Tom Waits: "God's Away on Business" Video
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Check out the music video for "Love No" from the French indie pop band, The Teenagers. The past twelve months have seen few Europeans garner more fevered hype than these three Parisian dreamboats, proving once and for all that style and substance needn't be mutually exclusive. At a time when far too many seemed to be sat waiting for the next novelty bandwagon to jump onboard, this trio of hipper-than-thou ne'r-do-wells have reignited the imaginations of clued-up music lovers across the globe with a curve ball of pervy wit, classic synth-work, and sunshine strumming.
Love Trio in Dub feat. U-Roy: "Lovers Rock"
Hearing a compilation containing a track by U-Roy, the legendary Jamaican dub master in Sweden when he was 13 years old, Ilhan Ersahin, in what was one of his first record purchases was transformed by his experience, realizing in that moment that music would be his calling. With the accusation of a tenor saxophone and a latter ticket to gotham, his fate was sealed. A nine year apprenticeship at downtown Gotham's then?famous Sweet Basil led to association with outstanding denizens of the jazz world and weekly workshops with the like?minded. These nine years were to culminate in a shift to the Lower East Side and Nublu. The genie was now out of the bottle. From this long gestation, Love Trio was born. Among those making the trek east with Ersahin were bassist Jesse Murphy, a young California native who would become bassist with Brazilian Girls, and drummer Kenny Wollesen of Tom Waits renown. The music the trio would make would seek to defy genre. It would be, as Ersahin would insist - just music - his music: "It's the city - its also where we live. I live here, and on the road, and there is the night life mixed with studio life; in a way also DJ life gotten to our compositions because every where we play there always electronics and DJs. In the culture now, it is really a part of everything. I am just trying to live in the moment, in what is now." Borrowing from the dub and rock steady beats of his earliest influences in programming the various keyboards and electronica added to his oeuvre as well as the jazz legacy of his apprenticeship and the sonorities of his ancestral Turkey, the result of the varying styles as an approach to the music the trio would make has been broadening of the possibilities of his composition and trio's improvisation. Working often with guest artists among whom have been the aforementioned U-Roy, trumpet legend Eddie Henderson, vocalist Marla Turner and DJ Logic as on their seminal, eponymous recording, Love Trio, the music arrived at suggest a hypnotic journey through a spare yet muscular landscape that might best be described as a quest in a minor mode - the ethereal quest for the fabled Nublu. A land far away from Tin Pan Alley.
Kudu tap into Siouxsie circa 82, dark Chicago house circa 86, deep 70s funk, and, consciously or not, UK jungle tekno circa 91. They are real deal, and their music is so primal that they could just as validly be classed a rock act as a jazz or dance act. On stage Kudu are dark and raw and desperate, but their pop potential has always been apparent to anyone with ears for song craft and eyes for charisma. Bar Star, the first single from the upcoming full-length from Nublu Records entitled Death of the Party, confirms this perception. In addition to the aforesaid ingredients, Kudu on record have a sense of fun lifted from Deee-Lite, ESG, church in rural Georgia and parades in New Orleans. Kudu plans to tour extensively surrounding the release of the record, and they have already received press from the likes of XLR8R, URB, Pitchfork, and the acclaimed music writer Simon Reynolds. Remixes of Bar Star are as diverse as Kudu?s influences. In Flagranti, the head of Codek Records, turns Bar Star into a disco track that echoes Prince and the Time?perfect for a Miami Dancefloor. Freddie Mas, of Tigersushi fame, twists the track into an AC/DC-like cock-rock funk anthem. This is the twelve inch of the year from the band of the year.
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss: "Raising Sand"
The musical collaboration of the decade, Raising Sand is the sound of two iconic figures stepping out of their respective comfort zones and letting their instincts lead them across a brave new sonic landscape. Despite hailing from distinctly different backgrounds, Alison Krauss and Robert Plant share a maverick spirit and willingness to extend the boundaries of their respective genres. This spirit, expertly honed by producer T Bone Burnett, has resulted in an album pitched three steps beyond some cosmic collision of early urban blues, spacious West Texas country, and the untapped potential of the folk-rock revolution. Supported by the unparalleled musicianship of Marc Ribot, Dennis Crouch, Mike Seeger, Jay Bellerose, Norman Blake, Greg Leisz, Patrick Warren, and Riley Baugus, Plant and Krauss - as both solo and harmony vocalists - tackle an intriguing selection of songs from such tunesmiths as Tom Waits, Gene Clark, Sam Phillips, Townes Van Zandt, The Everly Brothers, and Mel Tillis. Raising Sand finds Robert Plant and Alison Krauss exploring popular music's elemental roots while still sounding effortlessly, breath-takingly contemporary.
Buzz Report: Everybody was kung-fu fighting
This week, Buzz takes on a game for kicking virtual butt in real life. Wait, what? Wow. Mind-blowing.
Testing out Toshiba's Gigabeat S
Many prospective MP3/PVP buyers have been waiting patiently for this compact, easy-to-use, one-stop shop for media files, and it looks like the Toshiba Gigabeat S was worth the wait.
Blood Brother's title track single "Laser Life" on V2 Records (2006).
"We're on a mission to change the world," proclaims 8o.Bug, singer, songwriter, DJ and half of the format-busting musical duo Jupiter Rising. After one listen to "Go," the barnstorming lead track from the pair's self-titled debut album, you might be forgiven for thinking the change in question will start on the dancefloor. If this relentlessly funky amalgam of hip-hop, pop, rock, dancehall and more doesn't make you move, consult a physician. But 8o. and her partner, composer-multi-instrumentalist-programmer-human beatbox Spencer Nezey, have a lot more up their sleeves. Take, for example, the soaring ballad "Hero," which was selected as the theme for the acclaimed International Museum of Women's project Imagining Ourselves. The song's soulful refrain yearns for "a hero to save us from ourselves," but declares that if one doesn't arrive, "I will do it myself." This sort of determination is at the core of Jupiter Rising's mission. "We both felt so unsatisfied by most of the music out there," 8o notes. "It's either bands asking why life sucks but offering no explanation, or trite, dumb stuff about shaking your ass, getting the guy, getting money. We want our music to make people feel full of hope, full of self-awareness and a sense of connection and belonging. We want them to feel something they didn't feel before they listened to us."
Gaming preview: 'Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles'
Control the whip-wielding Richter Belmont and take on Dracula in this remake of the classic 'Castlevania: Rondo of Blood'. If that's not enough, the original 'Rondo of Blood' and the classic 'Castlevania: Symphony of the Night' are both on there, too.
Many prospective MP3/PVP buyers have been waiting patiently for this compact, easy-to-use, one-stop shop for media files--looks like the Toshiba Gigabeat S was worth the wait.
