Music

Monday Music: Getz/Gilberto, Só Danço Samba

by JOHN ADAMS • 03/26/2012

Monday Music: Scott Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag

by JOHN ADAMS • 03/19/2012

Monday Music: Singin’ in the Rain

by JOHN ADAMS • 03/12/2012

Monday Music: Jazz for Cows

by JOHN ADAMS • 03/05/2012

Monday Music: Fitzgerald & Armstrong, Summertime

by JOHN ADAMS • 02/27/2012

It’s not yet March, but I’ve Summertime on my mind. Enjoy.

Monday Music: Wynton Marsalis Quintet @ Paris Jazz festival

by JOHN ADAMS • 02/20/2012

Sounds fancy, but it’s not — jazz is no aloof and distant music, but rather music very much from within American culture. Enjoy. Blues from Wynton Marsalis on Vimeo.

Monday Music: Adele, Rolling in the Deep

by JOHN ADAMS • 02/13/2012

Here’s Adele, singing Rolling in the Deep, from last night’s Grammy Awards.

Monday Music: Reel Big Fish Cover We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful

by JOHN ADAMS • 02/06/2012

Always a mistake for a person, or a place, to envy and conspire against others’ free, voluntary accomplishments.

The Roches: The Train

by JOHN ADAMS • 01/31/2012

For a reader who rides the commuter rails each day, here’s a song from the Roches:

Ben Sommer’s cover of Sister from the Black Keys’ El Camino.

by JOHN ADAMS • 01/23/2012

A real treat today — Ben Sommer’s cover of Sister from the Black Keys’ El Camino. Enjoy!

Morrissey: Irish Blood, English Heart

by JOHN ADAMS • 01/16/2012

I’m neither Irish nor English, but one needn’t be to enjoy Irish Blood, English Heart. Irish blood, English heart, this I’m made of There is no-one on earth I’m afraid of And no regime can buy or sell me I’ve been dreaming of a time when To be English is not to be baneful To…

Music

Monday Music: Nick Cave’s (Are You) the One that I’ve Been Waiting For?

by JOHN ADAMS • 12/19/2011

Music, Review

Ben Sommer’s Latest Album: Super Brain

by JOHN ADAMS • 12/01/2011

I’ve featured songs from Ben Sommer’s latest album, Super Brain, but a proper review of the entire album is in order. I liked and favorably reviewed Ben’s first album, america’d, and so was disposed to expect another solid effort. And yet, earlier-album familiarity nothwithstanding, Super Brain surprises and impresses, exceeding Sommer’s earlier work. First, for…

Music

Ben Sommer’s Video of Foster the People’s Pumped up Kicks

by JOHN ADAMS • 11/17/2011

A treat today — Ben Sommer’s cover of Pumped up Kicks. Enjoy — I’m very sure you will. Ben describes his recording of the song — Pumped Up Kicks If you haven’t heard “Pumped up Kicks” yet then you don’t listen to radio. That makes two of us. Yes the song is catchy but insufferable.…