Category: Music

Not sure how it happened, but I’ve got a metric assload of music this week for your perusal. So, let’s get right to it:

First off, as promised to , some Friday Funk: George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars – “Flashlight.” I decided to go with something I hadn’t heard in a while, rather than the obvious choices (“Turn this Mutha Out…”, etc.). Hope that gets you bouncing today.

Keeping on a similar track for a moment, here’s a track from 1972, when the stars of Motown were dabbling in other musical styles. This soul track begins to show the early stages of what would become funk. The Temptations – “Papa Was A Rolling Stone.”

I just found out that in November, Sony/BMG will be re-releasing all 8 Eurythmics albums, re-mastered on CD with new bonus tracks, etc. While this is a good thing, I am a bit bummed that the re-release schedule does not include their work providing the soundtrack to the film version of George Orwell’s 1984. It wasn’t a hit for them, and barely got any play outside of dance clubs…but I was a big fan of the soundtrack, and the single: Eurythmics – “Sexcrime (1984).” (link disabled by request)

Another track by middle-eastern vocalist Natacha Atlas, this time doing a Casbah’d-up cover of the Jay Hawkins classic: Natacha Atlas – “I Put A Spell On You.”

I discovered this artist via another music blog, and was hooked the minute that I heard her voice. Jolie Holland records for Anti, the record label of Tom Waits, and possesses the same sort of timeless early-20th-century sound that makes me think of flophouses and desperate characters. Jolie Holland – “Old Fashion Morphine.”

A long way back, I posted my favorite track from Soul Coughing, “Screenwriter’s Blues.” This is my second favorite track by the band: Soul Coughing – “Super Bon Bon.” “Move up side, and let the man go through…”

One of my favorite bits of electronic composition, what initially drew me into this song was the interview sample that starts it: The Orb – “Little Fluffy Clouds.” Taken from an album with one of the best titles ever, The Orb’s Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld. (EDIT:The original link had disappeared for a bit, but I found another copy. If you missed it the first time around, give it another go.)

In 1999, a film was released that flopped at the box office. Robert Carlysle and Jonny Lee Miller starred as the famous highwaymen, Plunkett & Macleane. The film also featured Liv Tyler and Alan Cumming, and and I loved it. One of the things we loved about it was the soundtrack, which was done by Massive Attack’s Craig Armstrong and mixed traditional instrumentation, choral pieces, and electronica. Our favorite bit was during a formal ball, when this piece of music was used: Baroque strings, mixed with dance-club beats: Craig Armstrong – “The Ball.”

From the same soundtrack, here’s a very short (minute and change) selection (actually the middle movement of a multi-track piece), which combines all of the elements that I love about this soundtrack: Craig Armstrong – “Escape.” I love the mix of orchestra, chorus and electronic beats and synth in this.

Now that Duran Duran have reformed with the original line up, all is right with the world. However, the band’s output during the 90s should not be ignored, and unfortunately, aside from the breakout success of The Wedding Album, not too many people are aware of the great stuff done during this period. For example, from Meddazzaland, the band’s 1997 release: Duran Duran – “Electric Barbarella (single edit).”

Whew! There you go. 10 tracks. I’m spent. More next week.

Fall has finally arrived, and I’m in a great mood. So, without further ado:

Kicking things off with one of my favorite bass riffs ever: The English Beat – “Twist and Crawl”. Nothing like a little bit of second-wave ska to get people bouncing at their desks on a Friday.

Take what may be the best Bond theme ever, composed by John Barry, add David Arnold’s production and conducting skills and then give it to a couple of electronic musicians to screw around with it, and you end up with this brilliant bit of work: The Propellerheads – “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.” Give it a listen all the way through. Trust me — when the bass synth and drums finally kick in, well over a minute into the track, you’ll agree that this might be one of the best driving-really-fast-to-very-loud-music songs EVER.

My favorite track from Prince’s 1988 soundtrack to the film Batman. A lot of comic geeks were annoyed by the funked-up music, preferring instead Danny Elfman’s dark and brooding score. They missed out on some really excellent music…especially if all they heard was the awful single “Batdance” (which was needlessly schizophrenic, as it contained samples of every song on the album). This song, however, stood out (for me at least): Prince – “Electric Chair.” “If a man is considered guilty for what goes on in his mind, then give me the electric chair for all my future crimes.”

I saw the video for this song on VH1 Classic last night, and I literally had not heard it in almost 20 years. I had complete forgotten about it, and how much I liked it at the time (especially the brass-synth fanfare that forms the main hook). So, I had to track down a copy, and here ya go: Emerson, Lake and Powell – “Touch and Go.”

A nice bit of UK alternative from the heady days of the 1990s. I love the lyrics of this one. Lush – “Ladykillers.”

I’ve heard that Kate Bush is working on a new album. I’m looking forward to that — in the meantime, though, I’ll share with you the last song of hers that really grabbed me, from her early-nineties album The Sensual World: Kate Bush – “Love and Anger.”

Lastly, here’s another track from DJ Shadow’s groundbreaking debut album Endtroducing. The slow sax riff in this song makes it a perfect soundtrack to a crisp Fall day: DJ Shadow – “What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 1 – Blue Sky Revisit)”

Another week done.

Here we go again–

I noticed that the third single has been released from The Killer’s debut album, Hot Fuss, and I’m pleased to note that it’s my favorite song on the album: The Killers – “All These Things That I’ve Done.” “I’ve got soul, but I’m not a soldier….”

I’m surprised that I haven’t put more Radiohead up on my Friday Music posts. They’re one of my favorite bands…and my favorite album is, perhaps not surprisingly, the one that critics found to be their least accessable, Kid A, where they moved away from the guitar-heavy alternative sound and into more experimental electronic music. This is the lead-off track of that album: Radiohead – “Everything In Its Right Place.”

Something new: I discovered this band this week. They’re called The Fading Collection, a Seattle-based band that does synth-heavy electronic-rock kinda stuff that I like quite a bit. Check this out: The Fading Collection – “Windshield.”

Something old: Another track from the brilliant Curtis Mayfield, this time NOT off the soundtrack to Superfly. Great instrumentation, funky sound, and socially-conscious lyrics….so, pretty much par for the course: Curtis Mayfield – “Right On For The Darkness.”

Speaking of darkness…October is upon us, and that means that I get to immerse myself in the creepy! Lots of viewings of old Hammer movies, revelling in falling temperatures and the smell of dead leaves. Hell, yeah! Bring on my favorite month! Here’s a bit of monster-movie-cool from Rob Zombie – “Living Dead Girl.”

A few weeks ago, I posted something from the all-girl string quartet, Bond. Well, I’ve found another all-girl string quartet….this time from Slovenia. And, although they are perhaps not as glammed up as Bond, I think that I like their music more. They’ve got that eastern-European/Gypsy Violin sound, which they mix with a hipster groove. Nice. Rozmarinke – “Klise”

Lastly, I’ll play one of the artists that’s on my regular writing-background playlist: Seal. The man has a great voice, and every album is a showcase of tight production and wonderful composition. I have yet to be disappointed by any of his releases. This is a track from his 1994 self-titled album (one of several that he’s done…the man needs better album names, I’ll admit that): Seal – “Dreaming in Metaphors.”

Another week done.