Track of the Day: 7 Estrelo - As leis de um tambor

http://7estrelo.net/music/

Song of the Day: Happy Hour

Woke up this morning to this, from Tosca:


Tosca's website

A Tentative 2014 List

Again, my daughter and I, with some input from my son, are attempting to compile a list of our favorite 2014 albums.  This has been a tough year to get in as much listening as I wanted, due to competing distractions including photography projects and auto restoration.  Not to mention issues with my music servers.  Anyway, here is a starter list, recognizing that my favorites change from day to day:

Angel Olsen | Burn Your Fire For No Witness
Caribou | Our Love
Grouper | Ruins
FKA Twigs | LP1
Jack White | Lazaretto
Kassem Mosse | Workshop 19
Natalie Merchant | Natalie Merchant
Perfume Genius | Too Bright
St. Vincent | St. Vincent
The Black Keys | Turn Blue

At the moment, Grouper's Ruins is perhaps my most memorable.  A surprise, new to me, was Perfume Genius.  And I can't stop playing Kassem Mosse. Particular note should be taken of Natalie Merchant's eponymous album, after all these years -- especially noteworthy for its avoidance of the dreaded sin of compressing dynamic range.

And these contenders, almost any of which would be on my top ten on any particular day.

Aphex Twin | Syro
Elbow | The Take Off and Landing of Everything
Leonard Cohen | Popular Problems
Luluc | Passerby
Meshell Ndegeocello | Comet, Come to Me
Sharon Van Etten | Are We There
Sylvan Esso | Sylvan Esso
The Gloaming | The Gloaming
The War on Drugs | Lost in the Dream
TV On The Radio | Seeds

Not one of my favorites: The New Basement Tapes.

Joe Cocker, R.I.P.

5/20/44 - 12/22/14

My earliest memories of Joe Cocker would be his covers of the Beatles, "With A Little Help From My Friends", and Leonard Cohen's "Bird On A Wire".  Here's the former:



Cited by Rolling Stone as one of the all-time greatest rock vocalists, I bought -- and still possess -- this 1969 eponymous vinyl album as soon as it hit the store shelves:

Pierce Brown's Playlist

Something to give you a break from incessant holiday music.

Piece Brown, author of the sci-fi trilogy, Red Rising, says that music has always stimulated his writing, and he has put together a playlist of mood-inducing and scene-inspiring songs:

Lili Haydn

First, to get a flavor of Lili Haydn -- who played classical violin with the Los Angeles Philharmonic when she was fifteen, and has achieved much, much more since then -- consider her cover of the Led Zeppelin classic, Kashmir:



Then her remarkable story of recovery in this TEDTalk:



And another TEDTalk appearance:



Need more?



Visit Lili's website, too.

Thanks to brother Dennis for reminding me of this remarkable woman.

(This stuff reminds me that sometime I need to talk about that Funkadelic classic, Maggot Brain!)

Peaky Blinders

I have lately found myself in the grip of Peaky Blinders, a Netflix offering of a Brit TV two-season set of episodes set in post-WW1 gangster-ridden Birmingham and London.  Just finished it, and am eagerly awaiting a forthcoming season three.  Part of what makes Peaky Blinders great for me is the music, mostly from Nick Cave, but also including PJ Harvey, The White Stripes, Tom Waits, The Kill, The Arctic Monkeys, and more.  Did I mention Nick Cave?  Anyway, there are playlists to be found through the simple act of Googling, such as this YouTube playlist which includes ...



Or something like this. Or this (Spotify).