Tim Heidecker imagines himself as Bob Dylan nonchalantly discovering that he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in the parody track “Talkin’ Nobel Prize,” with the Tim & Eric star delivering an on-point impersonation of the esteemed singer-songwriter. “Woke up this morning with the news at my feet / A little surprised I had to take a seat / And while I admit it felt like a treat / I tossed the paper and got something to eat,” Heidecker as Dylan sings on the acoustic ditty. “But I don’t need your prize, babe / Look into my eyes babe and see how I despise the prize.” Later on the track, “Dylan” sings about he doesn’t deserve the honor. “Take your medal and throw it away / Come on back when you got something to say / Or just save it for a rainy day / Ain’t nothing Nobel bout me anyway.” On Thursday, the Swedish Academy announced that Dylan would be the 2016 recipient of the Nobel Prize for … [Read more...] about Hear Tim Heidecker’s Bob Dylan Spoof ‘Talkin’ Nobel Prize’
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13 New Albums to Stream Now: Pistol Annies, Rosalía and More Editors’ Picks
EDITOR’S PICK: Pistol Annies, Interstate Gospel“The ethos of the Pistol Annies, who steep their classicist country — rife with despair and misfortune — in rootsy arrangements, has not been welcomed within the mainstream confines of the genre in some time,” writes Jonathan Bernstein. “The Pistol Annies’ solution? Doubling down on the roots-blend they’ve honed over the better part of the past decade, merging Ashley Monroe’s East TN bluegrass roots, Angaleena Presley’s hardscrabble Kentucky country-rock and Miranda Lambert’s Texas honky-tonk. On paper, the Annies’ latest, like its predecessors, focuses on the type of small-town domestic drama the group has become known for. Their songs are populated by men and women struggling with prescription medication, marriage, mid-life crises, malaise and marijuana. But unlike past efforts, where the narratives were mostly distant character sketches and the messy … [Read more...] about 13 New Albums to Stream Now: Pistol Annies, Rosalía and More Editors’ Picks
How Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ Brilliantly Mingled Sex, Religion
Leonard Cohen’s career had reached a low point when he wrote “Hallelujah.” It was 1984, and he had been out of the spotlight for quite a long time. His 1977 LP, Death of a Ladies’ Man, a collaboration with Phil Spector, was a commercial and critical disappointment, and his next album Recent Songs fared no better. When Cohen submitted the songs for his subsequent LP, Various Positions, to Columbia, label execs didn’t hear “Hallelujah,” the opening song of Side Two, as anything special. They didn’t even want to release the album, though it eventually came out in Europe in 1984 and America the following year. It took a few years for “Hallelujah” to emerge as a classic. Bob Dylan was one of the first to recognize its brilliance, playing it at a couple of shows in 1988. The Velvet Underground’s John Cale tackled it on the piano for a 1991 Cohen tribute disc, and three years later, Jeff Buckley took inspiration from that … [Read more...] about How Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ Brilliantly Mingled Sex, Religion
So, How Was Your Decade, Tim Heidecker?
So, How Was Your Decade is a series in which the decade’s most innovative musicians answer our questionnaire about the people, places and things that shaped their decade. We’ll be rolling these pieces out throughout December. This decade witnessed Tim Heidecker, one-half of acclaimed, offbeat comedy duo Tim & Eric, make the jump from the small screen to the silver screen with roles in Bridesmaids, The Comedy, Ant-Man & The Wasp, Us and 2019’s Mister America. In 2012, Heidecker co-directed his first film Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie alongside comedy partner Eric Wareheim and co-founded the comedy network JASH alongside Wareheim, Michael Cera, Sarah Silverman and Reggie Watts. Heidecker also helmed a popular podcast-turned-web series (On Cinema) and took his talents — and his disdain for the current president — to the recording studio, with the comedian releasing nearly 10 albums this decade, including two collections of … [Read more...] about So, How Was Your Decade, Tim Heidecker?
Great Grandpa’s Peaceful, Easy Folk-Rock Feeling
When Pat Goodwin brought an acoustic guitar onstage at a sold-out Great Grandpa show in Brooklyn this past fall, one audience member responded by shouting “Free Bird!” “I wish we fucking played ‘Free Bird!’” Goodwin told the crowd. “I really don’t,” said lead singer/bassist Alex Menne. Acoustic guitars are still somewhat of a novelty at Great Grandpa shows. The quintet, which formed in Seattle in 2014, have spent the past few years expanding upon, if not quite discarding, their early grunge-garage associations. With Four of Arrows, their remarkable second studio album, they deepen the four-chord feedback-pop of their 2017 debut, Plastic Cough, into a more contemplative, textured folk-rock in the vein of artists like Big Thief and (Sandy) Alex G. “I think we felt obliged to operate within this paradigm: This is who we are, we’re a garage rock band, we play in basements and we have loud amps,” Goodwin says. … [Read more...] about Great Grandpa’s Peaceful, Easy Folk-Rock Feeling