Punk rock was loud, messy, uncontrollable and rowdy. Then Joy Division came and changed all that almost over night. Ever hear of U2, the Killers or Phoenix? All followers of this one band that barreled into the vision of the public almost overnight and then exploded and reinvented itself upon the suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis (here’s the fascinating movie about him). Emphasizing emotional music over loud noise and somber emotions over rage and anger, they were the first to synchronize synthesizers, drum machines and live instrumentation.
Phoenix
Joy Division happens to be one of the most depressing bands ever but those influenced by them moved more towards the land of unicorns and butterflies. One of those bands happens to be Phoenix who turned the Joy Division sound slightly upside down. Their most recent release, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, builds upon the simpler drum machine and snyth combinations by adding multiple layers of guitars. It’s a really cool sound and overall a really great album.
I’m connecting these bands with a synth and drum machine sound and it’s my post so I’m going to throw in a little curveball. The next band has many related characteristics to Phoenix, incorporating a lot of drum machine and other samples and a lead singer with a wacky falsetto voice. Passion Pit relies heavily on sound samples which gives a much wider variety of sounds then a simple drum machine, such as in the following song.
Landau Eugene Murphy Jr. did it his way and today, he is $1 million dollars richer. Yes, the congenial crooner took home the title of Season 6 champion of America’s Got Talent last night, and, in my opinion, it was well deserved. Two weeks ago, I previewed the singers in the top 10 of the show, and wrote this about Landau:
Landau Eugene Murphy Jr. is a crooner. The purpose of America’s Got Talent is to find a potential Las Vegas act. It is difficult not seeing a man with his immense talent on a Las Vegas stage. I say this because there seems to always be a place for a 40′s/50′s throwback. I don’t think the crooner act is tired or antiquated. Murphy’s delightful voice can help restore the genre to Vegas. Murphy, a car washer from West Virginia, has blown away the judges week-after-week performing classics by crooners like Sinatra. And, on top of it all, he is so wonderfully humbled by the praise that it almost seems that he doesn’t realize the talent he has. You can’t help but root for the guy, and it is not difficult to because he is both genuinely talented and perfectly kind.
Besides his unquestionable talent, it was his kind, good-hearted nature that propelled him to the top of the show. Americans always vote for the underdog with the story about overcoming life’s difficulties. Landau, who was homeless at a point of his life, represented this picture, but, he did not lean on it. No, instead, he performed with gusto every time out and always seemed to appreciate the applause and comments. He worked hard and his hard work paid off. And, now, after the end was near, he will start a new life as a professional crooner, headlining an act in Las Vegas. I couldn’t be happier for him.
This performance above of “My Way,” originally by Paul Anka (but, of course, made famous by Mr. Frank Sinatra), “sealed the deal,” as judge Howie Mandel said. It wasn’t only the pure perfection of the notes that did it for me, but also it was a noticeable emotion that pushed out the most powerful and passionate notes in the song. Landau sang it like he meant it. And, he did mean it. Congrats to Landau Eugene Murphy Jr. and I am looking forward to buying an album of Murphy standards.
Not often does an artist succesfully travel from an accomplished band into the world of solo recordings. Colin Hay is an exception to the rule. The one-time lead-vocalist of the men down under, Men at Work, has released several solo albums since the late 80’s and his status as incredible singer/songwriter goes unquestioned. His Scottish/Australian vocal flavor, tremendous range, and passionate lyric and guitar work makes Hay an acoustic force and he releases great content time and time again.
Many may know Hay from the TV series “Scrubs,” where he contributed music to a series of episodes and made on-camera performances. If you are a “Scrubs” fan you will certainly recognize this song:
My favorite song by Hay is “Beautiful World.” I love it because of its sincere simplicity and imperturable message. The song also provides some apt lyrics that are timeless. He describes how there are great negatives in the world, but one must learn to appreciate the niceties of life because, hey, “perhaps this is as good as it gets.” He also uses lapsang souchong in his lyric, and anyone who uses this popular tea leaf in a song succesfully deserves some credit. The song’s melody is soft and Hay gives it just enough of a taste of smokiness. That actually sounds like lapsang souchong tea. So, listen to this song while enjoying some tea.
Another recording I’d like to share with you from Hay is a cover of “Norwegian Wood” he recently recorded at a session with Rolling Stone magazine. It’s so beautifully stripped down and it’s bare acoustic style is inviting. I could listen to Hay sing and play guitar for hours. It is that relaxing. Enjoy and have a beautiful day in the beautiful world.
Hay’s new album Gathering Mercury was released earlier this year and it definitely deserves a listen. Check out more from Hay at his website
Can you guess the two songs that are going to be featured in this version of “Six Degrees of Your iPod?” For those new to the Music Court, “Six Degrees of Your iPod” is a little iPod-related game we play at the blog. It’s not iPod specific, actually. Any randomized music generator will do. Here are the rules. Take out your music device and put it on shuffle. Then skip through six songs and write them all down. Can you connect the first song to the sixth song? That’s the purpose of the game. Random music connections! I’d love to read any of your own attempts at the game, so if you happen to be shuffling through your portable music device and you play, please comment with your results. Here is what I came up with today. The first song to appear was:
Can you get any better than this simple McCartney classic? Seriously, McCartney and Lennon were masters of short and sweet pieces. Well, they were masters of all types of songs. I’m sure if you asked them to lay down some salsa beats they would have obliged. But that is completely irrelevant.
McCartney wrote “Blackbird” as a symbolic piece dedicated to the civil rights struggle of African Americans in the United States. The peaceful guitar riff was inspired by Bach’s “Bourree in E Minor, which was a lute piece that, as children, George Harrison and him tried to learn to show off. And, humorously, “Blackbird” is now a beginner guitar necessity. Just like “Smoke on the Water” anyone who picks up a guitar must try his/her hand at playing “Blackbird,” in some parts to show off to the room.
Crosby Stills Nash and Sometimes Young. “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” arguably this super groups most famous song, sparked the formation of CSN in the first place. The song, written by Stephen Stills, works with a crafty, somewhat deceptive title. Suite, in the classic sense, means an ordered set of musical pieces, usually four in number like the song. And then the possible Sweet refers to the song’s subject, Stills’ ex-girlfriend, singer-songwriter Judy Collins, who apparently has some pretty sweet blue eyes. It really is one hell of a break-up song.
Connection: There are some interesting connections between both the Beatles and CSNY and there is an independent connection between the songs. After forming, prior to Neil Young joining the group, the group failed an audition at the Beatles’ Apple Records. That wasn’t a very wise move for the label. The band became pretty succesful. But there were no hard feelings. The band’s first live gig was at the Auditorium Theater in Chicago in August of 1969 and the band opened with “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” before launching into a cover of…”Blackbird” by the Beatles. Cool, right? The show was on August 17. Hmm…that date sounds familiar. They mentioned that they would be performing the next day at something called Woodstock, wherever that was. Well, after the show they went to Woodstock, where they went on stage at 3 a.m., August 18, and performed “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” followed by “Blackbird” again.
The Beatles did not perform at Woodstock for a variety of potential reasons. Lennon may have requested there be a spot of Yoko Ono’s Plastic Ono Band which was denied. I doubt that, though. I could’ve performed there. I mean, Sha Na Na did. Another potential reason was that Lennon wanted to play but his entrance into the U.S. from Canada was blocked by Nixon. Also, seems a bit farfetched. Most likely it was a combination of the Beatles’ being on the verge of collapse and the fact that they had not performed an official concert since 1966.
I’m going to go from my oldest obsession to my newest. Hip hop music. I’m going to say upfront I never liked hip hop music. If your name starts with a “lil,” I don’t like you and I know your music sucks. For that shrinking subset of rappers whose names don’t start with a “lil” or autotune, I’ll give you a chance. That being said, I don’t like most rap. I can’t really relate to either the excess rappers (smoke blunts) or the socially conscience rappers. That being said, there is still good rap even if you have to dig deep for it.
Take everything I said about excess rappers and throw it away for a second. Just a second. Or however long it takes you to read the following. Despite what I’ve said, I really like Jay Z despite his embodiment of much that I despise. The only explanation is that he has really soulful beats. Try The Blueprint or the Black Album. Neither album has him rapping over a drum machine which I particularly dig, even if much of his stuff is about living the life.
Watching that video, I remember just how great Eminem is. Eminem was the first rapper I ever heard and said wow. The man doesn’t just rap a line and take a break, he barrels forward without a break, even if it means you have to catch up to him. His dark humor and violence turn me off at times but even then, he is, undisputedly, the most clever lyricist out there. Similarly, Louis Logic’s clever lyrics and similar sense of humor remind me of Eminem.
My favorite rapper, however, is Common. Originally attracted to his cool, soul and jazz influenced beats, I also started listening to his meaningful lyrics and was hooked. There are, like with every other rapper, particulars that I don’t particularly enjoy but his album Be is the only rap album that I enjoy all songs on.
This last bit is about my favorite verse in all of hip hop. It’s on a Kanye West song but no, it’s not a Kanye West lyric. Jay Z is also on the song, but it’s not his either. It’s by a hip hop poet by the name of J Ivy and you can skip to 3 minutes to hear it on the following link.
The Music Court 