Kutiman- Mother of All Funk Chords

Alright, I assume this is one of those things I'm the last person on the internet to see, but this is pretty fucking cool. There's apparently a bunch of these (an album, maybe, I don't know), which are basically just good shit off youtube pieced together very well. Anyway, here you go.

Delorean - Deli

I was considering going with one of the many (oh so many) terrible youtube videos/songs that I have been watching and giggling at lately, but I will maybe save some of those for another time. Besides, school starts back for me tomorrow, so I feel more like just listening to Delorean a lot today.

KRS-One - Sound of Da Police

You should know something about me: I cannot resist songs about how much the police suck. NWA's classic, of course, and also Public Enemy's 911 is a joke, but today let's focus on KRS-One, mostly because this week he announced that he's writing a hip-hop religion bible, as in a bible of the hip-hop religion, and we should remember that beyond being completely insane he's a really good rapper. The angle he takes in this song, one I really dig, is that modern day police "officers" are outgrowths of the plantation's "overseer." He has a pretty wild way of making this argument, but that is just the man KRS-One is, and I love him so much more for it. Enjoy.

Gary Numan - Down in the Park

First of all, I don't really care about this song. I mean, it's okay I guess, it's about robots or something. A little proggy for my taste, with the keyboards and the pyramids. Plus, it's fucking Gary Numan, the "Cars" guy, a person whose entire career now consists of having Joel Stein make painfully unfunny comments about him on those VH1 countdown shows (there was one on the other night, which is why I was thinking about this in the first place.)

No, I posted this for two reasons. One is, the popup video for "Cars" had one popup where it said something like "Gary's current hobbies include flying his airplane and right-wing politics" which I still think is pretty damn funny. And two, there was the one character in Maniac Mansion who was supposed to be a New Wave artist and whose look was obviously based on Gary Numan and his band.

Besides, not everything on here has to be great - we should explore the vast, rotted underbelly of the music business too (you should have seen the first song I had planned, consider yourselves lucky.)

David Bowie - Space Oddity (1980 version)

This outtake from Scary Monsters (the one with Ashes to Ashes) is one of my favorites. It's a sparser self-cover with more feeling, and I like it better than the original.

A Musical Survey of the World's People

It would be remiss of me not to return with a post detailing some of the music I encountered in my two weeks abroad. So here now for your pleasure is a three-song set of the best (worst?) of what I heard. I don't think I need to tell you that this whole exercise is dedicated to the resplendent Lewis Michael Beesley.

Hurra Torpedo - Total Eclipse of the Heart

This is without a doubt the best appliance-core cover by a Norwegian band of an '80s pop song that I heard in my entire trip.



Los Colorados - Hot 'n' Cold

We don't have to move too far afield to get to our next number. The best part is that they're all from Ukraine.



Horkýže Slíže - R'n'B Soul

It's Slovaks ... rapping! I don't want to say these guys are enormous in Europe, but this particular song inspired at least one out-of-focus LEGO music video. Embedding is disabled; watch the original video here. And, yes, all Slovak women are that hot ... until age 30. Then they all look like this.

The Records - Starry Eyes

It's Lou! It's me! I guess I should stop skipping my turn occasionally. Will a little 70's pop make it better?

The Antlers - Two

While uninspired and lacking the will to be redundant (I recently bought Matt & Kim's Grand and yeah... it's one of those albums I don't want to get rid of.) I decided to try something different. And just click on something I'd never heard of.

I was pleasantly surprised. Never mind I can barely understand the first stanza. That's why googling lyrics exists. (Fuck you, Bing.) I guess it's pretty obvious I'm smitten at this point.

... It's no help that the song, after reading the lyrics, is pretty much her story.

De La Soul- Eye Know

Corny as fuck, and 20 years later, still pretty much the shit.



A couple other things.

First, a sort of awesome (in a bizarre sort of way) ukulele cover of the track, which is what led me to posting it today.

Also, completely unrelated, Only Made for Cuban Linx II is apparently coming out soon, and you can see the video for the first single here. Produced by Dilla, featuring Inspectah Deck, Ghostface, and Meth...so, pretty cool, for those into that sort of thing.

Cass McCombs - Dreams Come True Girl

This song has been slaying me recently. The chorus is basically on a constant loop in my head.

M.I.A. - Paper Planes

This one might kind of be a cheat. I am not posting very much about the song in particular, which can be heard in its excellent fullness here. I have been thinking about this specific use of the song a lot lately, and I think it has been used for evil under the following circumstances. Usually, a trailer is much, much worse than a movie. Here I am thinking of the idiotic trailer to the otherwise fantastic Children of Men.
ANYWAY.
The following movie trailer contains what is in my opinion one of the best uses of a song I've seen in recent movie trailers (I see them a lot, and also this isn't THAT recent). I went to see the movie, and hoped against hope that it would be as good as the trailer, and I was sorely disappointed.
But you cannot beat this trailer, I really believe this.

Mike Watt - In the Engine Room

So we're doing some sort of nautical theme to close out the week? I can work with that. Here's the opener to legendary Dad Guitarist Mike Watt's it'll-be-recognized-as-a-landmark-album-in-30-years magnum opus Contemplating the Engine Room. If you're going to make a concept album you'd better have a damn clever concept, and Watt does, using his father's background as a Navy man as a metaphor for the life of a punk rock band.

Brian Eno - On Some Faraway Beach

God Lives Underwater - From Your Mouth

A day late, but I figured I'd contribute right all up on top of Tyles' just cause.

I was severely confused by Aaron's post a couple weeks ago, so I held off on my suicide post (two fellow Marines I knew personally in two years now) and went on leave. Now I've transcended to this thing. I was drawn in by the original video of a guy un-eating stuff that doesn't want to be embedded here, and it's the only non-sappy song I listen to these days because I've been emasculated by a love interest two thousand miles away.

Goat.



Not the hot dog guy.

Floating Action - 50 Lashes

(Somewhere in Hungary.)

Miles Davis- So What

(Today's the 50th anniversary of the release of Kind of Blue. Sort of obligatory.)

Clint Mansell - Together We Will Live Forever

Have a peaceful day, everyone.



I love The Fountain's end credits.

Queen - Seaside Rendezvous

Now, obviously, nobody on the fucking planet has every rocked like Queen rocked. This is indisputable. But here's what I really dig about them: their performances were so rooted in English stage tradition. Freddie Mercury really always sort of saw himself as a pre-vaudevillian, a music hall performer. Their album titles A Night at The Opera and A Day at the Races are obvious throwbacks to the Marx Brothers films of the same title, but they actually are intended to throw back to the way these movies were made, the comedy bits honed through repeated stage performance, and tempered with musical numbers like an old music hall show.
That is all to lead into Seaside Rendezvous, which, along with In Good Company and a few other songs I can't remember off the top of my head, falls into the genre of "songs Freddie Mercury wanted to perform onstage sixty years before his band was formed." They're all really terrific, and have more to do with what Queen was trying to do musically than even Bohemian Rhapsody. Totally fun stuff you guys.

Nick Lowe - Rollers Show

Here's the Jesus of Cool paying his respects to the Jonas Brothers for some reason.

The Feelies - Two Rooms

Today, the Feelies, from our dear departed Dave's favorite album, The Good Earth. Another Harddrive Game success story.

The Go - Yer Stoned Italian Cowboy

(Somewhere in Slovakia.)

Jean Ritchie - Careless Love

Freshly returned from my musical sojourn, my journey through the hinderlands of music near lost to time and disinterest, I return to bring attention to the very beating heart of American music craft. Jazz? Bah, I think not. I speak, lovingly, of Folk.

Unrequited love is pretty much the gift that keeps giving, isn't it? A peaceful song about flashing a little cleavage is just a bonus, really.

The Clash- Washington Bullets

Why not? Dedicated to Deke. Or something.

Notorious BIG - Juicy

A little late with this post, I will just resort to 90s nostalgia.

Erykah Badu - Next Lifetime

Not a lot to say this week (you're welcome) but here's this:

Matt and Kim - Good Ol' Fashion Nightmare

These guys were featured on the AVC this week and I really like this one. Some of their songs are good, some are okay, but they have a seemingly boundless energy which is incredibly infectious. So, since Aaron is always bitching that we don't post enough new music, this one is for him.

Mekons - Hole In The Ground

I got to see the Mekons twice this weekend, and someone has posted a couple songs from the "acoustic" set Friday night.




Plus bonus consecutive novelty song:

Horkýže Slíže - L.A.G. Song

I managed to make my first trip to Slovakia in January of 2003, in the few-weeks span when this song, by a Slovak pop-punk band, was blowing up the local charts. The experience, my first night in town, seeing a hundred young Slovaks packed in a bar, singing along to this, coupled with my newfound celebrity as "the American," was surreal. You'll never guess what the L.A.G. stands for (OK, probably you will). And, truly, the video is worse than I imagined.

This song became something of an anthem for my times in Slovakia; I post it today to mark my next trip. My friend, Jan (as in John), is getting married. I'll be gone from Aug. 7-24, starting in Bratislava for the wedding, then wandering south into Hungary, to Budapest, then back north into Vienna. I'll try to schedule a couple of posts for while I'm away; if I don't, please don't kick me out of the blog.

Bob Dylan - Paths of Victory

It was everything I could do to not post William Shatner's efforts on "Rocket Man." Don't ask. I'm sure you can figure it out.

But I wanna take care of this before I hit the sack.

My acquisition of "Watchmen" (thanks a lot for making me obsessed), its soundtrack, and doing all the research possible to figure out exactly what "The Times" was trying to say when he recorded it led me to what is to follow, but first...

I got promoted this morning. I am now a Corporal of Marines. Any of you familiar with the rank structure of USMC should be aware that this is where actual responsibility starts, and the "junior Marine don't know nothin'" excuse goes out the door.

And this is a direct quote from someone asking me what it's like to be a Corporal now:

"I've had my gripes about the Marine Corps, but I have them to thank for at least allowing me the opportunity to feel I've done something in life."

(Next formation run, I might turn this into a cadence.)

BDP- My Philosophy

With the $16 video.

KRS' new album, Survival Skills, should be coming out soon. It's a collaborative effort with Buckshot, who did a track called "How Many MCs" when he was in Black Moon, which sampled this. /random shit

Yo La Tengo - All Your Secrets

So I've been listening to the newly leaked YLT record and I don't think I like it as much as I Am Not Afraid Of You..., but I like it pretty well. This is a cute little song that most of you will hate, but it is a lazy Sunday afternoon and this song makes me feel happy.





(And there will be more Yo La Tengo related stuff next week, most likely, so y'all are not out of the woods yet.)

Felt - Breaker Down Like a Shotgun

I didn't plan on posting pretty dirty rap songs two weeks in a row, but sometimes you can't anticipate what will happen, you know? Anyway, like seven years ago this dude I used to know sent me a comic book by Jim Mahfood, who I got pretty into. I found a comic book he'd written illustrating various songs by a rap duo Felt, of whom I hadn't heard. I read the comic book and bought the duo's two albums, which are basically really worth listening to. Here's my favorite song from their second album, Felt: A Tribute to Lisa Bonet (the premise of the albums is they are meant to be mini-rap-battles to attract celebrities' attention -- the first one is to try to attract Christina Ricci). Anyway, enjoy: