Guys in Tennis Shoes

There’s a well-worn rite of passage amongst artists on the ascent.  At some point, typically on their second or third album, songwriting turns away from real stories and into the angst of the newly rich and the suddenly famous.  Lyrics of love lost give way to laments about Prada shoes fitting too tightly.

Far more interesting are the lyrics of the once-famous: artists who have both the self-awareness to recognize that their fame isn’t what it was, and the guts to write about it.

While The Red House Painters never quite hit it huge, they do hold a place on a shelf of my college memories, somewhere in between the Jayhawks and Material Issue.  Now, more years later than I care to calculate, the lead singer of that band has a solo career and a new song that wistfully looks out at his fans.

The next time I go to a gig, just to be sure, I’m going to be sure to wear something other than tennis shoes.

Sunshine in Chicago, makes me feel pretty sad                                                                My band played here a lot in the 90s when we had                                                     Lots of female fans, and they all looked cute,                                                                Now I just sign posters for guys in tennis shoes.

Sunshine In Chicago, Sun Kil Moon

Is Rock Old?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In a world of beats and bytes, is rock music a genre or an age group?

Ever since the secession of alternative music some twenty or so years ago, we’ve been left to wonder what rock music was left that wasn’t, well, “classic.”  But with this year’s Grammy awards, it’s clear that the RIAA did little more than ask everyone with a guitar to line up in order of age (no doubt with some grumbling from Kings of Leon about the fact that they aren’t as old as they look).

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, in a landscape like this, the band known as Wildlife Control has a marketing problem.  Their sound is as rock and roll as the Ramones, but the listening habits of the typical rock listener of today nearly forecloses the listener from the discovery of new bands (see also: finale of this year’s Grammys).

But they’re giving it quite a clever go at it.  They begin with a stripped-down, sing-a-long style in which they muse about the very problem we’re discussing.  Take a listen to “Analog or Digital.”

Analog or Digital, Wildlife Control

To go along with their infectious track, the band also crafted a 8-track-esque video that plays with the API of Soundcloud to allow interactivity that includes the incorporation of your comments into the live play of the music video.  Have some fun playing around with it here.

Maybe there is some hope for rock music amongst the Wired set.  But should we call them indie rock just in case?

Does this match?

“Cuban loves reggae, does this match?”

In the title track off of his new mixtape, Cris Cab (and Pharrell) turn this question into a celebratory declaration of the echo boom generation.  Defined in large part by their defiance of demographic predictability, Millennials continue to mix and match genres to re-shape much of what’s most interesting in music right now.

Echo Boom ft. Pharrell Williams, Cris Cab

Another Incognito Duo

Sung in secret by two mysterious members of otherwise well-known bands, Rhye is the newest member of the witness protection school of marketing.  In the same vein as The Weeknd and One Room, the building buzz around this song is more proof that in a world where everybody knows everybody’s business, nothing fuels fame better than enforced anonymity.

Other than the disclosed facts that this duo lives in LA and is of European origin, nobody knows who they are– and everybody is guessing.

Open, Rhye

The Much Appreciated Mid-Winter Summer Song

Even with these eerily unseasonable temps, February is a great time to break a summer song.  Set against weeks of slate grey skies, a track like this is a much-appreciated dose of musical sunshine.  Thanks go out to the breaking band known as Electric Guest and the producer Danger Mouse (who has emerged from the art house and returned to his infectious Gnarls Barkley sound).

This Head I Hold, Electric Guest

Oh, about the picture above.  After almost two weeks of a (nearly) device-free vacation in Vietnam, I’m back.  The work that I’ve jumped back into is a bit dizzying, but the music that piled up while I was away includes some exciting stuff.  So stay tuned.

Defying the Expectations of Cool

If I said that there was a group that was about to be everywhere, and this group was executive produced by Pharrell (of Neptunes fame), what might you imagine their sound to be?

You’d start with a smattering of wickedly infectious hip-hop beats, then you’d layer in a starlet of current or historical heat (such as Beyonce, Madonna, or Shakira– all former collaborators of Mr. Williams), and for a finishing touch you’d add a dabbling of dubstep… you know, for the kids.

You likely wouldn’t guess this group to a have a sound self-described as “new age Police with Simon and Garfunkel harmonies and a resounding 80s spirit.”

And this bewildering twist is at the heart of what makes the commercial landscape of the current music industry so delightfully unpredictable.

Here is a group, flaunting their defiance of every commercial trend, and succeeding despite that.  Or, perhaps, because of it.

I introduce you to Mansions on the Moon.

Rest Of Your Days, Mansions on the Moon

Leaves Fall, Mansions on the Moon

The Best and Brightest of 2011: Day Eight

“When I introduce you, I’m gonna say, “This is a friend of mine.” That means you’re a connected guy. Now if I said instead, “this is a friend of ours” that would mean you a made guy. A Capiche?”

As Donnie Brasco might attest, it takes some serious confidence to vouch for artists in the age of the mp3.

It’s easy to tweet away your love for an ephemeral three-minute song.  It’s slightly harder to endorse an album, but anyone can do a background check on forty-five minutes of music.  But it’s another thing entirely to endorse an artist.  You’re saying that the song that they might release in two year’s time when they’re going through their White Album phase is going to rock.  You’re saying that their tweets are always going to be funny, or at least make sense, or at least be funny when sung by Josh Groban.  You’re sticking your neck out.

But I’m quite confident in saying in suggesting that The Roots and Common are friends of ours.

Thirteen albums in, The Roots are still giving lessons on what craftsmanship, intellect, and ambition can mean in hip-hop.  Here’s one over several great tracks off of their most recent album undun, a concept album that is sort of like an episode of The Wire, told musically and in reverse.

I Remember, The Roots

This year also marked a new release from Bill O’Reilly’s favorite rapper/poet, Common.  You’d think if O’Reilly had bothered to have an intern listen to a song like this, he would have chosen a target he could have actually have tackled.

The Believer (feat. John Legend), Common