Category: Music

As promised, here is the mp3 of the theme from the Jet Li movie that I posted about earlier this week. Catchy as hell. Zhou Jie Lun (aka Jay Chow) – “Huo Yuan Jua.”

If you haven’t heard of Matisyahu yet, I am pleased as hell to be able to introduce you. Matisyahu is a really talented reggae singer….who also happens to be a Hasidic Jew. It’s wonderful to listen to him and realize that the religious underpinnings of Rasta work really well, regardless of what religion the singer is espousing. This is a live track from BB King’s club, where Matisyahu creates a reggae tune from a song written by King David, thousands of years ago: Matisyahu – “Candle.”

Sure, this group is another pre-fab concoction like the Spice Girls….but like the Spice Girls, the music is well-crafted and catchy as all hell. Give this a listen: Girls Aloud – “Swinging London Town.” Yeah, nothing Spice Girls-esque about this group…nope.

Here’s a track that really suits me when I’m in a pissed off mood. In the early-to-mid 90s, there was a soundtrack album for an “urban action movie” called Judgement Night that was based around the gimmick of having hip-hop acts collaborate with hard rock acts. The movie featured Ice-T, and the whole soundtrack fit very well with Ice-T’s opinion at the time (embodied by his hardcore metal side-project, Body Count), that we should put “angry black kids and angry white kids in the same room, and let them realize that they’re angry about the same shit.” This is my favorite track from the album….the only track, in fact, that I still listen to: Faith No More and Boo-Ya Tribe – “Another Body Murdered.”

This is so far up my musical alley, I’m surprised that I didn’t compose it myself — this is a single EP from UNKLE, based entirely around music and dialog samples from the 1970s Planet of the Apes films and trailers. I love this track so much, it’s unnatural: UNKLE – “Ape Shall Never Kill Ape.”

A couple of mash-up tracks that meet my criteria for enjoyment — they initially make me smile, and then they’re well-done enough to be catchy. Check these two out:Nirvana vs Michael Jackson – “Smells Like Billie Jean.”, and…I’ll admit this one grabbed me on the title alone…Yes vs Sir Mixalot – “Owner of a Lovely Butt.”

It’s good to see that in the midst of a red-hot revival of New Wave, there are still bands that stick to other very cool musical styles — for example, this band from Sweden, who do early-to-mid-70s glam: The Ark – “Rock City Wankers.” Very nice. Love the look, too.

Last track for the week, and it’s a remix of a song by Juliette and the Licks, the band fronted by actress Juliette Lewis. Good stuff. Juliette and the Licks – “Got Love to Kill (MSTRKRFT remix)”

There you go, kids. Enjoy.

Saw this today, and it’s been stuck in my head ever since.

Go here for the music video for the theme song to Jet Li’s new movie Huo Yuan Jia, about the 19th century martial artist of the same name. (The movie has been retitled “Fearless” for Western audiences.)

The song is by Taiwanese pop star Zhou Jie Lun (aka Jay Chow), and is an absolute earworm of traditional Chinese music, western-style pop, and hip-hop.

Chinese Hip-hop. Yeah, I’ll let that one sink in for a bit.

The music video kicks ass, too….lots of choreographed dance moves, interspliced with footage from the film….which looks nifty (especially a duel between Huo Yuan Jia and a westerner fencing with a saber).

I do have an MP3 of the song, which will be appearing on this week’s Friday Music post. ( and yes, , it will be added to the “international hip-hop” CD that I’m making you.)

Hey there, cats n’ kittens….another week down, more music for ya:

Catching “Jackie Brown” last weekend, I was reminded of how much I love it. I’m a sucker for early-70s blaxploitation films, and since that was Tarantino’s main influence, it’s the reason why the film bounces back and forth with “Kill Bill” (taken as a whole) as my favorite of Quentin’s movies. Absolutely amazing soundtrack as well, with perhaps no song used to better effect than this one, which managed to convey both wistful romance and nostalgia at the same time: The Delphonics – “Didn’t I Blow Your Mind This Time.”

As per a request from that I post some more of my own compositions, here’s one of the earliest tracks that I did, which I’m still particularly proud of: @nubis – “Altered States of America.” Scary thing is, I did this before 9/11 and the subsequent change in our country….so this thing seems eerily prescient to me now.

This is an absolutely killer piece by the band Devotchka, whom I’ve mentioned here before. This is best described as Gypsy-Voilin-James-Bond-Film music, and the title alone merits its inclusion in this post. Devotchka – “Death By Blonde.”

I’m blaming for this one. She introduced me to the Playstation game Katamari Damashii (spelled “Damacy” in the US releases, but damn it, that’s not correct Japanese, so I’ll stick to the original romaji, thanks.). The game itself is a heady bouillebaise of day-glo Japanese strangeness, which I won’t go into here. The music, however, is AMAZING. The soundtrack ranges from J-pop to electronica with heavy influences of jazz and even samba. Really cool stuff. For example, here’s the main title of the game: Yu Miyake – “Katamari on the Rock (Main Theme)”

Sticking with Katamari momentarily, I also wanted to give another example — this time of the bright, bouncy J-pop variety: Yohihito Yano & Saki Kabata – “Lonely Rolling Star.” I love this one because it uses very retro-Nintendo synth sounds, which makes it sound like an old-school vidjo game, until they mix it a bit more and the vocals start. Very nice.

A question earlier in the week about the first vinyl album I ever bought reminded me of this song, from that album, and so I’m sharing it with you. It’s the lead single from the 1982 solo album of Donald Fagen of Steely Dan. The Nightfly is a brilliant album, heavily jazz-influenced, and my 13-year old brain went “YUM.” Donald Fagen – “New Frontier.”

I had previously posted a track from Rachid Taha (his cover of the Clash’s “Rock the Casbah”), and this is an excellent bit by him which appears on the soundtrack to the film “Black Hawk Down”: Rachid Taha – “Barra Barra.”

One of my favorite bits of downtempo/chillout electronica — I could listen to this all day long: Lamb – “Angelica.”

Lastly, as a “thankee-sai” to for lending me the issues of the wuxia comic book “Way of the Rat” that never were collected in trade paperbacks, here is the theme to “Once Upon A Time In China.” I thought about posting the vocal version, but since most of you don’t speak Cantonese, I went for the instrumental instead. Interesting cultural note: This music, in China , is similar to the “William Tell Overture” in America. Just as the Overture is automatically associated with the character of the Lone Ranger, this piece of music (based on a folk song called “Under the General’s Orders”) is associated with the character of Wong Fei Hong, the great 19th century Chinese hero (who actually existed). It is used in every film or television story about the character. Once Upon a Time in China – “Wong Fei Hung Theme (Instrumental)”

There you have it. Enjoy.