The Truth About Music

"What's hot, what's not, and whats next in pop music"

Author: Tom

Opinion: Kanye Wests Video Sucks, Mine Is Better

By Tom posted March 23, 2011 at 08:00

I wish I was hanging out with all the cool kids at SXSW last week. Instead I was in LA, trying to make productive use of my time. I put together a video for Kanye West’s “All of the Lights.” The track is dope, but the official video is not dope. Continue...
Opinion: You Can’t Eat Just One Hot Chip

By Tom posted March 14, 2011 at 08:00

Hot Chip was on Morning Becomes Eclectic yesterday. For those not familiar, Morning Becomes Eclectic is a morning radio show on KCRW, a public radio station out of Santa Monica. The host, Jason Bentley, highlights the kind of music you would expect to hear at Coachella. Coachella, for those of you who don’t know, is an outdoor music festival held near Palm Springs. During Bentley’s interview with Hot Chip, he mentions that their “set at Coachella was my favorite of anything that entire weekend.” I was there, and I would have to disagree, but maybe Bentley didn’t see Plasticman, Whitest Boy Alive or The Specials. Hot Chip played on the second stage that had narrow sides making for an audience spread that was too deep without enough breadth. Maybe if I had been watching from backstage next to Jason Bentley, the performance would have struck me better. Continue...
Mumford & Sons and the Danger of Being Taken Seriously

By Tom posted March 04, 2011 at 08:00

First, let me set the stage a bit. Since their debut album Sigh No More was released in the U.S. a little over a year ago, the British folk rockers Mumford & Sons have shot to superstardom. It’s easy to see why, as they follow behind such bands as The Decembrists and Beirut on the current of old timey instrumentation (and old timey fashion) coupled with impassioned and yearning vocals. The reason Mumford & Sons have managed to shoot past these bands to attain a greater degree of mainstream success is most likely due to the driving force inherent in their music. This is stadium folk rock. Continue...
Review: Radiohead’s King of Limbs Creates Dream World For Listeners

By Tom posted March 01, 2011 at 08:00

My sister recently brought me a bottle of liquor from China called Fen Chiew. It’s bottled in a ceramic vase of sorts that is decorated with cherry blossoms. It is 53% alcohol (i.e. stronger than usual) and the taste is reminiscent of the smell of rotten flowers. I also recently tried a Jamaican Pot Still rum called Smith and Croft, which is 57% alcohol. It had a very similar flavor of rotten flowers. This idea of concentrated distillations tasting like rotten flowers is a nice jumping off point to talk about Radiohead’s new release, King of Limbs. However, I’m not going to torture the metaphor through the whole review, so just keep it in mind. With a runtime of 37:24, the album is the shortest release to date for the boys from Oxford. And let’s be honest, they aren’t really boys anymore. As we see in the video for “Lotus Flower” Thom [...] Continue...