59 posts tagged “music”
I heard the Magic Kids on my XM radio yesterday and was thoroughly impressed. They have a sound like the Beach Boys meets the Pipettes meets the Brady Bunch. This song certainly makes me happy (like all of the other bands mentioned above normally do)!
I can't get much info on them from their Myspace page (they're apparently from Tennessee). Hopefully, we'll only hear more from this group.
With "Saturday Night Live" not delivering the comedic goods lately, at least there's some good news about the program.
Last night, on "Weekend Update," Seth Meyers was the first to let me know that Lilith Fair (the all female music festival helmed by Sarah McLachlan) is coming back in 2010!
I went to all three Lilith Fairs that came to the Pittsburgh area, own all of the Lilith Fair live CDs, and still have my dog tags from the inaugural event (I just found them the other day, actually!). I suddenly have a renewed interest in summer concerts. I wonder if Sheryl Crow will go back on tour with the other fabulous ladies again!
The bad news: while my interest in summer music is renewed, my interest in "Saturday Night Live" still wanes. Especially with the Sarah McLachlan skit they did last night. If they were going to talk about Lilith Fair, I was really hoping they'd bring back Ana Gasteyer for her Cinder Calhoun skit.
I've seen a lot of commercials for the HTC phone lately and was struck by the music in the ad.
I believe it's the opening keys from Nina Simone's "Sinnerman." I wonder if the tagline, "Quietly Brilliant" had anything to do with their selection of music.
American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert released what his new album cover will look like this week.
Via Twitter, Lambert confirmed that this album cover is "deliberately campy." It kinda looks like the entire 80's decade threw up all over the page. Usually, someone that has released many albums can be "deliberately campy" once they have maintained success. However, I find it strange that he's coming right out of the gate with this cover. Who knows. It might be just what the music industry needs!
I had the pleasure of seeing Anni Rossi in concert over the summer when she opened for Camera Obscura back in June (she's actually coming back to Pittsburgh tomorrow night at Mr. Small's!). I remember being struck by how she stood alone on the stage with only her and her viola (not violin!).
I just rediscovered her while surfing the Internet and think she's one of the most interesting young musical artists out there. I especially enjoy her cover songs (she did a killer version of The Cure's "In Between Days" in concert). She has an original sound.
There's something very haunting about this song. I think it might be a combination of the stirring strings and the night setting.
Gin Blossoms' "Til I Hear It From You' came on the radio the other day, and I was immediately taken back to the mid-90's, this song like a bookmark in time. I got such a warm fuzzy feeling while listening to the song that I realized this might be the best song from last decade.
I know so many people think that Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" or Pearl Jam's "Jeremy" would be better choices for best song from the 1990's, but the Gin Blossoms evoke the Generation X spirit in this song in so many ways.
First, "Til I Hear It From You" takes the Generation X slacker attitude and puts a positive spin on it.
I don't wanna take advice from fools/I'll just figure everything is cool.
Never before has apathy sounded so pretty and almost romantic.
Second, author Douglas Copeland coined "Generation X" in 1991 with his international best-seller Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture. In it, Copeland defined the group as many things (including "underemployed" and "overeducated"), one of which was "unpredictable." "Til I Hear It From You" was from the film Empire Records, which many banked on being a hit at the box office before it tanked in 1995.
Plus, the fact that the Gin Blossoms are perhaps the most underrated band from the 90's is another testament to defining the decade. They, too, are "underemployed."
I don't care what the naysayers might say about this song. It still sounds as good as it did nearly fifteen years ago. It's likely that they're just jealous and jaded.
Not too long ago, I remember seeing Garbage's Shirley Manson being interviewed on television and saying that her favorite band of the moment was Kings of Leon. She also insinuated that every twenty-something girl loved Kings of Leon.
Because of my mad respect for Manson (her band was heavily influenced by -- of all bands-- the Pretenders) and because I am a twenty-something girl, I decided to check out Kings of Leon.
I was disappointed. To me, they sounded like lite FM radio music. Caleb Followill who leads his band of brothers (all Followills!) on vocals sounds like Bruce Hornsby.
Now, I've never known a troop of twenty-something girls to follow around Bruce Hornsby. Plus, I simply can't take a band seriously when one of their song titles is "Sex on Fire."
Yet, everywhere I turn, I feel like people are always praising Kings of Leon. What is it about them that people like? What are they doing any different than Daughtry? How are they different than this?
Last night, I attended my first ever country music concert. Brad Paisley was performing at the Crawford County Fair (along with Dierks Bentley and Jimmy Wayne).
I've decided I want to be a country western songwriter. All of the songs have stories and great comedic formulas (Brad Paisley wants to check a girl for "Ticks" on a summer blanket). The songs are almost like soap-operas in three-minute musical installments. Plus, a lot of the songs are about just having a good time and a cold beer (which I suppose I could get on board with). Even though I didn't know any of the songs, I was entertained by following the storylines, while watching the music videos on screen.
A strange, funny moment of the evening came when one of the videos on screen behind Brad Paisley was showing legends and tragedies. An image of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash was on screen, followed by an image of Elvis Presley. Then, there was an image of the Twin Towers, followed by (and I'm not making this up) an image of Steve Irwin -- the Crocodile Hunter. I would love to ask the producers of this show what made them decide to go from the most tragic attack in American history to a zany Australian TV personality who died doing what he loved.
Overall, I learned that I'm not necessarily a born-again country western fan, but I've grown to appreciate why people might like it. I also learned that watching some of the people who enjoy country music can be more entertaining than the show itself.
Recently, I had the pleasure of watching 1977's ABBA: The Movie. I had read about this film extensively in ABBA articles and books I picked up along my ABBA life journey.
However, I was disappointed in myself to learn that all this time while I've been writing about the greatest pop band EVER, I've been spelling their name wrong. ABBA has a backwards "b" in their official name (as well as on all their merchandise). I felt like such a big, fat phony. I assumed it was just a stylistic expression. Here, they are actually known as "A -backwards b - B - A."
The movie, while lacking in plot, is great because it allows me to see ABBA in concert, something I will never, ever get a chance to see because the band has class and decided years ago that they don't want to be a cover band of their former selves. If you are going to watch the film, I suggest fast-forwarding through the reporter scenes and just getting to the music.
Something I was struck by was how sexy the girls are! Anni-Frid and Agnetha know how to shake what Mamma Mia gave them!
While consignment shopping yesterday, I came across Matthew Sweet's album 100% Fun from 1995 (for $3 -- what a steal!).
While listening to it in my car, I realized, "Wow. I'm a huge Matthew Sweet fan." I think "We're the Same" is pretty much the perfect pop song. I own the Girlfriend album. I dig the Carpenters' cover album that features a song from him (his version of "Let Me Be the One" is every bit as good as the killer original). And I also adore my copy of Under the Covers Volume 1, featuring him and Susanna Hoffs. I never realized that I was a HUGE fan.
For some reason as I was doing some Sweet research for this post, I stumbled back to his MySpace page shared with Susanna Hoffs ("Sid n' Susie!"). After Under the Covers Volume 1 was released in 2006, I often referred to this page, hoping for any news regarding when Volume 2 would be released. I probably have checked this page yearly since 2006, but apparently haven't done so for 2009 yet because I was unaware that Volume 2 was released just weeks ago!
The new album covers 70's songs -- including the likes of Todd Rundgren, the Raspberries, Fleetwood Mac, and Mott the Hoople. And there's a bonus deluxe edition on ITunes (which naturally, I now own). I think I just found a late Summer music obsession to carry me into the Fall.
