Art Times From April 2016

No artist of the rock & roll era compares to singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Prince. He was the rare combination of a visionary pop conceptualist and master musician who could capture the sounds he imagined. This quality fueled his remarkable success throughout the 1980s, a decade in which he authored a string of nine gold, platinum, or multi-platinum albums that included 1999 (1982), Purple Rain (1984), and Sign 'o' the Times (1987). Ideas came to Prince so quickly that they couldn't be contained on his own records. He masterminded albums by the Time and Sheila E. and gave away hit songs to the Bangles and Sheena Easton, shaping the sound of popular music in the process.

No artist of the rock & roll era compares to singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Prince. He was the rare combination of a visionary pop conceptualist and master musician who could capture the sounds he imagined. This quality fueled his remarkable success throughout the 1980s, a decade in which he authored a string of nine gold, platinum, or multi-platinum albums that included 1999 (1982), Purple Rain (1984), and Sign 'o' the Times (1987). Ideas came to Prince so quickly that they couldn't be contained on his own records. He masterminded albums by the Time and Sheila E. and gave away hit songs to the Bangles and Sheena Easton, shaping the sound of popular music in the process.

“On the last album, there was too much of me.” That’s how Anthony Gonzalez – the sonic auteur behind that most sublime purveyor of symphonic-indie-electronic-dream pop, M83, describes the primary inspiration behind this album, released Mute. Highly anticipated, "Junk" is not just M83’s first studio artist album in half a decade; it’s also the follow-up to "Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming" - which upon release in 2011 put M83 in the direct current of the mainstream. So why would Gonzalez try to remove himself from its follow-up and supplant himself with the surprising likes of Beck and Steve Vai. Wait, Steve Vai? The legendary virtuoso guitar hero who defned an era? On a M83 album in 2016? In trying to “remove” his identifable musical presence, ironically Gonzalez may have made one of his most personal eforts yet in "Junk" and with no compromise.

Natasha Collins is the owner of the legendary boutique cake-making company Nevie-Pie Cakes, known for supplying high-profile brands, celebrity clients, and individuals with delicious, decadent pastries.

“On the last album, there was too much of me.” That’s how Anthony Gonzalez – the sonic auteur behind that most sublime purveyor of symphonic-indie-electronic-dream pop, M83, describes the primary inspiration behind this album, released Mute. Highly anticipated, "Junk" is not just M83’s first studio artist album in half a decade; it’s also the follow-up to "Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming" - which upon release in 2011 put M83 in the direct current of the mainstream. So why would Gonzalez try to remove himself from its follow-up and supplant himself with the surprising likes of Beck and Steve Vai. Wait, Steve Vai? The legendary virtuoso guitar hero who defned an era? On a M83 album in 2016? In trying to “remove” his identifable musical presence, ironically Gonzalez may have made one of his most personal eforts yet in "Junk" and with no compromise.