Hold On To Your Butts – Episode 1 – Sorority Email / Boston Bombing

Well, here it is! It’s the first episode of the Enchantment Under the Sea podcast, “Hold On To Your Butts.” We’re trying this whole thing out, and this was actually only a test episode, so things will probably change dramatically between this episode and our next one. Stay tuned! And, feel free to email us with any feedback. (CAUTION: there are some swears in this.)

(NOTE: You can subscribe to our podcast using this feed, but we’ll hopefully have an iTunes page for the podcast soon or SUBSCRIBE THROUGH ITUNES!)

Relevant links (most of which are sweary and, as a result, NSFW):

• Sorority email
• Newscaster swears on air
• Reddit hunts for Boston Bomber
• “I would like to extend you a counter-offer…”
• Tilda Swinton / Ebert Dance Party
• Our Theme Music: “The Adventure Lights,” by Skip Cloud

LISTEN BELOW:

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Demi Lovato’s “Heart Attack,” and the thoughts it inspires re: poptimism

By way of setting the scene, I should probably mention the turkey burgers. I was out to dinner at a local place called Barleys with my friends Al and Colleen. When we ordered dinner, by some miracle of taste convergence (or maybe just social psychology), we each independently decided to order the turkey burger. The three of us did share a lot of common tastes, so, as often happens when we get together, each of us was talking about the music we’d been listening to recently. I predictably started blathering about the new Superchunk record,¹ which I had become obsessed with in the preceding weeks. But during that conversation, Al said something that turned out to be as important as it was surprising. He told me he’d been listening to the new Kesha album. (more…)

The Hobbit: An Unexciting Movie

I hate to start my review of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, a pretty cool movie, on a really down note, but I have to ask: what was the point of this movie?

One answer might be that it’s supposed to just be a fun action story. Another might be that it’s necessary set-up for the bigger events unfolding in later films. Either way, the film doesn’t quite get there, instead being too big to be pure fun, and too pointless to be epic. (more…)

Two Golden Age Bollywood Songs That I Love Right Now

I’ve always been a fan of traditional Indian music. I used to search Limewire for long live recordings of ragas and tabla solos. The best recordings combined severe technical proficiency with a fun, improvisational feeling. The rhythms and melodies were complex, but there was something very satisfying and whole about the compositions, no matter how fractured they could appear if you thought too much about what time signature they were using.

Recently, that interest led me to a new style of music. I’ve been exploring the golden age of Bollywood cinema, the music produced for Indian popular cinema in the 50s and 60s. (more…)