It’s 3am Somewhere

I don’t even pretend to stay out late enough to hear songs like these in their natural environment.  Bleary bass warbles like these aren’t meant for the daylight.  But if you’ve even thought about liking the Weeknd, you’re going to love this.

Jasmine, Jai Paul

Beyond Bon Iver

Bon Iver’s beginnings are pitch-perfect mythology for the soul of the singer songwriter.  Three months of solitude in the woods of Wisconsin, armed with little more than angst and analog recording equipment.  And yes, there was a beard involved.

Well, it turns out that prior to the cabin and the rap cameos and the Grammy, Justin Vernon was in a band with two other people who were never heard from since… until now.

One of these band mates, Chris Porterfield, has now emerged as Field Report.  Though his debut album has yet to be released, a few unmastered tracks have trickled out.

A promising foray into well-crafted folk.  Grab it now before Kanye does.

Fergus Falls, Field Report

I Am Not Waiting Anymore, Field Report

Now This Is Rock and Roll

When talking about electronic dance music, the CEO of Live Nation recently said “if you’re 15 to 25 years old now, this is your rock and roll.”

Thankfully, actual rock and roll still thrives.

With celebrity endorsements already in from the likes of Jack White, Robert Plant, David Byrne, Booker T Jones, Bon Iver and Adele, Alabama Shakes is set to release their first full-length album on Tuesday and about to go from internet sensation to actual sensation.

Hold On, Alabama Shakes

Jazz, Spoken Again

Is jazz slipping away from us?

Amidst the bass wobbles and synth-pop that so dominates the modern music landscape, it’s easy to think of jazz as a musical dialect quickly receding into the realm of history.  Jazz is the musical equivalent of a photo album that you carefully take it off the shelf once or twice a year to enjoy it with a sense of nostalgic reverence.  No self-respecting music fan will ever claim to dislike jazz; the issue is that few music fans under the age of 50 ever think about jazz.  Or so you would think.

And then a bunch of kids get together and release a series of jazz covers that take the internet by storm.  With a brash flourish, they stake out these songs not just as their own but of their generation:

“No one above the age of 21 was involved in the making of this album, it was created by a bunch of kids. This album was recorded in one 10 hour session with no song having more than two takes, it was mixed and mastered completely by ourselves. Thanks to our friends, family, loved ones and anyone who fucks with us.”

Electric Relaxation, BADBADNOTGOOD

Flashing Lights, BADBADNOTGOOD

 

 

Dubstep: Dated or Dating?

I find dubstep threatening.  With every bewildering barrage of bass that leaves me fumbling for the fast forward button (or, at least, the volume), I’m left holding on to increasingly frayed strands of an argument that says that everyone under the age of 25 has it wrong and I have it right.

That’s why likable songs like these provide a welcome lifeline.  Zed’s Dead, but my musical currency isn’t dated.  Yet.

No Prayers, Zed’s Dead and Omar LinX

Remembering the Real Napster

For me, Napster was never about the music being free.  It was all about the music never having to be purchased.

There is a big difference.

For music fans such as myself, the process of walking up to a music store register (when such still things still existed) was not just a transaction– it was a declaration.  Here I am, here are my purchases, here is who I am.

But there was a significant hitch to this approach to life.  There were times (and we’ll keep the number of such instances as a secret amongst us) when you wanted to buy an album that you didn’t want to declare.  That little pop hit that tapped into the car-singer in you.  That bit of folk that tapped into the college student in you.  That guilty pleasure that you were tempted to slip in between two other more reputable purchases as you snuck up to the register when nobody else was there.  Though these songs called out to you, there was no way to bring yourself to reach out to them.

Until there was Napster.

At the moment when Napster arrived, you didn’t really have a problem paying for music.  There actually wasn’t some pent-up pounding that you were waiting to wreak upon record labels (maybe Ticketmaster, but not really the labels).  What you did have was a pent-up itch for records that you didn’t have a problem paying for if only you could just find a way to buy them without shame.

But then Napster appeared and, well, Def Leppard tracks soon followed.  And shortly after that came experiments that you wanted to make but would never leap to in public.  And once that the music industry allowed you to realize that you really could sample music for free (and in private), soon you were able to come to the conclusion that all songs were little more than ads for other revenue sources (that the record labels needed to identify), the levee broke.

So, thinking back, the beauty of Napster was that you were able to freely and secretly see what would come from the next incarnation of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros… even though you’d prefer not to answer to why you wanted to do so.  Even though Napster is now relegated to a glancing reference to movies about Facebook, I will afford this private indulgence: without having to tell anyone (least of all a judgmental cashier), you can discover that the new Edward Sharpe song does indeed involve what sounds like a gourd half-way through.  But let’s keep it between us… no need to declare.

No Prayers, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

Sunshine

Some songs just shimmer with sunshine.  In a music world that often values snark and snarl, earnestness like this often gets ignored.  Or worse.

But the power that tracks like these have to stare down storms both actual and emotional is undeniable.  And regardless of how hardened your music snob shell has become, songs like these find a way into your emotions.

Thank goodness for songs like these.

One Pair of Eyes, Todd Kramer

If the song itself weren’t uplifting enough, this Todd Kramer guy is in the midst of writing his from-nowhere story with an earnestness that just defies your inner irony.  Last night he released his first EP, and today he wrote about how his grandmother came to the record release party last night.  I mean, really.

I’m not yet sure if the music beyond the lead track lives up to anything, but it’s stories like these that make me pony up the $5 as I say to nobody in particular “go get ‘em.”