Tag: music

👓 New York Is Killing Me | The New Yorker

Read New York Is Killing Me by Alec WilkinsonAlec Wilkinson (The New Yorker)
Gil Scott-Heron is frequently called the “godfather of rap,” which is an epithet he doesn’t really care for. In 1968, when he was nineteen, he wrote a satirical spoken-word piece called “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.” It was released on a very small label in 1970 and was probably heard of more than heard, but it had a following. It is the species of classic that sounds as subversive and intelligent now as it did when it was new, even though some of the references—Spiro Agnew, Natalie Wood, Roy Wilkins, Hooterville—have become dated. By the time Scott-Heron was twenty-three, he had published two novels and a book of poems and recorded three albums, each of which prospered modestly, but “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” made him famous.

👓 Big Changes Ahead for FMA | Free Music Archive

Read Big Changes Ahead for FMA by cheyenne_h (FMA Admin) (Free Music Archive)
We regret to inform you that due to a funding shortage, the FMA will be closing down later this month. The future of the archive is uncertain, but we have done everything we can to ensure that our files will not disappear from the web forever. The full audio collection will be backed up and available at https://archive.org/details/freemusicarchive (some of the collection is already there; feel free to go browse).
Internet related archives are important but fragile things. It’s sad to see when archives like this go down, particularly due to funding reasons.

👓 Chaka Khan Selected as Rose Parade’s Grand Marshal | Pasadena Now

Read Chaka Khan Selected as Rose Parade's Grand Marshal by Madelyn Pennino and Angela Underwood (pasadenanow.com)
Khan, a 10-time Grammy Award winner, will both ride in 130th Rose Parade and perform in the pre-game celebration at the 105th Rose Bowl Game. Khan said she has been a fan of the Rose Parade for many years and is looking forward to performing.

👓 SiriusXM to Acquire Pandora, Creating World’s Largest Audio Entertainment Company | Pandora

Read SiriusXM to Acquire Pandora, Creating World’s Largest Audio Entertainment Company (blog.pandora.com)
You may have noticed that big things are happening at Pandora. Earlier today, we announced that we’ve entered into an agreement to be acquired by SiriusXM, in an all-stock transaction, valued at approximately $3.5 billion. Here’s what this means for our listeners, and why we’re excited: First...

🎧 Analysis, Parapraxis, Elvis, Season 3 Episode 10 | Revisionist History

Listened to Analysis, Parapraxis, Elvis, Season 3 Episode 10 by Malcolm Gladwell from Revisionist History

"The one song The King couldn’t sing."

Elvis Presley returned from his years in the army to record one of his biggest hits, “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” But he could never quite get the lyrics right. Why? Revisionist History puts the King of Rock and Roll on the couch.

I expected Gladwell to circle back around to the opening song about beating the dog, but he left us hanging…

👓 Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” Slowed Down to 33RPM Sounds Great and Takes on New, Unexpected Meanings | Open Culture

Read Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” Slowed Down to 33RPM Sounds Great and Takes on New, Unexpected Meanings (Open Culture)
The Walrus is… Dolly Parton? Not every record yields gold when played backwards or spun more slowly than recommended, but a 45 of Parton’s 1973 hit “Jolene” played at 33RPM not only sounds wonderful, it also manages to reframe the narrative.

👓 40 Years Later, Talking Heads’ Most Valuable Member Is Still Its Most Under-Recognized | Paper Mag

Read 40 Years Later, Talking Heads’ Most Valuable Member Is Still Its Most Under-Recognized (PAPER)
Bassist Tina Weymouth contributions are some of the band's most iconic.

👓 ‘Hard Day’s Night’: A Mathematical Mystery Tour | NPR

Read 'Hard Day's Night': A Mathematical Mystery Tour (NPR | Weekend Edition Saturday)
The jangly opening chord of The Beatles' hit "A Hard Day's Night" is one of the most recognizable in pop music. Maybe it sounds like nothing more than a guitarist telling his bandmates, "Hey, we're doing a song here, so listen up." But for decades, guitarists have puzzled over exactly how that chord was played.

👓 A Songwriting Mystery Solved: Math Proves John Lennon Wrote ‘In My Life’ | NPR

Read A Songwriting Mystery Solved: Math Proves John Lennon Wrote 'In My Life' (NPR | Weekend Edition Saturday)

Over the years, Lennon and McCartney have revealed who really wrote what, but some songs are still up for debate. The two even debate between themselves — their memories seem to differ when it comes to who wrote the music for 1965's "In My Life."

Mathematics professor Jason Brown spent 10 years working with statistics to solve the magical mystery. Brown's the findings were presented on Aug. 1 at the Joint Statistical Meeting in a presentation called "Assessing Authorship of Beatles Songs from Musical Content: Bayesian Classification Modeling from Bags-Of-Words Representations."