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.

In the Meantime

Things are really busy right about now, so until life smooths out, enjoy this Weezer video.


More promises about the THWFOS review. Coming... soon?

Bob Dylan's Christmas Album

Is that Stalin?

Richard Jay : Today

I got an email a little while ago about an artist by the name of Richard Jay, over in the UK. Jay has got that smoothed out electro pop sound, like Hellogoodbye's "Here (In Your Arms)," but more so. Honestly, I get my fair share of these types of emails, but what gave me pause was that this kid is 16 years old and he's not half bad.

There are two songs on his MySpace, but I'm taking a look specifically at "Today," with all its little blips and buzzes. Jay's vocals have a chilled entrancing quality that ebbs throughout the song. The backing is pretty standard for the genre, but there's a lot of potential there and it's always nice to hear that someone so young is not just sitting around playing video games all afternoon. That sentiment comes through in the song itself too, "Gonna go my own way, gonna get out today, yeah." Over all, definitely worth taking a listen. Jay is apparently signed to Curtain Call Records, no word on what he's currently working on-- I bet it'll be pretty cool, though... and all blippy and buzzy.

The Beatles on the Cover Rolling Stone

Brace yourselves, folks. Rolling Stone has yet another untold angle on the Beatles breakup story. Honestly, will people ever stop rehashing this? Unlikely. This time around, some guy named Mikal Gilmore has the inside scoop.

TMI reserves the right to be highly skeptical. I don't know who he is, I don't know where they found him-- I'm just grateful that it's not another Jonas Brothers tribute.

This is the cover.

Dramatic, no?

Well, I guess the only thing to do is wait until the issue hits stands. Should be... interesting?

NAMM Museum of Making Music

I've been in the process of moving and jet-setting to the Golden State (bourgeois, no?) for about a week now, so I haven't had a chance to post anything. For now, I thought I'd share this little bit that happened while I was at the NAMM Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad, Ca.

There were these two little kids-- siblings, maybe 7 and 9 years old-- who apparently frequent this museum with their mother on a regular basis. In the section devoted to the 60s, the little boy was pushing the buttons that pull up clips of artists on the television monitor when he pushed one in particular and exclaimed happily, "Eric Clapton!"

If a kid that young knows who the heck Eric Clapton is, and trust me, I could tell he knew exactly who Eric Clapton is, maybe we can breathe a little easier.

Anywho, the museum was pretty cool, tracing the way people make music starting in the late 1800s. Tons of old instruments-- a few I'd never seen before, even. The folks working there were really nice and really talkative. If you're ever in the area, definitely check it out. They were in the process of installing an exhibit on the Moog synthesizer. Wish I'd seen that, but the exhibit they had on going electric was pretty sweet.


On a related note, Les Paul died Thursday while I was away. Really sad stuff. Dude was 94.

News Round-Up!

It seems as though there have been quite a few interesting music news bits lately. Here's a quick overview.

- Reportedly, Bob Dylan is planning on releasing a Christmas album. Because you really want to hear Dylan rasping his way through "Up on the Rooftop." Not too many more details so far. We'll keep you posted.

- Mika has released the specs regarding his sophomore album. Name: The Boy Who Knew Too Much. Release Date: September, 22 (U.S.). Track Number: 12. City of Production: Los Angeles. First Single: We Are Golden. Level of Excitement at TMI: High.

- As if Ryan Gosling couldn't get any better, dude's got a band. Dead Man's Bones will release their self-titled debut album on October 6. According to NME, the band describes their musical inspiration as "Disney haunted mansion, doo wop and 60s girl groups." Maybe he should just stick to acting.

- Radiohead released a new song this week, entitled "Harry Patch (In Memory of). I felt very non-British. Harry Patch is (was) an actual person, in fact he was the last survivor of World War I. (Yeah, Patch was 111 years old.) He died on July 25th and Radiohead released the song the day before his funeral. Thom Yorke talked about the need for future generations to be reminded of the atrocities that accompanies war.

- But then, Radiohead came out and said not to expect any full albums for a while. EPs, singles and one-offs? Yes. LPs? They're just not feelin' it. We're confused?

- Jack White debuted a solo single called "Fly Farm Blues." [insert generic Jack White grumbling].

- Heath Ledger's Modest Mouse video for "King Rat" premiered. Haven't seen it yet, but apparently it has "save the whales" undertones. Score.

- The Shins' drummer Jesse Sandoval didn't leave the group because of an "aesthetic decision." He was fired. Well, alrighty then.

Phew, that's all I've got for now. Stay tuned, kids.