Sufjan Stevens stopped by the WNYC studios and this happened. It is simply stunning.
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Category Archives: Ear Worms
Besitos to my friend, Ian (The Boy With The Broken Heart) for bringing this track into my life. It feels so good on a cloudy Wednesday morning.
Here’s a video that’s been sitting around collecting dust on the ol hard drive. A few weeks back The Naughty Librarian and yours truly were at the Aragon for the first of a two night stint watching The Flaming Lips perform The Soft Bulletin. This song. The sappiness. The last line that always slays. Excuse me while I go and make out with the nerdy gamer in the next room.
St. Vincent promised to unlock a song from her forthcoming album, Strange Mercy (Sept. 13), if #strangemercy became a trending topic. Well something went terribly right because a new track, Surgeon, has been released. The song jumps into a chill beat with reverb heavy vocals that puts you at ease, leaving you feeling like this song will save your summer until about halfway through when everything is turned on its head and the pace becomes frenetic and jumpy. Me gusta mucho and I can’t wait to hear the rest of the album. Click below and listen for yourself.
So much for H.A.M.
Today Jay-Z and Kanye West dropped the first real taste of their upcoming Watch The Throne collaboration (which will be released digitally 08/01 with the physical release date set for 08/05). The track samples Otis Redding’s “Try A Little Tenderness” and after a couple listens this has won me over. Why? Because deep down I’m a sucker for these two (Jay-Z having played a pivotal role in my late 90s hip-hop education and Kanye’s last album was a masterpiece) plus the Otis sample SLAYS me. Now to see how many more tracks off WTT will be previewed before it official release in a few weeks.
Super sad to be missing the Wilco-curated Solid Sound Festival but am proud that Chicago bands are spreading the word and receiving love from folks all around the country. One of the bands I’m most proud to see on the line up is JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound. Today’s earworm is their cover of Wilco’s I Am Trying To Break Your Heart.
Stereogum has posted the latest preview track from the upcoming Rave On Buddy Holly compilation (June 28 via Fantasy Records/Concord Music Group): She & Him’s take on The Crickets’ Oh Boy. I’m a total fangirl when it comes to these two and my love for them grows with each new song they release. This song is cutness galore and I’m eating it up.
So up until last year’s North Coast Music Festival I wasn’t a Moby fan. There were a couple songs on Play that I kinda liked but unlike Mr. Bee, for example, I didn’t really seek out his music and just brushed him off as another pretentious New York vegan (you can tell me to fuck off at meanlittlebumblebee-at-gmail-dot-com). Seeing him work up a sweat as he DJ’d at NCMF turned every ignorant idea I had of him around. I went through his back catalog last fall and came away with a new found appreciation for the man. Listening to him on a recent NPRs All Songs Considered podcast I learned that with while working on today’s earworm he worked the entire production end and ran the most pristine vocals every recorded through filters and noise until they were no longer pristine and had a gritty feel to them. This song is the first single from his new album, Destroyed and I’ve been obsessing since first hearing it.
The revival of Pop Up Video, Beavis & Butthead and THIS means all things 90s are back or something like that. But it still doesn’t explain why this song is stuck in my head this morning. WHOA! (Sidenote: Remember when Joey Lawrence launched a career as a “pop star”? Yeah, me either).
Today’s worm was found via the HBIC who posted another song from this concert series. Bigs up and a booby squeeze for that! The song below was composed by the great Agustin Lara who was (and continues to be) one of Mexico’s greatest treasures. I learned to play one of his songs on the piano for my mom and Mama Maria (grandma) who are both huge fans of his work. This song, Farolito (Lighthouse) is my all time favorite Lara song and found me digging through my iPod for more of Lara’s music. It also reminded me that I really miss my Mama Maria and listening to her hum Lara’s songs while she crocheted a new tablecloth or blanket.
The arrangement, courtesy of the conductor – the great Alondra de la Parra – is a sweet waltz made sweeter by Natalia LaFourcade’s delicate vocals.
