Talk Like Bob Dylan 7
Tomorrow Today is Talk Like Bob Dylan Day. BTW it's also his birthday. And while we're on birthdays, Queen Ester Marrow's birthday is February 12.
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Alright already! So many of you have directed our attention to this video we finally got the hint. So here it is in all it's purple, yellow, green, and red dancing glory. And you were right. It is all-around awesome. It's the kind of video that puts you in a good mood. It's the kind of song that puts you in an even better-than-good mood. And as far as grooves go, that's one helluva high-dollar shuffle!
Other points of interest: does the camera work in this video qualify as a long take? It sure feels like a long take. Long takes are cool. Also, is it just me or did they have a mic open on the set? Those whooooos and hand claps ain't on the studio version of the song, nor is all that airplane-hanger reverb. And finally, since a feist is a type of small dog developed in the rural southern United States, does this entry qualify for our "Dogs" category. Discuss.
Links:
Word Songs
Rarely does a piece of Youtubery come along that runs through so many of our blog categories like this video from Lemon Demon. The title of the song is "Word Disassociation" and we can't pin it down with just a single category tag. On our blog, this gem qualifies for Audio Goodness, Music, Web Goodness, and Words. Plus I'll give it Dogs for the one shot with a-Benji-ish mutt paired with the word "jellyfish" (though there are more cats than canines in this music video's mis-en-scene) as well as Advertising since the word "advertisement" made it into the song. So that leaves only Food and Drink, Luck, and Recent Work unchecked. Oh well. You can't win 'em all.
For what's it's worth, that sped-up piano and that dry and wry vocal style bring They Might Be Giants to mind. But more than anything, this song's Dada lyricism reminds me of the almighty Wire and their stream-of-consciousness, pop masterpiece Kidney Bingos:
Bigger is Better
From whence does Web Goodness come?? We don't know. But we love a a kick-ass song about art direction as much as the next guy.
Maybe more.
Yeah. Make the logo bigger (link to mp3).
Subway Experiment
There was a great story in the Washington Post yesterday about subway music. The Post disguised the internationally acclaimed violinist Joshua Bell as a street musician and placed him in the L'Enfant Plaza metro station in Washington, DC during rush hour. The experiment: see if context and setting affect listeners' perception of the music. What do you think? Would a virtuoso performance by one of the world's pre-eminent musician's stop you in your tracks if you heard it on the way to work?
BTW I also really like the way the Washington Post integrates media into the body of this article. Bell's performance was filmed by a hidden camera so the online version of this article is supported by video samples.
Stupid Deal of the Day 3
Like fleas to a dog, we make our quotidian crawl to the Musician's Friend: Stupid Deal of the Day page. As if we are ever going to find anything other than nylon gig bags painted with flames or cheapo stomp box tuners. If only. . .
Stairway to Gilligan's Island
I'd heard this infamous song by Little Roger and the Goosebumps but I didn't know there was a video. Once again, thank you YouTube, thank you.
Dr. Dog
Our new favorite band is Dr. Dog. We saw them play last night. They performed really well for a bunch of bearded guys wearing funny hats and sunglasses. We were really impressed by their live rendition of the hit song "The World May Never Know" (from Easy Beat).
We know little about Dr Dog. Our synesthetic response to their music unfolds into like a stretchy fabric of nouns that all pertain to fabrics. For example, if someone made a corduroy-velour-suede-burlap wallabee, we envision Dr Dog wearing it. In Pierre Menard fashion, Dr Dog has been building a secret library of catchy, lo fi pop songs that draw heavily from an obscure sub-strata of 20th century popular music know as "70s Rock." To this end, their songs celebrate melodies that burst phoenixlike from their trappings (these being raspy vocal harmonies and ragged guitar weaves). Our buddy Jason at Sellout Music describes them as sounding like Steely Dan covering Brian Wilson's "Smile" with Ringo Starr on drums. Not necessarily a compliment but if you can imagine a dash of Paul McCartney and Wings mixed with a strong dose of Iron and Wine, you might acquire a taste for the catchy dialectics of this, their hearty oeuvre.
What we do know about Dr Dog: They have a new album. They are currently on tour. We presume that they favor canines. Our new favorite band is Dr. Dog.
Robot DJs
What can I say. . . it's a slow news day.
As for the Robots, I don't know. I'm all for pushing the envelope but when it comes to turntable experiments, I'll take Christian Marclay or Otomo Yoshihide over robots any day.
