ChordStrike

Happy 50th Birthday Michael Jackson

 

It’s easy enough to catalog Jackson’s gigantic quirks, celebrity stunts, and list of narrowly missed criminal convictions but let us ponder, briefly, the man's sensational artistry and accomplishments.

The 50 Most Thrilling Michael Jackson Moments

50. “Remember The Time”
49. “Goin’ Back To Indiana” – Jackson 5
48. “We Can Change The World” – The Jacksons
47. “Smooth Criminal”
46. “Walk Right Now” – The Jacksons
45. “Lovely One” – The Jacksons
44. “We Are The World.” Raised a lot of awareness and cash for a very good cause, but woe to those forced to listen to it. Still, a revolutionary recording event in a way that seems entirely dull today. Bruce Springsteen and Boy George using the same microphone? Ohmagawd!
43. “The Way You Make Me Feel”
42. “Rockin’ Robin” – Jackson 5. A song in the public domain. Not thrilling, OK.
41. “It’s too Late to Change the Time” – Jackson 5
40. 5' 10": Michael Jackson's height is exactly that of the average African-American male. That's not thrilling, either, but it is patently normal.
39. “State of Shock” – The Jacksons
38. The glove
37. “Can You Feel It” – The Jacksons
36. “Scream”
35. “Torture” – The Jacksons
34. “Enjoy Yourself” – The Jacksons
33. “She’s Out Of My Life”
32. “The Place Hotel” – The Jacksons
31. “Beat It”
30. “Bad”
29. Brooke Shields
28. “Blame It on the Boogie” – The Jacksons
27. The Jackson’s 1984 Victory Tour.
26. “Ben”
25. “Thriller”
24. May 16, 1966: Janet
23. “Billie Jean”
22. 37 weeks: the most any album ever spent nestled at the top of the Billboard chart. Thriller, duh.
21. “Rock With You”
20. Super Bowl XXVII
19. “ABC” – The Jackson 5
18. 750 million MJ units sold, in all. The rise and decline of the recording business follows the rise and decline of MJ's business. This is not coincidental. 
17. “Dancing Machine” – The Jacksons
16. “Human Nature”
15. “I Want You Back” – Jackson 5
14. “I’ll Be There” – Jackson 5
13. “Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough.” The first solo hit MJ wrote himself. Got his first Grammy for it. Invented a dance to go with it.
12. “Never Can Say Goodbye” – Jackson 5
11. 1977: MJ meets Quincy Jones
10. Eddie Van Halen’s guitar solo on “Beat It”. In 1982, if you didn’t have a guitar solo in your single, you had two charts to shoot for: Pop and/or Soul--and chart action meant everything in those pre-SoundScan days. Recruiting the most hallowed axe man of the day was a huge coup for all concerned. It was a shock to a lot of Van Halen fans (collaboration was not in fashion in the Reagan era) but this neat trick positioned that band for their own pop crossover, 1984.
9. 1984 Grammy Awards. MJ gets more Grammies than any Grammy getter ever got: eight.
8. “Off The Wall”
7. “Thriller,” the video: 80s MTV’s Dark Knight.
6. “Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground)” – The Jacksons
5. March 25, 1983: The “moonwalk” is first seen on television.
4. “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)”
3. “The Love You Save” – Jackson 5
2. For every 70 people on Earth you meet, 1 of them will own a copy of Thriller.
1. “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’”  -- mama say mama sa mama coo sa.

-- Patrick

Makana: Guitar Hero

Makana recently dropped by the Amazon Music offices to chat with Chordstrike about his new album, and give us a lesson on the traditional Hawaiian art of slack key guitar. If you like music of any kind, I think you'll find the history of slack key fascinating, and Makana's talent humbling.

Makana was recently invited to compete live in Guitar Player's Guitar Superstar Competition: an honor bestowed to only 10 artists. The winner will be decided in San Francisco on September 13. Take a listen and let me know what you think.

 

--Renata Sadunas

Verbatim: Cintra Wilson vs. New Kids on the Block

Choosing a single quotation from Cintra Wilson is like having the objects of all your desires laid out in front of you--food, sex, friendship, music, ideas--and being told you can only have one. How do you choose?

In case you haven't happened upon any of the products of this screamingly funny, intensely brilliant writer, Cintra Wilson is a pop-culture critic and author whose first book, A Massive Swelling: Celebrity Re-Examined as a Grotesque Crippling Disease, is one of the most funny, damning, merciless books I've ever read. And--frankly--one of the best.

Capable of skyscraping praise for the art and music she celebrates, Wilson also wields a lethal arsenal of critical savvy, usually put to the page in side-splitting prose and imagery that's impossible not to react to. Viscerally.

A Massive Swelling boasts such incendiary chapter titles as "Las Vegas--The Death Star of Entertainment," "Crossing Boundaries: Towards a New Hermeneutics of Dumb Pimps Like Bruce Willis," and "As a Dog Returneth to its Own Vomit, So Doth L.A." But Wilson is no mere shock-jock, and while her revelations about pop culture occasionally restate the obvious, they do so in terms so hilariously biting as to render them almost canonical. To wit, this nugget about boy-bands from "Cock Rock for the Twelve-and-Under":

"[A]ll a savvy promoter with the naked greed of a pederast Svengali needs to do is find some mildly talented teens all lousy with fresh libido and stuck in some lame section of America, promise them a bucking, eight-second ride on the Magic Bull of Fame, and he or she can forge a sensational golden windfall as long as the kid stays on. After all that happens successfully, the stars might figure out that are giving 90 percent of their salary away to some carpet-chested cigar aficionado who tells them what they can and can't wear all the time, and decide they'd like to try their hand at 'going solo,' a career move that has only really worked , so far, for ... ex-New Edition R&B guy Bobby Brown, and now for Ricky Martin, ex Menudo-boy. [Keep in mind that this was published in 2000.] The managers of the new breed of band coming out must have the whole clause in the contract that says when the boys are too old and fat for the metallic plastic jumpsuits, and have squandered all 10 percent they owned of their careers, they are not allowed to appeal to any human tendencies in the manager and beg them for more cash to get back on their feet. There ought to be a Child-Corruption Czar in government, maybe. Somebody who can keep the pop machine honest, if not clean."

The above comes after five or so pages of real love letters--by women ranging in age from teens to a late-20s mother of two--penned to the New Kids on the Block during their hey-day as singer/sex-objects. Now that they're back, the New Kids--who, it should be noted, are neither new nor kids--have once again put aside such niggling roadblocks to stardom as shame and self-respect, all for the glorious opportunity to perform pre-packaged material for (presumably) the sad, sexually frustrated kids who have finally grown up to be the sad, sexually frustrated adults they were destined to be. Sure, it's been awhile, but we knew they had it in them.

The music is, of course, beside the point, because if there's one thing NKOTB is good at, it's proving that the captains of (this) industry can shuck just about anything at us, and as long as that anything has a glossy, easily digestible sheen around its rotten core of pure celebrity-as-product, we'll buy it.

Ultimately, I think judging people for what they consume is a useless endeavor, at best. But for those of us who revel in the sound of a brilliant mind as it skewers easy targets with percussive fervor and no reservations, the good news is that Cintra Wilson has a new book coming out in September. Yes, the same month as the new NKOTB offering. Ain't life grand?

     --Jason Kirk

Donovan Frankenreiter: Test Drive Now

This just in from our esteemed cohort, Books Editor Dave Callanan:

Although his surfing first made me a fan of Donavon Frankenreiter, I've fast become a bigger aficionado of his musical work.  His self-titled debut, Donavon Frankenreiter, is an acoustic collection that pairs nicely with lazy Sunday mornings spent on the couch, while the follow-up Move by Yourself, brings a mellow funk reminiscent of early 1970s Stevie Wonder.  Both are personal favorites, as Move by Yourself spun in the background when we welcomed our son into the world last summer.

His third album, Pass It Along, just came out and is easily his finest to date. Familiar cameos from Ben Harper and G. Love (each a wave-riding musician in his own right) are deftly woven among the exploratory vision of producer Joe Chiccarelli.  The result is a stellar album that proves Donnie is as legit in the studio as he among the waves. 

“On my first record, I didn’t have a direction. I just wanted to make a record,” Frankenreiter explains.  “I feel [Pass it Along] is the best body of work I’ve done. This is where I am now and where I’ve come from.”

Decide for yourself by taking the album for a test drive in either our Music or MP3 stores.

     --Dave

Behind the Mic: Scarlett Johansson Interview

You know and love her from the big screen, but more than just a lovely face on camera, Scarlett Johansson also has a powerfully evocative singing voice. On her first album of Tom Waits covers, Scarlett proves that she knows a thing or two about picking good music to showcase her voice while surrounding herself with talented musicians including TV on the Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, as well as the one and only David Bowie.

Check out Chordstrike's latest new music interview to learn more about Scarlett Johansson's self-defined inner free bird, her baritone singing voice, her approach to covering venerable Tom Waits tunes, and the collaborative partners she worked with to foment a solid soundscape for her sultry vox.

--Lucas Hilbert

Fare Thee Well “King of Ireland”

Ronnie Drew, the legendary Irish folk singer and founder of the Dubliners, passed away last week at the age of 73. If you know any Irish music (or any Irish people for that matter), then you probably have some sense of just how important this man and his music have been to the people of Ireland. But it's not just the fans who knew and loved Ronnie Drew. He was also highly revered by his fellow musicians and many considered him to be the best of the best. U2’s Bono, who's own musical career has been profoundly influenced by Drew, has referred to him as “The King of Ireland” and “the last of the Irish rovers.”  Drew's booming, gravelly voice was once described as the sound of “coal being crushed under a door,” but Bono put it best when he said "You can take the hardest rock band on the earth and they sound like a bunch of girls next to The Dubliners." 

Ronnie Drew had been battling cancer for over a year and in January an all-star cast of Irish musicians, including surviving members of the Dubliners, members of U2, Sinead O’Connor, Oscar winner Glen Hansard, Bob Geldof, Christy Moore, Shane MacGowan, and a handful of others, wrote and recorded “The Ballad of Ronnie Drew.” The song, which paid tribute to Drew’s influence on Irish music and culture, topped the Irish singles charts and proceeds benefited the Irish Cancer Society. There are a few too many sappy lyrics to call it a great piece of art, but the admiration and love for Ronnie Drew come across as clear as day.

An all-star cast performs “The Ballad of Ronnie Drew” on Ireland’s “Late Late Show”:

 

Throughout this last week, I've received multiple video links from Irish friends who want to help me “understand” what was so extraordinary about Ronnie Drew. I will admit that it’s challenging to fully get it if you were born and bred in the US, you didn't grow up with this music pouring out of your parent's record player, and it all sounds slightly reminiscent of the drunken bar band at your local Irish pub. But that said, I do feel like I “get it” in a sense. I get that Ronnie Drew wrote and sang the songs of his people, he inspired an entire generation of Irish musicians to do the same, and his legendary voice can send shivers down the spine of the least-cultured lads and lasses among us.

The Dubliners and the Pogues sing their joint hit "The Irish Rover":

The Dubliners sing "The Auld Triangle" with an all-male choir featuring a fidgety, young Bono in the back row:

 

-- Shelby Earl

Linda, Britney, and Don

In the 90's there was the Linda McCartney board tape. [thanks, WFMU]

And today, this...

via videosift.com

It's a great time for a new Don Caballero album. But--whoops!---fans of this band's precise, aggressively dissonant, instrumental oeuvre, may be surprised that, with Punkgasm, the Don sings and, like Linda and Britney, its voice is not hindered by shackles of melody and harmony. Until track number five all goes as expected, with drummer Damon Che and his latest team mates ducking under and around overdriven ostinatoes and tweaked-out tunings. Then comes "Celestial Dusty Groove": singing. Some fans may be aghast but I find the modest addition a welcome, new textural element to the Don's efficiently brute ruckus. Don Caballero's sense of humor is untempered, its polyrhythmic spine stronger than ever. A challenge to fans and welcoming to new ears, Punkgasm may perhaps serve to inspire further vocal experimentation among the the band's more commercially successful peers.

Top 10 Ultimate Post-Punk Mostly Instrumental Bands of all Time
1. Tortoise
2. Savage Rebublic
3. Don Cabellero
4. Dirty Three
5. Battles
6. Pell Mell
7. To Rococo Rot
8. Blind Idiot God
9. Rachels
10. The Fucking Champs

-- Patrick Whalen

Re: Hope For Jazz/Esperanza Spalding

As my colleague Renata noted in the post below, Esperanza Spalding is indeed young and talented, but she's  by no means new to the music scene. She used to be in a Portland, Oregon-based indie rock band called Noise for Pretend and when she was 'round about 16 years old she sang on one of my favorite songs of all time. It's a joint called "Go Figure, Another Warm Day in Paradise." Download it now and thank me later for making your weekend better.

-- Jeff Reguilon

[Photo Courtesy Hush Records]

Hope for Jazz

Esperanza Spalding is the freshest face in jazz today. Exhuberant and youthful, this 23 year-old stand-up bass player and vocalist is the youngest professor ever at the renowned Berklee College of Music. She recently stopped by Amazon for a performance and a chat before her stint at Seattle's Jazz Alley. Unfortunately, the Editor (read:me) in question had some technical difficulties with the recording, and it came out sounding like garbled fuzz. So, in lieu of that, check out Esperazna speaking for herself on the clip below, or watch her on the CBS Saturday Morning show tomorrow. If you are not a jazz fan, you will be soon after you see her perform.

--Renata Sadunas

Beware of Killer Bs

My colleague Matt Wold and I recently caught up with the Fred Schneider, Kate Pierson, Keith Strickland, and Cindy Wilson, collectively known as the B-52s, backstage at the Seattle leg of True Colors tour. Listen to what America's favorite party band had to say about their new album, Funplex; spontaneuous combustion; and selling herring off the back of a mule in Ireland. (Yes, you read that correctly.) The Bs haven't aged a bit, and were ebullient despite having just finished their high-octane set, which just goes to show that all of that fun does a body good. Conclusion: these Bs still have their sting.

--Renata Sadunas

Radiohead: In Rainbows, On Tour

ChordStrike is headed to the Radiohead show tonight. Has anyone else caught a performance on this tour? What can we expect from the set list? Are they playing three-hour sets with multiple encores, à la Pearl Jam, or 45-minute let-downs à la Björk? Regale us with stories!

If you haven't caught the tour and would like to, Craig's List abounds with both fairly priced and overpriced ticket offers in almost every city left on the tour. They are:

• 8/22/08 San Francisco, CA--Golden Gate Park
• 8/24/08 Los Angeles, CA--Hollywood Bowl
• 8/25/08 Los Angeles, CA--Hollywood Bowl
• 8/27/08 Chula Vista, CA--Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre
• 8/28/08 Santa Barbara, CA--Santa Barbara Bowl

Get 'em while you can, and drop back in with highlights!

     --Jason Kirk

Singles Report for August 19: T.I., P!nk, Solange, Faith Hill, Ben Folds and More

T.I. - "Whatever You Like"
I'm not sure I ever needed to hear T.I. singing, but at least he's enunciating and not using autotune, so I'm going to call this at least a small win. Here, he seems like he's following the 50 Cent model, where he releases an ultra-dumb poppy, sing-song joint about clubbing/drinking/smoking/humping that's clearly beneath his capabilities as a rapper in the hope that pandering to the lowest common denominator opens some wallets. That's fine-- I'm not going to get mad at someone for padding his pocketbook by recording some ringtone rap-- but I think about how majestic "What You Know" was and it managed to be grimy, interesting, and popular all without having to drop some moronic innuendo like "brain so good/ I swore you went to college." For all that talk about how T.I. spent that time under house arrest honing his craft, you wouldn't know it from listening to this song.
Recommended If You Like: "Lollipop" by Lil' Wayne but hate the Cher effect/robot voice
Rating: 6/10 Ringtones

P!nk - "So What"
If you've been thinking to yourself, "I wish Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl" sounded more like a jock jam, but also had some of those trendy trance keyboards happening in the background and featured lyrics about unconvincing post-divorce empowerment instead of fashionable lesbian experimentation," you'll probably be very happy to hear this song, but sad about everything else in your life.
Recommended If You Like: Avril Lavigne, Kelly Clarkson, desperate stabs at continued relevance
Rating: 32/100 randomly placed exclamation points

Faith Hill - "A Baby Changes Everything"
You might think Faith Hill is trying to capitalize on barely-existent The Secret Life of the American Teenager-mania by whipping out a treacly, orchestra-backed ballad about an unplanned adolescent pregnancy, but you probably haven't taken into account that this August single is from her forthcoming holiday music album. The song is actually a somewhat interesting look at Mary's perspective on the Immaculate Conception, but interesting certainly does not always equal enjoyable. NOTE: The song's been taken down since we posted this. We apologize for the tease.
Recommended If You Like: Amy Grant, LeAnne Rimes, out-of-season Christmas tunes
Rating: 8/15 baby Jesuses (Jesii?)

Solange (feat. Lil' Wayne) - "ChampagneCroniKnightcap"
There was a time I found it irritating that Matthew Knowles, daddy-manager extraordinaire, would shoehorn Solange into appearances as a condition to get his other, more famous daughter, Beyonce, to show up at awards shows and the like. It always felt like he was trying to hard to make "fetch" work, but based on two awesome singles-- this one and "I Decided," which sounds like vintage Natalie Cole-- and some interesting interviews she's given recently, it seems like Solange may actually be the more interesting star. This song is some tight pre-bedroom R&B. It's suggestive, midtempo foreplay that should leave you good and ready for the whole album when it drops next week
Recommended If You Like: Robin Thicke, Brooke Valentine, surprising talent
Rating: 22/27 Lil' Wayne guest verses

Five For Fighting - "Something About You (Theme From The Baby Borrowers)"
John Ondrasik has always struck me as the sort of guy who's self-aware enough to find one of his band's songs rereleased as a single because of an attachment to a morally reprehensible reality show as funny as I do. Still, unless you're a Five for Fighting superfan (in which case you probably already have the bonus disc on which this song was originally issued) or you collect TV theme songs, you're probably better off heading over to the dude's charity site, Whatkindofworlddoyouwant.com, and cruising the user-submitted videos for a while instead of spending time downloading this nearly forgotten song.
Recommended If You Like: Matchbox Twenty, Train, thinking about what kind of parents would allow random teenagers to care for their newborn babies
Rating: 9/16 bad reality show ideas

Keane - "Spiralling"
I certainly didn't expect the new Keane single to be this brilliant, neon-colored dance anthem, but if you did, please get in touch so I can harness your psychic powers for awesome instead of weird. I'd also like to use your psychic powers to bet on sporting events. Thanks!
Recommended If You Like: the Killers, Kenna, dancing instead of crying
Rating: 43/50 discoballs

 

Ben Folds (feat. Regina Spektor) - "You Don't Know Me"
Out of the three duets Regina Spektor has recorded with artists I like (the other two being "Modern Girls & Old Fashion Men" with the Strokes and "Hell No" with Sondre Lerche), this song is second best, but it's also Ben Folds' best shot at a hit since he went solo. "You Don't Know Me" is intriguingly odd, just like you'd expect from the parties involved, but it's also accessible and catchy as hell.
Recommended If You Like: Maroon 5, non-ska Madness, two quirky tastes that taste great together
Rating: 81/100 Dueling Pianos

Wayne Brady - "Ordinary"
If you like grown-and-sexy, straightforward, smoothed out, late-perioud Luther Vandross-style R&B, this isn't bad, but I'm among the segment of folks that will no longer be able to think about Wayne Brady without that infamous Chappelle's Show sketch coming to mind. He does not crack wise a la Whose Line Is It Anyway here, nor does he threaten to choke a b-word; it's just earnest musing about being old, boring, happy, and in love.
Recommended If You Like: Brian McKnight, Al Jarreau, changing into sweats when you get home from work
Rating: 27/40 happy marriages

Fujiya and Miyagi - "Knickerbocker"
The lyrics aren't generally the primary point of focus in Fujiya and Miyagi songs. This is music with chugging rhythms to keep you dancing/working out/doing key bumps/shopping at Urban Outfitters, and it's excellent for that. However, the lyrics to this song, which repeat the names of both an ice cream sundae and a former child star who was driven to death largely by anorexia, are too bizarre to ignore, even if you don't understand the non-American references. Is the groove enough to get around this? Maybe.
Recommended If You Like: LCD Soundsystem, Hot Chip, hot fudge
Rating: 137/165 Ziggy Pigs

Everlast - "Folsom Prison Blues"
Everlast shot a man in Reno just to watch him jump around.
Recommended If You Like: Desecrating the memory of Johnny Cash, seeing Everlast embrace his House of Pain past
Rating: 3/77 used copies of Whitey Ford Sings the Blues

 

-- Jeff Reguilon

The Great Fantasy Jazz Band Draft

If the rock n' roll idiom lends itself to supergroups, jazz music is tailor-made for fantasy bands. And if recent conversations are any indication, both hardcore jazz-heads and pedestrian enthusiasts warm to the idea of hand-picking fantasy jazz bands. My recent listening has gotten me really excited about a number of young up-and-comers, so to balance my own idiosyncratic ensemble, I picked the brains of a few trusty colleagues with following softball: Assemble your ideal jazz group. Pick anyone you like, living or dead. Who would fill your roster?

Illustration courtesy of Sam Kirk (206-240-1649)

I'm in the mood for...
Cuong Vu - trumpet
Rudresh Mahanthappa - reeds
Jason Moran - piano
Toby Summerfield - guitar
Reid Anderson of the Bad Plus- bass
Damion Reid - drums
Patricia Barber - guest vocals

Would these guys rip open a few new dimensions or what? Gettin' your own ideas yet? A few of my fearless ChordStrike cohorts did...

Alan Wiley wants:
Alice Coltrane – Harp
Pharoah Sanders – Sax
Charles Mingus – Bass
Lionel Hampton – Vibes
Ravi Shankar – Sitar
Archie Shepp – Drums
John Zorn – Sax
Jaap Blank – Vocals

Gabi Knight offered two handily labeled examples:

"The Dream"
Chico Hamilton - drums
Paul Chambers - bass
Wayne Shorter - sax
Bill Evans - piano
Don Cherry - trumpet

"The Nightmare"
David Sanborn - sax
Chick Corea - piano
Billy Cobham - drums
John McLaughlin - guitar
Stanley Clarke - bass
Ian Anderson - flute

Think you can do better?

Omnivoracious blogger Dave Callanan prefaces his dream team by saying, "Tough call to exclude Miles [Davis], but I just don’t see how he and Louis [Armstrong] could have coexisted in the same ensemble. Nod goes to Louis for 'Skokiaan' alone." Dave's list:
Thelonious Monk- Piano
Louis Armstrong - Trumpet
John Coltrane - Sax
Charles Mingus - Bass
Count Basie – Bandleader

Lastly, intrepid jazz fan and esteemed associate Eric Martin served an indulgent 10-top:
Joe Williams & Sarah Vaughan - Vocals
Chris Botti - Trumpet
John Coltrane - Soprano Sax
James Moody - Tenor
Bobbi Humphrey - Flute
Jack McDuff - Organ
Ramsey Lewis - Piano
Jaco Pastorius - Bass
Art Blakey - Drums

OK, so no Dizzie? No  Miles? No freakin' Bird? Are we a bunch of amateurs? Or do we know something you don't? Boast your draft here. We're leaving the door wide open, focusing for a month on All That Jazz, and awaiting your better ideas. Put us in our place. We dare you...

     --Jason Kirk

Lil Wayne: Music of Champions

I have been completely addicted to the Olympics since they started, and like many of you I am wrapped up in Michael Phelps' quest for 8 gold medals. I can't help but notice that Michael, like many athletes, keeps his headphones on until right before he takes the plunge. My curiosity got the best of me, so I started digging around to see what is on his playlist. Hip-hop news reports:

When asked by The Today Show what music he listens to while preparing to swim, Phelps paused before replying "Lil Wayne, 'I'm Me."

More digging reveals this from Yahoo! Sports: 

Other artists that populate Phelps' iPod include: Jay-Z, Young Jeezy, Eminem and Outkast. (What, no 'Pac?) Occasionally, he'll throw some techno into the mix, but usually keeps things rap-centric. Phelps doesn't speak much about the specific songs he's listening to, but he did tell NBC in 2004 that Eminem's "'Til I Collapse" was on his most-played list at Athens. In 2005, he created a playlist for the website Rhapsody that included the songs "Roses" by Outkast, "Burn" by Usher, "Overnight Celebrity" by Twista and  "Smile" by G-Unit.

I don't know about you, but I plan to immediately add "I'm Me" to my workout playlist. I'll let you know if if I start beating my splits on the treadmill.

--Renata Sadunas

Cindy Lauper Will Bring Ya to the Brink

My colleague Matt Wold and I recently had the chance to speak to '80s icon Cyndi Lauper backstage at her True Colors tour. Still fiery, Cyndi talked to us about her new dance album Bring Ya to the Brink; her business savvy 10.5 year-old; and the importance of having a disco ball in your kitchen. Though she's probably best known for her single, "Girls Just Want to Have Fun," I found she's pretty hell bent on the serious matter of making the world a better place for all of it's inhabitants.

--Renata Sadunas

R.I.P. Jerry Wexler: 1917-2008

Jerry Wexler, the music business pioneer, eloquent tastemaker, guiding force behind the great classic Atlantic Records R&B sound, and person who I most often fantasized about being my alternate universe grandfather left us today. Several years ago, though, he passed around a mix CD of the songs from his career that made him most proud. Listen to that playlist below to understand the quality of talent this man shepherded and how they together changed the landscape of modern music.

-- Jeff Reguilon

[Hat tip to Rolling Stone via Idolator]

Eastern Block Rock

Well, not exactly rock. But it rhymes nicely, doesn't it? I was recently in Lithuania, where I visited the M.K. ?iurlionis museum in Kaunas. I have learned throughout my life (via the blank stares that I get) that it's safe to assume that most people have never heard of Lithuania/any person or thing emanating whenceforth. So, let me share with you an synopsis of  what I learned about ?iurlionis:

?iurlionis, who was born in 1875, was primarily a composer, and secondarily a painter. He felt that he was a synesthete: that is, like Kandisnky (who came after him) he perceived colors and music simultaneously. Many of his paintings bear the names of musical pieces: sonatas, fugues, and preludes. His paintings are at once vibrant, dim, surreal, and ethereal; his piano compositions emotional (listen to a snippet of "The Sea").

To my amazement, Amazon.com actually carries some ?iurlionis recordings, on MP3 no less, which serves as further evidence that we really do carry the Earth's widest selection.

--Renata Sadunas

Singles Report for August 12: David Archuleta, Kristy Lee Cook, Franz Ferdinand and More

David Archuleta – "Crush"
Inoffensive and  benign, this likely hit from the Idol runner-up features the same cheap-sounding drums made popular by Chris Brown's "With You" and Beyonce's "Irreplaceable." It's about as smooth and flavorful as a bowl of plain Cream of Wheat, which means you're probably going to hear this in regular rotation on adult contemporary stations for the next decade.

Recommended If You Like: Jesse McCartney, Chris Brown, guys who look like they own adult-sized footie pajamas
Rating: 6/10 Packets of Hot Cereal

Kristy Lee Cook – "15 Minutes of Shame"
This is a kiss-off from someone who sounds too joyful and incapable of malice to mean it. Fun, but toothless, I can't see disgruntled ladies jamming out to this even a tenth as hard as they did to that other former Idol's "Since U Been Gone."

Recommended If You Like: Kellie Pickler, SheDaisy, talking tough when your man cheats on you even though you're not really that upset
Rating: 73/100 American Flag Window Decals

Franz Ferdinand – "Lucid Dreams"
You know what you're getting from a Franz Ferdinand single at this point: a pounding rhythm simple enough for even the most graceless to dance to it, easily ignorable lyrics, and huge guitars when the massive hook kicks in. If Franz Ferdinand and the Hives can continue to release records on major labels if only because they're almost guaranteed to get songs licensed to Nike commercials or the new Madden game, why won't anyone extend Electric Six the same courtesy? How are they more of a novelty band than either of those two?

Recommended If You Like: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Scissor Sisters, songs played during the lead-in to commercial during NFL games
Rating: 5/11 Licensing Deals

Bloc Party – "Mercury"
Are we sure this isn't a remix?

Recommended If You Like: "Batdance" by Prince
Rating: 673/1000 Potential future Girl Talk Samples

 

 

Kenny Chesney (feat. The Wailers [yes those Wailers]) – "Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven"
I'm fairly certain Kenny Chesney's current guiding career principle is "What Would Jimmy Buffett Do?" You'll be able to pick up hemp WWJBD? bracelets at the merch booth when he goes on tour this Fall. I hope the Wailers got paid handsomely for appearing on this awful Corona-fueled mess.

Recommended If You Like: Wasting away in Margaritaville
Rating: 2/7 Parrotheads

 

Big Boi (feat. Mary J. Blige) – "Sumthin's Gotta Give"
It's honorable that Big Boi is trying to give his verses letigimate content, but everything about this complaint song is flaccid. The beat is driven by soft funk bass, which certainly doesn't make me want to stick around for rhymes about high gas prices. Even Mary J. can't save this. If you need new Big Boi, avoid "Sumthin's Gotta Give" and listen to the superior "Royal Flush" instead.

Recommended If You Like: "Why?" by Jadakiss
Rating: 21/85 Sumthins

Little Big Town – "Fine Line"
This is a nice little slice of countryfied Fleetwood Mac. The lyrics take on worries about a fraying, uneven relationship, and while it's tedious to hear this kind of story  in real life, since it's usually pretty obvious that the person on the low end of the teeter-totter should just get off, "Fine Line" proves this sort of thing works better in song.

Recommended If You Like: Sugarland, Lady Antebellum, tales of relationship woe
Rating: 83/100 Copies of He's Just Not That Into You

Puddle of Mudd – "We Don't Have to Look Back Now"
It's kind of bizarre to see a band who rose to fame because of an affiliation with Fred Durst and a single that showcased a Kurt Cobain impersonator singing "I love the way you smack my ass" turn in a softy ballad like this seven years later. This sounds remarkably similar to Starship's "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now." I mean, not like lawsuit-similar, but similar enough that they could probably slip this into a cable re-airing of Mannequin without anyone noticing the difference.

Recommended If You Like: Nickelback, 3 Doors Down, Andrew McCarthy movies
Rating: 17/27 Unnecessary Extra D's

Patty Loveless – "Why Baby Why"
I wouldn't be mad if I heard this cover of the honky tonk classic coming out of a jukebox. You'd probably be better off sticking with the George Jones version, though. Still, if the rest of Loveless' picks for her upcoming covers album (which will be issued by the ever hip Time-Life Music label, by the way) are this good, it might be worth a few spins.

Recommended If You Like: Old country songs given plastic surgery to compete in today's market/Hallmark gift shops
Rating: 211/250 Time-Life Collections Purchased Impulsively from Late-Night Infomercials

MGMT – "Metanoia"
As annoying as their art-damaged persona is and as bad a fit as they are for a major label, I'm willing to admit much of MGMT's music isn't totally terrible. Still, I dare you to pay attention to all 13+ minutes of this single without the aid of illicit substances. I'm fairly confident it can't be done. I'm also fairly confident those skinny headbands are cutting off circulation to their brains, but that's a separate issue.

Recommended If You Like: older Of Montreal, Fiery Furnaces, psychedelics
Rating: 12/57 Pairs of Neon Sunglasses

V.I.C. (feat. Soulja Boy Tell 'em, E-40, Bun B, Jermaine Dupri, Unk, Polow Da Don, and Bubba Sparxx) – "Get Silly (Mr. Collipark Extended Remix)"
Speaking of songs that are too long, nothing involving Soulja Boy should last longer than 45 seconds-- even if it has E-40 and Bun B on it. I'm rarely a fan of these all-star remixes, but when the beat is this weak and the quality of the guest verses isn't much better, they're nearly intolerable.

Recommended If You Like: Incohesive pop rap joints longer than most celebrities' D.U.I.-related jail stays
Rating: 1.5/10 Ice-T Old Man Rants

Murs – "Can It Be (Half a Million Dollars and 18 Months Later)" and "Me and This Jawn"
Even though this former indie rapper beats the same path on "Can it Be" that Big Boi does on the aforementioned "Somethin's Gotta Give," Murs' version is more solid and more re-listenable. The sample of the Jackson 5's "I Wanna Be Where You Are" definitely helps. The Jackson samples also help on Rhymefest's Man in the Mirror mixtape (available for free here), where 'Fest raps exclusively over Mark Ronson-produced beats built from Michael Jackson and Jackson 5 samples. I bring this up not only because of the MJ connection, but because Murs and Rhymefest strike me as similar MCs with similar messages, only Rhymefest brings more wit to the table. Also, both have flown largely under the mainstream radar and I'm hoping their next albums bust them out. This single could help. Murs' "Me and this Jawn," which samples the Isley Brothers' "For The Love of You" won't hurt either.

Recommended If You Like: Little Brother, Blu & Exile, pulling for rap underdogs
Rating: 89/100 Vintage Soul Samples

-- Jeff Reguilon

West Coast Squeezebox Road Show

Bellow the news from the rooftops! The self-dubbed Monsters of Accordion will hit the road from August 14-23, hammering the West Coast with--if the Seattle performances of a few of these folks are any indication--what's sure to be a ridiculously fun night of rawk, starring a motley cast billing itself like so:

JASON WEBLEY - mysterious accordion cult leader. mass-hypnosis
MARK GROWDEN - dark, seductive squeezer returns after years of silence
AMY DENIO - legendary experimental performer conjures the spirits
DUCKMANDU - classical virtuosity gone horribly awry

Full tour schedule here. Attendees, write us and share stories of ensuing debauchery...

     --Jason Kirk

Jerk Chicken and Side Ponies: Fodder for Modern Video Making

Seattle production duo Noel Paul and Stefan Moore, a.k.a. That Go, are generating a ton of online buzz around their two latest video projects. They created the first one in response to a call from Canadian hip-hop group Thunderheist, who challenged fans to a video-making contest for their new single “Jerk It”. That Go’s version stood out for its minimalistic approach, high production quality, and unlikely leading male character; a rooster. Now being touted as the “biggest video in the blog world,” the fowl video took first place in the contest and earned itself an official premiere on Pitchfork Media last week. Today marks the debut of the duo’s second (and equally radical) video for “Sophisticated Side Ponytail” by Seattle band Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head, which features a cameo by everyone's favorite killer whale, Shamu.

Check out the winning video for Thunderheist's “Jerk It”: 

thunderheist - jerk it from thatgo on Vimeo.

Get down to NPSH's “Sophisticated Side Ponytail”:

natalie portman's shaved head - sophisticated side ponytail from thatgo on Vimeo.

 

-- Shelby Earl