The Music Mashup Experience is a forum of musical experiences. Our ritual at The Mashup is to share what we have been listening to on Sundays, thus we call it the Sunday Song, but we invite you to share what you have been listening to any time.
Hallo, I have been wanting to talk about this band for a long time now. I had the privelage of seeing them near the end of 2011 in Brooklyn and have been listening to them regularly since. It is great eclectic hipster rock that draws from many traditional folk wells. The inclusion of the accordion is an awesome touch and brings a longing and pain to the words that few modern (computer instruments) can. find the link to their EP Here. You will not be sorry for checking them out. Enjoy my friends and let me know what you think. Cheers! Clint.
Astro ended up in the bottom two a couple weeks ago and although he is 15 years old, he reacted like an undisciplined 5 year old. His lyrics and performances would have you believe that he is mature enough but, this episode proved he is not yet ready to handle a five million dollar recording contract or the fame in-tow. So I retract my earlier post, please don't vote for Astro. Hopefully he will be eliminated from the X Factor and will use the valuable life lesson as a driving force to produce great art in the future.
I don't know if any of you have had time to listen to Tony Bennett's new album Duets II. Quite frankly it is amazing. It marries classic Tony Bennett lounge music jazz with masters of the their current genre. Each song is basically amazing in its own right and requires a level of talent from each vocalist and musician. No slouch could possibly participate. This is possibly why the record was number one on the charts for a time in 2011.
I chose this particular song because two masters of their craft collide head on for almost three minutes of true perfection. For those of you that don't know Willie Nelson all that well, in another life he would have sang and performed strictly jazz. Alas fate and fame would only allow he conquer the world of country first. So he ponytailed up and he is now arguably the king of outlaw country and he now sings whatever he damn well pleases. In the past he has released several jazz albums and they did become a mild success, but never quite the success that I believe this duet with Tony Bennett has established. This version of On The Sunny Side Of The Street is truly the work of Two Living Legends.
A few years ago I worked on a show where Tony Bennett was the talent and daily I regret that I had to miss it to "put out a fire" on another part of the project, but because he was a part of it he had donated one of his paintings and one of my jobs was to ensure its safety and to have it framed. It was pretty fun walking the street of Manhattan with an original Tony Bennett painting to the framer of his recommendation in midtown. Possibly my best midtown memory to date. I'm glad to see that after 60 some years in the music business he finally got his number one album. Go Tony Go. We want a duets 3 asap.
So today I woke up knowing that it was my dog's birthday but I had no idea that it was also Jeff Buckley's birthday which is just ridiculous since, as you guys know, I named my dog after him. Anyways I figured that he deserved a post today.
Let's make one thing clear, I don't watch X Factor that often but...the first episode I saw I did not take this kid seriously. I saw this performance last week and now I think he is awesome. If you're into this show, vote for Astro.
(note - this is from two weeks ago... ...time flies) Scene: I'm sitting in a hotel in Boston, drinking my 3rd or maybe 4th Harpoon Imperial IPA, and Scorcese's Beatles doc comes on HBO.
Now, I have to preface this conversation with some context. I am a Beatles fanatic. I recorded the late 90's Beatles Anthology on VHS and watched it (and by "it," I mean parts 1-2... ...starting with Rubber Soul, which I consider their tipping point... ...which is when they started doing drugs.... ...which was TOTALLY cool.... ...or at least i thought... ...think... ...thought... ...think... ...thought... ...) weekly.
What i thought as i watched this awesome documentary was:
1. Brian Epstein and George Martin wore suits and ties to the studio every day. EVERY day.
2. I can't imagine what it would have been like to be a teenager during the 60's. Your teenage years are undoubtedly when you are most impressionable in all ways. Music is no exception. In fact, I would argue that the ages of 12-16 are the years when you are more likely to develop your lifetime musical tastes than any other period in your life.
For me, this period was dominated by Led Zeppelin, Pearl Jam, and the aforementioned Beatles.
When I was watching this film, I couldn't help but think "this is my parents' band." I just happened to embrace, relate, and adore them. It made me wonder if I could ever really love the Beatles the way my parents did...
The first time I heard the Strokes was 2001. At that point, they were pretty new, and the SOUND was something that our Coldplay/Dave Matthews/Bob Dylan/Pavement world had not yet heard. It's not that I am better able to relate to Julian Casablancas than a kid who graduates high school on 2012... ...it's just that for 2001 Clay, it was new, exciting, and groundbreaking. For 2012 kid, "Is This It" is probably a really great album that also has some killer Girl Talk remixes.
None of these thoughts diminish my view of the Beatles in any way. If anything, it fills me with more of a sense of wonder about them. It makes me wonder, "what is my Beatles-love ceiling?"
Eric Clapton said it best when he was asked if he was ever jealous of one of his best friends in the world, George Harrison (keep in mind that this was during the "Clapton is God" phase - there was no single force bigger than Clapton at this point in time).
Clapton's reply? "It was the BEATLES. Come ON!"
I have no Idea what the point of this was, except maybe a small tribute to the best band of all time, and an expression of my awe that it's possible that I could love them MORE than I do now.
As per usual my new musical influence can be sourced from another form of media. This seems to be an increasingly regular occurrence for me. My new favorite show in the world to follow is Breaking Bad. When this show first aired in 2008 I saw both the Pilot episode and episode 2. I was so grossed out by what happened in the second episode that I had to stop watching...until Netflix released it. Now, I can't stop watching it. It is the craziest, saddest, funniest and strangest show I have ever seen and the acting is spectacular, which explains why it has been such a critically acclaimed show.
This is the story of how I came to find the album Dear Science by TV on the Radio. The song DLZ was used by Breaking Bad to communicate Mr. White's return to being a totally violent Bad Ass, bad decision making crystal meth dealer. A tragic story of a terrible person, but the story couldn't be more interesting and no song could have better communicated his circumstance. I hope you like DLZ as much as I do. The album is definitely worth a listen and DLZ is definitely a smart addition to any music catalogue.
Hallo,
