Monthly Archives: December 2014
Gift Guide 2014 (Literary Edition)
Just the other day a funny memory from adolescence popped up in the middle of our conversation. We couldn’t stop laughing as we reminisced: trying to go for a jog while holding a Sony Discman. Picturing this made us erupt in laughter. We had completely forgotten what it feels like to have to hold such a device in a way that kept your music from skipping – it would really cramp your style!! In fact, that distinctly difficult way of listening to music really isn’t that far in our past. Technology has changed music in every imaginable way from how music is released, how it is paid for, how it is made, how it’s received, and how we feel about it.
In honor of musicians who have incredible stories to tell from their respective heydays, when everything about music was completely different, here are some amazing books and memoirs for this years gift guide. Does it matter if you love their music, their style, or even know who they are? Not really, they are portals to another time and place told by some prolific characters, beautifully written, in an industry that looks totally different today!
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George Clinton, “Brothas Be Like ,Yo Like George, Ain’t That Funkin’ Kinda Hard on You?: A Memoir”
P-Funk’s master front man eccentric, who has influenced so many genres and artists.
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Rick James and David Ritz, “Glow: The Autobiography of Rick James”
Posthumous memoir from a dude who lived a wild party lifestyle and before he became a funk-disco superstar he played with Neil Young and Joni Mitchell! |
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Carlos Santana with Ashley Kahn, “The Universal Tone: Bringing My Story to Light”
Pioneer of Rock and Latin fusion who rose to major success |
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Viv Albertine, “Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys.: A Memoir”
Guitarist for the Slits and who discusses the incredible London punk scene of the 70’s with close friends in The Clash and The Sex Pistols among others. |
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Kim Gordon, “Girl in a Band: A Memoir”
Indie Punk whatever you wanna label it, Sonic Youth’s front woman has exerted a huge influence on so many musicians both male and female with her sound, style, creativity, and her strong sense of conviction on everything from politics to feminism and art, and helped popularize the work of such visionaries as Spike Jonze, Todd Haynes, Gerhard Richter, Mike Kelley, and Richard Prince. |
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Herbie Hancock and Lisa Dickey, “Herbie Hancock: Possibilities”
Herbie Hancock is a living legend and jazz pioneer, one of the first jazz pianists to give synthesizers a shot and has a career spanning six decades.
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And just for fun here is some footage that predates our era of course but really shows how people used to buy music – they would interact with one another at record stores, they would meet like-minded fans, and if they wanted to know what was new, they would have to come in and look for it. Also, check out how much space is needed for this stores stock! Isn’t it staggering how all of that stock in that entire store could fit onto one device now? And does that make our experience more special or less? What do you think?
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It seems like holiday music begins playing everywhere as soon as the Thanksgiving plates are cleared from the table! From there, it’s pretty incessant and ubiquitous until the New Year has passed. Do you love it or hate it?
The primary songs in rotation end up being the same as they were since Keith Haring did the cover for that holiday album in 1987. Here are a few less observed Christmas songs we have come across over the years:
Lou Rawls – “Christmas will Really be Christmas” produced by the legendary David Axelrod:
And last but not least, this super heavy and psychedelic ode to the Post Office by Paul Revere and the Raiders:
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