I posted about the wonderful Kinks song, Berkeley Mews, a mash up of rock and beer hall styles that was the b-side to Lola, a couple of years ago, partly because I loved the line quoted in my original post. It just seemed too perfect.
And it was. Turns out the word “shitty” should be “chilly,” and when you listen that way it surely is.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the first six Star Wars films. In fact I saw the new one, The Force Awakens last Friday, and I will review the film at my Mastersball site Wednesday.
But, the local rock station was doing Star Wars for lunch last Friday which meant space songs mostly, but this one cracked me up because it is such a stretch, so right, and a pretty tight little sort of pop tune for Metallica (whom we rarely cover, if ever here).
(BTW, reading the comments under the video is a very strange seemingly non-sequitur randomoness that is kind of funny in a sad and weird way.)
Here’s another power-pop band that isn’t totally in the thrall of their influences, so they’ve gotten a fair amount of press (which goes to show that something isn’t dead). I do hear different influences in each song, but the quotes are slippery, shadows of sounds that are in my head but hard to put a anvil or stirrup on. Which means some of the songs I kind of like because they remind me of Graham Parker or Rage to Live, while others, like this one, sound like they might work (with a little work) in an arena.
This one sounds like the hardest song Joe Jackson ever recorded.
Next week is Christmas. Millions of children will wake to find new toys under their Christmas trees. If I could have my way, there would be more musical instruments and many fewer electronic devices. Even “toy” instruments for the very young children would be a worthwhile introduction to a hobby (or vocation) that they might enjoy for a lifetime.
This idea got me thinking about adult bands that use toy instruments. Jimmy Fallon has had a running gag with pop artists performing their big hits with his house band, the Roots, playing “classroom” instruments. Adele did “Hello”, Adina Menzel (or whatever her name is) did “Let It Go”, and Meghan Trainor did “All about the Bass.” Another good one was perfect for the holidays – Mariah Carey doing a reggae infused version of “All I Want for Christmas is You.”
Long before Fallon got the idea, bands were incorporating toy instruments into their recordings. The toy piano used by the B52s on “Dance This Mess Around” immediately comes to mind. They Might Be Giants also use toy instruments on occasion (“O We”).
Then there was Pianosaurus, the band that recorded a whole album of songs performed exclusively on toy instruments – 1987’s Groovy Neighborhood.
Pianosaurus was the trio of Alex Garvin (toy guitarist/vocalist/songwriter), Bianca “Flystrip” Miller (miniature keyboards), and Stephen Dansiger (Fraggle Rock drums). Peter Holsapple of the power pop darlings The dB’s produced the album.
Listening to Pianosaurus exposes a paradox. On the one hand their music is totally rock ‘n roll through its subversive use of toy instruments to make adult rock music. But what could be less R&R than music so limited by its tools that it barely goes to 5, never mind 11?
The film buffs among you may recognize Pianosaurus for their contribution of “Back to School” to Francis Ford Coppola’s short “Life without Zoe” from the movie New York Stories.
This Christmas morning give the gift of music and make a little noise with the kids!
A random find on YouTube, this sounds so much like Sonic Youth at the start I almost stopped. But the video is strange and sensual, and the song such as it is comes and goes and is perfect for the video (or maybe it’s the other way around). Song with video? Video with song? I don’t know.
I posted because their first live show was with Husker Du’s Grant Hart and their first record was produced/mixed by the Raveonette’s Sune Rose Wagner.
These guys are from Australia and seem to have found a way to make the virtues of straightforward rock feel uniquely their own. It helps to have a great singer, this one is named Shogun, and catchy clever songs.
What is the Amen Break? It started out as a drum break on a b-side of a 45 by a R&B band called the Winstons, performed by GC Coleman. The a-side won a grammy for best R+B song that year. The b-side became the most sampled six seconds in music history. The link above has the whole story, and it’s long and worth it, I think.
At least that’s the sell here. The video is fun and scholarly about sampling. The influence of the Amen Break is more on hip hop, it seems, and UK street styles that have too many qualifying names to remember, but have to do with drum and bass.
I’m sympathetic to Mr. Reynold’s analysis about current copyright law, but he doesn’t do a great job of selling that part of the story. But who cares?
For me, the cool idea is that a drummer in a band in 1969 created a sound that crawled through all of our culture, and became classic. And we know it.
Here’s the original of Color Him Father, which is awfully sweet.