This is what happened in dance and electronic music today, Wednesday, July 22, 2015.
- Spotify struck a deal with Beatport to gain access to its library of music and videos which, from the looks of it, will also grant access to multiple festivals co-sponsored by Beatport’s parent company, SFX Entertainment. Don’t be shocked if you see your mom blaring “Oi Oi Oi” by Boys Noize in the minivan this time next year (via New York Times).
- Inspired by the events earlier this year in Baltimore, Prince has released the lyric video for his latest song, “Baltimore.” While the funk is in full effect, the most important thing about this track is the message that it’s up to us to change the world. Now we wait to see if Prince will finally stop beating around the bush and reveal that he’s an alien sent from the planet Blee-borp 12 to unite the human race through funk (via Mashable).
And that’s when Prince floated in and saved the day. - Indie/dance rock jam band Battles released an in-depth documentary about the making of their upcoming album La Di Da Di due out in September. The psychedelic group discusses their process, showcases new music, and made us realize that their rabid fan base of 6 hipsters who stumbled on them at SXSW will be incredibly excited (via Pitchfork).
- Flying Lotus is now the in-house entertainment on Hannibal Burress’ talk show on Comedy Central. This is cool because it means potheads who like Hannibal Burress have something in common with potheads who like Flying Lotus (via Pigeons & Planes).
- Electronic-R&B singer Lion Babe made it public that she’s disappointed that there’s no lion emoji. We’re disappointed in the existence of emojis in general. What happened to good ol’ fashioned words, people.*
Screw a lion emoji. Get this girl a bouncy hair emoji! Or, at the very least, a sponsorship from Garnier Fructis.
(*DISCLAIMER: Taco emojis would be dope as hell, though.)