This Week

Basically this week I have been listening to nothing in particular, just a ton of songs on shuffle. On Spotify I found a playlist called "Hot Alternative" that was by Spotify itself, and has artists like Cage the Elephant (who I love), CHVRCHES, Grouplove, Portugal. The Man, Thao & The Get Down Stay Downs (who we talked about in class!!), Wavves, Jake Bugg, Atoms for Peace, Bastille, etc. I am really excited to listen to this playlist, which sounds weird because I'm listening to it right now, but I love becoming familiar with playlists and discovering which songs are my favorites. This is a really great playlist and if you have a Spotify (and if you don't, get one), then you should follow it. So far I really like everything on this playlist, especially
"Purple Yellow Red and Blue" by Portugal. the Man (which I think we watched in class a couple weeks ago?),
"Recover" by CHVRCHES
"Fall In Love" by Phantogram
"Black Sheep" by Gin Wingmore

Abbey Road

I really enjoyed listening to Abbey Road last class. The songs before the 14 minute melody were all extremely good; I knew pretty much all of the first half of the album already, and I didn't even know it. But regardless it was one of the best albums so far, in addition to Revolver and the made-up combination album of Sgt. Pepper's and Magical Mystery Tour. The beginning of the second half of Abbey Road was really cool, and I liked how it turned into a "super song" essentially. I noticed in one of the songs (Mean Mr. Mustard) they referenced "Pam" and then in the next song it centered around Pam (I think it was called "Polythene Pam") which was really interesting. The medley was a little long for me, so I kind of lost focus at the end. However the very fact that they were able to compose a 14 minute song that all flowed together and retained a melody throughout is super impressive. Overall, it was a great album. And now I am inspired to look up the history of the ever so famous album cover....

So apparently the photographer only had 10 minutes to take the picture while policemen stopped traffic. There was a Volkswagen Beetle car parked in the picture, belonging to someone who lived in the flats nearby, and after the album was released, the license plate (LMW 281F) was stolen repeatedly. It's hilarious. The car was sold for a ton of money and is now in a German museum. The bystander in the picture was an American tourist who didn't even know he was in the photo until after the album was released. There is a webcam pointed straight at the Abbey Road crossing, apparently, and I want to see if it actually works...

UPDATE: IT'S REAL. http://www.abbeyroad.com/crossing 

Covers

Yesterday on YouTube I spent about 20 minutes downloading different covers onto my phone. I found BBC Radio Live Lounge channel and discovered tons of different artists of today covering popular songs out now. My favorites are when they adapt the song into a completely different tempo and feeling. Bastille covered Miley Cyrus' song "We Can't Stop" and it sounds like another song entirely (I didn't like the song to begin with-- only Bastille's version). The Arctic Monkey's cover Drake, The 1975 covers One Direction (their adaptation is super unique), HAIM covers Miley Cyrus, the Kings of Leon cover Robyn, and so much more. This is the most exciting thing that has happened to me all week so here are some of many:

The Arctic Monkeys -- "Hold On, We're Going Home"

Queens of the Stone Age -- "Blurred Lines"

The 1975 -- "What Makes You Beautiful"

Led Zeppelin

Before we listened to Zed I in class, I had a very vague idea of what Led Zeppelin really sounded like. I assume hard rock. Overall, they were very rock oriented with some softer songs that I did not expect. The drumming of John Bonham and guitar skills of Jimmy Page were obviously exploited throughout the album. To be honest, I could have done without the lengthy solos that never seemed to end. Short ones are exciting and entertaining, but I simply cannot commit that much to a single improv-session. I am interested to hear more about their history in general (not just musically but socioculturally), and will probably research that in a few minutes........

Also, I thought Jimmy Page looked like a 19th century composer in the video we watched about Page, White, and The Edge. He had the hair and the frilly sleeves. It was meant to be.