Laurence Gartel © 2014 The Recording Academy. All rights reserved

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Laurence Gartel Creates The Official 57th GRAMMY Awards Artwork

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Striking art for Music's Biggest Night features a life-sized version of the iconic GRAMMY statuette wrapped in distinctive psychedelic imagery using vinyl, glitter and prismatic materials
GRAMMYs
Dec 19, 2014 - 5:00 am

The Recording Academy has announced the selection of artist Laurence Gartel to create the official artwork for the 57th Annual GRAMMY Awards. The striking work features a life-sized version of the iconic GRAMMY statuette wrapped in the distinctive psychedelic imagery of the artist using vinyl, glitter and prismatic materials. The piece will be used to create the official artwork for Music's Biggest Night and will grace the cover of the GRAMMY Awards program book, telecast tickets, poster, and other promotional materials.

"We are thrilled to have Laurence Gartel create our official GRAMMY Awards artwork as he brought a truly visual element to the iconic GRAMMY statuette," said Neil Portnow, President/CEO of The Recording Academy. "His work provides a fitting nod to the vibrancy of the artists, musicians, and creative professionals who we’ll honor at the 57th Annual GRAMMY Awards."

Gartel has been known around the world as a pioneer of digital art. His innovative and colorful imagery has championed many notable advertising campaigns over the past 35 years. He grew up in New York City, where he was greatly influenced by the punk rock scene, working alongside musicians Stiv Bators, Sid Vicious, Wendy O. Williams and the Ramones. His groundbreaking work has been exhibited in the United States at the Museum of Modern Art, Princeton University Art Museum, and Long Beach Museum of Art, as well as internationally in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History, Bibliothèque nationale de France, and Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Gartel has spent the last several years creating art cars and was the feature of the 113th Annual New York International Auto Show with his own Pavilion. View more of Gartel's work at www.gartelart.com.

Gartel joins a growing list of talented artists, including Shepard Fairey, Charles Fazzino, Frank Gehry, Marcus Glenn, Phil Hansen and David LaChapelle, who have all created the annual official GRAMMY artwork.

The 57th Annual GRAMMY Awards will be held Feb. 8, 2015, at Staples Center in Los Angeles and broadcast live in high-definition TV and 5.1 surround sound on CBS from 8–11:30 p.m. (ET/PT). For updates and breaking news, visit The Recording Academy's social networks on Twitter and Facebook and Instagram. 

Beach Boys

Beach Boys

Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

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Remembering The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds': For The Record

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Take a look back at the album that revolutionized the sound of the classic band
Renée Fabian
GRAMMYs
Jul 19, 2018 - 12:24 pm

If there's one band that could encapsulate the sound of summer it would be the aptly named Beach Boys. Since their inception in 1961, the GRAMMY-winning California band has taken us straight to the source of sun, sand and surfing with a string of hit albums. But with their 11th studio album, 1966's masterpiece Pet Songs, masterminded largely by Brian Wilson, the band created a new, more complex soundscape that cemented their place in music history.

Revisit The Beach Boys' 'Pet Sounds'

The story goes that Wilson had crafted much of what would become Pet Sounds by the time the rest of the band — comprising at the time vocalist Al Jardine, vocalist Bruce Johnston, vocalist/co-writer Mike Love, guitarist/vocalist Carl Wilson, and drummer/vocalist Dennis Wilson — returned from a tour of Japan and Hawaii.

The album's musical and lyrical direction marked a departure from the surf rock the Beach Boys had been known for, but Brian Wilson was adamant about the evolving direction of the band's sound, which included many orchestral instruments and unconventional sound effects using bicycle bells, Coca-Cola cans and barking dogs.

"The result was autobiographical, but it wasn't Wilson's autobiography," writes Liel Leibovitz about Wilson's masterpiece. "[It's] a collective autobiography of everything we all feel when we wake up in the morning and are moved by the mystery of how impossible it is, how inevitable, and how stupidly joyful just to try and reach out to another human being."

Commercially, however, the album initially didn't reach the same heights as previous efforts. It peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard 200 while popular tracks "Wouldn't It Be Nice," "God Only Knows" and "Caroline, No" achieved chart success in the U.S. and abroad. But as the rest of the world caught up with the genius of the album, it's now earned triple platinum sales status with the RIAA and is hailed as one of the best pop albums of all time.

Accordingly, Pet Sounds was inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame in 1998. In 2001 the Beach Boys were also honored with the Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award for the indelible mark they have made on the music industry.

On Location: Los Angeles
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Go 'On Location' In Los Angeles With Moby, Jade Novah, Nick Hexum & More

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Follow us to Los Angeles where host Charlie Travers visits some of the city's finest and funkiest hidden gems with local musicians
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Jul 18, 2018 - 7:43 pm

From Santa Monica to DTLA, Silverlake to Venice Beach, Los Angeles is as diverse, creative and action-packed as it is big. Want proof? Look no further than On Location: L.A., the latest episode of the Recording Academy's new music and travel series.

Take The 'On Location' Tour Of Los Angeles

In this second episode of the On Location series, host Charlie Travers digs into the rich musical and cultural history of the city that has something for everyone: Los Angeles. Much more than just the glitz and glam of Hollywood, L.A. contains countless rewarding gems just waiting to be experienced by those willing to go on a personal quest to find them. And who better to explore the city with than musicians who know exactly where to go?

Keen to capture the spirit of Los Angeles, Travers starts her journey halfway between the 101 freeway and the beach on a hike through the Santa Monica mountains with 311 vocalist/guitarist Nick Hexum. The two songwriters talk creative process and the eclectic music scene Los Angeles houses.

"To me, L.A. is the mecca. It's the center of great music," says Hexum. "Whether it's hip-hop or punk or reggae, Latin music or jazz, it's all here."

After the hike, Travers connects with Offspring bassist Noodles down by the ocean at the International Surfing Museum in a Huntington Beach building that was once a music club called Safari Sam's where all the local bands would play. Noodles reminisced about the rebellious freedom and natural connection between punk rock and skating or surfing — all elements that are integral to the cultural concoction of L.A.

Next up, singer/songwriter Jade Novah takes Travers shopping at a small boutique called House of Intuition. As they peruse jewelry and accessories, Novah tells the host about her travels across the country,  how she chose her stage name and how she found a home in the City of Angels.

Travers also links up with GRAMMY-nominated DJ/producer and activist Moby to visit his sustainable vegan restaurant, Little Pine. A 30-year vegan veteran, Moby talks about the rise of vegan restaurants in Silverlake through the years and how the best parts of the city are not always the most obvious.

"In the early '90s, when I started coming here for work playing raves and that sort of thing, all my friends in New York told me that I would hate Los Angeles because I was born in New York City," admits Moby. "I ended up loving it. Everything beautiful in Los Angeles is hidden."

With a full stomach, our host gets ready for night out at the one-of-a-kind hair-salon-meets-record-store, The Artform Studio. Co-owner/stylist Sherry Younge gives Travers the royal treatment with a new do and tells her about the origins of the business she started with her musical husband, celebrated producer Adrian Younge.

Travers now has the look for a night on the town, but before committing, she swings by one of Downtown L.A.'s hottest attractions, the GRAMMY Museum, to get a heavy dose of music history and experience the interactive exhibits that take visitors inside the music.

When it's finally time to let her hair down for the evening, Travers meets up with singer/songwriter Maty Noyes. They end up at the legendary Two Boots pizza place in DTLA for a late-night snack, the perfect way to cap off a whirlwind day in Los Angeles.

Stay tuned for exclusive extras from On Location: L.A. as well as additional episodes as we explore these emerging communities in other well-known locales, including Miami, New Orleans and Chicago. See you there!

Go "On Location" in Miami: From South Beach To Wynwood & More

Cardi B

Cardi B

Photo: John Parra/Telemundo/NBCU Photo Bank/Getty Images

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Cardi B, Sammy Hagar, Gucci Mane To Headline Arkansas' MusicFest

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Going MAD? El Dorado, Arkansas' Murphy Arts District prepares for great performances with October MusicFest
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Jul 18, 2018 - 5:56 pm

From Oct. 18 through Oct. 20, the MAD MusicFest promises to put El Dorado, Arkansas more noticeably on the map. The golden city will be going "Bodak Yellow" with headliner Cardi B. GRAMMY winner Sammy Hagar will also be there, as well as Cardi B's fellow GRAMMY nominees Sheila E, Lita Ford and Toby Keith.

In a town with a long tradition of performing arts, Cardi B will be holding down El Dorado's 2,500-seat capacity Griffin Music Hall for a late-night show on Friday night, Oct 19, followed by Gucci Mane on Saturday, Oct. 20.

In addition to these separately ticketed sit-downs at Griffin Music Hall, performances will take place at the MAD Amphitheater. Thursday's shows at the 7,000-seat amphitheater feature George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic, Morris Day & the Time and Sheila E. On Friday, Oct. 19, Lita Ford opens, followed by Bret Michaels and rock great Hagar with the Circle. Saturday's lineup features Keith along with Jimmie Allen, Justin Moore and Carly Pearce.

MAD stands for Murphy Arts District and represents years of loving cultivation by local leaders under the direction of Terry Stewart, who in addition to having been an elected officer with the Recording Academy's Chicago Chapter, is a former president of Marvel Comics and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. When he began four years ago, he declared his excitement and that El Dorado was an "exceptional town."

Tickets go on sale Friday, July 20 for this exceptional three-day series of concerts in an arts district people are hoping you'll feel MAD about too. It has two acres of grounds for families and kids, and has been attracting steadily growing regional audiences. With this lineup, MAD's generating some real excitement.

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Brandi Carlile

Brandi Carlile

Photo: Rebecca Sapp /Getty Images 

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Brandi Carlile Announces All-Female Rock Festival In Mexico

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The festival aims to show women can be festival draws and will feature GRAMMY winners Indigo Girls, Marren Morris and more
Jennifer Velez
GRAMMYs
Jul 18, 2018 - 4:49 pm

GRAMMY-nominated singer/songwriter Brandi Carlile is making sure women artists know they deserve not only to be festival acts, but headliners.

According to Pitchfork, women made up 19 percent of some of the country's biggest music festival bills in 2018. Earlier this year, GRAMMY winner Beyoncé was just the third female solo artist ever to headline Coachella since its first date in 1999 and the first woman of color ever to do so. GRAMMY winner Janet Jackson was set to headline Los Angeles' FYF Fest until its cancellation not so long before it was set to happen.

Tired of seeing the lack of female representation, Carlile has taken matters into her own hands by organizing a destination festival called Girls Just Wanna in Mexico Jan. 30- Feb. 3 at the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya, 2019. The fest will feature her and GRAMMY winners Maren Morris, Indigo Girls and Patty Griffin. Also on the lineup GRAMMY-nominated artists KT Tunstall, the Secret Sisters, as well as Margo Price, Lucius and Ruby Amanfu.

"These past few years I've been really noticing the exclusion of women at the top of mainstream festival lineups," she said on her website. "This is a weekend holiday in Mexico celebrating women in rock and roll."

In an interview with Rolling Stone, the singer said the gender gap in music festival headlining is actually getting worse.

"Festival buyers and people booking festivals are missing the truck because what I hope Girls Just Wanna Weekend will show is that there are women [fans] who are staying home, whose money spends the same as their male counterparts, because the top of that festival is all men and it’s not calling to them because they don’t feel represented musically," she said.

Carlile continued by touching on the kind of environment women can encounter at music festivals.

"They’re worried about toxic masculinity, being hit on and surrounded by drunk guys," s said. "Look, [drinking] is part of festival life. But if there were two or three women in those spots, they would know they are represented."

But why take the festival outside of the U.S.? Carlile has had a lot of fun leaving her home in Seattle during the winter to be a part of the Cayamo cruise music festival, which voyages to the Caribbean and Mexico, she explained on her website. "Beautiful musical chaos ensues," she wrote.

Carlile wanted to have the same spirit at her festival. Tickets and other information for Girls Just Wanna will be available for presale July 31 via the festival's website.

Catching Up On Music News Powered By The Recording Academy Just Got Easier. Have A Google Home Device? "Talk To GRAMMYs"