Through our mutual obsession with Justin Bieber/Baby, Aubrey and I got to talking and realized that besides out-classing us with their sassy accents, British people are also way, way better at appreciating a well-crafted pop song. Yeah yeah, Justin Bieber's Canadian. Whatever, that's close enough that our point still stands.
For instance, this Girls Aloud doozy that I listened to every single day a couple summers ago:
Come on, could that BE any catchier? Well, yes, but only if it were this:
Or, better yet, THIS, literally the most exuberant song I have ever heard:
(Sorry about the sad faux video here, her label has done a good job of preventing embedding. Actual video is here.) Both of those are off of Kylie's genius "X" album, which got no love in the US but was the Biggest Thing Ever pretty much everywhere else.Honestly, why does this stuff not make it across the pond? Do Americans not need aural glitter bombs just as much as the rest of the world? Are we really so jaded that we can't love Kylie? I need answers.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Music Monday: a treasure hunt
Last night I was minding my own business, watching Boyz n the Hood on Netflix: Watch Instantly when, just in time for Music Monday, I heard this and got all worked up:
OK all snobbery and posturing aside HOW EXCITING IS IT when you hear an old song and realize you know it as a sample from another song? Or on the flip side, when you hear a song and actually recognize whatever it's sampling? I'm notoriously bad at this, and actually didn't realize until my senior year in college (seriously!) that Biz Markie's Just a Friend (my favorite song ever) actually takes its hook from a different song. Yes, I'm really THAT bad at this.
Luckily for ignorant individuals like myself, YouTube recommended this gem:
The first 2 minutes are really the highlight of this, particularly his Kraftwerk moves at 1:30. Those eyes! That darkened room! The note in the "video info" explaining that he made 20 different version of this! Ok readers, we D.A.R.E. you to connect the dots on this one.
OK all snobbery and posturing aside HOW EXCITING IS IT when you hear an old song and realize you know it as a sample from another song? Or on the flip side, when you hear a song and actually recognize whatever it's sampling? I'm notoriously bad at this, and actually didn't realize until my senior year in college (seriously!) that Biz Markie's Just a Friend (my favorite song ever) actually takes its hook from a different song. Yes, I'm really THAT bad at this.
Luckily for ignorant individuals like myself, YouTube recommended this gem:
The first 2 minutes are really the highlight of this, particularly his Kraftwerk moves at 1:30. Those eyes! That darkened room! The note in the "video info" explaining that he made 20 different version of this! Ok readers, we D.A.R.E. you to connect the dots on this one.
Music Monday: A Post About Coasts
In the realm of *~~*mUSic * blOggING*~~* it's maybe a little late to be writing about Best Coast. First of all, Mack to the Future is not a music blog but a life blog. More importantly, we take our motto from the Outback Steakhouse, where there are NO RULES, JUST RIGHT. Any place that created the Bloomin' Onion is a safe source of life philosophy.
With that explained, it's time to talk about my current obsession with Best Coast, aka Bethany Cosentino and co. Some preliminary viewing/listening:
There are so many things to love here:
1) This band has a cool back-story that I also happen to identify with completely: a year or two ago BC moved to New York, had the biggest bummer of a time ever, and self-medicated with a steady diet of sunshine & summertime west coast music. She then moved back to LA and started making these fuzzy summer jams which she describes as "stoned love letters to imaginary boyfriends." TOTAL FRIEND CRUSH.
2) She has an amazing blog that reveals her to be delightful and a total cat lady...
3) as does her even better Twitter account.
4) They covered one of my all-time favorite Lesley Gore songs, That's The Way Boys Are.
5) Listening to this music brought me back to the Best of the Girl Groups album that was a staple of my childhood, which in turn brought me back to this early feminist anthem:
It's like she took the words right out of my mouth. And the kazoo.
With that explained, it's time to talk about my current obsession with Best Coast, aka Bethany Cosentino and co. Some preliminary viewing/listening:
There are so many things to love here:
1) This band has a cool back-story that I also happen to identify with completely: a year or two ago BC moved to New York, had the biggest bummer of a time ever, and self-medicated with a steady diet of sunshine & summertime west coast music. She then moved back to LA and started making these fuzzy summer jams which she describes as "stoned love letters to imaginary boyfriends." TOTAL FRIEND CRUSH.
2) She has an amazing blog that reveals her to be delightful and a total cat lady...
3) as does her even better Twitter account.
4) They covered one of my all-time favorite Lesley Gore songs, That's The Way Boys Are.
5) Listening to this music brought me back to the Best of the Girl Groups album that was a staple of my childhood, which in turn brought me back to this early feminist anthem:
It's like she took the words right out of my mouth. And the kazoo.
The first cut is the deepest...
Speaking of Justin Bieber, please watch this INCREDIBLE video below of a small child FREAKING OUT about her one true love Justin (Justine?). Love stinks, right?
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Baby baby baby.
Justin Bieber, guy-I-would-have-crushed-on-in-high-school/ brown-haired Ellen impersonator, has a new song... with Ludacris! You know, Ludacris, the politically active rapper with a promising film/SVU guest spot career. I know it seems crazy but we're in a RECESSION guys, everybody's working for the money I guess.
All sarcasm aside, I really enjoy Justin Bieber (he has a SWAGGER COACH) and I'm liking this video too. I mean it takes place in a bowling alley and involves a girls vs. boys dance-off! This is the stuff of my teenage dreams.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Music Monday DO-OVER
Well we both missed Music Monday but IN OUR DEFENSE how can you pay attention to a thing like deadlines on a Monday holiday where you're either snowed-in (Virginia) or out at the beach (Aubrey)?
The warm weather in Los Angeles this weekend (the picture above is from my roommate's camera taken in Malibu on Monday, NOT a stock shot) made it really feel like summer has finally returned to unseasonably cold LA. And that, as always, has got me thinking about the Summer Jam, the most exquisite of all music sub-genres, which in turn got me thinking about the 80s Summer Jam, specifically suited to the beach party mentality. This is not your mid-90s hipster New York rooftop on a sweltering night summer jam, this is the volleyball on the beach turns to nighttime bonfire summer jam. And what better way to celebrate than with a band who manages in 2010 to produce music that I can imagine I'm hearing for the first time in 1985?
(Kiss in Cities also gets extra credit for whatever the hell is happening in this video, especially the dance at 2:05)
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Music Thursday?
OK I super dropped the ball on this one by not posting it as part of our brand-new tradition of Music Mondays. I'm ashamed of this not only because I have no real excuse for not making the effort, but also (more so) because for the last three days all of you readers have been denied the magic of Ms. Nicki Minaj's take on Queen Lennox (of my angsty girl-powered 90s) in this fly rap tune.
I love this song because it's a throwback to the glory years of my rap obsession, when I used to blast Puff Daddy and the Family's "No Way Out" every night on my discman (TRUE STORY). It involves some of my VERY FAVORITE ELEMENTS of rap music:
*hook ripped from a decade-plus-old song
*snaps
*autotuning. Also, how often do you hear female singers autotuned? After this song the answer will hopefully be "ALL THE TIME"
*abundance of pop culture references (please see: "I'ma die hard like Bruce Willis")
*specific references to summer jams which are nicely complemented by...
*sparkle noises
*any involvement by anyone who has at any time worked with my girl Mariah
Hello PERFECTION!
(this post thanks to kickinthepeanuts, where you can download the song for yourself!)
I love this song because it's a throwback to the glory years of my rap obsession, when I used to blast Puff Daddy and the Family's "No Way Out" every night on my discman (TRUE STORY). It involves some of my VERY FAVORITE ELEMENTS of rap music:
*hook ripped from a decade-plus-old song
*snaps
*autotuning. Also, how often do you hear female singers autotuned? After this song the answer will hopefully be "ALL THE TIME"
*abundance of pop culture references (please see: "I'ma die hard like Bruce Willis")
*specific references to summer jams which are nicely complemented by...
*sparkle noises
*any involvement by anyone who has at any time worked with my girl Mariah
Hello PERFECTION!
(this post thanks to kickinthepeanuts, where you can download the song for yourself!)
Monday, February 8, 2010
Music Monday: this is only the beginning
Like a pair of hobos with nothing to our names but knapsacks, harmonicas, and a single can of beans, Mack to the Future is hopping on the Music Monday bandwagon. As further proof that the 90s shouldn't have ended, here's Wiley's (ft. Emeli Sande) take on White Town's always-classic I Could Never Be Your Woman.
(via The Fader)
(via The Fader)
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
meet your new best friend
You know, not to get too philosophical, but I like to think that part of being a true mack is having the courage to admit your weak points and welcome the opportunity for growth and enlightenment. Being a mack is a kind of ongoing spirit quest. With this in mind, I was out and about yesterday when I heard a life-changing song that inspired me to go home and, like the smooth operator that I am, put "Stayin' Alive sample hip hop song" into Google.
In retrospect the song was probably this, which I'm pretty disturbed I had never heard before. But, as luck would have it, the first thing that came up in my search was this:
Once again, HOW is it possible that I made it this far in life without getting to know N-Trance? They have so, so many things going for them: a name that's a pun, a string of questionable 70s and 80s covers (see also Paradise City and Do Ya Think I'm Sexy) and a flow that harkens back to the countless hours I once logged in front of Parappa the Rapper.
In spite of their impeccable choice of cover material, though, N-Trance are at their best with their originals. Prepare to be N-Tranced:
In retrospect the song was probably this, which I'm pretty disturbed I had never heard before. But, as luck would have it, the first thing that came up in my search was this:
Once again, HOW is it possible that I made it this far in life without getting to know N-Trance? They have so, so many things going for them: a name that's a pun, a string of questionable 70s and 80s covers (see also Paradise City and Do Ya Think I'm Sexy) and a flow that harkens back to the countless hours I once logged in front of Parappa the Rapper.
In spite of their impeccable choice of cover material, though, N-Trance are at their best with their originals. Prepare to be N-Tranced:
Monday, February 1, 2010
And so it continues...
*google image search for "Miley Fan Art,"
*google chrome's incognito window, which allows one to google image search for "Miley Fan Art" at work...
ANYWAY something you should probably learn to expect on this blog is a neverending stream of posts somehow related to "Party in the USA." No scorn please! Not only is the song itself so damn catchy, people keep doing amazing things with it! Soon I may be able to completely forget that it's brought to us by the creative genius behind the quote "pink isn't just a color, it's an attitude!" and "am I right-handed? Am I left-handed? ... Am I neither?"
ANYWAY something you should probably learn to expect on this blog is a neverending stream of posts somehow related to "Party in the USA." No scorn please! Not only is the song itself so damn catchy, people keep doing amazing things with it! Soon I may be able to completely forget that it's brought to us by the creative genius behind the quote "pink isn't just a color, it's an attitude!" and "am I right-handed? Am I left-handed? ... Am I neither?"
Latest in the long list of delights is a remix of "Party in the USA" by Boston electo-synth band Yes Giantess, which manages to combine the sound of BODY LANGUAGE (aka OUR electro-synth band) with the directionally incorrect lyrics (Miley, please, if you're coming from LAX the Hollywood sign is on your left...) of Miley's greatest hit.
Feel the magic:
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