HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Bobby 'Boris' Pickett is responsible for THE greatest halloween song that is, was, and ever will be: The Monster Mash! I wonder if he ever gets tired of hearing/performing this? Well ghouls and goblins, have a frightening celebration tonight. Here are a few more spine-chilling tracks for you and your ghosts. Click and enjoy!

I Put a Spell on You - Creedence

The Twilight Zone - The Ventures

Red Right Hand - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Witch Doctor - Sha Na Na

SpoOky - Dusty Springfield

Lord Quas

I've never been one for hip hop or rap, but one dude (excluding the dudes in De La Soul and Slick Rick) changed my mind on the subject. That dude is Madlib or Otis Jackson, Jr. or The Beat Konducta, Quasimoto, Lootpack, Yesterdays New Quintet, etc. He's got a lush, wise sound that I was hesitant to enjoy, but ultimately he was impossible to resist. The man pumps out more music than maybe any other artist, and I can't help but admire the passion and drive. The two songs I'm sharing with you don't feature any rap, but they do feature some sweet beats and mad blunted jazz. First is Anthenagin? set to a goofy cartoon. And second is Slim's Return where you can see the man turning the tables. Anthenagin? is under his Beat Konducta name while Slim's Return is from the Madlib moniker. & If you've never listened to this sucka, you're in for a treat. I just want to know one thing, how does one person smoke so much weed?

Music to Start a Cult To

Precisely what Gram Rabbit's first album was titled and set out to do. The trio hails from the deserts of southern Californ-i-a, offering a spooky & salacious sound. Just in time for Halloween. I really love the whole album and the follow up, Cultivation. The song is Dirty Horse.

Greetings

Hey, you know what this song is like? Finding a good waltz partner (elusive, exclusive and rare). Let's do the dance, Wild Beasts, spin me to the edge and whip me back. I'll twirl like a damsel in distress, sailing across the room with my head thrown back while you mutter to me, This Is Our Lot. Then I'll open my eyes to kiss you only to find myself dancing alone.

Bitchin'

This beautiful poetess looks like a smattering of Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger and the Wicked Witch of the West. She's wicked alright. Wicked awesome. Here she appears on the Old Grey Whistle Test performing her song Horses and Hendrix's Hey Joe. Patti Smith, you're the bitchin'ist bitch of all time.

Dining at the Ritz

I got your song of the day here right here. It's hot and ready. Good Old Fasioned Lover Boy by Queen. Yippee! It was their 4th single ever released. Let's hear it for glam rock!

Sunday

Yes, it is Sunday. The song of the day is She's the One by Beta Band. Don't hack my lastfm account. That is all. 

So Long, Japan!

So, my avid readers, it's the last day of Japanese studies. It's been fun. I've laughed. I've cried. I even sweated a little. I said I'd give you a taste of nu-jazz, so here it is: the band is Sakerock and the song is 慰安旅行(I can't help you with the translation). Check out the zootsuits.

But that's not all. No no. The final song of the day is by Champloose who are a Japanese folk band that formed in the 1970s. It's not the prettiest song you've ever heard, but it sounds like John Denver to somebody. John Denver at Disneyland. Oh and the song title, god only knows...喜納昌吉＆チャンプルーズ / 憲法行進曲

渡辺貞夫

Above are the Japanese characters for Sadao Watanabe. He plays the saxophone and is one of the musicians responsible for keeping jazz popular in his country. The western influence of jazz came into Japan in the 1930's and its presence is still felt. Stay tuned for tomorrows look at nu-jazz. Saxy jazz isn't my favorite, but anyway, the song is Pastoral from the 1992 album Round Trip. So here he is, wailing away on the alto.

Flash Forward

So two days ago I posted 2 forms of ancient Japanese music. Today I'm posting 2 much more modern, electronically based musicians. The first is DJ Krush (Hideaki Ishi) with a song off his 1995 album Krush (full of jazzy soul elements). The song is Roll & Tumble and it is bad-ass enough to make any Harajuku girl throw her panties on stage. Another great song featuring a female vocalist from the album is Keeping the Motion. 

And secondly we have mista Cornelius (Keigo Oyamada). He's been called the "Japanese Beck." His album Point from 2001 is an easy listen through and through. I can't get enough of it. One of my favorite songs features the theme from the movie Brazil. But you can listen on your own. The second song of the day is Another View Point which you can watch below.

声明 & 雅楽

I missed yesterday because I was sick as a dog. I shirked my responsibilities. Deal with it. So today I have what I believe to be the oldest form of music in Japan. Shomyo is a Buddhist chanting song method that dates back to the year 710. Pretty amazing that this kind of song is still being performed.



This next song comes from the gagaku style (meaning elegant music) and is also about 300 years old. This ancient form of orchestral music is equivalent to what we would call classical, using mostly wind, string and percussion instruments. Here is a link to some gagaku recorded in 1941.

Konichiwa

Today marks the first day in a world music series. My goal is to do a week of music from a different country once a month. So, without further delay, welcome to a musical exploration of Japan (日本 )! From the land of the rising sun I found a not-so-politically-correct titled band for the first day: Yellow Magic Orchestra. I think it's safe to say they have a sense of humor and their music is SUHWEET. It varies from ambient to a sensational krautrock-disco. The song (with video below{with technology ahead of its time, of course}) is called Technopolis. Like the German electronic pioneers of the 70's, these 3 dudes were also on the forefront of new and amazing music. The tech[pop]nicians are Ryuichi Sakamoto, Yukihiro Takahashi and Haruomi Hosono and they got together in 1978.

Enjoy the video and also check out their fantastic live album from 2008 Gijonymo (although that features some new musicians). Sayonara for now.

Clap a ton

Swing Low Sweet Chariot is a song that was originally a spiritual number dating way way back to 1909. Here we have Eric Clapton's version. Turn it up loud!

Beef

Captain Beefheart. Van Vliet. What a character (and what an artist)! Perhaps one of the most self-contained musicians to ever grace this earth. The man had a mission that was entirely his own and he stuck with it. Once you taste the beef (his blues &beyond), you really can't turn back. You're a beefheart forever. He was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley along with pal/contender Frank Zappa. Both are creative inspirations to me, in that they remind me of the limitlessness of boundaries. Soooooo, here be the song: Orange Claw Hammer by Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band. Be ye warned, madness ensues.

"The stars are matter, we're matter, but it doesn't matter."

And here we have a long, low quality video of Don Van Vliet on Letterman where he appears less abrasive and intimidating than I would imagine.

Ow!

Don't worry, that wasn't an "Ow!" like "Ow! A bear just bit me!" It was more of an "Ow! This guitar is hot!" And that's not hot like "Oh shit! I burned myself!" It's hot like "Damn, you hit some hot notes, Robert Plant." Now that you're speaking my language, you can speak The Police's. And don't give me some crap about how the lead singer is named Sting so you're not listening. I know, it's foolish. But the music is not. So at long last, here is The Bed's Too Big Without You by The Police.

I will eat you alive

For those of you in Los Angeles, may this song match the rainy day mood. It does for me. And if you watch the video, it is slightly unnerving, so if you're not looking to be unnerved, only listen. From 2003's Hail to the Thief, here is Where I End And You Begin by Radiohead.

So Long

Rilo Kiley, indie gods and goddesses, contributed an excellent song to my blog today, and they did it just for me! Not really, but it is excellent indie goodness and it's called So Long. Wait for Jenny Lewis' (minus the Watson Twins) circus like ditty at the very end.

Violent Femmes

Violent Femmes present to you Add It Up. One of the most sarcastic singers alive, Gordon Gano is on the edge of annoying in this live performance, while still remaining raw and kick-ass. The song is from their debut self-titled album released alllll the way back in 1983.

Move it

Ready for this 7+ minute tune? Metronomic Underground by Stereolab is what I call boss. It's spacey and atmospheric (get it?) and most of all, groovacious. It makes me want to dance in a mod muzak lounge with all my hip, warholish friends. Stereolab has been around since 1991 and the song is from Emperor Tomato Ketchup (1996). It's a fully layered and slightly dub inspired album that never strays far from it's 60's pop roots. get it.

Hear here!

Hokay, so. GRrrrrrreat song today. Hope you can handle another oldie. If you don't like oldies, fuhgetaboutit. This blog has integrity, dammit. We stick to our old oldies. We're having fun on a friday night and we're not apologizing to the 7 readers. The opening theme from The Third Man starring Orson Welles (who believe it or not was once a sexpot {and that link is one of the all time best}) is called simply The Third Man Theme. It is played on the zither (pictured above) by Anton Karas who also wrote it in 1949. It stayed in the top charts for eleven weeks in 1950. Haven't seen the film and I ain't about to watch the whole thing on youtube. Maybe I'll rent it. How do you like it, kids?