Robert Plant and Opinions on TV on the Radio

robertplant

Jim and Greg are joined by legendary Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant. Later they review a new album from the New York City band TV on the Radio.

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Robert Plant

Robert Plant is arguably one of the most famous names and faces in music history--amazing considering he started his career in the Welsh borderlands of England, or as he says, the Black Country. There he was inspired by sounds from across the pond including the Blues and singers like Little Richard and Smokey Robinson & The Miracles. Plant went on to found Band of Joy and later Led Zeppelin with his friend, drummer John Bonham, and the two ruled the rock airwaves in the 1970's. Bonham died in 1980, and with him Led Zeppelin. But Plant has never stopped releasing music or exploring new sounds. Examples of this are Raising Sand with bluegrass musician Alison Krauss in 2007 and Band of Joy with singer-songwriter Patty Griffin. His 10th and latest album is called Lullaby and…The Ceaseless Roar.

Seeds TV on the Radio

Seeds

For TV on the Radio, its 6th album Seeds marks a musical departure from past work and has Jim and Greg at odds. TVOTR has been a consistently interesting band, emerging from the same scene as groups like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Strokes. However many people wondered whether they would make a new album after their bassist, Gerard Smith, died in 2011 of lung cancer. Greg notes that he has greatly enjoyed TVOTR's past albums but found himself missing the "weirdness" on this one. He found the record to be very linear and melodic, and noted the group lost the elements of texture and surprise in these new tracks. Jim couldn't disagree more! He argues there are plenty of surprises with a mix of mourning and hard grooving tunes. Jim even thinks the track "Happy Idiot" is a thinking-hipster's response to Pharrell's "Happy." Greg gives it a Try It while Jim thinks he's just being grumpy and strongly gives Seeds a Buy It.

Greg

While on a recent nostalgia trip through late 90’s, early 2000’s  hip-hop, Greg spent some time on the West Coast, which at that time was experiencing an underground hip-hop renaissance led up by the likes of DJ Shadow, Lyrics Born and Jurassic 5. Greg especially loves L.A.'s Jurassic 5, as it was the antithesis to the better-known, yet simplistic, gangster rap coming out of the city. Throughout the group's four album run, its four MCs and one DJ (sometimes two) exercised a consistently complex musicality and often employed narrative lyrics that were at their most effective on a track like, "Thin Line." This thoughtful song about the pitfalls of a man-woman friendship turning into something more comes off the group's third album, Power in Numbers, and is Greg's Desert Island Jukebox pick of the week.

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