Category: Music

I love rainy days….except when I think about performing out at KCRF tomorrow in the resulting mud and humidity. Ah well. Let’s listen to some cool music, OK?

First of all, this is my current favorite song. Omaha-based singer-songwriter Conner Oberst records under the name Bright Eyes, and has gotten some serious critical and industry acclaim. He’s very young, but is already being compared to a young Dylan, and has people like Emylou Harris guesting on his albums. He’s probably best known for his protest song “When the President Talks To God”, which he performed on the Tonight Show a few months back. On this track, he takes the basic tune of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy”, and runs with it: Bright Eyes – “Road to Joy”

For fans of Lost, here’s the music that they featured on the season premiere– the favorite song of Mr. Lives-in-the-Hatch: Mama Cass – “Make Your Own Kind of Music.”

The thing that I like best about New Orleans? The barely-disguised pagan rituals! Nothing brings that across to me more than this song: The Dixie Cups – “Iko Iko” “Look at my King, all dressed in Red….”

Not much to say about this song, other than the fact that I love it. Interesting instrumentation, cheeky lyrics…what’s not to love? Space – “Female of the Species.”

Another great track from Morphine, who still amaze me at what they achieve with a drummer, a 2-string bass, and a saxaphone. The last time I posted a track from them it was “Buena”, this is from the same album and tells a delightful little story about infidelity: Morphine – “Thursday.”

When this song first came out, my son Ian was barely 2, and it was his favorite song. When it would come on when I was driving him around, he’d bounce up and down in his car seat and when it got to his favorite word, he’d yell out, with perfect timing: “BEATS!!!” The Chemical Brothers – “Block Rockin’ Beats.” To this day, one of the best bits of big-beat electronica reminds me of a two-year-old manically bouncing around in the backseat of a Toyota.

My favorite song from the musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Buffy Cast (Joss Whedon, composer) – “I’ve Got a Theory.” “Bunnies aren’t as cute as everybody supposes….

Since I know a lot of you weren’t able to get it last week because of the site’s server trouble, here’s another copy of the best track from the Akira soundtrack: Geinoh Yamashirogumi – “Kaneda.”

There you go. Let me know what you think!

Friday Music

I love rainy days….except when I think about performing out at KCRF tomorrow in the resulting mud and humidity. Ah well. Let’s listen to some cool music, OK?

First of all, this is my current favorite song. Omaha-based singer-songwriter Conner Oberst records under the name Bright Eyes, and has gotten some serious critical and industry acclaim. He’s very young, but is already being compared to a young Dylan, and has people like Emylou Harris guesting on his albums. He’s probably best known for his protest song “When the President Talks To God”, which he performed on the Tonight Show a few months back. On this track, he takes the basic tune of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy”, and runs with it: Bright Eyes – “Road to Joy”

For fans of Lost, here’s the music that they featured on the season premiere– the favorite song of Mr. Lives-in-the-Hatch: Mama Cass – “Make Your Own Kind of Music.”

The thing that I like best about New Orleans? The barely-disguised pagan rituals! Nothing brings that across to me more than this song: The Dixie Cups – “Iko Iko” “Look at my King, all dressed in Red….”

Not much to say about this song, other than the fact that I love it. Interesting instrumentation, cheeky lyrics…what’s not to love? Space – “Female of the Species.”

Another great track from Morphine, who still amaze me at what they achieve with a drummer, a 2-string bass, and a saxaphone. The last time I posted a track from them it was “Buena”, this is from the same album and tells a delightful little story about infidelity: Morphine – “Thursday.”

When this song first came out, my son Ian was barely 2, and it was his favorite song. When it would come on when I was driving him around, he’d bounce up and down in his car seat and when it got to his favorite word, he’d yell out, with perfect timing: “BEATS!!!” The Chemical Brothers – “Block Rockin’ Beats.” To this day, one of the best bits of big-beat electronica reminds me of a two-year-old manically bouncing around in the backseat of a Toyota.

My favorite song from the musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Buffy Cast (Joss Whedon, composer) – “I’ve Got a Theory.” “Bunnies aren’t as cute as everybody supposes….

Since I know a lot of you weren’t able to get it last week because of the site’s server trouble, here’s another copy of the best track from the Akira soundtrack: Geinoh Yamashirogumi – “Kaneda.”

There you go. Let me know what you think!

Yeah, I know….earlier than usual. Had to get up to drive to work, since I need the car for errands today. (Reminder: If you’re in Lawrence, and want to grab some lunch, ping me (via comments) before noon-ish.)

Now, on to this week’s selections:

10 years ago, DJ Shadow released his groundbreaking debut album, Endroducing. Absolutely amazing. Shadow is a turntablist–he haunts used-record shops grabbing obscure bits of vinyl (the cover of the album was a simple photo of his fellow crate-divers searching for material). Then, using a sampler, he grabs a bassline from here, a drum loop from there, a horn stab from another source, and spoken-word from yet another, and painstakingly mixes it all into a new whole. Hearing this album for the first time was an epiphany. Here is my favorite track from the album: DJ Shadow – “Building Steam With A Grain of Salt”

I had to share this– Finntroll is a folk-metal band (yes, that’s right) from Finland, whose songs are exclusively about….well, Trolls. Yup– The Norse Troll legends of their homeland. Pretty much what you’d expect from a band that looks like this, right? This stuff is just too geeky-cool for words. Take this track for example, which starts with Finnish folk music (which sounds vaguely Celtic)…but then rrrRRRAUGH! OUT COMES THE METAL!!! Finntroll – “Trollhammaren.” Troll power, baby.

Alias fans might recognize this track from the first season. It’s a nice bit of spy-beat trip-hop, all cool electronic stabs and twangy 007 guitar: Supreme Beings of Leisure – “Under The Gun.” Makes me want to hop into an Aston Martin, sip a vodka martini and go fight some ninjas. Russian COMMIE ninjas.

Robbie Williams did an album full of jazzy standards called Swing When You’re Winning, which I’ve talked about before (when I posted the duet he did with Nicole Kidman). This is another great track from that album, a hilarious duet with Saturday Night Live alumnus Jon Lovitz (“Yeah….That’s the Ticket….”): Robbie Williams (with Jon Lovitz) – “Well Did You Evah!” What a swell party this is….

Dead Can Dance are an odd group who defy categories…I’ve seen them classified as goth, as electronic, as world, and even as rock. This is my favorite track by the group, from the album The Serpent’s Egg: Dead Can Dance – “Ullyses.”

My favorite anime film of all time, Akira, has a brilliant soundtrack, by the Japanese musical collective, Geinoh Yamashirogumi, which combines electronics, traditional gamelan music (wooden xylophones, gongs, etc) and choral arrangements, sounding simultaneously ancient and futuristic. This is the opening track from the film, which played against the images of the neon-shrouded streets of Neo-Tokyo and the chase of the bike gangs. Geinoh Yamashirogumi – “Kaneda.”

There you have it. Only 6 tracks this week (I’ve been busy…sorry). More next week.