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10-12-12 Footnotes
Show 359: Michael Angelakos of Passion Pit, Review of Wanda Jackson, Greg's DIJ
Listen to the MP3 Stream of this show: (link)
Download the Podcast: (Download the MP3)
1 Foes of digital music have often cited streaming services like Pandora as the reason for the demise of the middle-of-the-road musician. Sure, artists like Drake and Coldplay can succeed, but what about everyone else? Well, Tim Westergren, Pandora's founder has revealed some surprising sales numbers that put this idea to rest. He says Pandora pays over 2,000 artists more than $10,000 a year, and over 800 artists make $50,000. Of course, it's only the Adeles of the world that can rake in $1 million, but that still bodes pretty well for many working musicians.
2 This week, Passion Pit frontman Michael Angelakos is in the studio with Jim and Greg for a frank conversation and stripped-back live set. As Michael tells Jim and Greg, the band began with a belated Valentine’s Day present. Angelakos – then a student at Boston’s Emerson College - posted a track he’d written for his girlfriend to MySpace. “Sleepyhead” quickly exploded on the net. Passion Pit have since released two critically acclaimed albums and toured the world. Their latest release, Gossamer combines upbeat dance tracks and high production values with lyrics that explore Angelakos’s own experience with addiction and mental illness. (As Michael tells Jim and Greg, the band had to cancel dates this year so that he could deal with issues related to his manic depression). The contrast between upbeat music and dark lyrics, Michael explains, is what he’s always found interesting in pop music, and it’s the key to the Passion Pit project. Despite Gossamer’s harrowing content, Michael says the album is ultimately hopeful – an effort to achieve transcendence amid tough circumstances.
Be sure to check out video of Passion Pit’s solo piano set
3 Wanda Jackson, Queen of Rockabilly since 1954, is out with a new album. Unfinished Business – like last year’s The Party Ain’t Over – is produced by a young fan. This time, Jim explains, it’s Justin Townes Earle, not Jack White, at the helm. Neither Jim nor Greg was a fan of the Caribbean-flavored, White-produced The Party Ain’t Over. Does Earle fare better? Greg says yes. You have to remember, he says, that in addition to being rockabilly royalty, Jackson has a background in country and gospel. She sounds perfectly at home covering artists like Freddy King and Etta James. Greg gives Unfinished Business a Buy It. Jim agrees that Earle played it smart by keeping Wanda in her comfort zone and allowing her feistiness to shine through. But he says there are three or four other Jackson albums he’d recommend over this one. He gives Unfinished Business a Burn It.
4 As the presidential election approaches, Greg’s thoughts turn to the terrific L.A. band X. He picks “The New World,” the leadoff track on the band’s 1983 album, More Fun in the New World, for this week’s DIJ. For Greg, this song perfectly reflects the meaning (or lack thereof) of a presidential election for society’s have-nots. In the song, X takes the perspective of a politically apathetic homeless person. Whoever wins the election, he explains, nothing really changes for those at the bottom of the economic latter. But the song’s narrator doesn’t totally lose hope. In the chorus he urges the politicians of the day: “Don’t forget the motor city!”
Songs Featured in Show #359
Drake (feat. The Weeknd), “Crew Love,” Take Care, Young Money, 2011
Passion Pit, “Take a Walk,” Gossamer, Columbia, 2012
Mary O’Hara, “Óró Mo Bhaidin,” Songs of Ireland, Tradition, 1958
Passion Pit, “Sleepyhead,” Manners, Frenchkiss, 2009
Passion Pit, “Little Secrets,” Manners, Frenchkiss, 2009
Passion Pit, “Constant Conversations,” (Live on Sound Opinions), Gossamer, Columbia, 2012
Passion Pit, “Cuddle Fuddle,” Chunk of Change EP, Frenchkiss, 2008
Passion Pit, “Folds in Your Hands,” Manners, Frenchkiss, 2009
Passion Pit, “Cry Like a Ghost,” Gossamer, Columbia, 2012
Passion Pit, “I’ll Be Alright,” Gossamer, Columbia, 2012
Passion Pit, “Sleepyhead,” (Live on Sound Opinions), Manners, Frenchkiss, 2009
Passion Pit, “Carried Away,” Gossamer, Columbia, 2012
Wanda Jackson, “California Stars,” Unfinished Business, Sugar Hill Records, 2012
Wanda Jackson, “I’m Tore Down,” Unfinished Business, Sugar Hill Records, 2012
X, “The New World,” More Fun in the New World, Elektra, 1983
The xx, “Fiction,” Coexist, Young Turks, 2012
Mumford & Suns, “Whispers in the Dark,” Babel, Island, 2012
Coldplay, “Every Teardrop is a Waterfall,” Mylo Xyloto, Parlophone, 2011
Mumford & Suns, “Holland Road,” Babel, Island, 2012
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