Happy Friday!
This week turned out to be a nostalgic one here at Soundfly HQ — so many of my submissions came from the archives! We spent the beginning of the week exploring the history of Abbey Road, found out mid-week about the Full House reunion, and just yesterday stumbled across the Cher, Elton John, and Bette Midler stunner posted below. We also have some contemporary goodies including hip-hop infographics and cats singing Taylor Swift, so read on, for the best of the 70s, 80s, and today!
The best of the musical internet this week
- This is the COOLEST. Google Maps created an immersive, interactive tour through Abbey Road Studios, allowing you to explore the history of the artists who recorded there — from the Beatles, to Kanye, to Sigur Ros, and Ella Fitzgerald. You can play with the gear, try your hand at mixing a track, listen to a sound tour, watch exclusive footage, and so much more. It’s endless. [Google]
- Let’s turn back the clock with a TV special I can only assume was crafted by Bob Mackie whilst in the throws of a drug-fueled tubercular fever dream:
- This might be my favorite thing to come out of TIDAL’s much maligned, celebrity-studded press launch. Kanye West has had to make public statements about how TIDAL’s shareholders are not, in fact, the Illuminati. [Paper Magazine]
- The metronome has long been in need of an update. If you’ve been looking for a way to keep the beat without smashing that little ticking demon box on the floor, consider investing in this crowdfunded, noise-less, wearable metronome. [Soundbrenner]
- An environmental engineer went through all the chord progressions in Hooktheory’s database and created an interactive, visual representation of every known chord progression they’ve analyzed. [Amit Kohli]
- Fuller House is officially happening! Let’s celebrate out at the club with Stephanie Tanner:
- The New Yorker put together an in-depth investigation on the man they call “the Patient Zero of internet piracy.” It’s a long one, but it reads like a hollywood thriller, and it manages to explain how the music industry arrived at the state it’s in today, all through the actions of a single person. [The New Yorker]
- Sample-stitch is so much fun. Create songs using the beats and funk samples producers used on Kanye West’s “Otis”, J Dilla’s “Don’t Cry”, and more. [Sample-stitch]
- Then check out this infographic by the same guy, breaking down rappers by geography and vocabulary size. The South ain’t looking real good… [MF Daniels]
- Did you know Phillip Glass composed music for Sesame Street in the ’70s? Because I did not, and it’s a trip:
- Mass Appeal went to painstaking detail to place classic hip-hop album covers in their exact context on Google Maps. It makes for a great look at how the neighborhoods that inspired rap legends have changed both entirely and not-at-all. [Mass Appeal]
- HBO’s Kurt Cobain documentary comes out in a week and a half, and some of the filmmakers’ best finds are already making their way onto the internet. Music.Mic has a Beatles cover along with a very sweet snapshot with Frances Bean. [HBO and Music.Mic]
- This photo cracked me up (via Letters of Note):
- This one did too (via SynthGear):
- Now we’re getting into the good stuff. If this is not the very picture of virtuosity, I don’t know what is:
- Obviously, puppets can display musical mastery, too:
- And so can cats (please believe me when I tell you I’m so sorry about this one, even compared to the previous two, it’s deeply stupid):
I’ll close out today by digging back into the archives with this video. One time, at a James Brown concert, both Michael Jackson and Prince were in the audience. Brown notices MJ right away and calls him up to do a song. Then, at 2:05, Brown spots Prince, who is carried onto stage, does an insane guitar solo, strips, and dances with the mic stand. It is magic.
