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: Read more →
Category: Music
Grateful Thursday
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. Read more →
Rokia Traore: Nothing to do with superstrings
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 enjoyed the album, and… Read more →
Just as plausible as any other theory I’ve seen
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 just as plausible. Here’s the… Read more →
Say That I Was Foolish, Say That I Was Blind…
…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 some later… Read more →
It’s Here!
And boy, is it good. Read more →
The Great Song Of Indifference
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. Read more →
Tom Waits For No Man
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 high, 2 low… Read more →
It Might Surprise You
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 better even more, since… Read more →
New Danny Michel: Preorders Open Tomorrow
Here’s the press release: PRESS RELEASE – MARCH 05/08 DANNY MICHEL GOES BACK TO HIS ROOTS WITH HIS 1st INDEPENDENT RELEASE SINCE 2001 Taking the reigns firmly into his own hands, a new reenergized Danny Michel is proud to announce “Feather, Fur & Fin”, his first 100% independent release since 2001. Sprinkled with tubas, full horn-sections, glockenspiel, harmonicas, synthesizers &… Read more →
Monday Misc. Music
To help me get through another annoying Monday, I have composed a short playlist of five songs that I like, which bear no relationship to each other whatsoever. Additionally, I am reasonably certain that anyone reading this will most likely not have heard any of these songs, and I can state with some certainty that no one reading this will… Read more →
En Passant
I’ve got a three-year-old arriving in half an hour, and I’ve got a remote controlled car that I’ve just assembled, so I don’t have a lot of time for blogging today. Let’s see how many of my 20 or so “quickies” I can get through, in passing, before she gets home… Recent experiments with Hemmingway‘s recipe for Death In The… Read more →
Anticipation
Please allow me to present several things that I am quite looking forward to. First up is the new album from Danny Michel. This should come as no surprise to anyone who reads this blog at all regularly–I hardly hide the fact that I’m pretty much a fanboy for Danny’s stuff. However, reading some of Danny’s announcements about the work… Read more →
Flat out of sight, totally together…
A while back I discovered that my wife somehow managed to grow up without seeing any of the Kurt Russell Disney mad-science-at-college movies from the late Sixties and early Seventies. So, I added the movies to my Zip queue, and while I was in Australia the first one, The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, arrived. So we watched it earlier this… Read more →
Freestyle Friday
And here you have: My favourite Clash song when considering performances by the Clash. (I.e. I’d rather hear the Clash perform this than any other song. But, I’d still rather hear Danny Michel do Lost In A Supermarket.) Warren Zevon‘s Hollywood tragedy. I love a song with a story, especially if there’s enough vagueness to allow me to make up… Read more →
