Thursday, January 29, 2009

Discovering Carol King

So I've just discovered Carol King. You might know her, but if not check her out. already, but if not check her out. 

She reminds me a lot of Laura Nyro, but a little more polished sounding. She was a composer for big act names like the Beatles and Aretha Franklin, so when she started her own solo career she went in full steam ahead. 

I just discovered her recently, and very much digging her sound. If you like folkish influenced rock with great harmonizing female vocals I recommend you check her out as well. 

Here is a little selection you probably already know...


Monday, January 26, 2009

United States of Awesome

I'm sure many of you checked out the incredible inauguration of our 44th President of the United States Barack Obama (If not please go Youtube it, or read an article, or at least take your head out of the sand). 

Of course it was an incredible event, with moving speeches and a groundbreaking social change. But, in my mind, one of the most stirring moments came from the musical performance written by John Williams. Alex Ross of the New Yorker had some brilliant words to say about it, "[what] I liked most of all the diverse picture of the classical world that the performers presented: an Israeli-born violinist, a Chinese-American cellist, a Venezuelan-born pianist, and an African-American clarinetist from the South Side of Chicago."

While it was a moving piece, the ensemble playing it was just as moving. They did personify the wonderful thing about this country, our diversity and acceptance. And while the election of our first black president epitomizes this fact, this piece played tribute to it through music. Check it out...

Damn Fine Day

My boss gave me a wonderful gift in the form of a link...

A cool little website called: One Fine Day

It's basically updated daily, and gives you a music sampling of songs that have slipped under the radar, but kick-ass. I've scanned some back-logs, and found a huge sampling of wonderful tunes. 

A great site, and I highly suggest checking it out if you want to have a damn fine day. 

Thursday, January 22, 2009

New On the Radar: Florence and the Machine

Via that always-wonderful directory of stuff known as BoingBoing, I've been informed that the Next Big Thing in the UK is apparently a woman-and-a-band known collectively as Florence and the Machine.

Their sound is a bit pop-punk, a shake of folk, a splash of soul and more than a pinch of catchy songwriting, at least so far. Check out the video for their debut single, "Kiss With a Fist", and listen/learn more about the band here (BoingBoing) here (MySpace) and here (Wikipedia).

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Two From The '80s

I heard the Cure sing "Pictures of You" today on Boston's best independent radio station, WERS, and it reminded me of a similar song by Duran Duran (which, it should [or shouldn't] be noted, is my favorite karaoke tune). See both videos, in all their retro irony, below.





While I grew up in the '80s, the music never really caught on until I spent a year in Japan in 2002-03. Even in college, where the "80s Party" was the biggest school-sanctioned event of the year, it wasn't really my flavor (more like Patrick Bateman than David Bowie).

But some days, sappy love songs are worth more than just a laugh.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

King of Pop Beatbox

I like Michael Jackson a lot. I won't say I "love" him, but I think he's incredibly talented, and I think it's a darn shame the downward spiral his career has made. 

But like I said bottom line is that he's ridiculously talented. He changed the way acts dance, sing, and make music videos. He is, and always will be the "King of Pop". 

I stumbled across this video. As as impressed as I am with him, I have even more respect for him now. Made skills. 

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Creatively Political

Just saw this video over on Radioclash. It's a song called "2020", by Aussie collective The Herd. I think it's thought-provoking on a lot of levels and creative to boot. Of course, there's nothing really new about rap or reggae being political (or white guys making that kind of music to begin with), this video seems to be part of a widening genre that is distinctively post-millennial.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Best of Bootie 2008

Since 2005, San Francisco-based mashup DJs and Bootie (the party) pioneers Adrian and the Mysterious D (aka A+D) have compiled their favorite mashups of the previous year into a must-have selection of that year's hits. If there is one bastard-pop album to be had (though since they're almost always free, you should really have them all) each annum, this would probably be it.

(click on the photo to go to the Bootie site)

Residents of any of the cities where Bootie events go down will likely be pretty familiar with the tunes, which are mainly composed of this year's pop sensations combined with yesteryear's funkiest or best-known tracks. These come off the dancefloors and onto wax in Best of Bootie 2008.

Some of the more obvious entries include the A+B mash of The Police's "Roxanne" and The Bee Gees' "You Should be Dancing", by DJ Zebra, and the tongue-literally-poking-through-the-cheek irony of Divide & Kreate's "Until It Talks", a combination of Coldplay and Metallica tracks.

But the award for creativity most definitely goes to SF's DJ Earworm, who mixes not two, not five, but sixteen different artists (Rihanna vs. Kardinal Offishall vs. Akon vs. Ne-Yo vs. Estelle vs. Pussycat Dolls vs. Leona Lewis vs. Danity Kane vs. Madonna vs. Timbaland vs. Justin Timberlake vs. Lupe Fiasco vs. Matthew Santos vs. Britney Spears vs. Flo-Rida vs. T-Pain) to create "No More Gas". Bordering dangerously on the Girltalk-dominated sub-genre (or is it a completely new one?) of extreme mashups, this is a whole bunch of song fragments, choruses and other bits that somehow got stuck in your head over the year. No need to go back to all those (mostly) bad originals, now you have them all in one track! It's like a "Best of" list all in itself.

Anyway, as always with the Bootie compilations, this one is pre-mixed for your continuous listening and dancing pleasure. Many thanks to A+D for keeping the Bootie series going and here's looking forward to a mash-terful 2009.

Monday, January 5, 2009

Fadeaway

While driving up to my friend's ski cottage in New Hampshire I was listening to some local radio, 92.5 The River to be exact. So this great song comes on. It was one of those "love at first riff" songs. I'm thinking it might be Fleetwood Mac. The strong male voice with subtle female backing, strong percussion, and elegant harmony. So I reach for my iPhone and furiously try to Shazam the song, but to no avail. No results pop up. So next tactic, I look up the radio on my iPhone and call. But no one would pick up! So I jotted down the lyrics for my good ole faithful method: Google the lyrics. Turns out the tune I was so jazzed on was "Fadeaway" by the Bodeans, an old band I have never heard of before. Anyhow, great song, great band, check them out. 

Friday, January 2, 2009

Shocking

A friend of mine showed me this clip the other day. There are a few more out on the WWW if this stuff really interests you. This guitar player connected his guitar to a Tesla Coil  then proceeds to play sans amp. Instead, the electrical output is fed through the Tesla Coil which in turns creates an electrical current, which in turn makes a noise. Maybe it's better if you see for yourself: