Category: Music

As some of you may have noticed, my analysis post on the state of the gaming industry has been linked from FARK.

This has resulted in a large influx of comments…some of which are of the “U R LOSERS!!1!” variety. I’m pretty much ignoring the comments, and I’d suggest that regular readers of this journal do the same.

The funny thing, though…..because I mentioned (and linked) my work with Adamant in that analysis, I’ve also had a noticeable upsurge in orders over the past 24 hours. This makes me giggle, because I just know that whoever it was who Farked that post was hoping to aggravate me by bringing in the “U R LOSERS!!1!” crowd….but ended up making me some extra cash! Har har….I am teh winnar!

For those actually interested in the analysis: Ken Hite has also posted his take on the numbers, over in his Out of the Box column.

For regular readers of this journal: Friday Music will be posted in the next hour, and later today (as promised), I’ll be posting the first batch of pages from the novel I’m working on (since the Writing Group got a crack at it last night).

Back again after a brief hiatus. Didja miss me?

I had already typed up this entire post, and then my browser crashed (which only happens once every 3 months or so, and always when I’m typing up these posts, it seems.) So, I’m going to try to remember all of the links (since I deleted them already….SMART).

Gnarls Barkley is a fictional singer. The project is a collaboration between DJ Danger Mouse (the guy responsible for the brilliant Beatles/Jay-Z “Grey Album” mash-ups) and Atlanta-area rapper Cee-Lo. Given the presense of a skilled DJ and a rapper, you’d expect some smokin’ hip-hop tracks, right? WRONG. They have combined to produce perfect retro/neo soul….sounding for all the world as if Al Green or Bill Withers had gotten into a studio with 21st century producers. This stuff is amazing: Gnarls Barkley – “Crazy.”

Neo-soul puts me in the mood for classic soul, so here’s one of my favorite tracks from the early 70s: The Spinners – “I’ll Be Around.”

While I’m on the topic of great production– The producer behind Roisin Murphy’s solo album (which I posted several tracks from last year) has an album of his own out (with Roisin providing additional vocals), and it’s the same jazzy/funky mix of electronics and orchestration. Herbert – “The Movers & The Shakers.”

I was looking for some more French hip-hop for , but found this great rock track instead. The band is called Noir Désir (“Black Desire”), and this is from the album 666.667 Club: Noir Désir – “Un Homme Pressé”

I don’t know anything about Mellowdrone, aside from the fact that they are a brand-new band, and I really, really like their music. I’ll be trying to find out more over the next week or so: Mellowdrone – “Oh My.”

The Roger Sisters are a NYC band that sound like early B-52s (“Rock Lobster/Private Idaho” period, rather than “Love Shack/Channel Z” period). Here’s a lovely little ditty about climate change and the end of the world: The Roger Sisters – “Zero Point.”

There you go. Only six tracks this week. More next week, I promise.

Just a quick notice before getting to this week’s selections — there will be no Friday Music next week (Saint Patrick’s Day), as I’m flying back from Vegas on a red-eye that morning, and expect to spend most of my day sleeping. You’ll all just have to soldier on without me.

Now — on to the tunes:

I’m starting with the one that I’ve been listening to the most this week. It’s the title track from the newest album by the Swedish electronic act, The Knife. I have had this sucker on loop for most of the past week. It’s really well done. The Knife – “Silent Shout”

Funky, Jazzy, Rock….from Japan. Tokyo Jihen – “Himitsu” The name means “Tokyo Incident”, and the title is “Secret.” I was expecting to hear schoolgirlish anime-squeek, and instead got what I can only describe as Jamiroquai in Japanese. Really cool.

A track from the new album by the alternative-country act, BR549. This one features them doing one of those vaguely-gospel rockabilly-honky-tonk tunes, backed by Elvis Presley’s old back-up singers, The Jordinaires: BR549 – “The Devil & Me.”

Something to getcher asses moving: Donna Summer – “I Feel Love (Patrick Cowley Mix)”

What the heck ever happened to Quarterflash? They had a few hits in the early 80s, and I really liked them. Here’s one of them…love the sax in this. Quarterflash – “Harden My Heart.”

From the soundtrack to the film version of The Shadow (the closing credits). Taylor Dane singing a song by Jim Steinman, complete with his signature sound (bombastic chorus, epic orchestration, etc.): Taylor Dane – “Original Sin (Theme From ‘The Shadow’)”

I’ll go with another soundtrack piece for my final selection this week: The opening titles of Mad Max III: Beyond Thunderdome. It didn’t become a single (that was reserved for “We Don’t Need Another Hero”), but I really liked this song much more: Tina Turner – “One of the Living.”

There you go. More tunes in 2 weeks.