Random Music News for Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Yesterday was a long day of chasing the sun. Up at 6am Tuesday Singapore time. A 9:10am flight to London that lasted 14 hours and 20 minutes, putting me at Heathrow at 3:44pm Tuesday. After a two-hour layover, I was on an Air Canada flight to Toronto lasting a little over eight hours, which had me at YYZ at around 9:30pm Tuesday.

How many hours did February 2 last for me? I’m too jetlagged for figure it out, but I’m sure it was almost as long as the one Bill Murray endured in Groundhog Day.

And now, the music news.

1. If you missed all the nominations for the 2016 Juno Awards yesterday, go here. Another summary can be found here.
2. Damon Albarn to ISIS: “F**K YOU!” We’re going to play the gig anyway.
3. Hey! Things are looking good for the El Mocambo!
4. See? Gene Simmons can be a nice guy.
5. Ministry’s Al Jourgensen going pop? How is that possible with a band he calls Surgical Meth Machine?
6. You know that Mariah Carey’s wedding is going to be completely insufferable, right? (Via Tom)
7. Heartbreaking music from Syrian refugees.
8. One of the world’s biggest owners of dance festivals has gone bankrupt.
9. Tim Armstrong of Rancid knows the truth is out there so he’ll be on an upcoming episode of the rebooted X-Files.
10. What would you think of this sort of musical flash mob musical marriage proposal?
11. Why 1,500 YouTube plays now counts as an album sale in the US. Some additional explanation can be found here.
12. On that note, Michael Jackson’s Thriller has gone 32x platinum.
13. And moving to Canada, here’s the latest list of music certification awards.
14. Here’s an article that the staff at sister site Geeks&Beats has been reading. It’s all about the state of podcasts. (Via Lou)
15. Lady Gaga will sing the national anthem at the Super Bowl on Sunday.
16. Here’s yet another app that promises to bring fans and artists closesr together.