As a music fan, I'm always interested in seeing what the old foggies at the Grammy Awards are including in their annual nominee list. This year, I find my jaw-dropping by some of their selections:
1. M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" nominated for record of the year. This is the kind of thing that everyone believes should happen, but never actually does. I'm totally shocked. Also, the Jay-Z and T.I. collaboration "Swagga Like Us" (which samples "Paper Planes") is also nominated twice.
2. Hot Chip's "Ready For The Floor" nominated best dance recording (along with Madonna, Rihanna, Daft Punk and ... Lady Gaga???). Sam Sparro is also in there, but I never warmed up to him.
3. Robyn's self-titled album nominated for best electronic/dance album. If she wins this, what a triumph. Kylie Minogue's X is in there too, but that album was definitely hit/miss for me.
Grammy stalwarts like Beck, Radiohead and Coldplay are all nominated. And who is this Adele? I have never heard this "Chasing Pavements" song. In any case, it's not a perfect list but I'm rather impressed that Grammy voters are being slightly more progressive about their choices.
It's not quite Pornography, but it's pretty bleak. What I like most about Kanye West's 808s & Heartbreak is how honest and musically consistent it is.
I was expecting a softer sound, a more melancholy perspective on the tragic death of his mother. There is some of that in there, but it's also angry, with lots of self-reflection and frustrations over a lover or girlfriend. He's the boy done wrong.
It gets musically lighthearted 3/4's into the album ("Paranoid," "RoboCop"), but the subject matter remains dark throughout and the majority of the album is under-produced and bare bones.
My favorite track by far is the last one, "Coldest Winter." Notice the rhythmically strange synth melody that doesn't quite sync up with the drums. It's these touches that give the album its shivering effect. Speaking of The Cure, "Coldest Winter" could be a Japanese Whispers b-side. I love the album's art direction as well. Say what you will about his arrogance and attitude, Kanye's creativity certainly delivers the goods.
I got the recession special two weeks ago when I joined my new gym in NYC. They not only honored my SF rate, but they gave me loads of benefits. Perfect!
The past few months had me losing lots of weight, much to my horror. The skinny jeans Williamsburg hipster thing is not my aesthetic at all. So I'm trying more weight training.
I'm sharing a mix I've been listening to on my iPod using 8tracks, this new 8-song online mix maker. It's definitely in its prototype stages, as I found a whole handful of frustrations just by trying to make a simple mix. But the builders have been very proactive about addressing my issues.
I had a fun Saturday, which started at 3 p.m. with me and my friend Brian running around art galleries in Long Island City (Deitch Studios, P.S.1, etc) and ended at at 3 a.m. Sunday with me stumbling home from the East Village.
I was pretty surprised to hear new Britney Spears tracks at the bars we hit. High-res versions of "Kill The Lights" were playing everywhere. The album was leaked this weekend, which now explains it.
Except for listening to some of the tracks on YouTube, I'm just going to wait and get the deluxe version of Circus, as I'm anxious to hear what this girl can do next.
This Miami Horror video for "Don't Be On With Her" has been posted on a handful of bogs lately and it gave me a good laugh. Thankfully, it's not all about the video -- the song is really fun as well. The high pitched overdubs mid-song are pretty weird (in a good way). Miami Horror (like best-album-of-2008-candidate Cut Copy) are from Melbourne, Australia.
I like Ciara a lot. I think she's cute and fun. In her new single, "Go Girl", you can call her CiCi or "the Energizer Playboy bunny." T-Pain produces, so expect a lot of vocoder/auto-tune. It's not jaw-droppingly exciting, but I can see a lot of people having fun with it at the clubs.
The video comes off like a pastiche of recent pop videos. It must be those pesky art directors. Ciara does a catwalk strut in a shadowy hallway a la Lady Gaga, and then freaks out in a elevator like Britney on Madonna's current tour.
And then there's the wig. Those bangs, artfully cut just above the eyebrows! It's a little bit 20's flapper, a little bit Sunset Boulevard. Just in time for Halloween. My earliest recollection of this look was Britney's pink wig during her ill days.
I had a really incredible time watching Roisin Murphy make her U.S. debut in NYC last night. She played about 3/4's of Overpowered and a couple songs I wasn't familiar with (possibly from her earlier work). There were costume/coat changes after each song. Here are five points:
1. Her voice was perfect. She owned the stage. She was very happy to be there. The sound in the venue was great minus a few technical issues at the beginning.
2. She has fantastic chemistry with her band. She playfully assaulted AND seduced her musicians a couple of times throughout the set. She gave her backup singers a real pounding near the end of the show.
3. I liked the musical twists she added as she was transitioning or ending her songs. She amped up the dance elements "Dear Miami" and "Movie Star" while adding a rock guitar solo in "Primitive." She minimized the synth-heavy "You Know Me Better," which also sounded great.
4. She was rocking her signature bra-less white shirt a lot of the times. My favorite outfits were the brown, turkey-like hunchback number she wore during "Movie Star" and the plaid deer coat during (I think) "Let Me Know." 5. The venue was small, intimate and gorgeous. I think the crowd was a bit comatose at times, but that might be a NY thing. I was surrounded by a group of people that went bananas during ever song. But I could see a lot of people just staring in awe/confusion.
In these dire economic times bundled with a minor bout of homesickness, I'm finding myself veering away from the dance and pop music that has frequented my listening habits lately.
The final quarter of this year sees releases by Britney Spears, Beyonce, Christina Aguilera, Kanye West, Eminem, Guns and Roses (!), and more -- basically a mainstream music lover's dream come true.
"Looking at Billboard No. 1 songs from 1955 to 2003 for a study to be published in the journal Psychology of Music, he found that in uncertain times, people tend to prefer songs that are longer, slower, with more meaningful themes."
At Virgin Records this past week, I purchased Fleetwood Mac's first (white) album. Rumours is pretty much ingrained in my mind already, but I had this insatiable need to hear "Rhiannon" and "Say You Love Me." Oddly enough, this was the first time I realized how much Christine McVie sounds like Jon Anderson of Yes. Fun fact: I went to college with Lindsey Buckingham's niece, who was obsessed with Justin Timberlake.
I've also been listening to Belle and Sebastian's Tigermilk, their first album and the only one of theirs I never owned. And then there's the new Antony and the Johnsons' EP, which has the stunning "Another World." I also like "Hope Mountain" and "Crackagen," but it was a bit overpriced for a five song EP.
At Virgin Records this past week, I purchased Fleetwood Mac's first (white) album. 
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