Cities of the Plain

G5 - Your (posted when I’m keeping up with the internet) EP of Music Links

(That photo… I mean, as far as candid portraits go, that’s as good as it gets, right?  Ringo’s expression is absolutely perfect.)

1. If you do one thing music-related this week, it should be to listen to the latest episode of Hype Men, a lengthy interview with Just Blaze.  It’s very ‘inside baseball,’ but even if you haven’t been keeping up with hip-hop over the past few years, you’ll enjoy the back and forth and all the history recounted.
2. Another terrific interview from last week: Terry Gross’ with Justin Timberlake on Fresh Air.  The biggest bummer from the interview?  It seems like JT is content on focusing on his acting career and is unsure when he’ll go back to making music.
3. “Journalists like to criticize me, but no journalists are in Brazil making music with kids. They’re sitting in an office in fucking Boston drinking Mountain Dew Code Red.” - Diplo, replying to criticisms that he is culturally exploitative.  Code Red is exactly what old people trying to stay up with the youth would drink.
4. There’s lots of new news about Kanye’s Runaway, a 40ish minute feature film
5. Finally, take a brief moment of silence for Solomon Burke, pioneer of soul, who passed away this weekend at age 70