Category: Music

I’m not doing a Friday music this week (GenCon), but I wanted to mark the passing of Mr. Hayes.

I’m sure that most folks will talk about “the Theme from Shaft” or his work as Chef on South Park, but I wanted to post what I consider his most brilliant bit of work. After hearing this for the first time, it became the definitive version of the song for me, eclipsing Dionne Warwicks more-famous (and far less dark) version:

Isaac Hayes – “Walk On By.”

Yeah, I’m keeping it going.

Posts may be intermittent through the end of August, however, as GenCon and taking The Minion to college will interfere with getting you musical goodies.

Now then: This week.

Speaking of college, this first track is from the new Target ad featuring two girls tricking out their dorm room. At first I thought it was M.I.A., but a little bit of digging discovered that it was, in fact, Danish house producer Rune –recording for some unknown reason as “Enur”, and featuring Dutch reggae singer Nastaja Saad. Currently one of my favorite tracks: Enur (feat. Nastaja) – “Calabria.”

As promised, here’s a track from the Damon Albarn/Jamie Hewlett project Monkey: Journey to the West. I picked it up from iTunes yesterday, and I love it. Monkey – “Heavenly Peach Banquet.”

Found this recently while looking at a list of bands that will be playing at Dragon*Con this year. Ego Likeness are a duo doing darkwave/trip-hop (got my attention). They’re both published novelists (also cool), one is an artist whose work has appeared in Weird Tales (again cool), they’ve got a livejournal (), and they offer free downloads of a bunch of their music at their website (very cool). Here is the current single: Ego Likeness – “The Lowest Place on Earth.”

For those of you who’ve read Stephen King’s Dark Tower series, here you go: nothing better than a power-metal band comprised of fanboys! Demons & Wizards – “The Gunslinger.” The lyrics are full of Tower references, and then it RAWKS! METAL!!!

Found myself listening to this the other day, and was reminded that I liked it much more than “Rock Me Amadeus” — Falco – “Vienna Calling.”

Sometimes, you just need to hear something from the Velvet Goldmine soundtrack. This is one of those times: Shudder to Think – “Hot One.”

Enjoy!

Haven’t done this in a while (vacation), and there wasn’t much of an outcry…. tell you what: if you enjoy this series, and would like to see it continue (especially if you never post a comment), drop a note below saying so (settings have been changed to allow non-member comments — although they’ll be screened).

This week:

This particular earworm is due to the Doubletree Inn commercial, as well as the kick-off of the second series of Mad Men (even though the song has never been featured on the show, it’s from the period, and I can easily imagine Joan shimmying along to it). Dinah Washington – “Relax, Max.” Interestingly enough, it was never a hit for Ms. Washington, but its use in the commercial has spiked sales of the original album.

On the road to Maine, this track came up on the iPod, and afterwards became a request at several points on the trip. Now, it will forever be linked in my mind to a vision of several Skarka kids, bouncing away in the back of the van. DJ Kool – “Let Me Clear My Throat (Klassic Kool Original Version).”

Saw The Dark Knight, which got me thinking about how much better these films are than the first batch of Batman films — which now seem horribly dated. That said, I was a fan of the original Prince soundtrack — it had fuck-all to do with Batman, but it was good stuff. Here’s the best song from it: Prince – “Electric Chair.”

While in Maine, and I accompanied my uncle to his usual Monday night at the Time Out pub in Rockland — which is the epicenter of Blues fandom in the area (the owner runs the North Atlantic Blues Festival, which we had missed by about two weeks). We saw an absolutely brilliant performer from New Orleans, relocated to New England post-Katrina, playing with a three-piece which included the original drummer from the alternative band Morphine (something I didn’t realize at the time, but discovered this week, while finding this mp3). Here’s an example of their work: Jeremy Lyons – “Preachin’ Blues.”

Speaking of good guitar work — I’ve been listening to Joe Satriani’s Surfing With The Alien album again, for the first time in 15-20 years. We really don’t have guitar virtuosos in popular music any more. Hell, nobody really even does solos. I miss that. Here’s my favorite track from the album: Joe Satriani – “Satch Boogie.”

Lastly, from the same period (wow — I’m just a nostalgia machine this week, aren’t I…), here’s the best song to ever feature samples from original series Star Trek. Information Society – “What’s On Your Mind (Pure Energy).”

There you go. Enjoy.