Oddly catchy remix of Hootie & the Blowfish singing to The Smiths' music

 

Musical mashup maker William Maracni created this curious remix of Hootie & the Blowfish

 singing their two hits—"I Only Wanna Be With You" and "Hold my Hand"—to the music of The Smiths' "Cemetery Gates." 

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Pop Group Analog Society Performs Live Song Mashups

 

 Analog Society is a British vocal group that performs covers and original songs, but has become known for their clever musical mashups, when they combine two songs that may be from different decades but sound good together.

 The video above has them mashing up "Somebody That I used to Know" from Gotye and "Dreams" by Fleetwood Mac. 

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Croatia's Eurovision AfterParty with Baby Lasagna in Zagreb 2024

Croatia dances to Baby Lasagna's Rim Tim Tagi Dim!

Leo Moracchioli covers Alphaville's "Forever Young"

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Nature brings peace, always

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Happiness, Lefki Savvidou

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The best songs of 2023

Here are 25 songs that Mark Savage had on repeat all year.

 

Glen Hansard and Lisa O'Neill Perform "Fairytale of New York" at Shane MacGowan's Funeral

The Altai band - Jingle Bells (mongolian version)

 

 The Altai people live in Mongolia, China, and Russia. Here's Altai Kai (Altai Band) from the Altai Republic within Russia. For more than twenty years, the group has performed traditional music and favorite popular songs with traditional instruments, such as the stringed topshur. 

Their vocals come from the haunting throat singing found among the cultures of Central Asia. 

 Altai Kai recorded this version of "Jingle Bells" that begins with unfamiliar sounds, but soon becomes a clearly recognizable adaptation of the classic Christmas carol. 

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Shane MacGowan, Pogues songwriter and Irish music legend, dies aged 65

 

 Shane MacGowan, the lead singer and songwriter of trailblazing Celtic punk band the Pogues and one of the all-time great bandleaders, has died aged 65 following a long period of ill health. A family statement said he died at 3.30am on 30 November, and was described as “our most beautiful, darling and dearly beloved”.

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Take some time to relax

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Musical mysteries

Led Zeppelin’s untitled fourth album has always exerted particular fascination. Commonly known as Led Zeppelin IV, it has also been dubbed “Zoso”, after the occult runes on the cover. 

The old man in the centre, bent double by his cargo of bound branches, resembles a sinister apparition from an MR James ghost story. 

 Now the historian Brian Edwards, having chanced upon the original photograph while researching another topic, has seemingly identified the man as Lot Long, a Victorian thatcher from Wiltshire, and the photographer as Ernest Farmer. 

Individual fans can decide whether this discovery enriches the artwork or spoils the enigma.

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Emma Stevens - Blackbird by The Beatles sung in Mi'kmaq

 

 Emma Stevens, a member of the Eskasoni First Nation, performed a soulful cover of The Beatles’ “Blackbird,” with the lyrics translated into the Mi’kmaq language. 

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Strippers, communists and cha-cha-cha: the real Club Tropicana

Far from the fantasy resort we know from Wham!’s video, the history of Soho clubland tells a more convincing – and intriguing – origin story of the 40-year-old hit. 

Read more about it here.

 

Last Man Standing

Bruce Springsteen on stage in Hyde Park, London, 6 July 2023. Photograph: Michal Augustini/Shutterstock

 Springsteen is in remarkable shape: fit, toned and bursting with vitality. He can still toss a guitar in the air; he can still rip open his shirt to reveal a bare chest, though now the gesture comes with a wink of self-deprecation at the absurdity of it. But he does not look like a man desperate to recapture his glory days. He is not, as Manzoor – whose boyhood devotion to Springsteen was depicted in the movie Blinded By the Light – says of Jagger, “perpetually stuck in his 20s”.

 On the contrary, this new show of Springsteen’s looks ageing and death in the eye.

 His bandmates are his contemporaries and don’t hide it: the giant monitors show closeups of gnarled, veined hands on guitar strings. His own performance is astonishing, but it never looks effortless.

 He speaks only once at any length, and that is to introduce a 2020 song about the band he played in with schoolmates when he was 15. He is, he tells the crowd, the only one left. “Death is like you’re standing on the railroad tracks with an oncoming train bearing down upon you,” he says. 

“But it brings a certain clarity of thought.” It pushes you to “seize the day”, to savour, with urgency, the time and the people you have left. And then he plays Last Man Standing, a song about the passions of youth, the time in your life when “it’s all hellos”, before they are outnumbered by “hard goodbyes”. 

 The result is that you hear the rest of the songs through fresh ears. Now it doesn’t sound absurd to hear a septuagenarian singing of childhood best friends running on the Backstreets, or of young sweethearts Born to Run, itching to break free of their small town. Now the joy and exuberance of those classic songs carries the extra poignancy of reminiscence and loss. And the two sets of emotions don’t fight each other. Instead, they make each other stronger – the Glory Days only more glorious because we know they are fleeting.

 Jonathan Freedland, read more.

 

Scientific Principles and Craft Traditions Converge in Tauba Auerbach’s Research-Focused Practice

 

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Why does a phone ring at the end of Bowie's "Life on Mars"?

Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of the single release of David Bowie's now-iconic Hunky Dory track, "Life on Mars." If you've ever wondered if that phone ringing at the end of the track was intentional or not, here's producer Ken Scott explaining.

 

Zagreb Classic Open Air Festival

Classical music enthusiasts are set to be enchanted by the mesmerising melodies of renowned musicians from both Croatia and around the globe at the Zagreb Classic Open Air Festival. From the 21st of June to the 1st of July, the festival will grace the vibrant city of Zagreb, offering a unique stage beneath the twinkling stars on the magnificent King Tomislav Square. Zagreb Classic open air has been held since 2016, and among artists and music lovers it enjoys the cult status, further reinforced by this year’s edition.

 

Let 3 - Mama ŠČ! (LIVE) | Croatia 🇭🇷 | First Semi-Final | Eurovision 2023

"Please stop f*cking wars everywhere." Croatia's Let 3 didn't mince words after qualifying for the Eurovision 2023 Grand Final. Their anti-war song 'Mama ŠČ' has become a sensation with Ukraine's Eurovision fans and supporters across Europe. 

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