auditory nuggetry

clairedallas:

still digging this. i thought i’d get sick of it but it hasnt happened yet… he’s a friend of a chick i went to high school with.

so many good rhymes!

“i hate y’all like little dick hate big vaginas.”

he also shouts out “nice legs and soccer shorts,” which as a former soccer player I can get down with :)

(Source: blairdow)

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.- Simple Girl

I was flipping channels the other night, and got sucked in to their performance on Conan. I had seen their name around the internet but had never actually listened to anything by them. Their harmonies are amazing, and have a sort of Simon and Garfunkel vibe. Like maybe if they were born 40 years later they would have written this song.

The lyrics are excellent too, poignant, and just vague enough that it could be about anyone, but specific enough that at the same time you know it was written about a certain simple girl.

This song also led me on an excellent internet wormhole, from Simon and Garfunkel’s Wikipedia to a Youtube video of Local Natives covering Cecilia, to Paul Simon and JImmy Fallon performing Cecilia on Late Night with the cast of Stomp! (Both of those links will open in a new window)

And you guys, I just realized how crazy short Paul Simon is. Like 5’3. Apparently he’s pretty sensitive about it.

Penguin Prison- Don’t Fuck With My Money

I first heard this song maybe 6 months ago (thanks Dee) and I’m still surprised it hasn’t blown up yet. Maybe my love for funky fresh disco beats has blinded me to the taste of everyone else. But how can you NOT play this nine times in a row and still say, “AGAIN!”

Glittery disco synth sounds! God I can’t get enough. Throw in some Prince-esque vocals and you have a perfectly written pop song. Yah, I went there. Just try not to get this one stuck in your head.

Unfortunately this song seems to be the best on their album by a long shot. Full disclosure, I haven’t gotten through the whole thing yet, a full report back when I have.

The video was filmed at OWS, which I still am not sure if I am ok with, but that’s an issue for another forum. (appropriation! commodification! etc!) BUT I do think it does a good job of capturing the scope of the movement. Even though it does romanticize it a bit, which hurts more than it helps. Allrite, I said I wasn’t going to get into it, so I’ll leave it here.

Kendrick Lamar- Blow My High

First off- this song is pure sampled heaven. It opens with a slowed down (chopped and screwed?) section of Pimp C’s verse from Big Pimpin’.  The beat is a rework of 4 Page Letter by Aaliyah, and a short vocal section from her closes out the song. This pleases me. Samples are like puzzles to be solved. I also discovered whosampled.com  while I was writing this, which is basically a user-driven database documenting who is sampling what! (I joined immediately and I can’t believe I didn’t know it existed until now.)

Anyways, what Kenny L is trying to do is make a tribute song without blowing everyone’s goddamn high and getting them all emo n’ shit! (We miss you Pimp C, Aaliyah and Left-Eye.) While Kendrick idolizes Pac, I think we can all agree that he wasn’t the most light-hearted rapper. Sometimes you just gotta celebrate! The stuttering G-funk style “RIP Aaliyah” bridge at the end of each verse gets his point across, keeps the mood light, and at the same time makes it clear that he couldn’t be from anywhere but Los Angeles.

I’ll let you know how his set at Coachella is, and FYI dudes, his entire album, Section.80 is worth multiple listens!

Pink Floyd- Great Gig in the Sky

I was on one of my latenightcantsleep Thought Catalog binges last night, and one of the writers thought it would be cool to talk about how he “doesn’t get” Pink Floyd.

I wanna say, “That’s fine. Everyone has different taste in music. There are bands everyone else loves that I claim to not get.” (Radiohead) But even if you don’t put on Dark Side of the Moon late at night, smoking a cigarette out your window because you can’t sleep due to some undefined angst and your bed is so cozy but mostly you’re too lazy to go outside, you have to appreciate the artistry. The jazzy, virtuosic bass, guitar, and vocals? Not to mention the frickin’ AURAL ENVIRONMENT created on this album. He chalked it up to not being a stoner, but I’m not buying that excuse. (Although as an aficionado of the green, I can only speak for my kind I suppose.)

Anyways, I figure this is as fitting a song as any to start off this foray into music blogging. It can only get worse from here!

Random fact about this song: the female vocals were recorded in three takes by a 22 year old woman named Clare Torry. The band gave her very little direction other than to just sing something that sounded good. Raw talent like that just baffles me.