Daily Archives: 13 July 2011

Music, Views

The Art of the Mash-Up: Those Funny Little People and Songs About Rain

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Take a really cool puppet act, add in NBC-level production values, sprinkle on a genius combination of “Singin’ in the Rain”/”It’s Raining Men,” and you get yourself one grade-A mash-up. The transition is done through visual gags, but the recorded mix sure helps tie it all together.

Eat your heart out, Glee. This is how you connect two very different songs into an outrageous segment of musical television. I sure hope Those Funny Little People move on to the semi-finals of America’s Got Talent so we get to see more of their excellent use of recorded music. At the very least, can we get a televised special of the ensemble doing this? Or a children’s TV show? It is, after all, an adorable, funny, and charming puppet act. I could see a half-hour series with big music numbers developing very easily.

Music, Views

The Library: Karen O & The Kids “All Is Love”

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Sometimes, you just need a song to cheer you up. I think there are only a few songs that can help you get into a better mood under most circumstances. Karen O & The Kids’ performance of the Karen O/Carter Burwell-penned song “All Is Love” is one of those songs.

This whole song just screams joy to me. Even in the opening moments, the plucked guitar pattern just sets a mellow, happy tone for the entire song. It’s a sweet and simple electric lick that has just enough sense of mystery to draw the listener in.

From there, the song goes with much faster strumming on an acoustic guitar with just a hint of distortion. It’s a fine choice as it matches the less trained sound of The Kids. There’s a raw energy in these kids that is not uncommon to see in a school music class or summer camp. The kids are having fun singing the, putting everything they have into singing it loud, if not necessarily right.

Karen O’s vocal is surprisingly sweet to encourage participation.

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Music, Views

Pitbull and the Listenability Factor

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If posts on Nicki Minaj/Cher Lloyd and LMFAO didn’t let you know I like a good dance song, this post should clear up any lingering doubts.

I think Pitbull is one of the most listenable and clever rappers consistently charting in America. His mix of club banger form and long runs of unexpected rhymes are easy to remember but hard to grow tired of. I first noticed this ability on his song “The Anthem.” You probably don’t know this song by name, but if you’ve listened to any hip-hop station int he past 4 years, you’ll know it by the sound of it. It’s a mostly Spanish-language track produced by Lil’ Jon featuring a sample of “Calabria,” which was also used in the late and great Natasja Saad’s cross-over hit “Calabria 2007” (of the non-stop Top 40 play for 2 years).

Recognize it now?

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