After hearing the story of Mingering Mike earlier this week, I've been thinking a lot about fictional bands. When Guided By Voices released their first rarities boxset, Suitcase: Failed Experiments and Trashed Aircraft, they created pseudonymous band names for different phases of the band's career. Here is the Antler version of "Buzzards and Dreadful Crows".
As a bonus, I've included a demo collage from 1992's Propellor that starts with this "Buzzards".
More on fictional bands to follow.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Sample Maps
Blogger/author/musician Ethan Hein has created some sample maps, graphically illustrating the paths of artists and the music they create or sample. Here is one he made for the music of Beyonce, by which I learned of this Betty Wright sample on "Upgrade U".
Many other sample maps can be found on Ethan's Flickr page here. Including a map of all the sample RZA uses on the GZA album "Liquid Swords"—I never would've heard the Frank Zappa in there without this.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Bar-rels
Jay-Z has history of using other rappers lyrics, especially Notorious B.I.G., in his own rhymes, leading to accusations of theft, Nas using it against him during their feud on the song Ether. Jay-Z defends himself on "What More Can I Say". He claims when he uses one of Biggie's lyrics he is only honoring his fellow Brooklynite, rapping "I'm not a biter/ I'm a writer/ For myself and others/ I say a B.I.G. verse I'm only biggin' up my brother". The line that follows is one of B.I.G.'s from the song "Rap Phenomenon". "What More Can I Say" also uses the same MFSB sample as "Keep Your Hands High", by Tracey Lee and Biggie.
The B.I.G lyric Jay-Z borrows is "The rings and things you sing about, bring 'em out. It's hard to yell when the bar-rel's in your mouth." A few years later, that lifted lyric was sampled as the chorus for T.I.'s hit "Bring 'Em Out", no obvious reference made to Biggie's original line.
The B.I.G lyric Jay-Z borrows is "The rings and things you sing about, bring 'em out. It's hard to yell when the bar-rel's in your mouth." A few years later, that lifted lyric was sampled as the chorus for T.I.'s hit "Bring 'Em Out", no obvious reference made to Biggie's original line.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
American Idiots
Green Day's American Idiot opens on Broadway tonight. Here's the before and after of a musical makeover.
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