Friday Music

Here we go, cats & kittens…. the last Friday Music of November:

First up, another great track from Kate Nash. The more I hear, the more hooked I get. This is her single that’s coming out on December 17th (making it a fairly strong contender for the Christmas No. 1 in the UK, by all accounts, despite the lack of a Christmas theme). Kate Nash – “Pumpkin Soup.”

More of the brilliant work from Mark Ronson’s album Version. He’s joined on this track by brass ensemble The Daptone Horns (the guys providing the brass on Amy Winehouse’s album), doing an *amazing* retro-instrumental cover of a Coldplay track: Mark Ronson (Ft. The Daptone Horns) – “God Put A Smile Upon Your Face.”

The Daptone Horns are from Brooklyn’s Daptone Records. The core of the brass are known as the Dap-Kings, and do brilliant retro-soul on the label, with front woman Sharon Jones — Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings – “100 Days, 100 Nights.”

Kyllie Minogue is going to be guest-starring on the Doctor Who Christmas episode, Voyage of the Damned. Some Who-fan DJs, under the name “Fast Ood Rockers” have done this mash-up of her “2 Hearts”, Goldfrapp’s “Strict Machine” and The Timelords’ “Doctorin’ The TARDIS”– you will LOVE this: Fast Ood Rockers – “Song 4 Kylie — I’m In Love (with a Girl in a Time Machine).”

While we’re on the subject of mashups, I stumbled across this bit of brilliance, which mixes a TON of stuff around the frame of Foreigner’s “Juke Box Hero” and Bob Segar’s “Turn The Page,” including bits of Kid Rock, Rush, The Doors, NIN and Tomoyasu Hotei, among others… all it lacks is a clever name (the DJ really let us down on that). DJ John – “Juke Box Hero Project.”

Proof that Celtic music doesn’t have to be limited to céilí or Pub seisun….a quick reminder that there were Celts in coastal France as well. This track is one of my favorites, a sure cure for the umpteenth hearing of “Whiskey in the Jar” — it’s a folk-rock track from the 1970s, sung entirely in the Breton language: Alan Stivell – “Tri Martolod (Three Sailors)”

Blondie was approached by the producers of the James Bond films to do the theme for For Your Eyes Only, and so they did, showing up at the studio with a song ready to go. “No, no…” said the producers, “We just wanted Debbie to sing the song we’ve got here.” Pointing out that if they wanted Debbie, they should have asked for Debbie and not Blondie, Debbie and the rest of Blondie walked, taking the song with them. The producers got Sheena Easton to sing their song (which was a hit), but I often wonder what could have been, with the original theme…. Blondie – “For Your Eyes Only.”

Lastly, a nice bit of second-wave, two-tone Ska, from my favorite band of the era: The (English) Beat – “Click Click.”

Enjoy.

I’m Ready For My Close-up…..

As I mentioned a while back, I was interviewed by the AP for a forthcoming article on ePublishing.

Well, today (right now, in fact), the AP photographer is here to shoot the pics to go with the article. He’s currently setting up some giant sod-off lighting rig in my office.

Jeez.

This is very surreal.