Songs That Make You Feel Good. First Listen: 'Muppets: The Green Album' Hide captionOK Go shows some Muppet solidarity. The rock quartet contributes a cover of The Muppet Show's theme song to Muppets: The Green Album. Courtesy of the artist OK Go shows some Muppet solidarity. The rock quartet contributes a cover of The Muppet Show's theme song to Muppets: The Green Album. Audio for this feature is no longer available. Growing up in the '70s and '80s, I made a promise to myself to never forget what it felt like to be a kid. YouTube Alice Cooper performs on The Muppet Show in 1978. Fortunately, we have the occasional keepsake to remind us of everything we forgot. During The Muppet Show's five-year run on CBS from 1976 to 1981 — and in a half-dozen movie spin-offs — Kermit, Miss Piggy and a large cast of other beloved characters romped through a world without cynicism, where it was safe to love silly things with all your heart.
In the 20 years since Muppets creator Jim Henson died, the program and characters have fallen on hard times. Rachael Yamagata. SAM PHILLIPS. 7 Alternatives to Pandora and Last.FM | Mystery Tricycle. Whether you are annoyed by the ads on Pandora, the limited number of skips, or the abyss of cruel 30-second song teasers from Last.FM, many online listeners are growing weary of mainstream methods of hearing new music. While the Pandora algorithm is strong, and the Last.FM related artists tool is pretty useful, don’t fool yourself in to thinking that there aren’t other great ways to expose yourself to new music in the depths of cyberspace.
Here are 7 alternatives to Pandora and Last.FM that will infuse your day with an uninterrupted stream of music that large record companies haven’t managed to squash under their thumbs yet. StumbleAudio StumbleAudio has a killer recommendation engine that works better for me than Pandora’s. Songza Songza uses a recommendation engine that runs for each ‘channel’, but unlike Pandora, channels are not tied to specific listeners and rather are community property. Musicovery Stereomood Ah, the power of the ‘tag cloud’. 8tracks Grooveshark The Hype Machine. Sandy Denny. Shuggie Otis. Sera Cahoone. Laura Gibson. King Creosote. Jon Hopkins.
Post rock. Alt.country. Alt.pop. World Music. Sheet Music/Lyrics. Electronica. All Songs Considered Blog. Songs That Make You Feel Good : All Songs Considered Blog. Post-Op Pop: Choose Your Musical Painkillers : All Songs Considered Blog. Hide captionNot all suffering can be fixed in the operating room. What songs do you use to treat your aches and pains? iStockPhoto.com Not all suffering can be fixed in the operating room. What songs do you use to treat your aches and pains? In the past few weeks, NPR Music has been transformed into a twisted sideshow of injury and infirmity.
Without delving into all the grisly details — though my freshly grafted gums urge you to floss regularly, while Mike Katzif's broken arm suggests that you step carefully when ascending your porch steps — it's been a veritable parade of catastrophe around here. Which, in turn, has had us thinking about recovery, healing, comfort food and the musical equivalent of soothing Popsicles, warm chicken soup and delicious Motrin. Bob Boilen and I have discussed the topic at length, in light of our shared love of King Creosote and Jon Hopkins' recent album Diamond Mine, a sublime and enveloping 32-minute journey that practically doles out foot rubs.
Alex Steinweiss: Remembering The Modern Cover Man : Deceptive Cadence. Hide caption For Decca: Stravinsky's 'Firebird' Suite, with a performance led by Lorin Maazel. Image courtesy of Universal Classics Hide caption A very different take on Stravinsky: 'The Rite of Spring,' with the composer conducting. Image courtesy of Sony Music Entertainment Hide caption Steinweiss' work embraced jazz, Broadway and pop as well as classical; here, his take on a Count Basie album. Image courtesy of Sony Music Entertainment Hide caption Steinweiss began utilizing his "scrawl" in 1944, but by 1947 it had become his signature lettering. Image courtesy of Alex Steinweiss Hide caption An example of an Offenbach recording utilizing the famous 'Steinweiss scrawl,' though here used sparingly. Image courtesy of Sony Music Entertainment Hide caption Steinweiss' cover for a 1944 recording of the Beethoven Ninth Symphony with the Vienna Philharmonic, the Vienna State Opera Chorus and conductor Felix Weingartner.
William P. Gottlieb/Library of Congress. First Listen: Richard Buckner, 'Our Blood' Grouper: Poignancy In Simplicity. Hide captionGrouper's "Alien Observer" contains only two instruments, but it dives deeper than it might first appear. Alicia J. Rose Grouper's "Alien Observer" contains only two instruments, but it dives deeper than it might first appear. Song: "Alien Observer" Artist: Grouper CD: A I A : Alien Observer Genre: Pop Given that it's 2011 — when the production and distribution of new music has never been more democratic or overwhelming — Liz Harris' art flirts closely with a sentiment that could plague, say, a precocious 6-year-old painter or the first Vampire Weekend record: "I could have done that" or "My kid could have done that.
" Yet, like an Aelita Andre portrait (or Vampire Weekend's Contra, if you're keeping score), Harris' aesthetic is unmistakably her own. "Alien Observer," from Grouper's two-part album A I A, emphasizes the point here. But none of that explains the hypnotic, poignant undercurrent of "Alien Observer. " Buffalo Tom: Growing Into Rock 'n' Roll. Hide captionIn "Guilty Girls," Buffalo Tom is a more lyrically mature and equally potent version of the great band that formed 25 years ago. Courtesy of the artist In "Guilty Girls," Buffalo Tom is a more lyrically mature and equally potent version of the great band that formed 25 years ago. Song: "Guilty Girls" Artist: Buffalo Tom CD: Skins Genre: Rock Middle age has long been rock's most arduous rite of passage. Buffalo Tom, to its credit, has opted to address such unfashionable issues head on. Over the flypaper-catchy melody of "Guilty Girls," Bill Janovitz's gritty vocals commingle the sadness of one who has seen youth turn brittle with admiration of a longstanding survivor's instinct.
Obvious bromides of love and anger are the province of youth, but desperate, seeking efforts to grasp the bigger picture characterize rock in middle age.
1,000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die. Jazz-Sax. James Taylor Is Not The 'Whitest' Guy You Know : The Record. Hide captionJames Taylor onstage at the Mariposa Folk Festival in July of 1970 in Orillia, Ontario. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images James Taylor onstage at the Mariposa Folk Festival in July of 1970 in Orillia, Ontario. It's pretty common for people to accuse James Taylor of being the whitest guy in popular music. A guest column in SPIN magazine by the comedy troupe the Whitest Kids U Know accused the singer-songwriter of penning hits that make John Denver's albums sound like Public Enemy.
"Stiffer than titanium, that boy," wrote one blogger after sitting through the singer-songwriter's 2006 PBS special. "We could have been at a nursing home in South Carolina," cracked Huffington Post regular Andy Ostroy of the very Caucasian crowd surrounding him at Taylor and Carole King's Madison Square Garden last year. A polarizing figure from the minute he gained notoriety, Taylor's now as often imitated by young musicians as he is scorned. I hear that outsiderness in Taylor's music. Music Sites. Carl Orff: Carmina Burana. Gabriel Faure - Requiem - Movement 1 - Introit et Kyrie. Music discovery. Telekinesis, Others Cover Nirvana For 'Nevermind' Tribute Album : All Songs Considered Blog. This year marks the 20th anniversary of Nirvana's legendary Nevermind, and concerts, tributes and other celebrations are popping up worldwide to mark the occasion.
One that stands out in the crowd is Newermind, Spin magazine's soon-to-be-released, track-by-track reproduction of the entire album, featuring covers by bands such as JEFF the Brotherhood, Titus Andronicus and a killer version of "On a Plain" performed by Telekinesis: hide captionSpin magazine's Newermind is a track-by-track tribute to Nirvana's 20-year-old Nevermind. Among the tribute's other high points: The Vaselines' members re-imagine "Lithium" as a slow but dizzying dirge, Charles Bradley and the Menahan Street Band turn the hyper-propulsive "Stay Away" into a funky soul number, and Amanda Palmer spins "Polly" into a creepy lullaby, while EMA offers her gritty, explosive take on the album closer "Endless Nameless.
" We asked Spin editor-in-chief Steve Kandell to tell us how Newermind came together: First Listen: Pokey LaFarge And The South City Three, 'Middle Of Everywhere' Hide captionMiddle of Everywhere, Pokey LaFarge's latest album with his band The South City Three, comes out July 19. Courtesy of the artist Middle of Everywhere, Pokey LaFarge's latest album with his band The South City Three, comes out July 19. Audio for this feature is no longer available. Nothing about Pokey LaFarge seems to exist in modern times, starting with the name "Pokey LaFarge. " Maybe the effect wouldn't be so jarring if LaFarge's music felt inauthentic in some unsettling way — if he were just some poseur lucky enough to share a shirt size with his great-grandfather.
On Middle of Everywhere, out July 19, LaFarge and his band The South City Three tear through the sounds of the past with manically skittish energy: Even the longest and slowest songs here, like "Coffee Pot Blues" and the four-and-a-half-minute ballad "River Rock Bottom," have a way of angrying up the blood. Joe Boyd And Robyn Hitchcock: Tiny Desk Concert. More Songs That Make You Cry : All Songs Considered Blog. Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images On the latest edition of All Songs Considered, Bob and I share some of the stories we received when we asked listeners to tell us about the songs that make them cry. We received literally thousands of personal messages and suggestions — some gut-wrenching, some beautiful, but all of them moving and heartfelt.
Since we could never begin to share all of them on the show, we decided to put a few more stories and songs here on the blog. You'll notice that some of the listener stories are recorded; we got those from our Soundcloud page, where you can record and post your own story about a song that makes you cry. You can also share your story in the comments section below. Bess On Simon and Garfunkel's 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' Lisa: "My mom died when I was 15, and my brother, a musician, was in jail at the time.
Sarah: "My son was born in 2005 at 28 weeks. Cindi: "'Don't Worry, Baby' by The Beach Boys. Bitter Pills For Bitter Pills: Five Essential Breakup Songs. Hide captionIn the depths of breakup-induced despair, even a trip to Chuck E. Cheese won't cure what ails you. You need songs that understand. Courtesy of Chuck E. Cheese In the depths of breakup-induced despair, even a trip to Chuck E. These little five-track playlists can be shockingly difficult to compile: How do you narrow down just five road songs, or love songs, or work songs, or jazz songs? Picking five relatively new and utterly devastating breakup songs, however, involved opening my iTunes and sorting by play count. So here they are, just in time for the clown-show of the heart that is Valentine's Day: five bitter pills to swallow as you pick through the charred ruins of your life, deface your cherished mementos, and use the absorbent exterior of a Chipotle burrito to soak up your tears.
This is, of course, but a tiny sampling of the bleak breakup music at your disposal: For heaven's sake, not one of these songs even predates 2006.