MUSIC BUZZ: Crystal Castles // Torres // More

When singer Alice Glass left Crystal Castles half a year ago, it didn’t look like they split in friendship and that the band was over. Now there’s a new song with a new singer who sounds much like Alice. Pitchfork interviewed producer Ethan Kath for some background:

“Frail” was recorded recently and released as a message that we are in studio writing and recording a new album. The vocals are not my pitched voice (as on “Violent Youth” or the album version of “Not in Love”). A girl named Edith is singing.

Ok.

Mackenzie Scott aka Torres is about to release one of the most anticipated albums of the year. For London on the Inside she gave an insight into her songwriting process:

Every time is different. Alot of time I will have a lyrical idea that I want to expand on and that’s maybe what you would call the hook or the center of the song and I like to build around that. Alot of times I’ll also start with the melodic idea, sometimes it’s both. But I think the common thread is that its starting with the center and write round it.

However she does it, the result is intense and very personal. She also released a new track Cowboy Guilt.

Marc Hogan digs deep to find an answer to the question what music is actually worth. In dollars. But that is not so easy:

As it turned out, this problem—comparing the price of vinyl apples to CD oranges, download kumquats to streaming (I don’t know) pomegranates—was a constant one across the history of recorded music. Finding a way around, I decided, it would require some accounting as creative as more than a few songs I’ve heard.

It’s a good read, but in the end, as you might have expected, there is no answer to the question.

Scott Greer, who does remixes in his free time, finds himself caught in the confusing and conflicting net of copyright rules, which almost cost him his Soundcloud account.

This week, I really dug Speedy Ortiz’ new album Foil Deer (Spotify, iTunes). Elke fell in love with Avid Dancer’s debut 1st Bath (Spotify, iTunes).