Apr 25, 2019
The Album: The Carpenters' A Song For You (1972)
dulcet (adjective) used to describe a sound that is soothing and soft, like the dulcet harmonies in a 70s pop song or the dulcet tones of a harp.
It seems like Karen Carpenter invented dulcet tones. Her velvet buttery vocals floated and soared on songs like "We've Only...
Apr 18, 2019
When Plantation Lullabies first hit the scene back in 1993, there wasn't anything really like it. Meshell Ndgeocello was a bald, badass, and bold woman with bars talking about sexuality, racism, and gender relations while paving the way for neo-soul music and artists.
Plantation Lullabies gave us many, many things, and...
Apr 11, 2019
The Album: Sly and the Family Stone: Stand! (1969)
When San Francisco’s Sylvester Stewart and his Family Stone
released Stand! in the spring of the 1969, it further
cemented the group’s reputation
as the definitive pop act of the era, whose
multiracial makeup mirrored the band’s multi-musical fluency in
rock,...
Apr 4, 2019
The Album: James Brown: In the
Jungle Groove (1986)
This is the first of what will eventually be four episodes,
released quarterly, that focus on the art of sampling. As Morgan
explains in this episode, sampling isn't simply a key aesthetic
within pop music styles, especially hip-hop, it's also an important
way through...