Music Biz Headlines, June 11, 2018

By Kerry Doole

The Cure's Robert Smith: 'I was very optimistic when I was young – now I'm the opposite'

The singer and songwriter has been curating the Meltdown festival, and is planning to record the first Cure album in 10 years. But will it be fuelled by magic mushroom tea? – Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian

Anthony Bourdain: 15 great musician encounters

From touring Senegal with Youssou N'Dour to talking baseball with Alice Cooper, we look back at the late chef's most memorable artist meet-ups  –  Rolling Stone

Something new in the air at music festivals: cannabis companies

At the recent Field Trip music festival in Toronto, concertgoers got a taste of what many cannabis brands hope is a step toward the future of live music sponsorship –  David Friend, Canadian Press

15 hot acts to catch at North by Northeast, from Jazz Cartier to NOBRO

NXNE’s organizers were big enough at the end of 2017 to concede that their two-year experiment of a ticketed event localized in the Toronto Port Lands had widely been judged a failure by the local concertgoing public. So it's back to a more familiar, if still slightly modified model this year – Ben Rayner, Toronto Star

Metropolitan Police apply for court order to stop gang members making drill music, in unprecedented move

'Banning drill is not just and it’s not going to be useful,'' says youth worker – Chris Baynes, The Independent

Alanis Morissette: ‘I'd like to say sorry to my ex-boyfriends’

The Canadian musician on home births, ex-boyfriends and that misnamed song  – Rosanna Greenstreet, The Guardian

Pianist Roney draws inspiration from Keith Jarrett’s ‘The Köln Concert’

Montreal-based pianist and jazz educator John Roney will perform his reimagining of Keith Jarrett’s landmark 1975 album “The Köln Concert” at three major Canadian jazz festivals in June – Ed Enright, downbeat.com

Ray Reaves’ double life 

The up-and-coming rapper released his duplicitous EP The Gemini on Friday –  Brandon Young, The Coast

Angélique Kidjo on the myth of cultural appropriation and covering Talking Heads’ Remain in Light

She learned the traditional folk forms of nearby villages right alongside soul and rock’n’roll imported from America, an at-home education that led her to fantasize about what life outside of Benin might be like – Grayson Haver Currin, Pitchfork

Punk rock legends Social Distortion sees fans get younger as decades roll by

As the group gets older, the crowds get younger. “The progression has been kind of strange,” muses frontman Mike Ness over the phone from Seattle – Tom Murray, Edmonton Journal

Kardinal Offishall recalls the rise of Toronto basketball and hip-hop

Looking back at the evolution of basketball in Canada, Toronto's hip-hop godfather outlines the parallels between the genre and the sport's come up – Redbull.com

She Stole My Beer takes fans on a nostalgia trip

“It was such a great, great time. Boy, we really had so much fun—and we still do. We’re such close friends, it’s almost like the band is a sideline for friendship, in a way" - Tom Taylor  – Steve Newton, Georgia Straight

Tona's Black Mirror is a defiant outlier from the Toronto hip-hop sound

With his syllable-cramming delivery and gritty beats, Tona isn't up on the trendy sounds of the city, but that doesn't mean he should be overlooked – Del Cowie, NOW

A zombie flick and a fake country music video: How two Quebec artists are going their own way

Quebec’s francophone entertainment universe is small but prolific. It tends to punch above its weight in most per capita calculations –  Allan Woods, Toronto Star