This Week, In Music: Week Ending 17th April

Behold, the dawning of a new age. Or, at least, the birth of a new regular column for the fabric site. Between the staff employed here we spend a whole bunch of our time seeking out, reacting to, recommending and playing each other new music. Understandably it’s an integral part of what we do. So, in simplistic terms, we wanted to create a place for us to share the things we share internally, with you, externally. But rather than have that be screenshots of hundreds of different and badly spelled Skype IMs we decided to make it a little bit more curated...

Tout Justice

We all know it's long been impossible to scoop tickets for Glastonbury. From the rush register for even the idea of an opportunity to spend a week's wages on a weekend on Worthy Farm to the fact that this year's allocation sold out in half an hour, it's always been a bit of a scrum. So when a lady called Christine Babb claimed that she could use her music industry contacts to get fans cheap tickets to the festival this year, 29 people gave her money for tickets that never materialized. As Glasto organiser Michael Eavis put it “nobody called Christine Babb is either employed by Glastonbury Festival or has any tickets to sell for the Festival.” As FACT report, Babb is facing prosecution and possible jail time as a result.

Drake vs. The Internet Post That Madonna Incident

Bringing Madonna out on stage during his performance of 'Madonna' at his debut Coachella performance was undoubtedly intended to set Drake's performance afire; but when you're dealing with a celebrated live-wire, scandal accustomed artist like Madonna perhaps you need to consider her own motivations. So, in what looked like an unplanned action, when Madonna planted a long, tongue deep kiss on Drake it doesn't really have come as that much of a surprise. Madonna knows how to play the game, she's been doing it now for longer than... well, nearly everyone but as you can see from the header photo, his reaction wasn't entirely comfortable. Surprised, yes. Loving it, no. The stunt worked though, regardless of whether it was pre-planned or ordained by Drake's people or not, the spectacle went round gossip sites and through social media like a TGV with a rocket in it's rear carriage. Considering how sketchy, spaced and... cringey her actually mini medley performance was, it's all eerily reminiscent of Madonna's Britney and Xtina spectacle back in 2003 at MTV's VMAs where Madge's actions smacked of someone already a little out of date, grabbing for the headlines, trying to claw back that vital sex appeal after she invested herself 100% in that Ali G collaboration. As an aside, you should read Ernest Baker's Drake In Real Life piece on Four Pins here. You can stream the full Coachella set here.

Steve Albini Talks Sense

Never one to mince his criticisms the Shellac member, studio owner, heroic producer and underground god, Steve Albini spoke out against Jay-Z's streaming service, TIDAL. His uncompromising opinions are something he's become known for, after his now seminal rant/essay/come life manifesto, The Problem With Music educated open minds in 1993. Noting that “if you want your music to play at the push of a button, convenience is going to trump sound quality 100% of the time” he underlines his point by saying "if the internet has demonstrated anything over the years, it’s that it has a way of breaking limitations placed on its content.” Read about the article in full on The Guardian.

Run It Rude Boy

This week we announced our FABRICLIVE Summer Season so we made the world a present.

And finally...

Kanye West Update

This week Kanye West jumped into a lake while performing...