Archive | November, 2009

Court Links: Foreign Phrases and CD Releases

24 Nov

Labelle

Everything is getting a day pushed back this holiday week. Today I am posting some links for your pleasure and then tomorrow, supposing I have some time at night (for I will be driving home for Thanksgiving during the day) I will be posting the next lyricist on the seemingly endless list of top 100 lyricists (well it definitely has an end, it just may take several years out of my life, someone should do the math…someone that is not me).

Anyway on to some awesome linkage. The A.V. Club has some awesome articles and I suggest everyone who checks out this blog to check them out. Today I bring you their list of 19 foreign phrases we would not know had they not been in popular songs. My personal favorite is “Voulez-vous coucher avec moi (ce soir)” from Labelle’s “Lady Marmalade.” Everyone knows this song but do you know what they are singing. If you speak French you do and you are laughing. It means Would you like to sleep with me (tonight). Just tonight, how about the entire day. Well thanks for being subtle about it…I’ll get back to you…just kidding.

Check out the rest: http://www.avclub.com/articles/ca-plane-pour-wha-19-foreign-phrases-we-wouldnt-kn,35644/ 

For Your Entertainment

Notable  CD’s Release Yesterday (Monday, Nov. 23)

“For Your Entertainment” by Adam Lambert

The American Idol runner-up’s debut album featuring guest appearances from Lady GaGa, Pink and even Matthew Bellamy of Muse. The Huffington Post calls the album, “An Instant Classic” and I will have check it out because I am intrigued. Could this be the biggest album from any American Idol contestant. It certainly may be the most anticipated. From Lambert’s flamboyant album cover to performance on the American Music Awards he has certainly drawn a lot of interest. Personally, I can care less what the man does on stage or on his CD’s. If the public does not like it then they do not have to buy it, or watch it. It is only for your entertainment!

Buy the album: http://www.amazon.com/Your-Entertainment-Adam-Lambert/dp/B002QEXN3O

 

 

 

Lyric #18

24 Nov

“I’ll wrap myself in cities I travel/I’ll wrap myself in dreams/I’ll wrap myself in solitude.”

hint: Maybe all they want is to get wrapped up in a hug with you. Or maybe they’re just ready for lunch, and it’s coming out in their lyrics.

Answer: In Thee, by Blue Oyster Cult

Court Polls Christmas: Christmas on Death Row

23 Nov

Ah. the monday of the week of Thanksgiving, so close to going home for the holiday, yet, quite literally so far away. Looking at the several hours of driving I will be partaking in over the next couple of days would usually make me cringe, but heck I got music and I will be driving with my brother and girlfriend so it should be virtually painless.

But, do you know what is painful? “Christmas on Death Row,” my choice for the worst and most utterly hilarious Christmas album ever recorded ever. The vote was a tie at one between only three of the potential albums, which I will admit are also quite terrible. Yes, something about this miserable album of the most cheery and happy songs of all time being recorded by musicians with names like Bad Azz and 6 Feet Deep just leaves me wondering, was this needed.

How can a Christmas music album have a Parental Advisory warning. Well, I guess one should listen to "Baby, it's Cold Outside," which may need a warning. Yes, it's rape!

You see I am confused. Besides the tremendous first track, “Santa Claus Goes Straight To The Ghetto,” put together by Snoop Doggy Dog, because that is what Snoop does, most other songs are normal Christmas tracks. We have “Silent Night,” “Frosty the Snowman,” and even the most beautiful Christmas melody, “Party 4 Da Homies.” I feel like I am Wayne Brady on “Whose Line is it Anyway,” being instructed by the pleasantly plump new Price is Right host to make up crafty lyrics to a made up song. But, these songs exist and they were cut, put together and made into an album. An album that sold 200,000 copies. 200,000! Well, it was for charity, but come on let us do the charity and yourself a favor and just donate the money straight to the charity, so nobody has to hear 6 Feet Deep sing “Frosty The Snowman.” Well, actually, if one looks at this song it may be just quite crafty. Frosty does inevitably seep into the ground in a post-Christmas melt.

The fact is, these musicians may be talented, but recording “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” under an artist title that suggests death is just funny. Funny to the point that, however painful the music is, you find yourself hysterically laughing at the absolute absurdity of the music being played and the artist’s titles. Heck, if it was for a good joke then it is well taken, but, please, if this was at all serious, leave the Christmas music to musicians like Bing Crosby, Johnny Marks, Irving Berlin, Nat King Cole, and, of course, The Brady Bunch (joke on the last one).

Bestowing The Crown #1: Regina Spektor

22 Nov

Hey there,

It’s Amanda here and I’m writing a new post called “Bestowing the Crown”. Basically, I think that female artists don’t get enough attention in the music world. It seems like in all genres, rock, country, hip-hop, female artists often get overshadowed by male counterparts. So I’d like to use this post to call attention to some girl talent, past and present. I’ll give some spotlight to both well-know and up-and-coming female musicians, thereby bestowing the crown on those who deserve to wear it.

This week I’d like to talk about one of my favorite singers, Regina Spektor. Her newest album Far came out a little while ago, and you may have heard her single Laughing With on the radio. She is a pianist, singer and songwriter, producing words and melodies that can pull at anyone’s heartstrings. More so, Spektor is one of the most hard-core artists around. How so? Well, as a kid she listened to rock and roll cassettes of the Beatles and Queen. Cassettes that her father traded illegally. Cassettes that her father traded illegally in Soviet Russia. Yeah, it’s not like Regina’s family would have been sent to the gulags anytime soon for that, but I still think it’s pretty bad-a**.

As Jews in Russia, Spektor and her family endured religious persecution, and left when Regina was nine. They immigrated to New York, where the young musician would study classical piano. She’d soon branch out into other genres, and found her creative niche in songwriting. She also figured out how to play piano while simultaneously swigging a flask of vodka.  Okay just kidding about the vodka. I’ll stop with the Russian jokes.

Regina is unlike any other artist in the music industry. She’s pretty much a human synthesizer of hip-hop, punk, classical, folk, and jazz music. She has an incredibly broad vocal range which works marvelously in both sweet melodies and kitschy tunes. Spektor’s songs are stories in their own right. She’s simply unafraid to express what she wants to express, following her own path. She has this amazing ability to convey everything from heartache to sarcasm with a single line.

If you’d like to explore more of Regina Spektor, my favorite tracks include “Fidelity”, “Sampson” and “The Music Box”. She’s certainly worthy of praise, and that’s why she’s the receiver of this week’s crown.

“On the Radio”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7q4tDkCPzgw

Court Links: Ringo’s Talking Head

20 Nov

I don’t care what anyone says, I like Ringo Starr.

What is there not to like, he was a Beatle, he is talented, and he seems like a genuine nice guy. Starr continues to release albums for the love of music and he does it with class, and other musicians. On his new release, the closest thing we all have to a Beatles’ reunion comes true with a Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr duet which will certainly require a listen. Also featured on the album are musicians like Joe Walsh and Ben Harper.

Link: http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/story/starr-duets-with-mccartney-on-new-album_1123072

You know who I also like, The Talking Heads. I also like interesting concerts on German rock television shows. I also like the song “I Zimbra,” which may sound and look like gibberish, but is actually adapted from a poem by Dadaist poet Hugo Ball. And, would you look at that, this link has everything.

Link: http://www.fark.com/cgi/vidplayer.pl?IDLink=4782230

 

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