Category: Music

A bit late today. Sorry about that! Anyway….here we go:

First up — a bit of a mood enhancer, proclaiming the power of positive thinking. Sort of an “accentuate the positive, elminate the negative” thing, which, for obvious reasons, I find compelling. Plus, it’s Nikka Costa, so it kicks nine distinct varieties of ass: Nikka Costa – “Can’t Never Did Nothin’.”

Saw The Covenant on DVD this week — suck-fest, and could have been so much cooler. The music was pretty good, though….like this: A new remix of “More Human Than Human” which served as the opening credits music. Rob Zombie – “More Human Than Human (Meet Bambi In The King’s Harem Mix).”

Here’s a very cool tune from the Yoshida Brothers, who are the group responsible for the great music in Nintendo’s new Wii commercials. This is very similar — a mix of modern breakbeat and traditional Japanese instrumentation: Yoshida Brothers – “Storm.”

Some classic second-wave ska for you, from my favorite group of that era: The (English) Beat – “Mirror In The Bathroom.”

Very nifty electronic/worldbeat stuff, which, as you all well know, I devour. This one is from the Asian Dub Foundation, a UK alternative electronica band that play a mix of breakbeat, dub, dancehall and ragga, influenced by everything from Bengali folksongs to punk. Asian Dub Foundation – “Rebel Warrior.”

Lastly, here’s a track by A3, the electronica group best known for “Woke Up This Morning”, the theme to the HBO series The Sopranos. A3 – “Terra Firma Cowboy Blues.”

Hope you like ’em.

If you’re into mash-ups, you can download Best of Bootie 2006, a collection of the year’s best. A zip file of the mp3s, along with CD art, is available at the linked site.

Some really good stuff — some of which has appeared in my Friday Music posts this year (including “Careless or Dead”, the Wham/BonJovi mash-up; and “Crazy Logic”, the Supertramp/Gnarls Barkley mash-up).

Back at it…

First up is an instrumental piece that I wrote over the past week. I was experimenting with a less-electronic sound. I’m very pleased with what I feel is a very “New Order-ish” guitar tone. @nubis – “Shimmer.”

I was first hooked in by the name of the band: Butch Walker and the Lets-Go-Out-Tonites. But rather than what I expected to hear (smoking rockabilly lounge-y stuff), what I got instead was a damn near perfect pastiche of T-Rex, circa 1973. The guitar riff and backing vocals are a shameless homage to “20th Century Boy.” Plus, the song title is great. Butch Walker and the Lets-Go-Out-Tonites – “Hot Girls In Good Moods.”

Another take on a recognizable sound, this time the early to mid sixties girl-group vibe…and again, another absolutely nifty song title. Johnny Boy – “You Are the Generation That Bought More Shoes And Now Get What You Deserve.”

This is pretty cool. It’s a Jamaican dub version of Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five” — I’m surprised how well it manages to adapt to the style: Val Bennett – “The Russians Are Coming.”

My friend has been doing some really excellent electro-industrial. Here’s a nifty SF piece. The lyrics, translated from German: “The year is 2076. The age of artificial intelligences and machine-men has dawned. Robot armies fight the wars of the future and electronic brains reign over states and multinational corporations. Already, the machines have more rights than the humans. We need Power! Give us Power!” Electronic Body Confusion – “Strom”

Shifting gears — I was a big fan of Level 42 in the 80s. Here in America, they’re considered a one-hit wonder, with “Something About You” being pretty much all anybody over hear ever heard from them. So, for my fellow Americans, here is an example of the sort of stuff you missed — here’s another single from the same album, which hit big overseas, but not here: Level 42 – “Lessons In Love.”

For fans of trip-hop and chillout music, here’s another sterling entry from one of my favorite acts: Thievery Corporation – “Holographic Universe.”

Goth makes me laugh sometimes with it’s earnest overwroughtness. Here is a track that tries so hard, both in subject matter and in instrumentation, that it just makes me smile. Who’s a cute little creature of darkness? You are! Yes! Woodgy-woodgy-woodgy! Vampire Division – “Demonica”

Enjoy.