Les Taxis au Paris

My experience with Paris is limited, but I can understand how somebody could have deep love for their city similar to that felt by New Yorkers, Londoners, cariocas or chilangos. Any resident of any big city, really.

Everything you'd expect from 80's new-wave synthpop - the hairstyle, the synthesizers, the style - except in French.

Taxi Girl
"Paris"

Oaklan', mano

Los Rakas are of Panamanian heritage, currently residing in Oakland; you can see the flag of the former and the streets of the latter throughout.

While the video is a tad silly in its mannerisms, it's in that same awkward, overly enthusiastic teenaged manner, before everything gets so complicated.

The underlying track, by contrast, is quite complicated, with the best use of flute before Invincible and a beat that splits the difference between reggaeton and hip hop. Which is what happens when you are of Panamanian heritage currently residing in Oakland.

Be proud of where you're from. Wherever that is.

Los Rakas
"Mi Barrio"

Lullaby of Bird, Andrew

We all know Andrew Bird rocks like a mountain range; no need to get into that. This is almost 8 minutes of Birdy bliss with some appropriately low-fi animation to go with it.

Beautifully beautiful.

Andrew Bird
"Lull"

It lives...

Remember psychedelia? The messed-up, colorful WTF? of the 60's, arguably most permeated into pop culture by Magical Mystery tour?

It lives. Apparently in Pennsylvania, where Black Moth Super Rainbow do their thing with an Air-inspired electronic sound and with much of its innocence gone by the wayside.

Black Moth Super Rainbow
"Sun Lips"

Could just be me

A Mexican band bringing a lush full sound with a definite dubstep beat and quite the imaginative video.

It's not exactly inspiring, it's not exactly introspective (it's not exactly a lot of things).

I could see the video being a series of first dates, with no idea how it all turns out.

RH+
"You Could Be Me"

Super Mario world

This video doesn't showcase the awesome virtuosity that Franco was capable of on the guitar, but trust me, this is the awesomeness Vampire Weekend is aspiring too.

Now including late 80s/early 90s outfits, coming to a hipster near you in about 5-6 years.

Franco Luombo
"Mario"

Greenland

Here's something you don't hear everyday: "My name is Nive. I ‘m an Inuk, a real eskimo from Greenland. Seriously. I play music, mostly on my little red ukelele and with some help from my friends."

This song of hers, "Room", is on a music compilation I've been listening to. I always liked the homely feeling of the song, but never cared to look her up. As it turns out, I was interviewing Giselle Webber last Sunday and she said she had collaborated with her. Nive recorded part of her album in Montreal and worked with a number of great local musicians, including Alden Penner from Clues. Small world.



stat!

What's up, Doc?

Before there was Dr. Beat, there was Dr. Jazz.

Woody Herman is classic swing/big band leader - funny how he seems to not know what to do with his hands until he picks up the oboe.

Woody Herman
"Get Me Doctor Jazz"

It's all right in Sweden

Yeah, there are obvious Vampire Weekend-like African guitar influences, but with a sense of humor. A deadpan Scandinavian sense of humor, extra-dry, yet innocent.

It's all right.

Elias and The Wizzkid
"Mr. Right Guy"

Go, go, go!

Original rockabilly, Carl Perkins was the guy who actually wrote and recorded "Blue Suede Shoes." Heard tell the Beatles got a hit out of this one but it's a rougher sound than the four lads from Liverpool, very much in keeping with the image.

Carl Perkins
"Matchbox"

Z to the A

Malaysia, of course, was part of the British Empire once upon a time, leaving a residual level of English.

Which is no doubt why Zee Avi can have fun going back and forth between Malay and English in this ever-so-cute track with her ever-so-lovely voice. A translation of those parts not already in English is here, but it's much more interesting this way, I think.

Zee Avi
"Kantoi"

Drama! Courage! Arm wrestling!

So the video is a bit silly, what with the power-tripping arm-wrestling fantasy and all, but at least they're well aware of it all. (A gorilla costume is a clear indication a video doesn't take itself seriously.)

The song itself manages to strike a good balance between drone and a beat, melody and dissonance. It's like a theme song to a remake of a cheesy 80's movie written as a collaboration between Queens of the Stone Age and Bon Jovi.

Epic video win, brothers and sisters.

"All Your Wars Are Won"

Big hearted

Last time I posted South African hip-hop, it was in Afrikaans and I had no idea what the MC was saying. This time, the flow is in English, and it's good - honest and open-hearted without bordering on the melodramatic, relentless without being aggressive at all.

Cheesiness aside, it's good to listen to your heart.

Proverb
"Heartbeat"

Take me, take me to the riot

As a proud nerd, I find a pop band named after the Venetian Republic referencing the riots at the premiere of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring most bracing. Especially when you throw in those outfits. It's edifying to think that people once cared about the representation of art enough to riot over a complete disregard for the conventions of classical dance. As opposed to, say, because their soccer team won/lost.

And before you cry, "Decemberists," The funny thing is that beyond a little dissonance at the beginning, there's nothing objectionable at all in the music - it's all sugary-sweet, silk-smooth indie-pop. Instead, I'm going to cry, "Stars."

Know anybody that's offended by Stars?

Me neither.

The Most Serene Republic
"The Men Who Live Upstairs"

Infrastructure

There's a lot to respect about Gil Evans in addition to his work with Miles Davis. He was as much an arranger, conductor and bandleader as a pianist (in this video he's the guy in front conducting), laying a lot of the foundations and structure for what came later. Infrastructure is one of those things that you don't notice until it starts falling apart.

Listen.

It's so solid, you can almost feel the steel and concrete.

Gil Evans Orchestra ft. Miles Davis
1959 session

Some things never get old

As previously mentioned, Senor Coconut is a German guy who spent some time in Chile, where he was inspired to create a mambo tribute to Kraftwerk. He hasn't looked back since.

Here he takes on the classic featured-in-that-VW-ad Trio song "Da Da Da" with the help of some classic-Bond-inspired, scantily clad vintage babes.

Happy Valentine's day, y'alls.

It's good to be the Coconut.

Senor Coconut
"Da Da Da"

Another

Zero flash, zero frills, zero pretensions, this song is the music equivalent of a hole-in-the-wall place that only does one thing - tacos, say, or noodles, possibly kebabs, depends on where you are - but does it solidly and in a manner that satisfies.

Patrick Porter
"Wait for Another"

Escape-goat

Claymation is more than A-OK in my book.

This is the sound of a person with a big heart resigning themselves to something less than ideal.

Thanks to Daytrotter for turning me on to the dreamy, spacy, almost-surreal-but-not-quite sounds of these here The Heligoats.

The Heligoats
"You Win"

Alone, together, xtatic

I'm not sure when a video about "learning how to be alone" is set to a track that is all but guaranteed to make the dancefloor explode unto joyful chaos, convincing everybody to look into the eyes of your friends as if to say, "This song is full of shit. You are not alone."

That's one take.

The other is to say that, yes, we are all individuals, but we are all individuals together, right here, as the dancefloor erupts.

Another track best heard out of speakers bigger than you are.

Crystal Fighters
"Xtatic Truth"

That 80s-60's sound

Yes, this is a band from the 80's that was inspired by the sound of the 60's.
As such, it sounds a hell of a lot like the bands these days that are inspired equally by the 60's garage sounds and the more streamlined 80's sound.

All you'd need to do to make it hit-ready nowadays is speed it up a bit, but I kind of like it slow and grinding like this.

The Stems
"Tears Me In Two"

Happiness is a warm pulse cannon

This is how you do happy in Scandinavia - with full awareness that things might not be so good in the future and a hefty dose of comical wanton destruction.

Plus any video that gives respect to Space Invaders gets my respect right back.

Royksopp
"Happy Up Here"

Swing sweet, low countries

Rita Reys is the grande dame of jazz in the Netherlands. Her occasionally noticeable Dutch accent works like a slightly-off beat, adding a nice little twist to the clean, expressive voice and the understated, solid performance by the band.

Slow, sweet and mellow, just the thing for spending a rainy afternoon in an Amsterdam coffee shop, or even coffeeshop for that matter...

Rita Reys
"Waltz For Debby/Green Dolphin Street"

Che

Once upon a time in San Francisco's Chinatown, there was a young lady that expressed strong interest in acquiring a cheongsam. Said young lady looked so fabulous in it I would have immediately purchased it her, had finances permitted.

This same young lady has a birthday today, and has expressed a preference for upbeat music, possibly involving a banjo or a mandolin, and this video makes me smile long and deep every time as well as featuring that same style of dress.

Che, this one's for you, and the dress I'll get for you one of these days...

紅庭 (Red Chamber) and The Jaybirds
"Katy Hill"

B to the r, the o, the ok, to the lyn is the place where I stay

To be fair, Mos Def was probably not thinking about Bensonhurst. But, yeah, I'm finally back from my Philadelphia orientation and settling in, so even if the MC is Brazilian, the video is 100% Brooklyn courtesy of the mad talented Gadja Monteiro.

"Tambor" means drum; I like drums.

Marcelo D2
"Meu Tambor"

From Gandja Monteiro on Vimeo.

How not to die

I don't post classical music much, but it seemed more than appropriate as yesterday I was (finally) able to attend a performance of Rimsky-Korsakov's Sheherazade, which has been one of my favorite classical pieces since I was a kid.

Everybody pretty much knows the story of the 1,001 nights and the value of a good cliffhanger ending, we'll let the San Diego Symphony provide the introduction.

I'm just going to say that solos don't come much more lyrical than this, especially with the violin.

And I'd like to thank my new friend Jen for making it all possible...

Moscow Symphony, Arthur Arnold conductor, Elena Semenova violin solo
Rimsky-Korsakov "Sheherezade, First Movement: The Sea and Sindbad's Ship"

Film editing: good for something after all.

Once upon a time (call it 1953) there was a classic musical by the name of The Band Wagon, featuring (among others) Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse. One of the scenes was so brimming with awesome that it served as an inspiration for Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal" video.

And then somebody took that song and edited the footage from the original movie to fit it:

Michael Jackson, ft. Fred Astaire & Cyd Charisse
"Smooth Criminal"

Nonpolitic

First off, it has to be said: the name is kind of...tacky. I mean, it's kind of like the guy who chose the name Ayatollah - there's a certain amount of eye-rolling and, "Bloody hell, not this nonsense again."

Terror MC is from Cape Flats, South Africa; this is all in Afrikaans, so I have no idea what he's saying, but it's the mark of a good MC that he keeps your head nodding even if you have no idea what he's saying.

The underlying track appropriating classic Barrington Levy with a nicely balanced mix of bass, classic drum machine sounds, horns and strings doesn't hurt, too.

Freedom. I'm a fan.

Terror MC
"Liberate Yourself"

Analog is bliss

You can read all sorts of things into the fact that Analog Girl is from Singapore. The nerd in me would note how the notoriously controlled Singaporean environment might have influenced a girl growing up.

Thing is, with a driving-yet-diffuse beat and an offhand, almost dismissive melody with a trace of a mischievous smile, that part isn't in charge when I listen to this.

Analog Girl
Live at Bliss, Taipei

Jazz, Getz, you, "Nowhere"

Stan Getz is best known for his bossa nova, especially the album Getz/Gilberto with Tom Jobin as well as Jao Gilberto and his wife Astrud. Their version of "The Girl from Ipanema" in particular.

This is him in 1960 before all of that went down, showing that warm, smooth tone didn't come out of nowhere.

Stan Getz Quintet
"Out of Nowhere"