Category Archives: music

music: relationship advice or Cocteau Twins?

Quick quiz: who wrote “Intimacy is when we’re in the same place at the same time. Dealing honestly with how we feel, and who we really are. That’s what grown-ups do; that is mature thinking” ? A: noted relationship philosopher … Continue reading

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music: Billie Eilish = Nina Persson of The Cardigans

On a lot of songs (“myboy,” “idontwannabeyouanymore,” etc.) Billie Eilish sounds like Nina Persson of The Cardigans! “everything i wanted” is “Sick & Tired,” while the vaguely “up” songs are channeling “Celia Inside” and other gems from The Cardigans’ “Life” … Continue reading

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music: questions for Cory Wong

I paid for a VIP pass to Corey Wong’s upcoming show so I could spend more time with such a great musician. Part of it includes a master class, but I hope I can just ask him questions, including: What’s … Continue reading

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music to which it’s easy to make hand gestures

Jia Tolentino writes in The New Yorker about TikTok, an app/platform on which people record themselves goofing around to music. ‘A twenty-six-year-old Australian producer … told me that he was now concentrating on lyrics that you could act out with … Continue reading

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Hamilton musical beyond outstanding

Before seeing “Hamilton” I listened to its soundtrack while reading through most of its lyrics and some of the excellent annotations on the Genius site, stopping before I learned too many of the reveals in Act 2. So I knew … Continue reading

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music: more Bob Dylan Theme Time Radio Hour classics

A friend urged me to listen to this show, preserved on a Web site. Open an episode in Chrome, Play in Popup, send to Chromecast Audio, and enjoy Bob nattering away on interesting collections of songs. I Shazam all the … Continue reading

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music: Cory Wong, rhythm guitar ace

YouTube recommended Vulfpeck to me, mid-West funky players with a killer bassist Joe Dart, but a bit too whitey-tighty. They occasionally play with rhythm guitarist Cory Wong, who is just great. The love child of Nile Rodgers, Prince, John Mayer, … Continue reading

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music: PBS Soundbreaking embarrassingly wrong

I should like the Soundbreaking documentary series more than I did. A bunch of musicians talking about recorded music, sign me up! But it’s a crazily scattershot as struggles to edit brief comments by musicians and pretentious journalists into a … Continue reading

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music/web: need a precise neutral way to refer to songs

“Introducing NPR Music Playlists: From the songs played between news stories on-air to the most essential releases out every Friday, we’re committing a series of playlists on Spotify and Apple Music, updated every weekday.” This is no use if you … Continue reading

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music: Lil Nas X and pop today

Meaghan Garvey wrote an insightful funny review of Lil Nas X for NPR that’s also about the state of pop music, and funny to boot! “the exquisite schadenfreude of the biggest pop stars on the planet, including Drake and Taylor … Continue reading

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