Love is Simple

Over the years I've gotten more and more interested in softer, folk inspired music. One of my favorite bands in that sort of vein is Akron/Family. Ak is the type of band that "plays" old rocking chairs, and puts thunderstorms in their songs. Their music is simply beautiful.

Akron/Family are four extremely nice, sincere and well-mannered young men from rural America who came to NYC (in 2002) to make music, hoping to find a thread of real magic still winding through this city's music scene. They certainly did just that, but they did it by retreating into a tiny Brooklyn apartment, where they made their own world instead, in complete and stubborn isolation. They proceeded (while simultaneously growing alarmingly long beards and developing a playful but hermetic quasi-religious/sonic worldview/creed known as "AK" or sometimes "AK-AK") to make several albums worth of recordings on crude home equipment ­ the material compulsively chopped, spliced, and orchestrated into fractal jewels of song and schismatically opposed atmospheres.

From their press release

Downloads:

Ed Is A Portal
Shoes

There are also some wonderful full-length songs on their myspace page.

That Boy Needs Therapy

The Avalanches - Frontier Psychiatrist


15 minutes ago I had never heard of the Avalanches, but after seeing their music video for Frontier Psychiatrist I'm going to have to check out their album Since I Left You.

Iron Bru

In 2006 Irn Bru has one of the most beautiful holiday advertisements. They adapted the song "Walking in the Air" from the acclaimed animation production of The Snowman.



A few other Irn Bru ads with catchy theme songs:
Crazy Yanks
Around the Piano

Melody tunes: oll Englesh oll za time

If you've never seen the Melody Tunes ads they will hopefully make you laugh. The ads are for an Egyptian music channel that only plays English music videos.

Melody TV, an Egyptian music channel, launched a new channel called Melody Tunes which will only air English music video clips. Melody’s adverstising agency came up with some hilarious TV commercials announcing the arrival of Melody Tunes. Each ad begins with an Egyptian or a group of Egyptians singing a popular English song in “Egyptian English”, English in very Egyptian accent! The ads end with the slogan, again said in “Egyptian English”: oll englesh oll za time.

Ads:
Melody Tunes Promo - Pussycat Dolls
Melody Tunes Promo - 50 Cent
Melody Tunes Promo - Akron
Melody Tunes Promo - Shakira
Melody Tunes Promo - Britney Spears
Melody Tunes Promo - Madonna


Source

Und tanz den Mussolini, Tanz den Adolf Hitler

D.A.F - Der Raeuber und der Prinz



D.A.F., Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft (which literally translates to German-American Friendship), is influential German electropunk band that was formed in 1978. They are most famous for their song "Der Mussolini", which satirically commands the listener to dance the Mussolini, the Aldolf Hitler and the Jesus Christ.

Der Mussolini Lyrics:

Geh in die knie
Wackle mit den hueften
Klatsch in die haende
Und tanz den Mussolini
Tanz den Adolf Hitler
Beweg deinen hintern
Und tanz den Jesus Christus.

English Translation:
Get up
Shake your hips
Clap your hands
and dance the Mussolini
Dance the Adolf Hitler
Move your ass
And dance the Jesus Christ

Download Der Raeuber und der Prinz
Download Der Mussolini

Daft Punk

A long time ago I came across a wonderful mix by Daft Punk for BBC - Radio 1's program Essential Mix.

You can download it here

Track List:
Daft Punk - "Wdpk Essential Intro" (Daft Trax)
Paul Johnson - "Hear The Music" (Peacefrog)
Armand Van Helden - "Funk Phenomena [JOHNNICkennydopeMastermix]" (Henry Street)
CZR - "Chicago Southside" (IHR)
Studio 54 - "Git Down Saturday" (Dance 6)
Red-X Presents When Worlds Collide - "Dee's Knots" (Remix Delux)
Parris Mitchell - "Ghetto Shout Out" (Dance Mania)
Daft Punk - "Teachers" (Daft Trax/Virgin)
Martin Luther King - "I Have A Dream" (20th Century)
Rick Wilhite - "Drum Patterns & Memories [M.M. Mix]" (K.D.J)
Jammin Gerald - "Get The Ho'94" (Dance Mania)
DJ Attack - "Da Way U Work" (U.C)
Thomas Bangalter - "Spinal Beats" (Roulé)
Tha West Siders - "Waxscratch Trax" (Dance Mania)
Thomas Bangalter - "Spinal Scratch" (Roulé)
Fantom - "Faithful [Prassay Mix]" (Source)
Fantom - "Faithful [Original]" (Source)
Fantom - "Faithful [Da Cracy Mix]" (Source)
I:Cube - "Disco Cubizm [Daft Punk Mix]" (Versatile)
Daft Punk - "Rock 'n' Roll" (Daft Trax/Virgin)
DJ Hyperactive - "Chicago" (Contact)
Daft Punk - "Oh Yeah" (Daft Trax/Virgin)
Cajmere - "Only 4 U" (Cajual)
Trankilou - "Champagne" (Kif S.A)
Studio 54 - "And da Beat Goes On" (Dance 6)
DJ Funk & Gerald - "Hold Up" (Universal Funk)
Ween - "Freedom Of '76" (Flying Nun)
Cassius - "Foxy Lady" (Cassius)
Gusto - "Disco's Revenge" (Bumble Beats)
DJ Deeon - "2 B Free" (Dance Mania)
Sweet - "Somebody's Watching" (white label)
Da Mongoloids - "Spark Da Meth" (Strictly Rythm)
Ron Maney & L.A. Williams - "Shining" (Kumba)
Roy Davis Jr - "Gabrielle" (Large)
Robert J. Hairston - "Preacher Man" (white label)
Daft Punk - "Around The World [Motorbass Mix]" (Daft Trax/Virgin)
Kenny Dixon Jr - "U Can Dance If You Want 2" (K.D.J)


*note: the image is of a series of Bearbricks Daft Punk released to celebrate their 2007 album, Alive.

Darkrooms

Okay, so I admit it, I couldn't get the song "DarkRooms" by Da out of my head after watching You Weren't There, so following my typical fashion I went a looking for it.

It took a few minutes but it seems some kind soul has ripped their first 7" and put it online.

Spiffy!

If they saw my face, would I still take a bow . . .

This post is herby declared the Klaus Nomi Post.



The other day while getting to go out, I played a few Klaus Nomi songs for a few of my friends and they were completely shocked. I knew Nomi's weird blend of New-Wave and Opera was strange, but I didn't expect even Eryn (perhaps my most musically knowledgeable friend) to be weirded out by him.

I first discovered Nomi in 2004 when I heard wind of Andrew Horn's documentary,
The Nomi Song.



I looked him up and was fascinated. Here was a man like I had never seen, a character who sang opera in punk clubs, put on cabaret like performances, and dressed as some reinterpreted vinyl version of Tristan Tzara. I went out right away and bought The Nomi Song, and I've never looked back.

Who was Klaus Nomi? That's quite hard to say, but perhaps the best way to introduce him is to read his Obituary, by Kristian Hoffman for East Village Eye.

Klaus Nomi appeared on the NYC scene suddenly, leaping from his spectacular debut at the New Wave Vaudeville show (where the astounded audience had to be told repeatedly that the voice was truly live) to spearhead a futurist movement of militantly fashionable avant-misfits before and beyond any new romantic notions occurred to Spandau Ballet and after Bowie abandoned the future as an archaic concept.

Klaus was a face - elfin and painted as a Kabuki robot. He was a style - a medieval interpretation of the 21st century via Berlin 1929. He was a voice, almost inhuman in range, from operatic soprano to Prussian general. He was a master performer - a master of theatrical gesture. Above all he was a visionary. He said the future is based on the needs of the artist, deciding how to live and living that way every minute. Klaus, the man from the future, lived that way in the present, and held out his hand saying, "Come with me. You can do it too."

His vision was naive, quaint, almost foolish, but forceful in its purity and innocence. Even at his most wildly ridiculous ("Lightning Strikes") or quaveringly sublime (Purcell's "Death") there was an acknowledgment of impending apocalypse that lent it conviction. For Klaus, apocalypse was a metaphor for purification, and as the oddball optimist surrounded by cynical detachment and resignation, he dared to believe in a better world.

Klaus rose quickly, independent of the critical machine. He was never "cool," and was resented by some who thought Fame should have hipper tastes. He gained a following in New York and used it as a springboard to even greater success in Europe. He dearly loved New York, felt it was his true home, and was distressed that he couldn't work here more. He requested that his remains stay here despite family ties in Germany.

He did not end life at the end of his career, but in the middle of it. His biggest accomplishments were ahead of him. He was on the verge of Canadian and American deals, and was full of ideas and plans, positive and humorous. He was tortured by impossible and endless management complications and a disease whose myth exploded through thoughtless babble and media saturation until the only sensible solution was to move far away.

His was always a message of great instinctive hope.

(source)



Nomi's was one of the first shinning stars to fall to Aids. In 1983, AIDs had barely begun to strike down people around the world. He was left alone in the hospitable to die by those afraid to contact the completely foreign disease he had.

Klaus not only left behind a multitude of fans, but also an unfinished Opera, Za Bakdaz. In the past years Page Wood and George Elliott got together to finish the work the began so long ago. The Village Voice celebrated this release with an article looking back on Nomi's life, released for what would have been Nomi's 64th birthday.

MP3s:
Wayward Sisters (from Dido and Aneas)
After the Fall

ThreePenny Opera

I'm not much of a Broadway fan, and there are only a handful of Broadway show I wish I could've seen over the past ten years, but the one I most wish I could have seen was the 2006 revival of The Threepenny Opera with Alan Cummings and Cindy Lauper.


Unfortunately even a Tony nomination couldn't encourage the theater goers to put aside their prejudices and trepidations and the run ended after four months. Although some even worse flops that season recorded a cast album unfortunately none was recorded and all that's left of the Revival are a performance at the Tony's and a few shoddy clips on youtube.

Perhaps the Playgoer's review will shed some light on the production for those who are interested.

Ps. I just found a wonderful overview by NPR here.

Introduction.

Hi, I guess it's kind of weird to start off blogging for a real reason. I've had a few online journals over the past few years, but I've never had a blog, something that I write for an audience.

Now most everyone who comes across this blog will already know the premise of it, but if you happen to be one of the few unfortunates who stumbles upon it randomly let me explain. This blog was created in order to fulfill the requirement for an Art History project. I've decided to use the internet in order to blog about music, and anything else that catches my attention or aesthetically influences me.

The title, "The Dredged", simply reefers to the fact that I plan on using this blog to post everything I've dredged up from the web.

Now let me get on with the show.

Here are a few music videos I came across recently and found rather interesting:


Perfume- シークレットシークレット(Secret Secret)

Although I don't really follow J-pop at all, I stumbled across this music video randomly on the celebrity gossip blog Oh No They Didn't!. It's one of those examples of the expanding use of music to promote products. Now I don't know Japanese, so I can't tell if Perfume actually name drops Pino in their song, but the ice cream confection is all over the music video. Adland reported in 2005 that Mc Donald's began advertising in hip hop music and "artists get paid $1 to $5 each time their song is played on the radio, a carrot that encourages them to write a hit." It makes me wonder if this trend continues on, will all of our "popular" music morph into product placement.

It's interesting to look back at the jingles I remember from advertisments in my childhood. The two jingles that I remember the best, and often find my self singing are those for Mr Bucket and the Gator Golf jingle.

On a complete tangent I've always wondered what this song was created for:


Even in all my infinite internet wisdom I couldn't find any info on it.