After a strangely sleepless night, I woke up to an email saying the new Radiohead album The King Of Limbs had dropped a day earlier than expected. I quickly downloaded the mp3 files (I purchased the so-called special editiion “Newspaper Album” as well — though that will come out in May) and gave it a listen. The video for the first “single,” “Lotus Flower” also premiered — apparently in a public square in Tokyo. What I love about the video is the way it captures the flailing spasmodic dance moves that Thom Yorke does on stage. It’s like he’s exorcising his demons. Well done.
Category: Music On TV, Film, Web
Friday Night Lights Finale’s Exceptional Use Of Music
One of my favorite shows over the last few years has been Friday Night Lights — a show with a small but dedicated fanbase. The show has always been more than about football: Friday Night Lights always wore its heart proudly on its sleeve and I’ve always loved the way it has lovingly depicted its characters with respect, its small town location of Dillon, Texas with gritty accuracy and its story lines (for the most part) with a devoted and detailed realism.
The show payed attention to the little moments — establishing a feeling of both mundane claustrophobic life and a romantic nostalgia for a sense of place in a part of America that seems long since forgotten. Life can be hard, and not everyone gets a happy ending or escape these tiny, often dead-end towns. But because of football and family and friends, Friday Night Lights proved that people can overcome a whole hell of a lot and become something greater, even if just for a single game.
The series finale aired last week and it was a perfect capper to a nearly flawless five-season run. One of the most remarkable scenes, in an episode that had MANY beautiful and emotional scenes, was the montage of the state championship game. And what put it over the top from a good scene to a great one was its use of music.
Read more after the jump, and if you haven’t seen the finale, SPOILER ALERT!
Video: Suuns’ Pie IX
Suuns was one of my favorite new discoveries of 2010. They also had one of my favorite album covers of the year: a stark black and white photograph of a sparsely lit woman. It was simultaneously alluring and dangerous. Much in that vein comes the video for “Pie IX,” which captures that same dark vibe with a throbbing beat and strobe light that illuminates a beautiful young woman. It get’s a little NSFW near the middle, but it’s a great looking and minimal video of a cool song.
Pie IX by Suuns from Secretly Jag on Vimeo.
Seriously though, what’s with all the recent nudity in these videos of late? I guess you gotta do that to draw in clicks in these days of the web where it can be hard to maintain anyone’s attention for long.
Yuck’s New NSFW Video ‘Holing Out’
…But also a pretty great music video. I like how it takes on this B-movie, grindhouse horror movie vibe. But yes, just like their last video for “Rubber,” “Holing Out” definitely has some nudity and, in this case, some blood and gore.
Yuck has pretty quickly become my favorite new band of 2011, which can be seen in action in my Song of the Day review on NPR Music.
Video: James Blake’s ‘Wilhelms Scream’
I just love the hazy, out-of-focus look to this video for James Blake’s “The Wilhems Scream” from his forthcoming self-titled full-length album. This album is pretty durn great at times — moody, dark, minimal but man, can Blake sing. His voice is a mix of Antony’s warbling croon and the affected, pained falsetto of Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon.
Best Song I’ve Heard All Day: A Cover And A Video
(parts 988 and 989 in a 1001 part series)
Really loving this video for “Tiny Head” by The Luyas:
I just really dig how simple and clean it is, but still manages to be artful. Based around the singer Jessie Stein, The Luyas are another Montreal-based band with ties to Arcade Fire — former multi-instrumentalist, Pietro Amato, and current violinist, Sarah Neufeld make up two of the band’s four members.
This band’s new album Too Beautiful To Work is coming out soon (Feb. 22) on Dead Oceans, a label that’s part of that Secretly Canadian\Jagjaguwar\Dead Oceans trifecta. Whenever I get something in the mail from one of these three imprint, I know there’s a very good chance I’m going to like whatever record is inside. And for this record, the band enlisted Owen Pallett to compose string arrangements.
Also be sure to listen to their fantastic cover of Radiohead’s “Motion Picture Soundtrack,” which employs low brass in a really excellent way. It’s also got some very solid electronic-inspired poly-rhythmic percussion which helps make this amazing song their own.
[audio:https://hellocomein.com/soundbox/HelloShuffle/bestsongallday/Luyas_MotionPictureSoundtrack.mp3]Best Song I’ve Heard All Day: Tribute Edition
(part 956 in a 1001 part series)
I sure love a well executed cover song. Case in point: Holly Miranda‘s haunting rendition of Sparklehorse’s “Hundreds Of Sparrows.” Miranda, a member of the Detroit band Jealous Girlfriends, has been playing the song recently in her solo set. But on New Year’s Day, the singer-songwriter gave away a lo-fi recording of the song for free on her site.
What makes this song work so well is how she so skillfully paired away the late Mark Linkous’ trademark production, down to a lone finger-picked guitar, vocal harmonies and the building flourishes of a glockenspiel. It’s easy to load up a song with too many layers, but Miranda shows a lot of restraint. It’s a perfect and loving tribute that finds the both beauty and sadness in Linkous’ words.
Holly Miranda – Hundreds of Sparrows (Sparklehorse Cover) by morrisday
Here’s a video of her performing the song as well:
Holly Miranda- Hundreds of Sparrows (Sparklehorse Cover) from Adrian Vieni (Wood & Wires) on Vimeo.
Talk Show Roundup: Chillin’ Out Max And Relaxin’ All Cool
From time to time, I like to check in on recent musical performances on the late night talk shows. Here is are a few new finds from the ol telly.
Who knew Jimmy Fallon did such a spot on impersonation of Neil Young? Who knew the theme song to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air would make such a great folk ballad? I didn’t, but I’d say this is one of the best comedy bits I’ve seen Fallon do since he debuted on Late Night earlier this year.
Jay-Z and Alicia Keys Finally Showing Their Love Of New York
“Shit, I made the Yankee hat more famous than a Yankee can.” — Jay-Z
Seriously, has anyone done more good for the New York Yankees in recent years than Jay-Z? I guess A Rod or Jeter or Mariano perhaps, but Jay has never been shy about it.
I’m glad Jay-Z has finally gotten on board and taken a stand to express his fondness for the always under-appreciated New York City. Someone had to.
This is especially true in his performance last night at the still sparkling new (albeit cracking) Yankee Stadium for Game 2 of the World Series between the Yanks and the Phillies. Decked out in full-on Yankees gear*, Jay-Z and Alicia Keys played “Empire State Of Mind” from his recent Blueprint 3 album.
Not sure why this song is getting so much hate; I actually (ACTUALLY?!) quite like it and Alicia Keys’s chorus hooks. It’s a decent single and comes off as pretty epic within this sports context and with New York as the backdrop.
*It’s funny to see the Yankees players like Mariano, Jeter and Joba grooving to the song, but even funnier to see that cut to the Phillies player nodding along too. Maybe that’s why they lost last night.
**UPDATE 11/8: According to MTV News, it looks like the duo couldn’t “contain their enthusiasm” of New York to just one song. Alicia Keys’ new album, The Element Of Freedom, will have a sequel of sorts to “Empire State Of Mind,” creatively titled “Empire State Of Mind Part 2,” and feature a whole new verse by Jay-Z.
Check out the official video, directed by Hype Williams, below:
UPDATE 12/16: Check out Alicia Keys performing her the song “Empire State Of Mind 2” on the Colbert Report, complete with Colbert’s brilliant shout out to the lesser-loved suburbs.
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Alicia Keys – Empire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down | ||||
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Talk Show Roundup: Grizzly Bear & The Flaming Lips Play Conan
From time to time I like to tune in to the telly to see what bands are making the rounds on the late night talk show circuit…
We had two notable back to back talk show appearances this week:
On Monday night, Grizzly Bear performed indie hit “Two Weeks” from Veckatimest on “The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien.” They were joined by Beach House’s Victoria Legrand to sing those heavenly backing vocal lines.
Check it out here:
And Tuesday night, The Flaming Lips visited Conan as well to play the fantastic closer from Embryonic called “Watching The Planets.”
Wow. Both are just stunning.