Let's Go : Madi Diaz

Nashville has so much great music apart from the stereotypical country that it so woven into the city's identity. I offer this song as proof. It's "Let's Go" by Madi Diaz.

I had the pleasure of catching her (and by "her" I mean "their" because it's actually a duo comprised of Diaz and cohort Kyle Ryan) set at Rites of Spring Saturday afternoon. More to come on Rites later.

Diaz and Ryan met at the Berklee College of Music and eventually headed south. These days they're making some pretty excellent indie pop. "Let's Go" is sprightly, anthemic and infectious. Hearing it live was a blast. It starts off with "ooo's" from the band, builds and spills with the drums as she sings "What a strange day, for once not lost in a bad way." Great line.

Check out a video of the song above courtesy of the great Lightning 100.

Thoughts on the Cloud

After eons of waiting for someone to launch a cloud-based music player, Amazon swooped in and introduced their Amazon Cloud Player. There was much rejoicing. I for one, as well as my hard drive, anxiously await the day when we can turn everything over to the Cloud. It's exciting, it's convenience we've never known.

Fast forward a bit, I've finally gotten the chance to jot down some initial thoughts, plus a few others that have come to mind after signing up and uploading my iTunes.

+ Paying for storage as needed is so much more palatable than signing up for another monthly bill.

+ The fact that the music you buy from Amazon doesn't count against your storage is genius.

+ Weak internet connections make the Cloud Player all kinds of annoying.

+ This could be an iPod-killer. Think about it. If we all eventually get Smart Phones capable of streaming from the Cloud, why have an MP3 player?

+ Not being able to upload all those early DRM protected iTunes purchases hurts. Currently my Cloud Player is missing 137 songs including "Smooth" by Santana with Rob Thomas and the ever-delightful "Stacy's Mom" by Fountains of Wayne.

+ I definitely think that iTunes waited too long and over-thought this whole thing. It seems like most of the chatter revolved around them being the first to launch a streaming music service, especially after they bought out and shut down LaLa.com a while back. That's a whole lot of momentum flat out lost.

More to come.

We'll Call it a Palate-Cleanser

To think you may have lived all these years without this 2003 cover of Brittney Spears's "Hit Me Baby One More Time" by Scottish band Travis, in your life.

I've taken the liberty of enclosing a link to the chords. I think you know why.

Video Round-Up

The past few days have been a veritable music video-releasing bonanza. Here are a few to check out.

Fleet Foxes - Grown Ocean

Fleet Foxes - Grown Ocean from Fleet Foxes on Vimeo.

The National - Think You Can Wait


Heartless Empire - Broken Bells


Okkervil River - Wake and Be Fine