Saturday 30 June 2007

vocals out of tune

C U When U Get There by Coolio is one of my favourite records but were the chorus vocals always out of tune? I never noticed it at the time but they sound badly out of tune on Sendspace and iTunes

Thursday 28 June 2007

Robyn

It looks like Robyn will break the UK. I didn't pay that much attention at first because I remember her from ten years ago when she was doing generic Cheiron-type pop.

Anyway, her new record is like Peaches meets Madonna with really good vocals. She worked on it with the guy out of Teddybears and has covered their best track Cobrastyle. Here's the Robyn version on iTunes. And the Teddybears version (iTunes).

Also, she has covered List Of Demands by Saul Williams. It's a rubbish version but I applaud the idea. iTunes link for Robyn's version. iTunes link for Saul's best track Black Stacey.


My favourite Robyn track so far is the one Radio 1 have just added - her guest vocalling on Kleerup's emotive electronic project (about time we had one of those), with a song called With Every Heartbeat (iTunes)

more on The Roches and The Wainwrights

Thanks to Clararama for pointing out that The Roches' song should actually be called If You Go Down To Hammond, not Heaven. That explains why there was only one reference to "If you go down to heaven" on Google (from someone else who mis-heard the lyric). A shame as "If you go down to heaven, you'll never come back/In my opinion you're on the wrong track" would have been a great lyric, like a more interesting take on Tears In Heaven by Eric Clapton.

It could be argued that by starting my blog with a mis-heard lyric, I've already failed in my bid to create the best music blog in the world. I disagree. This will be the best music blog in the world because of the music linked to, not the quality of the research.

It also turns out that there's a link between the Roches and the Wainwrights - Lucy Wainwright Roche is the daughter of Suzzy Roche and Loudon Wainwright III. This is a good excuse to post my favourite recordings by Wainwright/McGarrigle family.

Rufus Wainwright - Go Or Go Ahead - iTunes or Amazon

Martha Wainwright - Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole (iTunes). If there's one thing even better than a really sad song, it's a really vitriolic song. Awesome vocal too. Written about her father Loudon so something of an answer record to I'd Rather Be Lonely.

Loudon Wainwright III - Primrose Hill (iTunes). If you end up destitute in London, I recommend living on the side of Primrose Hill, at least in summer. It's nice.

Kate & Anna McGarrigle - Matapedia (Amazon)

Tuesday 26 June 2007

about The World's Greatest Music

I have been thinking about this and I've come to the conclusion that my mp3 blog could well become the greatest in the world.

All my life, I have spent an inordinate amount of time seeking out music. I like to think I have a good ear for it and I'm certainly an obsessive, but I'm sure those things are true of most mp3 bloggers. What will give my blog the edge is a two-pronged approach. On one hand, the best music of all-time, from the obvious to the obscure. On the other hand, an unusual degree of access to the best new music from unsigned bands to superstar artists.

Then there is my taste - extremely broad. If you are a music snob then there are plenty of blogs for you, but this isn't one of them. After all, it's named after an R Kelly song. But had it existed earlier, this would have been the first place to tell you about Eminem, Belle & Sebastian, Eva Cassidy, Nirvana, Radiohead, Coldplay, Keane, Damien Rice, The Beatles, David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Garth Brooks, Hall & Oates, Chris Barber, Chopin, and Crazy Frog.

When writing about a track, I will where possible provide links to an mp3 for listening purposes (preferably at less than CD quality so there's an extra reason to buy the CD or download if you like it), and a download store (usually iTunes).

I never want to do anything to harm the music industry (which I love), or any artist's career, so if you want a link removed, get in touch and I'll do it as soon as possible.