Category: Music

Here we go again: Another weekly installment of my internet mixtape.

Vibralux – “Single”: The appropriately-named single from Lawrence’s very own Vibralux, a band that does tone-perfect early-70s “androgynous aliens” drag-glam. If you like early Bowie, Brian Eno, T-Rex, or the soundtrack from the movie Velvet Goldmine, this is for you.

Here’s one for , who asked for cover tunes today: Swing Out Sister – “Am I the Same Girl”. Originally a 1960s soul song by Barbara Acklin–Most people are more familiar with the instrumental version, called “Soulful Strut” by Young Holt Unlimited, which is a regularly-played darling of oldies radio stations, and has been used in advertising, movies, etc. You’ll recognize it once the horn hook starts. This excellent cover is by Swing Out Sister, who were a New Romantic/Blue-eyed Soul group in the late 80s/early 90s, best known for their single “Breakout.”

I’m a huge fan of downtempo electronica (Zero 7, Thievery Corporation, Spylab, etc.). Mawglee – “Dreaming” is a nice bit of it, which I think is worth sharing. This is the kind of stuff that I prefer to listen to while writing.

Royalvisionairies – “Back to Yazoo (Digital Explosion Mix)”: a tribute to the synthpop of the 80s, referencing New Order, Pet Shop Boys, and, of course, Yazoo (known simply as Yaz in the US).

That song got me in the mood for some *real* 80s stuff, but not the same old “YOU’RE LISTENING TO KRAP’S 80S WEEKEND” bullshit, which plays the same stuff, off the same compilation CDs, over and over. So, first up, we have Blancmange – “Lose Your Love”. I loved this band when I was in High School, primarily because they were named after a type of pudding that had been used on “Monty Python.” (Evil alien invaders were turning people into blancmanges.) The fact that the music was good was a bonus.

Some of you probably know this one, for the famous lyrical hook: “I might like you better if we slept together.” Romeo Void – “Never Say Never” An early-80s New Wave band that MTV was probably responsible for killing….the videos clearly showed that lead singer Debora Iyall was not a stereotypical video waif sexpot, but a well-proportioned Native American woman. Can’t have that on our televisions, after all.

This last one isn’t obscure at all. I just like it. Ben Folds Five – “Underground”: The first single from the now-defunct Ben Folds Five, which immediately grabbed me for two reasons. One: the lyrics are hilarious, especially when contrasted with the music. Teenage alienation set to bouncy piano-driven pop. Two: There’s a piano solo where Ben Folds shows off some serious jazz chops. I’m always a sucker for virtuosity.

There you go, kids. More next week.

Friday Music

Here we go again: Another weekly installment of my internet mixtape.

Vibralux – “Single”: The appropriately-named single from Lawrence’s very own Vibralux, a band that does tone-perfect early-70s “androgynous aliens” drag-glam. If you like early Bowie, Brian Eno, T-Rex, or the soundtrack from the movie Velvet Goldmine, this is for you.

Swing Out Sister – “Am I the Same Girl”. Originally a 1960s soul song by Barbara Acklin–Most people are more familiar with the instrumental version, called “Soulful Strut” by Young Holt Unlimited, which is a regularly-played darling of oldies radio stations, and has been used in advertising, movies, etc. You’ll recognize it once the horn hook starts. This excellent cover is by Swing Out Sister, who were a New Romantic/Blue-eyed Soul group in the late 80s/early 90s, best known for their single “Breakout.”

I’m a huge fan of downtempo electronica (Zero 7, Thievery Corporation, Spylab, etc.). Mawglee – “Dreaming” is a nice bit of it, which I think is worth sharing. This is the kind of stuff that I prefer to listen to while writing.

Royalvisionairies – “Back to Yazoo (Digital Explosion Mix)”: a tribute to the synthpop of the 80s, referencing New Order, Pet Shop Boys, and, of course, Yazoo (known simply as Yaz in the US).

That song got me in the mood for some *real* 80s stuff, but not the same old “YOU’RE LISTENING TO KRAP’S 80S WEEKEND” bullshit, which plays the same stuff, off the same compilation CDs, over and over. So, first up, we have Blancmange – “Lose Your Love”. I loved this band when I was in High School, primarily because they were named after a type of pudding that had been used on “Monty Python.” (Evil alien invaders were turning people into blancmanges.) The fact that the music was good was a bonus.

Some of you probably know this one, for the famous lyrical hook: “I might like you better if we slept together.” Romeo Void – “Never Say Never” An early-80s New Wave band that MTV was probably responsible for killing….the videos clearly showed that lead singer Debora Iyall was not a stereotypical video waif sexpot, but a well-proportioned Native American woman. Can’t have that on our televisions, after all.

This last one isn’t obscure at all. I just like it. Ben Folds Five – “Underground”: The first single from the now-defunct Ben Folds Five, which immediately grabbed me for two reasons. One: the lyrics are hilarious, especially when contrasted with the music. Teenage alienation set to bouncy piano-driven pop. Two: There’s a piano solo where Ben Folds shows off some serious jazz chops. I’m always a sucker for virtuosity.

There you go, kids. More next week.

Here we go again, kids–the second installment of my “internet mix tape”–a handful of mp3 links of nifty stuff that I like, and hope that you like too.

We’ll get the obligatory “I made this!” self-promotion out of the way first: Al-Azif is a recent bit of my work as “@nubis”–this time around, built around Lovecraft-inspired samples. Teach them Shoggoths to dance, baby.

UPDATE: Rassa-frassa yahoo. The link appears to be all discombobulated. So, instead of direct linking it, I’ll just direct you to my yahoo briefcase. Just click on the “Music” folder, and the file’s in there, where you can download it.

Ugress is a Norway-based, trip-hop-ish electronica outfit. They’ve got a number of free downloads on their site, but my favorite is Cowboy Desperado, which is a nice bit of cinematic bombast, including some nifty rhythmical use of Merlin’s “dragon” speech from Excalibur later in the track. (As a brief note: I just noticed that their site is crawling today. Since I had no problems with it yesterday, I’m assuming this is a temporary problem. If you can’t grab the song, check back again later. It’s worth it.)

The Dresden Dolls – “Bad Habit”: If you haven’t gotten this album yet, go get it now. Seriously. Self-described “Brechtian Cabaret Punk”, and not too far off the mark. “Coin-operated Boy” was a radio darling, but the rest of the album is deeper and more satisfying. Any band comprised of a woman playing piano and a guy playing drums, done up in white-face and 1930’s Wiemar Republic cabaret costumes is just too nifty to ignore.

Spillsbury Raus – “Schlagziele”: German electro-pop from the band Spillsbury Raus. Babel @ altavista translates the title as “Impact Goals”….which makes no sense to me, but whaddaya want: it’s in German. Imagine Nena (“99 Luftballons”) meets Interpol.

As the lads from Python once said, Now for something completely different. 19th-century opera different. Leo Delibes – “Duo De Flores” You all know this song, but you don’t know you know it. It’s been used in movies, and for most of British Airways advertising campaigns since the 90s. The “Duo for Flowers” is from the 1883 opera Lakmé. It never fails to affect me every time I listen to it.

…and, last but not least, Cibo Matto – “Sci-fi Wasabi”. Because if you heard Japanese women performing an electronica/hip-hop track with references to Obi-wan Kenobi, wouldn’t you want to share it?

That’s it for this week. Back again in 7.