SXSW Musical Discoveries

Did I go to South by Southwest? No but who needs crowds and badges when I can just sit at my computer, reading about the festival, watching concerts and downloading my favorite new music. I love Austin and I hear great things about SXSW but I am glad to get the opportunity to learn about new music from the (dis) comfort of my cubicle. NPR music has great coverage of SXSW but I especially appreciated their downloadable playlist of music. You get 71 free songs and every time I listen I seem to discover a new song I like.

Of Monsters and Men: Upbeat, catchy music that makes me dance around in my chair. If you like Arcade Fire, this is the music for you. This band is from Iceland and their debut album My Head is an Animal is out April 3. This week only you can preview the whole album at NPR Music. It is impossible to maintain a bad mood when listening to this album.

Kishi Bashi: Kishi Bashi is the one man band of K Ishibashi, violinist for Of Montreal and Regina Spektor. I love strings in rock bands and this takes it to a whole other level. His debut album 151a will be out April 10. Learn more and see him perform here.

THEESatisfaction: I am not even sure how to describe this hip hop duo of ladies from Seattle, they are part head bopping rap, part sexy soul and all around enjoyable. Their first full length album Awe Naturale came out this week. It flows together like a really great DJ set that you won’t want to end. NPR reviews the album and links to some interviews with them.

Seun Kuti & Egypt 80: Seun Kuti is the son of the famous Nigerian musician (and subject of a broadway show that I wish I had gotten to see) Fela Kuti. Egypt 80 is his father’s band. Inheriting the band and responsibilities of a country’s most famous activist musician can’t be easy but I was immediately drawn into his music.

A few others that I enjoyed one song but haven’t had a chance to research yet:

Grimes

We Are Augustines

Adam Arcuragi

Alabama Shakes

MTV Generation

Over the course of my lifetime MTV was invented, revitalized the music industry, made and lost huge record companies huge sums of money, created the massive appetite for reality television and has generally remained a pop culture touchstone. I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution by Craig Marks and Rob Tannenbaum explores the first ten years of MTV or as people like to call it, when MTV still played music videos.

I Want My MTV is an oral history so you get to hear the perspective of all sorts of people involved in the creation and success of the channel from MTV execs to musicians, music video directors, VJs and record company executives. Often two people will tell different versions of the same story depending on their perspective. The writers are very clever in their introductions to each chapter and how they put together the various sections with the differing perspectives. The book took me a long time to read because I kept having to go online to watch the videos they were referencing. It reminded me of moments from my childhood and songs that I had forgotten existed. It’s also fun to watch the videos knowing all the backstory going on behind the scenes.

This book is an entertaining and informative trip through MTV’s colorful past.

It also made me reflect on my favorite music videos from the first ten years:

Like a Prayer-Madonna (So naughty)

Fight For Your Right-Beastie Boys (like an 80s party movie)

Here I go Again-Whitesnake (how you can you resist this music video classic

Wanted Dead or Alive-Bon Jovi (so arty, I feel Jon’s pain)

Dancing in the Dark-Bruce Springsteen (Bruce loves singing, hates acting, looks uncomfortable)

Luther and a study of Idris Elba

Luther is not a show to watch if you want to be cheered up. There are no laughs and very little levity in this show but it is a great example of the new type of TV that is more compelling than movies. It is an incredibly dark British procedural drama about John Luther (played by the devilishly handsome Idris Elba), a police detective who skates the edge between what is right and what is just. He is a dedicated police officer with a strong sense of vigilante justice who has made a complete shambles of his personal and professional life. I was hooked from the first episode and couldn’t stop watching. Idris won a Golden Globe for his performance. Seasons one and two are currently available on Netflix.

I discovered Idris Elba in The Wire (which I began watching about 7 years after it was on TV and will finish and write about on here at some point) as drug dealer Stringer Bell. His character wants to apply business principles to the drug trade and is always trying to better himself. His acting was so compelling, I wanted to know more about him. He easily moves from Baltimore based drug dealer to handsome Office Regional Manager (Charles Minor, who caused Michael to quit and Angela and Kelly to fight for his attention). I even enjoyed him as Beyonce’s faithful husband in Obsessed and as a single father trying to create a better life for his daughters in Daddy’s Little Girls.

Listen to him talk about how he would audition to play James Bond on NPR

Find out what it’s like to take a stroll with him through London

Learn more about growing up the child of Africa immigrants and becoming a god onscreen and off

See him on Jimmy Kimmel: Part One and Part Two

Witness his musical talents