Midnight!

I've always associated this song with New Year's Eve, equal parts downtempo reflections on the past and hopeful aspirations for the future. Plus there's that ever-so-appropriate exclamation of, "Midnight!" at the end.

This song was released in 1996; like the rest of Endtroducing... it's held up remarkably well.

Mongolia has nothing to do with New Year's Eve per-se, it's just that the scenery is stunning and the whole thing is exceptionally well done.

DJ Shadow
"Midnight In a Perfect World"

Toy robots, marching as to war

Yes, the guitar sounds a little like "My Sharona" in the beginning there. Now that we have that out of the way:

I like this song, and I like this video, but I'm not sure they really play well together. That is to say, the video would lead one to expect something a bit darker, distorted and/or downright nasty from the music. This song is many things, but nasty is not one of them; rather, there's an urgent and airy quality to the distortion instead of the brutality and destruction hinted at in the video.

Still no reason not to post.

The Lost Valentinos
"Thief"

Scream like a Van She

Some more 80´s electronic tinged Australian pop for y’alls, this time including 'stache.

Gotta dig the 'stache.

Van She
"Strangers"

When it rains...

Today I fly from Detroit back to Texas.

Australian synthpop today. With rain.

Lots of rain.

Cut Copy
"Hearts on Fire"

If one horn is good...

...four or more is even better.

The amazing Roland Kirk demonstrates his ability to play a number of different horns and/or flutes - he often played them simultaneously. A full 10 minutes for your listening enjoyment (it gets particularly soulful at the end).

Roland Kirk Quintet
"Three For Festival/Volunteered Slavery"

And everybody's happy

Remember inflation? The nerd in me wants to go into Fed interest rate policy and how the popular association that post-bubble economic crisis = inflation has proved to be a poor guide in, say, Japan.

But then there's the part of me that likes that old-school, down and dirty, garage-rock sound.

I'm enjoying the rare occasion when everybody's happy.

Woven Bones
"Your Sorcery"

Navidad!

This song is about a Puerto Rican tradition of the "asalto navideno" - the "Christmas assault" - in which a group of people arrive unannounced at somebody's house late at night and play music loudly, often waking them up, until they are let in. There is then a great deal of cooking, eating and drinking, and quite often at least some now-awake inhabitants of the house will accompany the group to repeat the process.

To say that things are a bit loose and unstructured in Puerto Rico is, of course, an understatement. Good fun nonetheless.

El Gran Combo
"Asalto Navideno"

Christmas!

Merry and/or Happy Christmas, and/or Feliz Navidad to all!

I'm at my grandmother's house for Christmas, and it seemed only proper. Incidentally, I have to say that the holiday shopping experience would be so much better if all Christmas music were by Sufjan Stevens.

Sufjan Stevens
"Put the Lights on the Tree"

Michael the Greek

Michael Jackson reworked over some reworking of the sounds of early house music, with passable visuals from Zorba the Greek.

Who's bad-meaning-good?

Metro Area vs. Michael Jackson (SOMEONE mashup)

You can dance if you're programmed for it...

Classic disco-house video from waaaay back in 2001. That dancing robot isn't the only thing that's held up remarkably well over the years - that there's a nice quasi-funk-guitar electro line hiding out beneath the unremarkable lyrics.

Playgroup
"Number One"

On the road again....

Today we drive from Ithaca, New York, to Detroit, MI. The road goes through much expanses of open country - kind of like the video - and produces sleepy, yet pleasant feelings of contemplation and reflection - kind of the like the music.

The Mathletes are out of Houston, but you'd never know it from the music.

The Mathletes
"Zero Gravity"

That old-time feeling

Street musicians that, in another city, would probably be booking solid gigs: another reason to love NY.

The Blue Vipers
Live in Union Square

Love to the NYC

Aw, yeah - b-boys, pizza, subways and music till dawn.

I'm off today for Detroit, to spend Christmas proper with the family. But I like NY, so much that I'm going to live there for a year in February. The title says it all.

Holy Ghost!
"I Will Come Back"

Strange times in NY

I'm still in New York.

My gut reaction to this NSFW video was "Jesus. Didn't they get cold?"

Yeah, it's a stunt. But it does give you a different take on the song, no?

Matt and Kim
"Lessons Learned"

Winter Wonderland

Remember "Hot In Herre?" Wish you didn't? Fear not, the inimitable Jenny Owen Youngs has crafted a much more pleasant version to get stuck in your head, complete with surreal winter-themed scenery.

(Today I'm off from the Dirty South to New York for some family time. It seemed as good an excuse as any to post this.)

Jenny Owen Youngs
"Hot In Herre"

The living and the dead

Electronic in the fashion of early 80's video games, emotive almost to the point of melodrama.

This would be an excellent title track for an HBO series involving an undead doctor trying to atone for past sins, but failing as much as succeeding.

So Many Dynamos
"New Bones"

Back to Front

The standard bearer for nerdcore - what with the science, the video games, the thick glasses and all - is probably MC Frontalot. In addition to its glorious nerdiness, like this song because sometimes I do have dreams that combine the academic with the generalized bizarreness that emerges when you sleep.

Dreams can be pretty messed up at times.

MC Frontalot
"Bizarro Genius Baby"

1st move

In addition to being a master at the keyboard despite blindness, George Shearing is best known as the composer of the standard "Lullaby of Birdland" (about Charlie Parker and his New York jazz club Birdland). This is proof that he can do uptempo just as well.

George Shearing
"Move"

The revolution will involve a catchy beat

New salsa coming out of Colombia. The story is essentially of a slave revolt that was sparked by a Spaniard striking down a slave woman - the chorus goes "don't lay a hand on my (black) woman" - this also this exemplifies the combination of sentimentality, melodrama, rhythm and joyfulness that characterizes a lot of the Caribbean.

As well as demonstrating that there is very little that can not be expressed through interpretive dance.

Joe Arroyo
"La rebelion"

The road ahead

Magical, playful, dreamy pop despite the sense that things are all going downhill from here, but that there's not much that can be done about it. It's as if they had grown up in a time of growth and plenty, had a coming of age into war and are stepping out into the real world during the greatest postwar economic crisis, or something.

Via Audio
"Developing Active People"

Kids these days

These guys look young. I mean, I couldn't help thinking, "Damn, these guys are young!" the first time I saw this. The music has a sense of expectation and potential appropriate for a band in all its fresh-faced, wide-eyed and awkward glory. And it works, despite their seeming to be not sure what to do with cameras staring them in the face.

To my mind, they're at the stage where the Beatles were with "Love Me Do" - a damned good place to start.

Two Door Cinema Club
"Undercover Martyn"

On a boat

The first couple of times I listened to this song I thought, "Yeah, I don't know" but then never quite went on to something else.

This is usually a sign that I'll like it a lot more when I listen again.

It helps that this has all the makings of a beautiful video - a combination of nighttime shots of a boat adrift on a lake, the moon casting appropriate lighting, the aurora borealis adding atmosphere, and a nice retro flavor to it all. Combine that with a slow, steady piano-based sound and the pieces come together into something that is beautiful, yes, but oddly disturbing and heavy at the same time.

It's like when an uncertain situation is finally resolved, but in the worst possible way - a sense of relief mixed with trying to wrap your head around new realities.

The Owls
"The Way On"

Do not adjust your television set

In the grand tradition of Berlin techno, this track distorts any semblance of a non-electronic sound to the point of non-recognition while keeping it all flowing together with an even beat.

The video does likewise.

Boys Noize
"Jeffer"

Vampires? Werewolves!

Tribal. Very tribal.

And just the thing to play at the point in the night out when you lose track of what time it is, because time doesn't seem particularly relevant at the moment.

Rainbow Arabia
"Omar K"

Be joyful

Being the sort of person who rocks out at the opera, I've always liked this song. With it, Erroll Garner shows us what jazz piano virtuosity looks like. He also channels Tito Puente as the music brings an increasingly intense mix of joy and surprise to his face.

Dig the haircut too.

Erroll Garner
"The Lady Is A Tramp"

Magic. Absolute magic.

I can't tell whether this is low-quality appropriation of 80's animation (Jem!) or a low-budget imitation of 80's animation. Either way, it fits the distorted, longing-for-innocence and 80's-tinged music beautifully.

I can see this providing the soundtrack to a scene where the protagonist goes through a drug-induced near-death experience and considers the life that has been with great love.

Magic Wands
"Treasure"

Rock, rock, rock

This is among the more sedate tracks by The Grates - the lead singer especially has a tendency towards the frenetic - but it's my personal favorite. Granted, the lyrics are such that they can be interpreted in many ways, which might be why it seems to speak to your particular, hopes, dreams, fears and expectations.

Incidentally, just like people tend to do Shakespeare with a British accent, it's always funny to hear how people tend to sound more American while singing popular songs.

The Grates
"Rock Boys"

Murder most foul

From an old, 50's Puerto Rican movie featuring one of the most classic salsa singers of all time, Ismael Rivera, as a young lad with Rafael Cortijo's band before salsa emerged as a distinct genre.

This song is (affectionately, honest!) about a black guy with fat lips who gets murdered, despite being well beloved among the people.

In Latin America, it's not just "you either have to laugh or cry" - you can dance.

Rafael Cortijo, vocals by Ismael Rivera
"El Negro Bembon"

Coffee or tea?

Once upon a time I lived outside of Mexico City, far enough out so that the pollution wasn't too bad but close enough so that I could see the lights of the city come up from the balcony as the sun set.

Another, alternative video for this wistful, ambient-inspired track would be a long shot of somebody on a high balcony, late at night, drinking a mug of coffee (or tea), looking at the lights of the city below for the entire 2:57.

The track captures that feeling beautifully.

Populous
"Canoe Canoa"

This video made possible by the Second Amendment

There's not much in the way of lyrics here. They're not really needed, as the music does an excellent job of capturing the 80's-horror-movie tension and panic of suddenly realizing the father of that girl you're with is getting close, and that he has a gun, and that he's none too happy about what's happening. (The father later gets taken out by the movie's monster/psycho/supernatural entity. You can tell.)

Mother Mother
"Hayloft"

The dark rise of the nerds

It should tell you something that Schaffer the Darklord refers to himself as "STD." Serving as the master of ceremonies (an "original" MC) for the free dive-bar burlesque show a friend of mine runs in Brooklyn when he's not busy doing that whole national nerdcore tour thing.

Being somewhat nerdy myself, I thoroughly approve of the reductionist, literalist tendency to the lyrics ("Where's Queens at? Where's Queens at? It's right over here, I'll show you on the street map"). Match them with an awkwardly hyperactive geeky style and hilarity ensues.

The lovely young ladies from the Peach Tartes burlesque troupe don't hurt at all either.

Schaffer the Darklord
"The Rappist"

The varied blues of the Pacific

Disclaimer: contains jazz guitar.

This is necessary because, alas, jazz guitar tends to be "smooth" these days, inspiring a personal suspicion of any and all jazz guitar. Wes Montgomery, by contrast, is jazz guitar done right, less smooth and more intricate, with a bite to match.

Anybody Jimi Hendrix cited as an influence has to know what he's doing, no?

Wes Montgomery
"West Coast Blues"

It's summer somewhere

It was getting colder in southern Texas, and for a while there you might have regretted not putting on an extra layer.

We're back to no-jacket-required weather, but I first heard this track with fuzzy slippers on and a cup of cold-fighting ginger tea. Under those circumstances it evoked (in spite of the brief appearance of snow in the video) that summer vacation vibe of warm lazy days filled with concentrated leisure, ideally involving a deep supply of iced beverages. Kind of like what our good friends on the other side of the equator are enjoying nowadays.

All that and more than a little Beirut to boot.

Seabear
"I Sing I Swim"

Fluffy clouds

As a city kid, I get a little uncomfortable in the vast expanses of emptiness the countryside represents. But parks? Parks are awesome. And this track is complete and utter post-picnic, on your back fluffy-cloud-watching music - like a long lost, unfinished Nick Drake outtake.

It's that beautiful.

Loose Fur
"Chinese Apple"

Masks

Because, sometimes, you can go back.

Howlies
"Angeline"

Giving thanks for the soul

It's Thanksgiving in America, a time of extravagant overconsumption as only the US can manage.

Here's some food for the soul to go with all that turkey and pumpkin pie.

Sam & Dave
"I Thank You"

Mayer Hawthorne hearts that vinyl sound

The old-school 60's soul influence is impossible to ignore, but Mayer Hawthorne adds a deadpan, dry humor you wouldn't expect from the genre. It's as if Curtis Mayfield had been a Brooklyn hipster.

It's really, really good.

Mayer Hawthorne
"Just Ain't Gonna Work Out"

Hips don't lie still

With rebuilt cumbia, a high-tech donkey cart, colors that push the bounds of brightness, and more than a passing nod to the 80's, damned if this track doesn't get me happy and bouncing every time.

Systema Solar
"Bienvenidos"



PS - The grammar nerd in me also feels obliged to point out that "system" is properly spelled "sistema" in Spanish. But only after the happy and bouncing part of me is done with the track.

It's bigger than be....bop....be....bop....be....bop.....

The original hipster (trademark pork pie hat and all), this is Lester Young and some classic, classic bop.

I likes me a good beat.

Lester Young
"Blues for Greasy"

Borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered 80's

Allows for reinvention.

Which is why this track can be very reminiscent of the original (non-Donnie Darko) version of "Mad World" and not actually sound a whole lot like it.

For your aesthetically crafted, fluffy-yet-dead-serious pop entertainment.

Friendly Fires
"Kiss of Life"

Dreams you've left behind

It's hard to mistake Casiotone for the Painfully Alone for anybody else - that offhand, growly-yet-pained voice, the downbeat complicated lyrics of somebody who thinks too much, the literal use of a Casiotone.

Juxtaposition that with footage of Disneyland in the 60's and I get a sense of lost ideals and dreams unfulfilled.

Maybe it's just me.

Hallelujah.

Casiotone for the Painfully Alone
"Optimists vs. The Silent Saints"

The first frontier: space

This starts off pretty slow and spacious, and then stays that way.

Because, sometimes, you just need to get your mesmerize on.

Anni Rossi
"Central Utah"

A man walks into a bar...

There are very few good storytelling songs anymore. (Outside of country music, anyway). I suppose then it's no surprise that there's more than a little country in there with the Neil Young, Van Morrison, Sam Cooke and everyone else mentioned.

The aftermath of a breakup can have some pretty far-ranging, unexpected consequences.

Roman Candle
"Why Modern Radio is A-OK"

You! Me! Icarus! Dancing!

It's always good to go dancing.

There are better songs to actually, you know, dance to, but this is an excellent take on the idea of dancing - which is quite odd, if you think about it.

The video retells the Daedelus and Icarus tale in a 1960s-PBS aesthetic. Quite well, too.

White Rabbits
"While We Go Dancing"

Love it or leave it or maybe both or maybe neither

Incomplete information sucks, in financial markets as well as matters of the heart.

I heard this and couldn't figure out what it reminded me of; it was a great surprise when it was the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, not because the sound wasn't similar but because it manages to be both darker and more solid on its footing. As such it's in a completely different mental category.

To my mind, a better one.

Giant Drag
"This Isn't It"

The Duke visits the Far East

I personally can't discern any influence from the "Far East." The fact that it's rather a classic, rainy-day-afternoon Ellington track is by no means a criticism. Classic Duke Ellington is good stuff.

Duke Ellington, et al.
"Isfahan"

Just add blanket

Low-production-value animation can look cute and endearing or just...bad. This is actually a good example of how to make a video using common household items, which works well with the low-fi, dreamy-honest yet confident quality to the track.

It's like staring at the ceiling late on a rainy night, wide awake for no reason at all, not nervous, not excited, just thinking odd thoughts with the knowledge that, while you are definitely going to be sleep deprived in the morning, the coziness is set to 11 in the meantime.

Shelley Short
"Time Machine/Submarine"

The thrill of it all

Imogen Heap doing "Thriller." No video. No way I wasn't going to post this.

Imogen Heap
"Thriller"

Holiday

There are times for thinking hard, for feeling things deeply, contemplating your own mortality and the choices that have led you to this point. There's a time to think about what you truly believe, what you're committed to, and what you would like to accomplish in your time on Earth.

And then there's a time for a holiday from all that.

The Eames Era never pretends to be more than a cute, warm and cozy way to decompress - all work and no play, etc. - but it achieves it quite well.

Kick back and take a load off - the world will still be here tomorrow.

The Eames Era
"Watson On Your Side"

Fascination

Synthpop that's a little light on the "pop" - as if Blondie had not been so much contemporaries of Sonic Youth and Talking Heads, but had grown up listening to them instead.

Interesting how the dynamics are almost like a jazz band, with the focus shifting from the voice to the synths to the guitar, with a final, definite full stop at the end. All that's missing is a drum solo.

Monsters Are Waiting
"Fascination"

Nostalgia for things you don't even remember

Madder Rose never got as big as, say, Mazzy Star, or Veruca Salt, or even Luscious Jackson. Those bands are quite nostalgia-inducing, so it was a bit weird when I heard this song recently and it inspired nostalgia though I'd never heard it before. You can't really say they were ahead of their time - this is a great track but it positively screams 1994 - but criminally overlooked, why-didn't-anybody-tell-me-about-them-in-1994?

I'll go there.

Madder Rose
"Car Song"

A theory of moral sentiment

I like this track a lot and I'm not quite sure why. Maybe it's because it manages to be tragic, wide-eyed, sentimental and not be ridiculous. Maybe it's that soothing, lullaby-like voice and the memories of when, as a young hopeless romantic, I kind of felt this way too.

Whatever it is, it's been running through my head all day.

Gregory and the Hawk
"Boats and Birds"

Can't buy me love

Even people who don't know much about jazz know about Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. You discover Sarah Vaughan is the next step - until I started looking into jazz, I'd never heard of her - and it's a good thing, like when you realize there are more types of wine than red and white.

You can hear the love in the voice on this track especially.

Sarah Vaughan
"I Can't Give You Anything But Love"
Live in Australia, 1965.

Pwned

Interesting study in point of view when you set up the lines, "Them dress up in a jacket and them dress up in a tie, want to deprive a man from my rights, them a murderer" to video game characters shooting each other. The whole video game gunplay thing might go better to, say, DMX, or Rob Zombie, or even Peter Tosh. Notsomuch this particular track, despite the title.

Said title being a most classic, classic reggae cut from the most classic, classic Barrington Levy.

Barrington Levy
"Murderer"

The revolution will be animated

Emphatically not creepy.

Taking the best parts of the Powerpuff Girls, Gorillaz and bright, happy colors in general, this is as good as cartoon escapist urban fantasy gets. It's always a good sign when there's so much happening you have to focus on either the music or the video (or concentrate really hard) to catch everything.

Check her website (note that the sound comes on immediately), especially if you speak French. It's quite colorfully entertaining.

DJ Missill
"Forward"

Underground

For some reason the track reminds me of the band dada from waaaay back in '94.

The video involves a gnome. Getting tied up. And then escaping.

Many a moon since Halloween and I still can't seem to let go of the creepy...

Cage the Elephant
"Back Against the Wall"

Elvis PSA

Nothing to do with Halloween/All Saints' Day/Dia de los Muertos/goth-related themes, but possibly the creepiest song released by the late Mr. Presley.

Which might very well explain why such a good song is so completely unknown.

Elvis
"Little Sister"

In the closet

And Halloween-All Saints' Day-Dia de los Muertos week ends today with a classic Louis Armstrong track that demonstrates Halloween-related songs have been around since the 30's.

Plus, dude, Louis Armstrong. That's respect right there.

Louis Armstrong
"Skeleton in the Closet"

Fear the reaper

You may have seen this before, and you've definitely heard this one before, but it's still creepy as all hell, which is what we're going for after all.

Blue Oyster Cult
"Don't Fear the Reaper"
From the 1994 TV miniseries version of The Stand

Oscuridad

Feliz Dia de los Muertos!

Projector are a band out of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon.

I don't know much about them other than that they sound a little like Caifanes/Jaguares and produced this awesome Dia de los Muertos video that manages to be simultaneously electric and dark, atmospheric and striking.

And the music is pretty damn good too.

Projector
"Bolero"

The living and the dead

I lived in Mexico as a young lad, and I have memories of the Day of the Dead - distorted and filled with more impressions than understanding, but powerful nonetheless. One of those memories is the smell of pan de muerto (which is more complicated to bake than I imagined, involving a long list of ingredients and fairly exacting directions) baking in an outdoor, wood-fired brick oven.

This song shouldn't spark those memories, but it does.

Jolie Holland's voice doesn't seem to worry too much about the presentation, focusing instead on making every sound an urgent expression of emotional intent. And it might just be the dialogue between that voice and the sound of the guitar - solid, grounding, connected to the earth - that gives the song its power. Maybe. It's hard to tell how much is the song and how much is nostalgia.

Dig the outfits - especially the nod to Frida Kahlo at the end.

Jolie Holland
"Mexico City"

I remember Halloween...

The prototypical Halloween song, against which all other Halloween songs are measured. Search for "Halloween song" in the dictionary and you'll find a link to this track.

Set to The Nightmare Before Christmas for your goulish pleasure...

The Misfits
"Halloween"

Zombies!

What's Halloween without a few zombies?

I still think that Scientist Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires is the most criminally overlooked Halloween album of all time. This is possibly because dub reggae pairs well with massive amounts of weed, and weed does not pair well with things that freak you out.

Not weed that packs any punch, anyway.

Scientist
"The Corpse Rises"

Resistance is futile

Before discovering Midnight Masses, I had no desire to create a tragic, gothic-tinged post-apocalyptic film about the slow extermination of the human race. Now, I want to make such a film so I can get this band to write the soundtrack.

Creepy as all hell. In a good way.

Midnight Masses
"Burial Song"
Daytrotter session video

The Halloween Spirit

I like Halloween. I like Halloween partially because it segues so nicely into Dia de los Muertos, which I'm also particularly fond of. And, in celebration thereof, the next week will be a celebration of all things creepy/creepy-crawly, undead, macabre and/or otherwise unsettling.

We begin with Danny Elfman's classic pre-Tim Burton band proving that an 80's sound is in no way incompatible with The Halloween Spirit. And Tim Burton animated features.

Oingo Boingo
"Dead Man's Party"

Loose, free, and just shy of OK

This track is pretty much the voice of Shilpa Ray. That voice evokes Nina Simone and all the old singers Amy Winehouse channels, voices emerging from whiskey, cigarettes and nightlife with a wry smile and a wealth of experience behind their eyes. This voice, I am convinced, has eyes.

The music almost seems too cheerful for this voice, like a well-meaning friend who just wants to help but, somehow, can't manage to. I figure an acoustic version might be a better match for this voice, but that's just picking at the nits.

And Shilpa Ray's voice is beyond that.

Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers
?

Out and about in NYC

Of course, "uptown" is Harlem.

Gene Krupa was the odd combination of swing band leader and drummer (incidentally, the guy that trained Peter Criss) but the focus here is Anita O'Day and "Roy" - her voice, his trumpet and their interaction.

All quite priceless.

Gene Krupa (ft. Anita O'Day)
"Let Me Off Uptown"

In the sun

The video is like something out of a Wes Anderson flick, the obvious flickering of home movies and that late-50s-to-early-60s combination of confidence and conformity.

The Daytrotter version of this track is acoustic, and the melody seems to flow a bit better on that version. Then again, the video's vintage style might fall a bit flat set to non-electricity, and that would be a shame.

I rather like that vintage style.

Bad Veins
"Gold and Warm"

Not from around these parts

I learned of the new Blitzen Trapper album through their Daytrotter session.

The first time I heard this song it was 6:57 AM-ish and I was coasting into downtown Houston, with the sun coming up through skyscrapers and the knowledge that it was 85-90 degrees outside. It reminds me of being dazed and not-quite-there in the Southern heat every time, a feeling the video captures beautifully.

Blitzen Trapper
"Black River Killer"

Hindsight is priceless

Self delusion can be problematic, and one gets the sense that Jenny Owen Youngs is no stranger to the consequences of excessive wishful thinking.

Thing is, I don't get the feeling that past experience is going to alter her behavior much. That's just not how it works with her, something most evident in the initial comparison of love to a tumor. After all, it's not like you choose to get a tumor, after all. (Yes there are risk factors and whatnot, but you never really CHOOSE-choose, if you know what I mean.)

Anyway, in a pop universe that tends to focus on melodrama and self-pity, this song is a wry, knowing, yet totally committed addition to the ocean of songs dealing with lovesickness.

And still manages to be quite funny.

Jenny Owen Youngs
"Fuck Was I"

Down on the river

As a city kid, I have an awkward relationship with the natural world. As a young lad I had mixed feelings about Tom Bombadil, the representation of nature in Lord of the Rings and the obvious source of the band's name, and not much has changed since then.

Thing is, oftentimes it's what we don't quite understand that proves the most fascinating.

Bombadil
"On The River"


This is good, but "Kate and Kelsey" off of the Daytrotter session is amazing. It just doesn't have a video.

Shine on, you crazy diamond

I like cities, they've been good to me.

You have to remember, though, that any city worth its concrete will always have something else you could be doing, somewhere, and sometimes that means you might overindulge. Oftentimes caffeine is involved. And then there you are, exhausted and trying to sleep but physically incapable.

It feels not unlike this.

Glass Ghost
"Like a Diamond"

Tripping

Amazing that this is a demo.

I've bounced around enough that I have a fairly complicated relationship with the concept of "home," but I imagine a roadtrip around California with 15 of your closest, most entertaining friends might sound like this, and would be a close approximation of the feeling.

This sort of music comes out of warm weather, wide open spaces and overflowing companionship, love and togetherness and a belief that, whatever happens, everything will work out for the best - the exact opposite of, for example, Bon Iver hunkering down in a cabin, in the north, by himself.

Not better, or worse, just different.

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes
"Home"

Love, and how it hurts

The subject matter is more telling than the delivery in this TV performance. They're presented in a coquettish, playful way but both of these songs are about betrayal and abandonment, and you get the feeling that Ms. Washington might now a thing or two about that.

Whether she killed a man or not.

Dinah Washington
"Lover Where Can You Be?/Send Me to the 'Lectric Chair"

Ahimsa

To remedy the relative dearth of reggae of late, here's a solid, classic cut with a nostalgia-inducing video to go with it.

I wonder if this is from a movie. Not enough, you know, to look into it or anything.

But still.

Prince Far I
"Throw Away Your Gun"

At least we've got our HEALTH

This is like the Freudian death drive & libido conflated and turned into music. Reminiscent of nights out at the DNA Lounge - loud & unrepentant beat-driven music, a few drinks, and an ocean of pretty people turned to the dark side.

Good times, good times...

HEALTH
"Die Slow"

Travelin' man

My favorite piece of music in The Red Violin is the traveling music of the gypsies as they made their way from continental Europe to England. No disrespect to the inimitable Mr. Pop, but the gypsies had much lust for life - there's an immediate exuberance in the music matched only by the hint of impending danger.

Not for those with an aversion to accordions or gypsy music.

Good stuff otherwise.

A Hawk and a Hacksaw
"The Man Who Sold His Beard"

Love

Sometimes things are notsogood - everything falls apart, the center (and the periphery) do not hold, etc. etc. etc. (Big love to Yeats).

Those notsogood days need songs like this, all light and optimism and warm fuzzy encouragement, the sonic equivalent of a good long soak in the tub.

And God knows we all need one of those every so often.

Sour
"日々の音色" (Hibi no neiro)

Down

Tanya Morgan is a group, not a person.

A group that makes smooth, agreeable hip-hop with the slightest of twists to keep things non-boring. This particular track has an every-so-slight old-style Motown edge to it, and the video has a clean and classic vibe.

Nice. Nice enough.

Tanya Morgan
"So Damn Down"



PS - Want to change your mouth? Yeah. There's an app for that. Not sure where they sell the straps though...

City streets

I like cities that have a street level - odd shopfronts, adverts for strange and amusing things, random people and their pets/costumes/eccentricities. San Francisco, Buenos Aires, not to mention Mexico City and Bangkok all have good street level living. Houston does not, and it's something I've been missing.

This track by Pipas sounds something like the oddly contented bastard child of Belle & Sebastian and the Stone Roses.

The video, unsurprisingly, features a city at street level.

Pipas
"Riff Raff"

Brave New World

Happy Columbus Day! Feliz Dia de la Raza!

Tito Puente is best known as "el Rey de los Timbales" but this proves he was a mean hand on the vibraphone as well.

In a moment of boricua pride, I feel obligated to point out he was a proud New York-born-and-bred Puerto Rican (he passed away in 2000).

Brave New World that has such people in it indeed.

Tito Puente, et al.
"Tema a Maria Cervantes"

A cause without a rebellion

The way that The Sounds are trying to channel Blondie in this video actually had to be pointed out. Probably because the sound is very un-Blondie.

Another song I should probably find a bit too poppy and commercial-as-in-advertisement to enjoy, especially as the rebel mission seems more along the lines of Pink than, say, Bikini Kill.

But I like it for some reason.

So here you go.

The Sounds
"Song With A Mission"

Don't forget to smile

I discovered Mia Riddle through her Daytrotter session and have been transfixed by this song for the last couple of days. So much so that I felt compelled to post two versions of it. It speaks to hope in the middle of overwhelming exhaustion, of love while things slowly fall apart. I can relate to that.

Mia Riddle
"Grandchildren"

Fired up

Yeah, I likes me some cello.

The song is so grand, so full of purpose and has so much weight that it's a bit odd to see how Ms. Madigan gets into the performance, a kick and some headbanging thrown in with her gruff vocals.

All in all, though, this song is just dying for a cinematic sequence of landscapes, romance and high adventure, complete with accents, period costumes and swordfights. As in, more than one.

Bonfire Madigan
"Lady Saves"

Loess is more

This sounds like a Boards of Canada outtake.
Yes, it's that awesome. And, yes, it's that awesome in that particular way.

Given the grainy, black-and-white old-school air force footage I find it works best viewed tired as all hell late at night, alt-Tabbing back and forth between the video and the news.

(Though I think that says more about the news of late than the video.)

Loess
"Nomon"

Subtlety

You'd expect hardcore politics and a lot of anger from a hip hop performer named "Ayatollah," but the tunes are more Thievery Corporation than Dead Prez, more of a call to awareness rather than revolution.

Maybe that's the point, appropriating the term so it becomes less powerful, kind of how "queer" is no longer "strange" but "gay." If so there's still quite a ways to go.

But, hey, a journey of a thousand miles and all that, no?

Ayatollah
"Listen"

Killer ladies

Out of sync, but we're here for the music, right?

Classic track from the mid 90's Britpop/shoegaze/etc. scene. The music has actually held up quite well, much more so than the fashion.

I can see Be Your Own Pet doing a cover of this...

Lush
"Ladykillers"

Cab Calloway PSA

Kind of like "Reefer Madness" except intrinsically good (instead of so-bad-it's-good) and with a go-for-broke syncopated rhythm to boot.

Come to think of it, only vaguely related to "Reefer Madness."

Cab Calloway
"Reefer Man"

Mizu

It's hip hop, true, but leave it to a Japanese MC to come up with a track both positively adorable and decidedly not ridiculous. The Hello Kitty of hip hop, if you will, except with way more street cred.

Just downright happy music, with happy cartoons and a happy ending, and the world needs more happy music, right?

Shing02
"Love You Like Water"

This song has one word

You don't expect subtlety from a band called "The Gits." Nossir, this here is nothing more and nothing less than straight-ahead punk-rock mayhem.

And running at 1:38, it doesn't even need a video.

The Gits
"Drunks"

Radio and music

Although this band was featured in the Marie Antoinette, the film, I missed them at the time because I didn't get around to seeing it.

For me this is like the dark electric shine The Cure, The Smiths and Joy Division gave to the 80's.

Except shorter and bittersweet-er.

The Radio Dept.
"The Worst Taste in Music"

"Petros" means "rock"

And, yeah, the degree to which Pete Rock does, indeed, rock is not small.

The video editing is pretty basic, but we're all about the music here, right?

And there's no denying Pete Rock's skill in putting together this moody-yet-upbeat instrumental hip hop track.

Were I an MC I would create some words for the track, maybe a story about jazz-happy vampires in 1920's New Orleans, or maybe Prohibition-era bootleggers in Harlem. Something dark and old-school.

No rush, though. It stands quite well on its own.

Pete Rock
"Smooth Sailing"

You & whose "Army"?

Often, live tracks on youtube have a very distorted, incoherent quality to them.

Not this one.

Yes, on one level it's just a remake of "Army of Me" in a lounge/bossa nova style. What sets it apart from, say, the majority of Nouvelle Vague tracks is that the singer actually seems to believe what she's singing. That is, this is what happens when the singer connects with the lyrics and pulls them inside before letting them out.

With most excellent results.

Grisbi
"Army of Me"

Like some cat from Japan

I said to myself, "These guys are from Japan" after five seconds the first time. I was wrong - it turns out they're from Tulsa - but they've got that same washed-out, high-pitched, odd-to-gaijin-ears take on music and high-intensity, vibrantly colored, oddly cute dancing images in the video.

Plus the track is called "I Am a Pony."

Not from Japan. But still pretty awesome.

The Lava Children
"I Am a Pony"

Background music. In a good way.

Sometimes you just want to listen to something quiet and nonabrasive, warm & cozy for a lazy afternoon.

Y'know?

Bill Evans
"Waltz for Debby"

Again & again & again & again

A most revealing quote about Oneida is the one that goes, "...the use of repetition that easily outstrips the patience of most casual listeners." It's true, but I likes me a good beat.

A slight amount of noise, but a beautifully simple organ line provides the support for a lovely, lovely track to grow.

The video is fascinating but always makes me a bit tense. Now, this may be intentional but I never watch the damn thing because I've got enough tension in my life.

Don't you?

Oneida
"The Adversary"

Mexico City, maybe

There's a hospital called ABC (American British Cowdray) in Mexico City. You can also see the volcanoes on a clear day.

Good enough for me.

A nice dance-oriented indiepop sound as well, though I'm less fond of the vocals. Somewhat reminiscent of that classic LCD Soundsystem track "Losing My Edge."

Good enough for me.

Supersystem
"Born Into This World"

Booty-shakin' beats

From Africa, no less. (It's the Angolan flag at the end, but they speak Portuguese in Angola, not French, so I don't know).

The cerebral side of me is fascinated by the different elements and influences in this song - reggaeton, of course, but also elements of Brazilian popular music and West Indies steel bands.

The less intellectual side of me is bouncing around singing, "Kuduro, kuduro, kuduro..."

Lady S. & Kuduro Sound System
"Danse avec moi, kuduro!"

It ain't what it used to be

Returning to a classic 70's sound, imagine a good 'ole boy moving to California from Alabama and slowly becoming more and more aware that he doesn't quite belong there, and that he won't quite be at home back home anymore.

And then writing a song about it.

Or maybe I'm just projecting - I tend to feel displaced in Texas.

Good song at any rate, emotional lyrics, fuzz, swirling organs and all.

Crystal Antlers
"Andrew"

Details, details

Some mashups rely on the juxtaposition of their component parts (ie, The Beatles vs. NIN; Nelly vs. Lynyrd Skynyrd) for their effect.

Sometimes, however, mashups focus on demonstrating how the certain songs echo each other, intentionally or not.

Which is the case here.

The Beatles vs. LCD Soundsystem vs. The Kinks (FAROFF mashup)
"The Brits are Playing at My House"

Piano man

He's right, it sounds a little classical at the beginning and at the end.

Though the heart & soul is the playing and playing around that comes between.

Oscar Peterson Trio
"You Look Good to Me"

Honeymoons

Romantic disillusion is not exclusive to straight people, and in this track Stephen Merritt manages to to be emotionally true to the feeling without falling into melodrama.

I don't post about politics much because, hey, this isn't the space for it. But this was just too delicious to pass up.

The Magnetic Fields
"I Thought You Were My Boyfriend"

Knowledge is power

Leonard Cohen & The Man From UNCLE.

One word: classic.

Leonard Cohen
"Everybody Knows"

Hail Haile

The enthusiasm of Tiwony on this track is remarkable even by dancehall standards. This rhythm-based track manages to be quite catchy despite my inability to understand anything other than "Selassie."

The images of Selassie are actually quite interesting; the images of Tiwony are (sadly) more run-of-the-mill.

In the end, though, it averages out to an excellent track.

Tiwony
"Sélassié"

Old vs new

Some fairly solid lounge featuring a lovely young lady in a most becoming, classically-inspired outfit. And a creepy robotic arm.

I was a big fan of robot sci-fi as a young lad but have since become more likely to party like it's 1909, so it's a combination that works quite well for me.

Production techniques have progressed since this track was made, so the autotune-like element to the voice is a bit done, but the rest of the music has held up quite well.

FC/Kahuna
"Hayling"

If it ain't broke....

Sometimes I put up a video in spite of the actual video.

This track by i am jen is warm and smooth, bubbly yet cool, with intimate yet disengaged vocals. This track I like.

The video is a Christian message about how your life is incomplete without Jesus, and manages to be a bit too earnest and clumsy for my tastes.

But the track I like.

i am jen
"Broken In All The Right Places"

Motor city reverb

This song has been bouncing around in my head for a few days, and I've increasingly wondered why nobody's ever heard of Slumber Party. (Note the lack of the definite article).

They're from Detroit and shot this video in its downtown district. While I vaguely recognize some of the locations, the family I have in the area is scared to go downtown much. Except my aunt, who's an house call nurse and travels with an armed guard to some neighborhoods.

Who knew echo-drenched resignation could be so downright warm and fuzzy?

Addictive, too.

Slumber Party
"Electric Boots"

Definitions

Epistrophe: n. /ɪˈpɪstrəfi/ Repetition of a word or words at the end of two or more successive verses, clauses, or sentences.

One of the greatest songs by Thelonious Monk, by any jazz musician, by any American musical performer...

Thelonious Monk
"Epistrophy"

Sunday in Texas

Screw diamonds, in Texas a girl's best friend is a shotgun!

It's interesting, however, that this (admittedly quite striking) young lady seems timid and languid juxtaposed with such a fiery, defiant song. Just goes to show you really can't tell anything from hair color.

A pretty good song, as country songs go.

Miranda Lambert
"Gunpowder & Lead"

Pretty things

Equal parts smooth, menacing and regretful, it kind of sounds like Placebo about to pass out from sheer exhaustion.

But in a good way.

Never seen the film Layer Cake. Maybe I should.

VAST
"Pretty When You Cry"

Interlocking pieces

If Godspeed You! Black Emperor are pop/indie/post-rock/whatever leaning towards the orchestral, then this particular track by hard-to-classify Arvo Part seems to be reaching back from the other side of the line. Though it also brings to mind Debussy, all loose & diffuse.

There's no change to the image but it's so intricate you can spend a lot of time looking at the details and how they fit together.

Arvo Part
"Festina Lente"

Nod your head

If you don't at least nod your head while listening to this, you officially have no soul.

Excellent beat-centric music from Cape Verde.

Ize
"Soku na rosto"



(BTW, among the least intrusive uses of an accordion that I've heard - maybe I just spent to much time in Mexico...?)

Speed

The video is much less interesting unless (and this seems really unlikely) you know this Gabi Pescada individual personally. (IMHO the problem isn't the top so much as the back pocket on her jeans....)

The track, however, is some solid electro, splitting the difference between Le Tigre and Ladytron with less dissonant glitchiness than you'd expect from Chicks on Speed.

Though there's still plenty of glitchy dissonance to go around.

Chicks on Speed
"For All the Boys"

Fight!

If I had a better computer I would make a video for this song using old 1970's kung fu footage. (Though, admittedly, it would have been hard to improve on the images at 3:30-3:33.)

Keytar or not, they sound like a band that would be amazing live.

Woodhands
"I Wasn't Made For Fighting"
Heart Attack

Workin' hard for the money

Yes, it's Labor Day in the USA, and this is a song about work.

Cannonball Adderley was also part of the Kind of Blue sessions and a classic jazz heavyweight in his own right.

(Seriously, some good jazz in this here track.)

Cannonball Adderley Sextet
"Work Song"

Castles in the sky

Through the distortion, the voice is saying "la cocaina no es bueno por tu salud." Both this health warning about cocaine and this video are on the the line between over-earnestness and self-parody. Which is only appropriate for a band with a She-Ra derived name. That is, a bit of thinking is required to discern whether it's parody, nostalgia, or both.

So it's good that excellent programming and production work on the voice are self-evidently quite nicely done.

Crystal Castles
"Untrust Us"

A morality tale

The song is proof that bleepy, synth-happy video game music can be vibrant and joyful; the video is 30's animation meets The Sims meets Where's Waldo with a most disturbing twist at the end. Which might involve social commentary. Or maybe not.

Anyway, not bad for two-and-a-half minutes.

Sportsday Megaphone
"Meet Me in the Middle"