![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I is for I Talk to the Wind
Apr. 10th, 2012 07:58 pmOpus III's Mind Fruit is a wonderful techno album that doesn't nearly get its due. Most people know the first single from this album, It's a Fine Day, but it's actually the second track from the album that sold me, mainly because they took an old folk-prog King Crimson song from 1969 and turned it into an awesome, blissed-out trance track. I've always been a bit choosy with my electronica, but this one is great from start to finish. Singer Kirsty Hawkshaw can now be found in all sorts of other electronica releases from Hybrid, Delerium, Ulrich Schnauss, Tiesto, Orbital, and more.
H is for Hole Hearted
Apr. 9th, 2012 05:26 pmWhat can I say? Even though I was completely obsessed with the Britpop sounds of 1990-1991 (less so with the Seattle sound, aside from Pearl Jam), I still enjoyed the straight-ahead RAWK of a lot of mainstream bands like Extreme. These boys rocked it out on their second album Extreme II Pornograffitti, and this is probably my favorite track off it. And yes, as a matter of fact, that is Cam Neely and Lyndon Byers from the Boston Bruins jamming along with them in Boston's South End!
G is for Got the Time
Apr. 7th, 2012 04:04 pmAnthrax? Wow, who'd have thought I'd post an LA punk/metal band? Seriously, this is a kickass cover of a Joe Jackson track that really does it justice. The original is fast-paced as well, but apparently after hearing this version, he ended up playing it live at blistering speed as well. One of my favorite cover songs.
F is for Fanfare for the Common Man
Apr. 6th, 2012 06:40 amThis piece kills me every time. Aaron Copland is an absolutely brilliant composer that never fails to move me deeply.
On a lighter note...
Emerson Lake and Palmer's version is a hell of a lot of fun too. I'm not sure what possessed them to play to an empty stadium in the dead of winter, though... :p
E is for Elegia
Apr. 5th, 2012 08:54 amI've been a big fan of 80s-era New Order since first hearing "True Faith" on 120 Minutes. If you happen to listen to some of the songs I recorded alone or with
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
head58 between 1988 and 1992 for the Flying Bohemians, you'll definitely hear their influence in terms of melody. A sort of repetitive phrase down below, with a solo melody up top, with the whole thing starting quiet and building up to something much bigger...only to fade back down to normal at the end.Peter Hook was also a big influence on my bass playing...once I saw their video for "Perfect Kiss" it occured to me that I too could use the bass not just as a rhythm instrument to hold down the low end, but I could also play it as a solo instrument as well.
This is the full version of a track that's on their Low Life album (that version is just shy of five minutes), and was finally released a while back, first as a track on the bonus cd of their Retro box set from 2002, and then later on the Low Life remaster in 2008.
You might remember it from the scene from Pretty in Pink as well, when Duckie has to face some harsh truths about love and friendship.
D is for Dear Mr. Salesman
Apr. 4th, 2012 08:23 amI have a weak spot for Shibuya-kei...Japan's twisted and goofy take on French Yé-yé, Esquivel and lo-fi electronica is silly and fun, and immediately makes me think of the cheesy-yet-catchy j-pop soundtracks you'd hear in 80s anime, with a little bit of Breakfast at Tiffany's thrown in for good measure.
Plus, the fact that he samples Jonathan Winters here is awesome enough. :)
C is for Charlie Big Potato
Apr. 3rd, 2012 06:17 pmA criminally underrated band, Skunk Anansie had a kickass album in '99 called Post Orgasmic Chill with this song as the first single and leadoff track. Lead singer Skin is on my list of female singers that completely blow me away. They also reunited after a long hiatus, releasing Wonderlustre in 2010.
[Some of you may also remember them from "Selling Jesus" off the Strange Days soundtrack as well.]
B is for B-Line
Apr. 3rd, 2012 05:55 pmI loves me some Lamb, and I was absolutely thrilled that they reformed and came out with a wonderful album last year. This track is from their extremely quirky Fear of Fours on which, interestingly enough, nearly all the songs avoid a 4/4 time signature. [Also: that "PWONG" sound effect you hear at the end of this video is actually the entirety of track 4.]
A is for Amanaemonesia
Apr. 3rd, 2012 05:46 pmOkay, you talked me into it. I'm joining the A to Z Challenge blog meme, but kind of bending the rules. Instead of posting my own video, I'm doing something very typical of me: music.
For the month of April I will be posting songs I like--all-time favorites, odd tracks that one may not know, or songs that get stuck in my head.
Today's is a track by Chairlift:
This song has been stuck in my head since it came out a few months ago. :)
For the month of April I will be posting songs I like--all-time favorites, odd tracks that one may not know, or songs that get stuck in my head.
Today's is a track by Chairlift:
This song has been stuck in my head since it came out a few months ago. :)
Scintilla Day 8: Simple Pleasures
Mar. 23rd, 2012 08:26 pmIt doesn't take much to make me happy, I'm an easy-going guy. Hand me a plate of Italian food. Bring me to the local sushi boat restaurant. Drop me off at a record store and let me go hog wild. Feed me some chocolate--preferably white or dark, or with cherries inside. Serve me a malted milkshake. Let me spend hours in a bookstore.
And of course, these never fail to make me happy...
( ...and further proving I am five. :) )
Cartoons are always the simplest and the most fun pleasures for me. :)
And of course, these never fail to make me happy...
( ...and further proving I am five. :) )
Cartoons are always the simplest and the most fun pleasures for me. :)
You worship the thing that goes MOO!
Sep. 1st, 2011 07:39 pmAs is the usual with YouTube, I was looking for something else and found this gem:
Think Tree is one of the first bands I saw at a club when I went to Emerson in Boston, these guys were AWESOME to see live. They're of course a bit laid back here because they're on Dutch TV, but they put on a wild and funny show when they were in Boston.
For those not familiar with the band...it's very similar to Nine Inch Nails' Pretty Hate Machine, only instead of it being dark and dire, it's a bit...well...odd and maybe even a bit nerdy. Definitely check out their two albums (eight/thirteen and Like the Idea) if you happen upon them!
Think Tree is one of the first bands I saw at a club when I went to Emerson in Boston, these guys were AWESOME to see live. They're of course a bit laid back here because they're on Dutch TV, but they put on a wild and funny show when they were in Boston.
For those not familiar with the band...it's very similar to Nine Inch Nails' Pretty Hate Machine, only instead of it being dark and dire, it's a bit...well...odd and maybe even a bit nerdy. Definitely check out their two albums (eight/thirteen and Like the Idea) if you happen upon them!
Currently on my playlist
Jun. 1st, 2011 06:38 pm(Or if you're curious about the real band, another video here.)
KFOG has been playing this quite a bit lately...the album's a few years old, but they've been pushing One eskimO since they're currently on tour. All the tracks on the album are also part of a cute animated mini-movie as well. Well worth checking out.
(And yes, that is the old Candi Staton song they're borrowing. :) )
[rts] 1987, Part 2
May. 22nd, 2011 08:24 pmAnd now for the second half of the year!
( They told me bring something new, please let me pull something through )
So yeah...like I said in the previous post, the more I do research on Walk in Silence, the more I'm realizing just how important some of the major hits and albums from the mid-to-late 80s became in this genre's history. I should post some other years at some point, just for fun!
( They told me bring something new, please let me pull something through )
So yeah...like I said in the previous post, the more I do research on Walk in Silence, the more I'm realizing just how important some of the major hits and albums from the mid-to-late 80s became in this genre's history. I should post some other years at some point, just for fun!
[rts] 1987, Part 1
May. 22nd, 2011 07:25 pmFrom past experience, I know a lot of you have heard me go on excessively about how much I love the music from 1988...but lately, while working on my research for Walk In Silence, I've found that while many of the classic alt-rock albums of the late-80s came out that year, there were quite a number that had come out the previous year as well, many of them being "seminal" or at least classic. I figure, why not do a retrospective video post? As like before, these will be in chronological order and under an lj-cut so as to not crash your browser.
( Learn to love me and assemble the ways, now, today, tomorrow and always )
[Part 2 coming next]
( Learn to love me and assemble the ways, now, today, tomorrow and always )
[Part 2 coming next]
Cool 80s Song of the Day
Dec. 11th, 2010 07:22 pmMan, talk about an abundance of that 80s arm-swing dance!
I used to love this song back in the day, it just ROCKED. Hearing it now, I can't help but think that Living Colour owes a tremendous debt to them (in fact, I think singer Corey Glover has in fact given them a shout-out in the past). Goofy, pro-American and pro-blue collar (yet not quite Reaganesque, come to think of it), and a hell of a lot of fun.
More Music Video Fun
Oct. 16th, 2010 08:23 pm1) OK Go totally has the viral video market at their beck and call at this point.
2) Trained dogs in the video? Sure, why not?
3) Am I the only one who started singing "I'm not your lover, I'm not your man, I am something that you'll never comprehend..." throughout the song? :P
I've been on a serious Damned kick lately, interestingly enough. I think it started when I was perusing my collection of 1987 tracks and came upon my copy of The Light at the End of the Tunnel, their career-spanning compilation that my friend Eric lent me back in '88. There's some well-known tracks on there like "Love Song" and "Wait for the Blackout". It didn't have head58's favorite "Jet Boy Jet Girl" (yes, they still do it live!), but that track was the impetus for me to buy Another Great Record from the Damned at Al Bum's in Amherst (I'm pretty sure I bought it there...it may have been Main St Music in Noho though).
They've had a very interesting history, with way too many lineup changes (including the departure/reunion/departure/ad nauseum of one of its major songwriters, Captain Sensible), as well as its change in sound from punk to goth punk to Sisters of Mercy-esque goth to poppy punk and back again. Not to mention that singer Dave Vanian is now married to Patricia Morrison (ex Sisters/Gun Club and my inspiration for Cassandra in Love Like Blood).
Thankfully I've found most all of their stuff via the internet, because it's hard as hell to find their stuff in stores aside from the odd compilation. Most of their 1976-1987 discography has been released in expanded editions so I was lucky to find most of their stuff. They're definitely worth checking out.
I've always liked this particular track, originally from Phantasmagoria:
In fact, I taught myself that opening on the keyboard pretty early on (on the harpsichord setting, of course--that's the only way it'll sound right).
Or one might know their great cover of Love's "Alone Again Or" from Anything:
This one popped up on one of my Untitled compilations in '89, and got me interested in the band Love (well, them and Hooters' great cover of "She Comes in Colors").
The song that got me into this present kick:
"Curtain Call" (from their experimental Black Album but also found on the CD and cassette version of Tunnel) was very odd for them to do at the time, very experimental and epic at seventeen-plus minutes, but I've been listening to this repeatedly lately. Great track. Think of it as what it would sound like if they'd done a cover of Pink Floyd's "Echoes". ;)
And of course, I had to share a song they wrote specifically for The Young Ones, from probably the funniest ever episode where they rent a "video nasty":
Definitely a classic band to check out if you have the time and patience to find their stuff.
head58's favorite "Jet Boy Jet Girl" (yes, they still do it live!), but that track was the impetus for me to buy Another Great Record from the Damned at Al Bum's in Amherst (I'm pretty sure I bought it there...it may have been Main St Music in Noho though).They've had a very interesting history, with way too many lineup changes (including the departure/reunion/departure/ad nauseum of one of its major songwriters, Captain Sensible), as well as its change in sound from punk to goth punk to Sisters of Mercy-esque goth to poppy punk and back again. Not to mention that singer Dave Vanian is now married to Patricia Morrison (ex Sisters/Gun Club and my inspiration for Cassandra in Love Like Blood).
Thankfully I've found most all of their stuff via the internet, because it's hard as hell to find their stuff in stores aside from the odd compilation. Most of their 1976-1987 discography has been released in expanded editions so I was lucky to find most of their stuff. They're definitely worth checking out.
I've always liked this particular track, originally from Phantasmagoria:
In fact, I taught myself that opening on the keyboard pretty early on (on the harpsichord setting, of course--that's the only way it'll sound right).
Or one might know their great cover of Love's "Alone Again Or" from Anything:
This one popped up on one of my Untitled compilations in '89, and got me interested in the band Love (well, them and Hooters' great cover of "She Comes in Colors").
The song that got me into this present kick:
"Curtain Call" (from their experimental Black Album but also found on the CD and cassette version of Tunnel) was very odd for them to do at the time, very experimental and epic at seventeen-plus minutes, but I've been listening to this repeatedly lately. Great track. Think of it as what it would sound like if they'd done a cover of Pink Floyd's "Echoes". ;)
And of course, I had to share a song they wrote specifically for The Young Ones, from probably the funniest ever episode where they rent a "video nasty":
Definitely a classic band to check out if you have the time and patience to find their stuff.
