Welcome to the Kaleidiscope 2.0 blogs, discussing music past and present. The blog is an attempt to promote discourse about music between generations.
In our blogs we will review new music, do deep dives into classic pop songs, among many other things. If you want to stay up-to-date with the best new releases, the latest controversies and occasionally take a trip down memory lane, then this blog is for you!
Top 20 Bob Dylan Covers
With A Complete Unknown riding high in the cinema charts it seems an apt time to look into an underappreciated aspect of Bob Dylan’s career - the many covers he inspired.
The Musician as Novelist
Born in that city at the height of the summer of love, Willy Vlautin would go on to be to the 21st century what Dickens was to the 19th, who would relate to us the stories of the real America, of the lost and lonesome, of those plagued by bad luck seeking a way out. He is our generation's Steinbeck and one feels the spirit of a Tom Joad or a Lennie Small in every page of his heartfelt hard-hitting tales.
Balloonerism and posthumous albums
Some of the best material of Mac Miller’s career dropped last Friday with the release of his second posthumous record Balloonerism. And I feel nothing.
Original vs. Cover: Goin’ Back
Our new series Original vs. Cover looks at two versions of the same song, the original release and a cover, as we answer the question: Who did it better?
The Genreration Game: Punk, Ep. 1
Punk was a movement that established itself in the UK in the long hot summer of 1976, but perhaps punk music's roots are to be found over the pond on the East Coast of America where glam rockers The New York Dolls, then Television and The Ramones were beginning to make a name for themselves between '74 and '75.
The Perfect Song #3 - This Modern Love - Bloc Party
Bloc Party rose to indie stardom in the mid-2000s with the release of their 2005 debut album Silent Alarm. Keen to overcome the post-punk revival act moniker, the album successfully marked Bloc Party as a unique, inventive and exciting act in the independent music scene. On Silent Alarm, “Like Eating Glass”, “Helicopter” and “Banquet” instantly give the record its pulsating energy. The album’s perfect song and its emotional bedrock, however, is “This Modern Love”.
The Perfect Song #2 - The Magdalene Laundries - Joni Mitchell
In the gut-wrenching “The Magdalene Laundries” Joni Mitchell takes aim at the Catholic Church and follows in the footsteps of anti-establishment singer-songwriters such as Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan, as well as her own, having released “Big Yellow Taxi” in 1970.
The Perfect Song #1 - My Old School - Steely Dan
The glorious summer of ’73 saw the arrival of Countdown to Ecstasy. This jazz-rock collection of four to five minute songs infused with slick guitar breaks and joyful horns proved a worthy successor to the previous year’s startling introduction. Contained amongst its eight nuggets and perhaps best encapsulating the spirit of this west coast outfit was the song “My Old School”.