Tag Archives: Radiohead

Rocking Babies to Sleep…Musically!

11 Dec

Beatles Baby

Let’s face it, babies just do not understand good music. While we adults turn on Beatles’ tunes and pretend we are Paul or John, babies are content with any mellifluous sound that distracts them from the poop they just made in their diapers. Why pick any old pleasant sound, when you can show your baby what “good music” is before they even have the opportunity to grow up and shriek at some teen idol with meticulously practiced dance moves and vocal manipulation?

Meet Rockabye Baby, an extraordinarily creative music project that since 2006 has created CDs of instrumental lullaby versions of popular rock bands. Since the first releases in 2006 (Coldplay, Metallica, and Radiohead), Rockabye Baby has put out nearly 50 albums, the latest a tribute to U2. So, parents, here is the perfect opportunity to introduce babies to “Enter Sandman” without traumatizing them. “Enter Sandman” goes from advising babies to ignore the voices they hear from the beasts under their bed, closet, and head, to an instrumental that, while also rather freaky, is significantly more baby-friendly than Kirk Hammett’s guitar. Hammett, by the way, bought the Metallica version of Rockabye Baby for his son.

Not a Metallica fan. No worries. Bathe your baby with Beatles music. Here is a lullaby version of “All You Need is Love.”

I am caught between singing along and falling asleep. The version is just…so…relaxing. I *yawn* think I am going to just rest my eyes for a little bit. Forget about the baby, I want this as the soundtrack of my nighttime snooze. A parent (supposing the lyric is appropriate) can sing the song to their baby while rocking them to bed. “All You Need is Love” is certainly appropriate. I might not suggest singing the lyrics to the rendition of “Brain Damage” by Pink Floyd. Even though the baby may not understand what you are saying quite yet, it is probably unwise to alert them of the lunatic in the hall.

The Pink Floyd CD (and The Beatles) will certainly be in my future child’s music collection. Start them young, right? Don’t laugh, a child’s impressionable ears are a horrible thing to waste. My father would play “Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2” by Franz Liszt when I was a baby. I consider it one of most incredible pieces of music I have ever heard. It was hardwired into my fledgling brain!

Talking about Rhapsody, why not introduce your baby to Queen. The lullaby version of “Bohemian Rhapsody” may be the best of all the albums.

Buy the CDs at Rockabye Baby.

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Elijah Behar and Hollow Body

29 May

Elijah Behar

What happens when you combine influences like The Doors and the Velvet Underground with Radiohead, then stir the concoction with soulful singer-songwriter’s Jose Gonzalez and Leonard Cohen, and then top it off with a taste of modern electronica. Well you certainly get an intriguing blend of experimental folk, and Elijah Behar, a 22-year-old Californian musician now living in Los Angeles, has proven that such a blend of influences can not only work but also flourish.

Elijah released a solo EP entitled Hollow Body in April (which can be downloaded for free on his bandcamp page), and I do not hesitate in saying that this five-track release is fresh and exciting. His deep, lush voice invokes the engaging baritone of The National’s lead singer,  folk powerhorse Matt Berninger, and it also features a sensual quality like Jim Morrison himself. The voice suits the music perfectly as expressed in the first track on Hollow Body, “Black Sage.”

I had the opportunity to interview Elijah through e-mail where I asked him about his influences, music, and future. Before I post our conversation, I want to pull out one apt comment he made when asked about the creation of “Black Sage”

My aim for a track like Black Sage and the whole EP in general was to do only as much production as the song needed to deliver its full impact. I have been involved with projects that get produced and “perfected” to the point where the songs turn sterile and lifeless. On this EP I wanted to start with an acoustic guitar and a voice and build elements around those two instruments that simply compliment the original intention of the song.

Here is “Black Sage”

I would stress to Elijah that what he is doing here is what he should continue doing. The haunting piece features this dark acoustic riff that mixes with his slippery voice that is almost surreptitious and devilish. The song shifts at 1:30 into a Radiohead-like keyboard riff that purposefully lags with the percussion. The following echo is just a total mindscrew. The effects are well done. It is a treat to listen to Elijah manipulate the music and I think this has a shot to be the title track on full LP.

Here is the rest of the interview:

1) When did you first start writing and recording tunes?

 I started playing music at 14 and by the end of high school I was writing, recording and playing with a handful of bands in my hometown, Ojai, CA.

 2.) When you were growing up who were some of your biggest influences and how did those musicians shape you?

Growing up my biggest influences were The White Stripes, The Doors, and The Velvet Underground; pretty much the basic rock and roll package. Over the last few years I have become a diehard Radiohead fanatic (post OK computer), and have been loving more direct singer-songwriters like Jose Gonzalez, Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen, and Elliot Smith. I also love electronic musicians like Modeselektor and Aphex Twin. These musicians continue to shape how I approach songwriting and performance.

3.) Is Hollow Body your first release? What were you trying to accomplish with the songs?

Hollow Body is my first solo release but definitely not my first project. I put out an album with the rock band I fronted, Marquee (www.marquee.bandcamp.com) a year ago, and have released a few other projects before that.

With Hollow Body, my goal was to define myself as a musician who combined the raw intensity of rock with the emotional honesty and directness of a more stripped down form, like folk music. I would define my genre as Experimental Folk.

4.) What is your favorite part about recording music?

My favorite part of recording music is towards the end of mixing where I feel like I can finally let go of the material that has bouncing around my skull for months. It’s a relief to have the music exist outside of me.

5.) I always ask this and it is often the most difficult question. If you had a chance to have record a session with three musicians (alive or dead) who would they be and why?

If I could have a recording session with anyone live or dead it would be with any members of Radiohead and Nigel, their producer. Actually I would be happy just bringing them coffee and cooking for them while they recorded new material.

 6.) What is in the future for Elijah Behar?

 In the immediate future, I will continue playing shows in and around LA, make some music videos, and record some demos of new material I have written since Hollow Body was released. Beyond that, I hope to tour the west coast as soon as possible, and I have been meeting with some heavy hitters in the music industry (can’t mention names) who want to help me expand.

One more song for you and then I urge you to check out his Facebook for more details.

A pretty standard folk tune that accentuates Elijah’s killer voice. Good luck to him!

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Bird Flying High, You Know How I Feel: Some Musings on Sonic Music

19 Sep

Has music ever made you feel high? I don’t mean high like at an Allman Brothers Band Concert or like Keith Richards before, during and after he fell out of that tree.  I’m talking about a feeling of lifting off and just soaring, free from all bonds imposed by gravity and without a care in the world.  Although U2 dreamed big like Michelangelo, Radiohead turned inward to paint tortured lyrics in the same way Van Gogh painted Starry Night and Coldplay merged them to produce an inward looking but still optimistic artist my knowledge of art history doesn’t cover. All three made music that just sounds big.  Turn the lights down, put on your big dj headphones, close your eyes and just lose yourself.

Just put on the previous clip and read on.  The slow opening synth chords move into the Edge’s guitar and the driving rhythm section which culminates into Bono‘s voice.  Like many other U2 songs, especially on the album The Joshua Tree, “Where the Streets Have No Name” makes a political and social message sound so damn cool by adding layers of synthesizers and the Edge’s unique talent for making his electric guitar more than just a guitar.  The rest of the album is just as good.  Throughout their career, U2 has changed their sound by combining elements of other genres, especially in the 90’s, but they can never be accused of dreaming small either in sound or in message.  Their early albums (The Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum) capture these ideas at their finest, but checkout the following video for one of their later songs that is maybe not filled with overwhelming sound, but with overwhelming execution.

Upon writing this, I didn’t realize how much I could say in the introduction or about U2 so I decided that I’m going to do a second article about the other major bands I was going to talk about.  There is one band that I wasn’t sure if I would have the space to write about, but apparently now I do.  They are Explosions in the Sky.

If you’re one of those people that listen to music for the lyrics, then these guys are certainly not for you considering they have no vocalist or lyrics.  They do, however, convey emotion just as, if not even more powerful, through three guitars and a single drummer.  The following song, like most of their others, builds slowly and uses different effects operating on separate guitars that come together to surround the listener in a dome of sound.

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Reckoner (Flying Lotus Remix)

24 Jul

“A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version.”

-Wikipedia

Two of the best musicians today happen to be close friends. Their musical styles are very different, but their music meshes so perfectly that something completely new and pure is born as a result. It leaves you wondering if there is an end to the limits of music.

The artists I am talking about are Flying Lotus and Radiohead, more specifically Thom Yorke. Their relationship is strange, bringing together British and West Coast influences. They often play each other’s music at live shows and when they get together to make a song the result is usually astounding.This song which you are presumably listening to right now is a take on the Radiohead song Reckoner as remixed by Flying Lotus.

The first thing you should notice is that he completely replaced the beat with one of his own. It has essentially been turned into a hip hop song, but a ghostly one which cuts a completely new road for the genre and solidifies FlyLo‘s experimental capabilities. The clicking noises are my absolute favorite as they maintain an extremely uneven beat which is so strangely gratifying. The vocals, perfectly layered over each other, are darker and filtered, giving the entire song this haunted feeling. At 2:20 the song ends culminates to what could be the ending of a cheap horror film, a very strange last note. Most of the original song had been cut out, but that which remains is so beautifully mixed that it just demands quiet respect. If I were a member of Radiohead, I would be utterly enthralled that something like this could be made from my music.

Now by no means do I think this remix to be ‘better’ than the original song. It is its own complete separate entity and a unique listening experience. Comparing the two would be like comparing apples and oranges. Except maybe that in this case, both of them would be the color gold.

-oko

&O

P.S. One of the song’s off of Flying Lotus’s Cosmogramma features Thom Yorke performing amazing lyrics. Just in case you didn’t go out and listen to the album like I so direly urged you to… here is that song. And let’s not make the same mistake twice now. lulz

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Radiohead – Ahead of the Music Business?

22 Feb

The Beatles sent their fans into frenzied conspiracy when the propagation of the “Paul Is Dead” rumor began in 1966. Well, I presume I too am falling into the trap of theorizing because the Beatles never came out and said the entire thing was a hoax created by them. But, come on, we are not dumb. Fans destroyed Beatles’ records by playing songs backwards searching for clues. Nuggets were found at the end of “Strawberry Fields Forever” (I Buried Paul) and on the cover of Abbey Road (Paul is not wearing shoes or socks, barefoot, like a corpse). It took the Beatles’ fan populace by storm. But it was all a planned prank, executed as a clever marketing ploy. If you destroy a record searching for clues, you have to go out and buy another one. Plus, people would go out of their way to buy and listen to Beatles’ albums excessively. The Beatles knew how to make money and sell records. They were ahead of their time.

On the heels of Radiohead‘s new release King of Limbs, I am tempted to believe that they too are way ahead of the current musical climate. It is a simple truth that the music business has suffered mightily at the hands of free digital downloading and sharing, illegal but widespread. As I posted several days ago, charts are showing this economic slump. There are no signs that it will get better. Album sales are putting up a defeated fight. If you want to make money today as a non-mainstream musician, there seem to be two options. Either tour wildly or do what Radiohead is doing. But it seems that Radiohead’s pioneering strategy is going unheeded.

Radiohead is living in the future. Thom Yorke and company are intelligent marketers, well-versed in the convoluted wasteland of album sales. When Radiohead released In Rainbows in 2007 they decided to allow fans to purchase the album at whatever cost they saw fit. Radiohead, not being affiliated with a record label, saw most of the profits.

I know, most right now are probably saying, people paid close to nothing for the album. This is completely untrue. Most people paid around four euros for the album, according to a poll by Gigwise.com. That’s around $5.50. Yes, it is a couple of dollars less than what they would have received from an album sale at an online store…but, no, go through iTunes and Radiohead could have seen only around 25 percent of their profits. In Rainbows made nearly $10 million dollars in less than a week, according to an article on ultimate-guitar.com. People paid because they felt bad. Despite what you hear about downloading and sharing, most still believe that this is stealing. So, Radiohead’s “stupid” strategy made the band millions of dollars in a poor album climate. I’d say that is pretty solid.

For King of Limbs, Radiohead announced the album’s release on Feb. 14, 2011. They released the album on Feb. 18 through their website. It was like a shock to Radiohead fan’s systems. The band got everyone excited. People needed this album. So, King of Limbs, created a stir. This album has a set price, but fans can also receive a physical package including “two clear 10-inch vinyl records, a CD and an elaborate package including several large sheets of artwork, 625 small pieces of artwork and a plastic sleeve,” according to Rollingstone.com for $48. The digital album has already been released, but the physical CD will not be shipped until March 28 and the package, May 9. Why the delay?

Is there really any question of what Radiohead is doing? The last song on their new album is called “separator” and the last line of that song is “If you think this is over, you’re wrong,” as Okocim pointed out in his review of the album. I smell Beatles’ intelligence. Some fans have created a theory that the album has a part two version that will be released. The CD is not being shipped until March 28 and the huge package with TWO vinyl records is not being shipped until May 9. I’m not saying that part two does exist and will certainly be in these physical releases, but it is not hard to reach a conclusion that this may be the case. People love feeling like they are getting something that others are not. Watch the $48 package sales increase over the next few months, all awaiting the shipment in May, which will have two LPs, one that may hold a surprise to those who paid more money. Yeah, Radiohead knows what they are doing.

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