Search

In an attempt to listen to the new Radiohead album, I get distracted by a number of shiny pretty things.

Every week I'll be here to reveal and review some of my favorite moments from the internet. Whether it be binging television shows, streaming sports, or simply getting lost in a YouTube rabbit hole, I'm here to give you my top picks every Friday as well as the perfect paring to get into an optimal headspace for themThis week, I'm trying (just trying) to listen to the Radiohead album without having to steal the damn thing.

 

Radiohead and the Stream Wars


Recommended Pairing:
 Strong coffee and a dial-up connection.

The release of Radiohead's newest album, A Moon Shaped Pool, created a sizable wake in the music streaming industry. Not because Johnny has taken his orchestral arrangements to another level, or that Thom has finally learned to annunciate a bit more as he sings, but because the way we devour our music has changed so drastically recently that they have opened up the streaming wars to a much larger demographic. 

Last week, I was delighted to write about the first new piece of music from Radiohead and the companion video with the Wicker Man vibe. As the article went live, I had to make a quick addendum about the news that the new album was coming only a few days thereafter. The hype was palpable. Radiohead is one of the only bands I get this excited about. I simply could not wait to smoke a joint and roam the streets with headphones on.

Confession: It's been a week and I still haven't listened to the album in its entirety, certainly not the way it was intended. I've heard all of the songs, but not the album, per se.

At 10:59 PST last Sunday I spent a solid five minutes unremittingly refreshing Spotify happily waiting for the album art to pop up on the Radiohead page. Nothing. I was confused, but figured it might be uploading or maybe a spike in traffic is delaying the feed from showing up. It never occurred to me that the album wasn't going to be available on Spotify. After all, the two singles were sitting up there, all shiny and new. It wasn't until I Googled to see if anybody else was having trouble that I learned that the album was basically available everywhere but Spotify. How is this possible? I mean, I pay for the service to get all the songs I want to listen to without commercials and other nonsense. I don't want to sign up for Tidal. Do I have to switch to Tidal? After some debate and light Googling I have been listening to the BBC's listening party over and over. I'm so used to it now, that I bet when I finally listen to the actual album from beginning to end, I'm going to miss all of the incredibly polite British accents interrupting throughout.


Then it hit me. We are in the very early stages of a new battle for exclusive content and artists. It's going to be interesting to see how this all plays out. Are we going to just go back to the days of buying albums from artists? Or are the big hitters - Apple, Google, Spotify, and Tidal - going to start a bidding war for exclusive rights to artists and their songs? The technology wave of the early 2000s killed the record industry, and it seems like the newest wave of technology is prepping to launch a digital replication of the same industry. Does Limewire still work?

 

Spectre Meets Star Wars


Recommended Pairing:
 
A freshly lit joint and a fistful of popcorn.

While I was frantically searching the web for solutions to my severe lack of the new Radiohead album I stumbled upon this gem.

Star Wars - Episode V “The Empire Strikes Back” Homage (Title Sequence)

The video features "Spectre," a song Radiohead recorded for what we now refer to as the woefully underwhelming final Daniel Craig Bond film, Spectre. It's an incredible song, indicative of what we were soon to be getting from Radiohead. However, for whatever reason, they chose to go with the Sam Smith clunker, "The Writing's on the Wall".

(Which went on to win an Oscar somehow.)

Kurt Rauffer made this video as a sort of senior thesis project, and I am absolutely blown away with his skill and artistry. It's one of those moments where you like something so much it almost makes you mad because you know you could never write music like that or design and create a video counterpart anywhere near that level. It's basically become the official unofficial video for the previously unreleased Radiohead track and I hope he has the opportunity to put more things together on a much bigger scale.

Someone pay this man!

 

A Real Lesson in Listening Comprehension

Recommended Pairing: A bite from a block of real Wisconsin cheese.

This is so dumb (I admit it), but it entertained me for almost an entire day, so I'm going to share it with you. 

Do you remember this video? (Of course you do. But if not, you just made me feel incredibly old and I hate you. Seriously.)
You only need to watch the first few seconds.

Ok. So after Ja Rule asks what his motherfucking name is, what does Jennifer say? I don't want to sound like a clickbait headline here, but the answer may surprise you. I was asked this question yesterday and, to the chagrin of the friend asking me, I was right. Apparently a huge swath of people familiar with pop friendly hip hop from the early 2000's have spent fifteen years thinking that J-Lo's answer to Ja was, "Are you Ellie?" 

Ellie? Are you shitting me? Of course she's not saying that. She's saying the letters to his name, "R-U-L-E." Which is the correct answer to the question he's wondering aloud. 

It is fun, however, to imagine Ja Rule as an amnesiac asking J-Lo, and she's giving him an honest answer and just trying her best. The next time I hear someone ask what their name is (in whatever context), I am going to reply with "Are you Ellie?"

Send this to people you know and ask them what J-Lo says at the beginning. 
It's just good old-fashioned dumb fun.

 

Til' next week...

 

36 87 20
Close

Press esc to close.
Close
Press esc to close.
Close

Connecting to your webcam.

You may be prompted by your browser for permission.