PJH Studios

Category: Music

Pop, rock, alternative, classical, indie, folk, lo-fi, any thing with a tempo and a beat and some rhythm

  • Dancers in Penn Station

    The lower level of Penn Station is perfect for dancing and serving as a makeshift dance studio.

    Penn Station, the transit hub for hurrying commuters and Amtrak riders, has a side gig. Its wide, lower level corridor — specifically the passageway leading to the Moynihan Train Hall from Track 7 to Track 16 of the Long Island Rail Road — is an unlikely dance studio.

    Officially called the West End Concourse, the corridor has a lot going for it: It’s easily accessible, the floors are spacious and smooth, and there are public restrooms, a rarity in New York City.

    It’s a ready-made stage for all sorts of group and partnered dance, including hip-hop, K-pop and salsa. Reflective glass windows overlooking the tracks double as mirrors. Rows of blue lights overhead make for pleasing visuals when filmed. The biggest draw? It’s free.

  • Olivia Rodrigo and David Byrne – Burning Down the House

    Olivia Rodrigo and David Byrne combine for an energetic, infectious performance of Burning Down the House.

  • I Don’t Have Spotify

    I Don’t Have Spotify is a clever, one trick web app that takes Spotify links and finds music on other services. It works well for songs and albums.

  • Eminem’s Lose Yourself as performed by movie clips

    Genius.

  • Cover roundup: Glycerine by Bush

    Glycerine is a banger from the mid 90s by Bush. Probably the most famous version is the one Gavin Rossdale performed due a rainy 1996 MTV Spring Break.

    Allison Lorenzen and Midwife add shoegazey fuzz

    Easy listening lullaby version

    Acoustic with female vocals

    Piano really changes it

    Or a string quartet

  • Cover roundup: Fields of Athenry

    Fields of Athenry, a traditional Irish folk song from 1979 by Pete St. John, serves as an unofficial national anthem for Ireland.

    Perhaps the most recognized version is by the Dublinners, sticking to the songs folk origins.

    The Drop Kick Murphys channel fury into the lyrics and guitars.

    The Ohio St. marching band gave a good rendition

    The vocal harmony of Sina Theil & Caitríona O’Sullivan brings a resonance to the lyrics.

    With the Ireland national team about to be eliminated from the 2012 Euro soccer tournament, the Irish fans began singing.

  • Cover Roundup: Pink Pony Club by Chappell Roan

    One of the most infectious pop songs in recent memory, Pink Pony Club by Chappell Roan, is already creating a cottage industry of covers.

    Rick Astley takes an earnest and genteel approach.

    Orville Peck’s baritone brings a soothing quality.

    Of course there’s a reliable Kelly Clarkson rendition.

    What about an all women’s chorus, The Virginia Belles, hitting those harmonies?

    Medieval bardcore?

    Tinges of roots rock?

  • The Cobain 50

    When Kurt Cobain’s journals were released, they contained a list of his 50 top/favorite albums. KEXP has been doing podcast series, The Cobain 50, releasing an episode a week for each album. The series is now in the final stretch.

    Each week, The Cobain 50 podcast digs into albums from this famous list and how they may have influenced Cobain and Nirvana. While learning the individual histories of the different albums on the list, we gain new insights into artists on the fringes as well as some of the biggest groups of all time. The podcast takes us through the legacies of acts like Sonic Youth, Pixies, The Breeders, Public Enemy, PJ Harvey, Black Flag, Mazzy Star, The Shaggs, Shonen Knife, and more.

    What’s great is how the hosts tie the albums to elements in Nirvana’s history or catalog.

  • Michael Shannon and REM

    Actor Michael Shannon will tour again, performing REM songs.

    On February 14, Shannon will begin his second tour inside of a year devoted to R.E.M. It will take him to more than a dozen cities in the US. Interest in the shows has been so high, with some tickets for a stop in Athens, Georgia, on the secondary market going for north of $600, that dates have been added in England as well.

    And most of the songs they are performing come from the early years of REM’s catalog.

  • Chappel Roan takes Pink Pony Club on a ride

    From first singing, the song, Pink Pony Club in front of 50 people in 2021 and thinking it too a 150,000 person sing-along in 2024.