This is a follow-up to my previous introduction to Janelle Monae... This is the coolest thing I have seen in a long time.
pass this on
Tuesday 1 June 2010
Posted by Tom Baker at 18:02 0 comments
Monday 17 May 2010
Musicians are twats, pt. 2
This evening I found some new evidence for my Musicians are Twats thesis. Relaxing after dinner, I was flicking through Friday's The Guide. There was a feature on a new documentary about Exile on Main Street, the Rolling Stones album. I honestly don't know how the Rolling Stones get out of bed in the morning - they are truly the living embodiment of becoming a parody of yourself, it's absolutely nauseating... Do they really need the money from a re-released album, (almost certainly shite) documentary and probably another world tour whose audience will be 90% wankers and 10% people who have wanted to see the Stones their whole life, finally scraped together the extortionate ticket price and left feeling embarrassed by a bunch of old blokes who don't know when to give it up? The answer is NO. They don't need it. We get it, you soundtracked the formative years of the people who now write for Q Magazine, Mojo Magazine and Word Magazine. Isn't that enough for you, "Mick 'n' Keef"?
Posted by Tom Baker at 00:23 0 comments
Monday 3 May 2010
Skannndiii
A little heads up for something really cool...
Posted by Tom Baker at 22:38 0 comments
Tuesday 27 April 2010
Why musicians are twats
I really like music, but I don't like musicians. I idolise them, but I don't like them - I don't want to be friends with them, particularly the ones I actually do like a little bit. Sometimes I have been a musician, and I've probably been totally dislikable too. What does this mean? Well, when you make music, you're doing something that lots of other people are doing too. What makes you different? You might be quite good, or even really good. You probably look quite cool, or at least you think you do, and you definitely act like you do. Maybe you know someone who's going to get you that big gig. I know what you definitely do, though - you talk about all of this, all of the time. It's totally self indulgent, and because people constantly ask you about it, sometimes with some reverence, you begin to think that it actually means something. This isn't an original though, but you shouldn't meet your heroes - they will probably let you down. Honestly, I don't think I'd want to - maybe it's a weird, but I don't want to transgress the fan-idol relationship, I don't want to reach onto the stage and touch.
Posted by Tom Baker at 16:37 0 comments
Wednesday 14 April 2010
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti
For once that's not some stupid title I've dreamt up, it's the name of the artist I'm writing about.
There isn't much information floating around about Ariel Pink, but I gather that he's been releasing very low-fi music on cassette tapes for over ten years, mostly made on a four-track recorder. The project is articulated around Ariel Pink himself (real name... jokes.) with the Haunted Graffiti providing a band element. The above single Round and Round will be appearing on an 'official' debut album, Before Today, sometime later this year on 4AD. In contrast to the previous releases, the production is very smooth, and there's a real 80s American FM-friendly sheen to it.
"Na na na naaaaaaaaaa...."
The chanted refrain and reverby guitar sounds very California - think the Mamas and the Papas - and ringing telephone in the middle is pretty psychedelic. Basically it all sounds BIG.
I bought one-time-massive-indie-crush Laura Marling's second album on Monday which I will probably write about in a week or two when I've read enough reviews to copy someone else's opinion.
Posted by Tom Baker at 18:31 0 comments
Thursday 11 March 2010
Hardwired
I don't know much about Janelle MonĂ¡e, but she's been releasing music since 2003; since then she's made three EPs, with a debut album out this year. She released Tightrope in February, but I only heard it earlier this week:
I really like the playing on this; it sounds "vintage," but not gratuitously, more like it was actually recorded with real instruments. The strings are subtle and the horns towards the end are really smooth, with a real 'cool' '60s sound. Vocal delivery in the verse is really tight and good marks for general sassiness.
I also apologise for my shocking inconsistency re. fonts and sizes... woops.
Posted by Tom Baker at 18:08 1 comments
Saturday 6 March 2010
Weak
I'm really weak. I couldn't resist buying Sufjan Stevens' The B.Q.E. any longer. I know what I said before, that I would wait until it came down in price... but over a month later and it was still rip-off priced. What can you do?
Posted by Tom Baker at 16:28 0 comments