It's an odd thing to admit but I sorta love a kitschy Christmas album. This Mouth Trumpet Christmas Album is as kitschy as it comes and I've been listening to it for eight years, never once tiring of that version of "Jingle Bells."
At forty tracks, there's a lot of ground that gets covered. Some of the tracks are outright absurd while others are heartfelt and only a little absurd. It's not a joke of an album but the two creators are clearly having fun with it. This is well exemplified with the two fifteen-minute "Intermission" tracks where they casually chat with one another about various Christmas ponderings.
I don't suspect this is for everyone but if you're the kind that enjoys a bit of upbeat optimism mixed with a twinge of zany, I think you'll enjoy.
This 2020 Holiday Extravaganza Special from my WOTT Music podcast is an hour of locally sourced Nashville music aimed at providing you with a pleasant little soundtrack for your holiday chores.
For no good reason, I decided to go "Full NPR" on the voiceover and keep it as gentle as possible, even though the music within isn't necessarily reflective of that. It's a silly thing but I enjoyed it.
I've been doing this podcast every week for almost two years straight. If my math is right, this is the 103rd episode in a row without missing a week. Maybe that's small potatoes for podcasters but it feels huge to me.
Episode details here, along with the full playlist of links out to even more music if you desire such a thing. This Petty Christmas Album is easily the best hip-hop, Christmas-themed record I've heard, period.
Director Peter Jackson, working on a documentary on the the Beatles, has been granted access to 56 hours of previously unseen footage of the band in its final days. Today he shared 5 minutes of film, not a trailer, just a montage—but well worth watching. https://t.co/lMWbvfCjGC https://t.co/TMXd8WY77A
I have yet to listen to all of McCartney III but I feel oddly optimistic about it based on this track? Forty years is a loooong time between conceptual albums but maybe, just maybe, he pulled it off??
I've made a lot of silly websites in my time but it's been awhile since I've put a new one out into the world that actually provided any functionality; no matter how absurd.
The podcast Hott Minute is about "Who's Hot and Why?" - a very loose conceit that gives the hosts, Jamie Bradley and Ashley Spurgeon, an opportunity to flex their pop culture muscles about the insane breadth of zeitgeists past and present they are familiar with. There's a segment on the show where they pull a random name from a literal paper bag and somehow manage to instantly know a great deal about the subject. It's impressive and funny.
With that, I'm happy to announce the Hott Minute Digital Bag of Hotties, a ridiculous website that generates a random name pulled from an episode of the show. That's it! That's all it does. You can tweet at the show if you like but there's no voting, no comments - it just gives you a name. It's actually meant to serve as a means to have a little absurd fun with (socially distanced) friends.
TLDR: Here's a silly thing that you can use as a party game, conversation starter or self-imposed pop-culture quiz.
The Prudish Few released their debut album, The Eagle Has Left the Building, back in August. Throughout the record there are a lot of politically charged songs like "Kinder Climes" but, by and large, the album comes across as a very upbeat listening experience (cut with just the right amount of melancholy).
All that said, "I Am From History" is just pure joy, start to finish. Three minutes of optimism that serves as such a perfect salve to the winter doldrums.
It's also the very first song I heard from the album and reminds me of that moment of spark feeling like "woah, what is this song?!" I'm a fan and I hope you carve out a few minutes of your day to brighten things up with the video.
Filmography Club, the podcast where host Jason Caviness gets to knows movies by dissecting auteurs and talking to cinephiles, just wrapped their second season with an episode all about Mad Max: Fury Road. Host Jason Caviness and guest Will Fox take a deep dive into the insanely long production, the total lack of script and how rewarding the high-octane action of the movie is. More interestingly, they also discuss how well the movie works because it's not just a vapid action movie, it actually contains a number of empowering and poignant messages.
The advertising for Fury Road is almost entirely desert races and flamethrowers and extremely masculine energy but it's all a red herring. Yes, the movie is an adrenaline burst pretty much start to finish but it's so much more than that. I'm not sure if the marketing and advertising for the movie was intentionally misleading or just too difficult to really impress upon an audience what it's true goal is.
Long story short, it's a great episode of worthwhile discussion and a reminder to watch the movie - even for a second or third time.
American Standard Time recently premiered this backyard performance of Spencer Cullum with Erin Rae performing the Duncan Browne song "In a Mist" right from Spencer's backyard. It's a quiet, somewhat sad, and contemplative song - augmented by the delicate performance these two give it.
You can hear the original here. I'd say this rendition is pretty spot on.
Spencer sent me this single camera take and I tried my best to edit into something resembling the slow editing of 60's and 70's TV performances. I'm no video editor but I think it turned out well.
