Musical Genius

Apparently there’s a new Bieber on the block

Ellen Degeneres is about to take a chance on Greyson Chance, a 12 year old wonder from Oklahoma by signing him as the first artist on her new record label, Eleveneleven.  Now, I have to say, I am super excited to see Ellen take on this new young artist – I really hope she’ll lead him in a different direction than the dance/pop/r&b direction in which the Beebs has gone.  Here’s a really good video of when the Bieber was just playin guitar and singin on a street corner to raise money so he and his mom could go to Disneyworld.

As you can see, the kid hasn’t always been the hip-hop youngster that Usher has transformed him into, and that makes me sad. What happened to the acoustic-guitar playing street performer? Which is why I feel like Greyson Chance signing with Ellen is such an awesome happenstance – perhaps this kid will travel into the musical realm Bieber would have gone into had he not been picked up by an R&B star.

In any case, that’s not exactly what I wanted to write this post on.

My iTunes Genuis has been particularly on point as of late, and I want to share the latest playlist with you all. It’s the perfect combination of the old, the recent (though mostly old, to be honest), mellow, unique, upbeat  and overall greatness of a handful of artists that came up when I genuised one of my all-time favorite songs, “Fight Test” by the Flaming Lips (video below).  It’s at times boppy, at times depressing, both electronic and acoustic, and it somehow manages to sound like it all belongs together.  Let’s just say, this list is like having the ultimate Pokemon deck in the trading card game. The one that’s been banned from conventions because the peons just can’t take it.

(click on Pop-out Player to navigate to the playlist via playlist.com)

I know you’re anxious to see it, so here it is, the ultimate of ultimates Genuis list:

• Fight Test – Flaming Lips
• Haiti – Arcade Fire
• Gravity Rides Everything – Modest Mouse
• Kissing the Lipless – the Shins
• Kid A – Radiohead
• Over and Over Again (Lost and Found) – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
• The Crane Wife 3 – The Decembrists
• Clark Gable – The Postal Service
• Here Comes Your Man – Pixies
• The W.A.N.D. – The Flaming Lips
• Know Your Onion! – The Shins
• You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb – Spoon
• Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) – Arcade Fire
• The Good Times Are Killing Me – Modest Mouse
• The Great Salt Lake – Band of Horses
• Black Tambourine – Beck
• Treefingers – Radiohead
• Is This It – The Strokes
• Is This Love? – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
• One More Robot/Sympathy 3000-21 – The Flaming Lips
• Saint Simon – The Shins
• (Antichrist Television Blues) – Arcade Fire
• The District Sleeps Alone Tonight – The Postal Service
• Paper Thin Walls – Modest Mouse
• Lost Cause – Beck

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PS feel free to disagree with me, but post your own musical suggestions in the comments!