Louder: Concerts Aren’t Back. Can Livestreams Do the Job?

Plus: Taylor Swift, Lianne La Havas, Erykah Badu and More

View in browser|nytimes.com Continue reading the main story July 24, 2020 By Caryn Ganz Pop Music Editor It’s become increasingly clear that live concerts the way we’re used to them, with fans sharing armrests, mosh pits or lungfulls of indoors air, aren’t coming back this year. What do we have in abundance? Livestreams. This Sunday’s Arts & Leisure coverage package is devoted to the experience (and business) of playing and watching shows through a screen. David Peisner walks us through the current terrain, and its big questions: Can the streams edge closer to the experience of an in-person show; can artists adjust to playing to a camera, rather than a crowd of screaming fans; can fans be convinced to pay for something they’ve been getting mostly for free? Erykah Badu, one of the fastest to embrace virtual concerts, tells Melena Ryzik about her work to develop her own streaming platform — her own way, of course. Our chief pop critic Jon Pareles, a concert aficionado, writes about his life as a stream viewer, deciding “intimacy is overrated"; bring back the wonder and the artifice. And Jon also gives you 10 streams that are worth watching, from the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra to Post Malone. Also this week: colleagues across the newsroom published a special package on the Americans With Disabilities Act at 30, which includes entertainers speaking about how they have navigated their careers, and a playlist of rappers from Krip-Hop Nation mixtapes, which showcase a worldwide network of musicians with disabilities. And yes: Taylor Swift returned with a surprise album. (Kanye West, however, hasn’t delivered his — yet.) Much more on that next week. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT THE STATE OF LIVESTREAMING Out of Office   Concerts Aren’t Back. Livestreams Are Ubiquitous. Can They Do the Job? With no return date for shows in sight, fans and artists are adapting to a new way of experiencing music together. Whether it’ll keep everyone satisfied — and paid — is still unclear. By David Peisner Rahim Fortune for The New York Times   Erykah Badu Is Blazing a New Trail (From Badubotron) When the Covid-19 shutdown hit the music industry, an artist who has never taken the conventional route started rethinking how she’d produce, play and interact with fans at concerts. By Melena Ryzik Out of Office   Critic’s Notebook Intimacy Is Overrated: Concerts in the Livestream Era What’s lost when audiences can’t be close to musicians, applause is virtual and over-the-top artists are crammed into screens? So much. By Jon Pareles n/a   10 Best Quarantine Concerts Online With in-person shows still mostly on hold, musicians are finding new ways to insert life into livestreams. By Jon Pareles Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT THE CRITICS & POPCAST the playlist Taylor Swift’s Heartbreak Dreamscape, and 9 More New Songs Hear tracks by J. Cole, the Avalanches, Courtney Marie Andrews and others. By Jon Pareles, Jon Caramanica and Giovanni Russonello album review Lianne La Havas Traces the Arc of a Romance With supple guitar and a freewheeling voice, the English songwriter delves into matters of the heart on her self-titled third album. By Jon Pareles Remembering Ennio Morricone, the Film Score Maestro His music was dynamic, bold and idiosyncratic, setting a high bar for composers connecting sound and vision. Jonno Rattman for The New York Times   ‘It’s a Risk for Everybody’: Why a Jazz Pianist Chose to Perform More than four months after his last public performance, the Grammy-winning artist Bill Charlap played at a storied Pennsylvania club, a glimpse into what may be the new normal for musicians. By John Marchese PLAYLISTS playlist 12 Forgotten Classics by Women-Led New Wave Bands Listen to lesser-known songs by Nervus Rex, Josie Cotton, the Waitresses and more that arrived in the early 1980s. By Doug Brod Krip-Hop Nation Showcases Rappers With Disabilities. Meet 5 of Our Favorites. Hear tracks by hip-hop musicians addressing otherizing media depictions, challenges and perseverance. By Christopher R. Weingarten Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT OBITUARIES Emitt Rhodes, 70, Dies; Singer-Songwriter Vanished After a Splash He resurfaced a decade ago, after having built a fan base that compared him to Paul McCartney. By Ben Sisario Annie Ross, Jazz Vocalist of ‘Twisted’ Renown, Dies at 89 She rose to fame with the vocal group Lambert, Hendricks and Ross and, after personal struggles, found success as both an actress and a cabaret mainstay. By Peter Keepnews Brigid Berlin, Socialite Who Joined Warhol’s World, Dies at 80 Born into privilege, she rejected her upbringing to become a fixture on the New York underground art scene of the 1960s and ’70s. By John Leland FEATURES true believers The Man Who Brian Eno Called ‘the Daddy of Us All’ La Monte Young, the composer who quietly shaped much of contemporary Western music, reaches his last act. By M.H. Miller ‘Almost Famous’: The Oral History of a Golden God’s Acid Trip As the coming-of-age rock tale turns 20, the cast and crew remember how a star’s badly aimed jump and other near-misses became a standout scene. By Ilana Kaplan NEWS Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for Power 105.1   The Charts Juice WRLD’s ‘Legends Never Die’ Earns the Year’s Biggest Debut The album is the second posthumous release in a row to top the chart this year, after Pop Smoke’s last week. By Ben Sisario Make a friend’s day: Forward this email! Get this from a friend? Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter @nytimesmusic. Send your feedback on Louder at theplaylist@nytimes.com. Check out our full range of newsletters. Continue reading the main story Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for Louder from The New York Times. To stop receiving these emails, unsubscribe or manage your email preferences. Subscribe to The TimesGet The New York Times app Connect with us on: Change Your EmailPrivacy PolicyContact UsCalifornia Notices The New York Times Company. 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018