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Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Song of the Week::: 'Another Day' - Jaime Lidell




Heard this song the other day on Pandora. Never knew of Jaime Lidell before, but I love the Motown'ish sound he goes for on this track. He seems like an English version of Mayer Hawthorne, though Lidell has been putting out albums longer and apparently now lives in Nashville. His latest album, Compass, was released back in 2010, and was produced by friend and occasional collaborator, Beck.

Check out the studio version of 'Another Day' below, from the 2008 album, Jim , followed by an acoustic live version.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

This Just In: Music Playlist Reduces Stress


My friend Alex suggested a while back that I put together some tracks particularly awesome at stress-blasting. I put the word out last week, and got a ton of great recommendations for just this purpose. So, I present to you a sick-ass stress killing playlist generated by you, the AudioIn-AudioOut community. What better day than Wednesday to take a few minutes to seriously spazz out a bit?

Since you all have great (and varied) music tastes, these 16 tracks include a bit of everything from classic rock, to hip-hop, to electronica. It starts with a Muppet/LCD-Soundsystem dance party, revisits the greatness of Black Sabbath, and finishes with the blissful ambiance of Stars of the Lid. Thanks again for all the suggestions.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Top 10 Playlist, Vol.5






Behold, the latest edition to the AudioIn-AudioOut Top 10 Playlists!

Volume 5 highlights tracks from our updated Top 10 Albums list, and a couple new and old school artists that will be featured in upcoming posts. Check 'em out, and keep the recommendations coming.

Friday, April 13, 2012

'Alive Inside': A Must Watch Documentary



Over the past week I got a ton ton of messages recommending I watch and post the clip above. It is from "Alive Inside", a documentary that demonstrates the profound connections between music and memory by showing the experiences of a group of older adults living with dementia who are given iPods filled with their favorite music.

The film, produced and directed by Michael Rossato-Bennett, follows Dan Cohen (a social worker) as he exposes patients living in nursing homes to music to try and spark their memory. The transformative effects are instantaneous and heartwarming, as previously unresponsive patients reawaken, filled with memory, wanting to sing and dance. Cohen is the director of a non-profit organization called Music and Memory , which donates iPods to patients in nursing homes.

"Alive Inside" will be screened next week at the Ruben Museum of Art in New York City. If you are in that city I highly recommend attending. Warm fuzzies guaranteed. The clip has been flying around like crazy on Facebook and Twitter over the last couple of days. If you dig it, pass it along. It looks like a great movie. But more importantly, the project and its mission deserves tons of attention. The more people that hear about this and start to think about dementia the better, in my opinion.

Listening to Henry describe music makes me happy, especially when he scats like Cab Calloway. Music is an amazing thing.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Grimes: Another Reason to Love Canada


The synth-pop of Claire Boucher (A.K.A. Grimes) is spreading like an eerie sonic wave across the internet. Her music has been featured in Rolling Stone, and popular music blogs like RCRD LBL, and Gorilla Vs. Bear , and she has toured with AudioIn-AudioOut favorite Lykke Li . Only 2 years into her musical career the Canadian musical sensation, who looks and dances like an awkward 15 year old (she is actually 23), is about to complete her 4th full-length album, "Visions". So many albums in such little time is a serious feat, especially because in addition to writing and recording her own music she also frequently directs her own videos and designs her own album covers. Apparently what she has accomplished thus far is just the beginning, considering she claims to have about 1,200 songs lying in wait on her hard drive. It took me a couple of listens to get into her work, but her impossible cuteness coupled with her ephemeral wisp of a voice certainly has something to it. Download "Oblivion" for your collection, and check out the videos for "Oblivion", "Genesis", and "Vanessa" below.