Tag: 2010s

Key + Peele | The Power of Wings

When it comes to comedy duo Key and Peele, “the title comedians are surprisingly good singers,” (Screenrant). The sketches on Comedy Central’s Key & Peele series “ran the gamut from touching on politics or race to skits on famous movies or TV shows. The pair also had some spot-on parodies of music artists, from the hilarious ‘Ray Parker Theme Songs’ – where the Ghostbusters singer reveals a catalog of horrible, unused themes for other movies – to ‘Outkast Reunion,’ where Andre 3000 and Big Boi awkwardly cross paths. Key & Peele remains a treasure trove of great sketches, with the show coming to an end back in 2015. While Keegan-Michael Key has continued to act, Jordan Peele has mostly retired from performing to step behind the camera, reinventing himself as a horror auteur with movies like Get Out.”

Wendell, a nerd and comic book fan of the highest order, is a recurring K+P character. But “Wings” took him to the next level of fantasy: If a Lord of the Rings Fandom Con had a baby with a power metal band, this video might be the result.

Unfortunately, the video’s modest budget is drained very visibly to zero dollars just before the bridge. Thereafter, even the half-step modulation at 1:53 and an “E for Effort” aren’t enough to save Wendell.

Phony Ppl | Why iii Love the Moon

Phony Ppl, a Brooklyn-based band with a neo-soul/hiphop focus, grew out of the school friendship of vocalist Elbie Thrie and keyboardist Aja Grant. “Thrie and Grant met in middle school,” Rolling Stone reports. “’We found out we lived two blocks from each other. It was the first time my parents would let me out of the house by myself, to go to Elbie’s: Oh, he’ll be okay. They’re playing music.‘ … A lot of our influences were us listening to new music that was actually super old music from the Sixties and Seventies.’”

Members of the band delved into music study at Juilliard, Manhattan School of Music, the School of Rock, and learning on the fly in musical theatre pit bands. Rolling Stone continues: “’Why iii Love the Moon,’ a hypnotic ballad on Yesterday’s Tomorrow (2015) combining vintage Earth, Wind and Fire with Kaya-style Bob Marley, that began as a voice memo … ‘Aja had the chords; I had the concept. We actually put the first time we played it on the record. That’s what you hear, us testing everything.’ Thrie smiles. ‘We tried to make it sound more shitty. But that’s the original tape.’”

After a dreamy intro, the track starts in earnest in Eb minor at 0:26. From 3:34 – 3:55, a trippy bridge shifts gears and airdrops us into B minor. The casually improvised percussion hints at the the tune’s homegrown origins as a voice memo. At 4:36, we’re suddenly back in Eb for the duration.

Postmodern Jukebox | We Can’t Stop

Founded by arranger and pianist Scott Bradlee in 2011, Postmodern Jukebox is a music collective, featuring a rotating group of instrumentalists and vocalists, that is known for reworked and inventive takes on popular modern songs, focusing particularly on swing and jazz. The group originated with Bradlee jamming and shooting videos in his basement with his friends, and took off with the release of a cover of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ “Thrift Shop,” featuring Robyn Adele Anderson on vocals, which clocked a million views the first week after its release in 2012.

“We Can’t Stop,” originally released by Miley Cyrus, was given a doo-wop treatment by the group in 2013, again featuring Anderson on vocals as well as the NYC-based TeeTones. “I think everyone on some level loves doo-wop,” said Bradlee when discussing why he thought his cover was so successful. “It’s feel-good music. It’s easy to listen to. It has a strong melody. It’s simple…And sure, it’s funny that the lyrics are ridiculous by ’50s standards, too.”

The track modulates at 3:09.

Childish Gambino | Sober

“Donald Glover doesn’t need your approval. He has always had plenty of admirers, be it through his standup, TV work, or his music, which he makes as Childish Gambino,” Consequence declares in its review of his 2014 EP Kauai. “Fans of his comedy routines and 30 Rock and Community episodes followed him to the mixtape circuit, a world which rewards humor but not necessarily Gambino’s particular brand of pop culture-dissecting kind. In turn, depending on who you ask, he’s one of hip-hop’s smartest MCs or a short-shorts-wearing outsider who’s unable to see why he’s unwelcome.”

Glover’s come a long distance since 2014. As Childish Gambino, he’s been extremely prolific, releasing multiple albums, EPs, and “mixtapes,” growing in prominence as he goes. His track “This is America” (2018), which went to #1 in the US and many other countries, was released with a single-take music video which Time described as “laden with metaphors about race and gun violence in America.”

After starting in a F major, 2014’s “Sober” drops a break (2:50) comprised of only scant background vocals, the buzz of heavily distorted electronic bass, and percussion, which somewhat obscures the whole-step modulation to G major at 3:09. The break’s contorted landscape continues until 3:29, when there’s a return of Glover’s clear, seemingly effortless falsetto over pulsing eighth-note synths and major 7th voicings at just about every opportunity.

Many thanks to Mark L. for this submission — his first!

Sia | Free Me

Australian singer/songwriter Sia released “Free Me” as a single and music video in July 2017. The video, narrated by Julianne Moore, depicts an expecting mother (played by Zoe Saldana) who is told she is HIV-positive after going in for a routine check-up. The mother’s emotional journey is communicated through choreography, set by Ryan Heffington. “The HIV/AIDS epidemic is one that can affect anyone, particularly child-bearing women around the globe,” Sia said upon the song’s release.

“I’ve proudly joined forces with the Abzyme Research Foundation and the #endHIV Campaign for the release of my song, ‘Free Me,’ to help raise funds and awareness for a potential breakthrough cure of the epidemic.” All proceeds of the song support efforts to eliminate HIV/AIDS. A half-step modulation from Eb to E occurs at 4:02.

For Forever (from “Dear Evan Hansen”)

Pasek & Paul’s 6-time Tony Award-winning, blockbuster 2016 musical Dear Evan Hansen opened in London in November 2019 before closing the following March due to the COVID-19 pandemic; it is scheduled to re-open this October. English actor Sam Tutty plays the title character in the production, and is featured here singing “For Forever” with three other Evans: Andrew Barth Feldman from Broadway, Robert Markus from Toronto, and Stephen Christopher Anthony from the national tour. The show’s music supervisor Alex Lacamoire produced and arranged the vocals, Dillon Kondor wrote the guitar arrangement, and Tim Basom and Ethan Pakchar accompanied for this performance.

A film adaptation of the musical, starring Ben Platt who originated the role of Evan, will be released this September. Key changes at 2:47 and 3:49.

Christopher Tin (feat. Soweto Gospel Choir) | Baba Yetu

If you enjoy turn-based strategy video games, then you are likely familiar with the Civilization franchise, and if you played Civilization IV, then you may have spent a significant amount of time staring on the main menu screen, enraptured by today’s tune and forgetting entirely that you’d settled down to conquer the digital world. American composer Christopher Tin‘s composition “Baba Yetu” arranges a Swahili translation of The Lord’s Prayer into a masterful piece for choir and orchestra.

The tune won the 2011 Grammy award for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists — the first ever piece of video game music to win. Just as impressive, it’s featured on an album which itself won the 2011 Grammy for “Best Classical Crossover Album”: while the piece debuted with the game in 2005, Tin also released a recording of it on his first album, Calling All Dawns, in 2011.

Tin begins the song with a rousing call and response in G major. The voices gradually build and merge into a modulation to D major, which begins at 1:00. 20 seconds later, the chorale drops away, and the tonal center begins to shift until the voices triumphantly return and modulate squarely to E major while proclaiming “Ufalme wako ufike utakalo. Lifanyike duniani kama mbinguni, Amin.” (Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. On earth, as it is in heaven, Amen). With the verse finished, tonal certainty once again fades, until at the 2:25 mark the final chorus brings us back to G major to finish out the tune. I hope you enjoy this moving arrangement, along with the visual accompaniment of some truly high-definition 2005 video game graphics!

The Struts | Where Did She Go

“Where Did She Go” is the final track on the 2014 album Everybody Wants, the debut release by the English rock band The Struts. The group, comprised of vocalist Luke Spiller, guitarist Adam Slack, bassist Jed Elliot, and drummer Gethin Davies, count Queen, Aerosmith, The Rolling Stones and Michael Jackson among their influences; they released their third album, Strange Days, last fall. Key change at 3:11.

Anthem Lights | Love You Like the Movies

Chronic MotD contributor JB, in submitting 2018’s “Love You Like the Movies” by Anthem Lights, notes that the tune features some chatter from the band (including a short debate about whether or not to change keys!)

The quartet is best known for its Christian pop, but this track finds the band inhabiting the pop side of the equation. The key change is at 2:58.

Frida Elsa | Sway

“Sway” is a 2018 single by Swedish singer/songwriter Frida Elsa. While Elsa has yet to release a full album, she signed with PRMD Music & Publishing in 2017, and has a clear sense of herself as an artist. “I love being part of the creative process and above all to express myself in text and melody,” she says in her profile on Spotify. “I try, in a world of misery, to focus on all the positive things I get out of life. My lyrics focus on love, passion and hope for a brighter future.”

“Sway” modulates up a half step at 2:09.