Tag Archives: Music

New Beginnings for Old Friends

ninjaBeing in a band is a bit of an emotional tightrope walk.

Trying to make any art can be difficult. It’s hard enough to write one good song on your own — let alone to do it with a group of people, each with a different aesthetic.

And let’s face it: Most musicians tend to possess, kindly put, an independent streak and so — almost inevitably — there is a residue left by the day in/day out friction from collaborating on any body of work.  If you’re lucky, that creative process is followed by rehearsing, recording, and touring.  Sprinkle on top of that whatever “personal demons” existed beforehand and you’ll see that, for all the clichés of a band being like a dysfunctional family, it’s inevitable that there is some truth to it.

Is it really any wonder that so many bands quickly lose their balance and fall off the wire?
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Samples Used By Massive Attack Compilation Released in a Compilation

Massive Attack was one of the architects of a Trip-Hop scene that was a rare bright spot in ’90s music. !K7/Rapster Records has just released a compilation called Protected: Massive Samples, which highlights the sample sources that Massive Attack used to create some of their best-known work.

Even though there might be some obscurantists who would object to the idea of a compilation that does the “crate digging” for a wider audience, I’m a real fan of the concept. Massive Samples (and compilations like it) emphasize an under-appreciated benefit of artists using sampled music — what I like to think of as the “Trail of Breadcrumbs” effect. Now more than ever, interested music lovers can follow a clear path back to the sources and influences that undergird the songs and artists they like.

While you contemplate that little nugget, get your groove going with one of the tracks featured in this collection:
Be Thankful For What You Got (William De Vaughn)

Why Am I Not In Argentina Right Now?

It’s been less than two months since returning from Argentina to the nearly unrelenting sub-zero temperatures of New York.

In other words, two months of checking the weather report in Buenos Aires, remembering the crispy perfection of a good empanada, and weeping quietly to myself as South American friends post their pictures from the beach on Facebook.

Here are two things that I’m using to ease my transition back to the North American tundra:

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