He's good. And I've already thrown out my praise for this album. So, i'll leave it at that.
But how do you cover a Kanye West piece? Rap is hard enough to cover well, as it is. Throw in Kanye's sick production skills and generally top notch instrumentation, you just about have to copy it or be far different from the original. Well, I suppose if you take the vocals out, a lot can happen.
So, that's exactly what the Portland Cello Orchestra did. It's only natural that the song could make a beautiful instrumental piece, the first minute of the song already is. the PCO adds some nice little twists though, what with the unexpectedly rocking tribal drums and some really beautiful harmonies between the strings. There's even a brief appearance from another famous music figure in there.
Sorry there's no new material on here since last week. I kept telling myself all week that I was going to do a review or a cover at the very least, and I did not do those things. Productivity is overrated. I'm going to try my best to get a few things up this week, but....no promises, because as the famous philosopher Drakeonius once said, and I quote "I'm doing me".
I had a solo shift on good ole' WUTK this week, so SHAME ON YOU........ if you did not listen. If you did listen, then, good for you. I'll give you a high five sometime. If you did and you're Jessica Alba, call me.
Wanna hear some MTV news that isn't about Jersey Shore? 90.3 the Rock has gotten into the final round of the MTV Woodie award's Best College Station in America. Sure, you can say we ARE THE BEST! GO AMERICA! So, um, we need your help to win. Go to this link right here that is green, and vote for us at least 693 times. At least. If you tell me that you helped us win, then I will have a special surprise for you, but only if you prove it. DONTTHINKABOUTITDOITNOW!!!!!!
The bonnaroo lineup came out, but I'm not going to talk about that specifically, yet. I tell you to let you know that I was planning on doing a big seperate post on it specifically, and once again, i dropped the ball on that. So, I'm going to have a bit of a Roo 2011 guide directly below the words you are reading, and my play list for this week is going to have at least one song from every artist on the bill. So, sit back, relax, and find out what you might have missed this week.
News
- Last week, LCD Soundsystem announced that they would play their last show April 2 in Madison Square Garden in what is sure to be a fantastic time; such a great time that scalpers up and bought a huge portion of the tickets (infuriating lead singer James Murphy), so the band has added four shows on March 28,29,30, and 31 in New York's famous Terminal 5. Who's taking me?
- The 53rd annual Grammy Awards were held last weekend, and it was generally as dissapointing as ever. Lady Gaga lived in a egg-ish thing for three days to get prepare to get out of it. Bob Dylan, with all of the respect in the world, sounded absolutely rusted out. Justin Bieber somehow made ninjas look really lame. All around it was pretty bad. But there were two glaring bright spots. As you probably know, Best New Artists didn't go to Beiber, it didn't go to Drake, it didn't even go to Mumford and Sons. The award went to jazz bassist Esperanza Spalding, who has sold a fraction of the records the rest of the group has, proving that there may be some life in the music industry yet. Later in the show, after Eminem had taken my hope for the industry back back, Arcade fire beat out Em, Lady Gaga, and favorite of the night Lady Antebellum for the Album of Year, citing mass confusion and this really funny website.
- This past Monday, Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All member Tyler, The Creator signed a one year deal with XL Recordings. He will use this to record his album, Goblin, which is going to be released around April.
- The Flaming Lips released a 12 section song on Youtube, Tuesday, that is supposed to be played on iphones or ipods with other people. You can play all of them at once, or experiment with certain ones. Kinda like this.
- Elvis Costello announced this week that his new tour will feature a wheel, very similar to Yo La Tengo's, filled with hits, rarities, and b-sides, that an audience member will spin, and either get dance in an on stage Go-Go cage or watch the show from a lounge off stage. My dad's a huge fan, and I would pay thousands to see him stuck in a go-go cage.
- Monday, Radiohead announced that they would release their next studio album, King of Limbs, this Saturday, and would be accepting pre-orders for both digital versions of the album, as well as a loaded box-set with two see-through vinyls, a cd, many large sheets of artwork as well 625 small frames, and a digital version in either WAV or MP3 format. Let me re-iterate, Radiohead is releasing this after one week of build-up. I am busting at the seems to get out of the store, so I can get home and listen to it.
Notable Music
Daytrotter is a brilliant thing. For those who have been deprived of its existence, Daytrotter is a studio in Rock Island, Illinois that records bands daily. They accompany the recordings with a portrait drawn on the spot and a brilliantly written piece incorporating the performer. They get some pretty big names, This past month has seen the likes of Van Dyke Parks, Bela Fleck, and Tapes n' Tapes, but the real beauty in the whole institution is the quality acts that are rarely heard of. For instance, Cedarwell. I heard this song, and immediately fell in love with it. I'm not going to put too much Daytrotter on here, but this one deserves the recognition.
I heard this little blip-tastic ditty on pitchfork and it's resonated with me for a while.
As I said before, Radiohead released their album today, as well as this video of Thom York pulling his best "Single Ladies" impression. If it doesn't scare you a bit, then you scare me. The hand claps are a nice touch.
I'm really intrigued about this James Blake guy. I feel like dub-step is a little for there to already have a genre called post-dub-step, but that's kind of what this guy does. Kind of. He's the kind of artist that you can't pin down. Please excuse the remarks from the DJ. This song is especially great because he takes the same synth heard in the worst of elevator music and pokemon games, and flips its world inside out.
Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All is quickly becoming one of the most exciting things to happen to rap since Wu-Tang came along. The band of misfit-skater thugs took to Fallon this week and chaos ensued. fun chaos.
Discoveries
I havent listened to a ton of new stuff this week but my History of Punk rock at school has helped me really appreciate the Ramones. The first album is really intense and angst filled, but also very influential. They were truly one of a kind (at the time).
Buffalo Springfield is another new-to-me band this week, as I just discovered them through the Roo' lineup. Chances are, if you are my age, you know the song "For What It's Worth" and nothing else, but "Bluebird" is absolutely fantastic.
Releases
Radio Head - King Of Limbs
Adele - 21
Banjo or Freakout - Banjo or Freakout
The Low Anthem - Smart Flesh
Gil Scott Heron and Jamie xx - Were New Here
Toro Y Moi - Underneath The Pine
BONNAROO
Oh Bonnaroo, how I love thee. I've been once, and I'm already sucked in. I feel like I can't not go. As I said earlier, the line-up dropped this week, and despite the usual hatred towards it, I think it's one of my favorites already, and it's not even finished. It's especially sweet for those who tilt a little bit more towards the country/folk spectrum than normal.
I was going to go through and label every band with the type of music they play, but I ran across a thread on inforoo that had really bested me, so I'm just going to put it in here for you all to see. Once again, this is from someone on inforoo, not me.
Baroque Rock Arcade Fire The Decemberists Freelance Whales
Blues-Rock
Widespread Panic (Jam Band) The Black Keys Cold War Kids Warren Haynes Band (Jam Band) Dr. John and The Original Meters Gregg Allman 22-20s Band of Skulls
Country and/or Bluegrass
The String Cheese Incident (Jam Band) Alison Krauss & Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas Old Crow Medicine Show The Del McCoury Band and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band Loretta Lynn Wanda Jackson Railroad Earth (Jam Band) Justin Townes Earle Ryan Bingham Abigail Washburn Karen Elson Hayes Carll
Electronic Rock & Electronica Bassnectar Girl Talk Pretty Lights STS9 (Jam Band) Sleigh Bells School of Seven bells Ratatat Beats Antique Omar Souleyman
Experimental Rock
Primus Portugal. The Man Man Man
Folk & Folk Rock Buffalo Springfield Robert Plant and The Band of Joy Mumford & Sons Ray Lamontagne Iron & Wine Florence + The Machine Beirut Grace Potter and the Nocturnals Amos Lee Junip Deer Tick Sharon Van Etten The Low Anthem Alberta Cross Jessica Lea Mayfield The Head and The Heart Phosphorescent Clare Maguire
Funk
Bootsy Collins & The Funk University Dam Funk
Gypsy Punk Rock Gogol Bordello Global Gypsy Punk Revue curated by Eugene Hutz Devotchka
Hip-Hop
Eminem Lil Wayne Big Boi Atmosphere Wiz Khalifa Chiddy Bang Jovanotti J Cole Metal Opeth The Sword Kylesa
Multi-Genre
Bruce Hornsby and the Noise Makers (Jam Band) Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
Pop Rock
Scissor Sisters Best Coast Robyn The Drums Neon Trees Wavves Smith Westerns Twin Shadows
Post-Punk Rock
The Strokes Deerhunter Matt & Kim The Walkmen !!!
Post-Rock Explosions in the Sky
Psychedelic Rock
My Morning Jacket (Jam Band) The Black Angels Nicole Atkins and The Black Sea
R&B Mavis Staples
So, that's that. There are some great acts that are going to be there this year, and I'm feeling there are going to be a few things hidden up Ashely Capps sleeve that will come to light in the coming months. The Superjams already look to be promising. In case you missed them, this year will find
Dr. John and the original Meters performing Desitively Bonnaroo, the album which the fest is named after.
Dr. John and Dan Auerbach (The Black Keys)
and the Global Gypsy Punk Revue curated by Gogol Bordello front man Eugene Hutz.
Therefore, followers of the world, I leave you with this playlist of a song from everyone on the farm this year. Enjoy
I've been cranking the like of N.W.A., Public Enemy, Q-Tip, and Outkast allll week.
Howeva,
Welcome to my new idea. I've been thinking of ways to make people want to read the crap I write, and I'm trying this one starting now. I figure, the general public doesn't scour sites like Pitchfork, Stereogum, NPR, and Paste like I do, sooooo I'm going to start posting what I find interesting in music news per week. It's going to have a really loose format, hopefully including music news, some music and videos that standout to me in a week, weekly releases, stuff that I've gotten into that week, and I'm going to end each week of with a semi-structured playlist to get you through the day. 123 GO.
News
Early this week, rap-pop-cartoon supergroup the Gorillaz were rumored to have broken up after news of some heavy internal fighting between front-man Damon Alborn and Jamie Hewlett. However, while the band will be taking a break after a massive world tour that took them through 11 countries and thirty eight shows.
Festival season is a few months away, and line-ups are finally coming out. This week Sasquatch, Lollapalooza, and Sasquatch at least released when they are going to announce their line-up. Coachella was a few weeks ahead, having already announced their line-up last week. So who's playing? Good question.
-As I said, Coachella's line-up is out and it is pretty stacked. Kings of Leon, Arcade Fire, The Strokes, and Kanye West, and the festival has booked some great smaller acts such as The Black Keys, Chemical Brothers, Robyn, Cee Lo, The Kills, Erykah Badu, Broken Social Scene, The National, PJ Harvey, Wiz Khalifa, Jimmy Eat World, and Chromeo. I'd be there if it wasn't 234,086,234,191,123 miles away.
-Sasquatch has also released their line-up, and for a smaller festival, it looks pretty incredible. Headliners are Foo Fighters, Death Cab for Cutie, Modest Mouse, Wilco, The Flaming Lips, The Decemberists, and Bright Eyes, and undercards include Iron and Wine, Bassnectar, Cold War Kids, MSTRKRFT, Yeasayer, Beach House, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, Major Lazer, and Flying Lotus.
- Coachella hasn't released their line-up yet, but rumor has it that Eminem, Foo Fighters, and Muse. Muse would be incredible; the other two are genuinely mediocre to me, but oh well. I guess you've gotta go with what sells tickets.
-And then theres Bonnaroo, my personal favorite, because It is where I'mma be. I've been following inforoo.com pretty heavy the last few days in anticipation of the line-up that is going to come out next Tuesday, and front runners for headliners are supposedly Arcade Fire, My Morning Jacket, Robert Plant, Widespread Panic, and possibly Eminem. Something tells me this years going to have something no one expects, it being the 10th anniversary and all. AC entertainment has said that they have some surprises up their sleeve ever since the festival last year, so I'm looking for some big things to come. More on that next week.
LCD Soundsystem has announced their final show before their eminent break-up, and it's going to be a dance fest for the ages. The band will play three hours in The Garden with numerous surprise guests and just as many songs they have not played but a few times, if ever. Presale sold out in just a few hours, so I'm guessing it's going to be a pretty huge show. I'm still kicking myself that I didn't stick around for their whole ste at Roo' last year.
English DJ Jamie xx recently worked on remixing Gil-Scott Heron's critically acclaimed I'm New Here, bbbuutttt there's a catch. They are currently only streaming the album from random radio towers across the nation, aaaannndddd you can only hear it on an iPad or smart phone. Interesting artistic move, or bothersome hassle? Your call.
Rome, the epic side project of infamous DJ Danger Mouse, featuring the help of Jack White, Norah Jones, and Italian composer Daniel Luppi, is finally coming to light. The tribute to western film soundtracks, recorded in the same studio Ennio Morricone scored The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, is supposed to come out May 17 through Capitol Records. Should be a doosey.
How bout that Superbowl? Nope, not the sports. The Black Eyed Peas and Christina Aguilera joined hands and took a musical dump on America this past weekend. The Superbowl actually played it smart, setting the bar so low that acts like Tiffany, ICP, or, oh I don't know, a crippled goat would surely be openly praised after the atrocity that was the half time "show" and national anthem. To top it all of, Jerry Jones spent millions of dollars to have four fighter jets patriotically soar over a very closed Dallas Stadium roof right at the peak of Aguilera's screeching "FFFFFFRRRRRRREEEEEEEE". Ain't that America.
Hipster rockers Yo La Tengo acted out an entire episode of Seinfeld for an audience in Chicago this week, as a part of their latest tour where they have an audience member spin a wheel that determines how their show will be played. Apparently the audience absolutely loved all of it, except for the finale, which everyone hated.
My Morning Jacket front man Jim James and all around fantastic musician M. Ward have joined culinary forces to create the cremebrulog, a blog critiquing their favorite desert. The first one they do looks like the greatest desert in the world. Check it out.
Lastly in news this week, MTV is bringing back the popular 90's cartoon Beavis and Butt-Head. No clue on how it's going to work, but props to MTV for sucking a little less hard with this one.
Notable Music
The Strokes are back after a five year hiatus, and they were giving away their first single for a while, but I believed the date on that has cut off. However, you can hear it down below.
The Black Keys make great videos. Their hilarious video for "Tighten Up" made it pretty high on my year end countdown. Though their new video for "Howlin' For You" isn't quite as funny as "Tighten Up", it's pretty dang great, and kind of inspiring seeing as it looks like a lot of work went into it. Check it out on imdb com.
Trippy mastermind Flying Lotus directed this video of Erykah Badu's "Gone Baby Don't Be Gone" with Erykah's head floating through a factory of light; with a theme so simple, only Flying Lotus himself could pull this off so effectively.
Last off in the video sector this week, I really enjoyed this pseudo-documentary of the Local Natives making a video (kind of). It's hard to throw a label on it, but it's dang cool.
Just today I heard this single from Okkervil River, a name I had heard, but never really paid any attention to. I'll probably check em out this week. You can hear the single at pitchfork.
Discoveries
I want a section in here to put stuff that might not be new, but that I have started listening to. So, I'm going to do that.
First and foremost, I have really been getting into Black Star this week. Amidst scrounging around inforoo.com, I saw everyone freaking out that Black Star was going to be at Roo', but I had never heard of them. When I found them, I fell in love with them. The pair, Mos Def and Talib Kweli rap together perfectly, spitting out way more words than most emcee's can handle. Definition is absolutely mind blowing.
Outkast is the other group I have played non stop this week. I have heard Stankonia at least 7 times, because it is just that good. Gasoline Dreams put me to sleep the other night.
"Bang, bang, bang went Frankie's gun. He shot me down, Lucille" Felice Brothers, how have I missed thee?
I heard the latest album from Oneohtrix Point Never, which is just as brow-raising as the name. I like it, but it is literally carefully constructed noise. Gotta have some patience to stand this at all.
I love a good funk band, and Fitz and the Tantrums fit the part. The doo-wop rockers have popped up in car commercials through out the year, but the album is definitely worthy of a whole listen. MAYBE, even a purchase.
Notable releases in the coming week
James Blake - James Blake
Esben and The With - Violet Cries
Teddy Thompson - Bella
...Andy You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - Tao Of The Dead
I didn't realize how tedious and boring it is for me to put up a new track on here everyday for no one to hear, so I'm killing it. Howeva, I'm thinking about starting a weekly recap of music happenings from around the inter-webz and such, so stay tuned for that.
Because, if your friends with me on facebook and stalk me religiously (and I know some of you do) you can see, this may be my favorite rap song ever. The whole records great, for that matter.
