Useless Clatter..."Slow Jam News" Jimmy Fallon feat. Barack Obama

      I almost didn't post this because in my head I wasn't sure if I considered this music.  Up there with the Black Keys and Beach House, I thought this video wouldn't fit well with the original reasons I started a blog on in the first place.  I was also telling myself that posting this video would be partaking in the on-going interet war on politics.  And the last thing I want to be is political.  But what the heck, this is hilarious. Besides, if I really wanted to I could just go ahead and tag this as The Roots.  And this was too good to pass up.  

      On his show "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon," Fallon hosts a recurring segment called "Slow Jam The News" in which he delivers the week's tops stories to the back beat of hip hop artists The Roots.  Its gotta nice little groove to it and yesterday President Obama payed the NBC studios a visit and did the song with Fallon and the Roots live on Late Night.  The President used his time in the song to talk about his promise to keep students loans down after recent news has resurfaced surrounding the oncoming July 1 expiration date of Stafford Loans, the country's largest federal student lending program.  This would result in an increase in student loan prices, up to a $1,000s more.
      Whether you like him or not, you have to admit he  delivered it here along with The Roots and their groovy rendition of "Hail to the Chief."  Those guys can really break it down.  Despite the humorous intention of the skit, the President was still touching on some very serious issues.  He  hardly cracking a smile at Fallon's remarks, "Preezy of the United Steezy" and "the Barackness Monster." He is pretty cool.
      "Lets keep the rates down on college loans," spelled out in a slow jam by President Obama himself.  I'm with you on that Mr. President.  [I didn't want to mention his squeak at the end, but its there: 4:28]

                       

Free Music Fridays... #1

      New category alert! Yes we got something new at TUNEclatter and it's exactly what it advertises- selections of perfectly free and legal music, ready to be downloaded right here.  Each week I will scour the endless facades of the internet for any available and legal downloads of my liking.  Most free songs on the web come from emerging artists who are kind enough to offer up their songs in return for the free publicity.  The descriptions will be brief and the reception is for you to decide.  If you like it take it, if not carry on.  Besides, what's the point of finding free music if there's no one to share it with?

   + I will try and make this a regular post on TUNEclatter on Friday of each week. [We'll see how long that lasts.] At least we got one!

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1. "Not Title (Molly)" John Maus
A groovy, techno-y pop song with a splendid '80s vibe to it.  Like a hyped-up Joy Division track.
| http://www.1forthepeople.com/2012/03/new-track-john-maus-no-title-molly.html#more |

2. "Time" Athletes
Another Joy Divison-esque song with a more genuinely nostalgic feel to it. A little slower, no techno.
| http://athletes.bandcamp.com/track/time |

3. "The Only Place" Best Coast
The title track from the upcoming album due May 15.  A perfect hippity, So-Cal theme song to kick start the oncoming summer months so desperately in our sights.
| http://soundcloud.com/wichita-recordings/best-coast-the-only-place |

4. "Gossip" Starlight Girls
With the high pitch organ screams this spooky pop song sounds like it should have been released closer to Halloween.  But all the better that its here right now. [You can actually download their full self-titled EP all for free!]
| http://www.1forthepeople.com/2012/03/album-download-starlight-girls.html#more |

5. "Tomorrow" Parakeet

A side project from the female bassist of Yuck, "Tomorrow" is a riff-driven, hard-hitting rock song with a warm heart coming in the form of Mariko Doi's congenial voice.

| http://parakeetmusic.bandcamp.com |

Hear This..."Hooray For Tuesday" The Mantles

      To anyone who did not already know, Tuesday has been scientifically proven to be the worst day of the week. [SOURCE]  That's especially bad news for those of you who thought the worst was over when Monday ended.  Well according to science, its not; and everyone knows you can't argue with science.  But like every other week, we will prevail, but not without the help from such courageous pizza corporations like Pizza Hut and Dominos offering us reasons to look forward to the dreaded day.  [Pizza Hut has two Tuesday specials actually, here's the second.]  College basketball keeps fans distracted during the season with games every week on recurring 'Super Tuesdays.'  And then of course, there's the real Super Tuesday- that one political thing with all the primary presidential elections that most young people completely forgot to tune in to.  Because unlike the Dominos deal, that's only once every four years.

So to keep up with the recent attempts to resurrecting Tuesdays, I'm reaching all the way back to 1998 to share with you the unofficial celebratory anthem of Tuesday by the Denver-based band The Minders.

      "Hooray For Tuesday" is a proclamation of praise for everyone's most hated weekday.  Sure anyone can make a song about how great Friday is (anyone...), but it takes a little more skill to excite people about a Tuesday.  They do a convincing job on it too.  The confident opening horns and drum sequence give me a sense of hope that what they are telling me is true by law.  And what they say is exactly what everyone wants to do on a Tuesday- leave the mundane monotony of their cubicles (especially these people).  The weekend is an eternity away and who wouldn't mind waiting it out in the unadorned paradise they sing of.

      But then again, if you're not going away and you're not about to sit down and watch a college basketball game with the Tuesday pizza deal of your choice, then what do you have to hooray about?  We're probably all in the same boat at this time of the year, punching it out on this very average Tuesday.  So take a moment and share the splendor of Tuesdays, if its only for a few minutes.

Useless Clatter...New Category For '"Review"'

In my experience, when an artist of my liking comes out with a new album I always seek it out, regardless of what critics say.  Whether Pitchfork or Rolling Stone give it a 9 or a 3 doesn’t matter because in most cases, my previous attachment to the band gives me reason to accepting the new material regardless of public opinion. 

      That being said, I am introducing a new category on TUNEclatter titled “Review.”  It’s important that the word contain those quotations because as I previously stated, I don’t stand by reviews of music as much as I do for movies.  What I will begin to attempt with this new category is not to give the album a rating as much as I would like to comment on the new material in terms of its sound comparison with the artist’s previously released album. 

      On my other blog, FILMclatter, I have a category titled ‘Why See This’ in which I state the reasons why I believe a particular movie is worth seeing.  In other words, I would rather just promote the movies and music I love as opposed to giving a mark of criticism to everything I can.  There are plenty of people out there doing the same thing, so I see any effort of my own to be rather trivial. 

      Above all though, I have always found myself interested in looking at the particular change in style a band encompasses over the years and therefore feel that comparing albums in that matter is a much more noteworthy thing for me to write about as opposed to shelling out the 100^th review of an album months after its release. 

+ The first albums that will be “reviewed” then will be from the San Francisco indie band, Girls. Their two albums being Father, Son, Holy Ghost from last September and their debut feature, Album, from 2010.