Category: Music

Let’s get right to it:

Apropos of the recent political posts here, here’s a couple of songs which tie in to my mood on the current situation. First up, nothing beats this as a litany of resigned hopelessness. Leonard Cohen – “Everybody Knows.”

Second, with a bit more anger: The Clash – “Know Your Rights.” “This is a Public Service Announcement…with guitars!”

This one has a politcal title, but given that it comes from the brilliant album Kid A, the lyrics are a vague framework for you to build meaning from. I need to post more Radiohead, and this song reminds me of why: Radiohead – “National Anthem.”

As promised, here is the track from Hustle & Flow that has been nominated for the Best Original Song Oscar: Terrance Howard (as “DJay”) – “Hard Out Here For A Pimp.” (Language warning for those of you at work.)

Personally, though, I much prefer this track, which makes me want to tear shit up. In the film, DJay wants to call this “Beat That Bitch”, but his high-school buddy complains that they’ll never get radio play, because people will think he’s talking about abusing women….to which the geeky muscian character points out: “Nah….all of the Bitches I know are guys.” They decide that this title brings across the same aggression, but without the gender confusion: Terrance Howard (as “DJay”) – “Whoop That Trick.” (Language warning for those of you at work.)

This is one of my favorite songs by Yes, off their much-ignored follow-up to the hugely popular 90125 album, Big Generator: Yes – “Shoot High, Aim Low.”

Here’s another new song that I discovered this week, from a group called Lansing-Dreiden, originally from Miami, but now moved to NYC. Lansing-Dreiden – “Glass Corridor.”

I first heard this song on the way to ‘s last weekend, and was immediately struck by the similarity to Bauhaus. It’s all there–the riding drum, the music, the “Peter Murphian” sound to the singers voice, the dark lyrics. This is another one with a Language warning. She Wants Revenge – “Tear You Apart.”

Lastly, my favorite song from Tom Waits, from his early-80s album Swordfishtrombones. Just a nice bit of Jazz with a gravel-voiced narrator telling us a little story: Tom Waits – “Frank’s Wild Years.” Love it.

There you go, folks. Enjoy.

I noticed (in ‘s entry) that Hustle & Flow got a couple of Oscar nods, which reminded me that I wanted to recommend the film.

and I watched it on DVD last week, and it was really good. I had originally wanted to see it because a) I like hip-hop and b) I really like Terrance Howard. Therefore, I expected to like the film quite a bit….but was really impressed by how much better it was than I had expected.

The movie is about a pimp. Not a glamorous “bling bling” pimp archetype, or even the vicious violent stereotype….but a decidedly unglamourous, dirt-poor loser, who acts as money manager/chauffer to three women– a corn-rowed white girl who does most of the “work”, a stripper who regularly berates him for his ambitions, and one who doesn’t work, since she’s pregnant by an unknown “client.” These individuals form a disfunctional family unit of sorts. The way the relationships and the realities of their lives are portrayed prevents you from making easy value judgements about them…and I really like how that is done. D-Jay (Terrence Howard) is essentially undergoing a midlife crisis….he worries that it’s all over for him — that this is all he’ll ever be. When he learns that former local rapper turned superstar named Skinny Black (played by Ludacris) is coming back to town for the 4th of July, D-Jay scrambles to put together a demo tape with the help of an old high school buddy (who’s now a solidly middle-class guy, but also experiencing his own fears about never realizing his dreams), and a geeky white musician. The hope is that Skinny will hear the demo, and D-Jay will “break out.”

You end up caring about D-Jay, even though he’s a manipulative scumbag….purely because of the strength of Terrence Howard’s performance. The script is brilliant (the white girl at one point layng bare the pimp/ho relationship with the revelation to D-Jay that she’s fully aware that he manipulates her…but, as she says: “…I let you. I let you, because sometimes my mind needs to be played with.” Because that’s how she gets through the life she’s living.) The music is also hot as hell. There are several scenes which show them building a track by layers, which is exactly how I work when I’m doing electronica, so I loved that.

Funny thing: The Academy has nominated “Hard Out Here For a Pimp” as Best Original Song, which I find hilarious….not because it’s not deserving (it is), but because they’ve nominated a song with that sort of title. Must’ve killed the stuffed shirts among them. In my opinion, the first song from the film, “Whoop That Trick” is much better….but is so heavy with profanity that there’s no way they would’ve nominated it. I’ll post both tracks on this week’s Friday Music, so you can form your own opinion.

This has turned out to be much longer than I had intended, so I’ll sum up: Rent Hustle & Flow, and watch it with an open mind. I think you’ll like it.

It’s getting difficult to do these — with as much time as I’ve been spending on the novel recently, I’ve been listening to a TON of music. Trying to keep these Friday Music posts down to a reasonable size, rather than just hitting you with everything that’s floating my boat right now….

Here’s a rarity for you Queen fans out there. In 1983, Brian May had a jam session with Eddie Van Halen and a few studio musicians. They recorded it, and the result was a hard-to-find EP called “The Starfleet Project.” The main track on the EP, which I give you here, is a re-working of the theme song of an early-80s UK kid’s show, Star Fleet, which May watched with his kids. So you have two of the best guitarists in the world, jamming along to a sci-fi TV series theme, with wonderfully over-the-top lyrics like: “Send a message across the sky – Alien raiders just passed Gemini.” Love it. Here you go: Brian May + Friends – “Star Fleet.”

I haven’t heard the original version of this song, but I love the remix, so here it is: Test Icicles – “What’s Your Damage (Alan Braxe and Fred Falke Remix)” That synth hook is just too good.

This is some nifty stuff. It’s part of the soundtrack to the recent Takeshi Kitano remake of Zatoichi. The composer mixes modern electronica with Japanese folk and, in this case, taiko drumming. Suzuki Keiichi – “Festivo.”

It’s been a while since I’ve posted any mash-ups, and I’ve recently found this one, which I like quite a bit. It’s a mash of the Beatle’s “For No One”, Scissor Sisters’ “Take Your Mama”, George Michael’s “Freedom” and Aretha Franklin’s “Think.” DJ Earworm – “No One Takes Your Freedom.”

Grime is a musical genre out of the UK, which is similar in many respects to hip-hop, but has its roots in the UK Garage electronica scene. Garage MCs mostly just engaged in crowd-pumping chatter during sets, but some started laying hip-hop-style full-length rhymes over the fairly dark electronica, usually with ragga-influenced vocabulary, and often at what would be considered breakneck speeds for US MCs. One of the tops in the genre right now is Lady Sovereign, a short 19-year-old white girl from northwest London, whose flow, as the hip kids say, is SICK. She has an EP out called “Vertically Challenged”, and her debut album, “Straight Up Cheeky” is on the way. Lady Sovereign – “Ch Ching”

When I first heard this song, the piano hook completely….well, er….hooked me. This is a track from the album “Rocinante” by Ester Drang…and any group that is willing to name their album after Don Quixote’s horse is cool with me. Ester Drang – “Valencia’s Dying Dream.”

This is some really good electronic pop out of Venezuela, which I’ve been playing over and over again: Todosantos – “A Veces.” Spanish speakers — help me out here: I know the group name translates as “All Saints”, but what about the lyrics?

More international hip-hop for . This is Alliance Ethnik, a group of French MCs, who have recorded this track with Cheb Mami (the Rai singer who most Americans know for his backing vocals on Sting’s “Desert Rose”). Alliance Ethnik feat. Cheb Mami – “Parisien Du Nord (Remix)”

I picked up the new album, “Pictures” by genius electronica DJ Timo Maas, his first artist album since 2000’s “Loud”. Excellent stuff, as expected. He’s got another collaboration with Kelis on it, and others, including Neneh Cherry. My favorite track on the album, though, is this one: Timo Maas – “Big Chevy.”

So there you go. Enjoy!