I’ve been back and forth about keeping my blog newsletter going for a while now, and I’m going to start experimenting with posting that type of content instead of emailing it. So then, please enjoy July’s music news bites below.
The Police have a new oral history at The Washington Post with a focus on the Synchronicity album. (Listen or read at the link.) A quote from original Police member Henry Padovani early in the piece is a standout: Stewart Copeland “wanted to put a punk band together, and you just don’t do that. It doesn’t work. You’re either a punk band or you’re not.”
Gojira, the French metal band that used to be attached to the djent genre, shocked many by performing in the opening ceremonies of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. The band’s segment starts at about the 0:26 mark at the link.
KUGOU AIK is another AI tech tool for music, where if you sing into it for a minute, it’ll translate your vocals into a variety of languages. Murray Stassen has the details at Music Business Worldwide.
Eric Dunn died in June, it was announced on social media. He played guitar in bands that include Keoma, Enabler, and Harlots.
Martin Phillipps was the founder of The Chills, a noted band from New Zealand. He passed away in June. Scoop Harrison has the details at Consequence of Sound.
Shawn Bonner of the D.C. band The Homeowners passed away in July, one of his bandmates posted on social media.
Jens “Trümmer” Pruditsch was a European booking agent for different bands. He died in July. Melt-Banana shared the news, among other bands.
Pinche Peach, a longstanding member of Brujeria, died in July, the band announced online. A.k.a. Ciriaco Quezada, he “was the unmasked face of Brujeria!” the band wrote.
Patty Waters was an old-school avant-garde jazz vocalist and she died in June, it was announced on social media.
Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon died in July at 81. She started the vocal ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock and co-founded the Freedom Singers and the Harambee Singers. Democracy Now! writes, “In the early 1960s, Bernice Johnson Reagon performed with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee’s musical group Freedom Singers, bringing liberation songs to marches, jails and organizing meetings.”
Image: A frame from the “Synchronicity II” music video by The Police.
