Cover Up: Kings of Leon and The Gregory Brothers

You like a good cover song, right? Thought so. Here are two that are worth your time. First up, Kings of Leon, d-bags or not, performed "Dancing on My Own" by Robyn for BBC1's Live Lounge. Their version is less dance floor, more slow flowing mascara and clutched flask. Unrelated: Caleb Followill looks increasingly like my 4th grade gym teacher.



The second cover comes from The Gregory Brothers who turned "Wrecking Ball" by [She Who Must Not Be Named] into an infectious bluegrass tune. Points to them for keeping their clothes on, too.

The Gregory Brothers Work It Out

Debates are better as musicals. That's been the mantra of The Gregory Brothers the past three weeks as the quartet that brought us Autotune the News cranks out songified versions of the Presidential and Vice Presidential debates, all in the name of political absurdity and catchy hooks. Check out the latest from last night's town hall debate between Mittens and Barry. 

Always Summertime : The Gregory Brothers

I've chronicled my love of The Gregory Brothers here before, but wanted to take a second to post one of their non-Auto Tuned songs. It's "Always Summertime." Technically the tune was out about a year ago. Still, it's every bit and lovely as quirky as it was last July and you should check it out. Oh, and if you haven't heard about/downloaded/spent have the afternoon reading entries from the AP Stylebook into the Gregory Brothers' new Songify app, well... I don't really know what to say to you.

Musically Inclined "Things," For Lack of a Better Word

Well folks, TMI's been laid up sick since Friday, and by TMI, I mean yours truly. In the spirit of not having the focus to write about one thing, here are a few items of interest that I thought were worth mentioning.

- Obligatory Beatles/iTunes post: We all knew it was going to happen at some point. There's just way too much money there. Though, before the news leaked or whatever last night, I was hoping the announcement had something to do with the fabled iTunes Cloud. Gizmodo did a funny post on the the matter.

- Avett Bros in unexpected places: There's a website called Design Sponge that I nothing short of adore, we'll say. While perusing my Google Reader this morning, I saw they posted about the Avett Brothers and upon scrolling realized they did an interview with Scott Avett about his artistic pursuits. Great stuff!

- Speaking of cool brothers: The Gregory Brothers turned up on the Today show recently. Points to the dweeb reporter for the stiffest, most out-of-touch explanation of Auto-Tune. Speaking of Auto-Tune, it couldn't even save the Today Show crew from the most painful a capella cover of "Dynomite."

- You Can't Tell Me Nothin': Apparently some guy put out a book with lyrics from rap songs, saying what fine poetry it is, without ever actually having listened to the songs. NPR sent him links to the songs on Youtube and had a conversation with him about his impressions and the relationship between the lyrics and beats/rhythms of rap. I just thought this was really interesting because for the most part, I always thought the rhythms were rap and hip-hop's saving grace. Then again, one of my mottos for a happy life is "quote Kanye whenever possible."

- Make it stop: Pop is so much better than it was in the 90s. Evidence: I can't get this song out of my head. I'm mildly ashamed, but mostly perplexed by why it works at all. Stupid Glee. I think I will be blogging about the value of a solid pop song very soon. Lady Gaga, Ke$ha, Katy Perry-- your credibility will suffer death by cotton candy.

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.

The Musically Inclined Top 10 Finds of 2009

End of the decade. End of the year. It's a list-making bonanza! TMI is here to add yet another one to the mix.

2009 was an alright year for music. Once we got out from under the freak out over Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion, 2009 couldn't commit to being an indie kind of year (The Avett Brothers gathered some major steam and the Decemberists did us proud again) or a not-so-indie kind of year (Bruce. U2. Need I say more?).

So, what did happen? Kanye interrupted people. Green Day released another rock opera. T-Pain took to the water. Lady Gaga... I don't know. I'm still trying to figure that one out. We kept our earbuds plugged in and refused to admit that The Black-Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling" is our new Friday night anthem. (Wait, did I just write that out loud?)Oh, and somehow The Beatles managed to bring in big bucks 40 years after breaking up.

That said, here are The Musically Inclined's Top 10 Finds of 2009. In an effort to keep things fresh, I made up some rules that dictate who can make it on the list.

1. It can be any artist or band that was unheard by TMI before January '09.
2. Songs have to be good. Catchy? Bouncy? Quirky? Yes, but mostly they just have to be solid. Doesn't hurt to be fun and mildly screwy, either. (See #4).

That's all. These tunes just had to survive my music turn over rate, and survive they did! I included YouTube links. Happy exploring.

1. Anonanimal : Andrew Bird

The shift to the breakdown towards the middle of the song alone would have earned Bird the top spot on the list. Noble Beast is a fine record-- unusual in its intricacy and beautiful in its instrumentation. It was the best I heard all year, and to think it came out in January. Listen

2. Auto-Tune the News #5 / Butter on My Roll : The Gregory Brothers

Miles away from the no. 1 entry, The Gregory Brothers have found fame by auto-tuning news clips and turning the boring punditry of Sunday mornings into catchy hip/hop/pop ditties that will have you singing the strangest phrases on loop. ("It's the smooooke!"). Yet further exploration revealed that The Gregory Brothers also have a brand of really cool, soulful tunes that and some killer voices that are far from needing auto-tune. For this Jekyll and Hyde of a band, TMI selected a song from each mode. The Gregory Brothers win the longevity award this year, as months have passed and I still can't shake Katie Couric singing about Fidel Castro. Listen / Listen

3. Blue Skies : Noah and the Whale

The National and Andrew Bird had a love child. True story. Found these guys thanks to a minor road trip and a friend with exceptional taste. It was hard to pick out just one track from the album, The First Days of Spring, but this represents the band pretty well. Listen

4. Meet Me in the Garden : Dent May and His Magnificent Ukulele

So bad it's good? So weird you can't look away? Maybe. TMI was intrigued by this over the top tongue-in-cheek (I hope) crooner. See for yourself why Dent couldn't have been left off the list. Listen

5. Cable TV : Fol Chen

Synthesized beats, blips, buzzes, sort of bored-sounding (or are they alluring, hmmm?) vocals-- that sort of thing. This song is just so cool and strange. Fol Chen is on the cryptic, mysterious side, covering their faces in photographs and the like. In any case, the video for this song fits so perfectly, it's ridiculous. Listen

6. When She's Near : Fiction Family

One part Nickel Creek, one part Switchfoot-- what a fantastic side project. Fiction Family has a warm folksiness that pervades the entire album. Think brightly colored fall leaves. This group is like the smart grandchild of the kind of music people used to play on their front porches-- aware of its roots but not consumed by them. Listen

7. The Crook of My Good Arm : Pale Young Gentlemen

Wisconsin. Eastern Europe. It works. Wrote up these folks in early January after finding them on a Paste Magazine Sampler CD. I think I used the term "gypsy rock" at the time. Yeah. Still works. A smidgen of Gogol Bordello. Unique without sounding gimmicky. Also still applies. Or you can just click here to read the entirety of what I originally wrote. Listen

8. My Girls : Animal Collective

Remember what I said about being catchy? Totally applies in an off beat way. Do we care what adobe slats have to do with anything? No. Listen

9. Worry About it Later : Brakes

Besides being a solid motto for how to live your life, this short, fast-paced little number goes by so quick you just have to back up and listen to it again. And again. Listen

10. Mimizan : Beirut

Oddly enough, this is the second Eastern Europe- channeling entry on this year's list. I first heard of Beirut in 2008 from a friend while sitting at my kitchen table, but it wasn't until I got the Dark Was the Night compilation that I actually heard them. The song sounds like it was put made by carnival folk, or put together from sounds off a merry-go-round. And somehow they pull it off. Listen

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.