Josh Rouse, today’s randomly selected artist, has a career that is perfectly tailored to the Internet age. He has a small but devoted following who he is able to reach through studio releases as well as independent and Web-only product.
Twenty years ago, artists like Rouse who weren’t big enough names to garner much media attention were pretty much out of luck. But today, through social media, fan sites and music sharing services, they can have a legitimate career doing something they love.
My second installment of Random Weekends starts off with the English-language version of Shakira’s ‘Loca,’ a bonus track from her most recent album, 2010’s Sale El Sol.
The Spanish version of this song was the album’s lead-off single and I prefer it to this one, though to be honest, they’re basically the same. I just prefer Shakira’s voice in her native Spanish — the way the multisylabbic words roll off her tongue so effortlessly.
My final 2011 video, and my favorite of the bunch, is TV On the Radio’s clip for the song ‘You’ from their album Nine Types of Light.
This is more of a short film than a music video. The concept is that the band members are meeting up in a diner a year after breaking up. The first several minutes of the video, as well as spans at the middle and end, show the five men reuniting with the sort of casual improvisational conversation that made Diner and Tin Men such a treat.
My third featured Childish Gambino song in the past few months earns its spot here thanks to one of the more compelling videos I’ve seen in awhile.
‘Bonfire’ is the hardest song on Childish Gambino’s debut album, Camp, the track most like traditional rap. It features the sort of casual misogyny and boasts about his rapping prowess that have been trademarks of hip-hop albums for decades.
I’m wrapping up the week with my three favorite videos of the batch I looked at for the blog.
First up is ‘The Greeks’ by Is Tropical, another band I’d never heard of before this week. Even the normally trusty Wikipedia has failed me in this case, identifying Is Tropical as simply “an electronic band from England.”
The song is pretty good, tapping once again into the 80s vibe that is so popular once again.
