The Musician Comes First

One of the great things about my job at the library is we get to spend one hour a week just participating in webinars or watching videos on all sorts of things. My boss' boss gives us a big list of links each month. He's an old punk rock fan and was happy to choose some music related stuff this month. Today I watched this great keynote speech by Dave Grohl at South by Southwest from 2013. The thrust of it is about making your own stuff and doing it your own way, but it's also a brief autobiography that fans of Grohl, or Nirvana, or the Foo Fighters will love too. It's a long one, but if you have the time, you'll be glad you watched it. It makes you want to run out and make something.

Dresden Dolls Cover Neutral Milk Hotel

This is one of my favorite songs to listen to and watch in recent months. Two-Headed Boy:

The Fifty Years of Björk

If you're a fan of Björk, you'll probably dig this video. It was made for her fiftieth birthday last year and isn't a traditional documentary. It's more of an assemblage of clips, much of them from amateur/bootleg videos with greatly varying degrees of quality. I enjoyed it because a lot of it was new to me. It's roughly chronological in the tracing of Björk's career, absolutely packed with live performances and a plethora of breathtaking costumes. There are clips from music videos, interviews, and awards shows, with no narrator within earshot. Just float back and enjoy.
https://youtu.be/oMR7ofKkjp4

Vulnicura

The new Björk album is out! Go buy it!

Happy 2015!

I hope all of us have a great time this year and make wonderful stuff happen! Now dance this shit out with Stromae!

Joe's Gone

Joe's gone. I said so in the title and you still didn't believe me. I liked Joe. I'm sure several thousand people are blasting this song all over the internet. I don't mind being several thousand and one.

I Stop Making Sense Thirty Years After Everyone Else

Believe it or not, I just saw Stop Making Sense for the first time. Obviously, I was never a hardcore fan of Talking Heads, but I liked what I heard on the radio and their videos back when. But I discovered the These Things Matter podcast a couple of weeks ago and listened to their Talking Heads episode wherein they convinced me to watch the movie. They were right about it. This film is pretty incredible.

Some observations: I never realized how danceable Talking Heads music was. I know that sounds stupid, but I have to hear a whole bunch of something in a pile in order to pick up on these things. For instance, I never realized how country the Eagles were until I heard one of their "best of" tapes. I know that sounds even more stupid.

If you didn't know Talking Heads' songs were so danceable by listening, you could just watch them on stage and pick that up. I've never seen a band with so much energy, and I used to go to a lot of heavy metal concerts in a former life. Old, fat me watched this movie and said to The Boy, "If I was up there on stage, after the fifth song I'd have to say, 'I'm gonna go sit down over there. You guys finish the show without me.'" On top of the normal energy was the entertainment value of David Byrne's funky moves, which weren't spontaneous, but definitely courageous and inventive.

During a Byrne break, we got that one Tom Tom Club song, which was good fun. And speaking of the Toms, Tina Weymouth knows how to lay down a groove, y'all. She's not a flashy bass player, but she finds the pocket and swings there. It's unusual in a live show to hear the bass cranked up like it is in Stop Making Sense, but again, there's the dancey thing. If you're not a riff band, your danciness comes from the rhythm section and this band knows it. I can't really speak to Chris Frantz' drumming because I'm a former bass player and bassing is what I listen to. I know all you bass players out there are saying, "If you were a good bass player, you'd be listening to the drums!" To that I answer, I never said I was a good bass player. Ha! Tied you up with your own logic!

If you're my age and you're into Talking Heads, you've already seen this movie. But maybe you're not my age, and you thought the band was kind of okay, but never really checked them out. Go get this film watch it with some friends. Make a party of it. It's a hell of a good time. I rented the DVD, but I imagine I'll have to buy a copy now.

Magic

I've loved this song for years, bought the single and B.o.B.'s album. I've loved Rivers Cuomo's music for decades. That's not why I'm posting this video here. I'm posting it because I just saw the video for the first time a few minutes ago and what happens at the 0:35 mark made me laugh out loud. Maybe it won't do it for you, especially because you're expecting something now, more especially because I've hyped it, but it's a great song you might not have heard, so when the crushing disappointment sets in at the 0:36 mark, just know that I warned you and then you can sit back and enjoy the song.

Feel Inside (And Stuff Like That)

Stumbled upon this video today and it made me eye-wateringly happy. Not only is it Flight of the Conchords material I haven't seen, but it's a fantastic song performed brilliantly with a story behind it. Donate to the charity that inspired it all, Cure Kids. Enjoy!


 

Call He Maybe

One day I'll get back to normal posts. You probably like these better anyway!

Shakin' It

Found on Facebook. Laughed like hell. http://dogwork.com/

CNR

I'm all sleepy, what with no caffeine and getting up early for days. I'm getting no writing done. I'm just throwing a video that I dig on here for tonight. Enjoy.

http://youtu.be/xLnapb-30hA

Mates of State

Mates of State turned out to be the soundtrack for the writing of my novella. I eventually added some Zero 7 and Sade, but Mates of State was at the heart of it. It got to the point that when I heard their song, Now, it would put me right into the world I was writing about. That's a powerful thing when you have to produce words. I can't find a decent video for Now, so here's what might be my second favorite song from Mates of State, My Only Offer. Maybe you'll dig it.

http://youtu.be/TeVfiJ-ea6Y

You've Got To Hide Your Love Away

I'm not making any kind of juicy confession, that's just the name of the song. I was sure I posted this here before, but I can't find it. Don't look at this as one scene of a rancid film. Look at it as a music video. In that sense I think it's gorgeous. I love the look, the set, the clothing (I'd say costumes, but when this was filmed, they weren't costumes, they were clothes), the whole nine. Kudos to director Richard Lester. And it's a great song too.



http://youtu.be/jz7IjXu0DfQ

Dreaming

Okay, I can't hold it in any longer. I love this video. It's total lip-synching goodness, of course, but it's a great song and the band and the audience really sell it, especially drummer Clem Burke. You can feel the energy. Gotta dig the fashions of a bygone era, the sunglasses, the goofy dancing guys and most of all, Debbie Harry (Duh!). Love her hair, dress and general sweatiness. Quick poll for this video, Debbie Harry: a) Total Hottie? or b) Skank? My vote's for Totally Hot Skank.

(Quick note for those who want to throw stones at the sexist bastard: I believe that women and men are equal as human beings, should be equal under the law and that Debbie Harry is a Totally Hot Skank in this video.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIjxGKLTADE&fmt=18&annotation_id=annotation_507948&feature=iv

Every Little Thing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AvBL2Mx2xA

I Wanna Be Good

Have I mentioned I love youtube? I saw this performance a few times back in the eighties on the awesome Night Music show, which I absolutely loved, even more than youtube. I've been looking for the song for two decades and just found the video tonight. Happy Happy! It features Karen Mantler and Her Cat Arnold doing a song called "I Wanna Be Good." The band is introduced by host David Sanborn (Yay, Sanborn!) and pianist Carla Bley (whose ex-husband hangs at my store and most of us think acts like a dick). Karen Mantler is Carla's daughter and David Sanborn's son is the group's bass player. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUYBW11GCiY

The Moon Is Disgusting

A half an hour ago, I didn't know this guy existed. Thanks, William Gibson and Colin Peters for shouting about him. I watched a different vid first and asked, "What the hell is that thing?" Why, it's The Magic Pipe, of course! As a very mundane bass player, all I can say now is, "Cool!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wGMsOhaPJs&NR=1

Step Away From The Instruments

Here are a couple of nifty a capella videos which were pointed out by a couple of tweets each by the likes of @GreatDismal, @paulandstorm, @ccfinlay, and one other person whose name has been lost to the pebbles of time (Sorry, Person). I think maybe Diane will dig these.

http://vimeo.com/5732745

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjbpwlqp5Qw

Rhapsody In Silicon

Thanks to @JonathanStrahan for the tweet, The Register for the revelation, and most of all, the artist, bd594: