Lady Gaga (and Nile Rodgers!) killed it in last night’s Grammys tribute to David Bowie. There were a couple of awkward transitions, but Gaga’s vocals on “Fame” made up for it.
A thread about Tidal is currently at the very top of Reddit’s front page. Kanye’s latest album is being distributed exclusively via Tidal, a development that put Tidal at the top of the App Store. However, users are unable to access the album. There are rumors that it isn’t even ready for release yet, and the service has been quiet about when people can expect to receive their purchase.
By the time you read this, it will have been resolved and forgotten, but this highlights how a service has once again forgotten the lessons learned through the large-scale piracy of music and video content:
1.) Make it easier to get content through your service than through piracy.
2.) Distribute content in a high-quality format (or at least equal to what people will get through a torrent, anyway).
3.) Charge some amount of money for it. It doesn’t even really matter how much – if you achieve numbers 1 and 2, people will pay for it.
Comedian H. Jon Benjamin released a jazz album (Well I Should Have… Learned To Play Piano) in November of last year, but I didn’t notice until this week, when it was suddenly all over my Facebook feed. You may recognize Benjamin as a voice actor from shows like Bob’s Burgers,The Venture Brothers, and Home Movies.
The premise, as you may have figured out from the title, is this: a comedian plays piano on a jazz album without having learned how to actually play the piano.
The punchline of the joke, as you may have also guessed, is that it actually kind of works. But to accept it as a robust critique of the genre would be to discount the contributions of Scott Kreitzer on sax, Jonathan Peretz on drums, and David Finck on bass. Finck in particular does a lot of heavy lifting by creating wonderfully melodic lines. The combo as a whole makes it obvious, even to someone without musical knowledge, when it’s time to solo. To be able to have that conversation without discussing anything verbally – and for listeners to enjoy it, even when one of the participants is hilariously inept – is one of the best features of jazz music.
My overall impression: This is definitely worth listening to. For added giggles, put it on at work or a party and see if anyone notices. Also – comedians Aziz Ansari and Kristen Schaal are great in the intro track.
‘Twas two days after Christmas, and all through the land
Holiday music still played, all joyful, though bland.
If you know me well, you probably know I don’t like Christmas music. Maybe more than any other genre of pop music, our experiences and traditions shape what songs we put on once Black Friday starts. For me, a few years working in retail – with its crazed, often rude customers and non-stop cheery Christmas playlist – was enough to turn me off most of it. But I’m not being entirely truthful when I say I hate Christmas music. There are a few songs I need to listen to every year before it really feels like Christmas. Here they are, in no particular order.
Vince Guaraldi Trio, “Christmastime Is Here”
I listen to the whole soundtrack for A Charlie Brown Christmas a few times every holiday season, and though “Skating” is a runner-up, “Christmastime Is Here” is my favorite. Like most people, I grew up on the Peanuts holiday specials, and Vince Guaraldi’s melancholy-tinged soundtrack grants the music an extra bit of nostalgia. What I love best about “Christmastime Is Here” is its unusual melody, which descends through a major triad. The song features a lot of major 7 chords (in this case, “major-major” seventh chords), which give you the feeling of wanting to linger. It’s different from most Christmas carols, which have more more predictable chords and ascending melodies: think of the first few notes of the choruses of “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” or “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear”.
Leroy Anderson, “Sleigh Ride”
When I was in college, the wind symphony played “Sleigh Ride” every year in the holiday concert. The one year that it didn’t show up on the program, a petition circulated throughout the band, but we were unsuccessful at getting it in the concert. I think every wind band person loves “Sleigh Ride” because it’s a fun, well-written song, and it has something for everyone. The percussion parts are great, of course (like the best whip part in history, first appearing here at 1:07), but everyone envies the low brass when the song slips inexplicably – and wonderfully – into a swing feel for one refrain (starting around 1:54). And of course, there’s the amusing horse whinny played by the trumpet at the end.
Bob Wells and Mel Tormé, “The Christmas Song”
I have memories of MTV doing a Christmas special on a sunny beach every year, and for some reason the perennially-cool Mel Tormé was always there with a digital keyboard to perform “The Christmas Song”. I love the laid-back nature of this one. I recently learned that Wells and Tormé wrote this one on a very hot summer day. Wells had jotted down some phrases like “Folks dressed up like eskimos” in an attempt to cool himself off. He and Tormé made it into a hit song in less than an hour.
Stevie Wonder, “What Christmas Means To Me”
This is one of the few songs I actually enjoyed from my days working in retail. I worked at Old Navy for a little while, and this was on the regular Christmas mix (along with some good Brian Setzer covers). Though it will always remind me of Polar Fleece, I like this one.
Mariah Carey, “All I Want For Christmas Is You”
Don’t judge. At least it gives me an excuse to link you to this amazingness. (h/t Tenley)
As you may have heard by now, Beats Music announced recently that Apple will be closing it down on 11/30. Beats users can transition their accounts to Apple Music.
While we knew this was coming for a while, it’s definitely bittersweet. We’ve put in many long hours with Beats since they were a little startup. Everyone is moving on to other projects, but it’s still a little sad to see the sun set on Beats. It was a good service, and I’m proud of the work we did.
As an homage: a cheesy final playlist. Since you have to be one of the few people still on Beats to see the track listing, I’ll paste it here:
“The Final Countdown” – Europe
“It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” – R.E.M.
“The End Of The World” – Skeeter Davis
“They Can’t Take That Away From Me” – Louis Armstrong & Ella Fitzgerald
“Rainbow Connection” – The Muppets
“A Brand New Me” – Aretha Franklin
“I Will Survive” – Cake
“Phantom Limb” – The Shins
“Skinny Love” – Bon Iver
“Death With Dignity” – Sufjan Stevens
“Outro” – M83
“The Suburbs (Continued)” – Arcade Fire
“Someone Great” – LCD Soundsystem
“Your Silent Face” – New Order
“Once In A Lifetime” – Talking Heads
“Digital Love” – Daft Punk
“If I Should Die Tonight” – Marvin Gaye
“End Of The Road” – Boyz II Men
“Tha Crossroads” – Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
“Cross Road Blues” – Robert Johnson
“The Thrill Is Gone” – B.B. King
“Why Did You Go” – Ray Charles
“Miss You” – Alabama Shakes
“I Can’t Quit You Baby” – Led Zeppelin
“In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed” – The Allman Brothers Band
“Don’t Speak” – No Doubt
“I Will Always Love You” – Whitney Houston
“By Starlight” – The Smashing Pumpkins
“Gone Daddy Gone” – Violent Femmes
“Can’t Do Without You” – Caribou
“Wide Open” – The Chemical Brothers
“The Sound Of Leaving” – Veruca Salt
“Last Goodbye” – Jeff Buckley
“All Over Now” – Washed Out
“Come Down” – Sylvan Esso
“You Are My Face” – Wilco
“Let It Die” – Feist
“The Funeral” – Band Of Horses
“A Dedication” – Washed Out
“End Of The World Party” – Medeski, Martin & Wood
“Stairway To Heaven” – Led Zeppelin
“Afterlife” – Arcade Fire
“Linger” – The Cranberries
“Forgot About Dre (feat. Eminem)” – Dr. Dre
“Tron Legacy (End Titles)” – Daft Punk
The best thing I saw on the internet today (though apparently it has been around for at least a year): A visualization for part I of Steve Reich’s Piano Phase. The visual lags behind the audio a little on my browser, but it’s mesmerizing nonetheless.
Wednesday was “Back to the Future Day”, meaning it was the day Doc, Marty, Jennifer, and Einstein visited in 2015 in Back to the Future Part II. So, in other words, we’re further in the future now than they ever were in that movie. Let that sink in.
HitFix has a great piece with some behind-the-scenes info about the iconic use of Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode”.
“We didn’t have an alternative,” Gale said.
The 1958 Chuck Berry song was in every version of the script from the earliest draft. (Though the first draft also had Marty transitioning from “Johnny B. Goode” to “Rock Around the Clock.”)
Gale recalls there being a period of two or three weeks when they worried they wouldn’t get the rights to the song. But Howe came through, and the production paid somewhere between $50,000 and $75,000 for the rights, as Gale recalls. “However much it was, it was very expensive in 1985 to pay that much for a song,” he said.
It ended up being worth it. The scene was a hit with test audiences in the months preceding the release and remains a fan favorite moment 30 years later.”
Since Jay-Z relaunched his music streaming company Tidal in March, I’ve watched their progress with interest.
The streaming music market is a crowded space. In order to succeed, a business can’t simply be a “Me Too” service. It has to be easier to use, have more and/or exclusive content, have better features, be cheaper, or – even better – have more than one of these qualities.
Tidal has HD audio and some exclusive content. According to some, their interface is better than other services. That should be enough for them to at least have a small but dedicated user base, but I think there are two reasons they’re struggling (so much so that Jay-Z has forgotten about it): a) Higher price, and b) Mismanaged PR.
“It’s hard to see Tidal as something other than an oligarchic hustle when it primarily engages in oligarchic behavior. At this show, Damian Marley was introduced as “the newest artist-owner of Tidal” — the room shrugged. People generally don’t root for corporations.”
As you may have heard by now, Beats Music