Somestimes while listening to my (i)tunes I come across a track that blows my mind -- it may be the lyrics, or the beat, or the sexiness, but whatever the reason or reasons might be, I think, "This is amazing. I wish I could share this with everyone!" In that spirit on occasion I'll upload for your download pleasure a song. Here's the first one for ya'll. To download click here.
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Music
Started in January 2000 (around the same time I was trying to figure out whether Natty Light or Natty Ice was better in the second semester of my sophomore year of college) a Stanford graduate launched the Music Genome Project that would attempt to quantify the "genes" of songs and music genres by incorporating factors ranging from "gender of lead vocalist, level of distortion on the electric guitar, [to] type of background vocals." This methodology was adopted by another website called Pandora which utilizes the Music Genome Project's data to create an Internet radio station that dynamically interacts with your musical preferences to automatically create an ongoing playlist that plays songs that it thinks you'll enjoy based on your preferences. You are given the option of giving each song a thumbs up or down which helps the site hone in on what you like.
It's a really terrific service that uncovers a lot of music in a genre you might not know that much about. For example, I typed in "Esbjorn Svensson Trio" and as a result I've been listening to some really terrific jazz tonight. I suggest you do the same.
(Thanks Nicole!)
Funkmaster Flex on July 4th played a commercial free five hour set on Hot97 of pure classic hip hop goodness from the 1990s (minus "Hammer and Young MC").
Some dude broke up the set into four mp3s which you can download here.
It's a must have for any hip hop fan or connoisseur. I've been listening to it all night (I doubt I'll be able to listen to the entire set considering it's five hours long in case you forgot) and it's simply hot, although a small minor complaint is that sometimes there's a little too much Funkmaster Flexing his big mouth. Nonetheless the songs fit really perfectly with the hot summer nights and it makes me want to get in a car with a couple good friends, nod our heads along to the beats, and just drive somewhere.
Yet another Sunday which means another installment of your favorite weekly soft music jam for your hang over or broken heart...or both. If hung over I recommend an extremely chilled Coke AND Gatorade and anything from the McDonalds breakfast menu, then finish this off with a cup of coffee. If heart broken, then I don't know what to tell ya'. Whatever it is that you do to mend it just don't come off like Sting who basically sounds like a stalker.
Every breath you takeEvery move you make
Every bond you break
Every step you take
I'll be watching you...
Stalker! Good song though.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXq3hO82cTY]
Last night...we go to a party, and everyone turns to see this beautiful lady walking around with me. And then she asks me, "Do you feel alright?" And I say "Yes, I feel wonderful tonight." A few hours later, after passing out in the subway platform ground, I somehow managed to make it home and at that point I didn't feel so wonderful and promptly threw up. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8ipQl9pywg]
So you think you have a complicated handshake/greeting with your boys? This video pays homage to that tradition. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVge3CiE5uU]
Yep, it's another edition of your favorite weekly Easy Listening Sunday. Some guys have all the luck, some guys have all the pain, some guys get all the breaks, and some guys get backhanded compliments like "I had to talk to you after I saw that you were wearing sneakers and skinnier than the usual jeans in this place."
Anyway, this might be one of the worst music videos ever, which makes it--follow the logic--one of the best music videos ever.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUC7IoW65hg]
My trip this weekend to Phoenix didn't quite involve anything as melodramatic as saying goodbye to a lover before departing--although I do consider myself an expert in this field, a field that I possess a PhD in actually--but I figure this song by John Denver, "Leaving on a Jet Plane" is speciously apropos for this week's Easy Listening Sunday segment. [youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=vLBKOcUbHR0]
This song holds a special spot in my heart. A few years ago, I had to leave my fiance behind--she had just happily agreed to my proposal--for a secret government mission (basically we had to destroy a killer asteroid heading straight for our planet). As my teammates and I were about to get on the plane, I grabbed my fiance, embraced her and lifted her up. I was trying to alleviate the fears that she had for me. For us. She had a brave smile. Holding her, I began singing, despite what can charitably be described as a singing voice that killa puppies, "All my bags are packed, ready to go..." It was really great when the boys, especially the fat one (that's what we called him, "the fat one") jumped in with his baritone voice.
It was a nice moment.
Too bad her father died during our mission.
She and I divorced a year ago.
Good morning citizens of planet Earth. Did you make it alive out of the apocalypse of Saturday night? If so, I reward your for surviving the drunken mayhem unleashed by the Four Horsemen--Jack Daniels, Grey Goose, Pabst, and Cuervo--by presenting you with this black and white easy listening goodness from Extreme, "More than Words." [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YldxuVuxb0k]
I'm back again with this week's Easy Listening Sunday. What is it this week?
Well, you might not want to watch and listen if you drank too many pina coladas Saturday night, but if last night you got caught in the rain with a girl, then talked to her about your mutual disdain for yoga, which was followed by an intellectually stimulating conversation that culminated in making love at midnight (high five, bro!), then this song by Rupert Holmes (who knew he looked like my Chinese History TA?) is written just for you:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr2M1HEEres]
Spinner created an intriguing top 25 list of songs--a list titled "The 25 Most Exquisite Sad Songs in the Whole World."
Any list that ranks works of art are obviously completely subjective and ultimately infinitely debatable. Yet, they are always compelling. Maybe it's that very subjective quality which explains the appeal because it permits the reader to be an active participant. "Actually number 5 should be number 3 and number 1...well, whoever picked that is a fucking idiot. "
I just installed this AMAZING visualizer add-on for iTunes that uses a graphic style reminiscent of Lumines, a PSP puzzle game that I dearly love. It makes the default iTunes visualizer look like a n00b after-thought. To download go here.
Well kids, it's yet another Sunday. Did you go out all Saturday night with nary a call or thought of your significant other? Well, ease the inevitable "why didn't you call?" fight today by taking some advice from Stevie Wonder in today's segment of Easy Listening Sunday. Go ahead and pick up your cell phone and give him or her a call just to say you love them. However, I strongly advise against drunk dialing such a message to those that are definitely NOT your significant other. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxwJjJq2GZk]
Are you nursing such a serious hangover that death or at the very least, coma is preferable to your current pounding headache? Never fear--your easy listening sunday is here. Today, it's Lionel Richie. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDZcqBgCS74]
I don't like to editorialize too much on the "Easy Listening Sunday" entries (it should be about the music...), but I think this video tops what I thought couldn't be topped--and that was Elton John's music video from last sunday ("Nikita"). Consequently, I'm compelled to jot a few words.
There's so much to be said about Lionel Richie's "Hello" music video--or should I say short movie? Is it a music video? Is it a short movie? I don't know!
Thesis: "Hello" is actually seminal because it created its own genre: the music video-short film-musical. Michael Jackson's "Thriller" gets a lot of the credit for reinventing the music video format (and Jay Z's "Big Pimpin" gets a nod in music video history primarily for the most gratuitous spillage of Cristal on curvy sun-bathing women), but I think "Hello" is a sleeper gem that music historians and Vh1 "I love the..." and "Top 101..." shows have unfairly overlooked.
In addition to its technical merits, Hello is also pioneering for the positive social message it broadcasts. The video and Lionel Richie sends (sings?) a powerful voice that addresses the public's misconceptions and prejudices about the blind: Blindness is not a disability nor a hinderance. It may prevent being able to tell the difference between a single and a hundred dollar bill (as Chris Rock said), but in matters of significance, consequence, and weight blindness is as much an obstacle as cake is to a fat, hungry kid. This is not to suggest that blindness is delicious.
This video humanizes the blind. It shows that a blind person can be a captivating actress, graceful ballerina, AND a master sculptor. A blind person can be beautiful, popular, intellectual, and posess a warm personality. A blind person can also make their acting teacher fall in love with them. The message is that a beautiful actress/dancer/sculptor who also happens to be blind can find love! Blind people love, too. What a powerful film. It's too bad the blind can't see it.
Lionel Richie, on the other hand, demonstrates how easy it is to stalk a blind person. Because they CAN'T SEE YOU--or so he thought! The ending is the coup that elevates this video from "good" into the pantheon of greats. I hope someone from VH1 sees this penetrating analysis and argument and devotes an entire marathon to Hello, like they do with Thriller...which doesn't have one iota of social redemption and if anything only generates and fosters fear mongering among the general dominant populace towards the much maligned zombie community.
Let Aaron Neville help you take it easy as you unwind from the weekend hecticness. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i43fSjbEmA8]
Had a crazy Saturday? Full of debauchery and mayhem? Have an easy Sunday with some Bee Gees: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcAy-TthMiA]
We already know that Bill O'Reilly is a blustering, xenophobic douchebag whose allegiance to hate and bigotry is only second to his TV ratings and rubbing women with loofas. And while he explicitly explicates the "modus operandi" of Carribbean vacations, we know that his modus operandi on his show is to invite a "guest" and then cuts them off while yelling at them and calling them enemies of the State. As much as I dislike Geraldo and as much as I dislike listening to two 'pundits' screaming at one another, it's still good to see someone stand their ground against a bully on his own turf, even if it is another bully such as Geraldo.
My ears are still kind of bleeding from listening to these two, and I'm sure yours is as well, so I'm going to let the sweet, sweet voice of Jon Bon Jovi and the aural medicine that is "I'll Be There" sooth you:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtzcOqv_P-4]
(Thanks Chloe!)
UPDATE I'm listening to their new album right now...and I'll can I say for now is "Wow." What a perfect thing to listen to on a Sunday morning.
So Wilco is probably like my favorite band in the world (excluding hip hop groups like Tribe and such). I first got into them when they performed during Spring Weekend at Brown my sophomore year and (this rarely happens to me) I got sucked into their music.
So if you are a Wilco fan, note this bulletin that they posted on their MySpace:
We're hosting a sneak preview of the new Wilco album tomorrow, Sunday, March 11 from 2 pm to 2 am GMT, 10 am to 10 pm EDT and 7 am to 7 pm PDT.
Come to http://wilcoworld.net/sbs/
Shibby. Be there or be square.
I'm not too inspired tonight to write anything, but I do have a question for all ya'll. I noticed recently that the song on my MySpace profile was removed by Wilco. I'm in need of a new song to put up on there. So, any suggestions?
I refuse to believe this complaint filed to the FCC following this year's--Yawn--Super Bowl half time performance is actually genuine, because surely, surely the evolutionary process eradicated the genes that could produce such idiotic bigotry and homophobia:
I'm going to file a complaint against some of these people's right to procreate. I fear for the future of America if America is eventually going to be run by the offsprings of these people. [Insert Dubya joke here.] The Smoking Gun's got more complaints.