LISTEN: Esperanza Spalding's "Radio Music Society"

If anyone cared to remember when I used to post more, they'd remember that I'd occasionally freak out because the folks over at NPR: First Listen offered something really special. 

Well, it's been too darn long.

Back in 2010, I wrote briefly about Esperanza Spalding's sophomore effort Chamber Music Society. Whether you're a jazz enthusiast or not, it's tough to deny that this 27 year-old woman is oozing talent. I was so taken aback by Chamber's odd and ghostly fusion of classical and jazz themes, that after only a few listens I stamped it on the top of my year-end list. 

LISTEN NOW: YACHT's "Shangri-La"

Gosh, it sure has been awhile. Good to be back.

As Quinn S. and I have so often mentioned, the music department over at National Public Radio does a fantastic job bringing us new music (before official release) in full-album form every week. Guess what, this week is no exception. Most recently, our fearless editor-in-chief sounded the horn on First Listen's release of the self-titled release from Bon Iver. Today is all about an outfit that, until this current spin, has evaded my eardrums: YACHT. It's also about their over-populated niche in the music industry today. 

With all the computer music floating out there in the tubes of the Interwebs, electro/dance-pop music is easy to find. Put it this way, if dance music was our currency, we'd have a very serious inflation issue (see: the Weimar Republic when folks needed a wheelbarrow-full of Marks to pay for a loaf of bread). 

All it takes is a brief scan of the popular/latest playlists over at the Hype Machine (or MM's inbox) to see that this type of music is pervasive. Not to completely rip the genre, but it lends itself to struggling artists with a couple of microphones, a drum machine, some fancy (but easily torrented) software, and a decent computer to make acceptable dancy-beats. Where techno and trip-hop used to be something that required intense knowledge of turntables and a very involved on-stage setup with tons of wires, powerful home-studios are now able to churn out the stuff like a cotton-candy machine on full whirl. 

Read the rest of the post and catch the link, after the hop.