15. July 2014
Things You Can Buy Today 15 July 2014
In this week’s Things You Can Buy we travel the diverse universe of sounds, personalities and the you better believe it.
First we’ll look at an album that may turn out to be none of your business but you’ll love it anyway butternut, a German indie pop artist reworking and unleashing things from his closet and a man seriously having a blast at being not just weird but relevant, cool and an all out badass!
So, let’s crack that cold one n our hands and begin to dig in to what we’re listening to this week and thoughts from around the web.
(For more infos, click the album title)
Morrissey – ‘World Peace Is None Of Your Business‘ (Harvest)
Well, here is this bit for ya. It was harder than trying to squeeze a melon from a turtles anus trying to hear actual advance tracks form this album, probably because it was none of our business and the fact that Morrissey is a veteran at this music business game and doesn’t give a rat’s ass about leaking too much, too early. Hence the spoken works performance art pieces he handsomely let us in on over the past couple months.
From what we’ve had the chance to hear, World Peace is Morrissey at the top of his game writing and vocal wise. No surprise. We don’t know what level, if any, of irony this is but The Moz sounds super fresh at a time when he has spent a period in hospital and canceling tour stops. You know what they say about SP Morrissey, “Morrissey is Morrissey!” Enough said…
Back in February Morrissey spoke to Billboard’s M. Tye Comer about influences for this album, “The good and the bad must be documented. Life is a serious business, so why pretend it isn’t? I’m amused by modern pop artists who can only sing about s.e.x … as if nothing else mattered on the planet.”
The more ya know…
Do to restrictions in Germany (GEMA), enjoy this fan made
live video of Earth Is The Loneliest Planet
Silent Kid – ‘Silent Kid‘ (Breakup)
Berlin based singer/songwriter Sebastian ‘Silent Kid’ Nehen has released some reworked jewels from his long established stash as an appetizer for a coming full length. Talk about DIY, this cat has done all this work from home and if you like singer/songwriter/pop with a dusting of Lou Reed style honky tonk flavoring (and you do) give this EP a go. Bonus: Harmonica…
Sebastian recently described the project to us here at The GTC saying, “These songs are probably 10 years old and I’ve rewritten them a few times over the years simply because my taste in music has changed a little. Kind of like a new hairstyle you get. Still the same hair but cut differently. I’ve always wanted to be a songwriter but not really a performer. So I tried to put myself into the shoes of a songwriter that works for let’s say Robbie Williams. Some of the songs on the EP don’t fit that description of course but that was the general idea. I think I wrote about 8 songs in total and in the course of writing I think I let myself go and forgot about the original idea. After all they became a bunch of “unagitated” (not sure if this is the word I’m actually looking for) pop songs which I like a lot because they don’t want much and they’re easy to listen, too. They’re about whatever people want them to be about. 100% interpretable; I call the project “Silent Kid”. There will be new and fresh material soon.”
Weird Al Yankovic – ‘Mandatory Fun‘ (RCA)
Stop wrinkling up that brow, Weird Al is the real deal polka man of taking overplayed pop tracks and turning them into something enjoyable, playful and FUN. The new album says it right in the title.
This, his 14th studio offering, has Yankovic reworking Lorde, Pharrell Williams, Imagine Dragons and Iggy Azalea. Have you seen the video for the Happy to Tacky track…Look down a bit, classic Al awaits you…
The King of Parody recently gave an interview to NPR about some career long (and possibly ending) this and that’s. Talking about his angle in his redo of Robin Thick’s Blurred Lines, “That’s correct. When I do my parodies, because of YouTube, I’m never the first person to do a parody of a certain song. And all the obvious ideas seem to be taken already, so nowadays when I do a parody I try to think of an angle that might be a little bit different or left-of-center that somebody else hasn’t thought of already. And I don’t think anybody, to this point, had done a “Blurred Lines” parody about proper use of grammar.”
On his rivalry with Cookie Monster, “Yeah, Cookie Monster is my No. 1 competition right now. Actually, I don’t view it as a competition at all. I think it’s wonderful that there’s a level playing field now. Anybody can upload their videos to YouTube and you don’t have to get the blessing of some record executive somewhere to get your stuff heard. If your stuff is good, chances are people will hear it.
“I did have the field to myself pretty much throughout the 80s and 90s, and it’s more of a challenge now because I have to make sure my material rises above on its own merits. I can’t just say “Well, I’m the only person with a major label recording deal.” Now I have to compete with the thousands and thousands of people that are also putting out comedic songs and parodies.”
Get over yourself and have a laugh with the accordion slingin’ legend of haha, Weird Al.
What Are You Buying This Week?