Def Jam was started 30 years ago in Rick Rubin’s NYU dorm room. Watch him go back to the place where it all began for the very first time.
Listen To 18-Year Old Kurt Cobain’s punk rock band ‘Fecal Matter’
Lend your ears to this 1985 demo tape from 18-year old Kurt Cobain’s punk rock band ‘Fecal Matter’, formed along with Dale Crover, Mike Dillard and King Buzzo of The Melvins.
Dog Prevents Balloon From Touching The Ground
You know that game you used to play as kids, going for some world record of catches, or not-missed shots in ping pong? Check out this dog who gleefully tries for the balloon not to hit the ground. How can 16 people give this a thumbs down? Do they want a sad dog?
2 Pranksters Pretend Not To See Each Other While Talking On The Phone
Whenever I see two people together talking on their cell phones, I always tell my wife, ‘They’re talking to each other.’ TYouTube comedian Greg Benson and his friend Miles Grose take a step further by pretending to look for other over the phone while standing on opposite sides of strangers on the streets of Los Angeles.
Video: First ever Kraftwerk gig from 1970
Without Kraftwerk, there’s no Gary Numan, Ultravox, John Foxx, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Human League, Depeche Mode, Visage, and Soft Cell. No U2, no Kanye West, no LCD Soundsystem. One of the first groups to popularize electronic music, they just might be one of the most influential groups in the world, besides The Beatles, and they’ve sold less than half a percent of the fab four. Here’s where it all started.
https://youtu.be/Uv09NXOyOoU
Video: Nike’s ‘Snow Day’ Features Today’s Best Athletes
Roads are closed. School is canceled. The game is on. Get out here.
https://youtu.be/o2P5E7cFt9s
Beautiful Art Print Celebrates 200 Artists of Electronic Music
The UK-based Dorothy Collective‘s Electric Love Blueprint celebrates over 200 inventors, innovators, artists, composers and musicians who (in our opinion) have been pivotal to the evolution of electronic music from the invention of the earliest known sound recording device in 1857 to the present day. Key pioneers featured include Léon Theremin, Bob Moog, Karlheinz Stockhausen, John Cage, Brian Eno, Kraftwerk and Aphex Twin.
The print loosely groups genres, from the obscure Musique Concrète (Pierre Schaeffer) to the better known Krautrock (Kraftwerk, Can, Tangerine Dream, Neu!, Faust, Cluster, Harmonia and Amon Düül II) Synthpop (Gary Numan, Human League, Depeche Mode, Yazoo and Pet Shop Boys) and Electronica (New Order, The Prodigy, Massive Attack, LCD Sound System and Daft Punk). There are also references to the experimental BBC Radiophonic Workshop and our favourite innovating record labels Mute and Warp.
MuchMusic Compilation ‘Big Shiny Tunes’ Is Getting A Book
Eternal Cavalier Press is proud to announce our fifth title: A Big Shiny Legacy by celebrated Toronto-based writer Mark Teo, due Spring 2016.
A Big Shiny Legacy is a celebration of Big Shiny Tunes 1, MuchMusic’s iconic 1996 compilation. And while the album is firmly rooted in the ‘90s the book isn’t entirely about nostalgic revelry. Instead, it’s an exploration of how Big Shiny Tunes became one of Canada’s unlikeliest success stories: It launched the nation’s best-selling album series, moving a mind-busting 5 million copies. It placed our alt-rock heroes—Sloan, Limblifter, Pluto—alongside renowned household names like Bush, Beck, and Foo Fighters, canonizing “The Good in Everyone,” “Tinfoil,” and“Paste” in the process.
And true to the book’s title, Big Shiny Tunes left a massive cultural imprint, one that can be found in cover bands, tribute nights, YouTube playlists and used record bins from coast to coast, too.
Through interviews and criticism, A Big Shiny Legacy dives into the album’s origins, its status as the ultimate gateway record, the era of the compilation, and its still-unfolding influence on Canadian music—one track at a time.
Mark Teo is an arts and culture writer. He is currently a content editor for Star Touch, the Toronto Star‘s forthcoming tablet publication. He’s been the associate editor of AUX.TV and AUX magazine and the music and film editor of Fast Forward, Calgary’s now-defunct alt-weekly. His music writing has appeared in publications and websites such as Toronto Life, Broken Pencil, This, Weird Canada, the Coast, Exclaim!, Sharp, and many more. A Big Shiny Legacy is his first book.
“We’ve always admired and enjoyed Mark’s writing,” says ECP Creative Director Joshua Kloke. “As soon as we met with him we knew this would be an excellent fit. And we’ve been spinning Big Shiny Tunes a lot more since then, so we should probably be thanking Mark first and foremost.”
James On How They Write Songs
How does the writing process manifest itself?
Jim Glennie: There’s five of us that write, so we just get in a room and improvise. We set up the studio to record, and we also tend to get a drum machine going. Then the process starts. Everybody joins in and there’s a lot of shifts and changes. Tim usually sings phonetics. Most of the time we think he’s singing words but they’re not. They’re just a range of sound levels. Occasionally he’ll fire a phrase or a line out. Sometimes it can be nonsense, other times it could be the beginning of the lyric. More often than not though it tends to be phonetics where he’s using his voice as an instrument. He’s looking for melodies. We’re all very supportive so we all tend to listen to one another. Then we try to pick out the main bits we want to mould together into a song. So instead of being free flowing there’s a lot more of a process involved. Which means more work so everyone starts arguing about it, yet once we start playing everything is fine. It’s probably very unconventional but that’s how we’ve always worked. It’s worked for fourteen albums so why change now? And it is amazing fun to go in with nothing and then something emerges over time. Songs lift off in front of you. It’s not something we take for granted and same as Saul said earlier, there’s always nerves and an element of fear because technically there is no thought process. It’s always at the back of our minds that one day we’ll go in and nothing will appear. It’s odd because I don’t think we’ve ever bumped into anyone else who writes like this.
Saul Davies: I’m surprised more people don’t to be honest. I might be wrong but I suspect a band like Sigur Ros might take a similar approach? I would imagine they record everything then mix and remix it really well before deciding on whether it’s right or not.
Jim Glennie: I sometimes wish we could do things as straightforward as that. There’s something to be said for being able to lock yourselves into your own little world and not really reference anybody. You end up being your own little unit. There must be some influences in there from somewhere, but at the same time making a conscious effort not to get too embroiled what’s currently knocking around. It’s difficult to get your head around, but then also probably explains why a band like Sigur Ros has existed on their own terms for so long.
Via Drowned In Sound
The Music Industry’s Most-Loved Albums Of All Time, Part 37
This is part 37 of an ongoing series where the kind folk of the music business reveal their favourite album of all time.
Ask people in the music industry the seemingly simple and straightforward question, “What is your favourite album of all time?” and you’ll find that it’s not always easy. After all, my industry peers listen to hundreds of albums a month – thousands of songs during that time. Because the question isn’t the best album of all time or the one that’s made them the most money in sales, or the most clicked-on review, but the one release they personally can’t live without, that one title they have two copies of in several formats, in case one breaks. It’s also about that album that for them has the best back stories and the one that has the most meaning in their lives.
Paul Abella, Music Director, Host, Notes from the Jazz Underground and ‘DCB Jazz WDCB Public Radio
The Grateful Dead, Wake of the Flood
There are probably 25 other albums that I could put in this slot with little hesitation, but none of those records have the 1-2-3 punch of Here Comes Sunshine, Eyes of the World and Weather Report Suite (especially for the pt. II section, Let it Grow) as one side of their album. The first side is pure bliss, too – Mississippi Half Step, Let Me Sing Your Blues Away, Row Jimmy and Stella Blue…any band in the world would be lucky to have written ONE song of that caliber, much less a whole album’s worth. As a musician, it’s an inspiration, as a listener, it’s a joy, and it’s just pure nostalgia for me, too. They’re down to one drummer on Wake of the Flood, making their sound lean and swingy. Donna’s in great voice, Keith is contributing gorgeously, Garcia and Lesh play brilliantly and Weir contributes one of his masterpieces. I’m getting all gooey just thinking about it.
Agnes Gould AKA AggieBaby, Host of “Membertou Morning” Monday, CJIJ 99.9FM
Robbie Robertson and the Red Road Ensemble, Music For The Native Americans
The song, Golden Feather, strikes my heart every time because I think of my little sister (Virginia Sue Pictou) who has been missing since April 1993. My favorite song goes out to all MMIWG (Murdered & Missing Indigenous Women & Girls) and their loved ones.
Alan Petrucelli, Author
Any Dame Shirley Bassey recording. Why? She is the greatest singer in the world. Period. End of story.
Tricia Jones, Journalist/ Photographer, Examiner.com/AXS.com
Fuel, Natural Selection
I have a vivid memory for practically every song on the album and I can go back there any time I listen to it. The songs and meanings never change for me.
Andre Gardner, Afternoons on 102.9 WMGK/Philadelphia, Host of Breakfast With The Beatles Sunday on WMGK/Philadelphia and KSLX/Phoenix.
The Beatles, The White Album
I’ve been a Beatles maniac since 1964 when I was 3 and, since then, their music was instantly beloved to me. With each successive album, we heard monumental jumps in creativity, songwriting and use of the studio, and it all came together for me with The White Album. Yes, it’s probably the least ‘group’ album, since they were going off in so many different directions, but that’s part of the charm of that magnificent work. The variety of musical styles is staggering. I mean, Helter Skelter and Goodnight on the same album??? Simply amazing.
