"Mos Eisley Cantina Theme" played with a pencil
What's the sequence of events that leads to someone coming up with something this awesome? -Brian
I do this not because I must, but because I wish to do so. | A Minor Motion Picture
My buddy Brian B. has a son, Cullen B., who makes music. The quality of what "kids these days" are doing on their computer boxes is astonishing. No wonder the music industry continues to struggle to monetize their content.
The main link is to his latest "atmospheric concept" album (which may or may not be your thing). I personally prefer his first album.
-Brian
This is my playlist of Christmas songs on Spotify. I've divided it into sections, so if you hear a song you don't like you're probably going to want to skip the next several (because they're going to be similar).
Here's the basic outline:
Have fun! – Calvin
Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer, a song by DMX, Divine Bars on Spotify
The hardest part of my recent switch from Pandora to Spotify was losing access to the "Ludacrismas" station. Thankfully DMX just dropped this heatrock which is helping me cope during the holiday season. -Brian
Like most cool people I mostly discovery hip music that was popular 3 years ago while attending Daddy Daughter dances with my 9 year old daughter. Bonus points for being out of the loop when it is an artist literally from my own city. Anyway, here’s Lean and Dab. – Brian
Spotify's Stranger Things Playlist
In honor of the second season of Stranger Things dropping last week, I wanted to share this fantastic playlist Spotify put together. Shoutout to JP for the link.
Lately I've been listening to copious amounts of Jack Johnson. You may have literally LOL'd at that. But do you realize how soothing that dude's voice is? There's nothing that seems to calm my cranky daughter better than some melodic acoustic guitar and the voice of a Hawaiian, apparently.
I haven't listened to much of his new stuff, but to me you can't beat Sleep Through The Static. Try it out if you haven't before.
Beatles Radio on Spotify
I legit can't figure out how to link to this, so I'm just going to tell you about it. Lately Amanda has been playing Beatles Radio on Spotify for us around the house, and especially when we're trying to get Avery to take a nap. I dig this very strongly and it makes me super happy to think about Avery hearing all these songs for the first time. Even though she probably just thinks it's weird noise. Many adults may also think of the Beatles as weird noise. Whatever.
After reading that John Prine article that I shared several issues ago, I started adding in a little bit of Prine to my rotation each week. After my daughter Avery was born, I was listening to his first album and realized it was just the right tempo for swaying back and forth while holding her, and she seems to enjoy it just fine. Also, my buddy Richey mentioned that Illegal Smile was one of his favorites, and after listening to it about 100 times last week I think it's one of my favorites too. I'd highly recommend putting this on if you find yourself anywhere near a lake this summer.
Intro to Kendrick Lamar
I was talking to a couple of friends earlier this week and mentioned that I had written up a step-by-step guide to introduce yourself to the music of Kendrick Lamar. I know he's not for everybody – and neither is rap. But I like rap, and I like K-Dot. If you want to give it a go, here's how I would start.
Alright, that's a lot. Here's a link to his artist page on Spotify.