I have just become aware of Lana Del Rey and the Lana Del Rey backlash. I have the advantage of knowing nothing about her and only listening to two of her songs. And I can understand how the persona of a performer, or the marketing of their “story,” can be annoying as hell. But we [...]
The swagga of young blonde white girls…
In response to the now depressing trend of young women and girls gettin’ all gangsta pop on us (previously covered here and here), Oliver Wang had this response on Facebook: I think the new Black male swag should be acting like 9 year old white girls from the Westside. Watch the videos below, in descending [...]
The White Shadow?
Rap has always been assumed to be a personal artform. Whether the artist in question states it explicitly or not, the assumption is made that the performer has written the lyrics that he or she performs. (And performers receive aggressive criticism if it is believed this is not true.) Personal authorship wasn’t always true at [...]
“If you’re thinkin’ about my baby, it don’t matter if you’re black or white.”
At some point in the Nineties, I became fascinated by “rock” covers of hip-hop songs. For example, there’s the Gourds’ cover of “Gin and Juice,” the Barenaked Ladies’ version of “Fight the Power” and Dynamite Hack’s “Boyz-N-The Hood.” It was around ’91 when rap music really took off nationally, and we started to see artists [...]
Tuning In, No Longer Plugged In
Okay, that’s it. I’m now feeling completely out of it. So, when I was at SXSW back in March, I “discovered” a new band: Fitz & the Tantrums. The fact is, I didn’t really know who any of the emerging bands at that festival were. I’d read that James Blake, for example, was a big [...]
Thoughts on Radiohead’s The King of Limbs
I’ve been listening to the new Radiohead (The King of Limbs). I like it. Some people don’t. I read an assessment of it that described the songs as simple repetitive rhythmic patterns, with some guitar noodling on top and then Thom Yorke wailing away – the whole thing ending up much higher on atmospherics than [...]
In Which I Discuss Why I Do Not Care for the Name of the Band “Lady Antebellum”
I try to not be one of those people. One of those people who take offense easily. One of those people without a sense of humor. The kind who obsesses about the starving children in the Third World, and constantly brings up how we slaughtered the Native Americans. But I will confess: The name of [...]
Pop Musicians Who R What They Iz
We live in confusing times. Art that seeks the high ground seems to struggle to survive. Trash seems to flourish, whether in television, movies or popular music. We’re supposed to deplore this, right? But the thing about a pop artist like Ke$ha that is so genius – and I’m specifically thinking of her 2009 hit [...]
Geek Culture – Wounded, But Not Dead
During the holidays, Patton Oswalt made quite a stir with an article at Wired.com: Wake Up, Geek Culture. Time to Die. He argues that 30 years ago, when he was a young nerd (which is roughly the same timeframe in which I was a young nerd), people really had to work to indulge their “obsessive, [...]
Spike Jones’ Nutcracker Suite
Over the weekend, I posted a couple songs taken from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite. Via Twitter, someone reminded me of the Nutcracker by Spike Jones and His City Slickers, released in 1945. It was arranged by Joe “Country” Washburne, with special lyrics and effects by Foster Carling, featuring Susan Scott and a mixed chorus. You can [...]