Pick Six: Kendrick Lamar on 'SNL,' Nicki Minaj in Billboard, Suzanne Vega, more

A half-dozen cool things in music, from two points of view:

Kendrick Lamar, "Saturday Night Live." He was amazing: fantastic band, crazy jittery-twitchy R&B, totally frantic but soulful at the same time.

History of the slap bass, NPR (via BBC). I know we all got burned out on this in the '80s, but the history of this style starts in the 1920s and goes through rockabilly on the upright bass all the way through Larry Graham's tracks with Sly Stone.

Ableton deal. EDM recording software giant Ableton came out with a super-sweet deal on its entire suite, including the "Push" hardware unit. If you're a beat-making nerd, this is heaven on Earth, plus Ableton is the most customer-friendly company around.

Kevin Bowe,

Mpls. musician/IPR teacher

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Brian Setzer Orchestra, the Orpheum. Kicking off his annual Christmas tour, Setzer showed terrific arrangements of holiday fare, and his versatile guitar work was the gift that kept on giving.

Suzanne Vega, the Dakota. Accompanied by electric guitarist Gerry Leonard, the New Yorker offered her often poetic, always thoughtful songs in this suitably intimate room. She also amused with tales about her Minneapolis-bred mother (half German, half Swedish) and her unimpressed grandmother coming to witness Vega's Twin Cities debut at First Avenue.