Have you heard of
Washington Phillips? He was possessed of a wonderful voice, and delivered his simple but gorgeous gospel tunes in an easy and utterly unprepossessing style. He accompanied himself not on guitar or piano, as might be expected, but rather on a chiming, delicately ethereal zither, lending a curiously timeless air to his recordings from the 1920s. An altogether unique performer, his music is a real treat for the soul:
Take Your Burden To the Lord,
What Are They Doing in Heaven Today,
Denomination Blues,
I Had a Good Father and Mother,
Lift Him Up,
Paul and Silas in Jail,
Mother's Last Word To Her Son and
Train Your Children.
[more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Jun 14, 2010 -
23 comments
Sometimes, when you've had your fill of people basking in the golden light of their self-righteous indignation, you just wanna hear a song about somebody telling those holier-than-thou-ers where to get off. Something like, say,
Harper Valley PTA.
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posted by flapjax at midnite
on Apr 24, 2008 -
39 comments
Queens of
Carnatic singing:
Nithyasree Mahadevan:
1,
2 and
3.
Sudha Ragunathan:
1,
2,
3 and
4. And the legend of the legends,
M.S. Subbulakshmi, in her film appearances from decades past:
1,
2 and
3, and as an elder stateswoman of Carnatic vocal artistry:
1,
2,
3 and
4.
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Mar 15, 2008 -
13 comments
Head over to
Cheikha Rimitti's MySpace page and listen to the first tune up on her player (starts when you open the page), called
Saida. Whoa! Is that badass or
what? Well, there's 5 other tunes of hers there for your listening pleasure, covering a wide swath of stylistic territory within the Algerian music tradition she was such an important part of. Yet
another MySpace page pays tribute (with 4 more songs!) to this powerful singer, and you can also learn more about her at the
Cheikha Rimitti website, which is in French, but with links like "Musique" and "Vidéos", you shouldn't have too much trouble with it. There's an informative English-language video
biography of this "Mother of
Raï", not to mention this performance footage (with those fantastic flutes!) of
Saida.
[more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Feb 5, 2008 -
18 comments
Lately I've been grooving to Hmong karaoke videos.
Maybe it's the lovely, understated singing style, or those charming young ladies doing backup dance, smiling so beatifically as they do their minimal, bouncy step.
Maybe it's the slinky pentatonic sax riffs, or those percussive, insistent strings plucking away over the hypnotically loping beats.
Maybe it's the hats.
Maybe it's the way some of them incorporate traditional instruments and costumes. Or
maybe it's the sheer unlikeliness of lyrics like "
tuaj nriav tus neeg zoo nraug" or "
yuav mus nrog koj nyob." Everybody,
sing along!
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Jun 9, 2007 -
40 comments
I thought I'd seen pretty much every bit of performance footage (whether live or lip-synched) featuring the Beatles, but lately I discovered some clips on YouKnowWhere that I hadn't seen before, and I'd wager there's more than a few folks out in MefiLand who've also missed these: a proto-psychedelic promo clip for
Rain, and another promo clip for
Hey Bulldog, and finally, this rarity, an alternate take of the promo clip for
Hello Goodbye. Just for good measure, here's the more familiar (but still
somewhat obscure)
version.
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Jun 7, 2007 -
43 comments
Two divas with tall, I mean
tall platinum blond
hair wigs at the height of their fame and vocal prowess sing the songs that made them legends. Ladies and gentlemen, blue-eyed soul queen
Dusty Springfield, and the pride of Nashville,
Tammy Wynette. And honorable mention to another top-heavy musical blond, purveyor of perky pedal-steel perfection
Barbara Mandrell.
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Jun 5, 2007 -
32 comments
Somewhere along the line you've probably heard Bobbie Gentry's brilliant signature tune,
Ode To Billy Joe, but unlike
previously, now you can see a sad-eyed Bobbie perform it
live, displaying the understated Southern soul delivery that, in addition to the delicious lyrics, lazy tempo and no-drums arrangement, made the tune such a milestone in US pop music history. But there was another side to Bobbie: down-home sex kitten! The gal could work a fire-engine red catsuit.
Check her out! Go Bobbie!
posted by flapjax at midnite
on May 29, 2007 -
22 comments
In April of 1966, there
emerged onto the American pop music scene a singer like no other. Off-pitch and off-tempo, a 59 year-old grandmother would perform rock standards such as
A Hard Days Night and Downtown [link to audio] in a bizarre operatic style. Often considered the worst pop star of all time, she rode the line between farce and reality, as the reputable Capitol Records promoted the so-called "new sound" without cracking a smile. Her name was
Elva Connes Miller, but on stage she was known simply as
Mrs. Miller. Was her recording career one of the cruelest practical jokes ever devised by the record industry?
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Dec 21, 2006 -
25 comments
