I learned about Everything Everything from a music blog I enjoy. This band’s latest album, Arc, was listed as the second best of the year so far.
Based on ‘Kemosabe,’ the first song I randomly sampled, these Brits are influenced by Talking Heads and XTC, both good signs in my book. This song starts out a little too crazy for its own good, but by the time it reaches its nifty chorus it hooks me.
Nicki Minaj seems to have opened the door for a new wave of female rappers. (This is where some hardcore rap fan takes me to task for assuming that the mainstream Minaj should get credit for something that is probably more the work of a group of women I’ve never heard of).
At any rate, I’m seeing more and more references to rappers such as Azealia Banks, Iggy Azalea, Kreayshawn and Angel Haze.
One of the reasons that I haven’t discovered a whole lot of new music in recent years is that I haven’t gone out of my way to try.
Being a good fan of movies, music, television, books, sports — you name it — takes commitment. When I was a younger, less busy, man I would watch more than a hundred movies a year. Few acclaimed indie or foreign releases would get past me.
I’ve been in a drought when it comes to discovering new music.
Going back a couple of years in my iTunes library, I see a lot of new releases by groups that I’ve followed for ages.
Aimee Mann, Ben Folds, Bob Dylan, Lucinda Williams, Ron Sexsmith, Fiona Apple… lots of old favorites. Not a lot of new ones.
Somehow I made it through 1,730 Songs of the Day without once featuring a solo Natalie Merchant track.
I guess that’s not completely surprising given that Merchant’s solo career isn’t (wasn’t?) exactly earth-shattering, and in my defense I have featured three 10,000 Maniacs songs, but it does feel like an oversight.
