Guitar Foot

My role in society, or any artist's or poet's role, is to try and express what we all feel. Not to tell people how to feel. Not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of us all." - John Lennon, c. 1972

[guitarfoot]

This Artist Lost 2,000 Potential Fans In Two Hours Because Of This - Digital Music News

I just got back from a nice trip to the Midwest for a couple weddings and a camping trip with Dad. It was a nice...

This is fantastic insight for struggling musicians.

[guitarfoot]

If You Paid for Beats, Apple Music Is a Broken Promise | WIRED

Dear Apple: You booted me off Beats with the promise my music would follow me. So where is it?

I paid for Beats for about 3 months.  It was awful.  This article resonates me completely.  

[guitarfoot]

These Stereotypes Of 10 Major Genres Of Music Are Totally Spot On

If you could stereotype all genres of music this is what it would look like.

[guitarfoot]

Lose Yourself In A Map Of Every Music Genre Ever | Nerdist

That wasn't just a hyperbolic headline. You will sincerely lose chunks of time browsing this map of over 1300 musical genres. People of the internet, we present to you... Every Noise at Once! Click that link and prepare to be immersed in all sorts of musical awesomeness. 

[guitarfoot]

Could it be??  A Kanye West song that I LIKE?!  This is wonderful.  Paul McCartney, continuing to do a phenomenal job staying relevant.

[guitarfoot]

So after more trials than tribulations I've decided to drop Beats Music and try something else.  I've had a number of frustrations with the service, the greatest of which is the fact that "Offline Mode" won't work unless you initiate song play while you have signal (3G/4G or Wifi).  So, even when I've taken the time to download songs to my device AND they're taking up memory on my phone, they won't play.  In NYC, that's a HUGE frustration as a lot of the time when I'm trying to play a song...I'm in the subway.  And when I select a song to play that I've "downloaded" it just shows the spinning wheel of death, drains my battery, and leaves me eagerly anticipating those first few coveted notes of the particular earworm I'm trying to listen to.  There are songs I've downloaded that just refuse to play altogether (Ahem, looking at YOU Wonderwall). 

I've also had many issues updating my card info when it randomly defaults back to my previous billing zip code I've moved during my subscription), the App often crashes and the website player doesn't work on many of the desktops I've tried it on.

I thought once Apple made the purchase, they would streamline and fix issues with the App but I haven't seem any improvement.

Time to move on.  Based on the above chart, I'm temped to go with Spotify or Rdio.  Such a conundrum.  Thoughts?  Tips?

[tinydeskcontest]

Tiny Desk Entrant: Dirty Cello (Rebecca Roudman, Jason Eckl and Anthony Petrocchi)

City: Novato, Calif.

Original Song: “Prince and Castle”

Fair warning: Bob will not part with the Tiny Desk for the concert, even for a cool sawing sound effect! - Kate

[nprmusic]

It is absolutely, positively the last day to enter the Tiny Desk Contest!

[guitarfoot]

This is very cool, I love the saw!!!

[guitarfoot]

Finally getting around to binge watching Sonic Highways, I can't believe I waited this long!!  

This show flows from the same vein as VH1s show Behind the Music, but instead of taking the perspective and story of a single band, Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters visit a number of musical mecca's in the US (Chicago, Nashville, NYC, Austin, etc) where he interviews various artists who originated in each city and discusses the musical history and cultural climate of each city in its heyday.  

Then, they record a song for their album "Sonic Highways" in the quintessential studio for each city based off of their interviews and personal association to that city and its history.  Each episode concludes with a performance by Foo Fighters of the song written for that city.  

In short, this show is amazing.  It makes me want to go on another musical pilgrimage!!

[lprnyc]

The Broadway Sings concert series continues this Sunday at LPR with Broadway Sings Pink! Twenty Broadway performers will be celebrating the artist’s hit songs with brand new arrangements, original orchestrations, and an ensemble of ten musicians. Performers include Tony Award winner Lena Hall, Christine Dwyer, Kate Shindle, Ciara Renée, Lesli Margherita, Zak Resnick and many more!

[guitarfoot]

Absolutely love creative covers.

[guitarfoot]

Officially feeling stoked for 2015 Governor's Ball!  This will be my first East Coast concert festival, excited to see how it stacks up!

Artists I'm MOST excited to see:

The Black Keys

Ratatat

Atmosphere

Weird Al (because, come on, he's legendary)

Florence & The Machine (was epic at Coachella)

Time to start checking out YouTube for all those small print bands I've never heard of, totally ripe fodder for finding my new favorite artist!  (That's how I discovered both The Wombats and Shovels & Rope).  

[guitarfoot]

A long belated edition of the Shuffle Game.

Today, "Sun It Rises" by Fleet Foxes played.  I discovered Fleet Foxes a bit late when I attended the No Other* performance at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Dec 2013.  

Honestly, much about this song just doesn't do it for me.  The song opens with a harmonic echo oozing with southern twang that tries a bit too hard to sound authentic, which then awkwardly transitions into a willowy, ethereal melody with kind of awkwardly placed twangy banjo bits.  This "trying too hard to be authentic and folksy" vibe is what kept me from getting hooked on Fleet Foxes, in general.  To some groups, like Shovels and Rope and Mumford and Sons, it comes naturally and doesn't feel forced.  To others, like Fleet Foxes, it's the complete opposite.  If there is one thing I cannot tolerate in a group is inauthenticity.

* No Other is a band with members from Fleet Foxes, Grizzly Bear, Beach House and others formed to pay tribute to founding member of The Byrds, Gene Clark.  They played cover versions of Gene Clark's 4th solo album No Other, in order.  The show was beautiful and can be viewed in its entirety here:

http://pitchfork.com/tv/5-special-presentation/1107-the-gene-clark-no-other-band-at-music-hall-of-williamsburg/

[guitarfoot]

Much belated post, but I had the opportunity of attending the Billboard Touring Conference and Awards in 2014!  The event was at the Roosevelt Hotel and I went with a handful of students.

Highlights:

1) Brantley Gilbert and his team spoke about Gilbert's rise to stardom and his genre blending rock/country sound.  He was so funny and charismatic and the team was honest and sincere.  It was very interesting to consider how a significant proportion of the country music community is not welcoming of the blending when I am actually going the other direction.  i'm not a traditional country music fan but have been listening to more and more of it thanks to artists like Gilbert.

2) Chris Cornell had a lot of interesting things to say about how much of the success of Soundgarden, Pearl Jam and Nirvana had to do with "right place right time."  I think Cornell, alongside Dave Grohl, have done exceptionally well and continuing to grow as musicians and stay relevant whereas other artists of the same peer group didn't fare quite so well.  

3) Hearing Kool and the Gang perform "Celebration" was a spectacular experience.  They were SO much fun and had so much energy.  Their performance was worth the conference fee.  

I hope to go again next year!

[ohpmore]

[yelyahwilliams]

this was the best! i know how it feels to fall off the pmore box!! but for real, one of my favorite moments we’ve ever had with a fan/pmore family member on stage. 

[guitarfoot]

Way to keep rocking, girl!

[drownedinsoundcloud]

[guitarfoot]

I love this message.

[rollingstone]

Meet the noisy Brits who were too punk for the punks in the oral history of the Pop Group.

[guitarfoot]

Cranberries Singer Arrested for Violent Airplane Attack

Dear Billboard, they're called FLIGHT ATTENDANTS now.  

Dear Dolores, take deep breaths and count to ten.

[guitarfoot]

Say what? Ariana Grande, Meghan Trainor sang at the CMA Awards

I mentioned it in a previous post, but it's pretty clear the traditional genre lines are blurring.  Florida Georgia Line and Taylor Swift have been some of the most successful to date at straddling the line between Country artist and Pop artist, but this brings it to a whole new level...actually I don't think there is ANYTHING country about either Ariana Grande's or Meghan Trainor's performances.  Interesting choice, CMAs.  Discuss.