When you spend all day working online, learning about the amazing things people out in the world are doing with music, it can take a toll on your self-esteem. Rarely is this feeling more apparent than it was this week, watching the video below of two eight-year-olds attending a rave and interviewing the show’s nine-year-old DJ, and having the instant, searing realization that these small children are already way, way cooler than me. They are cooler than I have ever been. And I am not getting any cooler. But by way of processing such complicated emotions, I shall turn my jealousy into celebration. Behold, dozens of musicians and music lovers who are all, each in their own way, pretty badass.
Presidents Who are Cooler Than Me
Pitchfork took an uproarious look back at the musical legacy of “the only American president you could reliably trust to DJ a party.”
We, meanwhile, celebrated America’s birthday with an in-depth investigation into the second most musical of presidents, and the only (to our knowledge) with a published album: Bill Clinton Jam Session: The Pres Blows.
8-Year-Old Vloggers Attend a Rave and Interview a 9-Year-Old DJ
VFILES: They’re just, all, so unflinchingly cool. To be fair to me though, they’re probably cooler than most people.
Reggae and Dub Legend Lee “Scratch” Perry Painted his Face Gold for an Interview about Bob Marley and Life as a Mad Man
Channel 4 News sat down with an ornately adorned Lee “Scratch” Perry for one of the most entertaining evening news interviews I can imagine.
Key and Peele Flip the Script on a Pirate Chantey
Key & Peele are truly exceptional songwriters.
Spoon Crashes a Spoon Cover Band’s Party
Jeff Beam and Pitchfork: Today in bands-being-awesome news — after playing a show in Portland, Maine last month, Spoon gate crashed an after party hosted by none other than a local Spoon cover band and used the band’s instruments to play a bonus set to an astounded audience. Pitchfork has the full story and the cover band’s frontman Jeff Beam just posted a video of what happened.
Making a Secret Album in the Apple Store
Daily Beast: “After a second computer failure left him without a means to record his album and no money to buy a replacement… Prince Harvey sang, hummed, and rapped into a display computer at the SoHo Apple Store every weekday for four consecutive months.” The mindbogglingly surreptitious final result is an album called PHATASS — which stands for Prince Harvey At The Apple Store: SoHo.
Even this Dog Is Cooler Than Me
q: This improv, care of CBC Radio’s q, is hands down the single best demonstration of a dog singing accompanied by piano I’ve ever seen. And you’d be surprised by how many dogs singing accompanied by piano I’ve seen.
And lastly, a Modern Russian Disco Star
I thought by ending this round-up on a weird note, I could at least guarantee that I’d be cooler than someone, but sadly no. Not only is Vitas wildly popular in Russia, he toured North America with huge success in 2011 and recently took China by storm. Which makes him a veritable worldwide phenomenon. And so I resign myself to the sad truth that I have less game than this man:
