5 Amazing Musical Collaborations

Jack White/ image: Teresa Sedo via Flickr CC

Musical collaborations, although sometimes offbeat and seemingly random, have yielded some of the most highly acclaimed albums. Some critics call them “supergroups” – collaborations between members of already incredibly popular bands. Here are five amazing musical collaborations:

1.   The Raconteurs. Anyone who pays even the slightest bit of attention to contemporary rock music is familiar with Jack White. His first band, The White Stripes, is still ridiculous popular, and fans were beyond excited after he announced the creation of a side project, The Raconteurs. With the help of singer-songwriter Brendan Benson and some members of the Greenhornes, their debut album Broken Boy Soldier was greeted with tremendous acclaim.

Seattle "supergroup" Childbirth/ image: via Seattle Weekly

2.   Mad Season. Mad Season was the collaboration between Alice in Chains singer Layne Staley, Screaming Trees drummer Barrett Martin, and Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready, and resulted in the heavy, grungy, prog-rock awesomeness that was 1995’s Above. Mad Season only released the one album, much to the dismay of fans and grunge rockers everywhere.

3.   Childbirth. Childbirth is a feminist, lo-fi punk rock band made up of musicians from three Seattle-based bands: Bree McKenna of TacocaT, Stacy Peck of Pony Time, and Julia Shapiro from Chastity Belt. Together, the three bring an energetic, pro-woman sound to Seattle’s famous music scene, and their musical chemistry is obvious.

4.   Elvis Costello and Questlove. What seemed like the most unlikely pairing of all time actually turned out to be a phenomenal musical collaboration when Elvis Costello and Questlove recorded Wise Up Ghost together in 2013. Both Costello and Questlove have garnered enormous fame individually, and their mix of rock and hip-hop is an example of a cross-genre collaboration that really works. Wise Up Ghost was met with wide acclaim by fans and critics alike.

5.   Temple of the Dog. Another grunge-driven collaboration that wowed fans is Temple of the Dog, made up of Seattle’s Soundgarden and Pearl Jam. Reportedly, the two bands came together after their mutual musician friend – Andrew Wood of Mother Love Bone – died suddenly of a drug overdose. The band’s dark sound tackled issues surrounding drug abuse, death, and mortality, while simultaneously immortalizing the collaboration as one of the best of all time.

What are your favorite musical collaborations?

Against Me! Releases ‘Transgender Dysphoria Blues’

Politically charged Florida punk band Against Me! has just released its latest studio album, Transgender Dysphoria Blues. This is the first record the band has released since frontwoman Laura Jane Grace, formerly Tom Gabel, announced that she would be living as a woman back in 2012. Fans may have been initially surprised by Grace’s coming out, but those closest to the musician know that she has been struggling with gender dysphoria for years. 

Transgender Dysphoria Blues is an album that encapsulates the intense emotional experiences that the band has endured throughout Grace’s transition. As Stephen Thompson for NPR explains, Against Me! has been around for nearly two decades, but this record “can’t help but feel like a debut.” It is a coming-out album, one that honors Grace’s identity but also tackles the pain, doubt, rage, fear, as well as relief and joy, that comes with such a remarkable life transition. Many music critics are calling this record the most personal and poignant of her career.

Thompson explains how Laura Jane Grace “still barks her lyrics with fiercely assertive intelligence,” and that Gender Dysphoria Blues “doesn’t let up for 29 brisk minutes, but real tenderness and vulnerability surfaces in the melee,” of the album’s sound. MTV agrees, explaining how in certain moments Gender Dysphoria Blues displays a level of vulnerability that completely separates it from the rest of Against Me!’s work.

Since coming out in 2012, Grace has been under a lot of public scrutiny, but has remained strong, transparent, and ready to move forward. One of the best outcomes of the singer’s transition has been the immense outpouring of support from her bandmates, fans, and loved ones. Though not all of Grace’s relatives have been supportive, her wife Heather has been steadfastly encouraging throughout the transition process. Transgender Dysphoria Blues is Grace’s debut album as a woman; it is unapologetic, raw, and everything that you’d expect from the seasoned frontwoman.

Stream the album and learn more at NPR’s First Listen.

Image: lauragracejane via Instagram

The Passing of “Punk’s Godfather,” Lou Reed

A disbelieving silence seemed to fall over countless fans, musicians, and loved ones as news of Lou Reed’s death was shared on October 27^th. The iconic musician reportedly died from liver disease at his home in Southampton, New York.

It isn’t hard to understand why fans and fellow artists are deeply mourning the loss of Lou Reed, as he was undoubtedly one of music’s contemporary legends. His work spanned the genres of rock and roll, experimental art rock, avant-garde, and glam rock, and he is considered to be instrumental in sparking the entire punk movement.

As writer Andrew O’hehir explains, “Everything about him was deceptive and impossible to pin down, including the fact that this central figure of the 1960s avant-garde and godfather of the punk movement, this force of disorder, negation and subversion, was in many ways the product of an earlier era.” Reed influenced countless artists and musical movements, both as a member of the iconic band The Velvet Underground, and as a solo artist. His style and attitude continue to inspire innumerable emerging and established musicians.

One of Reed’s contemporaries, artist Patti Smith said, “Lou was a very special poet – a New York writer in the way that Walt Whitman was a New York poet…So many of us have benefited from the work he has done. We all owe him a debt. Most of us that owe a debt are not very happy to own up to it. Sometimes you like to imagine that you did everything on your own. But I think with Lou that everyone will stand in line to say thank you, in their own way,” of the way that he influenced her and other artists over time.

Acclaimed director and writer Mary Harron says of his death, “I’m devastated. I always thought he would live forever. Without Lou Reed and the Velvets, would there have been a CBGB’s, a New York punk, any kind of New York underground rock or art scene? Maybe but it would have had a completely different DNA…”

During his career, Lou Reed managed to make an incredible mark on the culture of music like few others have managed to do. His death will continue to be mourned all around the world. 

Image: rollingstone via Instagram

Tape Cassettes and Bands and Burgers

Shannon and the Clams cassette tape.

 

 

 

If reemerging trends in punk culture have taught us anything over the last few decades, it’s that the do-it-yourself attitude adopted by the counterculture genre will always take you pretty far. Just take Burger Records, the unassuming record label and partnering store which has achieved immense success in recent years by not following anyone’s rules but their own.

Today, popular music is predominantly controlled by corporate labels, molding the mainstream music industry into more of a marketing business and less of a nod to the good ‘ol days of rock and roll. With this in mind, it seems like the independent labels like Burger are having all the fun, while still doing pretty well for themselves as a small business. Created in 2008 by Sean Bohrman and Lee Rickard, Burger Records was a way for the duo to produce their own music for their power pop band, Thee Makeout Party. Based out of Fullterton, California, the two saw a need for a record shop in their area, and Burger became a platform for a store of the same name, co-owned by Bohrman and Brian Flores.

Burger Records has garnered a lot of attention over the last few years in the independent music scene for its dedication to making a mark on the music industry in ways that pay homage to sensibilities of the past. This means producing albums with a DIY attitude, creating cassette tapes and 7” vinyl records, being inclusive, and just having a good time. The label is known for supporting often young, local bands with a lot of talent and a love for rock and roll. Subgenres of rock like garage rock, power pop, and punk pervade the label’s overall aesthetic, which mirrors the kind of music favored in underground scenes.

Cassette tapes and vinyl records certainly won’t make Burger or its signed bands a lot of money, but that’s actually sort of the point. Burger Records allows for inclusiveness for listeners, a closed gap between fans and musicians, and exposure for artists who don’t have any desire to succumb to mainstream standards. Burger has represented and helped produce music for more than three hundred bands, many of which tour often and play at a number of popular festivals like increasingly influential South By Southwest. Bands like King Tuff, JEFF the Brotherhood, Quilt, and Audacity bring the fun, and attitude back to rock and roll, and Burger couldn’t be a better label to collaborate with them. 

Images: burgerrecords4life via Instagram