Posted on by Gareth

Friday Music

I love rainy days….except when I think about performing out at KCRF tomorrow in the resulting mud and humidity. Ah well. Let’s listen to some cool music, OK?

First of all, this is my current favorite song. Omaha-based singer-songwriter Conner Oberst records under the name Bright Eyes, and has gotten some serious critical and industry acclaim. He’s very young, but is already being compared to a young Dylan, and has people like Emylou Harris guesting on his albums. He’s probably best known for his protest song “When the President Talks To God”, which he performed on the Tonight Show a few months back. On this track, he takes the basic tune of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy”, and runs with it: Bright Eyes – “Road to Joy”

For fans of Lost, here’s the music that they featured on the season premiere– the favorite song of Mr. Lives-in-the-Hatch: Mama Cass – “Make Your Own Kind of Music.”

The thing that I like best about New Orleans? The barely-disguised pagan rituals! Nothing brings that across to me more than this song: The Dixie Cups – “Iko Iko” “Look at my King, all dressed in Red….”

Not much to say about this song, other than the fact that I love it. Interesting instrumentation, cheeky lyrics…what’s not to love? Space – “Female of the Species.”

Another great track from Morphine, who still amaze me at what they achieve with a drummer, a 2-string bass, and a saxaphone. The last time I posted a track from them it was “Buena”, this is from the same album and tells a delightful little story about infidelity: Morphine – “Thursday.”

When this song first came out, my son Ian was barely 2, and it was his favorite song. When it would come on when I was driving him around, he’d bounce up and down in his car seat and when it got to his favorite word, he’d yell out, with perfect timing: “BEATS!!!” The Chemical Brothers – “Block Rockin’ Beats.” To this day, one of the best bits of big-beat electronica reminds me of a two-year-old manically bouncing around in the backseat of a Toyota.

My favorite song from the musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Buffy Cast (Joss Whedon, composer) – “I’ve Got a Theory.” “Bunnies aren’t as cute as everybody supposes….

Since I know a lot of you weren’t able to get it last week because of the site’s server trouble, here’s another copy of the best track from the Akira soundtrack: Geinoh Yamashirogumi – “Kaneda.”

There you go. Let me know what you think!

12 Replies to “Friday Music”

  2. I have a friend who knows Conner Oberst. He hooked me up with some tracks and I just had to pick up his two early albums. He is so very good.

    Is that protest song available anywhere? I haven’t heard it.

  3. The group you’re thinkin’ of is Hayseed Dixe. It’s kinda funny when you realize that all of the songs that they’ve played on their abums fit in a bluegrass style as well… They also did another cd of cover songs in that country/bluegrass style, but didn’t limit themselves to just AC/DC songs.

  7. Well. Damn. I’d love to see the clip of this appearance. Did you catch the show? What was Jay Leno’s reaction? I highly doubt this was the song they lined him up to play.

  11. AAAAAAAHHHH! Gareth, I love you! I remembered today that I wanted to try and find a copy of “Iko Iko” to download when I got home from work and lo and behold – without even looking, here one is! :D

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