Songs That Might Otherwise Pass You By

HALLOWEEN EDITION

Brad Sucks, "Fixing My Brain"

Okay, so it's not strictly a Halloween song, but every time I hear it I imagine Frankenstein singing it, and then I laugh, and laugh, and laugh. This is a great song, and what makes it greater is that the musician obviously isn't in it for the money. While you can buy his music (higher quality), you can also download it for no cost. How awesome is that?

Website
Myspace


Brad doesn't suck, though his name says he does

Brobdingnagian Bards, "Monster Mash"

I absolutely love this band (despite the fact that I can't pronounce their name and I had to copy & paste it here). I first heard them at Dragon*Con two years ago--I didn't see them live, though. I just happened to see one of their CDs while I was looking for Emerald Rose (another excellent band) merchandise. I thought the CD Songs of the Muse looked promising, so I bought it, and got two free "Real Men Wear Kilts" bumper stickers. Since I have no car, I put the sticker on a notebook.

More information on the stickers here

I loved the CD so much I listened to it every day for months. I was quite psyched to see them this year at D*C, but little did I know I'd accidentally see them perform before I had a chance to actually go to one of their shows! I went to a live taping of The Signal, the world's premiere (it's true!) Firefly/Serenity podcast* . These two musicians were there just walking around taliking to people. I could tell they were musicians because they said they were, and they had instruments. I thought it was strange that they were at a podcast for a T.V. show, but more unusual things have happened at Dragon*Con. Anyhow, to make a long story no shorter, one of the musicians started talking about kilts. I excitedly started pointing at my notebook with the sticker on it that says "Real Men Where Kilts" (I get overly enthusiastic at Dragon*Con). The musician seemed happily surprised that I had that sticker-- I just thought "wow, that dude really likes kilts". It wasn't until they introduced themselves that I realized they were the Brogdingnagian Bards. How cool! I also didn't know they did filk songs, but I know now, and here's a cover of a filk song from before there was a name for filk songs.

The bards have licensed the song CC (Creative Commons). Please read here to see which CC license they're using. It's important that we abide by the CC licenses if we ever hope for it to become mainstream like the All Rights Reserved copyright. (By the by--I'm not making any money off this, so I consider myself to not be using this for commercial purposes).

*look at the last picture, 2nd row, but in the middle. That's me in the black shirt. Eric is the one looking trapped beside me. I don't see the Brobs in this picture.

Website
Myspace


Andrew McKee and Marc Gunn of the wonderful Celtic/Scifi/Ren Faire musical collective Brobdingnagian Bards (I can spell it! At least for a moment...)

Ahhh...I have to add this picture..just because it's so cute!


Marc Gunn with a cat named Jasper

Hallelujah the Hills, "Monster Eyes" (thanks to Village Voice)

I've played Hallelujah the Hills before; in fact, I may have posted this very song. I love the concept. One of my favorite writers, Jonathan Lethem, made a call out to musicians to interpret a fictional song in his latest novel You Don't Love Me Yet. This song is a hybrid, made from the imagination of one of the most strange-prone novel writers we have today and a band whose members are masters at sounding oddly disinterested in their music but engaged at the same time. Like they're maybe stoned, but still very good at what they're doing. The vocalists and back-up singers have almost a yelling, declaration-style of singing--like Wayne Coyne had in "She Don't Use Jelly". So yeah, they kind of remind me of The Flaming Lips, without the bright red hair Mr. Coyne was sporting back then (I know I was sobriety-challenged back then, too, but man--that hair hurt the eyes).

Website
Myspace


Hallelujah the...Water Fountain?

Honorary Mentions:

I wanted so badly to post Petra Haden's excellent version of "Thriller", but I realized I didn't have a copy that I could distribute "legally". So here's the stream of it. Listen to it with glee!

Same with Magnolia Electric Co.'s "Werewolves of London". I thought there was a version on Secretly Canadian's website, but I was wrong. Here's part of the song, streaming though. I know--it's like Christmas instead of Halloween! Actually, it's more like Halloween, where you keep getting the bite-sized candy bars instead of full-size. Meh.

Podcast!!

Podcast webpage
Direct Link
RSS Feed

For some reason, Libsyn seems to think I'm using 100 MB storage, which means they think I'm over quota. This means that this podcast won't be on iTunes or other podcatchers until supposedly tomorrow. Anyhow, in the meantime it should still be available for direct download.

I'm only actually using 75 MBs, so I'm understandably unhappy with Libsyn and seriously considering using another service.

Shownotes:

Opening music:

Don Lennon
"A Secret Band" (mp3)
from "Radical"
(Martin Philip Associates)
Buy at iTunes Music Store

Blanche, "Little Amber Bottles" (courtesy of their development company)

Website
Myspace

Goodtimes, Goodtimes, "Desire" (artist sent me the mp3)

Website
Myspace

Rats With Wings, "Safari"

Website
Myspace

Wayne Petti, "All of the Time" (from his Myspace)

Myspace
(no website found)

Goat, "Great Life"

Website
Myspace

Travels, Sixty Five and Sunny" (from their Myspace)

Myspace
(no website listed)

Thank you for listening! Hopefully I'll get my quota problems sorted out soon.

Oopsie! I forgot to do my podcast! I'll do it tonight (Monday).

Sorry!

Songs That Might Otherwise Pass You By


Oh yeah, for many reasons (the main one being I forgot my EZShare password), I'm posting these songs using ZShare. That means you can't directly click on the links to download the songs, but if you left-click on each song it'll take you to a page where you can either stream the song or download it. If anyone has a hard time finding the download link (it is tricky), please e-mail me or comment.


The Oaks, "For Hugh Thompson, Who Stood Alone. My Lai Massacre, Vietnam, 1968" (radio edit) (.mp3 sent to me by the band)

The OaKs ask, on their website, what 2 years spent with Aghganistan refugees sounds like. Judging by this song alone, it sounds strange, sad, beautiful, and isolated. This song is almost perfectly put together--not a note out of place, not an unnecessary instrumental flourish to be found. It's music borne from people who've had to pare down and know exactly what is needed and not needed. Lyrically, the song isn't related to Aghganistan--the song is about Hugh Thompson, a person who did the opposite of what less conscience-troubled soldiers did in Vietnam--he was instrumental in stopping a blood bath instigated by U.S. soldiers against civilians in Vietnam (NPR audo and article on Hugh Thompson). There is a connection between what happened in Vietnam and what is still happening today in so many devastated areas of the world: there are still people out there who take notice of the suffering and contribute in whatever way they can to alleviate it.

Website
Myspace


The OaKs record beautiful music

Goodtimes, Goodtimes, "Sea Shanty" (the band sent me the .mp3)

Franc Cinelli, an Englishman of Italian ancestry, but this song reminds me of some of my favorite modern celtic songs--my first thought was of Paul Brady, whose song "Help Me To Believe" (stream) still makes me stop whatever I'm doing and sit quietly to listen. It's modern folk, but with a hint of traditional Irish folk. Lyrically, the song seems to be about something as simple as living more "happyly" (see the video), but sometimes that message can be more profound than one realizes.

Website
Myspace


These are Goodtimes, Goodtimes

Wayne Petti, "Moment By Moment" (downloaded from his Myspace)

It's not often that you hear a song that echoes both the certainty and uncertainty of love so well. He's living "moment by moment", but it's not with ease. Love can take all ease away, leaving only the certainty that you have to wait out the resolution and the uncertainty of when, and how and if it will resolve. He may have to wait until "the stars align", but he knows he has to keep trying.

Wayne Petti is on one of my favorite labels
(the website address listed on his label page leads to his Myspace)


Wayne Petti looks behind him, but looks forward, also


PODCAST LATER TONIGHT!

Songs That Might Otherwise Pass You By


Sunday Drivers, "The Sweetest Disguise" (File originally from their site, but it's timing out.)

I love the style of this song--the tense, dark vocals, the melody that pushes me towards the climax--the climax that doesn't seem to end for minutes...it's very reminiscent of my favorite music--the "new wave" music of the late 70's, early 80's. I wish there were more songs like it nowadays. More music needs to be inspired by bands like The Cult, The The, The Stranglers, and other "The" bands. The sound is also reminiscent of bands like Joy Division (with less heart-grinding despair), Soft Cell and Shriekback (who have a new album out, btw). I love how the song starts out so light and airy, and then grows murkier, more claustrophobic.

Website
Myspace


The Sunday Drivers

Rats With Wings, "Hungry Like The Wolf"

Speaking of my favorite music...Duran Duran was my favorite band growing up (until I hit my surly teens and decided that I was too cool for DD). They're still in my list of favorite bands, as they always will be. One day I'll do a whole article on how Duran Duran are so great. For now, though, this is about the version of D2's "Hungry Like The Wolf" by Rats With Wings. It's faithful to the song without being an exact representation--preserving the melody, but slowing it down and giving it a completely different tone. Much of the tension of the original is gone, replaced with a hazy, folk-tinged vocal and gorgeous keyboards that mimic everything from an organ to a horn. This is the way to cover a song without completely reproducing a song.

Website
Myspace


Rats With Wings album Tiny Guns

Peter & The Wolf, "The Fall"

This starts out harmlessly enough with a softly-strummed guitar, but the vocals soon take over, edging the song up with a rhythmic tension, bringing the song close, tight, surrounding you as the guitar crashes around you. It envelopes you, making it a little more difficult to breathe. A song that has a visceral effect like that is a song that truly has an effect on the listener. Music isn't supposed to be about just listening--it's supposed to be about feeling, whatever those feelings are.

Website
Myspace


Peter and the Wolf are looking at directions. Huh...not very wolf-like, huh?

Bonus:

This is not apropos of anything, really, but my friends and I had a little bit more to drink than usual the other night, and the conversation briefly settled on exclamations of "Movezig!"

All your bases are belong to us.

Podcast!!

NOW WITH LESS TALKY PARTS!

(I was even getting on my own nerves)

Direct Link
RSS Feed

Opening music:

Don Lennon
"A Secret Band" (mp3)
from "Radical"
(Martin Philip Associates)
Buy at iTunes Music Store

Maritime, "For Science Fiction"

Myspace
Website

Pela, "Lonesome Hearts" (Cassettes Won't Listen mix)

Myspace
Website

Zerobridge, "Hava de Grace"

Myspace
(Their website just leads to their Myspace)

Longwave, "No Direction"

Website
Myspace

Avocado Club, "Too Much Space For Us To Walk Away"

Website
(No Myspace listed)

Ola Podrida, "Jordanna" (mp3 courtesy of The Bleeding Hearts festival)

Myspace
(No website listed)

Thank you for listening! New podcast in two weeks (new blog post next weekend, as usual)

Songs That Might Otherwise Pass You By

The Shout Out Louds, Tonight I Have To Leave It

Okay, so let's state the obvious. OMG this guy sounds just like Robert Smith. It's the Cure song that got left off of the A-Sides and the B-Sides. It's a special unreleased Cure song only I have?

No...actually, despite its major Robert Smith Cureness, it is not The Cure. It is a band called The Shout Out Louds. They're not from England--they're from Sweden (there are so many good bands from Sweden...it kinda makes me want to move there. Is Swedish hard to learn?) The whole song reminds me of the Cure--the sweeping keyboardia, the tinkly part in the background that sounds like a Xylophone. It kind of sounds like The Cure doing an Echo song, actually.

I know describing a song by comparing it to other songs is lame, but excuse me while I find something black to wear and put on a lot of makeup. Does anyone have any really red lipstick? Not anything with too much pink or orange. Straight-on red, please.

Website
Myspace


They don't appear to be shouting outloud. Perhaps they're shouting inside..

Eugene Francis Jnr., "Poor Me"

I shall let his biography speak for Eugene Francis, Jnr. (I guess "Jnr" is a Welsh thing? We use "Jr.") and for this song. He calls it Folktronica...electric folk. Yes, I can see that term being used for this song. I want to say this song showers you with its sonics, but I can't use the description "showers" without thinking of terms I learned at gay bars (clarification: heard of, never practiced!). Instead I'll say that it washes through your mind, pushing out whatever problem you're agonizing over at the moment, leaving only a hazy desire to live the best life you can, and not to worry about all that other stuff.

Sonicbids
Myspace
(the website listed goes nowhere)


Hee Hee. Eugene Francis, Jnr. sounds sweet...

Ola Podrida, "Instead"

This is another song that washes over you, but it's quieter than the previous song. Whereas the prior song washes over you like a Tsumani, this one snakes around you like a narrow river, enveloping you before you're aware it's there. There's nothing insidious about this song, though--it's simply beautiful, quiet folk at it's best.`

Myspace
(no website found)


Puppy like pizza! The guy from Ola Podrida doesn't get any pizza, though.

Bonus:

PJ Harvey, "Grow, Grow, Grow" (Video Only)

PJ Harvey - Grow grow grow (Esprits Libres - France2)
Uploaded by anhh2

This is a great essay from Hallelujah The Hill's Ryan Walsh regarding music distribution and music labels. That makes me love the band even more (but what did he say about it being his band's last year?)

Video for Eugene Francis, Jnr. & The Juniors, "Poor Me"