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. Though it was a light week in comparison to the past few, there's still some good stuff for your ears and minds ahead.
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Iron & Wine recently released their fourth album Kiss Each Other Clean and it marks yet another expansion of sonic horizons from earlier recordings. Read on for more of my thoughts about it.
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My favorite musicians are the ones who are not bound to the expectations of normative technique or repertoire. That being said I recently ran into a 'musical experiment' from Bill Harris where he performs a transcription of Leo Brouwer's Danza Characteristica for drum kit alongside Manuel Barrueco's recording.
Inventive, thought provoking, unique, cool. What's not to love?
Leo Brouwer: Danza Caracteristica
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One quality of a truly remarkable performance is that there is often one note and/or one phrase that can encapsulate the grace, fire, virtuosity, subtlety, or authenticity of the artist.
Tom Waits is a technician of style. His sound, image, and stage persona have become remarkably defined over the course of his long and fruitful career. Nevertheless, today I would like to commend Ara Anderson, the trumpet player featured on the cut, A Good Man is Hard to Find, for peppering the instrumental solo with the perfect amount of tenuto and rhythmic pull.
Tom Waits: A Good Man is Hard to Find
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Two surprises in one day! Our blogbro Pooch over at This Bonus Track put a new Lupe Fiasco track up a few hours ago, and hot damn. This is by far my favorite of the tracks I've heard from the upcoming Lasers. It's hook is heavy and orchestral and Lu is absolutely killing it. I'm short on time so that's all the commentary you get, sorry kids!
Lupe Fiasco – All Black Everything
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Well I came home from car shopping (because, you know, I'm totally loaded with cash) to a tweet featuring XV's new jam. Everyone should know by now that Vizzy is my boy and any new track leading up to his album gets me giddy. Here goes.
XV – Finally Home (Ft. Machine Gun Kelly)
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Over the weekend Radiohead released their new album and music video – Lotus Flower. At which point the entire online music blogosphere exploded and in three days the video received about 3.5 million hits on youtube alone.
While this may have been a victory for Radiohead and a good omen for the success of their new record, for me, this was a victory for nerd dancing and it got me thinking about some of my other favorite moments in nerd dancing/rock and roll history.
So read on me droogs and see my picks for the nerd rock dance off and then compare them with your own.
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It's time once again for Weekly Roundup, a place to recap some of the week's interesting and important news and share some of the great songs and videos we dug over the past seven days. Yes, that includes Radiohead.
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Holy hell. The video for "All of the Lights" is an event. This quickly became my favorite song on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and the video doesn't disappoint. It has a simple, B&W lead up that serves to contrast with the strobes and rainbow pallete of the rest of the video. And the first appearances of Yeezy, Kid Cudi, and Rihanna (who is looking exceptionally hot) all feel momentous. Well done, Hype. Also, I'll admit it, I have an unhealthy fetish for videos with animated lyrics (first "Fuck You" video anyone?), but this one takes the cake in that area. Did I mention Rihanna? Oof.
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Recently I've found that the way I listen to music has changed. Circumstance and schedule have really got me down in the past few weeks and my listening has been almost entirely driven by deadlines, and work functions. With a run out of shows in DC, preparation and rehearsal for a concert with the Peabody Camerata, a full time high school music education position, and a few miscellaneous free lance musician obligations my blogger research time has suffered.
On the other hand I have had the opportunity to polish the dust off of a few old favorites that have been lost in the shuffle for way too long. This is a small selection of music I have been listening too lately because of work that is absolutely worth hearing, regardless of the context.
Check it out, you'll not find a more eclectic list of music in the blogosphere today!
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