Heading Down The Beat 'n' Track

Cool logo, no? This is from the Nov./Dec edition with a fellow by the name of Brinley Addington

Writing the last post title reminded me that I'd meant to post about a project I started in August at the Belmont Vision. It's a monthly Q&A series called The Beat 'n' Track (I know, it's cute) that features Belmont artists.

A word about my university– everyone and their mother is in a band/plays guitar/writes songs– so why highlight a subject that everyone is undoubtedly sick of? Well, it occurred to me this summer that these artsy musician types can have some pretty interesting things to say when they're not directly talking about themselves. Hence, The Beat 'n' Track– my effort to showcase the fact that we've got some musical badasses at Belmont, but also get them off on tangents or less self-reflective ramblings. At least, that was my hidden angle. I didn't tell this to the folks I interviewed. Mostly I try to provide a set up and then let the conversation go where it may.

Given that we're a monthly publication, so far I've done four, but I plan on continuing through next semester. Also, I hope someone picks it up next year. That would be sweet. Check out what I've done so far.

August: The Beat 'n' Track with Miss B.
September: The Beat 'n' Track with Cody Fry
October: The Beat 'n' Track with Chase Foster
November/December: The Beat 'n' Track with Brinley Addington

Getting Back on Track

Alright kids, TMI's getting back on track after a few weeks of breaking news, exams and general busyness. We've got a few things in the works this season, including the annual The Musically Inclined's Top 10 Finds to 2010. Look for that in the next week or so.

For now, I wanted to bring your attention to the fact that Amazon is giving away one holiday song everyday until Christmas. The great thing is that if you miss a day, you can go back and download the tracks anyway. So far, Fleet Foxes and Mannheim Steamroller are two of the more notable giveaways, but hey, check out the twelve others and decide for yourself. Personally, I've been keeping up with them via Twitter.

Too Much : Sufjan Stevens

Hipsters are real.

Thanksgiving with Kanye

I made this.

In case you hadn't heard on this fine Thanksgiving Day morning, Kanye West is making an appearance on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. While I can hardly think of a stranger holiday match-up, I'm a little excited.

Looks like Tom the Turkey has competition.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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.

Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise : Avett Brothers

Just to drop a quick line, I finally picked the Avett Brothers' last album I and Love and You this weekend. It's been on my list a while. I first heard about them in 2007 around the time their album Emotionalism came out. It was this summer though, that I really started to dig the North Carolinian trio. Their Bonnaroo performance (Not that I was there. Thank you Youtube and NPR.) was so energetic and so entertaining. I think I played it back a several times over the next few days. When cheap synth and poorly-used Auto-Tune threaten to overtake us all, it's bands like the Avetts whose sound keeps us grounded.

Anyway, here's a video they put out this summer for "Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise." Take a look if you're not already quite captivated by these guitar/piano/upright bass/banjo-playing/foot-stomping fellows.

The Sound of Settling : Death Cab for Cutie

As obvious as it may sound, the older I get, the more certain bands, albums or songs make sense to me. The National is a good example. Boxer is one of my favorite albums. I know I appreciate it more than I did as a freshly-graduated high schooler and I know I'll appreciate it even more when I'm 30. There can hardly be a better occurrence than a band that grows up with you.

Death Cab for Cutie works that way for me too, but maybe in a different way. Lord knows I've written about them ad nauseum, but its hard not to after repeated realizations that there's a line in a song that sums up perfectly what I'm thinking. (And no, I could not really use a wish right now.)

Example: These days whenever one of my friends get engaged, (and man, are they getting engaged) I like to have a ceremonial playing of "I Was Once A Loyal Lover," chiefly for the lines that say "All my friends are forward thinking, getting hitched and quitting drinking. I can feel them pulling away as I'm resigned to stay the same." Cheers, right? It's great stuff.

Today I figured out that a thought I'd been trying to condense into a tidy phrase was already hanging out in Death Cab's "The Sound of Settling." Partly, I think it's a testament to the songwriter. While the lyrics v. music debate rages on, I think I'll continue to put put my faith in words.

In any case, check out the video. 1:55 is probably the best part of any given music video I've ever seen.