Dartmouth Soundoff: Collaborations
Last Tuesday, Fuse released a live collaborative effort between Hoodie Allen and Kina Grannis. Up until seeing it, I was a passive fan of Hoodie, tolerating him on my Pandora at the gym, and I was little more than aware of Grannis' existence.
But then their version of Walk the Moon's "Anna Sun"became my obsession of the week. I seriously considered writing this entire column on their collaboration alone: breaking down how Hoodie, a University of Pennsylvania graduate who jumped on the white boy trendy indie rap bandwagon with his fitted jeans, is unexpectedly compatible with Kina, an Ingrid Michaelson-esque, West Coast singer-songwriter. Then I realized I would just end up gushing about how beautiful both of them are, and how awkward Hoodie is in the interview.
So instead, I decided to write a column about collaborations: some recent, some not-so recent, but all not that intuitive. Don't worry though, I won't be discussing that weird Tim McGraw/Nellycollaboration that happened when I was in middle school. It wasn't good then, it isn’t good now.
Dave Grohl/Norah Jones: "Virginia Moon"
In 2010, Norah Jones released an entire collaboration album, ...Featuring Norah Jones, in which she pairs up with over a dozen artists to remake their songs. She sings with an array of stars like Ray Charles, Andre 3000 and Dolly Parton. One of the most unlikely pairings on the album though, is her duet with post-grunge Foo Fighter's frontman Dave Grohl on the neo-jazzy "Virgina Moon."
Major Lazer/Ezra Koenig-: "Jessica"
Koenig from Vampire Weekend is featured in the seventh track of last month's record from Major Lazer which features a bunch of collaborations in order to fill out Diplo's production. I'd be interested to see who he brings along for the Green Key show…
Kanye West /Bon Iver: "Lost in the World"
I didn't listen to West before his Grammy-winning “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” (2010), and to be honest, I didn't really listen to any of his music afterwards. The album contains some really solid cameos by a lot of different artists (like Nicki Minaj's 64 bar rap in "Monster"). Featuring a sample from Bon Iver’s “Woods”, however, was one decision that I don't think many of us saw coming.
Flaming Lips/Kesha: "2012"
This is the combination that you thought you would only see if somehow their songs are played consecutively when you shuffled your library. But no, this combo exists in real life. The music sounds more Flaming Lips-esque with Kesha providing some vocals. No catchy pop dance floor hooks here.
Jack White/Alicia Keys: "Another Way to Die"
Alicia Keys owns garage rock. In my opinion, White needs to shut up in this one and just let Keys kill it. We hear enough of him anyway in the over-gained guitar and open high-hat.
Elton John/Eminem: "Stan"
1999's "Stan," featuring a Dido hook as the chorus, is often considered one of Eminem's most iconic song. In the wake of criticism from the LGBT community, Eminem has Elton John fill in for Dido in this 2001 performance at the Grammy Awards.
Morgan Page/Tegan and Sara: "Body Work"
Perhaps this is not so strange of collaboration considering "Body Work" is more or less consistent with Tegan and Sara's most recent album. In the context of the rest of their indie rock flavored rock, pairing up with house DJ Morgan Page wasn't too expected.
Sonic Youth/Pearl Jam: "Real Thing"
Judgment Day, a movie I'd never heard of until I was researching for this column, but apparently stared Emilio Estevez, released its soundtrack in late 1993 featuring nothing but hard rock/rap collaborations. I can't say this is my favorite song on the list, but it exists, nevertheless.