TV On The Radio's "Family Tree"

Music is moving. It's emotional. It is partly because of this that people always consider their music the best. It simply must be because everyone's favorite artists are their own cup of tea, the certain strumming gee-tahr or soothing melody that makes them feel alive.

I was raised on good music and I have always told people I can tell within 10 seconds if I love a song or not. TV On The Radio's new album "Dear Science" is good, but one particular song has got IT.

That it? The first time I heard it, I was moved near tears. It chronicles a relationship, two lovers it seems that have found whatever is perfect for them.

Just listen. Take a trip to TV On The Radio's MySpace and invest the 5 minutes and 34 seconds to let the raw emotion envelope you and tell me you didn't feel something. Anything. If not, you are a robot. A heartless robot.

Or maybe it's not your certain something that moves you. For a real look into the song, here is a fan video of "Family Tree" live in Atlanta, GA at the Tabernacle.

Beautiful. Be moved.



Briana Monasky can be reached at bmonasky@statehornet.com. Continue Reading>>

Lily Allen, balloons, and social change.

Lily Allen is back and I could not be more excited. Periodically, Allen has been posting a track here and there on her MySpace, sweet little surprises for her fans to give a listen before the release date for her much-awaited sophomore album.

On Dec. 4, she went above and beyond, releasing her new music video for "The Fear," which was previously titled "I Don't Know" when she gave her sneak peek on her website.

Here is the video in it's entirety, chock full of balloons and dancing presents.



I've always loved Allen for her ability to produce sugary sweet pop with an underlying message, whether it was the line from "I wanna be able to eat spaghetti bolognese and not feel bad about it for days and days and days," or now with her commentary on the need to be thin, to shamelessly cover herself in blood diamonds, calling herself a "weapon of massive consumption. This song is exactly what it needs to be - catchy, sing-songy pop. Upon closer inspection and bears the same type of messages she needs to address. Continue Reading>>

Follow-up: Maybe Coldplay copied Satriani, after all

In our most recent episode of Sac in Stereo, we discussed songs that sound similar to each other (click here to listen). One of the similarities we mentioned was Coldplay's megahit "Viva la Vida" and the two other songs that sound suspiciously like to it - Creaky Boards' "The Songs I Didn't Write" and Joe Satriani's "If I Could Fly."

Maybe Satriani's lawyers were listening. The day after our podcast was posted, Satriani officially sued the British band for copyright infringement.

The guitar icon said hearing Coldplay's song was instantly very painful for him.

"I felt like a dagger went right through my heart. It hurt so much," Satriani told MusicRadar.com. "The second I heard it, I knew it was (my own) 'If I Could Fly.' "

He said the most painful thing about Coldplay's alleged ripoff was the fact that his song took over 10 years to craft, and was a love song dedicated to his wife, Rubina.

During, the podcast, we played the following mashup track, courtesy of YouTube user Matt Bethel, aka iGotSpaceLikeNasa:




During the podcast, I suggested that maybe all these musicians just happened upon this fairly simple melody in a bit of coincidence. Satriani and Bethel seem to disagree, and more and more people have been hearing their case: Bethel's original video comparing the two songs has been viewed almost 1.5 million times.

Coldplay hasn't officially commented on the lawsuit, although frontman did "promise" in a recent Q&A session (video at the bottom of the page - skip to 3:30) the band didn't borrow the melody from anyone whose name "rhymes with Moe Batriani."

Oh, and Joe, if you'd like to tell us what you think of our comparison, our e-mail address is podcasts@statehornet.com.

[photo courtesy flickr user Giandomenico Ricci] Continue Reading>>