#music writing
1972 COUNTDOWN… #65 — #61
1972 COUNTDOWN… #65 — #61
65 BRIAN CADD — BRIAN CADD
There may well be a sidebar post on 1972 Australian albums at some point, but this first album by all-rounder Brian Cadd deserves a special mention. He appeared here recently as a contributor to the fabulous soundtrack Morning Of The Earth (there may be a special ’72 soundtrack post as well, sometime) and although I referred to Cadd as the Aussie Leon Russell, I…
FLY ME TO THE MOON
FLY ME TO THE MOON
The debut album by Air is soaring towards its twenty-fifth anniversary. A big part of the reason people are still enjoying Moon Safari is its tasteful mash-up of genres. Melding lounge, electronica, chill-out, pop, even trip-hop, this charming album is friendly, accessible, and a sustained delight.
The LP opens with the lounge jazz instrumental “La Femme d’Argent”, though those adjectives don’t…
1972 COUNTDOWN… SOME BLUES AND ROOTS
1972 COUNTDOWN… SOME BLUES AND ROOTS
JOHN LEE HOOKER — NEVER GET OUT OF THESE BLUES ALIVE
Exploring an idea he returned to with great success on The Healer (1989), John Lee Hooker invites several guests to join him on this album, including Van Morrison and Elvin Bishop. This See For Miles CD re-issue is a strange beast, including a track from the electric Endless Boogie (1970) and several from a rare collaboration John Lee Hooker…
1972 COUNTDOWN… #45 — #41
1972 COUNTDOWN… #45 — #41
45 TULLY — SEA OF JOY
Australia and beaches seem to go together. Probably something to do with being an island continent. With endless coast and hot summers come beach culture, including the beguiling but not-so-easy-to-master sport of surfing (read about the writer’s efforts here). In the early 1970s a number of iconic surfing films were made, all needing appropriate contemporary soundtracks.…
They changed the way Spotify radio works and I really like it.
They now just give you the playlist instead of making the tracks pop up one by one, which is really handy when you’re searching for new music and want an easy list. You could have looked at your ‘played’ tracks and found out that way, but this allows you to see what’s up ahead as well, without having to cycle through the tracks.
I like to think of them as little individual discover playlists that are more focused on the genre of your playlist that you’re “radio”ing. I really encourage people to make little (even just 5-10 track) playlists of songs they enjoy on Spotify depending on the mood/genre/artist they are looking for and then listening to that playlist’s radio station over starting generic Spotify playlists or artist radio stations. I’ve found Spotify to be a surprisingly good judge of taste, and have had really good results finding new music through their algorithms. Though Spotify is definitely not great with the visibility of more indie artists (especially self-published ones), their web is constantly growing and I’ve found some really obscure shit through my radio stations and, later on, in my discover playlists.
Anyways, as someone whose favorite music blogs have since passed on, and has subsequently fallen out of the practice of finding new music through others- I enjoy Spotify and this change in particular. I should, admittedly, be scouring soundcloud and bandcamp more- but without guidance or willpower I get lost in the vast sea of artists there easily. If anyone has any music-writing indie-focused blogs out there that they enjoy, please share!
Also,if you want to follow me (link) or the playlist based off of Dreamy Poprocks (link) on Spotify, please do! I love seeing what people are listening to and I update the playlist quicker and more often than I do on this blog. There are definitely lots of playlist exclusive tracks, and with over 700 songs it is easy to get lost in.
Keep groovin’
Mac
