Category: Music

Eclectic mix this week:

The traditional theme song that appears in pretty much every film made about Chinese historical hero Wong Fei Hung is a Manchu-era folk song, called “Under the General’s Orders.” In the “Once Upon A Time In China” films of the 1990s, they added lyrics to the folk song, and recorded it as “A True Man’s Will.” The closing credits of the first OUATIC film featured the song sung in Cantonese. The closing credits of the sequel, however, OUATIC 2, featured a modernized version of the song, in Mandarin, and sung by no other than Jackie Chan (or, as he’s known in China, Chen Long). Yup….Jackie sings. He’s Peking Opera trained, and is considered to be a good singer! So, here’s that version: Jackie Chan – “Nan Er Dan Zi Qiang (A True Man’s Will)”

This is one of my favorite songs, and up until recently, I had no idea who recorded it, or what it was called. Thanks to the Dastardly Best Friend, however, that has now been remedied. This starts with a wonderful string arrangement, and then fades into the song itself, which is (in my opinion), beautiful to the point of being painful. Badly Drawn Boy – “The Shining.”

This track was used in the background of the BBC3 documentary series “Doctor Who Confidential”, and I immediately had to track it down. This is, perhaps, one of the best versions of this song, apart from Nina Simone’s — Muse – “Feeling Good.”

This is the opening track to Curtis Mayfield’s 1970 solo debut, Curtis. Like most of his work, it’s overtly political, and shockingly blunt (Work warning — he uses some language which is not appropriate for the office…even now….and he recorded this 36 years ago). I love this song, for several reasons: One, it’s not as well known as his work on “Superfly,” but I think it’s better. Two, the early 70s is one of the last times that musicians used orchestral arrangements — strings, horns, the whole nine yards. It was before the advent of cheaply-priced synths. Don’t get me wrong — I love synths, but it’s hard to beat the “wall of sound” that full instrumentation provides. Lastly — I really like the message of this song– the world is messed up, and it’s *everybody’s* fault. Curtis Mayfield – “(Don’t Worry) If There’s Hell Below, We’re All Gonna Go.”

Speaking of cool instrumentation — here’s my favorite song from one of Radiohead’s most experimental albums, Amnesiac. In an album full of envelope-pushing electronics, the use of a grand piano really grabbed me. Radiohead – “Pyramid Song.”

I discovered this band this week. Their debut album came out in 2005, and some folks say that it’s one of the overlooked treasures of last year. This song is definitely a good one–sharp, piano-driven uptempo indie pop. I’ll have to track down the album. Eagle*Seagull – “Photograph”

Cut Chemist is a turntablist who has been a part of Jurassic 5 and Ozomatli, as well as having collaborated with DJ Shadow. His solo debut, The Audience Is Listening is coming out in May. This track is an excellent example of his abilities, backed by two skilled MCs. Cut Chemist – “Storm (featuring Edan and Mr. Lif)”

Donald Fagen recently released his third solo album (which brings him up to the rate of one per decade — one each in the 80s, 90s, and 00s). It is, naturally, an absolutely brilliant mix of rock and jazz in Fagen’s established style. In fact, I like this new album much better than the last Steely Dan album, Everything Must Go. Here’s the title track: Donald Fagen – “Morph The Cat.”

There you go, kids. Enjoy.

OK, Let’s get the request out of the way first. This is for who asked me last Satuday for some Blues. I was tempted to put up some mid-1930s Robert Johnson, but I decided to go with something a bit more standard, complete with Mojo, John The Conqueror Root, and the whole Hoodoo shebang: Muddy Waters – “Hoochie Coochie Man.”

One of the coolest things about the soundtrack to Velvet Goldmine is that they put in quite a few original songs, which appeared in the film as the music of Bryan Slade/Maxwell Demon. These songs were recorded by groups made up of various artists like Bernard Butler and Thom Yorke of Radiohead and Thurston Moore and Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth. This is one of my favorite tracks, recorded under the group name The Venus In Furs — the stutter-step jazz drumming on this really gets to me, and the melody manages to convey a sense of ethereal beauty. My description does it no justice. Listen. The Venus In Furs – “2HB.”

Occasionally, you have a really bad week. In times like those, you obviously need to listen to not-safe-for-work, kung-fu-movie-based hip-hop. I mean, DUH. This is one of my favorite tracks from the absolutely classic 1993 debut album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) — Wu-Tang Clan – “Wu-Tang Clan Aint Nuttin Ta Fuc Wit.”

How bad was the week? Let’s put it this way: The Bronx – “Shitty Future.” This is a hellacious song…love it. Of course, the group is called The Bronx….and they’re from L.A. Naturally.

Special for : A Propellerheads track that she hasn’t heard, because it’s not on the CD that she keeps stealing from me, decksanddrumsandrockandroll. This is a track from a follow-up EP, called, ingeniously, Extended Play. Propellerheads – “Crash.”

Another track from Rob Zombie’s new album, Educated Horses, which I’ve been listening to quite a bit since its release. Rob Zombie – “Let It All Bleed Out.” Needs more monster movie samples, but aside from that, I like it. :)

A track by Moby which was used as the opening music from the mediocre-but-fun car-heist movie, Gone in 60 Seconds. I like this kind of stuff from him the best — where he mixes new music from old recordings of blues, gospel and the like: Moby – “Flower.”

I just discovered this group, and I’m blown away by how beautiful this song is. I don’t know anything about them right now, but I’m planning on remedying that soon. Midlake – “Young Bride.”

Hope you enjoy this week’s selections. Here’s to better weeks ahead.

OK, first off — here’s a bit that’s not music. It’s a track from an Eddie Izzard CD, Unspeakable, that I promised I’d post. It was recorded in 1994, before he broke out and got big — but you can see that his style was already firmly in place: Eddie Izzard – “Does He Eat Crisps?”

I’ve really got to thank and for introducing me to Hedningarna. I’ve been devouring the disc they made for me, and it has led me to look for more. Here’s a track from their CD Hippjokk: Hedningarna – “Bierdna.” Apparently, “Bierdna” means “The Bear.”

Since so many of you enjoyed “Crazy”, I figured that I’d post another tune from Gnarls Barkley — their debut CD, St. Elsewhere, should be out soon. I’m definately picking it up. Gnarls Barkley – “Smiley Faces.”

This summer will see the release of the third installment of the Mission: Impossible films, and you know what that means: Another version of the theme! The first film had a wicked big-beat version from U2’s Larry Mullen and Adam Clayton. The second had the god-awful “Take A Look Around” by Limp Bizkit. Now, the third installment features this remix, from Kanye “George Bush Hates Black People” West. Kanye West – “M:I III Theme (Remix)”

Here’s a bit of trip-hop for . It’s been a while since I’ve posted some. This is another track by the French trip-hop act, Hooverphonic: Hooverphonic – “Inhaler.”

A little something to get your asses moving on a Friday: One of the classic dance-floor tracks by Sugar Hill Gang. Contrary to the file name, this is not called “Tonto, Jump On It”….it is, of course, the cheese-tastic Sugar Hill Gang – “Apache.”

One of the best examples of using a fairly recognizable sample to create a new song. Simply Red took the instrumental hook from Hall & Oates’ “I Can’t Go For That”, and crafted this song. They knew they weren’t going to be able to hide the influence, so they went ahead and started the second verse with the female back-up singer actually giving us a couple of lines from the original. That’s pretty cool. Simply Red – “Sunrise.”

I don’t know why, but I’m in the mood for over-the-top bombastic Jim Steinman. So, here’s a track of his from the soundtrack to the 80s “Rock and Roll Fable”, Streets of Fire, performed by the studio group he put together for the film — Fire, Inc. – “Nowhere Fast.” Gotta love the classic Steinman line: “You and me are going nowhere slowly, and we’ve got to get away from the past. There’s nothing wrong with going nowhere, baby….but we should be going nowhere FAST.”

…and with that, another week goes by.