Playlist for the Unpopular Music web cast for November 29, 2014

No Thanksgiving, Christmas, Black Friday, food coma, football or even Star Wars references in this show (I even regret referring to them in this sentence), just a relatively jazzy playlist after the break for the last Saturday in November.

Unpopular Music - November 29, 2014 by Unpopularfred on Mixcloud

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence because an international cartel of executives have scientifically determined what shade of green you prefer.

An article by Derek Thompson from the Atlantic  looks into the ways the major media companies use Shazam, Spotify and other digital music services to quantify the audience's preferences, and use them in the marketing, and sadly, even the production of what he calls the "dispiriting sameness in pop music".

I encourage reading it as the article confirms several suspicions of mine. But, I'll break out a few points for comment. 

Playlist for the Unpopular Music web cast November 22, 2014

Here's the playlist for the first show of the non-squeaky chair era of Unpopular Music.

Unpopular Music - November 22, 2014 by Unpopularfred on Mixcloud

Video for today

DakhaBrakha is a Ukrainian ancient-to-modern group who are playing in Cambridge on Saturday. Here's a performance from Prarie Home Companion. Almost as entertaining as the music are the not impressed audience members (?) in the background, waiting for Garrison Keillor to hilariously (?) expound on potato salad or something wild like that.

Ticket info, and a few more videos are here.

Three videos for November 16, 2014

Here are three random videos I came across this week. They're not at all connected and have their own significance, and no relationship between them is implied.

Fist we have an IBM commercial, of all things, directed by Jim Henson, of all people, with music by Raymond Scott (well, he at least is partly known for liking to use machines to generate ideas).

Playlist for the Unpopular Music web cast for November 15, 2014

Another week, another playlist and not much else I'm sorry to say,

I did enjoy Robyn Hitchcock's performance at the Armory of the Arts on Wednesday. Looking forward to Sarah Cahill's recital at MIT tomorrow and Roomful of Teeth's performance on Friday in the same series.

Unpopular Music - November 15, 2014 by Unpopularfred on Mixcloud

But enough about me, the playlist is as usual, after the break, along with a link to some classic jazz nerd arguments....

Playlist for the Unpopular Music web cast for November 8, 2014

 

Hello,

Oscar Wilde, here again to remind you that consistency is the realm of the unimaginative.

Unpopular Music - November 8, 2014 by Unpopularfred on Mixcloud

Today's example, after the break, as usual...

Top 7 for the time since I last did one of these posts

A Better Tomorrow + I Say a Little Prayer by Ground Zero

from Ground Zero Plays Standards

An epic blowout medley of the theme from a John Woo / Chow Yun-fat movie, and Roland Kirk's arrangement of the Bacharach and David number (with a quick Chopin quote for good measure). I'm not at all familiar with this group outside of this record, which is sort of a Naked City or Oranj Symphonette type idea (minus the hardcore screaming). The minute-and-a-half of record noise at the end gives you a soothing chance to wind down.

My Brightest Diamond at The Sinclair in Cambridge MA, September 22nd

Shara Worden is one of my favorite voices in pop music today and a fantastically creative all-around musician. This show did not disappoint. She was even loose and funny (my one reservation about her is that she can be kind of pretentious and theatrical and maybe a little precious in a Kate Bush kind of way). But her music grabs me in a way that Bush's does not (or not enough). All in all a great show (but, everyone, let's keep "Fever" on the shelf for a while, okay)

 Saare piiga laul merest (Island Maiden's Song from the Sea) by Lepo Sumera

as performed by Tonu Kaljuste conducting the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and the Tallin Chamber Orchestra

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for November 1, 2014

As we mark the passing from Rocktober to Bossa November

Unpopular Music - November 1, 2014 by Unpopularfred on Mixcloud

Playlist after the break...

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for October 25, 2014

More writing soon, I promise (not that anybody's really waiting for it, but for my own good)

Unpopular Music - October 25, 2014 by Unpopularfred on Mixcloud

Anyway here's today's playlist for a particularly noisy edition of Unpopular Music, after the break....

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for October 18, 2014

In which I give myself an absurd amount of non-English titles to announce.

Break out the Berlitz tapes after the break

Unpopular Music - October 18, 2014 by Unpopularfred on Mixcloud

Banzai! ...

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for October 4, 2014

 

Happy National Taco Day everyone!! I am fortunate enough to do the webcast across the street from a fine Mexican restaurant, but how will you be celebrating? Were you able to get through yesterday's cognitive dissonance of it being both the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) and National Smile Day? Did you attempt, like I did, to make your co-workers atone for celebrating National Smile Day in the first place? Were you even aware of National Smile Day? Lucky you.

Anyway, this is one of those kitchen sink kind of shows, a whole enchilada, if you will (no, no, National Taco Day), where styles shift dramatically from song to song and back again. But it's all good and I trust you, the listener, can appreciate it all.

Unpopular Music - October 11, 2014 by Unpopularfred on Mixcloud

Find today's playlist después de la ruptura.... (FYI, there is no taco related music in today's webcast)

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for September 27, 2014

Greetings blog visitors!!

Continued apologies for not having much to offer lately.

Unpopular Music - September 27, 2014 by Unpopularfred on Mixcloud

There is however this week's playlist after the break...

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for September 20, 2014

I'd always been amused since I'd first learned that John Coltrane, Ray Charles and Bruce Springsteen all have the same birthday, September 23rd. But, then I did a little digging, I found there were many other musicians, if not as significant as those above, with that same birthday. A quick scroll through IMDB, only because it's easy to look people up by their birthday there, turns up the following - Les McCann, Julio Iglesias, Jermaine Dupri, Ani Difranco,  folklorist John A. Lomax, the guy who wrote "The Sidewalks of New York" James W. Blake, sometime musical theater performers Mickey Rooney and Jason Alexander and the owner of CBGB's Hilly Kristal. There's plenty more.

We only hear from a select few of them in the program (you're welcome), and while I give no credence to astrology (you may if you like), this is kind of amusing.

Unpopular Music - September 20, 2014 by Unpopularfred on Mixcloud

Blow out the candles after the break...

Bottom 2 for September 13th, 2014

The iCloud

I hate the iCloud. Hate it, hate it, hate it.

Sure, it's nice to have the possibility of recovering lost files, but the lack of user control over it just increases the feeling that Apple can't relinquish ownership of whatever it sells to you, or let you use it in an a way in which they don't approve. Especially from the iTunes store. I've never been a fan of the iTunes store. I find it difficult to browse, and am still stung by the early days when you were stuck only being able to play it on the computer that downloaded it, or approved devices, and its unique file type that you can't edit of mess around with. There are a few songs from the DRM era that I can't play anymore because I've gone through that many computers.

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for September 13, 2014

Alas, another week where the only post is the playlist.

Unpopular Music - September 13, 2014 by Unpopularfred on Mixcloud

Here's this weeks show without the panic in the studio, after the break ...

Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for September 6, 2014

Your tomatos and potatos are after the break... (although spell check says tomatoes and potatoes)

Unpopular Music - September 6, 2014 by Unpopularfred on Mixcloud

Top 4 for September 4, 2014

Short and sweet today, little if any explanation --

Bad Mango - Dave Douglas and Sō Percussion

from album of the same name, Vol. 3 of Dave's GPS set.

Let's Call This - Thelonious Monk 

from the famous Friday the 13th, 1953  session. One of your better bebop French horn solos. I always confuse this song with "Let's Cool One". This is the trickier and less often played one.

Top 5 for September 3, 2014

She Cries Your Name by Beth Orton

The majestic opening to the Trailer Park album, the haunting voice and the eerie ominous strings, plus a nice dancy beat.

Don't Ever Let Me Know - Bobby Fuller Four

Super catchy pop song bliss. Tambourines and hand claps, six against four, catchy melodies. Nice.

No. 1 for September 2, 2014

I had toyed with the idea of doing a Labor Day themed program for last weekend, as I had done for Memorial Day and the 4th of July, but I ironically got lazy or too distracted to put together a tribute to the working man (and ladies, too). Have no fear, the wonderful DJ Therese over at WFMU put together a fine Labor Day playlist. I've only had a chance to listen to the very beginning (I'm assuming Sonic Youth's "Swimsuit Issue" is a request from Senator Gillibrand), but perusing the list, it's far better than what I would have presented (and that's why she's there and I'm here)