Saturday, December 5, 2009
Is lip-synching to a recording a form of music? It’s definitely dance, of a specific kind. But is it music, or just mime? I feel instinctively that Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” routine on the Motown 25th Anniversary is a musical performance, one of the all-time great ones. So I guess I consider lip-synching to be [...]
Filed in Dance, Key Musicians, Music
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Also tagged ashlee simpson, attention, billie jean, dance, lil wayne, lipsynching, moonwalk, purists, singing, tv
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Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Here’s Revival Revival’s arrangement of Lionel Richie’s classic “Dancin’ On The Ceiling.” Ohhh What A Feelin’ Revival Revival vs Lionel Richie vs Michael Jackson mp3 download, ipod format download Vocals, guitar and bass by Babsy. Beats, loops and production by me. The beat is from “Billie Jean.” We love this song. Here’s the original.
Filed in Music
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Also tagged autotune, billie jean, dance, eighties, guitar, lionel richie, pop, remixes, revival revival, rock, Sampling, typography
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For a long time, “Human Nature” was not my favorite song on Thriller. It took me many years to wise up to how awesome it is. Maybe it’s a gender thing. I played it for Anna last night and she swooned instantly over the delivery, arrangement, melody, the whole thing worked for her. I’m slowly [...]
Filed in Composition, Emotion, Music, Sampling
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Also tagged jazz, miles davis, nas, pop, quincy jones, remixes, rnb, Sampling, swv, thriller, toto, tupac
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I can’t breakdance. I want to learn. It looks like fun. When I worked for the Parks Department I was involved in their afterschool programs. One of them met in the Alfred E Smith Recreation Center in the housing project of the same name. In the basketball gym, Roc-a-fella (the b-girl, not the record label) [...]
Filed in Dance, Improvisation, Music
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Also tagged breakdancing, dance, disco, electronica, fan art, funk, grandmaster flash, hip-hop, nyc, turntablism, youtube
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Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Working on Janet Jackson songs made me want to see if she did any tracks with Michael. Here’s what the internet has to say: Michael sings backup vocals on Janet’s early album Dream Street. Janet sings backup on Michael’s “PYT.” She’s in the part towards the end where he says “Pretty young things, repeat after [...]
Filed in Autobio, Music
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Also tagged Autobio, creativity, guitar, harmony, hip-hop, janet jackson, molly, Music, Music Theory, psychology, singing, teaching, vest pocket psalm
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Janet has been on my mind a lot the past few months, what with Michael, and I was driven to go listen to Control again.
Filed in Music
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Also tagged candida haynes, drum machines, eighties, erykah badu, janet jackson, jimmy jam, joni mitchell, mashups, new jack swing, nicole bishop, prince, pro tools, production, q-tip, remixes, revival revival, Sampling, terry lewis
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Friday, September 18, 2009
My favorite Michael Jackson song is “Wanna Be Startin’ Something.” This post is part of what’s turning into a series on it. The previous post is about the song as fan art, and some of the fan art that it’s inspired, from bootleg Youtube videos to licensed remixes. This one is about who owns the [...]
Filed in Composition, Copyright and Authorship, Music, Music Business, Sampling
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Also tagged bmg, bruce swedian, copyright, manu dibango, memes, ownership, quincy jones, Recording, remixes, rights, rihanna, Sampling, sony, soul makossa, thriller
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Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Today the Michael Jackson fan art I have on my mind (and on the iPod) is “Please Don’t Stop The Music,” sung by Rihanna and produced by a couple of Norwegian guys. It includes a sample of MJ singing “Wanna Be Startin’ Something.” The sample includes both his quasi-Swahili chant and his unearthly woo-hoo. It [...]
Filed in Key Musicians, Music, Sampling
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Also tagged beatboxing, dance, digging the crates, eighties, fan art, funk, Improvisation, manu dibango, memes, pop, recursion, remixes, rihanna, Sampling, seventies, songwriting, soul, soul makossa
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Rhymefest is best known for co-writing “Jesus Walks” with Kanye West. He did this incredible Michael Jackson mixtape with Mark Ronson and a slew of A-list guest stars, a whole year before MJ died while the rest of the world was sleeping on him. Click for the free download:
Filed in Key Musicians, Music, Sampling
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Also tagged brooklyn, fan art, gifts, hip-hop, mark ronson, mixtapes, remixes, rhymefest, Sampling
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See a followup post about female remixes of “A Milli” Lil Wayne and I have some differences of style and taste: about facial tattoos, about drinking cough syrup recreationally, about jewelry on one’s teeth. But we agree about music. He brags constantly that he’s the best rapper alive. I think he makes a pretty good [...]
Filed in Composition, Improvisation, Key Musicians, Music, Recording, Sampling
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Also tagged america, anxiety, autotune, class, cole porter, comedy, computers, drum machines, Evolution, hip-hop, Improvisation, irony, kanye west, lil wayne, memes, minimalism, natalie portman, natural selection, Recording, recursion, remixes, Sampling, snl, Social Media, t-pain, white people
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