: "Trip" After a 13 year absence from the show, the R&B category is back! Maybe it's because of the genre's resurgence into mainstream music; but whatever the reason, it's opening doors to a whole new pool of talent that may otherwise be overlooked, like this incredibly gifted and well-deserved artist.

BEST LATIN Anuel AA and Karol G: "Secreto" Benny Blanco, Tainy, Selena Gomez and J Balvin: "I Can't Get Enough" Daddy Yankee (featuring Snow): "Con Calma" Maluma: "Mala Mía" Rosalía and J Balvin (featuring El Guincho): "Con Altura"

Bad Bunny (featuring Drake): "Mia" Watching this video reminded me of growing up in Miami, and showing up at the impromptu house party that someone hosted while their parents were away. Of course, Drake never showed up to any of them, but of all the nominees, this one captures what everyday Latin life is really about, minus all the half-naked women.

BEST DANCE The Chainsmokers (featuring Bebe Rexha): "Call You Mine" Clean Bandit (featuring Demi Lovato): "Solo" DJ Snake (featuring Selena Gomez, Ozuna and Cardi B): "Taki Taki" David Guetta, Bebe Rexha and J Balvin: "Say My Name" Marshmello and Bastille: "Happier"

Silk City and Dua Lipa: "Electricity" Music trends will come and go, but classic house will never go out of style. These guys took the essence of "Show Me Love" and "Finally" and weaved it into a track that's as fresh as it is nostalgic. Throw in Lipa's sultry vocals weaving a hypnotic melody and you've got yourself a dance anthem that no one can resist.

VIDEO FOR GOOD Jamie N Commons and Skylar Grey (featuring Gallant): "Runaway Train" Halsey: "Nightmare" The Killers: "Land of the Free" John Legend: "Preach" Lil Dicky: "Earth"

Taylor Swift: "You Need to Calm Down" It can't be a coincidence that this category debuted the same year as this track. In a time when LGBTQ lives are being attacked – physically and politically – on the daily, it's refreshing and inspiring to see an artist take a stand and put her influence where her mouth is. Not only is the track brilliantly written, but I haven't seen that many LGBTQ icons together since the Tony Awards.

BEST DIRECTION Billie Eilish: "Bad Guy" (Director: Dave Meyers) FKA Twigs: "Cellophane" (Director: Andrew Thomas Huang) Ariana Grande: "Thank U, Next" (Director: Hannah Lux Davis) Lil Nas X (featuring Billy Ray Cyrus): "Old Town Road (Remix)" (Director: Calmatic) LSD: "No New Friends" (Director: Dano Cerny)

Taylor Swift: "You Need to Calm Down" (Director: Taylor Swift and Drew Kirsch) Okay, I know what you're thinking, "this queen must be a huge T-Swift fan, so he's voting for her in every category." Quite the contrary, actually. I've always been pretty lukewarm when it comes to the country-turned-pop singer, but any director that could wrangle that many divas in one video shoot and not end up on the nightly news deserves a trophy.

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS DJ Khaled (featuring SZA): "Just Us" (Visual Effects: GloriaFX, Sergii Mashevskyi and Anatolli Kuzmytskyi) Billie Eilish: "When the Party's Over" (Visual Effects: Ryan Ross and Andres Jaramillo) FKA Twigs: "Cellophane" (Visual Effects: Analog) Ariana Grande: "God Is a Woman" (Visual Effects: Fabrice Lagayette at Mathematic) LSD: "No New Friends" (Visual Effects: Ethan Chancer)

Taylor Swift (featuring Brendon Urie of Panic! at the Disco): "Me!" (Visual Effects: Loris Paillier and Lucas Salton for BUF VFX) I'd hand over the award for this vid just for the visual of a smoldering Brendon Urie alone, but if you've seen the clip you know the allure is more than just his pretty face. Reminiscent of a modern Moulin Rouge, the screen oozes with splashes of color, action and special effects galore, from start to finish.  

BEST ART DIRECTION BTS (featuring Halsey): "Boy with Luv" (Art Directors: JinSil Park and BoNa Kim (MU:E) Ariana Grande: "7 Rings" (Art Director: John Richoux) Lil Nas X (featuring Billy Ray Cyrus): "Old Town Road (Remix)" (Art Director: Christian Zollenkopf for Prettybird) Taylor Swift: "You Need to Calm Down" (Art Director: Brittany Porter) Kanye West and Lil Pump (featuring Adele Givens): "I Love It" (Art Director: Tino Schaedler)

Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello: "Señorita" (Art Director: Tatiana Van Sauter) In a world where videos are trying to be bigger, brighter and bolder than the last, it takes a good eye to keep things in the background simple and let the singers take the spotlight. Subtlety is an art in itself, especially when it's meant to help a love story unfold before your eyes. My only note is that we need to see more of Shawn in his Calvin Klein's next time.

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY FKA Twigs: "Cellophane" (Choreographer: Kelly Yvonne) LSD: "No New Friends" (Choreographer: Ryan Heffington) Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello: "Señorita" (Choreographer: Calvit Hodge) Rosalía and J Balvin (featuring El Guincho): "Con Altura" (Choreographer: Charm La'Donna) Solange: "Almeda" (Choreographers: Maya Taylor and Solange Knowles)

BTS (featuring Halsey): "Boy with Luv" (Choreographers: Son Sungdeuk and Quick Crew) K-pop isn't exactly on heavy rotation on my playlists, but I must give credit where credit is due. Sure, the competition shows some beautiful moves of their own, but this vid is all about color, dancing, and more dancing. Don't ask me what they're singing about, but I could tell they were having fun while singing it.

ARTIST OF THE YEAR Cardi B Billie Eilish Halsey Jonas Brothers Shawn Mendes

Ariana Grande This may seem like I'm playing faves here, but if you take a look at all the work the other nominees have put out in the last year together, they still don't add up to the number of albums, singles, videos and collaborations Ari has checked off her to-do list. While it may not have been ground-breaking, and there's no doubt this award will actually go to Billie Eillish, no one can argue that this diva has put in more blood, sweat and tears this year than any other artist in the biz.

SONG OF THE YEAR Drake: "In My Feelings" Ariana Grande: "Thank U, Next" Jonas Brothers: "Sucker" Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper: "Shallow" Lil Nas X (featuring Billy Ray Cyrus): "Old Town Road (Remix)"

Taylor Swift: "You Need to Calm Down" Yeah, I'm going there again because this is an anthem we all need to hear and remember; not just this year, but for many years to come until the tables are turned, the planets are realigned and the haters finally take their seats for good.

VIDEO OF THE YEAR 21 Savage (featuring J. Cole): "A Lot" Billie Eilish: "Bad Guy" Ariana Grande: "Thank U, Next" Jonas Brothers: "Sucker" Lil Nas X (featuring Billy Ray Cyrus): "Old Town Road (Remix)"

Taylor Swift: "You Need to Calm Down" The same goes for the video! While others might have tried to battle hate with hate, Swift chose instead to take the high road, celebrate our community, shine a spotlight on some of our favorite LGBTQ icons and hold an honest mirror up at those with narrow minds. One little music video won't change the world overnight, but if it can inspire a new generation to think differently than the one before them, then that's something to get excited about.

The 2019 MTV Video Music Awards will air live from the Prudential Center in Newark on August 26th at 8 p.m. ET.  

This was originally published in Wire Magazine Issue 17.2019

[beydazzled]

~Ivy Park~

The name of the company is Ivy Park which is co-founded by Beyonce. It’s a fashion company that sells products online, and Topshop. In the future, I want the company to be available in more locations. The business is good for now because the orders can be shipped whether online, or from stores. Other people may not like change Beyonce may make because it’s not their preference. Again, the company started online, and grew to a massive platform. Hopefully everyone would be on the same vision as the fashion blog continues to develop. The goal of the story is to show readers they can start at 2 supporters and gain 2 million. They just need to work hard and market their product right.

I’m telling my story to readers, customers, and potential partners. The public are ones who are going to buy the products. They are the ones who will keep coming back because they know what you offer is good. The hook for the company is: “An activewear brand co-founded by Beyonce Knowles. Browse the entire Ivy Park collection at Nordstroms.com. Check out sneaker, fitness, and casual fashions.”

The protagonist in this story are the customers. They are the good that will ultimately drive that company. Protagonists communicate more effectively through data-driven understandings. Customer comments and feedback will persuade new customers to take on the action to purchase your products. What’s at stake is Ivy Park possibly crushing other workout brands. However, Beyonce had to build her reputation first. Not one brand got their reputation over night. It took time to grow. And for any small business owners, that takes time too.

[candycloth]

Shoes, Hook, Knowles & Co., Ltd.: ca. 1925-1929, British, leather, lined in leather, leather sole, rhinestone button.

[tinymixtapes]

Music Review: Taylor Swift - Reputation

Taylor Swift Reputation [Big Machine; 2017] Rating: 3/5 “Here’s something I’ve learned about people.” 1 We talk like there’s only one thing. We assume the inevitability of the world the way it is. We maintain that we are singulars existing linearly in line with a reality that is already dictated, long ago and unchangeably so. Things that have been remain forever as are echos of were; the bottom line is the bottom. Things are their reputations, more or less all over again and always: “Hold onto the memories/ They will hold onto you.” It sucks sometimes, this reliance on reputation. It helps sometimes, like when you have to drag legs out of bed to get on the road to get on the clock, to get goods and achieve and survive. Some confidence in an unmoving reality is a comfort. It helps, it hurts. We wind up wrenching dissatisfaction back into reassurance. I am my me, and this oh-well world is the way things are. I don’t feel good, but maybe just enough can really actually be enough. Except if you slip once or squint a little, there’s room to glitch and wiggle. Can you see you look two ways? Can you break2 your reputation’s reflection? There’s a lot more to you than there is to you. “We think we know someone, but the truth is that we only know the version of them they have chosen to show us.” We think we know the world, but we just know the version everyone’s told us is. If we could peel back some of the inevitables, we might get something better than just enough. Are you ready for it? “…Ready For It?” is track one on Taylor Swift’s sixth studio release, Reputation. It’s a scattered and fried slab of poached sounds: some trap drums that thrum, some liberally-dropped bass gristles. Taylor Swift waxes puns (“We’ll move to an island/ And he can be my jailer, Burton to this Taylor”) and lobs lust at the object of her attentions, “Younger than my exes, but he act like such a man, so.” The Joseph Kahn-helmed video, an unpinnable and unwinnable sci-fi slop, pits black-hooded maybe-replicant Taylor Swift against captive probably-real/sometimes-on-a-horse Taylor Swift. “…Ready For It?” is impossibly stupid, a wheeling stab at a pop snarl that’s mostly burnt marshmallows. Sometimes I’m really bored by it. Sometimes I feel like dancing. There are plenty of reasons to not listen to Reputation. It’s an assertion of privileged desires (the dreary and overstuffed “King Of My Heart”) and a defense of bad choices (“I Did Something Bad,” flatulating baroque dubstep) made by Taylor Swift, who doesn’t exist, not like we do in our days and jobs and loves and dog walks. Taylor Swift Co. broke after Kanye West Inc. won, and neither of those things are real people and there’s nothing to win or lose except time and patience and maybe hope in pop music. Reputation is the boring screaming gesture on behalf of a marketing fleet, an advertisement reaching out expecting your righteous empathy. Except if Taylor Swift could be a person (she is, somewhere), she could break a little; Reputation is what those shards might sound like, little slivers swept up and chipping into each other. Reputation applied to pop’s mythological (and imaginary) narrative is part marketing strategy and part public fanfic: Britney Spears, an American Dream rotted in incubus; Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, goddess fixture birthing futures; Mariah Carey, the renewed every new year train wreck. It’s nearly always our divas who we wall up and scrutinize. And that’s on us, a failure we’re still trying to right. Even in the phantasm field of pop music (supposedly dreams, supposedly forever), we’re all too content to script and restrict the narrative. “The point being, despite our need to simplify and generalize absolutely everyone and everything in this life, humans are intrinsically impossible to simplify.” The point being, there’s a next you for you to be, if you want it. Over the sirens and clomps of her broken Reputation, Taylor Swift sings, “This is why we can’t have nice things darling/ Because you break them, I had to take them away.” It’s the sound of an anxious and confident artist striving and trying to, like on her soundest victories, connect. But where past Taylor Swifts have sheened in cohesion, Reputation is all jagged edge. It’s not edgy, to be sure: the shapes of these songs (admirably co-fashioned by Jack Antonoff and Max Martin and Shellback) welcome accessibility and the abundant, and occasionally redundant hooks are like a shark’s dermal scales, interlocked rows of teeth that sink and hit in waves. You’ll all chomp the shouted chorus of “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” when you’re waiting for that Black Friday night table at the hometown Denny’s; “Getaway Car” has at least five spots you’ll hum when you’re shopping for a partner’s bathrobe or a cat’s favorite holiday-shaped crunchies. You’ll be in Target. Like listening to Reputation, you’ll feel engaged and a little let down. But you might dance, too. That first single “Look What You Made Me Do” has a no-chorus that’s pretty dynamite. I swore there was nothing there until it wouldn’t go away. Taylor Swift’s care for craft remains, even if some of the flourishes are frantic. The good pop stuff (the kind that isn’t there until it won’t go away) looks like , a less-than/greater-than ballet: the artist has a single detail that gets blown up into a universal that resounds everywhere, only to re-narrow down to another individual. And for all the exhausting and eye-rolling album-roll out, the goddamn trucks, the perilously (and nearly damningly) apolitical hedging, Reputation is a testament to pop’s plastic doubling time. Taylor Swift broke some. Instead of Miley’s apologetic retreat into self-reducing nostalgia mode or Katy Perry’s cover band fart stab at #midtempo #weird, Taylor Swift and every single one of her problems doubles down on an exploratory pop mode, winked at on Red, exploded into on 1989. Taylor Swift broke some and didn’t apologize for breaking the reality we set for her. “Look what you just made me do.” And that pronoun might as well be about us. It’s Kanye and Kim, for sure and stupidly. But at its highest points, Reputation lobs pop responsibility back at the only party that matters: us. “All eyes on you, my magician/ All eyes on us/ You make everyone disappear, and/ Cut me into pieces.” Without a public willing to eviscerate and fandomize and tweet for, reputations vanish. “So it goes/ I’m yours to keep/ and I’m yours to lose.” Taylor Swift is willing to endure the idolatry and the idiocy; she’ll kill her one self dead in order to be the next new one in conversation with us (already immortal, never not cringe-worthy but also the most I’ve laughed in a pop song this year): “I’m sorry, the old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now. Why? Oh. Because she’s dead.” She’ll point us in a new direction, one different from how things look now. Like anything intrepid, it might be way off course of where we thought we were headed. But pop’s premise is plasticity, a precedent set when The Beatles and Stevie Wonder and Kate Bush promised with each next thing that the next next thing would be different and changed in some way. It would react to the world, but not without a vision to change it: “So call it what you want yeah, call it what you want to” It’s still icky. It’s important not to forget the icky stuff. Corporatizing forces will see how we like to dance and change and move forward, and they’ll sniff a buck. Part rumination on engaging with the pop icon and part deep end even after eating the meal, Reputation keeps the ball in the air, argues for moving forward, even if it’s herky jerky. It’s infuriating, how coached some of these flows are. It’s baffling how “End Game” spots guest verses from Future (!) and Ed Sheeran (!!) and manages to be a song fit snug in the part of our brains that makes us sway in the face of a world’s despairing. It’s joyous to barely see the invisible pulleys pulling my heart in on the hemi-clap of “Getaway Car;” those same pulleys almost undo the singer’s beating heart on “New Year’s Day.” Reputation is a bad idea, but it’s still an idea, the voice of a stranger I’d (want to) recognize anywhere. Reputation, almost utopia and frustrated icon splaying every direction, wishes the world in the new year will be a better place. Reputation has the ill-founded gall to actually envision what that world might look and sound like, even if it’s not this. 1. Bold text in this review is taken from Taylor Swift’s introduction to the Reputation, CD + Target Exclusive Magazine Vol. 2. (I bought this at the same Target where I bought my CD copy of Yeezus.) 2. Susan Sontag: “Photographed images do not seem to be statements about the world so much as pieces of it, miniatures of reality that anyone can make or acquire.” Reputation does not seem to be a statement about the world so much as pieces of it, refractions that shine some of our part in the pop story back on the artifact.” http://j.mp/2jMSMTN