Tuesday, October 30, 2012
For Paul Geluso’s Advanced Audio Production midterm, we were assigned to choose two tracks from his recommended listening list, and compare and contrast them sonically. I chose “Regiment” by David Byrne and Brian Eno, and “Little Fluffy Clouds” by The Orb. Recorded ten years apart using very different technology, both tracks nevertheless share a similar [...]
Filed in Copyright and Authorship, Key Musicians, Music, Recording, Sampling
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Also tagged brian eno, dance, david byrne, eighties, electronica, funk, mixing, Music, nineties, nyu, paul geluso, production, Recording, Sampling, synths, the orb
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Friday, September 28, 2012
A while ago I wrote a post explaining how jazz works. In response, someone asked me to name my favorite hundred jazz tracks. So here’s my list. It’s totally subjective and necessarily incomplete, but I can guarantee that any of these tunes will make your life better. Hear them on Spotify.
Filed in Key Musicians, Music
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Also tagged america, art blakey, art tatum, bebop, billie holiday, blues, bud powell, cannonball adderley, carmen mcrae, cecil taylor, charles mingus, charlie parker, clifford brown, Composition, count basie, dixieland, dizzy gillespie, django reinhardt, drumming, duke ellington, ella fitzgerald, eric dolphy, free jazz, gil evans, hank mobley, herbie hancock, horace silver, jazz, jimmy smith, joe pass, john coltrane, louis armstrong, max roach, mccoy tyner, miles davis, nat adderley, oliver nelson, sidney bechet, singing, sonny rollins, soul, standards, swing, thelonious monk, wayne shorter
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Frank Ocean is the R&B singer of the moment. Does he merit all they hype? There’s no doubt but that the man can sing. I first heard him in Jay-Z and Kanye West’s tremendous “No Church In The Wild,” which owes a lot of its intensity to Ocean’s vocals. He’s been releasing some good mixtapes [...]
Filed in Composition, Copyright and Authorship, Music, Sampling
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Also tagged audio two, Evolution, frank ocean, genealogy, honeydrippers, jay-z, kanye, mary j blige, memes, rnb, Sampling, top billin
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Thursday, November 17, 2011
There’s a certain jazz lick that’s so heavily used that it’s just known as The Lick. It’s the only jazz lick I know of that has its own Facebook page. Here’s a greatest hits compilation: Update: now there’s a volume two!
Filed in Copyright and Authorship, Music, Sampling
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Also tagged akon, bobby hutcherson, classical, cliches, Evolution, facebook, freddie hubbard, grant green, Improvisation, jazz, john coltrane, memes, miles davis, Music, player, pop, reggae, rock, santana, stravinsky
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The first time I heard Manu Dibango’s “Soul Makossa” was courtesy of Motorcycle Guy, a prominent Brooklyn eccentric who drives around on a tricked-out motorcycle bedecked with lights and equipped with a powerful sound system. I encounter him every so often and he’s always bumping some good funk, soul or R&B. One night, he was [...]
Filed in Composition, Copyright and Authorship, Dance, Key Musicians, Music, Sampling
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Also tagged a tribe called quest, big daddy kane, bjork, boy george, boyz ii men, cameroon, charles hamilton, copyright, dance, david mancuso, duala, eighties, Evolution, fugees, funk, geto boys, jay-z, kanye west, kool moe d, lord tariq and peter gunz, manu dibango, memes, michael jackson, poor righteous teachers, pop, rihanna, songwriting, soul makossa, thriller, will smith
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I always enjoy when hip-hop artists sample themselves. It makes the music recursive, and for me, “recursive” is synonymous with “good.” You can hear self-sampling in “Nas Is Like” by Nas, “The Score” by the Fugees and many songs by Eric B and Rakim. The most recent self-sampling track to cross my radar is “Unbelievable” [...]
Filed in Key Musicians, Math, Music, Sampling
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Also tagged dj premier, fractals, funk, hip-hop, impeach the president, keybs, lee byron, mandelbrot, nas, notorious big, nursery rhymes, patrice rushen, r kelly, recursion, rnb, Sampling, songwriting, turntablism
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Friday, September 9, 2011
If you had to name the most influential drummers in contemporary music, who would you pick? If you’re a rock fan, you might go with Ringo Starr, John Bonham, or Keith Moon. A jazz fan might talk about Max Roach, Elvin Jones or Tony Williams. You probably wouldn’t think to name Gregory Cylvester Coleman. He [...]
Filed in Copyright and Authorship, Math, Music, Sampling
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Also tagged amon tobin, aphex twin, copyright, curtis mayfield, david bowie, dillinja, drum n bass, drumming, eighties, electronica, futurama, golden ratio, hip-hop, jungle, looping, luke vibert, lupe fiasco, mantronix, Math, memes, nineties, nwa, powerpuff girls, recycle, reggae, rnb, salt n pepa, Sampling, snow, soul, the impressions, the winstons
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Why does folk music collector Alan Lomax have a copyright interest in “Takeover” by Jay-Z? I learned the answer from Creative License: The Law And Culture Of Digital Sampling by Kembrew McLeod and Peter DiCola. It’s a companion book to the invaluable documentary Copyright Criminals. The story of Jay-Z and Alan Lomax isn’t quite as [...]
Filed in Composition, Copyright and Authorship, Music, Music Business, Politics, Recording, Sampling
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Also tagged alan lomax, blues, chain gangs, copyright, folk, funk, grand funk railroad, hip-hop, jay-z, krs-one, rock, Sampling, the animals
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My friend Leo has a new jazz quartet. At their debut performance a couple of weeks ago, they ended the show with a mashup of “Solar” by Miles Davis and “Freedom Jazz Dance” by Eddie Harris. “Freedom Jazz Dance” is a favorite of mine, and a lot of my fellow jazz nerds agree. People love [...]
Filed in Key Musicians, Music, Sampling
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Also tagged ed og, eddie harris, fu-schnickens, funk, hip-hop, jazz, mashups, miles davis, nas, Sampling
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The other night Anna and I went to see Beats, Rhymes And Life: The Travels Of A Tribe Called Quest.
Filed in Key Musicians, Music, Sampling
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Also tagged a tribe called quest, cassettes, documentaries, fugees, hip-hop, jazz, lil wayne, masculinity, minnie riperton, movies, nineties, q-tip, Sampling
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