Joining the Norse Autumn Equinox Celebration
If you want to participate, here’s what you’re going to need.
All posts filed under: Strange Music
Classical Remix
I love watching videos by 2Cellos anytime I need a pick me up. The Croatian duo is known for reworking pop songs and theme songs into classical music, and have a talent for keeping each piece fresh and entertaining without the benefit of lyrics. Plus they always look like they are having a blast.
Merry Go Round of Life for Meow
This video is really all about Thầy Minh’s cat, Haburu.
Mourning the Death of a Superhero
Taking a moment today to morn the loss of Chadwick Boseman, and grieve along with every other kid who lost a superhero last week. See him break out into an impromptu song in the first video, and surprising Black Panther fans on The Tonight Show in the second.
A Grave Mistake: The Soundtrack of Lore
Arraigned by Chad Lawson, it’s equal parts soothing and melancholy.
Taylor Swift’s Folklore
Before a pandemic swept the globe, Taylor Swift planned on making history this summer as the first female performer to open an NFL stadium. The planned festival style Loverfest concert tour was intended to be a few stops in large stadiums, celebrating summer, sunsets, and the outdoors. Instead, she found herself, like most of us, stuck at home with all her summer plans canceled. So instead, she wrote and recorded a whole new album. A complete departure from her last seven efforts, her eighth album Folklore is a low key, subdued offering. It’s the kind of album a pop star can write when it doesn’t need to support a concert tour and a huge marketing push. Folklore was released midsummer, with no big announcement or definitive lead single. I’ve quickly fallen in love with it from beginning to end. No booming summer hits or flashy production here, just well written, rustic flavored, downbeat songs to listen to while summer slowly fades to autumn.
I Miss You
Bandmates Mark Hoppus and Tom DeLonge may have exuded immature, goofball personas during their time in Blink 182, but underneath they were very serious musicians and songwriters. Take their hit I Miss You, for example. They discussed themes first, and then each wrote on of the verses in separate rooms. Barker wrote the first verse, and Hopper wrote the second. They then reconvended to bring the song together with the chorus and record it. Hello there, The angel from my nightmare, The shadow in the background of the morgue. The unsuspecting victim of darkness in the valley. We can live like Jack and Sally If we want. Where you can always find me And we’ll have Halloween on Christmas. And in the night we’ll wish this never ends, We’ll wish this never ends. (I miss you, miss you) (I miss you, miss you) Where are you? And I’m so sorry. I cannot sleep, I cannot dream tonight. I need somebody and always This sick strange darkness Comes creeping on so haunting every …
Betty Boop Cartoons are Stranger Than I Remember
Growing up my sisters and I would spend a lot of time in the summer visiting our grandparents in Rhode Island. When it was really hot, we watched movies in their basement. They had a ton of bootleg Disney and Peanuts movies, but I remember watching Betty Boop shorts as well. The one I remember the most involved sick cars getting repaired in a hospital (which I found for this post!) When I rewatched it this week, I realized I had forgotten how strange and surreal the shorts actually were. I guess I just never noticed when I was younger how weird each scenario Betty is placed in, the strangeness amplified by the jaunty music each short is set to.
Harry Styles Solo Behind NPR’s Tiny Desk
I can’t say that Harry Styles is a new artist I’ve discovered on NPR’s Tiny Desk series, but after watching his folksy set I’ve gained a new appreciation for his post One Direction solo career. All four songs performed are from his 2019 album, Fine Line. My favorite is the second, Watermelon Sugar High. I’m not sure if it’s the summery vibes or the berry innuendos, but for me it’s the perfect song to blast in my car with the windows down on my way home from work.
Edgar Allen Poe, Animated
I love this almost wordless animation by Lehan Morley of Edgar Allen Poe’s The Masque of Red Death. The animation has an almost water color look, and each scene has one of the distinct color palette’s mentioned in the original short story.
