Angélique Kidjo‘s Celia, a contemplation of Celia Cruz’s African roots, might be my favorite album of the year. Maybe I should’ve chosen a video of her singing “La Vida es un Carnaval” or “Bemba Colorá” or “Sahara” for this, but I wanted to showcase Kidjo’s interaction with her audience at her BBC Proms debut this year. I can’t help but smile every time I watch it. This music, this kind of performance draws hearts together. In the weeks to come, I think we could all use a good reason to smile together.
(6 votes, average: 8.83 out of 10) You must be a WGOM Citizen to rate WGOM Videos.Loading...
I’m pretty glad that 2019 is finally coming to an end. I don’t feel like recapping in here (gotta save some material for Festivus eh?), but I will say that the events of the year made it really hard for me to really connect to a lot of music.
Music has been a huge part of my life for 25 years. The last few years, I can easily think of 50 albums I enjoyed. This year it’s honestly hard for me to identify 10 things I listened to that were new. I desperately needed normalcy and spent a lot of time revisiting the same things over and over, mostly albums I loved from a dozen years ago and that last Lil Peep album.
Anyway, the new Nots record, 3, was the closest to that kind of thing out of new stuff I heard this year. I love this kind of raw, urgent, punk. I liked the other Nots records but this one really sank its hooks into me. Given how damn hard that was this year, it says a lot about this record.
Also, I’m going to cheat and add a second, totally unrelated, song here. I couldn’t find a live video of it (which is super unfortunate, I saw her last year and she was incredible!), but it’s my favorite song of the year so you’re welcome.
(4 votes, average: 8.25 out of 10) You must be a WGOM Citizen to rate WGOM Videos.Loading...
Your calls for an encore have been heard and granted. More Finnish Metal! This is another one that makes me grin when it comes through my earbuds. I wouldn't for a moment want anybody to know what in the hell I'm listening to, but more silly metal fun for me.
As an added bonus, while looking for a video (tough call by the way...Official Turisas video is kind of obnoxious, but better audio than the live performance versions), I happened to learn that the original performer was Boney M, below. It’s worth watching for the choreography, if nothing else:
https://youtu.be/OBXRJgSd-aU?t=119
Who is Boney M, you ask? (I would love to know if anybody has heard of them.) A collection of Carribean disco-pop performers based our of West Germany. Why not? The song made to number 1 on a handful of European charts. Charts of what? Couldn't tell you. The fact that this was originally a disco song does answer a few questions I had about what lyrics the Finns were trying to sing.
Even better, Boney M was founded by Frank Farian, who (co) wrote and produced the song.
Farian...why does that name ring a bell? I mean, it didn't, but while trying to figure out what the heck Boney M was, I found out he was the mastermind behind the Milli Vanilli fiasco. I guess having fronts for his music was kind of his thing. He may have been singing the Boney M track above.
Just... weird.
(3 votes, average: 7.00 out of 10) You must be a WGOM Citizen to rate WGOM Videos.Loading...
We interrupt our weird metal program to honor of the Minnesotan-by-choice Okee Dokee Brothers, who were again Grammy-nominated for their 2018 album Winterland.
They're still a bedtime staple at our house, and everything they do is great.
The Abominable Yeti is currently the most asked-for, followed by Snowpeople. My daughter likes to comment on the artwork.
(2 votes, average: 8.50 out of 10) You must be a WGOM Citizen to rate WGOM Videos.Loading...
(6 votes, average: 8.83 out of 10)
Loading... 