Category Archives: youtube song

It’s Been A While

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So I haven’t been on here in a while. That’s for sure. And since I last posted, my music tastes have gone in a new direction heading towards soul, R&B, and hip hop. Thought I’d share a few of the songs that have stuck with me lately:

I found Leon Bridges when I was looking into Outside Lands artists to study up before the festival. All of his music is great in my opinion, although he doesn’t have a whole lot out yet. Can’t wait to hear what he does next!

I am generally partial towards male singers, but Alice Smith is definitely an exception to that. As Lawr might say, she can really wail. This entire album (called She) is wonderful. This is actually a (better) cover of a Cee Lo Green song.

And then there’s D’Angelo who has got this whole other thing going on. His music is so interesting and fresh. I dig it.

And on the off chance anybody is steal reading/ listening, I thought I’d throw in this guy. He has a very unique sound. Interesting music and good lyrics. You can’t go wrong!

These are a few of my latest favorites. All of them but Alice Smith will be at Outside Lands. Unfortunately, I can no longer attend, but I was still exposed to all kinds of great music from the lineup!

The Go Betweens, “Was There Anything I Could Do”

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I came to the Go Betweens backwards. I fell for a band called Stars, from Montreal, in the early aughts, and discovered the Go Betweens through various recommendation engines from there.

The Go Betweens are named after a Joseph Losey movie, which immediately tells you they’re not grinding, but they’re terrific songwriters and a strong band in every way. They are not twee even if they are not hard.

This song gets the call tonight because I just found this charming video, which is perfectly undercutting and musical at the same time.

Hot Chocolate: Errol Brown is Dead

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The band Hot Chocolate had a handful of hits in the US over a short period in the 70s. But they had more than a score of hits in the UK over 30 years, which has to be of interest to those who track popularity. Or unpopularity.

Hot Chocolate’s singer, Errol Brown, died yesterday.

I’ve written about Hot Chocolate here. And here. And elsewhere.

But I didn’t really know the story. The Guardian has a bit of a story today about Brown and the band, and why they meant so much to England.

I want to leave this post with the song that got Hot Chocolate signed by the Beatles to Apple Records, which I learned about today. It’s a wacky Carribean version of Give Peace a Chance that John found out about, and which led him to sign the band. Crazy.

This post scrapes the surface of Hot Chocolate and Errol Brown. If you hear anything you like, dig deeper.

Slayer, “Seasons in the Abyss”

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We’re fans of Cory Schwartz in these parts, and he posted this tune today on Facebook. A tribute to Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman, who died two years ago today.

I like to think Cory posted this cut because today’s Kentucky Derby winner was American Pharoah, owned by an Egyptian expat (echoing the video’s theme, or enhancing it), but untimely death is an equally appropriate trigger.

I didn’t know this song until I listened to it four or five times today, and I’m a little challenged by the question, What the fuck are they going on about. I recognize every emotion as part of the teenage kit, but the video makes me wonder about the Crusades, and their relation to the angst of the young today.

Maybe a topic for further exploration.

Newly Found Documents at Albert Hall… Involving the Beatles!

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Show that the Hall was peeved about the Beatle’s song, “A Day In The Life.”

Click here to read the story.

I wanted to link to the Milli Vanilli version recorded live at Albert Hall, with Jeff Lynne and PJ Harvey, but it isn’t on YouTube.

This video is terrific, which I hadn’t seen before, and which warrants a listen again to a song we’ve all heard too many times. But the psychedelia and pop song craft I hear here is worlds apart from what came after. Get out of here XTC! The noises in this song are economical, the language plain and straight forward (which still leaves plenty of room for weird). I was glad to watch it, even if I would have preferred Milli Vanilli at this point.