Musical Taste: Lady Gaga, Lazer mixtapes, Songs to wear Pants to, and more
It’s been a few weeks since the last Musical Taste, but I’ve got an interesting platter lined up for you today. Let’s kick things off with that cartoon block loved by many a geek: Adult Swim.
- Starting last week, Adult Swim, the block of animated and live-action shows for twentysomethings on Cartoon Network, started a summer singles program. For the next 8 weeks, Adult Swim, along with Kia motors, will be releasing an exclusive single by exciting artists once a week. The first, an excellent cover of Gene Watson’s ‘Love in the Hot Afternoon’, by Matt Sweeney and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy debuted last week, and we should have gotten a new Madvillain (MF Doom and Madlib) track yesterday, but it has been delayed for some reason. Hopefully it hits soon, as I think Madvillainy is one of the most unique rap albums of the last few years.
- In an interview with the UK’s Times, Lady Gaga held forth on the current climate of file-sharing and the music industry in general:
“I hate big acts that just throw an album out against the wall, like ‘BUY IT! F*** YOU!’ It’s mean to fans. You should go out and tour it to your fans in India, Japan, the UK. I don’t believe in how the music industry is today. I believe in how it was in 1982.”
She explains she doesn’t mind about people downloading her music for free, “because you know how much you can earn off touring, right? Big artists can make anywhere from $40 million [£28 million] for one cycle of two years’ touring. Giant artists make upwards of $100 million. Make music – then tour. It’s just the way it is today.”
While her words don’t apply to a lot of the smaller, indie groups, they do make sense with regard to huge, arena acts. And hey, when I go to local or smaller shows, I’ll often buy the record while I’m there. Oftentimes, it’s the band members themselves who are selling their merch and they always appreciate the fan interaction.
The rest of the interview with Gaga is worth reading as well.
- According to Pitchfork, Major Lazer, the reggae-dancehall-zombie-killing-cartoon collaboration between DJs Diplo and Switch, has teamed up with La Roux to release a free mixtape, Lazerproof. La Roux is a british electro duo made up of Eleanor Jackson and Ben Langmaid. The album will be available over at Mad Decent tomorrow, so hop over and pick it up. The album art alone is worth it.
- Have you ever had a great idea for a song, but have next to no musical talent? Well, that’s where Andrew and his Songs to wear Pants to come in. Since 2004, he’s been taking e-mails from visitors to his site, and translating their ideas into amusing, minute or less wonders. There are songs about Sad Toasters (a classic), zombies of course, and even a ‘Celtic Techno Burrito’.
Andrew also takes paid selections, having written songs for young lovers, animated films and a variety of other causes. The full archive is enormous, but worth browsing through if you have the time and the inclination. The variety of sounds he comes up with, the sheer difference in style from song to song is nothing if not astounding.
In: Around the Intertubes, Music · Tagged with: Adult Swim, exclusive singles, free mixtape, Music, piracy is okay, songs about sad toasters