I Want My Music Television: 10/15/13

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


Breakfast Can Wait – Prince


Apparently the internets are no longer over because Prince recently joined Twitter a couple months ago and just uploaded a music video to YouTube. Hopefully he ends up uploading his entire back catalogue. Seriously, just think about how many times you went to YouTube over the past eight years to watch Batdance only to find it was not there or the one that was is some crappy version probably taken from a VHS tape. The video for Breakfast can wait is a little disappointing because it does not feature Dave Chappelle, who is on the single cover. Instead we get some chick pretending to be Dave pretending to be Prince.


Survival – Eminem


When Eminem released Berzerk I called it his best song since Lose Yourself. Well Survival is his second best song since Lose Yourself. The video could have been done without the shameless video game footage.


PrimeTime – Janelle Monáe featuring Miguel


Janelle Monáe released this song last month, so by my math, I am guessing there is going to be a spike in the population next May. I am not sure if the robot strip club themed video helps or hurts.


Barenaked Ladies - Odds Are


Oh Barenaked Ladies, you sneaky Canadians, way to guarantee views by making a music video where you have to watch more than once, once to watch it, and another to read the scroll.

Previewing Made in America

Festivals have been a big thing over in England for year, but for most of last decade there was really only Bonaroo and Coachella, and even those two for the most of their existence were thought as hippie festivals for jam bands. I am guessing the disaster that was Woodstock ’99 had something to do with it. But ever since Lollapalooza was re-imagined as a festival putting up roots in Chicago that there have been more and more of them popping up every year.

Just last year Philadelphia got its own festival Made in America founded by hip-hop impresario Jay-Z. Where other festivals are very rock heavy events and a token rapper or two, with Jay-Z creating the artist list, the festival ended up being the most diverse lineup ranging from rap to rock to RnB to EDM to blues. Jay-Z even managed to wrangle Ron Howard to direct a documentary for the inaugural Made in America festival which will debuts tomorrow on Showtime at 9:00.

Taking place in the middle of the city, Philadelphia is an important part of the film as we meet the worker at the festival from the stage crew to the food vendors (unfortunately for the documentary, the festival seemed to come off without a hitch as conflict is much more entertaining). Howard even interviews a neighbor to the festival who describes the “bang-bang music” coming in through the windows.

But the heart of the Made in America festival and documentary is the music where you will get a behind the scenes look at many of the artists who played last year. This includes the first performance together by the surviving members of Run-DMC in a decade. Ron Howard gets a DJ lesson from Skrillex who turns out to be much more interesting than his music. The best behind the scenes segment is Janelle Monáe who’s life story is the epitome of Made of America. You also will go behind the scenes with Pearl Jam, Odd Future, D'Angelo, The Hives, Santigold, and get snippets of sets by Gary Clark Jr., Dirty Projectors, Passion Pit, and Jill Scott. Unfortunately you will also have to sit through a lengthy segment featuring Rita Ora. Seriously Jay-Z, stop trying to make Rita Ora happen. You already gave us Rihanna, we do not need another one.

Of course the documentary ends like the festival does with the surprise appearance by Kanye West who joins Jay-Z for some Watch the Throne songs. Jay-Z- ego is on full display for most of the documentary, there is even a full segment on the Barclay’s Center even though Jay is no longer associated with the Nets anymore. And Jay shows up in the wings for most of the performances usually with Beyoncé by his side. That aside, Made in America is a great look at the festival for those who like me were resigned to watching on the live stream. Now you can watch it on your big screen with better speakers.

Made in America airs Friday at 9:00 on Showtime.

I am Sharper than a Razor, Eyes Made of Lasers

Yes the second album from Janelle Monáe, The Electric Lady is a concept album. And not only is a concept, it is actually a sequel to her debut album and an EP before that which are about time-traveling messianic cyborg named Cindi Mayweather, played by Monáe, who’s been tasked with delivering an oppressed people from the clutches of The Great Divide, a dastardly corps of other time traveling robots. But do not let the concept album label or the sci-fi plot scare you off, if you went into the album without that knowledge, you would not even notice it at all except for three interludes presented as a radio talk show host DJ. And those tracks can be easily deleted if you download the album.

On her debut, Monáe set herself up as the new millennium, slightly more feminism version of Prince with a live show reminiscent of James Brown. So it is apropos that the purple one himself shows up on the first full song on The Electric Lady pulling out his killer falsetto and a guitar solo, but the real star of Givin Em what They Love is one of the funkiest bass lines you will hear all year. This starts an onslaught of collaborations with Erykah Badu (Q.U.E.E.N.) and Solange (Electric Lady) showing the ladies can be funky on their own.

Naturally things slow down when Miguel shows up for Primetime, a song the just oozes pure sex. Ladies, you may just get impregnated by it just from listening highlighted by another great groove (seriously, Janelle’s bassist needs to show up on ever RnB record for the next decade) and is an instant add to any baby-making playlist.

After the guests have left the building (the bane of Justin Beiber fans existence Esperanza Spalding does show up on the penultimate track) and two more dance songs, it sounds like Monáe is trying to audition to sing the next James Bond theme starting with Look into My Eyes. And not one of those crappy modern day Bond Themes, but one from a cool sixties Bond movie. And though the album slows down for a bit in the second half, it does finish strong What an Experience, a syth driven song that would not have sounded out of place on the radio back when Price was ruling it back in the eighties. The Electric Lady is an upgrade over The Archandroid and here is hoping that the final saga of Cindi Mayweather is even better still.

Song to Download – PrimeTime

The Electric Lady gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

I Want My Music Television: 5/8/13

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


Come and Get It - Selena Gomez


If her role in Spring Breakers was not evidence enough, Selena Gomez has moved into her mature part of her career. This song and video is reminiscant of Mandy Moore, who a decade ago was also a second tier pop starlet who was better at acting than singing, and released an grown up Indian influenced In My Pocket to set hr apart from her peers. But In My Pocket is a bit catchier and like Moore, I hope Selena starts focusing on acting for the next couple years. And if the Mandy comparison continues (they both dated humongous douchebags during their teen starlet days), I will look forward to Gomez releasing a folk influenced album in five years as she transitioned into a classier era in her life.


Mosquito - Yeah Yeah Yeahs


When the Yeah Yeah Yeahs released the album art for Mosquito, it was met with a resounding, “Huh?” They have just released a music video for the title track and I have a feeling it will get the same reception.


New Day – Alicia Keys


Apparently Alicia Keys is going with the spaghetti approach to a new single as she really has not had one catch fire (no pun intended) from her new album because she has released two new music videos in as many weeks. I definitely prefer the one with Maxwell to this one. And if you are going to stretch one word out ten syllables, avoid lip-syncing because you are just going to look silly.


Q.U.E.E.N. – Janelle Monae featuring Erykah Badu


Considering the song involves both Janelle Monae and Erykah Badu and I wanted to like the song more than I do. But maybe it will grow on my like many of their past songs have done. But the music video is instantly awesome.

The 9th Green's Reader's Favorite Songs of 2012

Before I get into my favorite songs of the year tomorrow, I turn the site over you the reader, so here is what you have been listening to this year. Be sure to check back tomorrow for the list of my favorites.

1. We Are Young – Fun. featuring Janelle Monáe

2. Call Me Maybe – Carly Rae Jepsen

3. Diamonds – Rihanna

4. Somebody That I Used to Know – Goyte featuring Kimbra

5. Spectrum – Florence and the Machine

6. Climax - Usher

7. Born to Die – Lana Del Ray

8. Hold On – Alabama Shakes

9. Swimming Pools (Drank) – Kendrick Lamar

10. Settle Down – Kimbra

11. Emmylou – First Aid Kit

12. Take a Walk – Passion Pit

13. We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together – Taylor Swift

14. Losing You – Solange

15. Thinkin Bout You – Frank Ocean

16. Big Beast – Killer Mike featuring Bun B, T.I. & Trouble

17. Clique - Clique – G.O.O.D. Music

18. Sixteen Saltines – Jack White

19. Hot Knife – Fiona Apple

20. I Will Wait – Mumford and Sons

Let’s Set the World on Fire We'll Burn Brighter than the Sun

It is a pretty bold statement when you name your band fun.. It may have been better if a emo band used that as a name semi-ironically but fun. is an indie pop band through and through. Making things worse is the pretentious stylization of the name: lower case “f” and a period (I thought punctuations in band names went out of fashion around the middle of last decade). But guess what, fun. is actually kind of fun. They started out solidly enough with songs like All the Pretty Girls from their first album which sounded like a more assessable version of Scissor Sisters.

Now fun. is primed from the big time with the release of their sophomore outing Some Nights. And bigger does not only describe their bandwagon but their sound as they repeatedly go for Queen style theatrics. Even when they go into Queen territory they manage to stay away from the pit falls of previous Freddy Mercury wannabes by never going over the top most notable in the title track (as well as Some Nights – Intro). Some Nights itself has a great tribal drum beat and chant along whoa’s and just the right amount of guitar, unfortunately they ruin the song a little bit with about ten seconds of unnecessary auto-tune before bring back some more awesome whoa’s.

fun. hits it peak when the band aims for an anthem with We Are Young and hits it out of the park with an instant sing-a-long that you will be able to join by the second chorus. Seriously, just try not singing along at some point. Just when you think things cannot get better Janelle Monae shows up to sing one line. And you know a sign of a good song is when it sounds just as good stripped down and yes the acoustic bonus version of the song is just as good. And the good times flows into songs like One Foot and Carry On.

There are a couple missteps on Some Nights. When It Gets Better first came on with its electro beat, I actually thought my computer was doing something wrong and was playing something it was not supposed to, the song just completely sticks out like a sore thumb. And if the ten seconds of auto-tune during Some Nights is unnecessary, then the auto-tune during most of Stars is downright painful to sit through much like the second half of Kanye West’s Runaway, but much longer. When will artist realize there has not been a good use of auto-tune since Peter Frampton put that weird tube thing in his mouth?

Song to Download – We Are Young

Some Nights gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

I Want My Music Videos - 1/10/12

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


United States of Pop (World Go Boom) - DJ Earworm



One thing always to look forward to at the end of every year is DJ Earworm’s mash up of the 25 biggest songs of the year. Unfortunately, much like last year, DJ Earworm was stuck with a bunch of horrible songs that he was stuck with, but at least World Go Boom was better than last year’s submission.


We Are Young – Fun. featuring Janelle Monáe



Thought I am not completely sold on the song by Fun., at least until Janelle Monáe (who says she plans to release two new albums this year) shows up for an all too brief cameo, but it is hard to to be down with a music video featuring slow motion chaos.


Black Treacle – Arctic Monkeys



I did not like most of the Arctic Monkeys’s latest album because it delved mostly in phycodelia, but this song is more in vein of their older song and even has their usual nonsensical video to boot.


Ray Charles - Chiddy Bang



It’s hard not to think of The Throne sampling Otis Redding when you first see Chiddy Bang serenade Ray Charles, but it entertaining in its own right especially their homage to Parents Just Don't Understand.

I Want My Music Television vol. LXXXIX

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


Power - Kanye West



Do not call this a music video, it ia living portrait. Alrighty, I am not sure that it awesome, or just the most pretentious move ever. Probably both. Hopefully Kanye West doesn’t use the same delivery style throughout his next album because it reminds me of the voice Eminem used during Relapse which was so annoying, Em disavowed it. It is alright for a song or two, but I have no desire to hear and hour’s worth of it.


Love the Way You Lie - Eminem & Rihanna



Speaking of Eminem, he has a new video of his own and you know it is serious because it has big name actors in it. Granted it is hard to take anything serious when Megan Fox is involved because she cannot act, and really can only come close to pulling something off when she is portraying a hooker or succubus.


What Part of Forever – Cee Lo



When his former partner is going the pretentious route by casting the chick from Mad Men in a sci-fi video, Cee Lo is stuck slumming it with vampires on the Twilight soundtrack. Maybe he should have stuck with Gnarls Barkley.


Cold War - Janelle Monae



You may remember Janelle Monae as the house band for this year’s ESPY Awards and here is a super simple video to her latest song reminiscent of Sinead O’Connor’s Nothing Compares 2U performance.