4 beautiful songs, 3 of which were served by YouTube

I'm sick and it sucks. It's not fun being sick alone, getting up on your own in the night to find something cold to lay on your swollen mucus-filled eyes, scrambling for extra tissues you haven't already soiled. But it is what it is, and presents a nice opportunity to be like, "hey, it's just you and me, what's going on?" with my body.

Anyway, my colleague at Muse, David Gianatasio, reminded me of that one time Redbone did a tribal dance ahead of its performance of "Come and Get Your Love" in 1974, and seeing them smile while singing is everything.

Once it ended, YouTube served me The Avalanche's "Because I'm Me," which has the cutest music video in the world. It also vibes super old-school, even though this came out in 2016.

By this point I'd taken an interest in what YouTube would serve up next: "Colors" by Black Pumas, which came out in 2019. And while this is firmly set in the present, it's got a soulfulness and an aesthetic that harks back to decades prior. Not to mention that tribal collar, which was like a blow-kiss back in the direction of Redbone and our country's indigenous roots...

(I could go on like this forever, but I won't. What followed that video: The Teskey Brothers, which made me want to dance slowly around my living room with eyes closed like TV people.)

These feel like warm gifts as I struggle to work, negotiate a move, and just generally get my shit together on a day when my entire face is clogged and my body feels mostly like a lump of clay, held aloft by energy alone. They started with a person, a connection, a memory ... and continued with what YouTube's algo knows about me, and the funny relationships these videos have to one another, and I am reminded that there are no closed systems, we are embraced. 

Not even technology is exempt from that. It expresses this because it expresses us, even as, ever so gently, it develops its own egregore.

I love being alive together. I love the music we bring to each other and into the world. I love what it expresses—this vivid manifestation of our firing synapses, and the longing our atoms have to take shape, make new ones, interact across space. A kaleidoscopic coalescence. 

Those Super Rich Kids Just Found Themselves Some Not-So-Fake Friends.

While skimming my internetz today I noticed two really cool music promotions. The first was on The Pirate Bay (Yeah, I'm a user. Get over it):

Now that it's easier to torrent 9 things a day than it is to wait for a bloody movie to stream (then again, French telecoms throttle openly and without shame), The Pirate Bay's become my go-to desperation ship for finding entertainment when I don't even really know what I want. I don't know who Mr & Mrs is, but I think this EP-discovery thing they're doing on TPB is way cool: it doesn't just avail them hundreds of thousands of bored-yet-curious free listeners, it's a clear signal to the music-listening community: "We know your attitudes about music consumption have changed. We're with you there." And as concerts are a dime a dozen in Paris and relatively cheap, I can see this easily converting into me seeing them live at the next Rock en Seine or something ... if, in the end, I like their music.

The second piece of rad appeared on The Vulture, where I like reading TV show reviews:

This will hardly look like news for fans of Ryan Murphy, who's done an awesome job promoting music and bands of choice wth Glee. (Remember the all-Britney and all-Madonna episodes?) But hell, I can think of worse things in life than turning a full episode of Gossip Girl into a living, breathing music video for Frank Ocean, whose Super Rich Kids couldn't possibly find a better content marriage.

It's fun times in music and media collaboration. Keep your ears open to what's coming: you may be finding you're discovering artists in unexpected (and awesome!) ways.

26 Songs, 98 Years: A History of Whistling.

You may remember Joe Sabia (@JoeSabia), who teased us last year with "A History of Lyrics that Aren't Lyrics." He's built on that since, and with the launch of this latest video, he's debuting Collective Cadenza, entirely dedicated to creative musical video experiments.

That kicks all the ass! We've already seen some of the other stuff they've got on the pipeline and readily assure you of how awesome this is going to be. You might even get into chamber music, who knows?

Follow his ear candy adventures alongside us, and if you liked "A History of Whistling", download the MP3.

First Case of Fan Hysteria?

Decidedly hot pianist.

Lisztomania. (n)

1. Lisztomania or Liszt fever is a term used to describe the intense fan frenzy directed toward Franz Liszt during his performances. This frenzy first occurred in Berlin in 1841 and was later coined by Heinrich Heine in a feuilleton he wrote on April 25, 1844, discussing the 1844 Parisian concert season.

- Wikipedia

Humor me ››

Too Many Tasty Things ... and a (Minor) Manifesto.

NASA. Ras Congo. Seu Jorge (the only man alive who can make Bowie sound better). David Byrne. Chuck D. Z-Trip. SHEPARD FAIREY.

More on NASA's music/art renaissance project here. It's exhaustive awesome. See how I have to gush? This is me, gushing.

Slightly off-topic, note how Fairey's become the aesthetic poster-boy du moment -- in part because of two converging trends that stem from the same root (economic decline, American fatigue over Biz-nass As Usual):

• The cult of Obama (and his glowing contribution).


• Rekindled interest in the Constructivist style, which Karl Lagerfeld is also nudging along with his Paris-Moscou line (see associated tribute to Chanel).

Reticent spending and a comically villainous government climate precipitated a return to working-man chic and ironic, tight-jawed Russian kitsch -- something Fairey's been preparing for for years.

The proletariat finally gets its revolution; it just didn't imagine that it would be packaged, licensed, sponsored and used to sell handbags, pop music and the new media-driven democracy. Among other things.

Tasty Discoveries

Occitane Miel & Citron, which will make you both aromatically edible and sparkly around the neck. (But not too sparkly.)

Pink Martini, a classically-trained band whose ear candy is infused with nostalgic Americana, Latin and French influences. There's also some big-band, bossa nova and gothic action tossed in. (Listen to their rendition of Que Sera Sera. Chills guaranteed or your money back*.)

---

*Not really.

It's a Beat-Maker's Fantasy Toy...

Beat synthesizer for iPhone and iPod Touch:



Makes the notion of the one-man band seem less ... well, sad.

Wait for the piano sequence at 2:10. That's my favourite part. Brought to my attention by We Make it Good, which I discovered through Roger Darnell.

Jay-Z Goes Exclusive ... with a Promoting Crew?

Jay-Z's leaving Def Jam for a Live Nation contract that covers his music and related ventures for the next 10 years. The perks:

• $25 million up front


• $10 million advance per album for a minimum of three

• $25 million for tours


• $20 million for publishing, licensing and other rights

"I've turned into the Rolling Stones of hip-hop," he quipped.

The tide it is a-turning. For record labels, anyway. Jay-Z's the same old Jay-Z -- ahead of the curve. Which you can afford to be when you're among the few rappers not convinced that "staying real" means never quite cashing in.

'Baked a Lot of Bread and Carried Off the Books'

Paul: "You know the dollar's in trouble when Jay-Z's flashing Euros."

We needed to wait for Jay-Z to tell us our economy was in trouble? This is the kind of news that makes my figurative Baby Jesus cry.