Category: Music

Here we go again, some of the stuff that’s been kicking around my headspace recently.

Been listening to a bunch of my 2 Tone ska stuff again — curse of being in one’s forties, I suppose. You dig out the music of your misspent youth. My favorite group was always The Beat (although, I’ll admit that I still think of them as The English Beat, as they were known here in the US). I loved other bands from the movement — The Specials, The Bodysnatchers, Madness — but none (for me) had the unimpeachable cool of The Beat. The Beat – “Mirror In The Bathroom.”

We’ll stick with the sad-old-bastard nostalgia for a moment. I heard this track again recently, and I was surprised at how little airplay it gets now. Olivia Newton-John was pretty much on constant pop radio rotation in the late-70s (along with the Bee-Gees), but (like the Bee-Gees), only a couple of songs appear to have made the “officially approved nostalgia playlist”, despite the popularity of her other stuff. This song is a great example — heard it *constantly* in 1979, and have barely heard it since. I unabashedly love this tune. Oliva Newton-John – “A Little More Love.”

A big part of my listening of late has been FAR WEST-related. I have a playlist of (good lord) nearly 700 tracks which I listen to as I work on the project, and that list is constantly growing as I discover new tracks, either on my own or suggested by fans. Here’s a couple of recent additions:

A track by a pair of Australian singers that appeared in the soundtrack to an episode of AMC’s western series HELL ON WHEELS, which immediately grabbed me: Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson – “Rattlin’ Bones.”

A very spaghetti-western-ish intro leads into a piece by the UK band The Heavy (best known over here for “How Ya Like Me Now?”), which I like quite a bit: The Heavy – “Short Change Hero.”

Here’s a piece that I’m slightly ashamed to say wormed its way into my brain via a commercial for Internet Explorer 9. A pop track with just the right amount of dubsteppy goodness added to it, from a London-based singer-songwriter. Alex Clare – “Too Close.”

And lastly, Slash has a new album coming out at the end of May, in collaboration with vocalist Myles Kennedy and his backing band The Conspirators, called “Apocalyptic Love.” The first single is getting pretty heavy rock radio play, and damned if it isn’t a nearly-perfect slice of “Use Your Illusion”-period Guns n’ Roses. I’m sorry… Axl who? Slash, feat. Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators: “You’re a Lie.”

There ya go, kids. See you next time.

It’s been ages since I’ve done one of these, and I’d like to get back in the habit.

For those of you who are new to the blog, Friday Music is a weekly series that I started in February 2005, which ran semi-regularly for a VERY long time. It is a weekly “Mixtape of The Internets”, where I post links to various songs that I’ve stumbled across in my meandering through various music blogs and such. I’m proud to say that it has resulted in a lot of people being introduced to a lot of good stuff, if the comments that I still get from time to time are any indication. Over the course of 2010/2011, I posted it less and less frequently, mostly because I wasn’t doing nearly as much crawling around music blogs. The last few were barely on a monthly schedule, and the last one was back in November.

So I’m giving it another go. This week’s entry:

The picture up there at the left is the Nashville-based Americana/Folk/Country duo, The Civil Wars, who are getting quite a buzz of late, winning Grammys and getting rave reviews from folks like Adele, who has called them the best live act in the world. This piece, the title track from their 2011 album, is a great piece of edgy folk harmony that currently sits in my FAR WEST playlist. The Civil Wars – “Barton Hollow.”

I was depressed to learn that Jun Seba, groundbreaking Japanese hip hop producer and DJ, who recorded under the name Nujabes, died in a car accident at the end of February. He was only 36. He’s probably best known in the US for his soundtrack work for the anime series Samurai Champloo (which was how I first heard him). Here’s a great track (with his Champloo collaborator, Shing02) which stands as a testament to his ability: Nujabes – “Luv (Sic) Part 3 (feat. Shing02)”

A friend of mine posted the video to this song on Facebook last month, and it was a total revelation for me. I literally had not thought of this song since the year of its release (back in 1987). I had absolutely loved this song, and then had completely forgotten about it. Hearing it again was like a door opening in my mind. Basia – “Time & Tide.”

Sticking with the nostalgia vibe for a moment longer, here’s a track from the musty back bins of the mid-90s. A nice little swing-jazz-hip-hop pop confection. The performer went on to become a hit songwriter for acts ranging from Britney Spears to Cee-Lo Green to The Pussycat Dolls. Lucas – “Lucas With The Lid Off.”

One of my favorite tracks from the soundtrack to my favorite console game, FIFA12. I’m a sucker for good dance music and synthpop, so this remix is, as the marketing douches say, “right in my wheelhouse.” Monarchy – “The Phoenix Alive (Kris Menace Remix).”

…and we’ll close out on another remix: One of my favorites, in fact. NSFW for lyrics. Notorious B.I.G. – “Party and Bullshit (Ratatat Remix).”

There ya go. Enjoy. If you have problems with any of the links, try copy-and-pasting. If you like what you hear, go buy the albums.

See you next week with more.

As I head into the long slog of the holiday season, where my schedule is filled to the brim with family plans and deadlines alike, I find myself returning to my blog — oddly, I tend not to blog a lot when my schedule is open, but something about the mindset I’m in when my schedule is full prompts additional work.

So, Friday Music: A glimpse at what’s been rattling around in my head as I work on other things.

First up — Florence + The Machine have a new album, Ceremonials, which has been on constantly play for me since its release (slightly before its release, in fact). I’ve fallen for this album hard — and the truly amazing thing about it is that it didn’t find its way into a single playlist for a particular project of mine (as is usually the case — some albums are more suited to FAR WEST, others to Vesper Nova, etc.). As I listen to Ceremonials, however, in the mindset of one project or another, I find it shifting, adapting itself to what I’m thinking about. I see connections. Very cool. My favorite track on the album: Florence + The Machine – “Seven Devils.”

I caught the recent film Red Riding Hood via Netflix — which was OK. Not great, but not awful. The music, though, was pretty cool. A number of tracks on the soundtrack were done by Fever Ray, which is the side project of Karin Dreijer Andersson of the Swedish electronic duo The Knife (who I’ve been a fan of for years — long-time Friday Music readers will remember my discovery of them via “Silent Shout”). Here is one of those tracks: Fever Ray – “The Wolf.”

Here’s a track specifically for my friend Tessa Gratton whose new alt-history YA series, Songs of New Asgard was announced by Random House this week. Týr is a folk-metal group from the Faroe Islands — and their album Eric The Red is full of Viking-y goodness, including several tracks based on traditional Faroese folk songs, and sung in that language (an insular form of Old West Norse that still survives, spoken by about 50K people). If you want to hear what popular music probably sounds like in New Asgard, this is probably close! This is a track about a Smith named Regin: Týr – “Regin Smiður.”

Shifting gears, here’s a track from the latest M83 album, which is currently being used as the backing track to the Holiday 2011 Victoria’s Secret commercials. Retro-synthpop alternative sounds, plus lingerie models with angel wings? Yes, please. M83 – “Midnight City.”

Stumbled across this on the radio of all places — hadn’t heard it in years. This was their first single in 1985 — and a Ska-funk-soul-punk mix of politics, social-consciousness and diversity was right up my alley, having just discovered second-wave Ska from the UK a couple of years previous. Fishbone – “Party at Ground Zero.”

This is getting a lot of airplay now (and I tend not to focus attention on stuff you can hear everywhere), but I really like it, so here it is. This is, as my teenage daughter says, “the most cheerfully catchy song about a school shooting EVER.” Foster The People – “Pumped Up Kicks.”

There ya go, kids. Enjoy.