Thursday, February 04, 2021

Sights and Sounds: Kim Gordon, Chris Hillman, The GRAMMY Museum®

Check out my roundup of breaking music news...Robert Kinsler


Kim Gordon releases new video for “Hungry Baby
starring Coco Gordon-Moore, directed by Clara Balzary

From Solo Debut Album No Home Record, Out Now on Matador

Today legendary musician and multi-disciplinary artist Kim Gordon releases the new video for “Hungry Baby,” directed by Clara Balzary and starring Coco Gordon-Moore, produced by Ways & Means. “Hungry Baby” is on Kim’s solo debut album, No Home Record, which was released last Fall on Matador Records to critical acclaim.

Clara Balzary says of the video, “I came up with the idea for the video after listening to “Hungry Baby” on a 2020 angst fueled walk around my suburban neighborhood. Coco is an amazing performer, and loved her as this character with such a raging internal world set against that quiet + empty backdrop of the parking lot. I’m so grateful to Kim for being so supportive and open to the idea. She is such a role model as someone for whom an art practice always comes before worries about ego or branding. The talented Sadie Wilking worked with Coco on choreography, and we couldn’t have done any of it without the legendary cinematographer and friend, Christopher Blauvelt, who is always so generous with his craft.”


No Home Record was produced largely by Justin Raisen (Charli XCX, Ariel Pink, Sky Ferreira) at Sphere Ranch in Los Angeles, along with contributions from Shawn Everett (Jim James, The Voidz, The War on Drugs) and composer/filmmaker Jake Meginsky (L’appel Du Vide). Gordon’s solo debut album’s title is a nod to the French-Belgian director Chantal Akerman’s film No Home Movie.

“Why a solo record? And why now?,” Gordon mused of the upcoming solo debut. “I don’t know, but it wouldn’t have happened without the persistence of Justin Raisen. Living in LA the last few years it feels like home, but the transience of the place makes it feel sometimes like no home.”

Since co-founding the seminal Sonic Youth in the early 80’s, Kim Gordon has remained at the nexus of music, fashion, art and (more recently) books and film. In the past few years alone, Gordon has debuted in the #1 spot on the NY Times Bestseller List with her 2015 memoir Girl In A Band, acted alongside Joaquin Phoenix and Jonah Hill under the direction of Gus Van Sant (in 2018’s “Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far On Foot”), released music and performed as one half of Body/Head alongside Bill Nace, and opened multiple solo-exhibitions at internationally renowned museums. 

Listen to No Home Record HERE.




Praise for No Home Record:

"The art star queen of New York cool...The music is a swirling aural collage with splashes of vintage Sonic Youth noise rock, offset by jagged, impressionistic lyrics..." 
The New York Times

"Kim Gordon is like the Joan Didion of indie rock, an avatar of laconic California cool, a figure both utterly familiar and inscrutable...as ferocious as she’s ever been." - Vogue

"Kim Gordon’s thrilling solo debut lives at the vanguard of sound and performance, shot through with the beautiful, unsparing noise that has always defined her art." - PitchforkBest New Music

"...a set of hard-hitting songs that can also feel dreamlike. The searing, searching album evokes music from Eighties New York rap to experimental electronics to Sonic Youth’s tidal noise rock..." - Rolling Stone

"...A heavily electronic soundscape that mostly leaves behind the squalling guitars of her longtime band Sonic Youth and finds new ways to sound experimental" - Vanity Fair

"One of the finest and most captivatingly intense rock records of 2019" - The FADER

"Through every heady drone, spacious dub, riotous punk rager and lysergic trap beat, Gordon's scorched rasp scrapes the shocked psyche clean." - NPR

"Her new album is an explosion of her freedom to be the artist that she’s always been, mixing poetry, music and, at times, laugh-out-loud funny lyrics." - Jen Kirkman, Playboy.com

"Gordon delivers a collection of biting observations on consumerism and pop culture, braiding threads of noise rock, hip-hop, and electronic music into her own unique fabric - New York Magazine’s Vulture, "The Best Albums of 2019”

“this longtime queen of the NYC underground stretches out again through layers of noise and melody, guitars and electronics, taking cues equally from the Stooges and underground hip-hop, with lyrics that are jagged and impressionistic...Gordon is dependably uncompromising, reflecting on tensions past and still to come." - LA Times

“A disorienting meditation on image and fantasy, LA’s bread and butter." - Cultured Magazine

"A defiant solo debut perfectly attuned to the ambient anger of the moment" - Consequence of Sound

"It’s jagged, chaotic and mesmerizing in a way that pulls you inevitably into the thick of it, as if the songs were exerting their own inescapable gravity." - Paste Magazine, “Best Punk Albums of 2019”

"No Home Record: a primal collection of songs that seem to come from the deepest and freest parts of her soul. There is no start or end; just freedom." - LADYGUNN

"A personal evolution, bringing all aspects of Gordon’s multidisciplinary creativity together under one roof. Her preferred minimalist aesthetic...is adeptly channeled into the sparsely layered songwriting on No Home Record." - Premier Guitar

KIM GORDON


Chris Hillman's compelling autobiography 'Time Between: My Life as a Byrd, Burrito Brother and Beyond' goes into second printing; will appear at Far West Folk Alliance


Appearing in virtual interview at Far West Folk Alliance on March 3, 2021 and in Signature Sounds interview on March 7, 2021


Chris Hillman
 is arguably the primary architect of what’s come to be known as country rock. After playing the Southern California folk and bluegrass circuit, he joined Roger McGuinnDavid CrosbyGene Clark and Michael Clarke as an original member of The Byrds. He went on to partner with Gram Parsons to launch The Flying Burrito Brothers, recording a handful of albums that have become touchstones of the Americana genre.
 
Hillman then embarked on a prolific recording career as a member of Stephen Stills’ Manassas, as a solo artist, and as a member of several groups that he insists sound more like law firms than bands: Souther-Hillman-Furay with acclaimed songwriter J.D. Souther and former Buffalo Springfield and Poco member Richie FurayMcGuinn, Clark & Hillman with two of his fellow former Byrds; and Rice, Rice, Hillman & Pedersen with legendary bluegrass musicians Tony RiceLarry Rice, and longtime collaborator and duo partner Herb Pedersen. As a songwriter, he appeared on the Billboard singles charts in four consecutive decades, and his songs have been recorded by a diverse range of artists, from Steve Earle to Patti Smith to Roy Rogers. In the 1980s, Hillman launched a successful mainstream country group when he formed The Desert Rose Band with Pedersen and John Jorgenson, scoring eight Billboard Top 10 country hits. In the midst of his country success he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame along with the other original members of the Byrds. He has since released a number of solo efforts, including 2017’s highly-acclaimed Bidin’ My Time, which was the final album produced by Tom Petty with executive producer Pedersen.

Hillman’s memoir, Time Between: My Life as a Byrd, Burrito Brother and Beyond, first published November 17, 2020 by BMG Books, has gone into its second printing and will be available at retail on February 23, 2021.
 
Hillman remains active on the interview circuit. On March 3 he will be featured at Far West Folk Alliances virtual conference, “Best of the West & Beyond,” interviewed by journalist Randy Lewis. He will appear on the Signature Sounds Interview series on March 7.
 
Four tours have been postponed due to the pandemic: The East Coast shows will move to spring of 2022. Midwest dates will move to September, Florida shows to October and Texas shows to November of this year.
 
In the memoir, Hillman takes readers behind the curtain of his quintessentially Southern Californian experience. Raised in San Diego County’s then-rural Rancho Santa Fe, Chris grew up in an idyllic 1950s environment that was filled with TV cowboys, horseback riding, exploring the outdoors, surfing, discovering girls, and falling in love with music. When his older sister came home from college with a stack of records by folk artists such as Woody Guthrie and Lead Belly, Chris was hooked. He soon fell in love with the bluegrass music of Bill MonroeFlatt & Scruggs, and The Stanley Brothers, spending hours mastering the guitar and mandolin. Once the Beatles invaded America, the various aspects of Hillman’s musical DNA came together that would eventually lead to him become a pioneering founding father of country-rock. 
 
According to Hillman, "I never anticipated such an incredible response to my book, Time Between, and to already be in the second printing is just phenomenal. I'm grateful to the many people who have embraced it."
 
“BMG has been so pleased with the reaction to Chris’s book,” adds Scott B. Bomar, Publisher and Senior Director of the company’s growing Books department. “We knew it was great, which is why we signed it, but even we were surprised by how swiftly we needed another printing. Nearly the entire first print run was accounted for by the time it hit the market, and we had to scramble to get another print run initiated during the busy holiday season. That’s a good problem to have. The critics and, more importantly, the fans have really resonated with Chris’s direct and honest style. We’re thrilled to be a part of helping him tell his story.”   
 
The book won press accolades upon publication. “It’s fascinating to read about his view from slightly out of the spotlight as countless memorable characters drift in and out of his life,” noted Variety. Forbes echoed: “To say that musician Chris Hillman had an interesting musical career would be a definite understatement. In the 1960s, Hillman was a member of two pioneering bands ... So it only makes sense that Hillman, who continues to record as a solo artist, pen a memoir about his time with those bands.”
 
Singer-songwriter Wesley Stace, reviewing in The Wall Street Journal, wrote: “Mr. Hillman, a Rock & Roll Hall of Famer with four Grammy nominations to his name, has a solid claim as anyone — though he modestly does not make it — to have invented the entire genre of country rock ... The cutthroat mentality of a band on the make is tactfully told. Mr. Hillman, a longtime Christian who understands that it's all about motes and beams, is as discreet about other people's bad choices as he is about his own, and Time Between gives him a chance to reflect, make amends and give thanks.”
No Depression summed it up: “Chris, who is still an active musician, has written a concise memoir that’s narrated in an easy-going conversational manner ... it’s hard to put down.” 
“Chris Hillman has been a well-kept secret in the history of rock. Yeah, we all know how great he was in the Byrds, but his contributions go well beyond that. Chris was a true innovator — the man who invented country rock. Every time the Eagles board their private jet Chris at least paid for the fuel.” —Tom Petty

“Chris Hillman is a bona fide pioneering godfather to generations of musical souls who’ve sought inspiration at that divine crossroads where rock & roll, country, bluegrass, folk, honky tonk, and gospel music intersect and harmonize. He’s a national treasure, truly a statesman.”  
—Marty Stuart

For more information about Chris Hillman, visit:
www.chrishillman.com
www.rounder.com (label)
www.skylineonline.com (for booking)


GRAMMY Museum announces 'Live From The Vault' digital series in partnership with Iron Mountain


FEATURED ARTISTS INCLUDE MAVIS STAPLES AND RINGO STARR
 
SERIES DEBUTS TODAY ON GRAMMY MUSEUM'S OFFICIAL STREAMING SERVICE, COLLECTION:LIVE
LOS ANGELES (February 4, 2021) — The GRAMMY Museum® announced today a new Live From The Vault series in partnership with Iron Mountain Entertainment Services (IMES), a division of Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE: IRM), the storage and information management services company. Since 2008, the GRAMMY Museum has curated more than 80 exhibits, hosted more than 1,000 programs and captured more than 2,000 hours of archived video footage. As the Official Preservation Partner of the GRAMMY Museum, IMES has stored the Museum's most prized physical artifacts in a climate-controlled vault and will now store, manage and distribute its video archives using Iron Mountain's secure digital content repository technology platform.
 
The GRAMMY Museum and IMES will curate specific archived videos as part of a new series, Live From The Vault, which takes fans inside the vaults of some of the Museum's most iconic programs, showcasing rarely seen footage. Mavis Staples will be the first artist featured from her 2010 program in the Museum's Clive Davis Theater, released starting today on the Museum's official streaming service COLLECTION:live with free access to all viewers. To further increase access, the Museum will utilize Iron Mountain's Content Localization Services (CLaaS) system to transcribe the Museum's archives into other target languages, including subtitles.
 
"As we’ve seen in the past year, it’s vital for museums to increase their digital presence and the GRAMMY Museum has been doing just that," said the Museum's President Michael Sticka. "We're thrilled to partner with IMES for our new Live From The Vault series to preserve these important recordings and moments in music history from our archives."
 
This series will also include a previously recorded program with Ringo Starr, which will be released on March 4 on COLLECTION:live. Additional artists and special programming will be announced soon.
 
“Our mission is to help our customers protect and activate their archives,” said Lance Podell, Senior Vice President and General Manager, IMES at Iron Mountain. “Our long relationship with the GRAMMY Museum is rooted in this shared dedication to preserve musical history. We’re proud to be the Museum’s Official Preservation Partner to help safeguard their diverse treasure trove and propel it into the streaming age, featuring dynamic artist interviews and performances. We’re excited about sponsoring the Live from the Vault series and its debut episode with musical pioneer Mavis Staples - what a privilege it is to hear in her own words how her upbringing and social justice convictions inspired her music.”
 
ABOUT THE GRAMMY MUSEUM
The GRAMMY Museum is a nonprofit organization dedicated to cultivating a greater understanding of the history and significance of music through exhibits, education, grants, preservation initiatives, and public programming. Paying tribute to our collective musical heritage, the Museum explores and celebrates all aspects of the art form — from the technology of the recording process to the legends who've made lasting marks on our cultural identity.
 
For more information, visit www.grammymuseum.org, "like" the GRAMMY Museum on Facebook, and follow @GRAMMYMuseum on Twitter and Instagram.
 
ABOUT COLLECTION:LIVE
COLLECTION:live is the GRAMMY Museum's official online streaming service, featuring an artfully curated collection of newly produced artist interviews, performances and livestreams, as well as special releases from the GRAMMY Museum archive. The Museum's popular Public Programs series has been recorded over the last decade from the Clive Davis Theater in Los Angeles and has since surpassed the 1,000 program mark. Proceeds benefit the Museum's music education initiatives.
 
About Iron Mountain Entertainment Services 
Iron Mountain Entertainment Services (IMES), the media and entertainment division of Iron Mountain Incorporated®, is the go-to physical and digital media archiving service for the media and entertainment industries. IMES partners with clients ranging from the broadcast, film, music and sports sectors to brand archives and individual artists' collections and estates, to protect and activate media archives to preserve our collective cultural heritage. A global leader in media preservation, restoration and archive management, IMES offers industry-leading archive, storage, chain-of-custody processes and physical and digital content preservation solutions to ensure the complete protection of some of the world’s most treasured and iconic assets. Visit https://www.imes.media/ for more information.
 
About Iron Mountain
Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE: IRM), founded in 1951, is the global leader for storage and information management services. Trusted by more than 225,000 organizations around the world, and with a real estate network of more than 90 million square feet across approximately 1,450 facilities in approximately 50 countries, Iron Mountain stores and protects billions of valued assets, including critical business information, highly sensitive data, and cultural and historical artifacts. Providing solutions that include secure records storageinformation managementdigital transformation, secure shredding, as well as Intelligent Content Service Platformdata centerscloud services and art storage and logistics, Iron Mountain helps customers lower cost and risk, comply with regulations, recover from disaster, and enable a more digital way of working. Visit www.ironmountain.com for more information.


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