Sample Breakdown: Gotye

Wow. I had no idea Gotye's Somebody That I Used To Know is largely comprised of samples. This YouTube channel helps visualize the complexity in such a visual way. Subscribed!

youtu.be

Sample waveforms rearranged

MusicHarbor

Discovery app for new music releases, music videos, events, and news from your favorite artists and record labels by Marcos Tanaka. Because finding new releases on Apple Music and Spotify is abysmal. / thanks for the rec to Paul Carroll!

marcosatanaka.com

MusicHarbour app screenshots

Beta Love

20 years ago this Valentine's Day a journaled about this mix of love songs. I made Spotify and Apple Music playlists today to rekindle the moment.

chrisglass.com

Beta Love mix CD

None of the music was prerecorded on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood

Johnny Costa attended every taping, providing live piano accompaniment just off camera with percussionist Bobby Rawsthorne and bassist Carl McVicker. Jazz pianist and composer Charles Cornell shares some history.

openculture.com

person playing piano from above

Simon Collison’s 2023 in music

I look forward to Simon’s yearly posts and playlists to fuel music discovery into the new year.

colly.com

A few favorite album covers of 2023 from Simon Collison

Patrick’s picks for best album art of 2023

He does this every year and I always find not just new music to explore, but wonderful art. (He also creates a list for worst album art of the year)

patrickkellogg.com

Album cover with rainbow fag on fire

The Official 2023 Sufjan Yule Log

4 hours and 50 minutes of Sufjan Christmas music and a fireplace. / via Bernie Michalik

youtu.be

Fireplace with Christmas light reflections

Hannah Waddington & Brendan Hunt perform Love Shack

Most know the pair as Rebecca and Coach Beard from Ted Lasso. They teamed up with other folks to raise money and awareness for the Steps of Faith Foundation. Brought a big smile to my face.

youtu.be

Coach Beard and Rebecca sing Love Shack

Top ♫ 100

Andrew Neyer threw it out there: Make a playlist of your 100 all-time favorite songs. Don’t overthink it. Hone at will. (I keep fiddling with mine.) It has been a blast listening to everyone else’s collections thus far. Submit your own!

internalresourcelibrary.org

Top ♫ 100

Albums of the Year 2023

New Commute asked their graphic artist friends for their favorite music of the year and the results are exceptionally good looking. Oodles of art and music to explore!

newcommute.net

Top 5 albums from a bunch of artists and designers for 2023

And Still

This is Peter Gabriel’s 11th song from the upcoming i/o album. Released today on the Hunter’s Moon, it’s about his mum. You can learn more about the track in this monthly video update. The album will be completed with next months full moon.

song.link

Peter Gabriel’s ”And Still” single artwork featuring a painting by Megan Rooney

Nothing Compares 2 U

Choir! Choir! Choir!, with a last minute inclusion of Fiest, pay tribute to Sinéad O’Connor. Powerfully good.

kottke.org

Three musicians perform onstage in front of an audience that is also a choir

Sam Smith Tiny Desk Concert

Just kicking back on a Friday night after dinner watching this performance and enjoying it immensely. Gave some applause to the TV when the last song finished but figured I'd extend the appreciation with a link. Thanks for being wonderfully lovely Sam Smith.

youtu.be

Sam Smith and singers perform at the NPR Tiny Desk Concert

This Is Pop – A documentary about the band XTC

Loved XTC since Skylarking (and then went back in their catalog and loved that too). They never really toured so I’m curious to learn more about ’em with this doc. / via MetaFilter

youtube.com

Screenshot of the band XTC performing for a music video

Earthling, Golden Gate Park – Sept 17

An experimental music listening party in San Francisco. If I was closer I’d totally go to this (and not just because it’s free!). Been enjoying the introductions to the four bands that will be vibing. / via Tyler Mincey

earthling.fyi

A circle with type around the edge with band names. The center has the title "Earthling"

The Live Music Archive

Open Culture sheds light on this trove of concert recordings on the Internet Archive. Yes, there are a lot of Grateful Dead shows, but there are gems. Spent my morning coffee with this quiet performance by Elliot Smith. There are tons of ways to browse. My only wish would be to sort by performance date.

openculture.com

Live Music Archive

What’s good: R.E.M. debuts on Letterman

Lately it’s been non-stop Taylor Swift and recipes, but sometimes the YouTube algorithm works.

youtube.com

Screencap of Michael Stipe performing on David Letterman show

97X Modern Rock 500

Streaming now! 500 indie songs with original DJs from 97X. Been enjoying it all morning and will dip my toes in the looping broadcast throughout the week.

inhailer.com

97X 2023 Inhaler 500

Remi Wolf Prescription

A little funky yearning medley to close out the week. Just stumbled on this tune and now need to dig back into her back catalog (which is not deep, she’s 27!) Oh, I know Photo ID.

youtu.be

Remi Wolf at a microphone

Samples on the Beastie Boys’ ‘Ill Communication’

Matched with the original songs. Fun to get more insight to this Beasties album, a favorite among many.

laughingsquid.com

Ill Communication album cover

Blue Monday on Song Exploder

New Order shares the story of how the song came to be.

songexploder.net

Song Exploder cover art for the New Order Blue Monday podcast episode

4 hours of lofi music and visuals

That also happens to be a commercial for the Nissan ARIYA. / via Tim Murtaugh

youtu.be

Nissan animation for their new electric SUV thing called the ARIYA

Pet Shop Boys Lost

Thanks to this post on MetaFilter I learned of this new PSB music.

metafilter.com

Album cover with black and white photograph of a field in mist with the word Lost written in san serif type

Fred again.. Tiny Desk Concert

Fred again.. translates his electronic music in wonderful ways for this Tiny Desk Concert.

youtu.be

Fred again.. at the keyboard performing at NPR for their Tiny Desk Concert segment

Borrow Trouble

New music video by Feist has some Michel Gondry vibes. Dig. / via Public Annoucement

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Feist grab from music video

(Almost) every music video of Michel Gondry

I loved the 2003 Director Series DVD of Gondry’s work. This YouTube playlist adds in oodles of more recent music videos. Also recommended: The series Kidding with Jim Carrey (with 8 episodes directed by Gondry).

youtube.com

Meg White on drums. Still from The Hardest Button to Button music video

Simon Collison’s 2022 in music

I'm still sifting through year end lists to find new things to read, play and listen to. Colly’s collection is presented so darn good.

colly.com

Top albums of 2022 collected by Simon Collison

The Smile Tiny Desk Concert

Thom Yorke in 2023 looks like a Thom Yorke sent from the future to warn present-day Thom Yorke about machines subjugating humanity in an oncoming dystopia. - @Steven_Hyden

npr.org

The Smile perform at NPR's tiny desk concert

Nicholas Britell: Knowing the score

Kevin Fanning’s post about making variations of the Andor theme reminded me of this segment on CBS Sunday Morning about the composer behind Succession, Andor and a slew of other music for shows and movies.

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Snapshot of composer Nicholas Britell

Harry Bertoia’s Sonambient sculptures

Went down a rabbit hole watching and listening to this. / via Drew Daniel

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Metal rods that vibrate and makes sounds

The Soundburger is back

We celebrated this portable record player back in the day. And now it's back and with Bluetooth to boot! / via Tom

audio-technica.com

A very portable record player

Kyoto EP

Simon Collison’s Site Nonsite journey continues with a second EP. Two songs streaming now. More records should have release notes for each track like Simon has provided (scroll down).

sitenonsite.bandcamp.com

Cover for the EP titled "Kyoto" by Site Nonsite featuring a green duotone image in the background and a color photograph of a person holding a bright umbrella facing away from the camera

Teenage Engineering Record Factory

Compact and portable record cutter that allows you to create your own 5” vinyl records and playback in lo-fi sound. WHOA + NEATO! / via Tom

teenage.engineering

A record cutting machine brightly colored with orange and white plastic

Record grooves

Had I never seen these before? I have no idea, but they're neato.

kottke.org

Microscopic view of a record player needle in the grooves of a vinyl record. The grooves look a bit like a canyon.

Mndsgn “Truth Interlude”

A bit more of Ardhira Putra's illustration paired with some smooth sounds to close out the week.

youtube.com

Animated blue muscle car in a midcentury modern location with palm trees and a hotel sign

Fire from Elements lll movement

Composed by Katerina Gimon. Performed by the 2022 TMEA Texas All-State Treble Choir under the direction of Dr Lynda Hasseler. This is powerful. / thanks Henry

youtu.be

A female choir

Perfect Stranger

Mellow, quiet, yearning duet by John Mark Nelson and Sofia Mills (Thanks TikTok)

youtu.be

A woman sings into a microphone with a man with a beard waits to join the chorus

Joan Shelley’s New Songs Soothe Old Wounds

“These actions are small, she said, like writing new songs to process old wounds. But maybe they prove more meaningful than submitting to darkness.” Listening now. Thanks Zan

nytimes.com

A woman in a blue dress stands in the middle of a barn interior

‘Otomo’ at the Royal Albert Hall

Bonobo close their 5 night residency at the Royal Albert Hall with Anna Lapwood on pipe organ. Her expression of joy is beyond doubt. I can only image how those 9,999 pipes sound irl.

youtu.be

A close up of a woman playing the pipe organ the the Royal Albert Hall

New Commute

Always looking for new music and super enjoying the singles and playlists of New Commute thanks to posts by Wolf Bomb

newcommute.net

A colorful drawing of Mediterranean folks dancing for an album by Ko Shin Moon

Hiroshima EP

Simon Collison created something that's hard to encapsulate. In one breath, it's an EP of atmospheric music, but as you dig deeper you find it's a diary, a love letter and a reflection, a different way to experience a place.

colly.com

An audio cassette with a photo of a Japanese train titled "Hiroshima"

Free

Another _excellent_ music video by Autumn de Wilde for Florence + The Machine. Bill Nighy stars as Florence’s anxiety.

youtu.be

A man and a woman seated in front of painted flowers that form a heart

Fall On Me

Thanks to the podcast I just listened to, I'm reminded of what was certainly my introduction to R.E.M. with their of their first music videos for this song.

youtu.be

A grab from a music video. It is a black and white photo with the word FALL written in orange capital letters

A conversation between Rick Rubin and Michael Stipe

This episode of the Broken Record podcast digs into the formative years of R.E.M. and potential future projects / via @davidpurcell505

pushkin.fm

A man with glasses tilts his head off to the side. He is wearing a blue t-shirt and navy blazer.

Orange Blood

Woke up reflecting on something that was related to the color orange, did a music search and this song came up and I dig it. Lovely randomness.

youtu.be

An illustration of a sunrise

Born to Love

Just played this Ray LaMontagne song to fill the rest of the afternoon with some warm feelings. Nice addition of Sierra Ferrell's vocals to the track.

youtu.be

What appears to be a warm toned fabric pattern with flowers and leaves.

Gyorgy Ligeti’s Artikulation visualized by Rainer Wehinger

Donald Craig scanned the pages of visualization from the 70's and synchronized them with the music. / via @pixlpa

youtu.be

A graphical visualization of music

A Journey…

Waking up and listening to this album by Hinako Omori thanks to Simon Collison. Having coffee. Easing into Saturday.

colly.com

An abstract album cover with black and white images set in rectangles on a light gray background. A few lines are drawn randomly

I Am Stretched On Your Grave

Chuck's post goes down so many lovely rabbit holes. A low res performance by Sinéad O’Connor that draws you in. A newsletter by Neko Case. The underlying beats. Another cover of the cover.

spectrecollie.com

A woman on stage, grips a microphone, her other hand reaches upward. Bathed in white and red light

Florence + The Machine – King

A music video where you stay for the credits. Directed by Autumn de Wilde, choreographed by Ryan Heffington with costumes by Kate Mulleavy & Laure Mulleavy. 🔥

youtu.be

A woman in a magenta robe floats up the steps of an industrial building of concrete, followed by a group of women in flowing dresses contorting themselves behind

Documentary about how The Traveling Wilburys formed

Even all low-res it was lovely to see how this album came to be and friendships preserved.

laughingsquid.com

The Traveling Wilbur's band logo

Goodnight, Metal Friend Mix #21

Seth Werkheiser's mix of spooky doom, ambient, gloomy tunes to help you fall asleep. I think these tracks are great for focus while working or thinking, or thinking at work! It's like being in some sci-fi movie.

goodnightmetalfriend.com

Graphic design cover for a mix of spooky doom, ambient, gloomy tunes

Simon Collison’s favorite music of 2021

Colly curates music he finds interesting each week and then makes a huge list with meaningful descriptions and links to streaming services at the end of each year.

colly.com

A list of favorite albums of 2021

Hans Zimmer career timeline

Dig this series from Vanity Fair where creative folks describe highlights (and low points) of their career. This one from Hans Zimmer makes me appreciate his soundtracks even more.

youtu.be

A profile of a man and a timeline of movie stills

Browsing music another way

Jon Hicks wanted to "Restore some kind of physicality to my digital music collection" and I think he succeeded. (Scroll down to the link for Leigh's video demonstration)

hicks.design

Small record covers printed out on square Moo cards

ABBA Voyage

There were murmurs that new ABBA music would be coming for some time, but now that it's just days away? Yeah, I'm giddy.

abbavoyage.com

A teaser for a new album for the Swedish band ABBA

Opera + a rock quarry

I've kept this post from Kottke alive at the end of my RSS reader for 2 weeks because I didn't want it to go away, so I'm saving it here.

kottke.org

A woman in a red dress sings surrounded by a rock quarry

Dancing to Sirens

I asked about the song playing and Erik said it was the same musician that did the Xanadu cover linked earlier. Here's a story about his new song - "a tribute to a time that is hopefully over."

kristofhajos.com

A bearded man with glasse holds a bundle of sheets and towels and fabric items

The Smile, live

Metafilter collects links to videos and downloads for this performance at the virtual Glastonbury festival. Featuring Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood (from Radiohead) with drummer Tom Skinner.

metafilter.com

A fox rides a bike at night

The Linda Lindas “Racist Sexist Boy”

Poser. Blockhead. Riffraff. Jerkface.

twitter.com

A rock band comprised of four young women performing a song in a library