New Year's Musical Resolutions!

1. Play more guitar: Alright, I admit it, there's a layer of dust covering my guitar! But I promise to find more time to practice in 2013. And since I'm a little rusty, I will probably start with a song that's easy and fun to play, like anything from a Nirvana album.

2. Attend more concerts: There were some great shows I missed this year because they either sold out (I'm looking at you, The Lumineers) or I double-booked that evening (I'll see you next time, Of Monsters and Men)! Luckily, next year is looking great for concerts in Tucson. Personally, I'm excited for the XX and Tegan and Sara at the Rialto and That 1 Guy and Ra Ra Riot at Congress.  What concerts are you looking forward to?

3. Download from Freegal:  Life is busy and I often forget about my three, free, legal songs each week from Freegal. But no more! I promise to finish downloading that awesome new Calvin Harris album and maybe pick up the stunning Adele Bond track, Skyfall, along the way.

Bonus resolution - No more Rick Rolls: I promise to never sing Rick Astley songs at karaoke again.


-James

To find some of the bands I mentioned:

Nirvana (click me)
The Lumineers (click me)
Ra Ra Riot (click me)
Tegan and Sara (click me)
Freegal (click me - each week)!

Music Will Take Care of U

The most beautiful thing about music is its nature as a collaborative art form. Imagine your favorite rock song without the drums, bass, and guitar all working together.  Would Beethoven's Ninth move us to tears without the power of a full orchestra? And now the internet has opened avenues of musical exploration and collaboration never before possible. There is no better example of this than my new favorite CD from the library collection: "We're New Here" - an amazing collaboration between jazz poet legend Gil Scott-Heron and "The XX" producer Jamie XX.

It is a strange pairing: the raw style of recently deceased "bluesologist" Scott-Heron with the industrial, dubstep beats of Jamie XX.  But "We're New Here" is one part social message, one part slam poetry, and one part club smash blended to perfection. On the track "NY is Killing Me," Jamie XX weaves Scott-Heron's somber words "fast city ain't livin' all it's cracked up to be...New York is killing me" into a frantic dance tempo like a nightmare merry-go-round spun out of control. The track "Running" races forward on an absolutely stunning bass line, Scott-Heron preaching, "It's easier to run...than staying and finding out you're the only one that didn't run." My favorite track, "I'll Take Care of U," is a remix of Scott-Heron's previous cover of Bobby Benton's 1959 smash hit, "I'll Take Care of You" (hooray for collaboration)! Scott-Heron's vocals, raw and wounded, are layered atop soothing island drums and an awe-inspiring tribal breakdown. It is an amazing song - so good that rap superstar Drake used it as the title track of his latest album, "Take Care" (also available from the library).