Archive for the 'Music' Category

Cursing Music

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008

On my recent drive back to Canada, among the many other good things that happened, I had a chance to be reminded why I love Etta James singing Damn Your Eyes so much.
Here, you have a listen, and it should be obvious why that is:

As I was listening to it, I got to thinking that [...]

Under The Covers, Up On Youtube

Sunday, June 29th, 2008

Remember back in May 2007 when I mentioned my pal, musical genius Danny Michel was planning to co-host a radio show for the CBC with his pal Emm Gryner? (If you don’t remember, click back and refresh your memory)
Well the pilot for that program aired quite a while ago, but it did get picked up, [...]

Robyn Tuesday

Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008

This post is in honour of my old pal Roach, a real fegManiac, and my pal EBOC1 who is about to have his first Robyn Hitchcock experience.
I’ve got about a half-dozen Hitchcock albums, mostly from the 80s and 90s. I think I might have had one or two before Roach started campaigning heavily in favour [...]

Officers, in offices, being official.

Saturday, May 31st, 2008

Look, if you know me, or you’ve read this blog for any length of time, it should come as no surprise that I am a huge Tom Waits fan.
I dig Tom’s music of course–hell Hold On is probably my all time favourite song, and he’s probably got a dozen at least in the top hundred, [...]

If you like the arty, breathy, female singers…

Thursday, May 29th, 2008

…like Kate Bush, or Tori Amos, or Bjork, you may like Bat For Lashes. They’re new to me this week, following a pointer from Emma Bull. Me, I like those artists1.
Plus, the videos on Youtube are pretty great. Check these out:

well, I would pretty heavily qualify in time my Tori appreciation…(back)

Lazy Post: Wednesday Night Music

Wednesday, May 28th, 2008

That’s my favourite Montreal blueswoman, Dawn Tyler Watson, performing her song “Hey Hey”, the lyrics of which inspired the title of her album Ten Dollar Dress. (I found her because I saw the album on a wall once, and the title more or less forced me to buy it.)

There’s not a lot of pop music with this inspiration

Friday, May 2nd, 2008

That’s the video for the World Party song Is It Like Today?.
The reason it’s here: it’s explicitly inspired by, and intended to be a precis of, Bertrand Russell’s History of Western Philosophy.
Lyrics after the jump:

Grateful Thursday

Thursday, May 1st, 2008

I am totally having a Grateful Dead day today, and I feel motivated to share with you all.

Annotated Lyrics: Scarlet Begonias, Ripple, Uncle John’s Band, and Tennessee Jed. The other track, Me & My Uncle, is a cover.

Rokia Traore: Nothing to do with superstrings

Thursday, April 24th, 2008

A few years ago I picked up a Rokia Traore album. I’m not sure what the impetus was–probably I was looking for another hit of the same kind of musical whammy that I got from Orchestre Baobab’s Pirate’s Choice, so I was exploring African contemporary.
Let us cut a long story short and say that I [...]

Just as plausible as any other theory I’ve seen

Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008

I like the latest “why the recording industry is in the tank” theory from Esquire this week–it’s not the same old piracy or consumer selectivity or even “end of format shifting” arguments, but instead a simpler economic argument. I have no idea whether or not it’s any more true than any other, but it seems [...]

Say That I Was Foolish, Say That I Was Blind…

Monday, April 14th, 2008

…NEVER say that I got left behind.
I have not been here, because I have been driving ridiculous distances around North America to visit friends and to see the Oysterband live (third time!)
I think I had an idiot grin on my face for about six hours after the show.
I will be discussing this at length at [...]

It’s Here!

Monday, March 31st, 2008

And boy, is it good.

The Great Song Of Indifference

Sunday, March 30th, 2008

One of my favourite music videos of all time, for Geldof’s second-best song.

The woman playing the bodhrán–the one with all the stage presence of a bass player–scares me. A lot.

Tom Waits For No Man

Thursday, March 27th, 2008

Why not?
More details at the YouTube page–here’s the first bit, but there’s much more:
Performed for us live (at the La Brea stage in Hollywood, 1978), and rotoscoped - a process that traces back the live action frame by frame and turns it into animation. The original live action was shot with 5 cameras - 2 [...]

It Might Surprise You

Sunday, March 23rd, 2008

And now, for a nice long weekend diversion, a selection of songs with a common characteristic: people seem to be surprised that I really like them.

First up we have Dino. This might surprise people who know me a bit, since I’m really not a lounge type of cat. It might surprise people who know me [...]