If you’ve ever wondered what your favorite literary characters might be listening to while they save the world/contemplate existence/get into trouble, or hallucinated a soundtrack to go along with your favorite novels, well, us too. But wonder no more! Here, we sneak a look at the hypothetical iPods of some of literature’s most interesting characters. What would be on the personal playlists of Holden Caulfield or Elizabeth Bennett, Huck Finn or Harry Potter, Tintin or Humbert Humbert? Something revealing, we bet. Or at least something danceable. Read on for a cozy reading soundtrack, character study, or yet another way to emulate your favorite literary hero. This week: Rudyard Kipling’s famous feral child, Mowgli. Read More »
We’re not generally surprised by anything that happens in the world of music these days, but even so, we were somewhat taken aback by the news that Wu-Tang Clan are apparently replacing the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard with his son (who’s named, inevitably, Young Dirty Bastard). The whole thing got us thinking about the many varied and often strange family dynamics that have existed in music over the years, and about how some of our favorite bands are based around fraternal, sororal and other blood-based relationships. There’s the obvious ones –- The Kinks, The Carpenters, The Jackson Five, The Beach Boys, Oasis, Tegan and Sara, etc etc. But there are plenty of others, and so for this feature, we’ve chosen ten of our favorite more contemporary musical blood relationships. Let us know who we’ve missed.
What is it about the air of mystery that can turn a good song into a great song? This question popped into our heads recently when we heard that Burial, the Banksy of UK bass music, will be dropping a new single any minute now. The former poster boy for modern musical anonymity (we now know that Burial is really William Bevan) actually inherited the crown from The Knife, the Swedish electronic brother/sister duo of Karin and Olof Dreijer who originally wore masks constantly and avoided live performance or press at all costs. That’s also changed in recent years, with Karin’s Fever Ray projects becoming one of the hottest live tickets and Olof engaging in a not-so-secret stripped-techno side project as Oni Ayhun. There’s obviously a long and storied history to musical anonymity, but in the current age of information overload, we as music consumers are so used to having access to a full personal profile of any public figure that a little mystery behind the music can be refreshing. We examine five who, to varying degrees, are keeping the “sound first, face later” trend alive and well in 2011 after the jump.
Turkey day grows near, and we have a brand-new buffet of sounds to accompany you on your merry way to tryptophan-ville. Glut yourself on music with hot, fresh tracks from old favorites like Tyvek, Mogwai, and Destroyer as well as a sprinkling of remixed cuts and a few offerings from some rising stars. Enjoy your holiday, stuff your ears full of new music, and don’t forget to right click and save as to download those songs (or make your way to the bottom of the page for the whole hog).
When you’re Ke$ha and competing with the likes of Lady Gaga, perhaps you feel like masquerading around Soho wearing a tiger-head mask is the way to go. Because here’s the thing: While for normal people masks serve as a disguise, when you’re already famous, they only get you noticed more. Click through for a roundup of musicians who have embraced the masked look, and in certain cases, prepare yourself to be a little frightened.
IKEA, meatballs, superior pop music and black metal, socialized healthcare, Pippi Longstocking, aquavit, Ingmar Bergman. These are the reasons we already loved Sweden. Today, we have a new one. In the video after the jump, you will see a strapping Nordic policeman shaking his tush to The Knife’s “Girls’ Night Out,” on the street in broad daylight. We don’t know where this came from or why or what the back story is, but we know it is wonderful.
On June 15, Robyn will release her latest album, Body Talk Pt 1. The first single, “Dancing On My Own,”follows the Swedish singer’s tradition of layering simple chord progressions under an infectious melody, like in her two previous big hits, “Show Me Love” and “With Every Heartbeat.”
To commemorate the album’s launch, we’ve assembled a chronology of Swedish pop music that has pleased ears around the globe for decades. Sweden is, after all, the world’s third largest exporter of music, just behind the US and the UK. It’s brought us one-hit wonders Eagle-Eye Cherry (“Save Tonight”) and Rednex (“Cotton Eye Joe”). Plus, if you listen to Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, N’ Sync, Katy Perry, Pink, Kelly Clarkson, Adam Lambert, Ke$ha or any other similar-sounding acts, there’s a good chance the music you are listening to was co-written by pop mastermind Max Martin. He’s Swedish, too. Our video history of Swedish pop (including more surprises) is after the jump.
Earlier this month, we appealed to those of you who scored better on the verbal portion of the SAT with our mixtape for English majors and other word nerds. Now it’s time to see how the other half lives. We’ve compiled a slew of songs for those of you who maybe spent a little too much time in the chem lab, who cheered for Weird Science‘s Anthony Michael Hall as if he were one of your own, and who still might have a poster of the periodic table on your bedroom walls. Dearly beloved lab rats and Bunsen enthusiasts, we give you ten songs that lift science up where it belongs.
Pop music and classical music are supposed to be different worlds. Yet, in the last few years, the two have begun bleeding together again. On “Colouring of Pigeons,” from Swedish pop duo the Knife’s just-released album Tomorrow, In a Year, one can hear echoes of both Varèse’s Ionisation and Guillaume Dufay floating among metallic passages reminiscent of Björk. The album itself is the score to an opera about Charles Darwin, made in collaboration with avant-garde Berliner Mt. Sims and the British multimedia artist Planningtorock. It merges the artiness of musique concrète and minimalism with the grit of house music.
Since that’s far from the only high-brow stuff whizzing around overhead, we thought we’d give you a look at five composers whose works influence some of the indie pop you know and love. Listen to their music, and the work they’ve inspired, after the jump.
We’ve all been through it. Whether you’re the dumper or the dumpee, breaking up sucks — especially this time of year. After your friends have all gone home and that bottle of bourbon is definitely empty, at least music is there to ease your aching heart. Since we have officially exited the aughts, we figured we’d save you the trouble and compile a list of the top ten break-up songs from the past decade. So, without further ado, a five stages of grief-inspired mix, just in time for Valentine’s Day. Please use in moderation.
. The first single, “
, one can hear echoes of both Varèse’s 
