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From rap getting brasher and noisier, to online scenes blossoming during quarantine, to entire subcultures of music being shot to the moon and stripped for parts by TikTok, music as we know it fundamentally shifted this half-decade. from The 100 Best Songs of the 2020s So Far [Pitchfork] [more inside]
posted by chavenet on Oct 5, 2024 - 17 comments

Lawrence, a New York-based band founded by siblings Clyde and Gracie Lawrence, with an acoustic version of their song Don't Lose Sight. [SLYT]
posted by Lutoslawski on Sep 29, 2021 - 5 comments

New Orleans' Tank and the Bangas (previously) are back to NPR with a first listen of their sophmore album, Green Balloons. NPR's summary is that this is "music without boundary on instruments ranging from sax, flute, cello, vocal scratches, keyboards, synths, real drums, fake drums, a djembe and, of course, the poetry, philosophy, comedy and voice that is Tarriona "Tank" Ball," who called the new album the older sister to the prior album, Think Tank (YouTube playlist; official links to other platforms).
posted by filthy light thief on Apr 25, 2019 - 7 comments

In the 1970s and 80s, Mogadishu's airwaves were filled with Somali funk, disco, soul and reggae, but after the brutal civil war began, musicians fled to all corners of the world, and the scene came to an end. This short Guardian video tells the story of some of the original musicians keeping Somali music alive today.
posted by carter on Mar 5, 2019 - 2 comments

An article from internet magazine Paper that champions bassist Tina Weymouth as the most valuable but still under-recognized member of the Talking Heads was Tweeted by Brian Eno, who knows a thing or two about the subject at hand. [more inside]
posted by layceepee on Sep 21, 2017 - 66 comments

Deavid Soul ("The Avid Soul") aka "Rich & Famous" are a Japanese duo who make house/disco/funk and, more recently, world music. You may remember them from such Dreamcast darlings as Jet Set Radio and Jet "Grind" Radio. Their style is an instantly recognizable mix of 90s house and classic disco with copious samples from hip hop, disco, R&B, reggae and 80s/70s film. For their latest album, they've collaborated with Exotic Light Orchestra to add a Latin American fusion sound to their already eclectic aural soup. They're real good. [more inside]
posted by byanyothername on Jun 6, 2015 - 9 comments

Dave Holmes (yes that Dave Holmes) re-vists the hit songs and music videos of July 1983
posted by The Whelk on Jul 5, 2014 - 40 comments

A documentary of unknown provenance on Prince in the 1980s.
posted by MoonOrb on Jun 19, 2014 - 10 comments

From the music website, Cover Me, Five Good Covers: five cross-genre reinterpretations of an oft-covered song. Why not enjoy all new versions of Cars, Milkshake, Can't Help Falling In Love, The Sound Of Silence, Life In A Northern Town, Modern Love, You Shook Me All Night Long, Age Of Consent, Don't Fear The Reaper, Be My Baby, and much, much more. ( Cover Me previously)
posted by The Whelk on Aug 23, 2013 - 40 comments

Janelle Monae's latest music video/single is a 60s-esque, funkadelic, symbol-heavy, all-white fur and all-female hammer to the head - THE DANCE APOCALYPTIC
posted by The Whelk on Jul 9, 2013 - 108 comments

Jun Togawa is sort of like what you'd get if you crossed Kate Bush and Mike Patton. Togawa, who became known in Japanese culture after appearing in a bidet commercial, was half of the electro-cabaret band Guernica, which sometimes sounded very classical and sometimes sounded very new wave and sometimes much stranger. Somewhat more straightforward is her rock outfit Yapoos, which similarly varies quite a bit in sound and style. Her solo work, unsurprisingly, is quite melodramatic, with some very interesting arrangements, both parodically poppy and funky. I particularly like her covers of All Tomorrow's Parties by the Velvet Underground, Brigitte Fontaine's Comme à la Radio, and – weirdly – Pachelbel's Canon.
posted by Rory Marinich on Apr 21, 2013 - 14 comments

A dynamic mix of rock, funk, hip hop and comedy, a cappella sextet Duwende has been winning nearly every award the industry has to offer with original songs that challenge traditional conceptions of what contemporary a cappella music can be. Duwende's latest album, Collective, can be downloaded for free or previewed on YouTube. [more inside]
posted by l33tpolicywonk on Mar 1, 2010 - 12 comments

Here’s a cool concept. Top breakthrough bands of the day playing LIVE on TV late every Friday night. Such was The Midnight Special - from 1972 - 1981 (though the glory days were the early to mid 70s, that lost decade somewhere between the meltdown of the hippie dream and the coincident eruptions of PUNK + DISCO upon planet rock). [more inside]
posted by philip-random on Sep 4, 2009 - 40 comments

Think the Osmond Brothers didn't rock? Think again. "In spite of their squeaky clean image, the Osmonds had a soulful, sometimes raucous sound which was a precursor of the power pop of later years." Color my preconceived notions shattered.
posted by KevinSkomsvold on Nov 12, 2007 - 89 comments