Beastie Boys

[Playlist of the Week] 15 Weird Science Music Videos

Last week in science: Newsweek has evidence to back if aliens exists, they’re huge, SNL made fun of Scientologists, a “terror bird” has been discovered and the Brontosaurus has been resurrected as a genus. Oh, and it’s almost finals week for all you Science majors out there, so we’ve devised a playlist to get you through the week.


Grading The 2014 Grammy Winners

Pharrell Williams, Daft Punk, Nile Rodgers

So, back in December, around the time the Grammy nominations were officially announced, I wrote a post titled "Grading The Grammys" where I gave my two cents on what I thought of the nominees, who I thought should win and who I thought actually would win. The music industry equivalent to filling out an NCAA tournament bracket in March, I watched yesterday as my picks were scuttled fairly quickly. Using the mentality that it is better to recognize many rather than few and spread an award rather than smother one artist with them, my choices for Grammy winners was a bit different from what actually went down last night in LA. Read on to see who I thought would win, who actually did and how that makes me feel, here below.

Record of The Year

Nominees:

- "Get Lucky" - Daft Punk & Pharrell Williams

- "Radioactive" - Imagine Dragons

- "Royals" - Lorde

- "Locked Out Of Heaven" - Bruno Mars

- "Blurred Lines" - Robin Thicke Featuring T.I. & Pharrell

Actual Winner: "Get Lucky" - Daft Punk & Pharrell Williams

My Prediction: “Royals” – Lorde

Breakdown: I read somewhere in the lead up to this year's Grammys that the award show could very quickly devolve into a sort of Lifetime Achievement Award for Daft Punk, who did have arguably the song of the year in "Get Lucky" which seemed to be on an endless loop throughout the Summer. "Royals" certainly had its own run, but looking back it was somewhat ridiculous to think she could overtake Daft Punk.


[Video] 2014 Grammy Awards Performance Recap

While the awards may have left some excitement on the table, the performances of the 2014 Grammy Awards certainly did not disappoint. Jay-Z and Beyonce started things off with a rousing performance of their track "Drunk in Love" from her recent release that got the energy going in the Staples Center. Lorde performed her 2013 seminal track "Royals" to a certain degree of minimalism, sporting a darker new look and Pharrell and Daft Punk teamed up with none other than Stevie Wonder for a rendition of "Get Lucky" which went on to win record of the year and Kendrick Lamar linked up with Imagine Dragons for an inspired performance than skipped across songs, opening with "m.A.A.d City" which had at least two in the front row out of their seats. Alas, all the showmanship was thus in vain to the almighty Macklemore & Ryan Louis whose Teflon-esque evening continued into their live performance as they trumped the rest of the field by hosting 33 gay marriages onstage with Madonna. There's a lot you can do to create entertainment, but I have to say there's not much more than that. We rounded up the whole lot of Grammy performances and have them streaming here below for your viewing pleasure. Check them out and stay tuned to RH for continuing Grammy coverage.

Beyonce & Jay Z: "Drunk In Love"

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Imagine Dragons & Kendrick Lamar: "Radioactive"

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Lorde: "Royals"

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Pharrell, Stevie Wonder & Daft Punk:

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Katy Perry & Juicy J: "Dark Horse"

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Taylor Swift: "All Too Well"

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Keith Urban & Gary Clark Jr. "Cop Car"

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Pink: "Try"

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Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Mary Lambert & Madonna 'Same Love"

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Best Music Projects of 2013

Photo by Bryan Lamb

With new projects from established musicians like Daft Punk, Kanye West, and Neko Case to up and comers like Chance the Rapper, Lorde, Disclosure, 2013 was a huge year for music. Through a very scientific method, the Ruby Hornet staff has gone through the eclectic mix of 2013's various project releases from hip hop, R&B, indie rock, soul, techno, EDM, and more to deliver our definitive list of 2013 music projects. Check out our list below!


Grading the Grammy Nominations

grading_grammys_2014

As the music industry has evolved over the past decade into the digital world, things have changed quite a bit. Hard copies are hardly ever bought anymore, nor does anyone seem to buy whole albums at all, as the iTunes Store model has taken over and the industry has increasingly become about what the consumer wants as opposed to what the labels want the listeners to hear. While this has resulted in a sort of musical reawakening, creating a culture where listeners can stream, download or play any track they can think of with the touch of a button, music has expanded at a rapid pace, creating new genres and sub-genres and infinite new off-shoots that don't fit cleanly into any one established genre or sound.

Standing behind this industry, bearing the largest prize of all, is the Grammy Awards. This year, the award show enters its 56th installment and, while a dance music category was finally introduced last year, the judging seems more out of touch than ever, but of course this has been an issue for some time. The Grammys are like Social Security. You don't really care about it much until you're too old to get up from the sofa. Generations have rallied against the award for years. In 1991 Sinead O'Connor simply refused to show up and boycotted the show, despite being nominated in four categories. After winning "Best Hard Rock Performance" in 1998, Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder stood onstage perplexed and, staring at the golden trophy, said into the microphone, "I don't know what this means. I don't think it means anything." It's not news that the team behind the Grammy Awards has been out of touch for some time, but at no time in history has it been so blatantly about the money in an industry that today makes significantly less money than it used to. It's macroeconomics of the current American condition played out with celebrities and gold gramophone statues. Plus, Kanye already spoke out. So, for this latest round of Grammy nominations, I figured I would sift through who was chosen and offer up my own choices for the top prizes in music this year.


Daft Punk For M Le Monde Magazine

Daft Punk had a good summer and one could argue that they had great year for the amount of work they dished out. You really couldn't go anywhere without hearing them on the radio and they either graced the cover or pages of a number of magazines. The duo once again land a magazine cover, this time for French magazine M Le Monde shot by photographer Peter Lindbergh. Alongside the group for the shoot is model Saskia de Brauw, and as we come to expect from Daft Punk, they are styled with their signature look of high-end suits made by Hedi Slimane.

[Via M Le Monde]


[Video] Daft Punk: "Instant Crush" (feat. Julian Casablancas)

Daft Punk has been slowly rolling out visuals for their 2013 hit album Random Access Memories. Today, the pair dropped the latest, a video for "Instant Crush" featuring The Strokes' Julian Casablancas. The video has a very Flashdance feel to it that mimics the 80s synth vibes of the track and follows Casablancas on a sort of museum love story that is thwarted by the moving of one of the statues. Plenty of spotlights, bad haircuts and leather jackets and torn jeans to go around.

Ever see a Daft Punk performance, video, commercial or the like and wonder what the hell is under those helmets? The dance music DJs protective head gear has evolved over the years in dramatic fashion and Electronic Dance Music publication MixMag has all the answers you could ever want about the iconic coverings that Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo are almost perpetually seen wearing. Some of the notes from the video include mentions that Homem-Christo's helmet is made by the same people who invented the Jumbotron. Pretty heavy stuff. Check out both videos here below.

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Giorgio Moroder: ""Broken Promise Land (remix)"

Giorgio Moroder is continuing his dance music victory lap. In a year that has already seen the legendary dance music producer collaborate with Daft Punk, perform him first ever DJ set at a festival, participated in Doug Aitken's Station to Station train tour, and basically made it cool to be in your 70s. It seems that the beat never dies. Check out his latest below, a remix of Munich electro-pop group, Claire on which he employs his own vocals to add a different flavor to the track.