Play | The Rhapsody Editorial Music Blog

Free ANTI- Records Sampler

2009-11-22T05:09:10Z

The Swell Season

ANTI- Records was founded in 1999 as a sister label to Epitaph Records. It's the byproduct of its founder, Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz, growing up a bit and realizing that he has broadened his musical horizons beyond just punk rock. Sure, the Distillers and one of ANTI-'s earliest signings, Tom Waits, are both punks at heart, but they hardly make good labelmates.

The latest crop of releases from the Swell Season, Neko Case, Os Mutantes, Islands and Booker T. are kind of all over the place stylistically; they almost make you think there oughtta be yet another sublabel under the Epitaph roof. Irish-Czech emo-pop (the Swell Season), cheeky alt-country (Case), Brazilian psychedelia (Os Mutantes), Hammond organ-infused blues-rock (Booker) and preciously baroque indie rock (Islands) hardly share a common note, but maybe that's the point.

Here's a taste of free tracks from the label's latest.

Coup De Stereo: Paul McCartney Wins the Gershwin Prize

2009-11-21T23:21:15Z

Just when I was getting the feeling that we should abolish the U.S. Congress, their fabled book wing, the Library of Congress, has awarded Paul McCartney the third Gershwin Prize for Popular Song (the first two recipients were Paul Simon and Stevie Wonder).

I didn't even know that the Library of Congress has a Librarian of Congress, but it does and his name is James H. Billington. He stated, about Macca, "It's hard to think of another performer and composer who has had a more indelible and transformative effect on popular song and music of several different genres than Paul McCartney." On a side note, I would say that John Lennon and Bob Dylan have had as indelible an effect as Macca. I'd add that like Stevie Wonder, Macca has also revolutionized how artists now use the studio and how trippy pop music can actually sound.

Of course, the 150 or so Beatles tunes that Macca either penned ("I've Just Seen a Face," "Drive My Car," "Black Bird") or co-wrote are a big part of this award. But, let's use this as an opportunity to look at some solid McCartney albums from his solo years (a mix of quite wonderful, sublime, neat-sounding but empty-headed, and just bloody awful).

Both Lennon and McCartney have stated that they didn't write for the public -- they wrote to impress each other. They also complemented each other's strengths and weaknesses. When that partnership dissolved, McCartney decided that the only way he could work against the legacy of the Beatles would be if he decided that anything he did would be OK. If something wasn't that good it wouldn't be the end of the world. He was right -- the world didn't end but some of his stuff wasn't any good.

This has led to so much misplaced aging rocker hostility that Macca's creative rebirth during the 2000s has pretty much gone unnoticed. Recent songs like "She's Given Up Talking" keep things sonically interesting (which, face it, is all that acclaimed hip-hop producers do) while combining his old, decidedly weird mix of bad vibes and aloof positivity. Stranded on an island of fame, expectation, adulation and disappointment, the Paul McCartney mantra is summed up on his 2008 tune "Don't Stop Running."

Here are some Macca solo discs to check out on Rhapsody, starting with his new live set. And, of course, you can listen to all these, right now and forevermore, with your Rhapsody membership. We have over 8 million songs, available anytime and (with the Rhapsody iPhone app) anywhere. Click here to get on board with a free trial.

]]>
The Definitive, Career-Spanning Live Album
Good Evening New York City

While there is no shortage of Paul McCartney live albums, this one, a 2009 concert commemorating the Beatles' Shea Stadium gig, is more energized than most. Part of that is due to McCartney's young band, which marries old-world skill with spiky rock energy. But it also has to do with Macca's renewed creative energy in the 2000s. The upbeat numbers, like the Beatles' "I've Got a Feeling," are often superior because the ballads, including a still-powerful "Let It Be," reveal McCartney's tattering vocal chords, which struggle to hit the soaring notes of his youth. Energy-wise, though, this one can't be beat.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Early Solo Classics
Ram

Ram keeps the mellow, pastoral, self-recorded feel of McCartney's solo debut and mixes in some gruff boogie rock and the kind of fluid, orchestral pop that he cut with the Beatles. The multipart "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" has to be the goofiest (and coolest) No. 1 single ever, while "Too Many People" and "The Back Seat of My Car" are two overlooked gems. The lovely "Dear Boy" was meant as a rebuke to Linda's first husband, but Lennon took it as an attack against him and started writing anti-Paul songs. Whatever -- Band on the Run is the remembered classic but Ram may be Paul's best all-around solo LP.

Band on the Run (Paul McCartney & Wings)

McCartney's first two solo records were casual, underrated charmers; his subsequent two LPs seemed lazy and formless. For Band on the Run, his fifth effort, Macca took Denny Laine and his wife to Nigeria and holed up until they birthed this best-selling return to rock 'n' roll respectability. For once, McCartney front-loads the LP with his best songs, so this opens with a 1-2-3 punch. The title track, the soaring "Jet" and the floating "Bluebird" all became instant rock classics. Nothing else tops those numbers, though "Let Me Roll It" stands up to any of Lennon's slow, sludgy rockers and "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five" is a sonic marvel. All help to make this one of the key albums of the 1970s.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Key Paul-Is-a-Lame-Stoner-&-Paul-Is-Great All-Mixed-Up Platter

Wild Life (Paul McCartney & Wings)

McCartney put a proper band, Wings, together and then cut Wild Life, which is even more casual than his first two solo albums. Macca doesn't help matters by starting the set with filler like "Bip Bop," but there are some real gems here. "Tomorrow" should've been the single -- it's one of his all-time best solo efforts. "Some People Never Know" is another lovely McCartney ballad, and the chilling, cinematic ballad "Dear Friend" is obviously a letter to Lennon. This version of the album includes the pointedly political "Give Ireland Back to the Irish," which was banned in the U.K. (bastards!) but topped the Irish charts.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Forgotten Paul Is a Weird Dude & Synth-Pop Innovator LP
McCartney II

In 1980, McCartney was paroled from a Japanese prison, sacked Wings, bought a bank of synths, and self-recorded this, one of the weirdest, most eccentric hit albums of all time. It seems like the always-sonically experimental McCartney was getting into Kraftwerk and synth pop, coming up with bizarre numbers like "Frozen Jap," "Temporary Secretary" and "Front Parlour" to feed his drug-bust bad vibes into. If you're looking for actual songs, "Waterfalls" and "One of These Days" are lovely odes to McCartney's increasing isolation, while "Coming Up" is an unstoppable disco-rocker (a juiced-up concert version was released as a single and returned Macca to the top spot on the singles charts).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Creative Rebirth Records

Driving Rain
By and large, Driving Rain was one of McCartney's most uplifting sets in years. It seems that after issuing records where he sorted through reflections on his early career (Flaming Pie) and the death of his wife (Run Devil Run), many of the songs here are as effervescent as titles like "Tiny Bubble," "Back in the Sunshine Again," and "Magic" might imply. McCartney delayed the release of the record to include the jingoistic bonus track "Freedom," but forget that -- the best tracks are lilting numbers like "From a Lover to a Friend." -- Nate Cavalieri

Memory Almost Full

After a slight opener written for McCartney’s toddler, this elegiac release kicks in with songs that dwell on memory, confusion and loss. While a melancholy air hangs over even upbeat tunes such as "Only Mama Knows" and "See Your Sunshine," Macca fills the set with warm memories of his working-class English youth and an acknowledgment of life's gifts. An extended song cycle on growing up, aging and the specter of death is uniformly strong, and two of the bonus cuts belong on the proper album. Heavy stuff, but the warmth is real and the melodies undeniable. Memory Almost Full stands up to the best solo efforts of his career.

Electric Arguments (Youth and Paul McCartney)

For well over a decade, McCartney has not-so-secretly recorded ambient trance music with producer Youth. In 2008, the ever-industrious Macca needed to get away from tabloid hell, so he gave Youth a call and proposed that they write, record and mix a song a day -- this time with McCartney's vocals. The results are so stellar that McCartney now wishes he released this under his own name. He gets rid of his bad divorce vibes on the blistering opener before rediscovering joy with "Sing the Changes," "Lifelong Passion" and the uneasy "Don't Stop Running." Not quite as richly rewarding as Memory Almost Full, but still an unqualified triumph, and each song features McCartney playing practically every instrument.

On the Record: Raekwon

2009-11-20T19:46:24Z

On the Record is a video series where rock stars gush about their favorite records -- in exactly 45 seconds.

ARTIST:
Raekwon

RECORD:
Paid In Full

Lemmy on the Beatles and more in the rest of our On the Record series.

Lady Gaga: Some Kind of Monster

2009-11-17T15:00:00Z

Sex! Fame! Fashion! It’s been a great year for Lady Gaga, who's become the world's most controversial pop star with her sexually charged, dance-inspired electro-rock that's as confrontational as it is catchy. Now she tops it all off with The Fame Monster, which you can hear a week early on Rhapsody with your free trial membership. A-list premieres, however, are just one of many reasons you should give Rhapsody a spin. We've compiled a few others below, from customized radio stations to professionally built playlists in high-def audio, plus views, news and more tunes than you could play in a lifetime -- whether on your PC, your stereo, or our brand new iPhone app. Not a Rhapsody subscriber? Sign up for a free 14-day trial, then crank the latest and greatest from Lady Gaga, including The Fame Monster.

	Gay Pop: See which of your favorite songs are queer anthems		Discover Lady Gaga's full catalog on Rhapsody
	American Synth-Pop, from Lady Gaga on Back		Listen to continious mixes of Lady Gaga and other artists like her
	Glam Goddess, Drag Queen or Hipster Tease: What is Lady Gaga?		Review: Our critics discuss Gaga's The Fame Monster

Rhapsody Reviews: Lady Gaga's The Fame Monster

2009-11-16T23:19:19Z

(In addition to great premieres from your favorite artists, cool radio stations and exciting exclusives, Rhapsody also offers in-depth album reviews written by our team of nationally renowned music critics. Be sure to drop us a note in the comment field to let us know if you agree or disagree with our album assessments, and sign up today for your free Rhapsody trial. Also! This just in: our friends at VH1 are having a smashing contest to win a trip to NYC to see Gaga in concert! Won't you click on by.)

It's a deluxe album as only Gaga could do it: larger than life, over the top and, yes, even monstrous. The Fame Monster is stuffed to the gills with eight -- count 'em, eight -- new tracks. Most don't radically depart from her debut's uber-hipster dance-pop vibe, but they do reinforce Gaga's particular talents -- namely, making somewhat familiar musical ideas a wee bit edgy and a whole lot addictive. The vaguely tropical pop of "Alejandro," with its borderline-telenovela drama, for instance, is positively coated in "La Isla Bonita" and "Fernando" (down to the similar sound of its love object's name). It's so close, it's almost a cover -- and yet, something is slightly off. This is where Gaga lives, right smack in the midst of our comfort zone, where she sets up camp with the goal of screwing it up, just a little bit, just enough so that we feel not quite as certain of where we are. Then there's the Beyonce-featuring "Telephone." Now undoubtedly, this is a calculated collaboration from which both of these artists will benefit. And frankly, nothing about it is shockingly novel. But that's what's kind of interesting. Beyonce's cameo sounds every inch like a Beyonce track -- that's immersed in a track that's every inch Lady Gaga. Despite her relative youth as an artist, Gaga at once manages to pay tribute to those who have gone before her and yet make those influences her own.
]]> That said, things get really interesting when The Fame Monster goes off in different directions. The strongly sung "Speechless" is conceptually similar, taking up and reworking earlier influences and references. This time, however, she gestures toward her glam foremothers, the very queen bitches after whom she named herself (although the track is decidedly more Elton than Bowie). And then there's "Teeth," which finally dips musically into the stylistic pool Gaga's perpetually swimming in: cabaret campiness. What's more, this saucy strut of a song shows off Gaga's not-insignificant vocal prowess. Kermit outfits and full facial masks notwithstanding, the Lady can sing, folks.

Although it provides us with plenty of shiny new jewels be distracted by, The Fame Monster also serves another purpose. It supplies an opportunity to revisit the rest of Gaga's debut -- by which we mean the tracks beyond the ones you can sing in your sleep already. And there's much to admire, from the decadently wasted "Beautiful, Dirty, Rich" to the sassy title track to "Brown Eyes," a slow jam as only Gaga can do it -- theatrical, glammily weird and slightly off. The album isn't perfect by any stretch, but at the very least, it demonstrates that Gaga knows what makes for the best pop: something comforting yet just a little challenging and, most of all, with a beat you can dance to.

Radio: Get Wrapped Up in Lady Gaga

2009-11-14T00:33:18Z

Freaky, cheeky and chic, Lady Gaga is one of those pop sensations that somehow manages to delight the masses without losing any cool points with the fashion-making elite. On one level the multitalented Gaga has bucked the dance-pop trend by being completely in charge of all aspects of her career (her musical abilities are old world, while her marketing acumen is cutting-edge). It's as if Britney suddenly developed Regina Spektor's musical pedigree and Madonna's stylish pop smarts. Not a bad way to build a career.

Yet while the accurately titled The Fame Monster adds eight new tracks to Gaga's debut, where do you go when you want more Gaga-style pop thrills?

That is where Rhapsody comes in. The simplest things to do is listen to our radio stations that feature Gaga, like Pop Hits and Dance Crossover Hits.

As usual with Rhapsody Radio, if you hear something you especially like, simply click on the artist or album in the Rhap player, and you can jump off the radio station and start digging the new tunes immediately. Or, you can keep listening to the station and just go down the saved radio song list and either replay it, save it for later, or delete it and go on to something else. It's music discovery made easy.

On Rhapsody, Lady Gaga even gets her own artist station, where you hear plenty of her music mixed in with material from other hitmakers like Gwen Stefani and Katy Perry, as well as artsier influences such as Goldfrapp and Scissor Sisters. Of course, we also include Lady Gaga's guest appearances on other albums. She is one busy lady.

At Rhapsody, we even have a feature where you can create and name your own unique radio station with the music of up to 10 artists. There are no limits or restrictions. You can combine Lady Gaga with whatever you want. If you feel like slotting Fergie, Black Sabbath, Creed and the Osmonds next to the Lady on your own personal Rhapsody Radio Station you go right ahead -- she seems pretty open-minded.

Who -- or What -- Is Lady Gaga?

2009-11-14T00:03:12Z

(In addition to great premieres from your favorite artists, cool radio stations and exciting exclusives, Rhapsody also offers in-depth reviews, analysis and fun features written by our team of nationally renowned music writers. Be sure to drop us a note in the comment field to let us know if you agree or disagree, and sign up today for your free Rhapsody trial.)

She hit the charts running with brain-numbing dance track after brain-numbing dance track about getting messed up and dancing that are layered with (not-so) hidden messages about bisexuality and S&M. She makes weird, confusing, campily glam/glammily dark videos that live in that who-knew-it-existed land between telenovela and dirty hipster nightclub. She not only doesn't deny rumors that she may be intersexual (old-school translation: a hermaphrodite), she encourages them. And come on, people, she wears outfits made entirely out of stuffed Kermit the Frogs. More than a year after she released her wildly successful debut and as she drops a deluxe version of The Fame that's jam-packed with new tracks, we're left wondering just who -- or perhaps more accurately, what -- Lady Gaga is. In honor of Rhapsody's exclusive early premiere of The Fame Monster, we set out to try to address that question, to dissect the Lady Gaga phenomenon. What we discovered, however, is that -- and this should come as no surprise -- there is not one answer but many.

]]> Lady Gaga Is ... a Hipster Artiste
No need to deny it: the Lady Gaga (she's earned that definite article by now, don't you think?) is a hipster -- of the art-school-attending, dirty-club-frequenting, skinny-jeans-wearing (well, when she wears pants, that is), intentionally-obscure-art-making variety. Just look at her first single. "Just Dance" may not sound like music for the multibelted set, but goodness, that video is way too cool for you. Or us. Or anyone.
See also: Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Karen O

Lady Gaga Is ... Glam
This one is perhaps Gaga's most obvious attribute -- or at least the one she references most explicitly. After all, she named herself after a song by ~~David Bowie~~ Queen and lists the "Queen Bitch," Mr. David Bowie as an influence. And while her music isn't so aesthetically glam as, say, that of Adam Lambert, her general tendency toward over-the-top spectacle is very much in keeping with the likes of T. Rex, Queen, Gary Glitter (minus, you know, the child pornography), et al.

Lady Gaga Is ... Disco
Remember those mind-numbing dance beats? They sound familiar at all? They should: picking up where indier artists like Scissor Sisters and Mika left off, Ms. Gaga has almost single-handedly revived disco fever on the charts, along with its attendant infectious decadence, gay-friendly vibe and single-minded pursuit of a good time and a dance groove, thanks to neu-disco cuts like "Lovegame." And everyone from Pussycat Dolls to Gossip to Shakira has been hit upside the head with her "disco shtick."

Lady Gaga Is ... (Studiously) Derivative
All these very apparent influences, not to mention the undeniable similarities to fellow blonde provocateurs like Christina Aguilera and Debbie Harry, have led many critics and cynics to dismiss Gaga as a derivative Madonna-come-lately who is simply refashioning others' more "original" styles. They're not wrong, but they do miss the point. Gaga makes no bones about her very explicit references: she is an amalgam, a pop-culture collage cobbled together from bits and pieces of both overlapping and disparate decades and divas. What's "original" about her is the way she lines all these influences up in new and unique ways, giving us new and unique ways to look at them (see: the high-heeled, all-white-rubber, all-girl homage to the "Thriller" dance in her video for her latest single, "Bad Romance"). In the process, she throws into question the very notion of "originality" -- and makes us wonder if it ever existed in the first place.

Lady Gaga Is ... A Drag Queen
In fact, Gaga's penchant for the originality-challenging amalgamation of genres and styles is steeped in another long and storied tradition: drag. The good Lady is intimately familiar with the drag queen's makeup bag of tricks. If "Paparazzi," with its emphasis on "bad" as "good," artifice as art and style that trumps sincerity (not to mention the over-the-top ridiculousness of that hyper-dramatic, super-decked-out, leg-brace dance break), isn't a camp masterpiece, then Oscar Wilde would surely eat his cravat, darling. But Gaga does more than visit the camp grounds. In many senses, she herself is a female drag queen, executing choreography perhaps best described as "Vogue"-esque, lording it over her "love interests"/circuit boys in videos like "LoveGame" and just generally performing an exaggerated and oh honey, so fabulous femininity (see, for instance, her various and sundry B-52s-like wigs in "Eh Eh Nothing Else I Can Say"). Though they may look a bit alike, Gaga ain't no "Dirrrty"-era Xtina. Her style is sexual but it's undoubtedly a very, very queer sexuality.
See also: The Scissor Sisters' self-proclaimed female drag queen, Ana Matronic

Lady Gaga Is ... A Burlesque Queen
Also among Gaga's foremothers is the drag queen's sister in arms (and legs): the burlesque artiste. The Lady herself worked as a stripper and burlesque artist in New York clubs before hitting it big, and her penchant for corsets, bustiers and general pantslessness reflects that personal history. She also picked up some burlesque aesthetics along the way. Gaga teases with the best of the tassel-twirlers, simulating and suggesting sex in the most over-the-top (or on-the-bottom) ways without ever actually giving it up in videos like "Poker Face" (a song that itself calls into question what you think you know about her sexual desires). Moreover, while she is undeniably hot, hers is an unconventional sexiness, a beauty that's very different from, say, Beyonce's Barbie-doll perfection or Britney's easy-on-the-eyes easiness. Finally, like the best of the burlesquers, Ms. Ga's presentation of eroticism is often intentionally hilarious.

Lady Gaga Is ... (Spectacularly) Grotesque
Another of Gaga's burlesque aesthetics is what burlesque historian Robert Allen once called the genre's "horrible prettiness." She exaggerates eroticism and attractiveness, taking them to their extremes in the dingy, decadent sexiness of "Just Dance." She layers conventional notions of beauty with monstrosity in "Bad Romance," a video in which she looks perhaps her most stereotypically pretty but sings in a guttural, almost inhuman growl. She forces us to examine our own social taboos, pushing at the boundaries of normative desire by pairing conventionally feminine seductiveness with suggestions of her alleged/potential penis. Did we mention she wears Kermit the Frog evening gowns?

Lady Gaga Is ... A Pop Gender-Bender
We've offered many answers to the question of just who -- or what -- Lady Gaga is here, but perhaps they can all be summarized with one term: this provocative, undeniably compelling woman is a pop gender-bender. She appeals to our most populist sentiments, soothing us with familiar dance beats, reeling us in with carefully crafted hooks. But once she's got us right where she wants us, the Lady flips the script, upending convention and forcing us to question our most entrenched norms. And we love her for it.

Listen to Gaga in good company on our Pop's Greatest Gender-Benders Playlist.

Playlists: Gaga for Gaga

2009-11-13T22:53:18Z

Oh, Lady Gaga. We love everything about you, from your weird, childlike name to your endless costume changes. You define pop stardom even as you mock it. And you trusted so fiercely in “the Fame” that you made yourself famous by the sheer power of self-belief (and maybe a little hard work). Bravo. Tony Robbins couldn’t have done it better.

But people. Don’t forget that Lady Gags is not just a fashion icon, not just a purveyor of top-class video events, not just a provocative performer. It’s about the music, dears. The music. And so we survey the pop scene Gaga has entered -- and reinvented -- with a bunch of playlists to get you going.

And, of course, you can listen, collect and share all these great tracks with your free Rhapsody trial membership. Sign up today. ]]> Gaga’s Universe: Pop in '09
The Lady’s avalanche of hits, some of 2009’s biggest stunners, plus guest verses she’s thrown down for the likes of N.K.O.T.B. and Kid Cudi, among others. We even include a few tracks she’s penned for other artists.

Blurred Lines and Dance Beats: Pop’s Gender-Benders
Gaga loves a good gender gag. (‘Member that whole thing about whether she was, in fact, male? Shocking. Just shocking.) Tune in to other gender-benders who’ve invaded the pop charts over the years.

You Make Me Feel Like Dancing
Really, isn’t this what it’s all about? You, a couple of vodka tonics and the dancefloor? Don’t let anything get in your way. Gaga’s just one element in this set of serious neo- and retro-disco dance classics.

Further Listening
Synth Pop: Then and Now
Think Lady Gaga invented that wonderful Euro-trash sound? Think again. Chuck Eddy takes us through a panoply of Synth Pop artists, from Missing Persons to the present.

Close to the Vest: A Gay Pop Sampler
Lady Gaga dedicated her 2009 VMA award to “god and the gays” -- and she owes a serious debt to a community that provided many of her earliest fans. Queer pop, yes!

Close to the Vest: Gay Pop Has the Upper Hand

2009-11-13T22:37:42Z

Lest there be any doubt about it, Lady Gaga wants us to know that her song "Poker Face" is about fantasizing about women when she's hooking up with men. (It's a double entendre, capiche?) Sure, you could write that off as merely an attempt to stir up a little controversy -- although, if it's a ploy, it pales in comparison with her teasing suggestion that she may or may not have hermaphroditic features. But Gaga has backed up her sexuality in interviews, insisting that "people are born the way they are," and she's vocal in her support for gay and lesbian communities. Whatever you may think of her music, it's a refreshingly different approach from Katy Perry, who flirts with Sapphos on "I Kissed a Girl" -- mostly for the benefit of her ego and her boyfriend -- and then gets regressive on "Ur So Gay," her ode to an insufficiently butch boyfriend. ("I hope you hang yourself with your H&M scarf" -- classy!)

But pop music has always been a proving ground for the public's evolving attitudes toward sexuality, from Little Richard to Liberace, Prince to Peaches, out-and-proud disco to rap's confused "No homo." Check these key moments in gay-themed pop from the past few decades, and add your own favorite picks in the comments below. ]]> Click here to join.

Lou Reed, "Take a Walk on the Wild Side"
Whatever you make of the phrase "colored girls," Lou Reed's 1972 portrait of transvestites, hustlers and sundry other back-alley survivors is as tender as it gets, the rhythm-and-blues equivalent of Gus Van Sant's My Own Private Idaho.

David Bowie, "Lady Stardust"
Makeup and animal grace: artifice and essence come together in Bowie's glam-rock torch song about double identity and a love he "could not obey." One of pop's earliest openly bisexual artists, Bowie later vacillated about his true inclinations, though in a 2002 interview with Blender he blamed America's "puritanical" instincts for his mixed messages over the years.

Grace Jones, "Pull Up To the Bumper"
Despite the automotive imagery, Grace Jones' 1981 disco hit "Pull Up to the Bumper" wasn't really about traffic safety -- something that needed no further explanation in the underground clubs and Fire Island parties where the fans of this androgynous Amazon thronged.

Bronski Beat, "Smalltown Boy"
Bronski Beat's 1984 album The Age of Consent was a defiant cry for gay rights, with an inner sleeve showing the hypocrisy of more restrictive "age of consent" laws gays; its standout track, "Smalltown Boy," is a heartbreaking tale of a boy banished for his sexuality. The video drove the point home with a stark portrayal of homophobic violence.

The Smiths, "This Charming Man"
A punctured bicycle tire, a desolate hillside and the smooth leather seats of a stranger's car set the scene for this concise yet cryptic tale of a teenage awakening. Whoever the narrator is supposed to be, the song offers an intriguing chapter in the life of the band's famously celibate singer, Morrisey.

Blur, "Girls and Boys"
With a hint of post-punk sneer and a jubilant disco bounce, Blur neatly summed up the '90s' queer-friendly ethos with a simple equation: "Girls who are boys/ Who like boys to be girls/ Who do boys like they're girls/ Who do girls like they're boys/ Always should be someone you really love."

Pansy Division, "Anthem"
Punk rock has been little more hospitable to gays than mainstream society; leave it to queercore pioneers Pansy Division to raise their freak flag high with pride (and the requisite sneer).

t.A.T.u., "Malchik Gay"
Take a Russian Svengali, Eurovision, two underage girls in skimpy outfits, screen kisses and Sapphic lyrics, and you've got t.A.T.u., one of the more cynical exercises in gaysploitation in recent memory. (Subtract one demerit for their recent condemnation of gay-bashing Moscow cops and skinheads.)

Franz Ferdinand, "Michael"
In which the Scottish dandies get all hot and bothered by a sticky, stubbly, "dance whore" on a silver platter named Michael. Who cares if the band members all profess to be straight; the song's not about identity, but the pure, unpredictable rush of desire. What could be more rock 'n' roll than that?

Willie Nelson, "Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other"
Long before Brokeback Mountain, Willie Nelson recorded Ned Sublette's gay cowboy anthem "Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly Fond of Each Other," whose title speaks for itself. Recorded in the '80s, Nelson let it out of the closet in the wake of Ang Lee's film -- and in solidarity with the coming-out of Nelson's longtime tour manager.

Frank's World: Ella & Frank Were Top Rank

2009-11-13T04:26:53Z

Welcome back to Frank's World, where I get to bore complete strangers by waxing rhapsodic about the vast Sinatra universe.

One thing about Frank Sinatra: he was not shy about letting people know what musicians and singers he admired (read a past post on Sinatra and Lester Young here). Probably the artist he complimented most, including Lady Day, was Ella Fitzgerald.

Ella Fitzgerald and Sinatra came up together during the big band era. They were both popular with the public during this time and were admired by other singers and musicians for having perfect pitch. They grew up in tough yet somewhat isolated neighborhoods outside New York City and were misfits in different ways, which ended up carrying through in their music.

]]> American Idol of its day. It still took Sinatra a couple years after that contest win to break through. Vocalists weren't the stars in those days; the big band leaders were.

Fitzgerald and Sinatra are the finest propagators of the Great American Songbook. Sinatra defined his career by being the first major star to dust off and record "forgotten" songs by the likes of Cole Porter and the Gershwin Brothers. Fitzgerald's songbook series was so successful that it pretty much bankrolled Verve Records. I've read that Sinatra stopped his own 1950s recordings from being collected into composer songbooks because he felt that Fitzgerald owned the format.

Each represents a jazz feeling in song, and both are based in swing instead of the blues. If Fitzgerald sometimes didn't read lyrics as deeply as Sinatra did she could scat better than anybody else in the business. I'm not always a fan of scatting, but Miss Fitzgerald turned it into a true art.

Check out Fitzgerald's brilliant rendition of Irving Berlin's "Blue Skies" with Paul Weston's band; her improvised performance actually conveys a deeper sense of Berlin's lyrics and melody than the composer did. This number matches the feeling of being glad to be alive. Fitzgerald in general seemed to bring out a similar euphoric feeling in Sinatra. Check out the way the two interacted in concert, with Sinatra literally sitting at her feet looking up at her with wonder and respect.

The feelings, of course, were mutual. Fitzgerald described herself as one of Sinatra's original bobby-soxer fans. For more Fitzgerald and Sinatra, you can listen to my superlative Frank's World Rhapsody Radio Station, which has "just-click" links for your Facebook and Twitter pages.

American Synth-Pop, from Lady Gaga on Back

2009-11-11T20:06:06Z

Ever since the early days of MTV, Flock of Seagulls haircuts, and Spandau Ballet new romanticism, it's been widely accepted that synthesizer pop is a mostly British (or at its weirdest, continental European) phenomenon: "Glitter-disco-synthesizer night school, all that noble savage drum drum drum," the band X ranted in their 1983 anti-Anglo tirade "I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts." Americans were just too gritty and guitar-loving for all that silliness, right? Well, not all of them. Lady Gaga is only the latest -- and potentially the biggest -- artist from U.S. shores to re-imagine Anglo/Euro technopop, fashion sense and all. Here's a rundown of electronically inclined Americans who preceded her.]]> your free trial Rhapsody membership. At Rhapsody, we not only have the latest and greatest premiers, we also all the an extensive selection of the catalog material you crave.

Sparks: Ron and Russell Mael only seemed British; really, they were two L.A. brothers who moved to England in the mid-'70s to make some of the archest glam-rock around. But by the time Giorgio Moroder synthesized them starting with 1979's heavenly No. 1 In Heaven, they were back on American shores.

Devo: These flowerpot-topped Ohioans' journey to the future ensured that their new wave jerked back and forth in a robotic fashion even when they were punks, so funking out with synth-beats on 1980's Freedom of Choice was a natural (and quite lucrative) devo-elopment.

Missing Persons and Berlin: Respectively fronted by Dale Bozzio and Terri Nunn, these kinky L.A. outfits both had a smattering of hits in the '80s, and both directly presaged Lady Gaga's look to a probably not-coincidental extent. How to tell them apart: Missing Persons had fishbowl bras; Berlin had a No. 1 single ("Take My Breath Away," 1986.)

Early Madonna: The only act here whose popularity Gaga hasn't eclipsed -- at least not yet. And though Madonna obviously did far more than just synth-pop, she also did "Into the Groove."

Early Ministry: By the late '80s, this Chicago gang got a whole lot louder and angrier, incorporating dub, then industrial and then metal, and paving the way for Nine Inch Nails. But inititally -- on 1983's With Sympathy, especially -- they seemed to be aiming to be the American Depeche Mode.

Information Society: Rarely mentioned now, these commendably rhythmic Minnesota techno-popsters actually had two Top 10 hits in 1988 -- "Walking Away," which went to No. 9, and "What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy)," which hit No. 3. (Trivia bonus: What Jewish Minneapolis proto-synth-popper had an even bigger hit in 1980? If you guessed Lipps, Inc.'s Steve Greenberg with "Funkytown," you win!)

Book of Love: These shy-sounding late '80s/early '90s kids opened for Depeche Mode; they were on Erasure's label; they covered songs by Mike Oldfield and Swiss post-punks Kleenex/Liliput; they hit the Top 100 once. But they were from Philadelphia! Then they moved to ... New York. (For more hit Philly synth-pop, see Pretty Poison, of 1987's "Catch Me (I'm Falling)" fame.)

Fischerspooner, Peaches, Adult: From New York, Toronto (OK, not the U.S., but close), and Detroit -- early '00s electroclash Americans wishing they were German (or wishing they were Lil' Kim, take your pick). The quasi-decadent fad was a fairly big commercial deal across the Atlantic and mere hipster cult fodder at home. But Gaga was probably taking notes.

3OH!3 and Breathe Carolina: And the synthbeat goes on, in the most emo-misogynist quarters of Colorado, of all places. It's not even worth complaining about. Might as well make like Helen Keller, and talk with your hips.

Electronic Music's Best Albums of the Decade

2009-11-11T06:08:28Z

Probably the most important thing that happened to electronic music in the '00s was its acceptance as a more or less everyday part of popular music, period. Sure, subgenres like house and techno persevered, and onetime blips blossomed into full-blown global subcultures -- witness U.K. garage's resurrection as dubstep, a transformer of a genre currently plowing a juggernaut across just about everything in its path. But electronic music's once-marginal techniques found themselves diffused into every capillary of the pop bloodstream, from Kanye's Auto-Tune conceptualism to Lady Gaga's trance makeover. The point is no longer what is or isn't "electronic," but what musicians do with the tools at hand -- and how they interpret the legacy of all the disco auteurs and avant-garde freaks that made our contemporary soundscape possible. So this list isn't necessarily a definitive list of the "best" electronic albums of the '00s. Consider it, instead, a sampling of some of the decade's more provocative (or at least prescient) statements, from the underground to the charts.

Be sure to listen to all the artist mentioned here, anywhere and anytime in high def audio, with your Rhapsody subscription. Not a member? Click here for free trial Rhapsody membership and get on board with the ultimate music experience.

]]> 25. William Basinski: The Disintegration Loops I, 2002

For all the pretty ambient music out there, little of it has the built-in gravity of Basinski's drones, reconstructed from decaying magnetic tapes and caked with what feels like time's dried sweat. Created in the shadow of 9/11's Ground Zero, it encapsulated the decade's melancholic turn like no other.

24. Flying Lotus: Los Angeles, 2008

L.A. beatmaker Flying Lotus marked his arrival on England's Warp label with a missive that had two meanings: it was part love letter to his hometown, part admission that he'll never stay faithful. Lurching breaks and warbly jazz samples pay homage to Stones Throw's brand of SoCal soul, but both the low-end undercurrent and the high-end shimmer have more in common with the avant dubsteppers of the U.K.'s amorphous "bass music" scene.

23. Basic Channel: BCD-2, 2008

Despite their steadfastly underground attitude, Berlin's Basic Channel managed to get the word out: they're the undisputed masters of dub techno, and they rank among minimal's most important forebears. This, their second comp, collects tracks from vinyl 12-inch singles that appeared in the early '90s. Ranging from clattering percussive maelstroms to ambient washes that sound like a cassette that's been dubbed dozens of times, these tracks still sound ahead of their time.

22. The Postal Service: Give Up, 2003
At its time the unlikeliest of crossovers -- emo-leaning pop meets skittery electronic, really? -- this collab between Jimmy Tamborello and Death Cab's Ben Gibbard taught indie kids not to be afraid of keyboards (and inadvertently paved the way for one Billboard-charting Owl City in the process).

21. Daft Punk: Discovery, 2001

The gigantic glowing pyramid helped, but "One More Time" and its enclosing album essentially won Daft Punk ownership of electronic pop for the remainder of the decade: Kanye West, Auto-Tune, Justice, Lady Gaga -- none of them would have been the same without the robotic French filter-disco whizzes.

20. Mu: Afro Finger and Gel, 2003

Before she had an album, Paris Hilton had a song named after her, thanks to this brain-frying collection of avant-dance disco-punk, the results of a collaboration between Mutsumi Kanamori and Maurice Fulton. Where so much dance-rock has aged poorly, this still sounds like the future (and sometimes a future you're afraid to witness).

19. Metro Area: Metro Area, 2002

Darshan Jesrani and Morgan Geist helped kick off the decade's long-overdue reassessment of disco with this 2002 album reviving Italo synths, oonce-oonce glide and electronic boogie quirk.

18. Four Tet: Rounds, 2003

He's gone on to more ambitious things, but Four Tet's Rounds remains a cherished snapshot of electronic music at a key juncture in its evolution. Four Tet shrugged off any allegiance to calcifying subgenres, instead trusting his own instincts and coming up with a dented masterpiece of quizzical, whimsical beauty.

17. Hot Chip: The Warning, 2006

With their second album, Hot Chip graduated from the bedroom to the recording studio and kept grinning the whole way. Even with denser production, the London electro-hop outfit retains a cuddly, lo-fi intimacy, thanks especially to Joe Goddard's vocal nonchalance and Alexis Taylor's laddish falsetto, while the rest of the band adds layers of squiggly synths, nano-sized breakbeats and assorted Casiotone confetti.

16. Air: The Virgin Suicides, 2000

These French experts in Nouvelle Vague cool nailed the balance between poise and affectation on their soundtrack for Sofia Coppola's portrait of some seriously crazy-making sisters.

15. M.I.A.: Kala, 2007

When M.I.A. and her larger-than-life persona caught the ears of Jay-Z and the Slumdog Millionaire producers, her global beats, unvarnished backstory and confrontational rhymes gave a new sense of purpose to an exhausted pop marketplace.

14. Arthur Russell: Calling Out of Context, 2004

When Audika's 2004 reissue re-introduced the music of this avant-garde disco icon to a largely unsuspecting world, it was one of the decade's most generous acts, connecting us to a sound we'd known was there all along, but just couldn't find access to.

13. Hercules and Love Affair: Hercules and Love Affair, 2008

Retrofitting New York's halcyon club daze for the kids, enfant terrible Andy Butler and friends (DFA mixmaster Tim Goldsworthy, the otherworldly Antony Hegarty and friends) tapped into a modernity that was completely new.

12. Junior Boys: Last Exit, 2004

These Canadians have gotten deeper and more varied with the years, but there's something extra-special about their debut, which fed jittery two-step and R&B beats through chilly synth-pop filters -- and even scored a Fennesz remix in the process.

11. Burial: Untrue, 2008

Bass and a deep bottom are urtexts of the mysterious London dubstep producer's second album. There may be a future-soul beauty and two-step traction to tracks like "Archangel" and the aptly titled "Ghost Hardware," but the lord they serve is a decidedly downtrodden one.

10. Matmos: A Chance to Cut Is a Chance to Cure, 2001

Sampling everything from liposuction procedures to their dead rat's empty cage, Bjork's accomplices turned "clicks + cuts" into a joyful, messy noise.

9. Jamie Lidell: Jim, 2008

On his third solo outing, former techno-funkster Jamie Lidell channeled the '60s-era spirits of Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye and James Brown; as though making up for a turn away from obviously "electronic" music, his live show remained a maelstrom of live loops and sampling run amok.

8. The Streets: Original Pirate Material, 2002

Mike Skinner's droll, everyday tales of the everyman found their perfect expression in a playful fusion of hip-hop and U.K. garage that hasn't been matched.

7. LCD Soundsystem: Sound of Silver, 2007

When James Murphy sang, "New York, I love you but you're bringing me down," we knew exactly what he meant. When he filtered the message through a maze of post-punk and vintage disco influences, "down" turned right side up.

6. Dizzee Rascal: Boy in da Corner, 2003

Grime's greatest artist album, this debut catapulted a London teenager named Dizzee Rascal from the projects to international stardom, changing the course of U.K. dance music and making its impact felt even on U.S. hip-hop.

5. Basement Jaxx: Rooty, 2001

Basement Jaxx's career highlight to date, 2001's Rooty found the duo warping club-ready beats into irrepressible future pop with some of the most memorable choruses going.

4. The Knife: Silent Shout, 2006

The Knife's Silent Shout took techno into the realm of the nightmarish and carnivalesque with icy synthesizers, cyborg sea shanties and weird, detuned, androgynous vocals that seemed to raise the dead. All that, and you could dance to it.

3. Luomo: Vocalcity, 2001

Finland's Luomo (aka Vladislav Delay) helped set the decade's house-music revival with this sensual fusion of Chicago-inspired beats, 21st-century synths and goosebump-sparking vocals. Cold sweat distilled.

2. Herbert: Bodily Functions, 2001

Herbert's conceptual art, not to mention his songwriting, was never been more focused than it was here, drawing on samples sourced from daily domestic life, and with Dani Siciliano's voice topping it all off with a hint of intimate mystery.

1. The Avalanches: Since I Left You, 2000

The Avalanches planted the roots of some of the decade's most fruitful flowerings, crossing hip-hop beats with psychedelic textures and disco euphoria, and laying the foundations for everyone from Girl Talk to Grizzly Bear.

John Mayer: Battle Ready

2009-11-10T15:00:04Z

John Mayer is one of the most celebrated and popular singer-songwriters of his generation. His earnest and earthy take on pop music is assured, mature and sultry. Battle Studies is the latest chapter and is premiering here on Rhapsody, one week early, which we think is pretty cool. A-list premieres, however, are just one of many reasons you should give Rhapsody a spin. We've compiled a few others below, from customized radio stations to professionally built playlists in high-def audio, plus views, news and more tunes than you could play in a lifetime -- whether on your PC, your stereo, or our brand new iPhone app. Not a Rhapsody subscriber? Sign up for a free 14-day trial, then crank the latest and greatest from John Mayer, including Battle Studies.

	Review: Our critics discuss Mayer's Battle Studies		Discover Mayer's full catalog on Rhapsody
	Explore Mayer's greatest hits, best collaborations and much more		Listen to our wide range of John Mayer Radio Stations
	Is John Mayer this generation's Bob Dylan?		Discover the many babes of John Mayer.

John Mayer Twitter Contest

2009-11-09T20:06:19Z

Happy days are here again -- it's time for another Twitter Contest to help get the word out on our one-week-early premiere of John Mayer's Battle Studies. You can stream the album via Rhapsody -- so like, on Rhapsody.com, the Rhapsody desktop client on your PC, through the Rhapsody TiVo app, and of course on your iPhone via our sweet app, along with a dozen or so other places -- starting on Nov.10, so that's when our Twitter contest kicks off. Tune into Twitter.com/rhapsody from today until Nov. 17th. There, we'll drop a trivia question at three random times during the next seven days. Anyone who responds with the correct answer will be entered into that day's contest. Be sure to send in your answer by the deadline or it won't count. Also -- and this is IMPORTANT -- be sure to include the hash-tag #rhapsodymayer in your answer.

Winners be selected at random to receive either a Rhapsody $50 gift card or a Rhapsody-enabled Philips Streamium NP2900. Of course, you'll need your Rhapsody membership to enjoy the full benifits of these devices, so sign up right here for your free Rhapsody subscription, where you can rock out with John Mayer to your heart's content and share your favorite songs and artists on Facebook and Twitter.

Concentric Pleasures: Phoenix, Vitalic, Redshape

2009-11-08T23:56:06Z

There are three really cool things about my job. One of them is getting to turn people on to the music I'm most jazzed about: it's a license to pontificate, really -- a pulpit for strictly musical evangelism. But, recognizing that my own tastes can be, shall we say, peculiar, I also try to listen with open ears and the humble reminder that what doesn't float my boat (a rather cramped dinghy, it sometimes appears) may carry another listener's craft all the way to shore. They talk about the critic's role as a "filter," but I'm really more like a theater usher, lighting your way to the appropriate aisle.

]]>
Phoenix, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (Remix Collection)
Let's face it: it's hard to further polish a gem like Phoenix's Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. And to be fair, this collection of remixes from the album doesn't really try, offering instead a selection of agreeable alterations from the likes of Alex Metric, Passion Pit and others, who generally tug the French rockers off the stage and into the middle of the dancefloor. But the best mixes go further afield, like Turzi's hushed electro reverie, YACHT's Phillip Glass disco revamp and, particularly, Animal Collective's reverb-soaked reverie.

Vitalic, Flashmob
Pascal Arbez keeps up his walloping pace on the follow-up to 2005's electro-house touchstone, OK Cowboy. His mechanized disco rhythms are as overdriven as ever, and his synths are as subtle as paint stripper, peeling back the high end in an ecstasy of treble. But while these rave-tested anthems are built to thrill, there's enough pop structure and sonic nuance to keep the mood versatile.

Redshape, The Dance Paradox
The musician known as Redshape's identity is still a secret, but no one wonders much about the man behind the red mask these days because, frankly, his music says more than any bio could. In keeping with his 12-inch singles, The Dance Paradox revels in the steely melancholia of classic Detroit techno, with synths creaking and battered drums swinging like a post-apocalyptic playground. Imagine Burial illuminated by spotlights and given a high-voltage jolt, brooding and punishing in equal measure.

Neon Indian, Psychic Charms
There's little wonder about Texan Alon Palomo's moniker on his debut, a home-produced blast of fluorescent effervescence and Day-Glo tone color. He wields samples like the Avalanches and drops fuzzy, gritty funk in a Stones Throw vein, on tracks that are nominally lo-fi but have plenty of punch behind their yacht-rock choruses. What do you call this kind of psychedelic, style-scavenging indie pop? Who knows, but lined up with Cfcf, Wavves and even Animal Collective, it sounds very 2009.

Various, 5: Five Years of Hyperdub
After five years of warping dubstep into ever wilder, woolier shapes, London's Hyperdub label -- home to artists like Burial, Zomby and label-head Kode9 -- releases a sprawling compendium of counterintuitive bass explorations. Running from lo-fi, video-game bleepery to digital lovers' rock, the double-disc comp encapsulates half a decade of dance music on the peripheries -- and suggests plenty of evolutionary possibilities in the years to come.

F*ck Buttons, Tarot Sport
F*ck Buttons' second album features Two Lone Swordsmen's Andrew Weatherall on the boards, but don't expect another Screamadelica. Laying into savage, techno-ready kick drums and cranking the synths and guitars well into the red, the Bristol band achieves a rare fusion of dance-music form and oozing, psychedelic content. "Olympians" is throbbing fluo-pop like a niced-up HEALTH; "Phantom Limbs" turns This Heat's metallic clang into bracing, wind-tunnel funk. It's ecstatic, mind-bending stuff, and it might just change the way you think about both "rock" and "electronic music."

The xx, The xx
Twenty-year-olds aren't supposed to sound like this: this confident, this subtle, this sensual, this weary. Borrowing the pace from slowcore icons Low and an R&B rhythmic sensibility from electro-poppers Junior Boys, the London co-ed quartet turns spindly four-bar progressions swathed in reverb into minimalist pop that's alternately jewel-toned and charcoal-streaked. Breathy boy/girl vocals up the intimacy factor even as they dissipate into a world-weary haze, making this the perfect accompaniment for breakups and breakup sex alike.