There is a lush musicality to pretty much everything that John Legend creates and performs. It comes from an innate understanding of the smoothness and richness of his music, a sense of how it and his voice work together, all of it coming perfectly together to lend his songs an Continue Reading
music
On 2nd day of Christmas … I listened to Songs for the Season by Ingrid Michaelson
It’s a reasonably safe bet that anyone who records a Christmas album is in love with the festive season and all its multitudinous warm-and-fuzzy trappings. That’s certainly the case with indie pop artist Ingrid Michaelson whose holiday album Songs for the Season released on 26 October. In a recent Continue Reading
Now this is music #120: Millie Turner, Shoffy, More Giraffes, Dominic Fike, MØ
Life is, by pretty much every estimation, a serious affair. Hearts break, love dies and the worst of humanity visits itself upon us … and yet for all that potential and actual misery, it is possible to push back against that tide of trauma with defiance, cheekiness and yes, Continue Reading
Our Last Summer: The emotionally-evocative geography of ABBA’s songs
ABBA is the great musical love of my life. Every single last one of their songs summon up some kind of powerful memory, including as a man in his ’50s a joyous/melancholic recalling of past memories, a theme that is common to many of the group’s epically-good songs. One Continue Reading
Now this is music #119: Farao, DYAN, Mija, Madge, Brynn Elliott + festive Lindsey Stirling
Standing out from the crowd can be tough. It’s often not enough to look the part, especially these days; you also have to sound the part, live the part, and have something fresh and interesting to say. These five artists most definitely do, taking life events and observances about Continue Reading
Can you tell me how to sing … 5 favourite Sesame Street musical moments
Sesame Street does so many things right. From its brilliantly-imaginative teaching of the ABCs and 123s to its hilarious parodies of pop culture touchstones through to its life lessons, it is the gold standard in education for kids (and more than a few adults too). To that illustrious list. Continue Reading
Now this is music #118: Wafia, Kero Kero Bonito, Dillon Francis, Demo Taped, Raleigh Ritchie
We’re in love. Out of love. Trying to find it. Watching others find it. Wishing we had some time in a tree (this will make sense later, trust me). As always, music has a way of taking myriad emotions, all of which swirl in and out of hearts and Continue Reading
Now this is music #117: NONONO, Metric, Smith & Thell, Chloe Lilac, Lauren Aquilina (+Eurovision update)
Life is lots of things. That may sound the opening line of Captain Obvious’s treatise on life and living but that’s because it’s true – every day we rise and fall, laugh and cry, fall in and out of love and ride the emotional rollercoaster of being human. What Continue Reading
Now this is music #116: Barrie, Prismo, girl in red, Lauv, SYML (+ Eurovision 2019 update)
You know what I like about life? It is a source of endless and amazing variety – sure there’s pain and loss and sadness but there’s also, hope, love and all kinds of very good stuff, a spectrum of human experience that finds expression in the work of these Continue Reading
You’re a musical one Mr Grinch! First Tylor the Creator soundtrack song released
SNAPSHOT For their eighth fully animated feature, Illumination and Universal Pictures present “The Grinch,” based on Dr. Seuss’ beloved holiday classic. The Grinch tells the story of a cynical grump who goes on a mission to steal Christmas, only to have his heart changed by a young girl’s generous Continue Reading