Ukrainian musician and engineer, Oleg Berg, has started an internet trend altering popular hit songs from their major or minor chords to the opposite and thus changing the song’s feel entirely. NPR looks at this trend and the broader issue of how the human brain processes music and the emotional cues presented by a major or minor key. Listen to the full story here.
I’ll admit, I was late to the Harlem Shake phenomenon. A 30-second video where one person dances to a dubstep beat surrounded by people seemingly going about a task not paying attention, then 15 seconds in the video cuts to everyone dancing with obscure costumes and props. Here NPR speaks with Jay Smooth, Harlemite and host of the hip-hop video blog Ill Doctrine, about the origin of the Harlem Shake and how it has evolved into the popular meme.
Also worth a read: Long Before the Harlem Shake, We Did the Shimmy
I’m just as sick of flash mobs as you are…but the setting, timing, and song choice for this one…you can’t help but smile.
“Spanish unemployment tops 26 percent, and most economists forecast that rate will get worse before it gets better.”
Read.
Morning Edition Sunday interviewed the husband-wife duo that make up Big Harp, a “low-key folk-rock laced with subtle irony and dark humor” band signed by indie favorite Saddle Creek Records. Their sophomore album, Chain Letters, will be released later this month. Hear the story and check out their sound.
“I didn’t start touring, playing music until I was like 25, and Hank was born when I was 26, so I only had a year of doing it the other way,” he says. “It was really fun, but this way it feels a lot healthier. We wake up early in the morning don’t stay out too late.”
I heard it on NPR 