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1. The Last Shadow Puppets pick “Prisencolinensinainciusol” by Adriano Celentano
Every week we ask one artist that we love to tell us about one song that they love. With us now is Alex Turner, lead singer of Arctic Monkeys and The Last Shadow Puppets.
Justin: Alex, I was wondering, what is one song that you can’t stop listening to? Or one song that you love?
Alex Turner: It’s an Italian artist called Adriano Celentano. He was like the Italian Elvis in like the 60s and he has this song called “Prisencolinensinainciusol” which is like a made up word and all the lyrics to it are made up English words for this tune. It’s far out but it’s really invigorating. I just love that idea; I’ve never heard of that before. It’s like between the cracks of language.
- “Prisencolinensinainciusol” was released in 1972 on Adriano Celentano’s album, “Nostralrock.”
- Listen if you like: I have never heard anything like this song in my life.
2. Bon Iver – “22 (OVER Soon)
I have a confession to make. I do not love Bon Iver. Like, yes, when “For Emma” came out I brandished a flannel, romanticized Wisconsin, and told my friends that I had finally found an artist that understood me. And I still do all of those things, and love that album. But then the “Blood Bank EP” came out and I felt very conflicted. Was Justin Vernon using…autotune? I felt betrayed and honestly, didn’t listen to much Bon Iver after that. Maybe I was closeminded and just didn’t give that a chance. I’ve changed since then. I can forgive, and maybe I should. Possibly this is my penance, loving this new song. Maybe enough time has passed and I can just see the light, because I love this song.
It has the hushed gentleness of “Emma” and it has that progressive electronic sound that went over my head on the “Blood Bank –EP.” And it has this sample from Mahalia Jackson which fits perfectly. Maybe this is the time where it is truly hitting me now, but this song is perfect. I can proudly say, again, that I love Bon Iver.
- Bon Iver’s new album, “22, A Million” will be released on September 30th.
- Listen if you like: Old and new Bon Iver, Mahalia Jackson, Northern Wisconsin
2. Kari Faux – “Fantasy”
The song “Black Coffee” by Peggy Lee is one of my favorites. It’s so cool. Recorded in 1956 when jazz was at its coolest. But it’s got these lyrics that are not so cool, “A woman’s born to weep and fret. To stay at home and tend her oven. And drown her past regrets in coffee and cigarettes.” In this song she’s some man’s fantasy. At home all day, waiting for him to come home. But she is miserable, and bored.
Kari Faux new song is “Black Coffee” in 2016, musically, but lyrically she turns the song on its head. She’s no man’s fantasy and she never plans to be.
- Kari Faux new album, “Lost En Los Angeles,” is out now.
- Listen if you like: Peggy Lee, jazz in a new generation, Jamila Woods
3. AJJ – “Cody’s Theme”
Nothing about this song is right. The guitars are way over modulated and blown out, Sean Bonnette’s voice doesn’t really hit a lot of actual notes, or sound great, and the chorus has no words. BUT these are all reasons that I love this song. It’s the kid at school that is in his own world and doesn’t really get it and just lives in his world. These are my people. The weirdos, the miscreants, the picked on, and the oblivious. I want to go up to that kid and say, “Be my friend.”
“Cody’s Theme” is about a kid acting out against inanimate objects. The says, “The world beat the hell out of me, I took it out on a tree.” I don’t know if the world ever stops beating the hell out of anyone, but now instead of taking it out on a tree in the backyard, he is taking it in, and making it into art.
- AJJ’s new album, “The Bible 2” is out now.
- Listen if you like: Jeff Rosenstock, power pop, Jeffery Lewis
3. Adia Victoria picks “Dollars and Cents” by Radiohead
This week we have TWO of our favorite artists telling us about music they love. Here we ask Adia Victoria.
Justin Barney: Adia Victoria, what is one song you can’t stop listening to?
Adia Vicoria: I am a huge Radiohead fan and I’ve gone back and listened to “Amnesiac” and the one song I really can’t stop listening to is “Dollars and Cents.”
Justin Barney: Why that song?
Adia Victoria: I think just getting into the music industry. Monetizing your art can have really harrowing effects on the artist. Unless it’s just your thing. But I feel like it’s a really cautionary tale by Thom Yorke about “Hey man! This stuff is real!” So he’s like my big brother.
Justin Barney: What are some difficulties you’ve had with that?
Adia Victoria: I mean, as a woman people think they can take the liberty of telling you like, “Hey you should look this way. You should wear this or wear that. And I had some issues with a certain person on my team, who is no longer on my team, who thought that they had the right to tell me what to wear on stage. And I was like, “We now have a huge problem between us.” So I think for me any time someone comes and tells me how to appeal to more people I’m just like, “Ya gotta get out of here. You gotta go.”
Justin Barney: Yeah, because we want you. I feel like that never works when someone else comes in and tells you what works, because we want you as an artist and that’s what is going to come through.
Adia Victoria: Right, well you give up so much control when you allow people to start playing those games with you because your sense of value and worth is predicated upon other people approving of you. So that’s a very dangerous game for me personally and I can’t do it. I will refuse. If it comes down to that I will just go back to my regular life in Nashville and “This was fun, okay bye.”
- “Dollars and Cents” was released in 2001 on the album, “Amnesiac.”
- Listen if you like: not-selling out, staying true, Adia Victoria
4. Herizen Guardiola – “Set Me Free”
Justin Barney: Marcus Doucette, what is one song that you are listening to?
Marcus Doucette: So I’ve been devouring this new Netflix piece, “The Get Down” which in some ways is surprising because I’ve never liked a musical in my life.
This one has been different for me mainly because not only is it a cool coming of age drama, it’s set in the late 70’s which I can sort of remember from my earliest memories, it’s also set in the Bronx and I have family in NYC so I know what NY felt like in that era.
I also like that it chronicles this era that is the beginning of my own musical journey. When funk and disco were really being cannibalized at underground parties by the kids and turned into something of their own that would ultimately become hip-hop.
I like how the show respects the music, and it is a cool primer for anyone who has no idea about how hip-hop came to be. The plotline rather artfully entwines the music that drove the scene at the time through some super relatable characters and through a super dope soundtrack that has this fresh fresh fresh cut. It’s this song that sort of drives not only the drama, but it ends up being the secret weapon in what might have been one of the earliest DJ battles that happens at the end.
The song is produced by Nile Rodgers who had some hits with Chic. He’s got the chops. The actress sings the song and she does a killer job, and it captures the spirit of the movie, the spirit of the times, and it’s got this deadly, deadly funk breakdown.
- Listen if you like: the Netflix series The Get Down, deadly funk breakdowns, the beginning of hip-hop
4. LVL Up – “Pain”
What is the guitar solo in 2016? I think that guitar solos can be cheesy and self-gratifying. I’ve never really been into them, until recently. I’ve found myself loving them. I think it’s because guitars are no longer ubiquitous and guitar solos aren’t the end-all-be-all in music. Nor are they shows of technical perfection. Pay attention to the guitar solos in this song. They are super loose and kind of lazy. It’s a comma, not an exclamation point. They are there to remind you that they are fun and they add to the understanding of the message of the song.
- LVL UP’s new album, “Return to Love” will be out on September 23rd.
- Listen if you like: great guitar solos, classic indie stuff, fuzzy guitars and distortion
5. Whitney – “No Woman”
I think the overarching quality that I like most about Whitney and this song is that… it’s just so gosh darn pleasant. It feels like a memory that’s about to happen. It’s slow and easy. The crazy thing is there is actually a lot going on in this song. There is organs, a string section, shakers, and brass section over the electric and acoustic guitars and drums. And yet it sounds so simple and easy going. If you are stressed out or upset right now this song is musical barbiturate. Just listen to this song and chill out, man.
- Whitney’s debut album, “Light Upon the Lake” is out now.
- Listen if you like: Bob Dylan, timelessness, relaxing
5. Jonwayne – “Wonka”
Justin Barney: I’m here with our intern Eddie, AKA Fast Eddie. Eddie you have been haranguing me about playing one artist and a song in particular. Could you tell me what is the song and artist you can’t stop listening to?
Eddie: First of all the artist is Jonwayne. And the song that I really want to listen to is “Wonka”
Justin Barney: Why Wonka?
Eddie: So basically the little history is that Jonwayne was allegedly retired. He put out an album saying that Jonwayne is retired so he hadn’t talked to anyone in like two years, and then all of a sudden he comes out of nowhere at the beginning of the summer with “Wonka” which is the single. And “Wonka” is basically an ode to the new Jonwayne, and kind of a scathing review of everyone who doubted him. It’s like a diss-track but in like a really powerful way.
Justin Barney: Like an affirmative diss-track?
Eddie: It’s an affirmative diss-track, but in his own manner. He did an interview right before he dipped out on the public and he was like, “I hate rap. I hate hip-hop. I’m not rap. I’m not hip-hop. I’m my own person. I’m a musician and I don’t care about what you want to say about me. I’m here doing this self-gratifying level of music, and if you’re gonna disrespect me for being a hip-hop artist I don’t care because I’m not a hip-hop artist. I’m a musician.”
And I love that.
- Jonwayne’s single “Wonka” is out now.
- Listen if you like: MF DOOM, dogma rap, affirmative diss-tracks