ListenUp
Daft Punk, Sonny Terry, Florence + The Machine and more in our weekly music recap
Sound Advice 171: Handselecta
The World’s Best Ever looked to graffiti-focused type designer Christian Acker for the latest installment of Sound Advice, the site’s regular music offering created by a different person every week. Sound Advice 171: Handselecta features a harmoniously diverse range of songs, from the funkier sounds of Lee Dorsey and Pleasure to the lyrical stylings of Grand Puba and Gang Starr with a little Quincy Jones in between. Keep an eye out for Acker’s recently-released book “Flip the Script”—an impressive look at graffiti as penmanship and the regional history of tagging.
Sonny Terry: She’s So Sweet
Step back to a simpler time when harmonicas and ragtime rhythms ruled American music with Sonny Terry’s “She’s So Sweet.” Off the 1963 album Sonny Is King—a title the blind Piedmont blues musician definitely deserves after decades of incredible output in the ’40s and ’50s—and featuring guitar riffs and duets from Lightnin’ Hopkins and regular collaborator Brownie McGhee. Terry remains an inspirational benchmark of creativity.
The Chapin Sisters: Crying In The Rain
The Chapin Sisters’ sweet crooning on the Everly Brothers’ cover “Crying In The Rain” is the result, they tell T Magazine, of learning how to go from a doo-wop trio to a two-part harmony after their half-sister left the group to raise a family. The sisters fell so hard for the brothers while practicing their songs they decided to create A Date With the Everly Brothers, an entire album of covers out this Tuesday, 23 April. Everly fans should also look to Bonnie Prince Billy and Dawn McCarthy’s recent tribute as well.
Florence + The Machine: Over The Love
GQ debuted Florence + The Machine’s addition to the soundtrack for The Great Gatsby. Welch lends her signature vocals to a haunting ballad written from the perspective of the irresistible Daisy in “Over The Love,” one of many songs that will undoubtedly comprise a soundtrack as equally riveting at F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic tale. Other artists on the Jay-Z produced compilation include the xx, Jack White, Bryan Ferry, Will.i.am and more.
Daft Punk: Get Lucky (feat. Pharrell Williams)
Roll out the disco ball and cut loose with Daft Punk’s eagerly-anticipated first single off their upcoming album Random Access Memories, set to release 21 May. “Get Lucky” combines the smooth sound of Pharrell Williams with the incomparable jazz-infused, disco stylings of Nile Rodgers and of course, android-like electronic grooves from the legendary pair of French “robots.” As Williams neatly sums up in the RAM collaborators video series, “Get Lucky” feels like a place where it’s constantly 4am.
