Author: Gareth

I’m prepping a big post on pulp fiction ePublishing for later this afternoon, but I figured that first I’d post a Friday Music entry.

For readers new to this blog: Friday Music is a semi-weekly series that I’ve been posting since February 2005, where I present mp3 links that I’ve found on the internet, pointing out songs that I especially like. Sometimes it’s new music, sometimes it’s old. I usually have comments about each track. Think of it as an Internet Mixtape — If you find something you like, go on out and buy it.

This week:

Started watching HBO’s new series Treme, and I’m hooked. Of course, it’s by the creators of The Wire, and I’d watch them produce a game show. The music of New Orleans takes front and center in the show (as you’d expect), but it’s not the same stereotypical stuff that you hear over and over again (they’ve had characters blast the tendency toward “Iko Iko” and “When the Saints Go Marching In”, in-character). For example, the first episode features the following track by New Orleans native Louis Prima, played over a montage of life in the city: Louis Prima – “Buona Sera.”

Saw Kick-Ass over the last weekend, and enjoyed it. I would’ve preferred that the movie concentrate on Hit Girl and Big Daddy, since it’s their goals which drive the plot — the main character just sort of wanders through it. The best musical sequences in the film take place during their watch as well.

For example, the following track played beneath one of Hit Girl’s beautifully-if-ridiculously-choreographed HK-style ballets of carnage: Joan Jett – “Bad Reputation.”

And in a nice bit of postmodern sampling, the following snippet of the score to 28 Days Later is used as accompaniment to Big Daddy relentlessly working his way through a warehouse full of Mobsters: John Murphy – “In The House, In A Heartbeat.” Good stuff.

Completely shifting gears: I love Rufus Wainwright more than any straight man should. He’s got a new album, All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu, which feature his increasingly “chamber pop” style of singer-songwriter performance. I’m loving the track that his label has sent out to a few blogs: Rufus Wainwright – “Who Are You New York?”

Sometimes, you just need a little bit of Danzig, as a palate-cleanser. This is from his brilliant “Jim Morrison Resurrected As A Satantic Blues Singer” debut album, before he slipped into bad imitation of Nine Inch Nails and wallowed in self-parody. Danzig – “Am I Demon.”

This track remains, in my opinion, the best thing Ben Folds has ever done. With a cheeky tweak of the nose of the alternative scene (I still laugh at the disco-themed “It’s Industrial – Work It!” lyric) and topped off by some ridiculously proficient piano jazz at it closes, it hooked me instantly back when I first heard it. Ben Folds Five – “Underground.”

Got tickets for Muse in November. Looking very much forward to it — but a few minutes after purchase, I heard this song and thought about how amazing a Muse cover would be. They could KILL this: Cream – “I Feel Free.”

Lastly, an oldie — hearing “Buona Sera” put me in the mind of mobster movies, and this one was used to good effect to set an era in Goodfellas: The Cadillacs – “Speedo.”

There ya go, kids. Enjoy.

Back this afternoon.