Jun 19 2013
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seeking other (similar) songs with this same chord progression. any suggestions?
(Source: Spotify)
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Jun 18 2013
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Review: Kanye West - Yeezus
Out of curiosity, could you provide an example of a song with auto-tune that you don’t consider “cheaply applied”? Because, to my ears, there’s nobody making music who uses auto-tune in a more artful and interesting way than Yeezy (see, for example, the extended outro to “Runaway,” which is basically the closest thing top 40 has to “I Am Sitting in a Room”).
There seems to be a knee-jerk reaction, especially among rock critics and anyone over the age of 40, to outright dismiss anything with auto-tuned vocals, which I think is short-sighted. For some reason, I doubt that one of the hardest working producers in the industry - under the watchful eye of Rick Rubin, who is arguably the most important and successful record producer of the last three decades, if not of all time - went for a quick-fix easy way out; especially when he could have easily used a different plug-in with less noticeable digital artifacts, or hired a vocal coach, or just brought John Legend in to sing for him again.
Maybe, instead of dismissing it, try unpacking what they might have been trying to communicate with the auto-tuned vocals. Technology subsuming humanity? Artificial and grotesque whitewashing of physical imperfections? Sexy robots? Furthermore, what do you make of that part on “Dark Fantasy” where he flubs the note on “and then they make noi-oi-oi-oi-oise” and chooses NOT to auto-tune it? That always struck me as an interesting decision on an album where every second was so painstakingly refined, don’t you think?
I’ll totally cop to the fact that some of the lyrics on this record are pretty fucking stupid. I’m a pretty hardcore Kanye Apologist, and I think he’s playing with some interesting ideas - consumerism, celebrity culture, sexuality as it relates to race, racism as it relates to class, his own complicity in all of these things, etc. - but even when viewed through that lens, the misogyny makes my skin crawl, and I’d be meeting him more than halfway to call this “protest music” in any particularly meaningful sense of the term. That said, I also believe in calling it like it is, rather than taking easy shots at low-hanging fruit.
It’s entirely possible that you just don’t like auto-tune, which, I mean, fair enough. There are probably people out there who don’t like reverb and will outright dismiss any piece of music that uses it as lazy (Steve Albini maybe?). Just don’t get personal preference twisted with critical objectivity.
Also, it’s “808s and Heartbreak.” Not “808s and Heartbreaks.” C’mon dude.
Jun 17 2013
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Lawsuit of the Day: Filmmakers Say “Happy Birthday” is in Public Domain, Sues Warner for Collecting Royalties
For more than two decades, filmmakers and video producers have paid Warner/Chappell Music licensing fees to use the “Happy Birthday” song. And for many years, the American music publishing company has claimed that the intellectual property rights to the song will remain privately owned until 2030—but maybe not for long. The filmmakers behind an upcoming documentary, tentatively titled “Happy Birthday,” has filed a lawsuit against Warner/Chappell with a huge body of evidence supporting that the the song has actually been in the public domain since the 1920s. If ruled in their favor, the music may have to return the hundreds of millions they’ve improperly charged in licensing fees since.
American copyright laws are hilarious.
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If you’re in your 20s and unsatisfied, unmotivated with what you’re doing, watch this.
How have I never seen this before? This is essential.
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Jun 12 2013
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“Someone once said that freedom isn’t free. It may have been Ronald Reagan, or a cowboy from a film whose title I’ve long forgotten, or maybe it was Reagan playing a cowboy in one of his numerous shitty movies. I don’t know. ANYWAY. Let’s get down to business:
NSA BANGERS is an audio landscape full of paranoia, espionage, epic snooping, unhealthy obsession, and the stress of being a contemporary type human being. Basically, NSA BANGERS is the soundtrack of Freedom! And Freedom is expensive y’all! Apparently, it like, costs your Freedom!” - Hennessy Youngman does it again.
Jun 10 2013
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headed off to ish lab in DUMBO to sing my little heart out and at the end of the night i’ll be one step closer to getting this fucking album finished. wish me luck!
Jun 08 2013
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Existential cat.
Jun 06 2013
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this was my first attempt to make vegan poutine, i used mushroom gravy and chunks of some kind of fake cheese called “soy loaf” or something like that which is supposed to resemble mozzarella
the gravy and cheese were passable but i messed the fries up, many were undercooked, claire says i needed to either cut smaller fries or boil them for a bit before attempting to fry them in a pan
i actually did have good vegan poutine once at a chilean restaurant in montreal once, it had lettuce and stuff in it i think so it was maybe more of a salad than a poutine but overall the experience of eating it was pleasant and i’m encouraged that one day i will in fact be able to properly prepare a delicious iteration of my country’s most treasured national cuisine without straying too far away from my current regular diet
pro-tip: daiya is the only (mass-produced) vegan cheese worth fucking with ever for any reason full stop end of discussion. their havarti is better than 99% of the dairy cheese i ever had back when i ate dairy cheese.
