Friday Music

A little bit later in the day than I had hoped, but fear not — here’s a fresh installment of Friday Music.

Some old school first — and I mean really old school. This is the first hit single by a cartoon character, laying the groundwork for the Archies and the Gorillaz to come. Betty Boop (AKA Helen Kane) – “I Wanna Be Loved By You.” Boop boop be doop.

Sticking with the cartoon theme momentarily — I’m one of the few people who really liked the final failure from Fox Animation Studios, Titan AE — but then, I’m a sucker for space opera. One of my favorite sequences is the beauty shots of the starship soaring through the nebula, paced by the “wake angels”, following along like dolphins after a ocean-going vessel. The whole scene was set to this piece of music, and as cheesy as it is, I really like it: The Urge – “It’s My Turn To Fly.”

When I was living back east, I was out with the Jaffe brothers one day, and was handed a CD on the street by a record marketing guy. The CD was by a new artist named Stella Soleil, and her album, Dirty Little Secret produced one single, which sunk quickly — so I guess the handing-the-CD-out-to-random-people-on-NYC-streets marketing plan didn’t pan out. That said, I really, REALLY liked the album, and still own it. This is the single which failed to ignite, which is also pretty damned cool, mixing alternative dance and middle-eastern instrumentation with some great lyrics. Stella Soleil – “Kiss Kiss.”

Speaking of middle eastern, it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything from Natacha Atlas, so I need to remedy that forthwith. This is a track from one of her early albums, Diaspora. Like pretty much everything she does, it’s very cool: Natacha Atlas – “Iskanderia.” She’s got a new album, Mish Ma’oul, which I’ve picked up but haven’t listened to yet. I wanted to share the gorgeous shot of her from the cover, though. Holy gods, this is HAWT.

I did get a chance to listen to Eye To The Telescope, which is the debut album of KT Tunstall (I posted her “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree” song, remember?). There aren’t any songs on it that are as strongly Alt-Country as “Black Horse”, but the rest of the album is a mix of quiet singer-songwriter stuff and alternative-pop uptempo numbers ….very “Lilith Fair,” all things considered. I like it. Here’s another track from the album – KT Tunstall – “Another Place To Fall.”

One of my favorite one-hit-wonder songs from the 80s, and not even really a hit, come to think of it. I just like the instrumentation on this, and the psuedo-noir lyrics about L.A.’s seemy underbelly: David + David – “Welcome to the Boomtown.”

Under Electric Light is a band from Canada that I discovered this past week. They’ve got a few EPs out, and are currently working on their debut album. I really like their sound — so much that I’m going to give you two different tracks from them. I hope you like them. Note: As I’m putting these up, I’m having trouble connecting to their website — trouble that I didn’t have 10 minutes ago, when I first checked to make sure the links still worked. So, I’m putting these up anyway, in the hopes that the website problem clears up. If you can’t get through, try again later. The two tracks: Under Electric Light – “Night Out.” and Under Electric Light – “The City.”

Lastly: Today is the 30th anniversary of the Soweto uprising in South Africa. So, I’ve decided to post something by my favorite South African band — Johnny Clegg and Savuka – “Tough Enough.”

There you go, kids. Enjoy.