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Pop Rock Nation

Category: People

all-about-musicians-and-the-people-who-help-them-make-music

  • You, Too, Can Support Paul Westerberg, For Less Than It Costs To Buy A Cup of Coffee!

    Never been a huge Replacements/Westerberg fan, but I think this is such a fucking cool idea.

    According to Billboard.com: “Westerberg made available a 44-minute single MP3 file of a dozen-plus songs, dubbed “49,” for 49 cents. Amazon.com is handling the commerce via a link from the Westerberg Web site Men Without Ties. Tunecore will begin carrying the release later today.”

    OK, technically, it’s not a brand new album. Well, it is, but it’s not professionally produced and it’s pretty low-fi. But if you’re a fan, you absolutely can’t beat that deal.

    Even if Paul doesn’t make any money off of this (which he probably won’t, and isn’t it nice to see even an artist who never had massive commercial success kinda admit that he doesn’t need to be paid by pulling off a stunt like this?), it’ll put him in the good graces of his fans the next time he decides to release a “real” album for full price (whatever that is), and the resulting buzz around the release of “49” will probably eve lure a few casual fans or curious music listeners into the fold for the next album.

    I think more artists should try things like this.

    http://members.aol.com/paulspage/

  • Robin Thicke’s Got The “Magic” In His Delightfully Cheesy New Video

    I was a Robin Thicke fan from the second I heard “When I Get You Alone” on the radio one summer afternoon as I was walking through Central Park six summers ago. Actually, I take that back. I’ve been on the lookout for Robin ever since he co-wrote and co-produced Jordan Knight’s surprisingly solid 1999 solo debut.


    Adding a bit of an offbeat touch to a contemporary R&B framework (and writing and producing his own material to boot), it took the rest of the world about four years to catch up to him. His debut album, “A Beautiful World” (which is really good…I think I’ll be writing about that soon) tanked, but the followup, “The Evolution of Robin Thicke”, managed to sell over a million and a half copies and peak at #1 on the R&B chart.

    The first single from his third album, “Something Else” (due in September), is called “Magic”. The song’s great (actually, it reminds me a bit of “Move On Up” by Curtis Mayfield), and the video is cheesetastic (but then what would you expect from the son of Alan Thicke and Gloria Loring?). Thicke quite obviously has a sense of humor about himself, which makes me like him even more. Good stuff, and I’m definitely anticipating the album.

  • Monday Morning Inspiration: “Get By”

    Much like The Boomtown Rats, I don’t like Mondays. Most people don’t. After a couple of days to shake off the stress of the work week, you throw yourself right back into the fire again.

    Hip-hop has long been criticized for, well…a lot of things. But the thing that made me a fan back in the hip-hop glory days of ’87 and ’88 was the emotion. Ultimately, the best music comes as part of an active listening experience in which you actually feel something. Whether it was Chuck D’s impassioned political talk or LL Cool J’s overblown ego, the best of hip-hop provides some sort of emotional outlet for the artist and provides an emotional response for the listener. It’s something that’s missing from a lot of today’s music (not just hip-hop), as everyone seems to be rushing to create what basically amounts to a temporarily ear-pleasing jingle.

    Not to say I didn’t like Talib Kweli prior to this, but “Get By” was the song that turned me into a fan for life. His rapping is forceful, impassioned, and it speaks to everyone out there who keep their heads up despite life being a struggle sometimes.

    “Even when the condition is critical, when the livin is miserable
    Your position is pivotal, I ain’t bullshittin you”

    One listen to this and I feel a lot better about facing everything that lies ahead. Thanks to Talib (as well as Kanye West and Nina Simone, whose “Sinnerman” gets expertly chopped up here) for this song. I’ll admit that I’m being completely selfish and posting this here for my own personal reasons (geez, Mike. Don’t you have a personal blog for this?). Hopefully those of you who have the Mondays (or any day when things just aren’t getting off to the best start) can get something out of this as well.