The Current Music Blog: January 28, 2008 Archive

The Stream 01/28/08

Posted at 8:53 AM on January 28, 2008 by Barb Abney

Rolling Stone talks with Radiohead about their influences.

Looking for a love song for your sweetheart in time for Valentine's Day?

Shortlist finalists have been anounced.

Morrissey lost his voice this weekend and had to postpone a couple of UK gigs.

Today In Music History:
1941 - King Tubby (reggae producer) was born.
1945 - Robert Wyatt (Soft Machine) was born.
1968 - DJ Muggs (Cypress Hill) and Sarah McLachlan were born.
1985 - "We Are The World" featuring Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Tina Turner, Bruce Springsteen, Diana Ross, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Cyndi Lauper, Bob Geldof and more was recorded in Hollywood.
1988 - The Sex Pistols album Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols went Gold in the US.
1995 - TLC's "Creep" was #1.

Live Blogging 01/28/08

Posted at 9:49 AM on January 28, 2008 by Barb Abney (1 Comments)

11:20 a.m. Nada Surf
Lucky will be released next week.
You can stream Lucky online now.
They're playing First Avenue on April 3rd.
More...

11:15 a.m. Ben Folds
The Ben Folds Experience Cruise has been cancelled.
More...

10:50 a.m. DJ Shadow
The Hard Sell the new collaboration with Cut Chemist, is available now.
They're playing First Avenue Next Monday.
More...

10:20 a.m. Sons and Daughters
This Gift will be in stores tomorrow.
They'll be playing The Varsity Theater on March 29th.
More...

10:15 a.m. Chuck Prophet
He worked on the soundtrack for 2007 Sundance Film Festival hit Teeth
"Freckle Song" was featured in 27 Dresses.

Song Of The Day Info - The Shackeltons
Today on our Song Of The Day Podcast we're featuring The Shackeltons with the tune "The Breaks."
It's from their self-titled album which will be released tomorrow.
More info here and/or here.

9:55 a.m. Local Music - Atmosphere
Today is your last chance to get your questions in to "Dr. Slug".
Slug will also be appearing at one of our upcoming Fakebook performances.
More...

9:45 a.m. Hot Hot Heat
They're playing at Fine Line Music Cafe with The Editors and Louis XIV Wednesday night.
Here's their in-studio from last year.
More...

9:20 a.m. Yoav
Learn more about this artist here and/or here.

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"My 3 Songs" for Monday

Posted at 2:28 PM on January 28, 2008 by Steve Seel

Maria Marshall of Mpls says simply, "I love a good cover; here are three that I've been especially enjoying lately."

1) Dr. Dog, "Heart It Races"
2) Daniel Smith and Sufjan Stevens, "Worried Shoes"
3) Cat Power, "Sea of Love"

Movie Music Madness

Posted at 5:40 PM on January 28, 2008 by Mark Wheat (18 Comments)

Sundance is everywhere. Oscar buzz is everywhere. Kimya Dawson's name is everywhere?!

How did that happen?! It's all because of one word. Juno. OK, two words. Juno soundtrack. Let's talk about it. Let's talk soundtracks. These days soundtracks are responsible for pushing indie acts like Kimya Dawson into the spotlight. The Garden State soundtrack did it for The Shins and Iron & Wine. Did a soundtrack change your life?

Jill Riley suggested this topic of discussion last week, so I asked her to share her faves;

" I'm not looking to them to introduce me to new music, at least I wasn't. My favorite soundtrack is from my favorite movie, American Graffiti. Would would that film be like without the music? The music serves the movie in such an important way. It launches the viewer straight into 1962. What's even more rad, is the music is essentially being DJed by Wolfman Jack the entire time. My dad, apart of the baby boomer era, experiences this movie in a nostalgic way and I experience it in a history lesson sort of way. I'm exploring the feelings from an an era I wasn't apart of. Same can be said for Forrest Gump. Along with the storyline, it's just a rollercoaster ride through a number of eras and songs that take you on a journey through time. It doesn't matter if you hate Forrest Gump or not, the soundtrack does so much for the timeline. You can't deny that. Barry from High Fidelity would surely hang me for this, but I love The Bill Chill. My name is Jill Riley and I love The Big Chill. Who knows, maybe someday my offspring will watch me ooze with music nostalgia when we watch Clueless together.

I can't talk about soundtracks without mentioning Quentin Tarantino. The man is a genius when it comes to crafting a soundtrack. Sure, Dick Dale's "Misirlou" gained tons of popularity after Pulp Fiction, but I don't believe that was his intention. Kill Bill put Shivaree into the spotlight, but in all reality his soundtracks are as genius as his writing. They aid the movie, they invoke a feeling. That's it! I want a soundtrack to stir some kind of emotion while I take in the picture and the dialogue."

They are great examples of the art of well chosen tunes Jill, and partly because of those examples soundtracks have become a big business and they have expanded to included "music that inspired the movie"?!?! That feels like Hollywood falling back on the cache of the music to bolster a film that doesn't use the tunes. "Shawn of the Dead" actually had a great scene that referred to music, as the characters threw albums at the zombies! But recently the same film makers made "Hot Fuzz" and left me disappointed because there was not more of the music from the soundtrack in the film! Quite honestly I'm afraid to go see "Juno " for the same reason. Music should not be on the soundtrack if it is not in the movie.

Some of my faves are "Run Lola Run", "pi", "Natural Born Killers"and "Out of Sight". I'm a sucker for little bits of dialogue from the movie in the music cd too, which these all have.

So what are your faves and should they be called soundtracks if the music is not in the movie?!

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