Category: Music

Long-time readers (from back when I actually regularly blogged) will remember my Friday Music series, where every Friday I’d give you a set of links to mp3 files of music that I thought was nifty. Sort of a “mixtape of the internet” — it ran for years, and people seemed to dig it. For a while there, when Christmas rolled around, I’d do a special collection where I’d assemble a full album of cool/obscure/weird Christmas music, complete with a custom cover, and offer it as a zipped file for download.

Well, it’s been too long, so I decided to do it again. Without further ado, here is the 2015 “Friday Music” Christmas collection: Ultra Christmas! (Click on the graphic to download the zipped file.)
 
 

 
 
Liner notes:

Track 1: Funky Little Drummer Boy, by Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings: A nice re-working of a holiday classic by my favorite Soul revival act.

Track 2: I Know What You Want For Christmas, by Kay Martin & Her Bodyguards: An early-60s titillation novelty album by singer, Playboy model and Reno, NV lodge-owner Kay Martin.

Track 3: Christmas (Baby Please Come Home), by Darlene Love: The best version of this song, ever. Nobody comes close.

Track 4: The Coventry Carol, by Alison Moyet: I’ve always loved Alison Moyet’s voice, and here she is on a very 1987 version of a 16th century carol.

Track 5: Bad Boy Christmas (feat. Richie Loop), by Bad Royale: How about some Jamaican dancehall Christmas? You’re welcome.

Track 6: Wonderful Christmastime, by The Shins: One of those instances where a cover of a song is better than the original. McCartney’s version irritates me; this one doesn’t.

Track 7: I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day, by The Civil Wars: A very cool version by an Alternative Country duo I first discovered through FAR WEST (they were suggested to me by a backer).

Track 8: Green Grows the Holly, by Calexico: Another act that is on my FAR WEST playlist, doing a lovely rendition of a far-too-little-heard song.

Track 9: May Ev’ry Day Be Christmas, by Irma Thomas with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band: I’m always in awe of New Orleans’ Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and this track is no exception.

Track 10: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, by The Punch Brothers: One of my favorite “dark of the year”/haunting Christmas hymns.

Track 11: Cant Wait For Christmas (feat. Idris Elba), by Loose Tapestries: Loose Tapestries are a side project of Kasabian’s Sergio Pizzorno and surrealist comedian Noel Fielding. Here’s their take on a Christmas single, featuring some late-in-the-song rapping from Big Driis.

Track 12: La Fille du Père Noël, by Les Deuxluxes: The Jacques Dutronc original is where Bowie lifted the guitar riff from for “Jean Genie” — this is a more recent cover by an indie group from Montreal.

Track 13: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, by Annie Lennox: What better way to close than with Ms. Lennox singing the only Christmas song to feature Satan?

 
 
Anyway, there ya go. I hope you enjoy. Merry Christmas, everybody!
 
 

Here we go again — another Friday, another installment of Friday Music.

Starting off this week, as the picture would indicate, a little something to mark the 20th anniversary of the death of Kurt Cobain. Rather than post a Nirvana track, which all of you are already familiar with, I’m instead posting this remix, created by Reid Speed in tribute to Cobain. It takes the lesser Nirvana track “You Know You’re Right” and performs serious wonders with it, keeping its driving energy but transforming it from hard rock to electro-house. Nirvana – “You Know You’re Right (Origin Reid Speed Remix).”

A gear shift into a wonderful discovery I made earlier this week — Bobby Womack, one of my favorite Soul singers of the 70s, responsible for classic tracks like “Across 110th Street”, is still recording. This is a track from his most recent album (from 2012) — a track where he duets with Lana Del Rey: Bobby Womack – “Dayglo Reflection (feat. Lana Del Rey.)”

One of my favorite soundtrack pieces — the title theme to “Young Sherlock Holmes”, composed by Bruce Broughton. 1985 was a good year for Mr. Broughton. Not only did he do the music for this great film, but also the equally-excellent score from the Western classic “Silverado.” This piece of music is, to me, the ultimate musical expression of Sherlock Holmes (the theme from the Jeremy Brett episodes of the 1980s-90s comes in a very close second). Bruce Broughton – “Young Sherlock Holmes – Main Titles.”

Some new hip-hop for your Friday. Two of the most gifted lyrical MC’s in the business, Pharaohe Monch and Black Thought, collaborate on this track from Monch’s forthcoming album, PTSD: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. And it’s the rap that gets me with this track — brilliantly crafted, with nested rhymes and call-backs, plus pop-culture and literary references and some phenomenal imagery (“I’m trying to see Man United without supporting a soccer team” and “possessive like apostrophes” are two examples). Give a listen. Pharoahe Monch – “Rapid Eye Movement (feat. Black Thought).”

The soccer reference puts me in mind of this track, which (again) I discovered via the soundtrack to EA Sports FIFA 2012. Graffiti 6 is collaboration between two songwriters, one a producer and one a vocalist, from London. I love the chill 70s R&B vibe of this track. Graffiti 6 – “Stare Into The Sun.”

We’ll close out with a rarity, inspired by recent writing I’ve been doing for Cubicle 7’s Doctor Who RPG. For folks who’ve seen the 1996 TV Movie that gave us the Eighth Doctor, you’ll recognize this as the jazz record that the Seventh Doctor is listening to in the TARDIS. When the song starts skipping on the word “time” in the bridge, the Doctor knows that something is wrong… Well, this track wasn’t made specifically for the film, it was a piece of bulk-royalty library music for use in films. It took me ages to track it down. Pat Hodge – “In A Dream.”

So there you go, kids. Enjoy, and I’ll see you back here next week.