Discoveries Worth Sharing: Sting Like a Beatle

Discoveries Worth Sharing: Justice!

What a beautiful graph.




















(Click to Zoom)

Tell me more.

Discoveries Worth Sharing: Noah Lennox Blows Out Birthday Candles

Discoveries Worth Sharing: 2 Many YouTubes

DJing your impromptu get-togethers just got THAT much easier.

Discoveries Worth Sharing: Young Doseone

The one in the vampire costume is Adam Drucker.



Doseone -- Low Heaven -- Soft Skulls (2007)


Doseone -- Ghost Personal -- Soft Skulls (2007)

(via eMusic)

Discoveries Worth Sharing: You Can Sing Any Jazz Song...

There's a really enjoyable discussion over at NPR's Jazz Blog, A Blog Supreme, between Patrick Jarenwattananon and Anya Grundmann (a.k.a. "Boss Lady") that was posted Friday. Patrick and Anya collaborate on a regular feature called "Listening, Party for Two," wherein the former will pick out a "great jazz song" for the latter and the two will discuss it over the Internet. This latest post features an amazing live performance of Ella Fitzgerald in West Berlin, which features about 5+ minutes of straight scatting.

The vocal virtuosity is impressive in and of itself, but then you learn that it's chock full of song interpolation too:

[Patrick]: Surely, you heard "Poinciana" (start of the scat solo), or "Stormy Weather," or "Rhapsody In Blue," or "I Want To Be Happy," or "A-Tisket, A-Tasket" (her first hit in the '30s), or the interpolation of "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" as "Sweat Gets In Your Eyes" at the end ...

Boss Lady: Looks like I'd better listen again. Because I was focused on Ella's voice and her pyrotechnics, but all of those references flew by unnoticed. Sigh.

[Patrick]: ...or Ferde Grofe's "On The Trail," or the Ethel Waters number "Tropical Heat Wave," or "El Manicero," or even a Charlie Parker tune called ["Ornithology"] which was based on the chord changes to this song.

I definitely sat through about 3/4 of the song and had no idea. To hear the song and read the full post, click here.

And in other news, Ella Fitzgerald and Jimmy Fallon have something in common:



(Err, I also owned one of those Stretch Armstrong dolls. Whoa. This post is spiraling out of control.)

Discoveries Worth Sharing: Flash Mobs Love to Dance

I'd come across a few of these as of late, and figured I'd post them in one neat collection.


Definitely lives up to the definition of a "flash mob" in ways the subsequent clips do not.



Nothing like actual pregnant women and pretend pregnant women coming together to pretend to breakdance and actually breakdance (respectively).



The Black Eyed Peas helped plan this one which sort of detracts from the fun...until you realize Oprah wasn't in on it. Oprah doesn't upstage the entire mob, but she gets close.



Sort of stupid given that it's such a blatant ad. Nevertheless, the fact that randos join in by the end is pretty charming.



European train stations love this shit. The cascade of children is a nice touch.



Instantly creepy. I've never seen so many men reach for a camera in my life.



This is more like a flash support group.



Okay, I'm bored.

Discoveries Worth Sharing: Is this real life?

Another sweet offering from Eclectic Method.

Discoveries Worth Sharing: You Don't Know

As a coda to yesterday's post, one of Greenwich's own recordings:

"You Don't Know" -- Ellie Greenwich -- 1965

Discoveries Worth Sharing: Behind On My Memes Edition

Next time you see this video, it'll be on television.

Discoveries Worth Sharing: "You make it up as you go along..."

More clips like this at the NPR Jazz Blog.

Discoveries Worth Sharing: Eclectic Method

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Discoveries Worth Sharing: There-a-Mims

I chanced upon this one-hit wonder jam in my iTunes today. I suppose I had never truly given it a fair listen in the past, but I had remember reading about how clever the references to individual hip-hop subgenres were (chopped & screwed, hyphy, LA gangsta rap, etc), so I just let it play.

What I hadn't realized before is that there's a theremin sample in it! You can hear it in the very beginning (0:11), but it's most prominent before the chorus begins (1:24) and later in the song. In case you're wondering what I'm talking about, explore the video below.



While the instrument has mostly been confined to '40s & '50s Sci-Fi flicks, it has also made its way into popular songs like, "Good Vibrations" (which used an electro-theremin) and "Whole Lotta Love."





Now I have a positive impression of this song instead of a soul-crushing contempt! Thanks Mims!