Shazam’s tagging data accurately predicted the majority of winners at last night’s Grammys ceremony, including a whopping three of the four top awards, three of the five genre performance categories and four of the seven best songs by genre!
The science behind the Shazam app tracked the nominated tracks during the voting period, giving an amazing insight into how popular these songs were and letting Shazam predict who the winners would be. The results show that in the majority of cases, the songs that were most tagged with Shazam in each award category correlated with those that took home a Grammy.
Check out the interesting stats below, as revealed by Shazam’s data; Read more…
Out of all the rock bands from the early 90’s, few seemed likely to reform as Dinosaur Jr. After original member – and Sebadoh frontman – Lou Barlow was kicked out of the band in 1989, Dinosaur Jr released a number of albums through the 90’s before disbanding in 1997. After years of bitter and public swipes at each other, in 2005 original members J Mascis, Barlow and drummer Murph reunited for a tour and have been working together since; releasing three albums ‘Beyond’ (2007), ‘Farm’ (2009) and last year’s ‘I Bet On Sky’.
Their latest album is a hook laden collection of tracks that showcase a slightly calmer side to Dinosaur Jr, which is a natural progression for a band that originally got together in the mid eighties. Songs such as ‘Watch The Corners’ easily rank alongside the finest moments in their back catalogue and the rambunctious ‘Pierce The Morning Rain’ shows they can still show the garage rock kids of 2013 how it’s done.
We spoke to bassist Lou in the middle of their UK tour about the reformation, plans for a new album and their thoughts on consuming music through streaming.
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‘Dope’ is a curious mash-up of influences. The loping, double bass sample recalls Cypress Hill at their bonged-out best, while there’s a nice early Death Row feel to the menacing minor key chord stabs. Chuck in some escalating acid-tinged squelches and you’ve got a fairly tasty package. While Tyga’s lyrics – a relentless stream of data explaining just how amazing he is ¬– won’t win any prizes for originality, his tricksy delivery and capable flow easily take up the slack. In his 4,765th guest appearance this year, label boss Rick Ross provides some contrast with a more rugged verse of his own.
Despite the blinger-than-thou attitudes espoused in ‘Dope’, Tyga isn’t solely about the glitz. New album ‘Hotel California’ promises some soul-searching introspection amid the tales of booty and Bentleys.
“This album is very personal,” Tyga says. “It’s about my experience of being at a hotel and suddenly realizing how far I’ve come in my career. It’s also my desire to feel at home these days, since due to my success I mainly live life on the road. The only home I ever knew was California, so this album is about those dual feelings.”
Tyga has roped in an impressive list of producers for the new record, including DJ Mustard, Jess Jackson, David DA Doman and The Olympicks. He’s also recently announced that the next single to be taken from ‘Hotel California’ will be ‘For the Road’, a collaboration with his old mate Chris Brown. As long as Chris is involved, we’re sure it’ll be a massive hit.
Old-school meets new on ‘Unorthodox’ as hip-hop pioneer DJ Premier teams up with rising Brooklyn MC and typographic renegade Joey Bada$$. It’s a match that works out pretty well. Premier’s beats are vintage in the best sense of the word, demonstrating why he’s still one of the most important names in the game. His groundbreaking early work with Guru in Gang Starr would be enough to earn him a lifetime pass to the hip-hop hall of fame, but he’s stayed relevant over the subsequent decades by working with just about every major name in rap. True, he also collaborated with grunting backwards cap enthusiasts Limp Bizkit, but everyone has an off day.
Premier is on much surer ground with Joey Bada$$. Since dropping his debut mixtape ‘1999’ last year, the young Brooklyn MC been tipped as one to watch. ‘Unorthodox’ sees him living up to the billing with style. His verses are dense and knotty, telling tales of street life that ring with authenticity. Chances are he’ll land a million dollar contract and move on to talking about how much his shoes cost, but right now he’s offering a more grounded take on hip-hop than many of his contemporaries.
Hopefully, he’ll be able to hang on to what makes him special as his career progresses. A debut album, as yet untitled, is scheduled for sometime in 2013 so we should find out soon enough. Early signs indicate that his strong social conscience should keep him on the straight and narrow. “It’s the problems in the world that we often get our inspiration from, and these people need voices to speak for them,” he told Prefix. “Some people won’t speak up, and some people don’t have the ability to. We’re the voice of the people, and we support them.”
The oppressed and downtrodden could certainly have a worse spokesman than Joey Bada$$. Long may he make his voice heard.
If wide-scope, epic synth pop is the kind of thing that floats your boat, then The Good Natured’s new cut ‘5-HT’ needs to be on your list of 2013’s big hitters.
Described mostly as pop noir / modern wave (although lead singer Sarah describes them as if “Robert Smith and Katy Perry had a love child!” while Hamish states they’re like “if Siouxsie Sioux joined The Killers”, The Good Natured bring a euphoric and trancey vibe to their latest single, named after an over-the-counter dietary anti-depressant commonly used by ravers the day after a big session. Allegedly.
The band started life as a solo project for vocalist Sarah McIntosh, but she roped in her brother Hamish on bass and synths, and then added George Hinton on drums to create a fully functional live act.
“We think our music is unique,” says Sarah about the band and their sound. “We like to call ourselves ‘modern wave’, a twist on the new wave movement which especially influenced our sound. Our music is a lot punkier than anything out right now. We sometimes call ourselves ‘pop noir’ too, because we turn dark emotions into pop songs.”
Previously, the band’s biggest hit was Skeleton, produced with one of Robyn’s main collaborators, Patrik Berger. It’s huge.
To whet appetities for their forthcoming new album, the band released a free download of ‘5-HT’, remixed by Loadstar. It’s a tasty slab of bass heavy, window shaking pop euphoria, designed to rattle even the most sturdy of cages.
The band have eclectic musical tastes that come from their divergent backgrounds. “My earliest musical memory was hearing my Gran play her Yamaha organ from the 1980s down in Scotland when I was about five years old,” recalls Sarah. “She was incredible. When I was 15 I rescued the old thing when she deemed it as a ‘piece of old junk’. I found it by the back door ready to go out to the trash! I took it home with me. I wrote my first songs on that organ, it’s very special to me even if some of the keys are broken.”
Drummer George remembers something quite different from his childhood. “My earliest musical memory would be when I was about five, my parents were really into surfing and so every weekend we’d always drive to the coast. Every trip down my Dad would put on his cassette of Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’. I have memories of looking out the car window, desperately trying to be the first person to see the sea, with ‘Come As You Are’ playing in the background. Every time I hear that song I always remember those days. Good times!”
The Good Natured are on tour in April, supporting Imagine Dragons. Tour dates below:
