Salon.com > Music http://www.salon.com Tue, 02 Jul 2013 11:15:18 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.: Detroit’s coming back! http://www.salon.com/2013/06/29/dale_earnhardt_jr_jr_detroits_coming_back_partner/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/29/dale_earnhardt_jr_jr_detroits_coming_back_partner/#comments Sat, 29 Jun 2013 13:00:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13345914

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/29/dale_earnhardt_jr_jr_detroits_coming_back_partner/feed/ 0 Pick of the week: The mind-blowing black punk band from 1974 http://www.salon.com/2013/06/28/pick_of_the_week_the_mind_blowing_black_punk_band_from_1974/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/28/pick_of_the_week_the_mind_blowing_black_punk_band_from_1974/#comments Fri, 28 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13339336 We already know about the economic and political history of Detroit as the home of the most iconic American industry, the site of the most extreme urban decay in the country and ground zero for 21st-century DIY urban homesteading. We also know about the Motor City’s unique importance in American pop-culture history as the birthplace of Motown, a breeding ground for house and techno music, and the town that produced Iggy and the Stooges, the MC5, Eminem and Kid Rock. (OK, never mind about Kid Rock.) Last year’s Oscar-winning documentary “Searching for Sugar Man” told the strange but true story of Rodriguez, the Detroit-born Latino singer-songwriter who became a huge star in South Africa without even knowing it. Given all that discord, ferment, chrome and vitality, we shouldn’t be surprised to learn that three African-American brothers in Detroit created punk rock before it actually existed. Next you’re gonna tell me that sex, marijuana and the movies were invented in Detroit too.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/28/pick_of_the_week_the_mind_blowing_black_punk_band_from_1974/feed/ 11 Study: Mozart helps you focus http://www.salon.com/2013/06/26/study_mozart_helps_you_focus_partner/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/26/study_mozart_helps_you_focus_partner/#comments Wed, 26 Jun 2013 18:07:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13337838 Pacific Standard

Score another one for Wolfgang Amadeus. Researchers report the soothing sounds of a Mozart minuet boosts the ability of children and seniors to focus on a task and ignore extraneous information.

Dissonant music has the opposite effect, according to Nobuo Masataka of Japan’s Kyoto University and Leonard Perlovsky of Harvard University. Their findings help make the case that music, sometimes thought of as a pleasant byproduct of evolution, has in fact played an active role in human development.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/26/study_mozart_helps_you_focus_partner/feed/ 5 Mick Jagger mocks President Obama with NSA joke http://www.salon.com/2013/06/25/mick_jagger_mocks_president_obama_with_nsa_joke/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/25/mick_jagger_mocks_president_obama_with_nsa_joke/#comments Tue, 25 Jun 2013 15:42:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13336347 Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger got political last night when he reportedly joked to fans at his D.C. concert, saying, "I don't think President Obama is here tonight ... But I'm sure he's listening in."

[embedtweet id="349511492804157442"]

[embedtweet id="349339258802290688"]

[embedtweet id="349334678676840448"]

Perhaps it was the setting, but Jagger couldn't resist making the obvious NSA joke (and we couldn't resist reporting it) during a more than two-hour concert in what concluded the U.S. portion of the iconic rock band's "50 and Counting" tour.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/25/mick_jagger_mocks_president_obama_with_nsa_joke/feed/ 12 My kid has terrible taste http://www.salon.com/2013/06/21/my_kid_has_terrible_taste/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/21/my_kid_has_terrible_taste/#comments Fri, 21 Jun 2013 22:40:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13333315 My four-year-old is sexy. And he knows it.

It's not like he's bragging -- he's just reciting the lyrics to one of his favorite songs, LMFAO's “I'm Sexy and I Know It,” from their seminal 2011 album “Sorry for Party Rocking.” Other pleasures from that collection include “Party Rockers in the House Tonight,” which doesn't sound too awful coming from a four year-old's mouth until he arrives at the part where he sing/mumbles, “be the first girl to make me throw this cash.” And then there's Psy's “Gangnam Style,” a Korean paean to sexy ladies, and Owl City's “It's Always a Good Time,” and Macklemore and Ryan Lewis's “Thrift Shop.” This one, as you probably know, is a song about buying clothes at Goodwill -- a total pro-family activity -- but unfortunately either Macklemore or Lewis introduces the topic by discussing the size of his cock (“big”).

The problem here is twofold. First, it seems a given that having your preschooler sing about sexy ladies and big cocks is distasteful. Second, every time he sings one of these songs in public, I know what all the other parents are thinking: Jesus, Lauren, your kid has really bad taste.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/21/my_kid_has_terrible_taste/feed/ 60 Cher performs new music on “The Voice” http://www.salon.com/2013/06/19/cher_performs_new_music_on_the_voice/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/19/cher_performs_new_music_on_the_voice/#comments Wed, 19 Jun 2013 13:53:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13330631 1980s pop star Cher performed new music, "It's a Woman's World," on last night's "The Voice" season finale, making it her first performance on live television in over a decade. The singer, 67, admitted to HollywoodLife.com that she was nervous about it: "“It was frightening and fun, when you haven’t actually been live and been in front of an audience. It wouldn’t be bad if it was a concert, but to be in front of a gazillion people made it a little bit uncomfortable and nerve-racking. Plus, I have had some really hard times with my throat. I went to Russia and had something and my voice hasn’t been great, so I was really nervous. I think what I didn’t have with my voice, I covered with having a good time!”

If the singer was nervous, though, she certainly didn't show it. Cher returned to the stage in true Cher fashion, with a wig that turned her into some really weird bird. Watch her performance, below:

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/19/cher_performs_new_music_on_the_voice/feed/ 3 Country music has always been feminist, even if Taylor Swift isn’t http://www.salon.com/2013/06/19/country_music_has_always_been_feminist_even_if_taylor_swift_isnt/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/19/country_music_has_always_been_feminist_even_if_taylor_swift_isnt/#comments Wed, 19 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13329682 Taylor Swift might not want to be a feminist, but that hasn’t stopped the rest of us from wishing that she were. Sure, she throws us a female empowerment bone every once in a while, giving the occasional public, barely veiled middle finger to the men who have wronged her (who among us hasn’t dreamed of the opportunity to do the same?), but then she does something like picking a fight with universally idolized feminist icons Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, or refusing to identify herself as a feminist, and we find ourselves once again shaking our heads at the singer, even if we are simultaneously singing along to her undeniably catchy singles.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/19/country_music_has_always_been_feminist_even_if_taylor_swift_isnt/feed/ 32 John Mayer offers up “Paper Doll” as your new Prancercise jam http://www.salon.com/2013/06/18/john_mayer_offers_up_paper_doll_as_your_new_prancercise_jam/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/18/john_mayer_offers_up_paper_doll_as_your_new_prancercise_jam/#comments Tue, 18 Jun 2013 20:54:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13330007 John Mayer, attempting to capitalize on the "Prancercise" phenomenon that's swept the Internet, has released a new music video in which lithe Prancercise guru Joanna Rohrback glides along to his new jam, "Paper Doll."

If you haven't seen Joanna Rohrback's original workout video before, Mayer's video seems random and absurdist, a throwback to Fatboy Slim's "Praise You" or "Weapon of Choice" music videos. But if you are already familiar with the greatness that is Prancercise, it feels more like total bro John Mayer is superficially attaching himself to an Internet meme, which is kind of lame.

The trying-too-hard-to-be-funny video becomes lamer still when you realize that "Paper Doll" is most likely an outright diss to former flame Taylor Swift, whose tendency to overshare in her lyrics have already spawned jokes, Twitter parody accounts and Internet memes ad absurdum. Prancercise, you are much, much better without John Mayer:

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/18/john_mayer_offers_up_paper_doll_as_your_new_prancercise_jam/feed/ 10 Lil Wayne dances on top of American flag in new music video http://www.salon.com/2013/06/18/lil_wayne_dances_on_top_of_american_flag_in_new_music_video/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/18/lil_wayne_dances_on_top_of_american_flag_in_new_music_video/#comments Tue, 18 Jun 2013 13:28:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13329497 Not long after a major health scare landed him in the ICU, Lil Wayne is back in headlines for his music. The rapper recently filmed a video for his political track, "God Bless Amerika," which boasts bold lyrics like: “My country, tis of thee/ Sweet land of kill them all and let them die/ So God bless America, this so Godless America."

Over the weekend, the video, which shows the rapper dancing on top of the American flag, ignited anger as it spread across the Internet. Veteran of Foreign Wars spokesperson Randi Law told the NY Daily News that walking on the American flag is “disrespectful and shouldn’t be done."

“You’re clearly not supposed to walk on the American flag and he’s doing that in front of a group of people,” Law said. “I would think the respect of the flag needs to be upheld and clearly it’s not.”

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/18/lil_wayne_dances_on_top_of_american_flag_in_new_music_video/feed/ 9 Kanye West’s sex problem http://www.salon.com/2013/06/17/kanye_wests_sex_problem/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/17/kanye_wests_sex_problem/#comments Mon, 17 Jun 2013 19:30:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13328725 Kanye West is about as subtle as a Range Rover. From the pink-Polo prep of debut “College Dropout” to 2010's ominous “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,” each of his albums has arrived with the force and presence of a runaway train, crashing over anything in sight. He has evolved from a producer with a chip on his shoulder to rap royalty through constant challenge and innovation. Kanye has a penchant for drama, unfortunately for Taylor Swift, but he also has the musical prowess to back his swagger. But an obsession with making his point by denigrating women continues to blunt his impact.

In an interview with the New York Times, the Chicago-bred rapper indicated that his sixth album, “Yeezus,” would provide articulate commentary on race, a subject that he first tackled in "College Dropout's" "All Falls Down." A "Saturday Night Live" preview of album cut "New Slaves" demonstrated bold, anti-pop beats rallying against privately owned prisons. It was a perfect opportunity to start a real conversation. Kanye has the audience, he has the gravitas, and he has the intelligence to make people actually listen.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/17/kanye_wests_sex_problem/feed/ 41 The theme song of the radical right http://www.salon.com/2013/06/16/the_theme_song_of_the_radical_right/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/16/the_theme_song_of_the_radical_right/#comments Sun, 16 Jun 2013 17:30:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13325780 As conservatives gained power and confidence in the decades after Barry Goldwater’s defeat, each of the three political tributaries whose convergence fueled the movement—anticommunism, antitaxation, and the Religious Right—could claim the “Battle Hymn” as a call to arms. The song resonated with the Manichaean proclivities of cold warriors, who regarded America’s confrontation with the Soviet Union as an ultimate battle, waged in the shadows of nuclear brinksmanship. Even as it addressed contemporary anxieties, the song also conjured up an idyllic American past, one in which traditional values thrived, untroubled by an intrusive federal bureaucracy. Finally, the hymn spoke to the growing electoral clout of evangelical Christians, who had shed the political alienation encouraged by fundamentalism and begun to stride unabashedly into the political arena; it became, for instance, a staple at anti-abortion rallies and was frequently played at protests against the government’s banning of prayer in public schools.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/16/the_theme_song_of_the_radical_right/feed/ 35 Hope remains for dads once in bands http://www.salon.com/2013/06/15/hope_remains_for_dads_in_bands/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/15/hope_remains_for_dads_in_bands/#comments Sat, 15 Jun 2013 17:46:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13327861 Just in time for Father's Day, Drafthouse Films and Dangerous Minds have launched a hilarious, new site, My Dad Was in a Band. The project is an homage to dads and the bands they used to play in before having children cramped their style and was inspired by "A Band Called Death," a documentary about a punk band from the early '70s that found an audience thirty years later.

Cool dads featured on the site include Brian Chatton, father of Charlotte Chatton and Emily Chatton, who was in a band called The Flaming Youth, pictured below:

Emily Chatton explained her dad's band to Dangerous Minds:

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/15/hope_remains_for_dads_in_bands/feed/ 11 Feminist Kanye Twitter follows tradition of Feminist Taylor Swift http://www.salon.com/2013/06/15/feminist_kanye_twitter_follows_tradition_of_feminist_taylor_swift/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/15/feminist_kanye_twitter_follows_tradition_of_feminist_taylor_swift/#comments Sat, 15 Jun 2013 16:44:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13327824 In the same vein of Clara Beyer's Feminist Taylor Swift Twitter feed, which reimagines the non-feminist singer's lyrics as messages of female empowerment, a Feminist Kanye Twitter account has emerged. The tweets, delivered entirely in capital letters, elevate the rap lyrics and quotes from the nucleus's recent New York Times profile beyond the heteronormative:

[embedtweet id="345668052085530624"]

[embedtweet id="345668919413063680"]

[embedtweet id="345672057238982658"]

[embedtweet id="345673569369481216"]

[embedtweet id="345679632718254080"]

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/15/feminist_kanye_twitter_follows_tradition_of_feminist_taylor_swift/feed/ 1 Kanye West album “Yeezus” leaks on Internet http://www.salon.com/2013/06/14/kanye_west_album_yeezus_leaks_on_internet/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/14/kanye_west_album_yeezus_leaks_on_internet/#comments Fri, 14 Jun 2013 20:43:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13327015 Kanye West's highly anticipated album, "Yeezus," leaked onto the Internet Friday afternoon, ahead of its Tuesday release date (listen to it here). As EW predicted it would be, the most hyped lyric of the album, from the track "I Am a God" is -- wait for it -- "Hurry up with my damn croissants."

The lyric is pure Kanye at its core: indulgent and nonsensical and totally cray, and all-the-more annoyingly catchy for it. Given the sudden, bizarre rise of the croissant as a cultural phenomenon, however, at first glance it could seem like Kanye -- the man who understands culture, the man who is the nucleus -- somehow predicted the coming of the cronut.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/14/kanye_west_album_yeezus_leaks_on_internet/feed/ 2 Chris Brown launching “Unity Campaign” to promote love http://www.salon.com/2013/06/14/chris_brown_launching_unity_campaign_to_promote_love/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/14/chris_brown_launching_unity_campaign_to_promote_love/#comments Fri, 14 Jun 2013 16:50:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13326567 Well, this is rich. In a tweet showing an astonishing lack of self-awareness, the easily incited, abusive and homophobic-sounding hip-hop artist Chris Brown last night announced a new "Unity Campaign" intended to promote love. Indiscriminatory, harmonious, peaceful love:

[embedtweet id="345313988374044672"]

The new single is Brown's most recent attempt to win favor in the public eye, but forgive skeptics, feminists and the LGBT community if they remain unmoved.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/14/chris_brown_launching_unity_campaign_to_promote_love/feed/ 10 Producers sue to make “Happy Birthday” free http://www.salon.com/2013/06/13/class_action_lawsuit_aims_to_bring_happy_birthday_to_public_domain/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/13/class_action_lawsuit_aims_to_bring_happy_birthday_to_public_domain/#comments Thu, 13 Jun 2013 17:47:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13325399 Good Morning to You Productions Corp. has filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of anyone in the entertainment industry who has had to pay Warner/Chappell Music for the right to use the song "Happy Birthday."

The lawsuit was prompted by a recent documentary that explores the history of "the world's most popular song;" the producers paid a $1,500 fee to use the song in their film to avoid up to $150,000 in liabilities for copyright infringement.

The song, composed by Patty Smith and her sister Mildred Hill in the 19th century, didn't appear in a book until 1924 -- which puts it under the 95-year protection of copyright law for works published after 1923. However, the production company alleges that the song was put in print well before 1923.

From the Hollywood Reporter:

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/13/class_action_lawsuit_aims_to_bring_happy_birthday_to_public_domain/feed/ 12 Must-see morning clip: Paul McCartney on recording “Band on the Run” http://www.salon.com/2013/06/13/must_see_morning_clip_paul_mccartney_on_recording_band_on_the_run/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/13/must_see_morning_clip_paul_mccartney_on_recording_band_on_the_run/#comments Thu, 13 Jun 2013 13:23:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13325164 Celebrating the reissue of his 1976 post-Beatles album, "Wings Over America," Sir Paul McCartney stopped by "The Colbert Report" and talked about his days recording "Band on the Run" with Wings. On starting a new band after The Beatles, McCartney said,"You know, I wanted to try and do it all again -- only, you know, different."

"We decided to do it from the ground up, rather than some super group sort of thing, so we knew nothing and just had to learn it all again. How to be a band, and there were times when I was begrimed."

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/13/must_see_morning_clip_paul_mccartney_on_recording_band_on_the_run/feed/ 3 Questlove: “I don’t have friends.” http://www.salon.com/2013/06/12/stardom_is_lonely_for_questlove/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/12/stardom_is_lonely_for_questlove/#comments Wed, 12 Jun 2013 21:29:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13324606 Musically speaking, soul is among the most social of genres: It's deep, earthy, lively, rhythmic and transcendental. And few musicians have popularized the genre more than Roots drummer Ahmir Thompson, known to fans as Questlove.

But a recent interview with the Village Voice's Jenna Sauers provides an intimate and surprising glimpse into the life of the DJ, casting him as an isolated, vulnerable workaholic:

"You know, after work, everyone hangs and they go to a bar and stuff?" says Thompson, sounding a bit like an anthropologist who has just pinpointed a key habit of a strange tribe. "I don't socialize that way. I don't have a posse. I don't have friends. I got the people I work with. I got a mom and a sister."

He explains that this is intentional:

"I'm very guarded, because I'm very vulnerable. Which really reads as gullible ... I guess the downside of that is that the guardedness that Questlove has to use to protect himself has now absolutely done overages and bleeded over into Ahmir Thompson's life."

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/12/stardom_is_lonely_for_questlove/feed/ 3 Listen to an evolution of Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” http://www.salon.com/2013/06/12/listen_to_an_evolution_of_daft_punks_get_lucky/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/12/listen_to_an_evolution_of_daft_punks_get_lucky/#comments Wed, 12 Jun 2013 16:11:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13324271 While Daft Punk fans await the duo's remix of their recent hit single, "Get Lucky," French music producer PV Nova has stitched together a version of the song that reimagines what the disco-reminiscent track would sound like in different decades:

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/12/listen_to_an_evolution_of_daft_punks_get_lucky/feed/ 4 Kanye West: “The idea of Kanye and vanity are like, synonymous” http://www.salon.com/2013/06/12/kanye_west_the_idea_of_kanye_and_vanity_are_like_synonymous/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/12/kanye_west_the_idea_of_kanye_and_vanity_are_like_synonymous/#comments Wed, 12 Jun 2013 14:20:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13324066 "Anti-celebrity" Kanye West is all about Kanye West, the idea. In an off-the-rails interview with The New York Times, the rapper with the most "sui generis hip-hop career of the last decade" demonstrated that he's also the most grandiose.

Kanye on why he doesn't like to apologize to anyone, even Taylor Swift:

  • [My instincts have] only led me to complete awesomeness at all times. It’s only led me to awesome truth and awesomeness. Beauty, truth, awesomeness. That’s all it is.
  • “Dark Fantasy” was my long, backhanded apology. You know how people give a backhanded compliment? It was a backhanded apology. It was like, all these raps, all these sonic acrobatics. I was like: “Let me show you guys what I can do, and please accept me back. You want to have me on your shelves.”
  • I would hear stories about Steve Jobs and feel like he was at 100 percent exactly what he wanted to do, but I’m sure even a Steve Jobs has compromised. Even a Rick Owens has compromised. You know, even a Kanye West has compromised. Sometimes you don’t even know when you’re being compromised till after the fact, and that’s what you regret.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/12/kanye_west_the_idea_of_kanye_and_vanity_are_like_synonymous/feed/ 5