All proceeds from the album sales will go to the Clinton Bush Haiti
Fund, Oxfam America, Partners in Health, the Red Cross, UNICEF, the
United Nations World Food Programme, and Yele Haiti Foundation.
In addition, all proceeds from the special studio version of "Stranded (Haiti Mon Amour)" by Jay-Z, Bono, The Edge, and Rihanna will go to Partners in Health.
Sosúa, Dominican Republic (Tuesday, January 12) -- I was on the balcony, three floors up, when suddenly I felt a powerful urge to throw up. Then my chair began to sway. When I looked across the alley and saw the laundry lines in full swing, I knew we were in trouble.
As we all fled out into the street, the air of general panic was palpable. Over the next few hours, via spotty cell phone connections, those of us huddled together in the street, half a mile from the beach, realized that the entire island had shaken. Tsunami warnings were issued for Hispaniola and Cuba.
As time passed, power was restored, and news crept in, we realized that Port-au-Prince had borne the brunt of the earthquake. The significant Haitian population in Sosúa took to weeping openly in the streets, though in the scramble to pack and gas up vehicles for a possible sprint inland, none of us yet knew how bad things really were.
Tuesday night passed in a slow haze of fatigue and disbelief. One of the lucky ones by far, I got out the next morning, leaving Santiago airport as originally planned. It wasn't until the plane landed in Miami Wednesday afternoon that I saw televised footage of the immediate aftermath in Port-au-Prince.
Musicians, of course, have been quick to lend their voices to the call for mass generosity in service of the nascent relief efforts. In a written public statement, Maxwell made an important point: "[S]ending cash is the best way to help right now. The easiest way to do it is through text messaging, but other ways to help include donating to organizations such as the Clinton foundation, Unicef, [and] Red Cross ... There are links to those charities here: http://www.musze.com/."
Wyclef Jean's Yéle Haiti Foundation moved with laudable speed, offering regular updates on its own efforts, three ways to donate--the easiest is to text "YELE" to 501501 (a $5 donation)--and beneficiary status for a series of emergency benefit concerts featuring Patti Smith, Living Colour, and many more at Manhattan's City Winery (January 20-25).
Peep the cover of the most recent issue of Rolling Stone. It's nothing if not an object lesson in the powerful simplicity of graphic design done right. No surprise, I suppose, since the cover was conceptualized by Chip Kidd.
For those who don't know of Kidd, he's most highly renowned for his book-jacket designs, in which medium he reigns (among the living) absolutely unchallenged. His Work: 1986-2006 is a superlative greatest-hits collection culled from two decades' eye-popping book jackets and worth every penny.
As for what's between the sheets, well, RS's look back at the '00s is predictably loaded with slavish applause for Radiohead's Kid A ($7.99 today!) and nearly everything U2 and Bruce Springsteen did, touched, or thought since the turn of the millennium. Ho humbug...
Seems hard to believe, but The Wallby Pink Floyd was released 30 years ago today, November 30, 1979.
And, even harder to believe, the WTO protests in Seattle, also known fondly as The Battle in Seattle or N30, started 10 years ago today, November 30, 1999.
Both of these N30 anti-establishment zeitgeists featured elements of rioting, burning rubbish, and gas masks. Coincidence? I
think not.
Adam Lambert has broken free of his Idol chains, and last night at the American Music Awards he unleashed his new, sexed-up image during a performance of the title track from For Your Entertainment (which is out today, incidentally). Dancers on leashes, dancers getting their heads pushed into Mr Lambert's apparently not-so-private parts, Adam snogging a band member... The video is certainly turning some heads.
It's not quite Christina Aguilera debuting the "Dirrty" video, since we knew all along that Adam wasn't of the safe and sweet school of pop thought, but I'd say he did manage to pull out a bit of a shocker - particularly when he grabbed the keyboard player and somewhat forcibly made out with him (talk about band members going above and beyond the call of duty).
Unfortunately the video has already been yanked from YouTube, but The Huffington Post has close-ups of all the highlights (or worst offenses, depending on your perspective). Here's one:
What do you think -- next Madonna or next has-been?
Our friends over at Armchair Commentary posted this awesome video of actor Christopher Walken performing Lady Gaga's "Poker Face." I'm a Lady Gaga fan, but I have to say--nobody does it like Christopher Walken. Check out both Walken's version and the original Gaga music video below.
Another year of CMA Awards has come and gone and Chordstrike is here to vilify and praise the worst and the best of "Country Music's Biggest Night." Without further ado...
Top 10 Worst Moments:
1. Taylor Swift's "mature" opening show performance replete with a stripper pole and black spandex (or was it leather?), not to mention, her voice was flat and off key. 2. Carrie Underwood does "Cowboy Casanova" looking strangely like Christina Aguilera circa 2003. The presence of synchronized dance steps and costumes proves yet again that the contemporary country genre is anything but Country. 3. Sugarland wins Duo of the Year and asks Brooks & Dunn if they want to come on stage to say anything. The awkward and uncomfortable look on B & D's faces was oh so palpable. 4. Sugarland performs another wannabe tear jerker song which leads this viewer to ask, "whaddu I gotta dooooo to keep from listening to youuuu?" 5. Kenny Chesney - another CMA Awards Show, another blue shirt and pair of gray pants. And he went way off key, saved only by Dave Matthews appearing on stage to rescue him from his own warbling. 6. Video screens flashing lyrics word for word during a few of the performances. Did I forget to turn off my close captioning? 7. Lady Antebellum win the Vocal Group of the Year award followed immediately by a TIAA CREF commercial that features a Lady Antebellum song. This makes for the quickest sellout story in Country Music history. 8. Brad & Carrie are interrupted by an Little Jimmy Dickens rambling about a Taylor Swift video. I know it was supposed to be a play on the Kanye thing, but it didn't come off quite right. 9. ABC's lame attempt to promote their new show "The Middle" by using the show's stars as award presenters, along with their painful attempt to link their show to the "common family" epitomized by Country Music. Yea, nice try. 10. Brooks & Dunn perform with ex-ZZ Top member making it the one and only geriatric retiree performance of the night.
Top 10 Best Moments: 1. Darius Rucker wins the New Artist of the Year award and is the first African American artist to do so, as well as his acceptance speech. 2. Carrie Underwood dissing Kanye West to the tune of "Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be Kanye." 3. Zac Brown Band's cover of "Devil Goes Down To Georgia." 4. Jamey Johnson's subtle and understated acceptance speech for Song of the Year, including the link between our grandparents and Veterans Day to "In Color." 5. On stage banter between Brad and Carrie, including the comment about "George Straight plus eight." 6. Kid Rock and Jamey Johnson perform "Somewhere Between Jennings and Jones" to thankfully feature some traditional country for the night! 7. Miranda Lambert's bass player with the white suit and mohawk. So Country Punk! 8. Lady Antebellum on-stage performance reminiscent of an old duo between Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. 9. Darius Rucker does his version of crowd surfing during his performance. We loved those lip syncing fans that couldn't quite get the lyrics right. 10. The huge psychedelic flat screen ceiling lights hung above Keith Urban during his performance.
Now, I'm not the biggest Idol fan, but I saw this just-released album cover for Adam Lambert's upcoming release, For Your Entertainment, and it kinda blew me away. I'm really not sure what to make of it--I feel simultaneously drawn to it and vaguely horrified:
News from the Department of Whiskey Tango Foxtrot...
In case you haven't heard, Radiohead's Thom Yorke just launched a new band with Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Joey Waronker, Mauro Refosco, and longtime Radiohead producer Nigel
Godrich. Apparently without a name, they played a few shows in LA recently. So who made it out to see this group? Please regale ChordStrike with a review of the show.
Earlier this summer, on one of the hottest days in the history of Seattle, I sat down with Mercury Prize-nominated artist Elly Jackson, half of British electronic pop sensation La Roux, before one of just a handful of stateside club shows she played prior to her band's domestic release. With her partner-in-music Ben Langmaid, the 21-year-old Ms. Jackson has created one of my favorite records of the year, La Roux's self-titled debut, which made its much-anticipated appearance on American shores just this week.
With a bevy of UK top 10 singles ("Bulletproof," "In For The Kill," "Quicksand"), critical acclaim, and superstar status across the pond, La Roux is poised to make a big splash here in the states. We talked about songwriting, the '80s, and the band's international potential, among other things. Check out the interview below.
Part of Portland indie film darling Matt McCormick's heart has always belonged to the music scene. In between creating and screening his own experimental film projects, managing international film label Peripheral Produce and directing the PDX Film Festival, he's found time through the years to collaborate with musicians, compose soundtracks for some of his own short films, and direct music videos for The Shins, Sleater-Kinney, YACHT and other acts.
So it's not surprising that McCormick recruited some musically-minded friends to collaborate in his first full-length feature film. James Mercer of the Shins and Carrie Brownstein of the recently disbanded Sleater-Kinney play the lead roles in Some Days are Better Than Others, and Portland-based Matthew Cooper, better known as Eluvium, is scoring the film. The trailer was released this week. Watch it below for a taste of the four Portlanders' collaborative work.
Matt was kind enough to answer a few of our questions about the roles that music--and musicians--play in Some Days are Better than Others.
How did you decide James and Carrie were right for the two lead roles?
There were a lot of factors. The storyline of James' character actually derives from a music video I made for the Shins a long time ago ("The Past and Pending") and throughout the writing process I sort of had his image as that character. I also had worked with him on a couple other video projects and knew he was good in front of the camera, so when the time came to cast the film I gave him a shot to audition and he nailed it. Carrie originally came in to audition for a smaller role, but she asked if she could also read for the bigger role (Katrina) which she also nailed. The character Carrie plays works at a local dog shelter, and in real life Carrie works at the Oregon Humane Society, so she had a very acute understanding of the story line.
What did they bring to the table as musicians that made them interesting to work with, or different from actors without that background?
I have worked with so few actors that it's hard to say, but Carrie and James are both very smart, creative people who I think were able to bring a larger artistic sense to the process. It really just felt like one big artistic collaboration.
You've scored some of your own short films in the past - how did you approach the scoring of this film, and how did you decide to work with Matthew Cooper?
Matthew Cooper (who performs under the name Eluvium) is kind of a hero of mine. I recently met him and we realized we were mutual fans of each other's work, and it almost seemed like we were just destined to do this project together.
Several other local musicians appear in the film as well. How did that evolve?
There are some little bit parts that musician friends of mine played, but nothing too serious. I guess a lot of it comes down to the fact that I just have a lot of friends who are musicians, and it's always fun to work with them in one way or another.
Watch the just-released trailer for Some Days are Better Than Others here, find out more on the Some Days are Better than Others site, and check out more of Matt McCormick's work (including music videos for the Shin's "The Past and Pending" and "Australia," as well as Sleater Kinney's "Jumpers") on Matt McCormick's site.
While browsing through the October 2009 issue of Psychology Today magazine, I came across an interesting blurb titled "Pop Goes the Bubble: Song Lyrics Fit the Times," by Sophie Chen. According to the blurb, Kanye West's "Love Lockdown" was popular this year not just because it's catchy, but also because we happened to be going through an economic recession when it hit the airwaves.
The blurb goes on to reference the soon-to-be-published work of professors Terry Pettijohn II of Coastal Carolina University and Donald Sacco Jr. of Miami University of Ohio. Pettijohn II and Sacco Jr. looked at the correlation between hit songs and socioeconomic conditions from 1955 to 2003. The results of their study showed that "popular songs dealt with more meaningful themes at times when socioeconomic conditions were threatening. Lyrics also focused more on friendships and romances; in hard times, people feel a stronger need for close relationships." The blurb goes on to provide an interesting snapshot of the #1 Billboard singles during a few key years:
There may be some truth to this data, but I'm not sure if I fully buy the research team's conclusion. If "Independent Woman, Part I" were released today, I'm inclined to think it would still be a hit single. After all, Beyoncé's similarly-themed"Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)" was released this year (in the deepest throes of the economic downturn, coincidentally), and not only did it peak at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, it also became Beyoncé's highest-selling song in the U.S. to date.
So what do you think--are song lyrics really a true reflection of economic times? Or is this Psychology Today report just a load of pseudo-scientific twaddle?
Leonard Cohen gave fans a scare Saturday night when he crumpled into a heap onstage in Spain following a stoic performance of "Bird on the Wire" (see video below). Cohen's publicist has since reported that he was battling a tough case of food poisoning, and music lovers everywhere are relieved to know that he is recovering well. But the news got me thinking about older artists who are still on the road bringing their music to the masses, despite the physical stresses involved.
Touring is a grueling experience, as any musician who has spent even a week living out of a tour bus will tell you. Artists follow late evening shows with a bumpy night's sleep in a bus bunk roughly the size of a casket, only to wake up the next day in time to soundcheck and repeat. Aggressively gigging bands book back-to-back shows for days on end, enjoying a truly restful night's sleep in a hotel room as seldom as once a week. And while older and more established musicians may have the luxury of forgoing bus sleep and retiring to a hotel each night, they are often back on the bus by early morning anyway, without the full eight hours of regeneration that many of us take for granted.
Add the perils of promoter-supplied meals, the stress of living out of a suitcase and showering in a different dressing room every day, and in some cases a tendency toward a partying lifestyle, and it becomes easier to understand how artists occasionally end up heaped on a stage, exhausted. (Those extravagant-sounding tour riders you hear about can also begin to seem like the least these hardworking musicians deserve.)
So let's take a moment to appreciate those musicians of a certain age who are still out there onstage, toughing it out to share their talent with the crowds who love them, for better or worse, after most in their cohort have observed the traditional retirement age of 65. I'll start the list - add yours in the comments!
The media was buzzing this morning over Kanye West's outburst at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. If you haven't already heard, Kanye rushed onstage during Taylor Swift's acceptance speech for Best Female Video, snatched the mic, and loudly proclaimed that Beyoncé had "one of the best videos of all time."
For some reason, this doesn't surprise me at all. It's Kanye, after
all. And while this particular incident is all over the media today,
it will blow over fairly quickly, as these things tend to do. I was,
however, mildly curious about seeing the actual incident, so I dug up
some video. Check it out below.
I also came across the video of Lady Gaga
performing "Paparazzi" at the awards, and what a performance it was. I
found it thoroughly entertaining--dramatic, satirical, and
"bloody" good fun (you'll see what I mean if you watch the video.) And
she can actually sing live, too. Sometimes her musical ability is
overshadowed by her penchant for the outrageous, but she's quite the musician, IMHO.
As you play your shiny new copy of The Beatles: Rock Band, listen to the newly remastered albums, and otherwise indulge in yet another wave of Beatlemania, get excited about the upcoming The Beatles: Guitar Hero, discussed here in detail. (Disclaimer: This video is not for the reflexively literal-minded.)
It's 09/09/09, and, here in Seattle, Beatles Day is winding down. I'm exhausted and elated, but most of all, I'm in awe.
Working on the Beatles has been a bit of a head trip, and not in the way you might think. I was beyond excited when I learned that the remastered catalog was going to be released, but I quickly discovered that my excitement for the remasters, not to mention my love for the Beatles, both paled in comparison with the enthusiasm, devotion, and somewhat mind-blowing level of knowledge displayed by the Beatles fans in our discussion forums.
Everyone knows that the Beatles are iconic. Everyone knows that the Beatles were instrumental in shaping rock music as we know it today. But working on the Beatles remasters has shown me that I never fully understood the breadth of their appeal, nor did I grasp the extent to which we as a society have integrated the Fab Four into our collective cultural fabric.
Normally, I tend to eschew any form of hype. But in the case of the Beatles remasters, the "hype" (if you can even call it that) had a different quality to it. The excitement surrounding the Beatles felt "pure," somehow, and legitimate: true fans doing what fans do best: exchanging opinions, sharing knowledge, and expressing their love and appreciation for the Fab Four and the music.
So, as Beatles Day winds to a close, I'll say what I never thought I'd say: in this case, I believe the hype. Happy Beatles Day, everyone.
It's a miracle I didn't call in sick today, 09.09.09. By noon the faithful brown box was sitting on my doorstep.
Help!, so to speak. Weigh in and tell me if you've heard the mono box set, and what your first impressions are. My listening has been totally random. I've listened to Help! (mono set), Hard Day's Night, Sgt. Pepper's, and Disc 1 of Mono Masters.
Unless you've got a stupidly high end gramophone player and a collection of pristine LPs (for the stuff that was ever on LP vinyl) - have they ever sounded this good? Certainly in 20 plus years since these came out on CD the first time, technical advances alone, make them sound way better, but I like the unobtrusive hand with which Abbey Road have polished these up. To my ear they're not only clean as a whistle but the dynamic range seems huge and there is infinitesimal tweaking that you seldom notice. A little lift in the bass here, guitar there. I haven't done an A/B comparison yet, which will be the true test.
I can't list everything that's struck me in the last couple of hours (mostly positive), but if you've snagged a copy of these, check out the woodwinds at the beginning of "When I'm Sixty-Four", all the percussion in the reprise of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (Strewth! - Chad Smith and Alan White etc. owe Ringo a debt of gratitude). The Mono Masters is mostly stuff I haven't really heard unless it was on the radio or from a jukebox, so things like the depth of the sound at the opening of "Love Me Do" (single version), left their mark.
Packaging is cute too. I have to laugh at the irony of reducing the original album art to the size of a CD. Anyone old enough to remember this stuff, first time around needs a lot of help reading the original notes!
