Design team, THE CURRENT SEA, makes far out GIFS and videos and graphics. These ones, as you can see, are neon-colored kaleidoscopes. Warning: you may start drooling if you watch them for too long. Before the droolathon commences, you might want to distract yourself by visiting their website where you will find other groovy artistic offerings and can also information for how to employ them to make a GIF logo for your start-up, techventure.io.
Whooaeeowwwwwww, pretty colors. Peace and love, ze.
Ah, the long tradition of pop songs giving instructions, then providing sound FX to imply that yes, the instructions have been followed. The greatest of these songs is the Shangri-Las' "Give Him a Great Big Kiss," obviously. Mwah! At the bottom of the barrel, you'll find massive turds like Tony Orlando's "Knock Three Times."
Maybe it's just her accent, but I'm down with this glammy jam from Bonnie St. Claire. Life is meant for living, so do what Bonnie would do, ladies: lace up your man-stompin' boots and go break a few hearts!
Here's the vid. Bonnie and the boys hanging out in some factory. Looks like a good time!
Dance party!
Water Fountain was a barn burner, and after this second strong single from her upcoming album Nikki Nack, I'm outta-my-mind excited for Merrill Garbus's next release. At some points, the bass reminds me of 80s Nintendo samba.
Song of the day! Not everything has to be a deep cut. I've been spiraling down the G-funk rabbit hole this afternoon after listening to William Onyeabor all morning.
Another great release from David Byrne's Luaka Bop label. This African beat pioneer / cowboy brings the grooves that dreams and babies are made of. Plus, get ready for some unchained P-funk Moogiteering around the 5-minute mark. An unnecessary covers album of his stuff was released for Record Store Day. Why listen to Hot Chip do these jams when the originals were such hot shit?
Y'all ready for Record Store Day? Thinking of lining up with a bunch of collector-types to buy the 2,725th early-70s Grateful Dead live triple-album? No?
Not much for me in this year's offerings, but Rough Trade is releasing a few of its compilations on vinyl. These could be pretty interesting for someone looking to get into, say, African blues or psychedelic Bollywood. Of course, their stuff is usually on streaming services, and I'm not sure there's much sonic value added in buying the vinyl (can't find info on their wax mastering process).
So enjoy this African dance track. Does this count as "disco?" Sounds a lot like a Franco et l'OK Jazz song with a bit of thippy Moog. Either way, it's an ass-shaker.
Are you a rowdy ranger? A true cowboy? A Rrrrriot Grrrrl? If so, you may or may not dig this maximalist tune from the shoutier dude in Animal Collective. And if you listen closely, you may detect some odd remnants from late-90s white-boy hip hop (minus the simulated DJ scratching). Kinda got that chant/sing thing going on at about 0:44, like the Beastie Boys if you're being generous, or like Chumbawamba if you're being an asshole.
Backhanded compliment? Maybe! Pleasurable track? Definitely!
Major riffage! The boys from Killing Floor are here to kick your ass right outta town, or maybe they'll just pants you in front of the club and steal your date. And you'll like it, you sicko.
Get your morning started with something totally stoopid! Here's an inconsequential little ditty from Lee Dorsey. It ain't Ginuwine, but it still grooves. I came to this party for the occasional goose-honkin' sax and the cut-rate gunshot FX. Sadly, the washboard promised in the photo doesn't make an appearance.
Legendary Samba diva Clara Nunes fills this crowd-pleaser with all the indicators you'd want from a peak-era Carnaval jam (probably because she helped define that sound). There's something about this type of heavily-panned stereo mixing that gets me going as well.
WHAT TIME IS IT!? Unh!
It's the weekend, everyone! Sure, the rival band from Purple Rain gets all the credit for this funk-gasm, but you know this jam is 100% Prince. I could listen to the entire eight minutes over and over again.
And I do.
Over. And over. And over.
Sometimes you feel like a nut! Sometimes you feel like TWO nuts! Enjoy some proto-metal from the legendary Sir Lord Baltimore. Get weird to the primal guitar, the rippin' bass, and the demented bark / spastic skin-thumping of John Garner. Essential listening.
The long-haired straight-forward rocker dudes in Denver band the Knew make up, "the Garage band everyone wishes they had the balls to form." Their music attacks your eardrums with horn sections, fuzzed-out guitars, synthesizers, layers upon layers of drums and guitar. It's fun, gritty, and fuzzy-loud ... a load of buckshot in your tailfeathers.
The Reflection of You from Bear In Heaven's synth/rock/pop/indie/dance/electro-amphibious album I Love You, It's Cool is rhythmic, textured, and satisfying. The more you listen to it, the better it gets.
The Reflection Of You. Taken from our 3rd album "I Love You, It's Cool" due for release on April 3rd 2012 through Dead Oceans / Hometapes
Hootin' and hollerin' from the man with the "twangy" guitar (quotation marks always included). This one's got Lee Hazlewood's greasy fingerprints all over it.
Fairly self-explanatory, and pretty much exactly what you'd expect it to sound like.
I'll be posting a few good ol' tunes today that are based around vocal ejaculations. Ooooh! Aaah! So here are The Fireballs, doing their thing.
Good ol' Mingus. This great track kicks off a great album with a great title, Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus. It's got that swing for sure, but the best part of his compositions is how they always seem on the verge of falling apart. Hell, some of them do fall apart. I'd be interested in hearing a Reinhardt / Grappelli combo take this one on, if only to exploit the minor-key forward-thrust that makes this tune so easy on the earballs.
Here's a swingin' track from Jacqueline Taïeb, one of those yé-yé girls who finds a brief resurgence every now and then, most recently after Francoise Hardy appeared on the Moonrise Kingdom soundtrack. This one sounds more like Ocean's Eleven / Mark Ronson. I dig the delay on the horns, and the singing is smooth and confident. Am I in love, or is it tinnitus?
