9 posts tagged “music”
Lately I've been staying up later than I really should, feeling contemplative (dare I say ... emo? Say it ain't so), so here's my current Muxtape playlist:
3:37 AM & Drizzling: Essential Listening for the Occasional Insomniac
- Deadly Avenger - "Everyday Is Valentine"
- Amel Larrieux - "Gills And Tails"
- Amy Winehouse - "Love Is A Losing Game (Instrumental)"
- Bang Bang - "Bye Bye Blues"
- Natalie Gardiner - "Slowly Softly"
- Mozez - "If I Fall"
- 40 Winks - "Melancholia"
- Zimpala - "Adios"
- Stateless - "Down Here"
- Little Dragon - "Stormy Weather"
- Telefon Tel Aviv - "Lotus Above Water"
- Attica Blues - "Tender (The Final Story)"
Play it here and let me know what you think (I recommend opening it up in another tab and listening as you surf). If you've made a Muxtape, please post your link in the comments. I'd love to hear it.
Ah, rabbits. Here's a great video [Flash] from the Australian band TISM (This Is Serious Mum) called "Everyone Else Has Had More Sex Than Me." While the depressing title might sound like one that Dashboard Confessional would come up with, the song itself is pure unabashed pop rock: funny, upbeat and catchy as hell. The video, although simply animated with few colors, is creative and really well-done (especially with regard to facial expression and body language) and quite different from the usual crap being broadcast on your mainstream music television channels. A summary:
The video was chosen from a multitude of entrants in a competition. The winning entrant was a cartoon [by Bernard Derriman] featuring two rabbits, one a depressed singer and the other a masked keyboardist ... The number on each bunny's chest indicates the number of times it has had sex. The main bunny, commonly known as "The Sex Bunny" in Internet circles, has the number "1". Other bunnies of various ages and appearances are shown, some with surprisingly high numbers (in one version of the video, a jaded-looking male rabbit with a handlebar mustache claims an impressive 10,419). Despite the singer's lament, one bunny is shown who has had even less sex: the masked keyboardist, with a number of "0". [from Wikipedia]
Which got me to thinking a little. How differently would we treat each other if we had our own "numbers" prominently displayed on our chests (or floating above our heads)?
The other day I was digging around in my near-obsolete CD collection and rediscovered a couple of discs that I hadn't listened to in a while: Hooverphonic's A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular and Mono's Formica Blues. When "trip-hop" first emerged back in the mid-90s I jumped on the bandwagon and stayed for quite some time, probably because it was a nice counterpoint to all the rap music -- and smattering of house/trance -- I'd been listening to.
I remember happening upon the Hooverphonic album in one of those listening kiosks in Circuit City (another outdated method of discovering new music) and immediately taking a shine to what the Belgian band had to offer. It was moody like Massive Attack; not nearly as darkly seductive, but its atmosphere lent itself well to nighttime listening sessions. "2Wicky" gets noted simply for its use of the near-ubiquitous Isaac Hayes sample lifted from "Walk on By," but I like how they flipped it. (It's probably safe to say that the use of elements drawn from hip-hop is a main reason why I took a liking to the genre in the first place. -- think Sneaker Pimps' "6 Underground.") The sound of the album is lush, sophisticated and cohesive.
My introduction to Mono was based on pure visual aesthetics. I was thumbing through the discs in the "Electronic" section of a record store and the cover art caught my eye. Remember, this was around the time Cash Money and No Limit Records were spewing out several albums per week, all with the same tired, derivative and overly-blingy album artwork. The notion that anything resembling fine art being put on the cover was refreshing in itself. So I bought it, and Formica Blues turned out to be a good investment. I thought that the music evoked the flavor of the 1960s (rightly, as it turned out; this is before I ever read any reviews or analysis of the music) and this concept of a throwback was very unusual and intriguing to my newly-acclimated appreciation of the style.
Although trip-hop as a genre splintered into several subsets not long after its introduction into the mainstream, there are timeless classics that should continue to be heard, absorbed and loved. I suggest you check out both albums and see for yourself; they're perfect for multiple listens and essential additions to your collection of electronic music.
Okay. Am I the only one sick of all the crappy love ballads permeating the Billboard Top 40 today? There's no ... artistry. Singers churn out so much material nowadays that I barely have time to (try to) appreciate one album or song before I'm force-fed the next. To add insult to injury, most of the music I'm subjected to over the Clear Channel airwaves feels so played out and stale. I find I'm listening to mainstream radio less and less and going increasingly indie (streaming Web radio FTW!).
To remedy this unbearable situation, here's some fresh air for you. Click the link and listen to a classic song performed by a legend. Pay attention. This is what a Real Love Song sounds like.
(as performed by Marvin Gaye)
The shadow of your smile when you are gone
Will color all my dreams and light the dawn
Look into my eyes, oh my love, and you'll see
All the wonderful things you are to me
Darling, our wishful little star was far too high
A teardrop kissed your lips, darling so did I
Now when I remember spring
And all the joys that love can bring
I'll be remembering the shadow of your smile
Can't sleep for some reason, so I decided to up a handful of mashups I currently have in rotation:
Justin Timberlake Vs. Michael Jackson "Billie Jean, My Love" (mashed by ComaR): The first one up is funny simply for the fact that JT swagger-jacks MJ's style so much, and yet The Gloved One sounds almost better on this Timberland track than Justin himself. That photo is both freaking creepy and hilarious though.
Madonna Vs. New Order "Bizarre Light Triangle" (mashed by Party Ben): Such a classic beat. "Bizarre Love Triangle" to me is one of the definitive songs of the 80s. I can't say the same for "Ray of Light" as representing the flavor of the 90s, but the energy of both songs match perfectly, and the resulting mashup is pretty seamless.
Beyonce Vs. Cirrus "Naughty Girl's Boomerang" (mashed by DJ Twixta): The original Beyonce track succeeds in being enticing and seductive, but tear it out, replace a Cirrus instrumental under her vocals and you get sex on wax.
Beastie Boys Vs. Daft Punk "Intergalactic Funk" (mashed by Prosac): Currently set as my mp3 alarm, and for good reason. Nothing gets you out of bed like "If you try to knock me you'll get mocked/I'll stir fry you in my wok" laid down over French electro-house flavor.
(A whole bunch of artists) "United State of Pop" (mashed by DJ Earworm): The notable one tonight would be this masterpiece. Earworm grabs Billboard's 25 most popular songs of 2007 and creates a mashup Frankenstein creature that you definitely have to hear. Enjoy!
Audio: Share a song with powerful lyrics.
The self-reflection and honesty in the lyrics hit very close to home with me and I actually choked up the first time I heard the second verse. I have my own issues with being a father to a long-distance baby daughter, and listening to this song reminds me personally what I need to strive for so I won't have to say anything like this to my own child. To me, "powerful" is an understatement.
Read the lyrics while listening to the song.
Show us your favorite album cover.
Ah, the days when Timberlands kicked Bathing Apes out the box!
I have a ton of favorite albums and album covers. But this one, Dah Shinin' by Smif N Wessun, helped define not only an important era of hip-hop, but a period of my own personal development as well. You can pretty much tell what the album will be like just from examining the cover. Everything, from Tek and Steele's gutter rhymes to the dusty, grimy production of Da Beatminerz (don't sleep on their compilation from back in the day either) is brooding and gully, taking the listener to dark and ominous Brooklyn street corners and basements. Dah Shinin' is definitely a journey through the world of these Boot Camp Clik soldiers, and I'd gladly take it again and again. Definitely one of my favorite albums of all time. Hell, I can't just stop with the cover:
What's your musical horoscope? (Put your player on shuffle and write down the first 10 songs that come up.)
- Sweet Coffee - No Ordinary Love
- Dave Brubeck - Blue Rondo A La Turk
- Zeb - Sufism
- Miles Davis - Ah-Leu-Cha
- Daft Punk - Emotion
- Tiesto - Bright Morningstar
- Thelonious Monk - Green Chimneys
- Dan Marciano - Good Morning Paris (Dr. Kucho Remix)
- Angel Tears - Mystic Desire
- Miles Davis - Little Melonae
Ringtones: What's yours and how often do you change it?
Submitted by enrico.
Back when I actually had money to spare, I had Web access on the phone and would chop up rap/R&B instrumentals on the PC and upload them as custom ringtones. I recently used "We Fly High" by Jim Jones but I got sick of that, so right now my incoming call ringtone is just one of the regular ringers that came with the phone. I kept my text message ringtone as Joe Budden's "Stuntin'" and my voicemail alert is "My Love" by Justin Timberlake (I know, I know, but the beat is undeniably tasty). And I've kept my morning alarm set to Juvenile's "Rodeo". I'll probably keep these until I'm bored enough to change them all back to default ringers, or get enough money to put Web access back on my phone plan.
