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Post by Kapitan on Nov 30, 2020 16:05:19 GMT
I thought Night Crawling with Billy Idol would be most up your alley, kds. It's definitely my favorite from the album. Meh. It might be like the trash can in my alley. I do wonder with Billy Idol and Joan Jett guesting on the album. Is this Miley's attempt to try to entice older rock fans? Or, attempts at relevancy by Idol and Jett? I think it probably is her flexing her range and influences: she has done a lot of diverse covers and worked with some diverse artists, too (e.g. The Flaming Lips). So I think to name-drop, play the music of, or appear alongside the likes of Dolly Parton, the Lips, Velvet Underground, Billy Idol, Joan Jett, I think that is absolutely part of her (possibly sincere) effort to show the world she's not just a former Disney pop girl.
And growing up in the industry with a musician dad, I don't doubt that she has been exposed to a ton of good music over the years. It just doesn't necessarily make HER music good. (So far, the overwhelming majority of the time, I'd say it has not resulted in good music from her. Just occasional moments that rise to "pretty good" alongside a ton of trash.)
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Post by kds on Nov 30, 2020 16:10:15 GMT
Meh. It might be like the trash can in my alley. I do wonder with Billy Idol and Joan Jett guesting on the album. Is this Miley's attempt to try to entice older rock fans? Or, attempts at relevancy by Idol and Jett? I think it probably is her flexing her range and influences: she has done a lot of diverse covers and worked with some diverse artists, too (e.g. The Flaming Lips). So I think to name-drop, play the music of, or appear alongside the likes of Dolly Parton, the Lips, Velvet Underground, Billy Idol, Joan Jett, I think that is absolutely part of her (possibly sincere) effort to show the world she's not just a former Disney pop girl.
And growing up in the industry with a musician dad, I don't doubt that she has been exposed to a ton of good music over the years. It just doesn't necessarily make HER music good. (So far, the overwhelming majority of the time, I'd say it has not resulted in good music from her. Just occasional moments that rise to "pretty good" alongside a ton of trash.)
I will say that she's gone to some great lengths in trying to shed that Dis-a-ney Girl image - be it swinging naked on a wrecking ball, appearing in the vulgar Christmas comedy The Night Before, or covering old songs or having older artists on her material. Yet, despite all of the "growing up" she's done, the sound clips here still sound like just different variations on the same disposable pop she did in the 10s (albeit slightly better).
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Post by The Cincinnati Kid on Dec 2, 2020 2:33:49 GMT
Lady A performs Little Saint Nick:
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Post by Kapitan on Dec 2, 2020 14:51:16 GMT
The Hold Steady announced yesterday that they'll release a new album early next year. They also released the lead-off single, "Family Farm." It's pretty standard stuff for them: big guitars and keyboards in spots like a modern, sometimes punky Bruce, lyrics more spoken than sung, allusions to religion and drugs.
Doesn't change the world, but I like it well enough. (They've always been pretty good as long as they strayed from strictly guitar-and-bass stuff; the period without their keyboardist was rough going.)
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Post by Kapitan on Dec 4, 2020 15:42:51 GMT
One thing I hate about this time of year is, it really seems like from around Thanksgiving to the end of the year, nothing much comes out except Christmas music. I mean, I get it. But it makes for a pretty dull weekly scanning of new releases...
McCartney III is coming in a couple of weeks, but that's really the only thing of interest I know of that's scheduled yet to come this year.
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Post by kds on Dec 4, 2020 19:18:50 GMT
In addition to the latest Blackmore's Night Christmas EP, a stripped down acoustic version of Steve Perry's 2018 solo comeback album, Traces, came out today. As great as it was to hear Steve Perry's voice on new music for the first time since 1996, I was wholly unimpressed with Traces, so I doubt I'll be checking out this new version. www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/steve-perry-traces-stripped-down-1089502/
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Post by kds on Dec 9, 2020 18:50:07 GMT
Lady A performs Little Saint Nick: That's probably better than either Mike or Brian's later versions.
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Post by Kapitan on Dec 10, 2020 13:56:02 GMT
Taylor Swift announced she is releasing her second album of 2020, evermore, at midnight. The album again features Bon Iver and the National (as did her summer album, folklore), as well as Haim.
That's interesting and ambitious. The question is, will it be any good? Based on the collaborators and her previous album this year, I'd say it's at least likely to be a welcome, ongoing retreat from the overly slick, synth-heavy pop of her previous couple records (before folklore). An "indie pop" (funny term for Major Label Moneymaker Swift) Taylor Swift is, like her country predecessor, preferable to that eventually really annoying pop detour version.
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Post by Kapitan on Dec 11, 2020 13:58:44 GMT
The 2020 year-end playlist project is coming along well, but has hit the slight complication of me adding a handful of prospects to it when I'm trying to whittle it down... But I'm at 52 songs at the moment, meaning I don't have that much to go. Maybe about 10 songs to cut and the running order to work out.
I'm trying to check out various year-end pubs for ideas, making sure I haven't missed something I'm going to love. (Inevitably, the first few weeks of January, I'll come across something from the previous year that definitely would've made my list.) But seeing Pitchfork named "WAP" the #1 song of the year, I'm feeling like that may not be a fruitful exercise.
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Post by Kapitan on Dec 12, 2020 14:31:25 GMT
M Ward, the guitarist/songwriter/singer/producer for She & Him, released an interesting album yesterday: Think of Spring. It is basically a cover of the classic late Billie Holiday album Lady in Satin. The original had Holiday's drug-worn voice atop string-laden arrangements. This has Ward's never-good-to-begin-with voice atop mostly his own acoustic guitars, reportedly all recorded on his old 4-track.
From what I've heard--I've sampled maybe three or four songs--it isn't something I'll want to buy. But kudos on the idea.
Here's "I'm a Fool to Want You."
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Post by kds on Dec 12, 2020 15:25:33 GMT
The 2020 year-end playlist project is coming along well, but has hit the slight complication of me adding a handful of prospects to it when I'm trying to whittle it down... But I'm at 52 songs at the moment, meaning I don't have that much to go. Maybe about 10 songs to cut and the running order to work out.
I'm trying to check out various year-end pubs for ideas, making sure I haven't missed something I'm going to love. (Inevitably, the first few weeks of January, I'll come across something from the previous year that definitely would've made my list.) But seeing Pitchfork named "WAP" the #1 song of the year, I'm feeling like that may not be a fruitful exercise.
It feels oddly appropriate that the #1 of 2020 would be fucking WAP.
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Post by Kapitan on Dec 16, 2020 15:29:26 GMT
A local group of music scenesters assembled an album to help support the legendary Minneapolis club First Ave through the coronavirus shutdowns. Among the artists donating tracks are The Hold Steady, Dessa, Atmosphere, Drive-By Truckers, the Suburbs, Steve Wynn, Thurston Moore, the Mekons, Semisonic, Soul Asylum, Fugazi, the Jayhawks, Jeff Tweedy, and others.
It's an interesting collection of national artists with a history of performing here (Mekons, Fugazi, Tweedy, Moore, Wynn), current local artists (Dessa, Atmosphere), and long-time local vets (Semisonic, Soul Asylum, Suburbs).
I don't know how much money anyone raises by trying to sell albums these days, but it's a nice gesture from the artists, anyway.
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Post by B.E. on Dec 16, 2020 17:44:45 GMT
New song. EP to come. Unfortunately, like most of Ringo's recent releases, his voice is covered in autotune. A 'New Years' song to play alongside George's "Ding Dong, Ding Dong", I suppose. Didn't really do anything for me, though. Too many guests and too much vocal processing. Ringo Starr article
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Post by Kapitan on Dec 16, 2020 18:09:41 GMT
Wow, the list of participants on that song is pretty impressive in sheer numbers and scope of styles covered, with everyone from Heartbreakers to Beatles to indie songstresses to Billie Eilish's brother... And yet I have to say, for such a collection of talent, there isn't a whole lot of it on display. Pretty mediocre, uninteresting song.
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Post by B.E. on Dec 16, 2020 18:30:35 GMT
Wow, the list of participants on that song is pretty impressive in sheer numbers and scope of styles covered, with everyone from Heartbreakers to Beatles to indie songstresses to Billie Eilish's brother... And yet I have to say, for such a collection of talent, there isn't a whole lot of it on display. Pretty mediocre, uninteresting song. Yeah, that's a good way to put it: there isn't a whole lot on display. On one hand, it feels like guests just for the sake of it (i.e. for name recognition). On the other, I appreciate that they didn't overpower the song. Ultimately, I agree, it's just an uninteresting song, and the production isn't really to my taste. I'll give the EP a shot, but I fear the autotune. It seems here to stay for Ringo.
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