In the latest installment in a series of unscripted videos in which Ted Gioia addresses key matters related to music and society, the music writer discusses the record industry's longstanding preference for three-minute songs, and explores the impact of this on our experiences of music.
Mdou Moctar has released a documentary on the days surrounding the release of the new album 'Afrique Victime'. The 10-minute short film shows Moctar and the band working on the album, and meeting after a months-long break. It also illustrates the geopolitical circumstances behind the record.
Jefferson Airplane guitarist Jorma Kaukanen has reacted to the first trailer for The Matrix Resurrections, which features their hit single, ‘White Rabbit’. “We started in the Matrix” - Kaukanen told the Rolling Stone - “glad to be there again!”. 'The Matrix Resurrections', which sees leads Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss returning, is due for release in December.
Geeez!!! - music theorist Adam Neely goes sooo far with fixing some well-known songs with autotune, you can't even call it sarcasm, the word just isn't strong enough. So, the songs fixed are Led Zeppelin's 'Whole Lotta Love', Frank Sinatra's 'Fly Me To The Moon', Aretha Franklin's 'Respect', Pink Floyd's 'Wish You Were Here', and Bill Withers' 'Ain’t No Sunshine'. The point: perfection destroys expression. A monster of a video!
The YouTube music theorist delivers yet another funny and clever educational video, this time about bass, the instrument he himself plays (and believes it to be the superior one). Neely tries to explain why you can't really play melodies on bass. He also translates "hmmm" into notes. Funny stuff!
Sarah Brand, a student of sociology at Oxford University, has released a song 'Red Dress', which she said was a "cinematic, holistic portrayal of judgement". The A.V. club said the video invited a "kind of car wreck curiosity", while Newsweek debated whether it was part of a "grand social experiment". BBC explores what's behind the out-of-tune song.
A great new video by the music theorist about the myth of the Medieval tritone being banned by the Catholic church. Adam Neely explains the tritone, how the myth was born, and why it is so damn persistent.
Snoop Dogg and comedian Kevin Hart are providing some fun commentary from the 2021 Tokyo Olympics interviewing athletes, recapping events and doing play-by-play for sports they don’t understand. In a segment called “Cold Call” gave their insight into the equestrian event. “The horse crip-walking! You see that? That’s sick. This horse is off the chain! I gotta get this motherfucker in a video” - Snoop Dogg joyfully announced as a horse pranced during the event. He also asked “do the horses get medals when they win too?”. They do not!
MTV as a music television exists no more, but music videos still complement songs, create mythologies, and cause chatter and controversy - Rolling Stone says introducing their selection of the 100 best music videos of all time. Starting with The Buggles' 'Video Killed the Radio Star' and finishing with Beyonce's 'Formation' "all of these picks are perfect examples of how pairing sound and vision created an entire artistic vocabulary, gave us a handful of miniature-movie masterpieces, and changed how we heard (and saw) music".
MTV celebrates its 40th birthday this weekend, with Billboard and Stereogum looking back with a selection of the 40 best videos played on the very first day on the network. There were 116 videos played in the first 24 hours, with Stereogum and Billboard agreeing Talking Heads' 'Once in a Lifetime' and Blondie's 'Rapture' being the best.
