Self Care – Animals As Leaders Play CAFO

As I mentioned when I shared some Orianthi, I’m not anti-shredding. When it works, it works incredibly well. And this is yet another example of it working extremely well…

Tosin Abasi is absolutely incredible. His playing is definitely powerful, and he does something some of those shredders I don’t like don’t do… he injects quite a bit of emotion into his near-perfect playing. He’s not afraid of effects or space, and it shows.

I’m not going to put a time stamp on the guitar solo, because this song is an instrumental. So it’s the whole song.

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First Aid Kit Plays You Are the Problem Here

(Content note: the song I’m highlighting is a song written in response to the way society allows rapists to get away with their crimes.)

I’ve been a pretty big fan of First Aid Kit ever since I first saw the music video for their song Hard Believer, a pretty openly atheist song.

First Aid Kit is a Swedish folk duo consisting of sisters Klara (vocals/guitar) and Johanna Söderberg (vocals/keyboards/AutoHarp). They’ve actually been around for a long while, now, and are immensely talented.

On March 8th, International Women’s Day, they released a new song called You Are The Problem Here. This is how they described it:

“You Are the Problem Here” isn’t a typical First Aid Kit-song. It’s angry and direct. It’s a song written out of despair. After reading about yet another rape case where the perpetrator was handed a sentence which did not at all reflect the severity of his crime we felt upset and vengeful. We were, and are, sick of living in a society where the victims of rape are often blamed for the horrible thing that has been done to them. Our message is clear and should not be controversial in the least: if you rape, you are the problem. Alcohol is not the problem. So called “youth culture” is not the problem. You are. And you always have a choice.

On March 11th, they released the lyric video for the song:

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Self Care – Oscar Peterson and Keith Emerson Play Honky Tonk Train Blues

Sadly, some have used this video as “proof” that Keith Emerson couldn’t improvise as a piano player. But listening to or watching him play live in most cases would prove that very wrong. I think he chose to let Oscar Peterson (one of his piano idols) do the improvising here because he believed that Oscar was the better piano player.

And as much as I love Keith, I can’t disagree with him. Oscar Peterson was another titan of the keys who seems, at least to me, to be criminally underrated. He, like Hazel Scott, is another piano player I think everyone should know, especially if you’re a fan of Keith’s.

Here, Keith Emerson and Oscar Peterson are joined by a band featuring a heavily disguised Carl Palmer on drums to play the song “Honky Tonk Train Blues”.

Enjoy!

Great Guitar Solos – Steven Wilson and Guthrie Govan Play Porcupine Tree’s “Radioactive Toy”

(You probably noticed how this is not part of the Self Care series. There’s a reason for that…)

Remember back on February 24th, when I posted about how Agent Orange wants to expand the US’s nuclear arsenal? Well, now you know where the “radioactive toys” in the title comes from…

It reminded me of this song. Written by Steven Wilson, and originally recorded and performed by his band Porcupine Tree, this is a song that is, basically, about a nuclear holocaust. Here, it’s Steven Wilson’s solo band that performs it. It’s dark, but very much apropos…

Perhaps it needs to serve as a warning…

And, as it happens, it also has an incredible guitar solo…

There’s a short solo played by Steven Wilson himself that starts at 2:45 and ends at 3:10. But the solo that I really want to highlight is played by Guthrie Govan. It starts at 10:08 and ends with the end of the song.

Enjoy, and don’t let it get you too down or scared…

Self Care – Great Guitar Solos: Led Zeppelin Plays Ten Years Gone

In honor of Physical Graffiti’s 42nd birthday (back on February 24th), here’s Ten Years Gone, an amazing song with an incredible guitar solo…

The solo starts at 2:29 and ends at 3:20. There’s another bridge, with a sort-of solo, that starts at 3:42 and ends at 4:07. There’s more lead guitar throughout the rest of the song from there, as well. The whole song is incredible.

This is just audio, so nothing to watch.

Enjoy!

Self Care – Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti is 42 Years Old Today

(Yup, a second Self Care post today. I did say this would happen sometimes…)

If you’re still unsure whether or not I’m a Zephead, you haven’t been reading my blog. Their music is everything to me.

On this day 42 years ago, Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti was first released. I already listened to the entire album, twice, before posting this.

The album is an experience, frankly. And in honor of it, this Monday’s GGS post will be Ten Years Gone.

Feel free to seek out and listen to the whole thing.

Self Care – Great Guitar Solos: Beyoncé and Pete Wolford Play 1+1 (NSFW)

(There’s no nudity, but you probably don’t want to watch this music video at work.)

Now we’re definitely going off the beaten path, here, but with good reason.

I’ve always been aware of Beyoncé, but it wasn’t until I started listening to a podcast called The Read back in early 2016 (or was it late 2015?… I can’t remember) that I went from thinking “she’s talented, but not for me” to “holy shit she’s incredible, I love her music, and I could listen to it daily”. You see, Crissle and Kid Fury are probably more obsessed with Beyoncé’s music than I am with Led Zeppelin’s (which, as y’all know, is saying a lot). And that was infectious, for me, at least.

The first Beyoncé album I bought (through Tidal) was Lemonade (on the recommendation of both TWiBPrime and The Read), both the audio and the visual albums. It was so good I decided that I had to go back and listen to the rest of her solo output. So I did… and I’m definitely now a dedicated fan.

And so we get here…

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