Rock & Roll Hall of Fame - 2021 Nominations

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Rock & Roll Hall of Fame - 2021 Nominations

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - Cleveland, Ohio USA

The nominees are out and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2021 is as eclectic and diverse as ever. The list includes 16 extremely talented acts, with 7 receiving their first nomination. @rockhall made the announcement earlier today and invited fans to join in and vote for their favourites, to get them into this Cathedral of Legends.

https://twitter.com/rockhall/status/1359489797056696325

The nominations are announced

To qualify for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, all nominees have to have released their first commercial recording at least 25 years before their first nomination. The nominations list for the Hall of Fame begins with Mary J. Blige, whose first album 'What's the 411' was released in 1992.

This year's Hall of Fame contains seven first-time nominees. Pioneer of the Afrobeat, Fela Kuti, who passed away in 1997, released his first work 'Fela, Fela, Fela' in 1969. The Go-Go's, who formed in 1978 and released their first album, 'Beauty and the Beat' in 1981. Jay-Z began his hugely successful life in the music industry in the mid '90's and is now regarded as one of the most influential artists in Hip-Hop history. His first album 'Reasonable Doubt' hit the charts in 1996. Heavy metal legends Iron Maiden, having been around since the mid '70's with over 40 albums to their discography, have also received their first nomination.

Three of the first-timers already appear in the Hall of Fame, though in different guises. Carole King has been nominated for the Hall of Fame 2021, but was inducted in 1990 with David Goffin for her songwriting talents. Tina Turner, was inducted in 1991 but with partner Ike Turner. This is her first solo nomination. The Foo Fighters also make their first appearance. However, Dave Grohl already has a place after being inducted in 2014 as part of the band, Nirvana. The remaining artists in the nominations are, Chaka Khan, LL Cool J, New York Dolls, Rage Against the Machine, Todd Rundgren and Dionne Warwick.

https://twitter.com/foofighters/status/1359497561275392006

Foo Fighters receive their first nomination

The nominees for 2021 will be announced in May, with the winners being decided by a combination of a voting body, of more than 1,000 artists, historians and music industry members plus the fan vote via the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s website.

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26
Aug

Bradley Jago - A Brilliant Artist Exploring Queer Identity

When you first listen to Bradley Jago, right away, you are overpowered by the sheer force of his voice. It takes centre in what feels to be an intimate stage, one that exists outside of space and time, where you and only you become privy to not only the beauty of Jago’s soulful voice, but also the profoundness of his lyrics. Rain is a song that is full of feeling, full of something rare in music - accountability. Jago tells me that the song is about change, letting the rain wash over you and forgetting the mistakes that you’ve made. He asks if we can hear the rain pour, and we can. Behind the beat, there is the unmistakable pitter patter of gentle rain sounds. But this question conceals another. When talking to Jago about the intention of the song, he told me: “I was… looking back at everyone I dated and I was like “Oh damn, there’s some people that I’ve actually fucked over a little bit.” … And Rain is an apology to those people, to say I’ve changed now, and even though I have caused you pain, I hope we can move forward after. [It] is a metaphor for the pain I have caused them.” The song itself has smooth jazzy influences. Jago’s clear voice overlaps itself in a layered harmony with a gentle underscored bass, Jago seemingly having a quiet moment of reflection to himself, as he sings to “let it rain”. The song’s intimacies are intentional. According to Jago “It’s kind of like a quiet moment to yourself. You’re at the gig with me in this intimate venue.” Then, the drums kick in. There is a desperation to the song emphasised by the changed tempo - the emotion becomes fevered as he sings “let it rain” - the words repeating, creating a heightened emotional effect - it feels as if he is begging, bargaining, hoping. There is no longer just a sweetness and a softness and a sadness. There is a frenzy, a fury to be understood. And that’s what love, remorse, and pain is like. There’s also important depth to be acknowledged within Jago’s music. Jago himself is a queer artist, who writes from the queer perspective. Why is this important to be acknowledged? Because in a song that is this intimate and honest, you need to understand why it is also brave. Queer identity comes with an enormous amount of negatives - it’s a terrifying thing to out oneself, and make yourself inherently vulnerable to the disdain of others, and also yourself. Jago is changing the game by bringing this honesty to his music, in a world where queer people still find themselves being judged, discriminated against, the context of one love song can change from being a sweet romantic piece to a dramatic profession of bravery. Jago is interested in analysing both sides of the spectrum of queer experience. “I think I’d want to write about the negatives [of queer identity]. Being queer is celebrated a lot (as it bloody well should be). But also there are negatives that people aren’t talking about.” It’s important to note that queer art, music and writing should not be made distinct by its queerness. Of course it adds depth and context to the art itself, but it is important to acknowledge the art as full of feeling, and therefore, universality. As Jago himself points out: “If I can relate to a straight song, a straight person can relate to my queer song.” So what’s in store for Jago for the future? He is doing festivals Victorious, and The People’s Lounge - “Because the music is so honest, I don’t want to do too much to the music. I want it to be really raw and still sound great - but very authentic and sound like it’s coming from my soul.” He also tells me: “I’m writing a track at the moment called ‘New Gay Sadness’ (there’s a little snippet available on Jago’s instagram) - it’s about the gay yuppies in London who are living their life but cannot find love. There’s a lot of pressure… ‘okay, we’re getting to a place of equality, still a long way to go… it’s like ‘oh you should be happy now’ but you have all these other life pressures of why aren’t you in a relationship. Why haven’t you achieved this yet?’” You can catch Bradley at the Victorious festival on the People's Lounge stage at 5:10pm on the 27th of August. Listen to his amazing track RAIN here Here

05
Jun

Give-Get-Go get creative and launch FREE Mini Talks starting Tonight

We are really looking forward to joining Tony Klinger and his team at Give-Get-Go in launching their new mini talks. They are informative and fun and we want all our members to have the opportunity to join in. Tony told us that, "During these difficult and dangerous times our businesses and our personal lives are disturbed and might well be hurting. We are in the creative industries so we thought let's be creative. Instead of thinking about what later advantage we might gain, for which there will still be time later, we should be thinking of what we can do for each other. To that end we at www.give-get-go.com will be giving our HINTS AND TIPS mini talks to everyone in the creative industry, and it is free to all comers starting at the end of this week and continuing for the duration of the emergency. Don't expect anything fancy, but the information will be useful to anyone with aims and ambitions in this industry and for all creative people looking for ways to make it pay for them after the virus. Who knows, our HINTS AND TIPS might be useful to you and we will do our best to make them interesting. We aim to start with a pre-recorded brief introduction this Friday at 5pm UK time. We will be introducing our subject and ourselves and I might even shave beforehand!HINTS AND TIPS talks start this Friday 17 April 2020 at 5 pm UK time On social media under the name Tony Klinger." https://www.give-get-go.com/

16
Feb

Big Frank & MazeyJune - ‘Sun Outside’ Single Review

This chilled out hip-hop callback from Big Frank beckons the summer with the help of MazeyJune’s soulful voice. London based chillhop producer, Big Frank releases his first single since his brilliant ‘Phases of Nature’ album from 2017. Another new Jeeni artist, Big Frank’s resurgence on the scene is certainly one to watch and Jeeni can’t wait to build up our soul, hip-hop and RnB channels with his upcomming tracks. His 2017 album fully showcased Frank’s understanding, appreciation and prowess in instrumental hip-hop. Although some of the best producers often release unaccompanied beat tapes and projects such as Madlib and the late J Dilla, it seems now that Big Frank is looking to collaborate, beginning with the up-and-coming MazeyJune. ‘Sun Outside’ sees Frank with his staple effortlessly serene and well-rounded beats accompanying MazeyJune’s free-flowing, enchanting melodies. Frank does well to leave plenty of room for Mazey to shine with scaling vocalisations and expressive passages of lyrics. The steady strums of a nylon-stringed guitar bounce around and reverberate across all other parts of the instrumental and it creates an almost eerily large space in which the single sits. This, along with nearly unplaceable background notes and drones provide a strong sense of atmosphere for this short, yet promising single. MazeyJune’s voice is fluid, dark and velvety smooth. Occasionally, her soulful and wavering vocal tone is reminiscent of Celeste and other times, she steps low and deep like the legendary Nina Simone; an adaptable and impressive voice from MazeyJune. Considering how well ‘Sun Outside’ turned out, let’s hope that this single means that more is coming from both Big Frank and MazeyJune. Check out the brand-new single here: https://jeeni.com/sun-outside-mazeyjune-and-big-frank/ And check out Big Frank's showcase on Jeeni here: https://jeeni.com/showcase/bigfrank/ How can Jeeni support artists like Big Frank? JEENI is a multi-channel platform for original entertainment on demand. We’re a direct service between creatives and the global audience. album review album review album review • We give creatives, independent artists and performers a showcase for their talent and services. And they keep 100% of everything they make. • We empower our audience and reward them every step of the way. • We promise to treat our members ethically, fairly, honestly and with respect. • Access to artist liaison and a supportive marketing team.

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