It's time once again for Weekly Roundup, a place to recap some of the week's interesting and important news and share some great songs and videos we dug over the past seven days.
News and cool music-related stuff you should check out:
-On Sunday night, Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) and collaborator Atticus Ross took home an Oscar for their score of the Social Network at the Academy Awards. I remember being surprised when I heard there was going to be a Facebook movie in general, let alone knowing it would involve a combination of David Fincher, Aaron Sorkin, and Trent Reznor. But I have to say, it all came together well, and the score certainly was an important part of that.
-NPR's All Songs Considered blog has started a new interview series called the Flipside where they talk to Jack White "about a side of an artist you don't know much about." It seems like everything Jack White has to say is worth hearing and/or reading, even when it's a discussion on auctioneers, the focus of this first installment.
Hey, items about The Social Network and The White Stripes? Sounds familiar…
–My Morning Jacket has announced the release of their 6th album, Circuital, and in preparation, they are releasing one song per week from last fall's Terminal 5 shows (in which they played each of their albums in their entirety, in order, over 5 successive nights), moving chronologically until April 12th, when a new song will come out. Check out their website for the music and info.
-The excellent music sharing & community building platform Soundcloud has a weekly column on their blog that I find highly diggable. It's called Soundcloud Local and it highlights 5 artists from a given city each week. I love getting a sample of what's going in different scenes throughout the world. This week's city is Dublin. Check it out and be sure to check out previous installments.
-Here are two WTF items, I can't decide which is more bizarre. The Flaming Lips announced they will be releasing music via USB ports embedded in life-size, detailed replicas of human skulls, made entirely of edible gummy material which would have to be eaten to get the music. Then there's this quote from Liam Gallagher's (Oasis, Beady Eye) interview with Quietus in which he says the following: "I heard that fucking Radiohead record and I just go, 'What?!' I like to think that what we do, we do fucking well. Them writing a song about a fucking tree? Give me a fucking break! A thousand year old tree? Go fuck yourself! You'd have thought he'd have written a song about a modern tree or one that was planted last week. You know what I mean?"
Some music sent our way we dug this week:
–The Welcome is a young band out of Chicago planning to record and release a monthly series of EPs pretty soon. If they are anything like the self-titled EP the band has out now, I know what I'll be doing at least once a month and probably more: digging the Welcome! They have the straightforward indie rock sound down pat, including guitars that alternate between clean single note riffs and driving, distorted chords, catchy melodies, and clever lyrics. I'm always up for that when it's done well. Listen to this track "Robin Robinson." It made me think particularly of Ben Kweller – in a good way – and if that isn't enough of an endorsement, I don't know what is. The EP, which has two more great songs on it, is available FREE here.
-Tara Tati, aka Metal Mother, is from Oakland, CA has an album coming out in May called Bonfire Diaries and it should be quite an interesting listen based on the first single, "Billy Cruz." It is the kind of song that just takes over your attention by sounding different and sounding good. Tara seems like one of this Bjork-type creative songwriters who can assimilate a lot of different influences into something new, plus use her voice in a wide range of ways. The lyrics say that the character of the title "likes shape-shifting" and I feel that's a good way to describe the song in a general sense. The specifics are probably just better left to your own ears so have a listen.