Friday Music

OK, back to the no-theme grab-bag collection method:

First off — something special, that I guarantee you’ve never heard. Kate Bush has a new album, Aerial, coming out November 7th (her first in years). A single has been released (“King of the Mountain”), but this week, other tracks were leaked to the internet (I suspect by her label, to drum up publicity in blog entries like these). This is the title track from the new album, which I like quite a bit: Kate Bush – “Aerial.”

Last week’s posting of “Ghost Town” reminded me of how much I love The Specials, so I decided to post my favorite tune from them. I’m sure most of you know it already, but who cares– it’s good. The Specials – “A Message To You Rudy.”

A little bit of Spanish for : Some of you will recognize this track from its use in various TV shows like Alias and the theme of the cancelled NBC drama Kingpin. This is a great tune to dance to: Kinky – “Mas y mas.” “Vamos queriendo mas y mas…” (“We want more and more.”)

In NYC, there’s a local group called Luminescent Orchestrii who play what they call “Romanian Gypsy-Punk.” This is a great track by them (there are a few others available from the website for free as well, so check it out): Luminescent Orchestrii – “Warsaw.”

I know a lot of you don’t care for hip-hop. It is my goal to try to show you the best of it…the intellectual, the moving, the stuff that moves beyond the gangsta bling and the posturing. For example: Digable Planets. They were playing here in Lawrence this week, and unfortunately, I found out far too late. The Planets are known for their immersion in Jazz — their first single, “Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)” was a reference to Miles Davis’ album, Rebirth of the Cool, and when they tour, they use a live jazz band for their backing, rather than samples. This track is less well-known than the single, but I love it, as it is the perfect distillation of a relaxed Sunday morning in NYC: Digable Planets – “Pacifics.”

A while back I posted a track from Ladytron called “Destroy Everything You Touch.” In the meantime, I’ve picked up the album that it came from, called Witching Hour, and it’s really good. This is the opening track from the album: Ladytron – “High Rise.”

This is an interesting song from a new band that I found while stumbling around the various music blogs out there in the intarwebnets. I really like the piano progression and strings in this. World Leader Pretend – “Bang Theory.”

Lastly, here’s a song that I’ll admit I listened to simply because of the name of the artist – Crazy Penis. What I found, though, is a tight dance track which really, really grew on me. The lyrics tell the story of a girl being slipped a mickey by a much older guy at a club, and the music manages to simulateously bring across the sleazy feel, reference the Bee-Gees and Michael Jackson, and still ends up being a seriously danceable piece of work. Give it a listen: Crazy Penis – “Lady T.”

There you go, kids. Another week down. Enjoy.