"Pop Music Masterclass"

Today we have a mixture of music and pop song analysis or deconstruction. The analysis is very interesting so I hope you stick with me.

Part 1/Lesson 1.
Chilly Gonzales' "Pop Music Masterclass" featuring Lykke Li's "No Rest For The Wicked"

The musical genius we know as Chilly Gonzales explains the song structure of various pop songs in a series called "Pop Music Masterclass", which can be found on his website, Vimeo or Youtube. Lykke Li's "No Rest For The Wicked" is the subject of our first lesson.



Part 2/Song 1.
Lykke Li - No Rest For The Wicked



Part 3/song 2.
Chilly Gonzales - "Greens Leaves"

Chilly Gonzales' new album 'Chambers' is a collaboration with the Kaiser Quartett. It is piano and chamber music - just think of "Rain" by Ryuichi Sakamoto and that should put you at ease. Bitter FM's introduction to Canadian born Chilly Gonzales was a duet with Peaches which we first playlisted many years back. His musical career has been very eclectic and it is very clear why he is regarded as a musical genius. "Greens Leaves" is from the 'Chambers' album.



Part 4/Lesson 2.
Back to class. This time it's for a deconstruction of "Greens Leaves" and chamber music in general.

Lady Lamb - "Billions of Eyes"

Lady Lamb aka Lady Lamb the Beekeeper aka (real name) Aly Spaltro is a young artist from Brunswick, USA. Her recently released second album 'After' became sought after when I first heard "Billions of Eyes". The need for this album took me back to another era. It didn't seem to be available on iTunes or anywhere else digitally here in New Zealand - so just like the old days, I ordered it from the local record shop (MyMusic in this case) and it was ordered in from the USA and delivered in a week or so.... the music buying equivalent to sending a fax. But one I will use more often, particularly now that they sell heaps of vinyl. "Billions of Eyes" has so many things going on to like. It's catchy but definitely not over produced and the lyrics have something new to take in after every listen. One example "I check my phone for the time - but I still wear a watch" is something that probably resonates with so many of us.

A couple of El Goodo's

1, El Goodo (the band).
El Goodo are a Welsh band who shamelessly delve into the music of the past but not to the point where they are a mere tribute act.Their styles range from psychedelic rock to 60's pop or power pop to garage rock. There are some current influences but they predominantly go back to the 60's. "Be My Girl" is a mixture of the two latter mentioned styles. There is also a bit of 'Big Star' in there... but not just in sound.



2, The Ballad of El Goodo (the song).
"The Ballad of El Goodo" comes from Big Star's debut album '#1 Record' released in 1972. The Power-Pop band from Memphis featured Alex Chilton and Chris Bell and the critics were expecting them to be huge. As we all know, they weren't, and their record company 'Stax' should take some of the blame, due to lack of promotion and the distribution wasn't any better. "The Ballad of El Goodo" starts off like the Beatles and then goes into Raspberries territory. You can hear where 'The Jayhawks' and the like, got their influences from.

Nina Simone - "Baltimore"

I found my copy of Nina Simone's 'Baltimore' CD last week... so as expected, it was imported and I added the title track to current playlists. Yes, great album from a great artist. Suddenly Baltimore (the city) is all over the news. I don't want to trivialise the riots in Baltimore or disrespect the family of Freddie Gray - I'm simply stating the coincidence of finding a CD that's probably been in my possession for 20 years and finally giving it the respect it deserves.... on the eve of the riots.