Category: Music

I discovered a music blog that features an entire album’s worth of Bollywood songs, ranging from the 50s to the 2000s, available for download. You can even download a PDF of the tracklisting and cover art, to print and use with your burned CD.

If you have the slightest interest in the Bollywood stuff that I’ve posted on Friday Music, you’ll love this: Bollywood For The Skeptical. Click the link or the image to go to the site.

Another Mixtape of Teh Intarwebs for ya:

First up, I want to kick things off with an old track that I think holds up really well. It has been said that at the time they were actively recording, The Velvet Underground was only heard by a few hundred people….but every one of those people went on to form a band. They are massively influential, and if you’ve never given their albums a listen, you really should. This is my second-favorite VU track (the first being a spoken-word-over-extended-jam track called “The Gift”, which I’ll share sometime): The Velvet Underground – “Venus in Furs.”

Here’s another track from the forthcoming Scissor Sisters album, Ta Da, which is coming out at the end of the month. So far I haven’t heard anything that represents their “Return to Oz” Bowie-ish sound, and from what I hear, it’s not really present on this album — which concentrates on the Elton John-ish vibe present in “Take Your Mama”, and the ELO-meets-Disco sound (like in “Get It Get It” and “Filthy/Gorgeous”). This track is an example of the latter, with main vocals by Anna Matronic: Scissor Sisters – “Kiss You Off.”

The new single from Muse’s absolutely brilliant Black Holes & Revelations serves as something of a title track, since it features that line in the chorus. I love it. Killer piano hook, fuzzy bass and guitars, soaring sci-fi vocals…..this one is absolutely crying out to be used in a fan video for Trek, Firefly or any other ship-based SF. Muse – “Starlight.”

Fun Da-Mental’s new album All Is War is somewhat controversial — the cover depicts the Statue of Liberty in Abu Graib torture gear (hooded and wired). A lot of the tracks, as you might imagine, are scathing indictments of the “War on Terror.” This one, however, is just an absolutely slamming bit of Bollywood-influenced dance music: Fun-Da-Mental “Electro G-Had (Punjab Style).”

Folks dug the track from Bitter:Sweet that I posted last week, so here’s another that I tracked down, which I find equally nifty: Bitter:Sweet – “Heaven.”

A new discovery: Joy Disaster, a neo-new-wave band from France. They’re singing in English, and the sound is like a mix of Q Lazzarus (the group that did “Goodbye Horses” — the serial killer’s dance in Silence of the Lambs) and Modern English. You could easily hear this coming from the soundtrack of a John Hughes movie. Joy Disaster – “Artemis.”

pointed me in the direction of some tracks by a band from the early-60s surf-guitar fad that raged in Japan after the 1962 tour by The Ventures. The Japanese called the fad “Eleki” (short for “Electric Boom”), and this is a track from an album of classical music re-imagined as surf rock by the top Eleki band: Takeshi Terauchi and the Bunnys – “Fur Elise.”

I always liked the fact that Rancid was trying their hardest to echo the late 70s sound of the UK, where 2nd wave ska and punk collided. My favorite example of their efforts: Rancid – “Time Bomb.”

Another new band, A Northern Chorus — a group from Ontario that does amazingly ethereal instrumental pop. I’ve heard this described as “Dream-pop”, which I suppose is as good a description as any: A Northern Chorus – “Spirit Flags.”

There you go. Hope you like ’em.

First up, a request from my brother for “a Morrissey or Smiths jump off” — so, I’ll go with one of my favorite tracks: The Smiths – “How Soon Is Now”

This track is for , who asked me if I’d heard it. I’m really glad that the whole turn-of-the-millennium boy and girl group fad finally died, and the people that stuck around from it are the ones who appear to have actually had some talent. Aguilera is doing her neo-forties thing (which I’ve posted about a couple of times), and now Justin Timberlake is out with some seriously ass-moving dance music: Justin Timberlake – “SexyBack (feat. Timbaland).”

Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas has decided to pull a Gwen Stefani manuever — realizing that the sexy front woman selling most of the records for a mediocre pop group could just as easily sell her own solo stuff. This is the lead-off track (NSFW, due to an opening chorus of “OH SHIT!”), which had me moving within seconds. Love the refrain: “How come everytime you come around, My London, London bridge, wanna go down…”Fergie – “London Bridge.”

I know that I’ve posted this one before, but I just can’t get over how good it is. So if you missed your chance to grab it, do so now. This is the lead track from Radiohead front man Thom Yorke’s solo album…which also appears during the end credits of “A Scanner Darkly.” Thom Yorke – “Black Swan.”

Some new music — a new band called Earl Greyhound, that hasn’t yet been signed to a major label, but simply blows me away. I discovered them through a New Yorker review, which said “Whether or not Earl Greyhound are the Next Big Thing is irrelevant — watching them will convince you that they are.” I’m especially in love with the bridge — Listen all the way through: Earl Greyhound – “S.O.S.”

Another new group, and one of the most beautiful songs I’ve heard in a while. The whole sound reminds me of something like a 21st century version of “Rose Tint My World” from Rocky Horror….and when the guitar cuts out and the voices and drums swell up at two and half minutes into the song, I get chills. Spiritualized Electric Mainline – “Let It Flow.”

In 2003, Virgil Howe, the son of Yes member Trevor Howe, who produces techno as “The Verge”, released a album of remixes of old Yes songs. I was particularly impressed at how well progressive rock and electronica matched up together. Here’s an example from that release: Yes – “Starship Trooper (The Verge Remix)”

I’ll leave you with another new group: Bitter:Sweet, who perform a combination of trip-hop, bossa-nova, electronica, 50’s lounge, 60’s spy-movie-groove….well, hell, it’s just COOL. Check it out: Bitter:Sweet – “Dirty Laundry.”

There you go, kats n’ kittens. Enjoy.