Greetings at year's end! And it's been an interesting one here at ChordStrike, not least because ChordStrike was born in 2008. Yes, it's been a year filled with good music, good times, and no small amount of good will (although I've been called "pompous" and "hypocritical" and accused of harboring "unbeatably mediocre taste," and a few of my cohorts have taken on the occasional bruise, too). Sadly, a long list of notable musicians died in 2008, so many in fact that we've been unable to keep up in our humble, more or less reverent "R.I.P." column. But nevertheless, it's been a fun go-round, and ChordStrike has been one of the best-loved of the many new rollouts as part of Amazon Music's 10th Anniversary.
So as we head into 2009, we thank you for stopping by, and we promise more of this minor blog for major music lovers in the year to come. Happy new year!
Iconic actress, singer, Broadway star, and all-around incredible lady Eartha Kitt passed away on Christmas Day at the age of 81. She was perhaps best known for her rendition of the popular Christmas song "Santa Baby," or her portrayal of Cat Woman in the campy 60's version of the TV series "Batman," but her career spanned much further than these cultural mainstays. She was a dynamic, intelligent, and sexy performer who spoke four languages and sang in dozens, and left a legacy of amazing albums, films, and memorable performances. A one-of-a-kind singer with her own distinct and inimitable style, she dedicated her life to her art, and will be greatly missed.
It's been a busy week in music. On December 18, classical music fans across the globe celebrated the would 150th birthday of Giacomo Puccini, a church organist before he embarked on a stunning stretch of composition that yielded his many operas. Puccini's sesquicentennial might best be celebrated with good headphones and the superlative Tosca. [Tosca quiz included here, at no extra charge]. If it's your first foray into this peak experience, the time-tested favorite is the remastered 1953 recording with Maria Callas. Please drop word if you can find it vinyl.
Much of the Seattle area is covered with snow, at the moment. It's rare for us living near sea-level to get this much white stuff prior to Christmas and the New Year. So much snow has fallen, so early, that mass-transit is at a standstill and many flights in and out, canceled or delayed. Still - the kids are having a blast and it does put you in a very traditional Christmas mood. If I can get into town over the next few days, I can see trudging through the "deep and crisp and even" to a really traditional carol service, would be in order. I've never heard the Northwest Boychoir and they've done the most traditional carol service format, as a concert, for thirty years now. Tuesday night (December 23rd) at Benaroya Hall, but I'd check to make sure the weather hasn't altered their plans. If you can't get out, you can hear the Northwest Boychoir on King FM (98.1) live, or you can go to the source. King's College Cambridge came up with this format in 1918 and the BBC started broadcasting it about a decade later. You can hear the whole service on the BBC World Service broadcast live at 3:02 pm local time, Christmas Eve. If you simply have to have a CD? - EMI re-bundled a lot of the traditional King's carols on a very well-priced CD called Classic Christmas Carols. Stunning arrangements, flawless performances, but the real star of the show? The Chapel. One of the best acoustics you'll ever hear a choir sing in.
Nile Rodgers, co-founder of disco superstars Chic, and producer of hit albums by Diana Ross, David Bowie, Madonna, Duran Duran, and many others, celebrates his 52nd birthday today.
Here's "Hangin'," a mislaid hit from 1982's under appreciated Tongue In Chic.
Years ago, Sufjan Stevens vowed he would make a new Christmas album every year. The merry indie rocker kept his word and went on to release the first five volumes in one fabulous box set collection called Songs
About Christmas. Although Sufjan reportedly has no plans to release his 2008 volume of songs, he has posted all kinds of interactive holiday fun to his web site. Go here to play Christmas dress-up with Sufjan, check out previously released tracks, and play a holiday-themed video game.
Reinvigorate your own holiday spirit by singing along to Sufjan's “Put the Lights on the Tree”
Our love for Flight of the Conchords is welldocumented, so you can imagine how excited we were to discover that Funny or Die is streaming the first episode of their HBO show's second season two weeks before you can see it anywhere else. Head over here to watch it, or catch it embedded after the jump. -- Jeff Reguilon
I recently had a chance to talk to Lost Highway recording artist Johnny Flynn when he came through Seattle on his tour (which also featured ingenue Laura Marling). Listen to what this Shakespearian scholar, poet, and songwriter had to say about his 2008 release, A Larum, Superman outfits, and Levon Helm.
--Renata Sadunas
P.S. Our music team granted A Larum a spot on their list of top 10 folk albums of 2008. Click here to see our complete array Best of the Year lists.
A shape-shifter of the first order, Naranjo has looked like everyone from Annie Lennox to Stephanie Seymour over the years, but she's looking her best on the cover of the new album, as rendered above left by Natalie Shau. (Aside: Shau's art is unflinchingly stunning, a visual feast of surreal fantasy in the vein of Tim Burton.)
I heard some disturbing news last week: Will.i.am is producing on the new U2 album due out early 2009. I have a particulary low tolerance for his work, as most of it drives me insane (see: Black Eyed Peas), and I think he has the true gift of making everything he touches turn to crud. Thankfully, it looks like old standbys Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno are also sharing production credits. Back in the day, I was a huge U2 fan, but they lost me somewhere between Achtung Baby and Pop, and they have never regained my full-fledged devotion. I have to say I am looking forward to hearing a U2/Will.i.am collaboration as much as my friend Heather (a die-hard Chris Cornell fan) is looking forward to Cornell's collaboration with Timabaland. We are guessing (and hoping) that their album, Scream, may *never* see the light of day.
What do you think about a potential U2/Will.i.am collaboration?
On the heels of big Smiths reunion rumors comes news that fellow Manchester band Stone Roses are also possibly, probably reuniting, according to Austrailia's The Age.
The world's a pretty different place than it was when the world was under the influence of Day-Glo and irreverent hippie/electro/rave stuff. I wonder what today's Stone Roses would sound like. And, in feeling old news, their pivotal, highly influential debut album turns 20 next year.
Here's one of the best songs to reference the Stooges ever written.
I recently had the chance to speak with Ziggy Marley, son of the legendary reggae star Bob Marley,
and an accomplished musician in his own right. Listen to what he had to
say about his dad, Barack Obama, and life on other planets.
Is all sound also music? I'll leave that argument to the John Cage enthusiasts, but it sure would be interesting to hear a composition that makes use of the LRAD. The Long-Range Acoustic Device is a non-lethal weapon developed in the wake of the 2000 attack on the USS Cole. The device aims an excruciating blast of sound and has been designed, rather insidiously, with the idea of attempted crowd control in mind, but it's most high-profile use has been in combating nautical piracy in the seas around Somalia.
What could be more inclusive and equitable than a YouTube Symphony Orchestra, composed of successful applicants from all over the world?
I love the idea of Tan Dun writing an Internet Symphony No. 1. Calling it "Eroica” waves a flag for a brave, new era, even if we are more than 20 years into this revolution. Also, what better conductor than Maestro Tilson Thomas, who has championed new works as a conductor from the podium of the San Francisco Symphony and other orchestras, even composing extensively himself?
This whole project looks to have a very bright future,if it doesn't get soiled by ugly mistakes we have made in the past. For many years, anybody that wasn't male or white stood little chance of being hired by a major symphony orchestra, until blind auditions, conducted with a screen between the applicant and the audition panel, were instituted. Some orchestras have brought on vitriolic criticism, because they adopted these practices late or half-heartedly, most notable among them, The Vienna Philharmonic. Malcolm Gladwell uses the blind audition problem as a prime example of bias in his book "Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking."
In the competition rules and regulations, I can't find any language that says that YouTube have made a provision for blind auditions, and for a website whose mission is to allow people to discover, watch and share original videos, I think this is something they will need to address.
Would it be that hard to do? I think there are ways to demonstrate attempts to eliminate bias, even in a medium that begins with watching and listening. Whatever they come up with, I fully acknowledge the need for YouTube to scrutinize the applicants, to make sure they're actually playing and not miming to a brilliant recording of "The Flight of the Bumblebee". Actually that could become a competition in itself. Who can spoof the audition panel? I can see it now - "Eh-hem. I would now like to perform the percussion part from "Fire", by the late James Hendrix..." -- Hugo Munday
Perhaps. But will that stop me from enjoying "Weekend" from the Sea and Cake's latest album, Car Alarm? Not on your life. Car Alarm was one of the finest albums of 2008--it just missed our Best Music of 2008 list--and is also probably the finest TSaC album since their lovelorn classic, The Fawn.
Watch "Weekend"
--Gabi Knight
P.S. Don't you wish it was summer and you were out riding bikes right now?
Bad can indeed be good, and I was working up to a post that said something similar to Alan, but from a different direction. Who is familiar with the voice of the counter-tenor? Have any blokes out there sung as a counter-tenor? Both men and women have a "head voice", but for a multitude of reasons, some chauvinistic, the centuries have left us a head-voice repertoire written for the counter-tenor, and even a small repertoire for the male soprano. What is funny about a man singing in this register? Nothing, if it's done well. That is the easiest place to start because there aren't too many folk that sound really beautiful, in this register. Jeff Buckley's rendition of Britten's "Corpus Christi Carol," sounds amazing and serves well to hold the beer-can humor that usually accompanies this topic to a minimum. For those of you who prefer a more classical offering, not many people can find their way around a Vivaldi aria with such amazing poise and pyrotechnics as Philippe Jaroussky:
Now they are about as good as it gets. For the less successful offerings out there, I think our brains play tricks on our ears. Maybe the first subconscious reaction on hearing a male soprano is "Crikey! It's pretty incredible that he can do that at all!" and we forgive everything else. A friend of mine (and recovering counter-tenor) sent me this parody, which has kept me in hysterics most of the weekend:
To end on a more sobering note, meet Alessandro Moreschi, who recorded this around 1902, a full twenty years before his death. Alessandro is popularly held to have made the only known solo recordings by a genuine Castrato. -- Hugo Munday
To further my argument that bad can indeed be good, I offer as evidence this post from The Stranger's Line Out blog, which must be spread as far and wide as possible. Lindy West's excitement is palpable and contageous:
The amount of money that went into this blonde lady's vanity project
is INCREDIBLE. Helicopters! Dragons! Swordsmanship classes! Also, this
is the best thing I've ever seen. Also, can someone explain the
storyline to me? Also, sleighride!!
Every time you watch it you will find a new favorite part."
I have watched this 5 times already this morning and
forwarded it on to virtually everyone in my mailbox. This may possibly
top "Thriller" as the most epic music video ever made. It's like Lord
of the Rings meets Pirates of the Caribbean all starring some random
dude who really loves his green sparkly guitar. They should make movies
of people's reactions to watching this.
--Alan Wiley
UPDATE: for those of you with slower connections here are the small and medium sized, as well as youtube versions.
My friend Pasuit and I share a lot of interests in common: trivia, obscure music, and all things '80s (the more ridiculous, the better). We've somewhat inadvertently combined all three of these things into an odd hobby, some might say obsession, that we both pursue: Collecting '80s movie soundtracks that contain a song with the name of the movie in the title. You know what I'm talking about--they usually play them over the credits.
You don't have to say anything, really. I've been accused by other editors of "intentionally" liking bad music (and movies), but it's just plain not true--and I fully recognize that much of this music could be considered "bad". Maybe it's my OCD, but I honestly enjoy hunting down, finding, and dwelling in these odd little musical treasures, and that's what matters. Anyway, I'd like to share a bite of the fruits of my labor with you--here are a handful of my favorite finds: Garbage Pail Kids - The Movie featuring the song "You Can Be A Garbage Pail Kid" performed by Jimmy Scarlett:
My Science Project featuring the song "My Science Project" performed by the Tubes:
Sometimes they even make real music videos for these songs.
Twins featuring the song "Twins" performed by Little Richard & Philip Bailey:
And here is Pasuit's favorite--Spies Like Us featuring "Spies Like Us" written and performed by none other than Sir Paul McCartney:
There are plenty more, believe me. Do you have any favorites?
--Alan Wiley P.S. I'm also pretty serious about collecting sports training montage songs from '80s movies. Look for a post on that in the future.
Finally, to piggyback on 
A shape-shifter of the first order, Naranjo has looked like everyone from 
