'New Girl' Gets Auto-Tuned

Apart from recapping Nashville, it's rare that I can find a way to bring the other types of pop culture that I love besides music onto this blog. That's why I'm a little bit giddy about this promo for Fox's New Girl starring Zooey Deschanel. If  The Musically Inclined had a TV section, I'd write with great frequency about how well the show's writers have navigated the will-they-won't-they relationship of roommates Jess Day (Deschanel) and Nick Miller (Jake Johnson). The characters have been circling each other all season, trying to claw their way to a decision on where to take a relationship that can exhibit everything from the worst habits of bickering siblings to the best instincts of good friends... and then there was that kiss. Now I get to blog about it because some dear person at Fox decided to slice together some clips from the show and Auto-Tune the damn thing a la the Gregory Brothers. And it's good– and every bit as satisfying to watch as the whole Nick/Jess wind up. I hope they never get together. Check it out.

Tech Fail.

Apologies for the long silence. My hard drive died last week and I'm finally with computer again, trying to get everything back to normal.

Until that happens, check out the latest Auto Tune the News from the fantastic people who are The Gregory Brothers.


Also-- NPR is streaming Frightened Rabbit's new album, The Winter of Mixed Drinks.

They're also streaming the new self-titled Broken Bells (Danger Mouse + James Mercer) album.

They are lovely people.

Meet The Gregory Brothers

I'm back... mostly. Not much has been shakin' in the couple weeks that The Musically Inclined has been dormant. Apple released the new batch of iPods. All I can say is that it's cruel not to include a video camera on the iPod touch.

In any case, several weeks ago, a friend of mine showed me this web series called Auto-Tune the News. Basically it's a group of twenty-somethings editing together clips from various news shows, green-screening themselves in, and Auto-Tuning the mind-numbing banter and punditry into some seriously catchy, witty hip-hop tunes that are grounded in real musical ability. Check out the one below and try to dislodge it from your brain.



So after watching all 8 episodes over and over again, I looked up who exactly who was responsible for making Katie Couric bearable.

Meet the Gregory Brothers-- which happens to be the title of their EP.

It's three brothers from Brooklyn-- Michael, Andrew, and Evan, plus Evan's wife, Sarah. I don't really know what I was expecting from their MySpace other than more tongue-in-cheek songs with plenty of digital tinkering, but the Gregory Brothers' music very different. It's equally solid, but soulful and bluesy-- no politics or angry gorillas.

Take that talent and apply it to more serious material, and the result is truly impressive. The Gregory Brothers are not only brilliant but versatile. "Don't Give up on Me" is a good example of their slow soul sound. Rich and intriguing, with a subtle hint of Sam Cooke or something in there with a bit of Continuum era John Mayer. "Bad Habit" is more jazz-tinged, with smart, cool lyrics.

Anyway, they released their EP in May. You can find it here and on iTunes. Do check them out. Let's hope we'll be seeing an LP sometime in the near future.