The Musicmen Cometh!
This is the marriage of two musical minds, Josh Bain and Nolan Ross. Friends since high school, they've seen the seven wonders of the world, jumped from helicopters, hang-glided, climbed Mt. Everest, and even offered jokes over dinner with Bono, Springsteen, Clapton, and others.
Okay, none of that is true except the friends since high school part. Nonetheless, these guys love music and love talking about it. We hope you enjoy it.
You Asked For It
The requests are coming in strong lately to write some more on this thing. So here goes.
The music biz is changing. It’s always changing. But it’s changing for the better and it’s doing things none of us really expected. The latest example to most would be what transpired on the Grammy’s Sunday night. First, you have Esperanza Spalding beating out Justin Bieber for Best New Artist. No one saw this coming. I thought a huge upset would’ve been Mumford & Sons winning. But Spalding? No way. But I enjoyed it. Then you had the enigmatic Win Butler and friends winning Album of the Year. That’s just nuts (Personally, I still think “Neon Bible” is their best, but 2007 was the year of In Rainbows, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, Because of the Times, Wincing the Night Away, just to jog your memory). All in all though - a great win for the 7-piece (or is it 8-piece) Montreal band.
Some other things that I’ve noticed a change in is pop music not being that bad anymore. You could say, it sucks less, but that sounds cynical. The arrival of Ke$ha, the dominance of Katy Perry, and the reinvention of Eminem isn’t something I’m repulsed by anymore. Things are changing. Look at Bon Iver. Dude embodies the indie-rock lifestyle with recording a record in a cabin and stomping the competition without a record label. And then you have Kanye getting on board with that and bringing him along to sing on his latest record. Just nuts. But I’m okay with that.
I think it all came full circle when Phoenix came out with Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. The album is timeless, pertinent, and all around brilliant. There aren’t too many perfect records out there (I can think of a few, and Peter Gabriel seems to know the secret to it), but Phoenix made one. And lest we not overlook one of my favorite perfect records ever, Here Be Monsters by Ed Harcourt. But that’s neither here nor there to discuss, really. I’m just happy music’s changing.
Some things I’m spinning lately that I’m happy about -
Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors - Chasing Someday
Adele - 21 (thanks Sean)
Cut Copy - Zonoscope
Matthew Ryan - Dear Lover (Acoustic Version)
The Civil Wars - Barton Hallow
The Boxer Rebellion - The Cold Still
