My next ‘Piano Man’ is one of the all-time greats… Randy Newman. Newman has had such a long and varied career, alternating between biting satire and Disney movie scores, that it seems silly to pin him down into specific categories.
But that’s not going to stop me.
Newman got his start in the Brill Building tradition, writing elegant, soaring pop ballads for the likes of Dusty Springfield and Peggy Lee.
I debated whether Shakira should be among the 35 artists I’m covering during my musical genome project but ultimately I realized the decision should have been a no-brainer. I own every one of her seven albums, four of which are performed entirely in Spanish — if that’s not dedication, I don’t know what is.
The fact that she is the only foreign language act I listen to makes her an anomaly among this group, but she also stands apart thanks to her musical style. Or styles, I should say, because Shakira shifts between dance pop, Latin rock, R&B and jazz-era balladry.
Entering Week Five of the never-ending musical genome project, I arrive at The Shins.
This is a band that straddles across two of my broad categories — Pure Pop and Melancholy. In fact, on some of their albums it appears as if it’s their mission to do exactly that, as upbeat pop songs alternate with contemplative, somber mood pieces.
Like Pink, featured a week ago, Robyn is an unlikely occupant of my music collection. Or maybe I have a previously unrealized penchant for R&B/pop singers with super-short white-blonde hair.
The artist Robyn most reminds me of, based on the one album and one EP of hers I own, is Prince. She has a similar vocal style (evident on this track) and employs a similar fusion of funk and pop balladry. And as with Prince, I find a little of Robyn goes a long way.
The Random iTunes Fairy is stealing a bit of my thunder.
I had planned to feature Elvis Costello next week as part of my musical genome project, and perhaps I still might. But today’s song would have been a perfect selection to demonstrate Costello’s ‘Country Plus’ credentials. I’ll table that discussion until the appropriate time.
