MONM 2011 weekend quickies: Harry Nilsson, Sons and Daughters of Lite
Harry Nilsson – Pussy Cats (1974, RCA Victor) The sound of talented people having way too much fun in the studio, laying down raucous covers and blackly funny ballads with little regard for coherence or flow. Nilsson was sick, so his usual honey voice is barely even a rasp by the time he’s rockin’ round … Continue reading
MONM 2011, Day 4: Raymond Scott – Soothing Sounds for Baby
Raymond Scott – Soothing Sounds for Baby (Basta Audio-Visuals, 1964) Even if you’ve never heard of Raymond Scott, odds are you’ve heard his music. It appeared in over 100 of Warner Bros.’ cartoons, which had a particular fondness for his “Powerhouse,” especially the bit that comes in at around the 1:30 mark. That track and … Continue reading
MONM 2011 Day 3: Roxy Music – For Your Pleasure
Roxy Music – For Your Pleasure (Island, 1973) This time out, I’ll just focus on the two tracks that really grabbed me – the first tracks of each side of For Your Pleasure. “Do the Strand” opens the album in a marvellously ridiculous fashion, urging listeners who are “tired of the tango, fed up with … Continue reading
MONM 2011 Day 2: OutKast – Stankonia
OutKast – Stankonia (Arista, 2000) One of the things about going through a punk phase (musically, at least) in junior high is that, even once you start branching out, you’re skeptical of anything remotely mainstream. I would’ve been in Grade 12 when Stankonia came out (although I feel like it was around for more than … Continue reading
Month of New Music 2011, Day One: The Style Council’s My Ever Changing Moods
As part of my ever-weakening commitment to keeping this blog alive, I’m happy to announce my second annual Month of New Music, starting today. As with last year, that means I’ll be listening to an album per day that I have never before listened to in its entirety – new as in new to me, … Continue reading
Roger Daltry: Re-Creating Tommy
“On the record, there’s plenty of overdubs. There’s overlays of vocals, harmonies that The Who couldn’t do at the time. There were songs that The Who never played. But to make up for that, we were young, we were over-testosteroned and we made it into much more of a physical, rock-and-roll-circus type event.”
Monday Mixtape: Polaris Shortlist Edition
Tonight marks the sixth time that the Polaris Music Prize will crown the country’s most artistically successful album, decided through a long and arcane process that essentially boils down to: Asking a bunch of people what they think Asking them again, in the hopes that their taste has improved Gathering an elite group of cultural … Continue reading
Mid-week mixtape: Songs with people making animal sounds
It’s time to get esoteric. On this week’s (belated) mixtape, every track features at least one band member making animal sounds. Perhaps unsurprisingly, there are a lot of cats and a lot of wolves, but a few surprises do crop in here and there, and the songs themselves are (mostly) worthwhile on their own merits. … Continue reading
Monday mixtape: Summer holiday edition
For the second installment of the Monday Mixtape series, one of my readers helpfully suggested the theme “summer vacation.” It turns out she meant vacation destinations, but I realized that way too late in the process to make it work for this week. So instead, this week’s “tape” will feature songs about summer or vacations, … Continue reading
Monday Mix Tape: Folk Fest edition
New feature! Every Monday (or many Mondays, at least) I will be posting a “mix tape” with either a theme that strikes my fancy or that has been suggested by one of my fives of loyal readers. More accurately, I’ll be posting two 23-minute YouTube playlists, which you could then somehow put onto the two … Continue reading
The Consumption 