Category: Music

Friday Music

Here we go again:

First up a track specifically for my friend Lydia. This one is part of my “internal soundtrack” for NYC. The Pogues – “Fairytale of New York.”

…and for Denise, inspired specifically by part of our conversation last evening, Adam & The Ants – “Beat My Guest.” I really did prefer the earlier, more punk (mixed with highwayman, pirates and indians) style of his work with the Ants, rather than the more pop stuff of his later solo work…..I liked stuff like “Strip” and “Goody Two Shoes”, but I liked this stuff better.

Now, we’ll take the Not-So-Wayback Machine into the swing revival of the 1990s, and one of my favorite groups from that movement, Cherry Poppin’ Daddies. I had thought about putting one of their less-known album tracks up, but as I was listening to the album again, I realized that I still really liked the single, so here it is: Cherry Poppin’ Daddies – “Zoot Suit Riot”.

There has been a request on my LJ comments(accompanied by a naughty icon and everything) for more music from the soundtrack to Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex, and so here’s another track featuring Origa, the singer from the “Inner Universe” song that I posted last. Another beautiful composition, too: Yoko Kanno (feat. Origa) – “Rise”

Visual Audio Sensory Theatre (or simply V.A.S.T.) is a gothy little project by John Crosby, one of David Crosby’s sons. This is my favorite track from the first album (I’m sure you’re recognize it, once the vocal sample from Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares kicks in about 45 seconds in). It starts with a nice little guitar-strummy verse, then the vocal sample hits, and by about a minute or so into the song, the heavy guitar and beat finally joins in, and I’m completely taken in. Nifty stuff. V.A.S.T. – “Touched.”

Another 90s track, this time from the Butthole Surfers. This was, I’m pretty sure, their biggest hit. Butthole Surfers – “Pepper.” I love the lyrics from the refrain: “I don’t mind the sun sometimes, the images it shows…I can taste you on my lips and smell you in my clothes.”

Lastly, I found another really amazing mash-up DJ. Most mash-ups are content to follow the “music from source A, vocals from source B” school of thought, but this guy is an overachiever, and it really shows. I’ll leave you with two of his tracks, with annotation. The first: Alex H – “Elephants On Parade (When Bolero Goes Down)” mixes Ravelle’s Bolero with “When the Shit Goes Down” by Cypress Hill, “Jump Around” by House of Pain, and, brilliantly, “Colonel Hathi’s March” from Disney’s The Jungle Book. Fucking AMAZING. The second: Alex H – “Imperial Bombaclaat” mixes John Williams’ “Imperial March” with Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love”, a synthloop from Bentley Rhythm Ace, “Bombaclaat” by Elephant Man, “Clap Your Hands” by James Brown, “You Can’t Change Me” by Roger Sanchez, and Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana. No shit. If you like Alex H’s stuff, check out his website, where you’ll find a bunch more.

…and another week down.

Got a bunch of stuff this week, so I’ll get right to it:

One of the annoying things about being into electronic music is that you get into a track, buy the CD, love it, and then 3 months later, it gets discovered by Madison Avenue and Hollywood, and suddenly the track you like is appearing every five minutes in advertising and films. I’m sure many of you will recognize this track: Paul Oakenfold – “Ready, Steady, GO!”, as it has suffered from this phenomenon…as is currently befalling it’s album-mate, “Starry-eyed Surprise”….but I liked ’em first, damn it, ever since I picked up the CD Bunkka in 2002.

Here’s a fun one. Fun Loving Criminals – “Scooby Snacks”. A song about bank robbers using samples from Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs? That pretty much pegs my cool-o-meter. The music is nifty, as well.

Jetting back to the 80s, we have one of my favorite songs from that era: Heaven 17 – “Let Me Go.”. Again, another one of those groups that was way more popular pretty much everywhere else. We were all too busy with our collective heads up Michael Jackson’s ass at the time, I guess. (Yeah, OK–we’ll just assume that everybody makes their own MJ joke here, right? Moving on…)

Sticking in that particular decade, a track that I finally found online after years of searching (literally). I found it last night, and I’m as giddy as hell about it. A bit of background: In 1986, my friend Matt Roskoski and I were at a record store in KC (I can’t remember which one, now), and put our cash together to buy an album, called Red Wave: 4 Underground Bands from the U.S.S.R. It was a double-album, featuring 4 bands that played illegal gigs. The record producer literally smuggled out cassette tapes that had been recorded in someone’s apartment. It was the coolest thing EVER. No, seriously. EVER. The front cover of the album had a poorly-done photo montage of scruffy-looking band members imposed over a shot of guards marching in Red Square, and the back cover only featured the word мля, which, our eager 17-year old minds discovered, meant both “world” and “peace.” With that album, we discovered proof that the young people of the Evil Empire were pretty much just like us, and liked the same kinda stuff. So, we bought it. Matt made me a casette copy (which was good, since I didn’t have a turntable), which I have long-since lost. Last night, though, I finally found an MP3 of my favorite song from the album. The first song on the first side, which I played over and over again. It’s a track from a band which went on to be fairly famous in Russia, Akvarium – “Ashes.”

Staying with the Russian thing for a bit, here’s another track for ‘s request of “nifty foreign-language stuff” — this time, Russian hip-hop, from the album Russki Rjep Vol. 8. Apparently, both the song and the group are called “Tochnyj Udar”.

Here’s some great chill-out electronica that I discovered recently: Baby Mammoth – “1”. Apparently, the album, Seven Up came out in 2003. I’ll have to track it down, because I really like this.

More electronica, this time from the soundtrack to the Val Kilmer Saint. Every time they do a remake of one of these old spy/caper shows (The Saint, Mission Impossible, etc.) it seems like it’s a given that they’re going to do a groovy electronic version of the classic theme. Here’s Orbital – “Theme From The Saint”, which is one of the better examples of this trend. Great driving music.

Speaking of spy music, I always thought that the main hook from this song sounded like it belonged in a Bond theme: The Sugarcubes – “Hit”, which was pretty much the last single from the band before Bjork went solo and became huge. (Well, as huge as a tiny little Icelandic woman gets, anyway) It’s got big instrumentation, and Bjork’s even-bigger voice belting away on it. Nice.

…and we’ll close with an opener. Specifically, a song that Robbie Williams often uses to open his shows: Robbie Williams – “Let Me Entertain You.” No, it’s not the classic song of the same name, and yes, it’s a bit heavy on the pop-rock bombast, but damned if it doesn’t get my toe tapping every time I hear it. My favorite line: “I’m the burning effigy of everything I used to be…you’re my rock of empathy, my dear.”

And with that, we’re done for another week. I hope to see some of you at the day-long-and-into-the-night party at The Manor tomorrow.

Big ol’ chunk of Friday Music

Got a bunch of stuff this week, so I’ll get right to it:

One of the annoying things about being into electronic music is that you get into a track, buy the CD, love it, and then 3 months later, it gets discovered by Madison Avenue and Hollywood, and suddenly the track you like is appearing every five minutes in advertising and films. I’m sure many of you will recognize this track: Paul Oakenfold – “Ready, Steady, GO!”, as it has suffered from this phenomenon…as is currently befalling it’s album-mate, “Starry-eyed Surprise”….but I liked ’em first, damn it, ever since I picked up the CD Bunkka in 2002.

Here’s a fun one. Fun Loving Criminals – “Scooby Snacks”. A song about bank robbers using samples from Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs? That pretty much pegs my cool-o-meter. The music is nifty, as well.

Jetting back to the 80s, we have one of my favorite songs from that era: Heaven 17 – “Let Me Go.”. Again, another one of those groups that was way more popular pretty much everywhere else. We were all too busy with our collective heads up Michael Jackson’s ass at the time, I guess. (Yeah, OK–we’ll just assume that everybody makes their own MJ joke here, right? Moving on…)

Sticking in that particular decade, a track that I finally found online after years of searching (literally). I found it last night, and I’m as giddy as hell about it. A bit of background: In 1986, my friend Matt Roskoski and I were at a record store in KC (I can’t remember which one, now), and put our cash together to buy an album, called Red Wave: 4 Underground Bands from the U.S.S.R. It was a double-album, featuring 4 bands that played illegal gigs. The record producer literally smuggled out cassette tapes that had been recorded in someone’s apartment. It was the coolest thing EVER. No, seriously. EVER. The front cover of the album had a poorly-done photo montage of scruffy-looking band members imposed over a shot of guards marching in Red Square, and the back cover only featured the word ???, which, our eager 17-year old minds discovered, meant both “world” and “peace.” With that album, we discovered proof that the young people of the Evil Empire were pretty much just like us, and liked the same kinda stuff. So, we bought it. Matt made me a casette copy (which was good, since I didn’t have a turntable), which I have long-since lost. Last night, though, I finally found an MP3 of my favorite song from the album. The first song on the first side, which I played over and over again. It’s a track from a band which went on to be fairly famous in Russia, Akvarium – “Ashes.”

Staying with the Russian thing for a bit, here’s another track for Laura’s request of “nifty foreign-language stuff” — this time, Russian hip-hop, from the album Russki Rjep Vol. 8. Apparently, both the song and the group are called “Tochnyj Udar”.

Here’s some great chill-out electronica that I discovered recently: Baby Mammoth – “1”. Apparently, the album, Seven Up came out in 2003. I’ll have to track it down, because I really like this.

More electronica, this time from the soundtrack to the Val Kilmer Saint. Every time they do a remake of one of these old spy/caper shows (The Saint, Mission Impossible, etc.) it seems like it’s a given that they’re going to do a groovy electronic version of the classic theme. Here’s Orbital – “Theme From The Saint”, which is one of the better examples of this trend. Great driving music.

Speaking of spy music, I always thought that the main hook from this song sounded like it belonged in a Bond theme: The Sugarcubes – “Hit”, which was pretty much the last single from the band before Bjork went solo and became huge. (Well, as huge as a tiny little Icelandic woman gets, anyway) It’s got big instrumentation, and Bjork’s even-bigger voice belting away on it. Nice.

…and we’ll close with an opener. Specifically, a song that Robbie Williams often uses to open his shows: Robbie Williams – “Let Me Entertain You.” No, it’s not the classic song of the same name, and yes, it’s a bit heavy on the pop-rock bombast, but damned if it doesn’t get my toe tapping every time I hear it. My favorite line: “I’m the burning effigy of everything I used to be…you’re my rock of empathy, my dear.”

And with that, we’re done for another week. I hope to see some of you at the day-long-and-into-the-night party at The Manor tomorrow.