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Paul McCartney Staying Active

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Proving he’s more than the iconic work he did with The Beatles over forty-five years ago, Paul McCartney has yet again placed himself in the musical spotlight. As many of you are probably well aware, McCartney released several songs recently in collaboration with contemporary pop artists. First was his collaboration with Kanye West on the song “Only One” as previously discussed by WRVU earlier this month. McCartney popped up again with Kanye on Rihanna single “FourFiveSeconds”. Finally, it came out just before the Grammys that McCartney is currently working with Lady Gaga.

If you’re unfamiliar with these recent events, check out the “FourFiveSeconds” video:

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Kishi Bashi Stops By WRVU Studio

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Kishi Bashi performs for WRVU on Thursday.
Kishi Bashi performs at WRVU.

 

Last Thursday, WRVU hosted Kishi Bashi for an in-studio performance ahead of his Cannery Ballroom show that evening. The acclaimed chamber pop solo artist, real name K Ishibashi, played three stripped-down songs from his 2014 album Lighght: “Bittersweet Genesis for Him AND Her”, “Q&A”, and “Philosophize In It! Chemicalize With It!”. You can check out the three-song performance below via RVU Records.

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11 Minimally Cheesy Love Songs For Your Valentine’s Day

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Originally this was going to be titled “12 Non-Cheesy Love Songs” but as I have come to realize, there is no such thing as a completely non-cheesy love song. Here are my picks for the best love songs to listen to this Valentine’s Day.

1. The Moldy Peaches - “Anyone Else But You”

Anyone who is a fan of Juno probably added this to their playlists the second the film ended (I know I did).

2. Ryan Adams – “When the Stars Go Blue”

A lot people may be familiar with Tim McGraw’s recording of this song, but the original Ryan Adams version is a lot more stripped down and romantic.

3. Coldplay – “Yellow”

This may be one of the more cheesy songs on the list, but there’s no denying that it’s beautifully written.

4. Vance Joy – “Georgia”

Not as upbeat as his hit “Riptide,” but definitely more sincere.

5. The Lumineers - “Dead Sea”

Almost any Lumineers song could easily fit on this list, but “Dead Sea” is by far my favorite from their album.

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2015 Grammy Awards – Who Should Win?

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With the Grammy’s less than two weeks away, there is lots of speculation surrounded who will win. I’m here to tell you who (in my humble opinion) should be taking home those golden statues on February 8th.

Record of the Year

Nominees: Fancy (Iggy Azalea feat. Charlie XCX), Chandelier (Sia), Stay With Me (Sam Smith), Shake It Off (Taylor Swift), All About that Bass (Meghan Trainor)

My Pick: Chandelier

In terms of overall song quality, Chandelier is the song that encompasses the best lyrics, music, and overall performance by Sia. It also seems like Sia is a bit overdue for some recognition – she’s been making music (really really good music) longer than any of the other nominees in the category, especially considering 3 out of the 5 nominees are newcomers. Overall, Chandelier takes the cake for me.

Album of the Year

Nominees: Morning Phase (Beck), Beyoncé (Beyoncé), X (Ed Sheeran), In the Lonely Hour (Sam Smith), Girl (Pharrell Williams)

My Pick: Beyoncé

With it’s incredibly successful surprise release, Beyoncé’s self-titled was undoubtedly one of (if not the most) buzzed about albums of the year. Not to mention Beyoncé managed to do what few artists do anymore – focus on creating songs that work together as a cohesive album, not just a few hit singles. If this is the direction music is headed, I’m all for it.

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Quake Performers Shine Despite Poor Acoustics, AC in Memorial Gym

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The first thing that I noticed walking in to Memorial Gym last night for Commodore Quake was the oppressive heat.  The second thing that I noticed once I found a seat was the atrocious, garbled acoustics of our re-purposed basketball court.  I wish I didn’t feel like I have to include these sour notes as the very first thing in this recap.  I wish I hadn’t noticed these things about Quake at all.  But most of all, I sincerely wish that these weren’t the most memorable aspects of my entire night at Quake.

This year's Quake logo
This year’s Quake logo

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Artist Spotlight: Emily Hearn

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Emily Hearn

Looking for someone to swoon over this Valentine’s Day? What about a song? Fall in love with the sweet melodies of Emily Hearn’s voice. You’ll forget all about your love life as you dive into the music. Emily’s latest single “Found A Heart” from her EP called “Promises” showers love and hope on those of us that are not as fortunately in love as she is. It characterizes the path of her and a guy falling more and more in love up until their wedding day (which is featured in the music video).

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Why October 29th Is Gonna Be Amazing

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My reaction upon seeing next week’s new releases
Photo courtesy of Neatorama.

Next week is easily the best week of music releases so far this year. While most weeks may have one or two big releases, this next week has so many interesting listens for fans of all genres, a few of which have me giddy in anticipation.

Here’s just a sample of the smaller releases coming this week. For jazz/hip-hop fans, you have pianist Robert Glasper’s Black Radio 2, the sequel to his smooth album Black Radio featuring guest spots from Jill Scott, Common, Lupe Fiasco, Norah Jones, and more. For you Odd Future fans, Mellowhype drops their new album on Halloween. For hip-hop heads who want to look outside the Americas, UK synth-funk hip-hop group band Paper Tiger (not to be confused with the incredible Minneapolis producer/Doomtree affiliate of the same name) has a new album coming. Metal fans can check out new albums from Toxic Holocaust and Skeletonwitch. Garage-rock/soul/funk-rock fans can feast their ears on the new album from White Denim. And those are just the smaller cool releases I wanted to highlight. Here are the top 5 reasons that the 29th of October is going to be a quite exciting day in music.

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