Friday Music (finally)

Spent the morning dealing with the whole website thing….still not done, but it’s time for some Friday Music:

This is one for the blog-and-LJ-less Dastardly Best Friend, who got me watching Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. This is the full-length version of the theme song from the series, which is just amazing, and is composed by Yoko Kanno, the same person responsible for the music in Cowboy Bebop. This time around, instead of rat-pack-esque jazz riffs, they went with electronic music with ethereal lyrics sung in Russian, English and Latin: Yoko Kanno (feat. Origa) – “Inner Universe”. “Aeria Gloris…”

Here’s one of my favorite tracks from right around 89/90 (not sure which side of the decade divide they fall on). I’d call them a “one hit wonder’, but I’m not even sure this properly categorizes as a “hit”–it got a bunch of alt-radio play, and I think was regularly on “120 Minutes” on MTV, but dropped out of sight fairly quickly. The Primitives – “Crash”. I was all over it, though…guitar-driven uptempo pop, with a cute platinum blonde lead singer? Duh. I’m so there.

Here’s a bizarre cover, which wormed its way into my head and just won’t leave. Rachid Taha – “Rock El Casbah”. Taha is an Algerian (or was, until the Islamic fundies took over…now he’s a Parisian), and this is just too perfect. A cover of The Clash in Arabic, with plucky ouds and other middle-eastern string backing.

We’ll keep in the Middle-eastern vein for a moment (sorta)….another downtempo chill-out track from The Thievery Corporation – “Lebanese Blonde.”. This is from their album The Mirror Conspiracy, which operates on the conceit that it’s the soundtrack to an imaginary movie about international intrigue (with tracks like “Lebanese Blonde” and “The Hong Kong Triad”). Another regular on my writing-music playlist.

Now, for your amusement, I give you Nina Gordon – “Straight Outta Compton”. Ice Cube would be rolling in his grave….if he were dead. Scary thing is, the first time I heard this, I laughed. The second time, though, I kinda liked it. I feel all dirty now.

My favorite album from ex-Bauhaus band Love and Rockets was Express, released in 1986. I have two favorite songs on that album…one them is “Kundalini Express”, and the other is Love and Rockets – “It Could Be Sunshine.” I put that one up, because I’ve heard the other a lot recently.

That’s it for this week, kids. Now, back to wrestling with my server.