Music Friday: The Birth of Music Friday

Hey everyone, welcome to Music Friday, a new feature here where you can take advantage of integrated social network posting to reach job seekers on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.  Oh wait, no, that's not right. That's someone else.  Actually this is a new feature where I will talk about music every Friday.  You know what they say, it mix the bourgeoisie and the rebel.  So let's go.

Recently Spotify Discover Weekly (more about which below) served me up something surprising and cool.  Now, if I said to you "how about a reggae cover of a Radiohead song" you'd probably say something like "they don't make weed big enough" or "can you reload for me I accidentally fired that one off the side of my head" but BELIEVE IT OR NOT this cover of "Let Down" by Toots & the Maytalls (under the Easy Star All Stars aegis) is actually pretty great.




It's not just me! According to reliable sources like their marketing agency, "Thom Yorke, 'in a rare moment of onstage chatter' according to USA Today, praised Toots and the Maytals' version of 'Let Down,' while Yorke's bandmate, guitarist Jonny Greenwood, calls it 'truly astounding.'"  Listen for yourself; I think it's pretty great, and I'm the kind of person who would normally break out in hives at the phrase "reggae cover."

(Why did SDW serve up this odd choice to me?  Probably because I listened to some Radiohead. Did I listen to some reggae at some point?  I don't think so, but BLACKOUTS HAPPEN!!!!)

Turning to matters more conventional, as you know, I love Sturgill Simpson a lot, which is to say more than other modern country music and less than beer.  I didn't love his latest album, "A Sailor's Guide to Earth" as much as his prior 2 albums, but it's still better than a lot of things.  Anyway, Sturgill did a WTF podcast with Marc Maron and it's illuminating and fascinating, not just because I'm a fan of the artist but also because he's just had an interesting life, going from rural Kentucky to the Navy to working for the railroad in Utah and other country-music-type-stuff.  Worth a listen.

(That being said, I might be heretical here but I don't really care for Marc Maron's interviewing style, which often seems to be Marc Maron talking about Marc Maron while the guest patiently listens.  He's like a rougher, recovering alcoholic Terry Gross.)

Listening to that led me to the catalog of Jason Isbell, an artist I have tried out once or twice but never really followed up on but then hearing Sturgill talk about him like he was God I went back and checked some stuff out again.  HOLY SHIT, I should have paid more attention the first time.  This blew me away:




Trigger warning, don't listen to this if anyone you know has ever died, or if you're a person on the Earth.  It is fucking DEVASTATING.

I promise I don't exclusively listen to reggae covers and morose alt-country!  While recently listening to someone's show on BFF.FM, the Only Station That Matters, I happened to hear Warm Soda's "Tell Me in a Whisper."  What a fun song!




Cool, huh? Wait, was there something else? Oh yeah, Spotify Discover Weekly, the service where Spotify serves you a playlist specifically tailored to what you might like.  Or should like.  Unlike every other one of these type things, Spotify Discover Weekly actually prodcues results.  It's magical!  Here's a great article about how they do it.

Finally, I really want to go to the Saturday set at FYF Fest in LA.  Seriously, check out this lineup:

Unfortunately, it's sold out.  Maybe I'll be the tenth caller or something, who knows.

If you go see Brian Jonestown Massacre this weekend, CONGRATULATIONS! You're probably older than me.