When You Consider The Future...
Late Night Final released their third track just a couple of hours ago... and it's very much a banger. I mean, as far as ambient-ish music can ever be described as "a banger."
Surprise! Music!
I had very few hopes when I clicked on a link about "science rock."
I was wrong. Very wrong.
Now that is a kickarse track, and apparently the "red string" is/was an actual thing created by Japan's National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences where a red silk containing oxytocin was really created. Wild!
It would be trite to say that this is many dozens of times better than any of the new Star Wars movies. Not incorrect, but trite.
Many years ago... over a decade... there was a free game called TrackMania Nations Forever that occupied much of my spare time. I got pretty good at it, too... I mean, not true World Record good, but on some of the tracks I could at least see the top of the leaderboard from where I was. But even though it no longer works on modern computers without a metric farkton of work... it's XP-based, for heaven's sake... I still remember the music. Fondly.
Okay. It's now time for the apparently government-mandated excursion into HoloLive. Pixy has been on a roll of late covering their antics. I've watched some streams... I'll be honest. The HoloLiveEN Vtubers don't do much for me, and I don't know anywhere near enough Japanese to get the original crew's videos. But the music is... something.
That was my first exposure in any way to HoloLive, and it's cute. Nice beat. But some of those voices are eardrum-shredding, dear god. I have to assume that having Pekora and "Miko Sakura", with their nasal, cutesy, falsetto-y, awful singing back to back was due to heavy bribery from the singer that came next... Towa Tokoyami.
Who sounds NOTHING like any of the other HoloLive crew. After hearing her in that whole-crew viddy, I went looking to see if she had anything solo. Oh yes. Yes she does.
Sold. That she can do justice to God Knows..., both live and "in-studio", is just the icing on the cake.
1
I spent some time browsing through Towa Tokoyami's YouTube channel last night after watching these, and her singing quality is consistent. At a minimum it makes a pleasant playlist, although you have to sort out her music from her gaming livestreams.
It surprised me it was a livestream channel, until I remembered that this group of idols is called "hololive". I guess that makes perfect sense.
Posted by: Ben at December 03, 2020 08:14 AM (VtwaX)
2
That "Red Silk of Fate" track does kick ass, and in a weird sort of way the video's a mirror image of Thomas Dolby's "She Blinded Me With Science"...
Posted by: GreyDuck at December 03, 2020 10:22 AM (rKFiU)
3
Totally agreed on Towa Tokoyami, such a pleasant voice after all the vocal posturing (And gah, the stuff right after her!)
Posted by: Mauser at December 04, 2020 11:47 PM (Ix1l6)
I'm not convinced that J Wilgoose's Late Night Final persona isn't actually one of the guys from Daft Punk or Kraftwerk "slumming", as it were. Song picks up around the four-minute mark. Again, ambient isn't my cup of fish, but this isn't so bad at all.
I think I've seen the actual video before, running on an Amiga back in the day.
1
Given how ambient-adjacent the last PSB project (the Titanic one) is, I get the feeling this stuff is really where his heart is, and the more catchy pop-y stuff is there to pay the bills.
I mean, I'll probably still pick this up. As you say, it isn't so bad at all.
Posted by: GreyDuck at November 21, 2020 09:29 AM (rKFiU)
2
That one was right up my alley and I really enjoyed it. Thanks for posting it!
Posted by: Ed Hering at November 22, 2020 04:06 PM (/cXdK)
A Wonderful Late Night Final Hope
The other day I was lamenting the loss of my entire digital music collection after the death of my external hard drive... and suddenly realizing just how useful a CD/DVD drive would be right about now... when I got to wondering what some favorite bands are up to. The answer, as it is for so many of us lately, is "not much."
I mean, Joe Jackson updated his website for the first time in about a year the other day, so that was nice, but other than that? There's a new anime entry in the Love Live! franchise, the first episode of which aired last week. I was amused to see that the game's player character analogue in the anime is named "Yu." And then...
...I stopped. Do I even have any other 'favorite bands' anymore? Random songs, sure, but a whole artist? All of the names I came up with were dead or '80s bands. Or both. Almost frantically I cast about my computer desk, looking for someone else to call a "favorite". Foo Fighters? David Gilmour? How in the world did Selena Gomez get... nevermind. Finally, finally, I realized who I'd forgotten.
Public Service Broadcasting. Just how they managed to slip my mind is a study in the effects of isolation, but at least I remembered them, hey? So what are they up to?
Nothing. The band members are holed up and hunkered down just like the rest of us, but apparently their instruments and equipment is in another country altogether. I assume it never made it back from a tour when the Most Recent Great Unpleasantness set in. However, Artists gonna art, and Musicians gonna music. J Wilgoose Esq, the tweed jacket behind PSB, falls into that vein. Reportedly he threw together a motley assortment of old synths and other odds and ends and said "hey kids, let's put on a show."
Except there weren't any kids, and you still can't have shows due to the plague. So instead, he did the next best thing: a side project. It hasn't been released, but there's been a song revealed. Here's the viddy.
LATE NIGHT FINAL - A Wonderful Hope
Before you start, please realize that this is not your standard PSB fare. No historical news samples, no movie snippets, and a lot of what I call "ambient". This is important for the main reason that I generally dislike ambient music... if you drop the "t", that's the effect it usually has on me. Fortunately, while it starts out like that, it doesn't STAY ambient. It's not anybody's idea of dance music or stuff, but it's not a bad listen at all.
I guess the actual album/EP/whatever is coming out sometime in November. A nice little holiday present, eh?
...and then I stumbled upon something called the Elfstedentocht, or Eleven Cities Tour in English. For those of you who, like me, have never heard of it, the Elfstedentocht is a 200km long speed-skating event held when the weather allows in the Netherlands. As can be guessed by the name, it runs through "the eleven historic cities of the province of Friesland" via canals, rivers, and lakes, beginning and terminating in the city of Leeuwarden, which I'd only heard of because it was the birthplace of the noted spy Mata Hari.
The race has only been held 15 times since 1909, with the most recent having been in 1997. See, the entire route must have at least six inches of good ice on it... no thinning ice, no mush, and at least a 12-day stretch of sub-zero Celsius temperatures preceding a race. As you can guess, this is A Big Deal; there's usually just 48 hours warning that the race will actually occur. Apparently in 2012, the last time conditions appeared perfect, it hovered right below the target for long enough that any tiny temperature increase would have nixed the race. On the day the "go" would have been given, organizers said "no" for safety reasons, disappointing the 16000 casual skaters, 300 racers, and the entire nation.
In 2013, the Elfstedentocht organizers, as part of a Leeuwarden festival, contacted Public Service Broadcasting and asked them to write some tunes about the race using historical footage from earlier events. Of course they said "yep!"
From what I've read, the 1963 race, shown in this second video, was held in absolutely brutal conditions: overly cold, strong winds, and snow gunking up the ice. Only 69 out of 10000 people were able to finish it, and the winner did not realize he had actually crossed the finish line due to being snowblind. Broken bones and eye damage were common that year.
I had no idea these tracks existed until they fell into my lap. A rare bright spot on another shut-in sort of day. Enjoy!
The Loss Of A (Little) Giant
No, not that one... Little Charlie Baty. Come with me on a voyage back in time...
The year was 1987. Duckford was in the midst of its annual end-of-summer music festival, On The Waterfront. Yours truly, having wandered away from Vaucaunson's Duck and some others, had stumbled upon a smaller stage... one of seven that year... as the sun had begun to set. While most of the people attending gathered for that year's headliner... Duckford's own Cheap Trick... to take the main stage, tucked away back here a young Duck was about to be truly exposed to a form of music he'd never heard before: The Blues.
While Rick Estrin was the frontman for the band, it was guitarist Little Charlie Baty that led The Nightcats. He "retired" from the band in 2008, still playing with them at certain festivals and shows in Europe, but he certainly didn't stop playing live.
I thought you had to be down on fingers to play Django Reinhardt correctly. His studio stuff didn't stop either.
The album "Skronky Tonk" was on got a four-star review from Downbeat, long the bible of blues and jazz music, and a notoriously stern grader when it comes to music.
While I only found out a couple of days ago, it turns out that Little Charlie passed away in March from a heart attack. He was 66. While I probably would have been a fan of the blues even if I didn't stumble into that small outdoor concert tucked into a back corner of a large festival, I think it certainly helped that the Nightcats were my first exposure to them... they were both talented and funny at the same time. I even bought their album that night... yes, on vinyl.
Thanks, Little Charlie... you were a huge influence on my music tastes, and I may not have realized it until just now.
1
Dang. If I was still in touch with my old radio mentor/boss Bob Ancheta I'd ask what he thought of Little Charlie. (BA has been a blues hound most of his career.)
Posted by: GreyDuck at May 15, 2020 08:21 AM (rKFiU)
Land of continent-closing volcanoes with names that are impossible to pronounce (or spell)!
It's Eyjafjallajokull, by the way.
Land of broiled puffin!
Yes, really.
What Iceland generally is NOT known for is its popular music. Oh sure, there was Bjork (and the Sugarcubes) and Sigur Ros, you have to be particularly keyed in to know any others.
Until now.
Dadi Freyr is a DJ/EDM/whatever guy, I can only assume that Gagnamagnio is the band, and that considering this is Iceland, they're almost all certainly related. I went through much of what he/they have on yootoob looking for another gem like Think About Things, and came up mostly empty.
Fans of Hibike! Euphonium, however, will recognize one tune... for better or worse.
1
Apparently Dadi is the musician and songwriter, and Gagnamagnid is the group of his friends whom he convinced to dress up and dance and sing with him for a Eurovision entry.
I had no idea all this stuff was going on....
Posted by: Suburbanbanshee at April 29, 2020 04:44 AM (sF8WE)
2More detail!!! It appears that it's Dadi and his sister as the actual musicians, his wife, and three friends. So I wasn't terribly far off the mark as it turns out.
Sadly, Eurovision 2020 has been cancelled this year, so we are not going to get the great Dadi/Little Big showdown that was predicted. A shame, that.
Posted by: Wonderduck at April 29, 2020 05:11 PM (cTMj+)
Music... From Foreign Lands!
Over the past few months I've been spending time listening to a lot of music I've never experienced before. When you do this, you get a lot of stuff that's... not worth listening to again. Sometimes you get stuff that's... nice, but not anything you're going to go out of your way to hear again. Then there's the small percentage of tunes that make you sit up and pay attention (or even better, make you lean back, close your eyes, and pay attention). That's the category that I'll be inflicting upon you here now. We've got music from such far-flung places as Scandahoovia, India, California, Japan, Sweden, and an odd Irish/Italian thing.
1
The proto-germanic chanting scared my two smaller dogs out of the room, but my larger dog was hoping around with a waggy tail. I'm not sure what to think about that...
I have several SIDH songs in my generic playlist, Iridium is my favorite, but I prefer the cleaner studio version.
An antidote to the proto-germanic chanting. It's possible I originally found it here in a post like this one, I'm not sure.
Two of my favorites right now come from youtube's recommendation system, from very different genre's. I don't think this drumstep one will keep my interest long-term, but it's fun for a while. This one will have more staying power.
Posted by: David at February 02, 2020 03:32 PM (rweeV)
2
Among other things, you've reminded me that I've had a Red Hot Chilli Pipers record in my to-purchase queue for a few months now. Hmm.
Posted by: GreyDuck at February 02, 2020 09:26 PM (rKFiU)
3
I happen to like pipes, so we're good. Very good.
Posted by: Mauser at February 03, 2020 09:39 PM (Ix1l6)
Neal Peart
If you are approximately my age, you or someone you knew was a fan of Rush when you were in high school. Me, I liked a number of their songs but I couldn't call myself a real fan... mainly because of the rabidness of the REAL fans who insisted they were the greatest band ever. Kinda off-putting, y'know? Particularly when you were like me and you preferred more synths and new wave.
As time went on, nothing ever really changed my opinions towards the band... a few great songs, a lot of usually pretentious prog-rock-y stuff, and an overzealous fan base. I did acknowledge, however, the unquestioned skill of Geddy Lee on bass, Alex Lifeson on guitar, and Neal Peart who is pretty much on the very very very short list of "best rock drummers of all time." You might be able to convince me there's someone better. Modern Drummer has him as the #2 rock drummer, #3 overall, behind Buddy Rich and Led Zeppelin's John Bonham. Well, maybe so.
Neal Peart died today at the age of 67. He apparently had been battling brain cancer for the past few years, but keeping it quiet from the public at large. Despite not being the megafan who will be deeply wounded by his passing, I wanted to acknowledge him... if for no other reason than he was the subject of one of the first bits of fan-made CGI I had ever seen.
2004. Remember 2004? I have a hard time remembering that far back anymore... I had just started working at the Duck U Bookstore after CowPuters went under, that's how far back we're talking. I'm sure many of the Pond Scum remember the video fondly, or at least remember it.
The Pond's condolences to his family, friends, and fans.
1
I've had an on-again/off-again relationship with the band's work but I could not and will not ever deny that Mister Peart was an absolutely tip-top outstanding musician.
He shall be missed.
Posted by: GreyDuck at January 10, 2020 06:52 PM (yisPP)
2
This just tops off the loss of Mike Resnick. Wonder who #3 is going to be.
Posted by: Mauser at January 10, 2020 11:48 PM (Ix1l6)
Once Upon A Time...
Back in the days before the Duck U Bookstore, heck back before the days of CowPuters, I worked at the local news-talk radio station as a buttonpusher show producer on a fill-in basis. I did have one regular shift however... the Sunday Morning Church shift. I mean, it started at 6am with the Catholic Mass in Swedish, for heaven's sake, pun not intended. The Salvation Army had a recorded program, there was a program I literally never paid attention to except to make sure it was still running, there was the live-in-studio show with the purple-suit-clad preacher who was, eventually, removed from his position in his church because he got a little too close to some of his female parishioners, and then there was the show I privately called "the church ladies."
Yeah, kinda like that, except not at all. The preacher in purple I mentioned earlier? The church ladies usually matched him sequin for sequin when they came in, spoke loudly and cackled even louder. But their chat show took place in and around gospel music songs... and since I was the button-pusher I had to pay attention for the cues and stuff. And along the way, I discovered something: gospel music could be quite good.
I found out today that one of my favorite groups from that show, The Blind Boys of Alabama are still recording, and what I was playing for the Church Ladies was already 30 years old at the time.
Really, there's no reason for this post other than to mention that. Have a nice day!
Yee-Haw.
So I'm browsing around Reddit one day this week and I stumble upon a charming little story about a 90-something-year-old WWII veteran that approached a bunch of musicians performing at a festival to request a song. I don't remember the name of the tune, but it was what the dockside band was playing when the vet's troop transport pulled away to head into the Pacific War.
Well, that's cool, I thought, and got into the comments section. The guy who posted the thing original was a member of a group called "Shoot Low Sheriff", which made me laugh because I knew the rest of that sentence is "... they're ridin' shetlands!" What really made me arch an eyebrow was that the band plays "Western Swing."
Now it's no secret to anybody who's read The Pond for a while that I do like me some big band / swing music. I'm still enjoying the electroswing movement, for example, and one of my favorite Joe Jackson albums is "Jumpin' Jive". But "I've never heard of no Western Swing before, wonder what it sounds like" is what I thought to myself, so I looked them up.
Well, I'll be.
That's kinda darn fun right there! I bought both of their albums from Amazon, and they're a blast to listen to. Obviously if you don't like Western music, you're probably not going to like this... and I understand that. If you don't like swing music, you're probably not going to like this... and while I don't understand that, people are different. Even if you're wrong.
They get a Wonderduck two wingtips up! Enjoy, won't you?
1
"So did this" is so very very wrong and I'm a bad man for laughing so hard at it.
Posted by: GreyDuck at August 12, 2019 07:36 AM (hDUbp)
2
Yeah, there's good reasons why I didn't just embed that one... "poor taste" immediately leaps to mind, but damn if it didn't make me laugh and wince at the same time.
Posted by: Wonderduck at August 12, 2019 11:17 AM (ssz1E)
I Had No Idea...
Y'all remember The Art Of Noise, right? New Wave band, did that thing with Max Headroom, and that other thing with Tom Jones, and that other other thing with Duane Eddy, and the video with the kinda creepy little girl directing people to destroy various musical instruments in various entertaining ways? Right, that song was titled "Close (To The Edit)", and like a lot of Noise's stuff, it still holds up really well today.
But here's the thing: I always assumed that it was all electronic stuff and samples and drum machines. And maybe it was, but I only just learned that Trevor Horn produced the band... indeed, he was actually part of the band. And between him, Anne Dudley, and a Fairlight, there was actual, y'know, music. That could be played live. A stunning concept for what I thought was nothing but a studio band.
How did I discover this? Like most revelations, I discovered it accidentally, by stumbling over a 2004 Prince's Trust concert celebrating the career of Trevor Horn. His work with The Buggles, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Yes, Seal, ABC, and others all performed live... and then this:
Completely gobsmacked. I knew Horn played bass, but holy crepe on a stick, he does seem to be pretty damn good at it. Oh, and those drummers are doing some serious work.
And it was live. Who knew the Art of Noise was a real live boy?
1
I always get mixed up between Trevor Rabin and Trevor Horn, to my deep chagrin. To be fair to my feeble brain, they were both members and/or producers of the band Yes...
Dude's got CHOPS though. I should track down the full playlist for that show.
When Cover Songs Try Too Hard
Last night I found myself following a pointer gleaned from over at J's place into the darker recesses of Yootoob. I came hunting for the promise of a good cover song, made likely by the musician being Jonathan Coulton... y'know, the guy who wrote Portal's theme song? So into this den of iniquity I went, and I found an entire album, entitled Some Guys, of cover songs of '70s hits and ballads. I began listening... and I found myself confused.
That's not a cover song! Oh, it is of course... that's Coulton singing instead of Gerry Rafferty... but there's practically no difference between the two. Is that a cover, or is it a tribute, or just a knockoff? The entire album is like this, nigh-on note perfect copies of 40-year-old songs. And I have to ask: why bother? Don't get me wrong, it's a tour-de-force by Coulton. The performances are excellent, and if you didn't know better you'd swear you were listening to the originals.
And that's the problem, isn't it? If I wanted to listen to the original song, I'd just listen to the original, not Jonathan Coulton pretending to be Gerry Rafferty, no matter how good at it he is.
I'm long of the belief that a good cover song must have a healthy dollop of the covering band's flavor on top of the original. The best example of this that I can come up with off the top of my head is the song "Got The Time".
Classic song by Joe Jackson in his "angry young man" phase, somewhere after punk but before new wave kicked in. He's long been my favorite musician, and this is easily one of my favorite of his tracks. Until I heard a cover of it.
By heavy metal band Anthrax.
Now it's still one of my favorite Joe Jackson songs, I just prefer this version. It's still the same song, just performed in Anthrax's inimitable style. It's no slavish copy, it's just a brilliant repurposing.
THAT's what I think a cover song should be like. Don't copy: adapt.
1
It's a strange line. If an act tries to copy a song, and fails, but doesn't suck *too* bad, then it's a cover song. If it's an EXACT copy, it's a concept. Possibly a tribute, in the right circumstances.
But also, if an act copies another act but using an intentional gimmick, that's ALSO a tribute. If the act changes the songs *too* much, or focuses on their gimmick more than the music, then they're a parody act.
2
Yeah, I found most of the album to be a little too on-the-nose, and wish he'd shone a bit of Coulton snark on the painfully earnest lyrics. Everybody's Talkin is the worst, IMHO, because he carefully imitates the annoying woh-woh sound that I'd successfully suppressed all memory of. New Kid In Town works best for me, because he makes it his own just a little.
-j
Posted by: J Greely at May 03, 2019 02:10 AM (ZlYZd)
3
Coulton just does not seem to grok what a cover is for. His project is more like using Photoshop to reproduce famous photographs. It's a marvelous accomplishment while also being unnecessary and not terribly enjoyable.
I'd not heard that Anthrax rendition of "Got The Time" before. Nice!
Posted by: GreyDuck at May 03, 2019 07:31 AM (rKFiU)
4
Disturbed exemplified how it's done with the Sound of Silence. This metal cover of Toto's Africa is also an amazing example. This guitar only cover of Purple Rain by John Petrucci has also featured on my playlist for some time. All of those are recognizably the original song, but also touched by the cover artist's style.
The first version of Little Wing I ever heard was by Sting. I didn't even know at the time that is was a cover of a Hendrix song, and it took me a while to wrap my head around the original.
Posted by: David at May 04, 2019 06:25 PM (JMkaQ)
5
Depeche Mode covered "Route 66." It is a good cover, but it also cracked me up the first time I heard it, last month. I could almost fete what the music video must have looked like.
Posted by: Suburbanbanshee at May 05, 2019 10:55 PM (sF8WE)
6
Tell, not fete. Argh, predictive spelling must go!
I was wrong about the music video, though. I was sure there would be a red sportscar, whereas it turned out to be all about motorcycles.
Posted by: Suburbanbanshee at May 05, 2019 11:02 PM (sF8WE)
Posted by: J Greely at May 06, 2019 02:54 PM (ZlYZd)
8
Along the lines of making a cover, but making it your own, I just ran across this:
Posted by: Mauser at May 10, 2019 05:45 AM (Ix1l6)
9
Y'know, I never liked that song... I've always found Stevie Nicks to be creepy as hell, and Fleetwood Mac has always seemed to be overrated (note: does not include The Chain... or at least part of it.).
But I like this version. Good catch, Mauser.
Posted by: Wonderduck at May 10, 2019 03:59 PM (EXhwA)
10
Bite your tongue. Well, a little bit, anyway. Agree on Fleetwood Mac being overrated, but Stevie Nicks is a persona that overshadowed a lot of good songs. Pretty sure she was intentionally creepy.
11
It came up in a FB thread, and I immediately thought of this post. One of the more music theory inclined participants noticed a very different chord progression that was more complex than the original. Totally flew over my head.
Posted by: Mauser at May 10, 2019 06:35 PM (Ix1l6)
Well, Ghost is much too weird for me to explain them.
That's what I said in the blurb for the Pet Shop Boys' cover in the last post. I'd like to apologize for that, because some few hours has taught me quite a lot about the band from Sweden. You would do well to turn the volume up on this post, by the way.
Everybody knows what a concept album is, right? A bunch of songs devoted to the same thing telling a story as they go... The Who's Tommy, Pink Floyd's The Wall, Joe Jackson's Big World, Alan Parson's Project's Tales of Mystery and Imagination, Styx's Paradise Theatre, all examples of the concept album. Well, Ghost takes it one farther: they're a concept band! The concept is, however, that they're a Satanic cult led by their charismatic frontman. Said frontman has until only lately been appearing in skull makeup and church regalia. These days, he wears a Uncanny Valley facemask.
Didn't make the satanism rumors go away, which is probably exactly what Ghost wants. The more I think about it, the more I believe them to be more performance art than musical band... though considering their formidable skills, I'd not say that to their faces. These Followers of the Morning Star can friggin' rock.
Yes, that's right, that's a Grammy Award they've got there. They won the 2016 award for Best Metal Performance for their song Cirice.
Nowadays the Grammys aren't worth much of a much, but for people of a certain age... ahem... that remember what they used to be, there's still a cachet to owning one. And while that's a helluva music video they've got there, Ghost seems to be a better live act. Here's a live version of Cirice, for example.
Across the board the band's official videos are... inventive. To the point that sometimes they take away from the actual music... the video for Rats! is so goofballish that the song (which isn't one of their best, it must be said) just gets swamped. At other times, the video will actually explain the song (see Cirice, for example). Often enough, fortunately, the band'll leave things open to interpretation, forcing you to actually listen. Square Hammer appears to be freemasonry, clever since how many people actually KNOW what a Mason is/was anymore?
In a lot of ways, there's nothing new with Ghost. They're absolutely metal, taking cues from all over the map: Kiss and Metallica are references mentioned in interviews (and there's a kickass cover of Enter Sandman played in front of the King of Sweden, too... turns out Hetfield's a fan!). They don't seem to be just the usual headbanging heavy riffers... there's a serious amount of songwriting and musical talent here. I'm tempted to say that this is "Metal For The Thinking Man", except they'd probably make fun of me for being pretentious. But come on, read the lyrics to what I think is their best song, He Is:
If you didn't know better, this is Christian Rock. At least, it is to start. It sort of heads south (if you know what I mean) along the way to the end. Even then though, you really have to be thinking about what the lyrics are saying to catch it. The reference to the story of the burning bush speaking to Moses is really sneaky... when Moses asks for proof that he's truly speaking to God, the reply is "I am who I am." So "he is" is second... or is it third?... person referencing here. Circles within circles.
I find online reaction videos to Ghost to be hilarious. Either people love them, or they're confused as hell... that reaction is usually from self-described christians. These guys love the song, but despise the message, except then they don't like the song, but they do, and... and... and... they're right though, Mere Christianity is a wonderful book.
Go out, give 'em a listen, you might be surprised. Or you might hate them. Either response is perfectly valid, and I'd understand either one. Or don't think about it and just bang your head vigorously. That works too.
Two For GreyDuck, One For Everybody, And One For Nobody
GD, I heard these two and immediately thought of you. It's up to you if you think that's a good thing or not.
Apparently Covenant isn't new... I see album dates of 2000, 2001, so on and so forth, so perhaps you're familiar with them already. But some good stuff there.
Oh look, it's a weird cover of a Pet Shop Boys tune. Well, Ghost is much too weird for me to explain them, but their original music is very heavy indeed.
I think by definition if you're a member of the Pond Scum, you get some level of enjoyment out of bagpipes. This song has appeared on The Pond before, back in Saturday Night Tunage V where it was performed by the Victoria Police Pipe Band as opposed to the Red Hot Chili Pipers. I just realized something, and it terrifies me: in the blurb for the song in SNTV, I mention that I first heard the song "nine years ago." I wrote that in 2011. Eeurgh.
So Formula 1 knocks on the door of the Chemical Brothers and says "we like your stuff. Or, really, our grandkids like your stuff. Do a song for us." And the Chemical Brothers said "we like dogs." The rest, as they say, is history. This is an awful, awful tune. However, as a riff dispenser it's top-notch, and I fully expect to be seeing F1 commercials and broadcasts using snippets from the track as backing music. Other than that? Well, the "Powered by NEEEEUM" on the car made me laugh. If you don't get why, say it out loud while watching a F1 car drive past.
1
The "NEEEUM" bit is the only redeeming part of that video, yeGODS that "song" is awful.
On the upside, that "Hellbound Train" performance was SUPERB. *cues it up again*
On the gripping hand, I had to NOPE out of the PSB cover. The singing just put me off.
On the, er, fourth wheel... Covenant is one of those VNV-adjacent acts I haven't gotten 'round to yet. I liked this tune well enough, maybe it's time to go digging.
Posted by: GreyDuck at March 23, 2019 10:35 AM (rKFiU)
2
No way that dog could ever win F1. At best he could come in second. Dogs only CHASE cars....
As for the song, I don't laika it....
Posted by: Mauser at March 23, 2019 06:58 PM (Ix1l6)
Yes, I Know That's The Point, But Still...
Look, I get that this sort of music is supposed to be catchy. I don't know if Momoland is an Idol team like AKB40 or whatever, or if they're just a K-Pop act, and I'm not entirely sure I care. What I do care about is that "catchy" doesn't quite go far enough to define "Boom Boom".
Seriously. Weaponized catchy. The followup, "Bbam", isn't quite as good, but hell, that's like saying Godfather II isn't as good as The Godfather. It's not, but nobody cares because II is still pretty damn good.
I hope for their next track they move into less onomatopoeia for explosions as a concept.
Enjoy all this while you wait for the the Australian F1 writeup, won't you?
1
My favorite version of the BAAM video is with the little girl. Not only is she awesome, it's clear that the big girls adore her as much as the audience does.
-j
Posted by: J Greely at March 17, 2019 10:19 AM (tgyIO)
2
Goodness gracious, what a lovely way to start a Sunday.
I'm deeply amused by the surge in popularity of K-Pop. It's as if Japan said, "That's it, we have perfected pop music" and South Korea went, "Hold my cue sheet."
Posted by: GreyDuck at March 17, 2019 10:49 AM (rKFiU)
A Question Answered... By Anime!
For most of the nearly four years I've worked at my present job, there has been a constant face in the evenings/night shifts... the head of the cleaning crew. They usually show up around 8pm, empty garbage cans, clean bathrooms, vacuum, that sort of thing, y'know? I've made it a point to smile and nod, or wave, or something, to the guy in charge, because hell, he's cleaning up our mess. Without him, I suspect the office would look like Pond Central before the "condemned" sign went up in no time at all.
However, in one of those "I don't know X, and by now I'm afraid to ask" moments, I don't know his name. He told me a few years ago, yes, but he has a very thick Slav/Eastern European/Something accent, and it just got by me. I mean, it's not a big deal, it's not like we talk or anything... a nod, a wave, that's about it. And, to be honest, I'm just about the only person there who does even that much. There's always a few people in a business setting you don't want to piss off: the office manager, the head of the cafeteria, and the head of housekeeping all leap to mind... Anyway. Tonight. It is 8pm, and I've been the only person in the entire building since about 6pm... I had a couple of hours to make up. Anyway, because I was sick and tired of headphones, I had hooked up my mp3 player to a couple of cheap external speakers and was rocking out whilst doing claims. Mr Head Of Housekeeping was a couple rows over, using a push-brush to clean up a spill before he brought out the real vacuum, and something wonderful happened.
He started singing along. "It was a song my grandfather sang." I'm still not entirely sure where he's from originally, but he knows Katushya... and his first name is Alexander. I'm not sure how I didn't get that the first time around. What the hell, let's do another Russian song!
I first heard this maybe four or five years ago (edit: SIX! Saturday Night Tuneage XVIII, would you believe?), I didn't know what I just heard then, I'm still not sure now, but damn it's fun anyway!
1
Random memory: when one of the custodians, who had formerly worked in our Admin building, was training a newbie, I overheard her say*, "You'll like working in this building; people in THIS building actually say hello to you unlike some other buildings on campus."
(*I come in EARLY, which is often when the custodians are working)
It made me kind of sad (but kind of proud of my department).
One should be friendly to the custodial staff. Not just because they're the ones who keep the place from being an utter pit (I am grateful I do not have to clean the bathrooms in my building) but also because they are fellow humans. (And you can benefit from it: our current custodian had done some small favors for me he didn't have to do, perhaps because I have short conversations with him when I see him in the hall).
Posted by: fillyjonk at March 02, 2019 09:21 AM (+MBAo)
2
Girls Und Panzer, the gift that keeps on giving.
Posted by: GreyDuck at March 02, 2019 12:35 PM (rKFiU)
Watching Excellent People Do Their Jobs Excellently
Lighting Designers know that there is a God and He loves us, because there are Pink Floyd concerts to light.
"So, Mr Lighting Designer... my concept for the lights on Run Like Hell is throw as many instruments as you want into the arena and just live it up."
"I think I can work with that."
Seriously, though... whoever thought up the "projection screen with lights around it" idea had better have gotten a raise that day.
1
The ring of spots around the arena doing that wave motion effect, I could watch that for HOURS, never mind the rest of it. Wowza.
Posted by: GreyDuck at February 14, 2019 09:30 PM (rKFiU)
2
I could probably write a whole essay on the change and evolution of the original Pink Floyd vs later performances. The lighting here is amazing indeed, but the music itself... I'll stick with the Pulse or Echoes recordings.
Posted by: David at February 14, 2019 11:40 PM (JMkaQ)
3
Know what gets me? Around about the 1:45 mark on Run Like Hell, the lights around The Circle aren't really illuminating anything. They're just nodding to each other. Left-right-left-right...
I saw that and immediately started looking for other easter eggs in the lighting rig...
Posted by: Wonderduck at February 15, 2019 05:20 AM (PzbzM)
4
"We're gonna need a lot of Vari-Lights."
"How many?"
"All of them."
Posted by: Mauser at February 21, 2019 09:52 PM (Ix1l6)
5
Mauser, I suspect I can narrow down the first time and place that was ever said.
September 26, 1981. The day AFTER Genesis began their "Abacab" world tour in Barcalounger Spain, but the day before the second concert.
While it's not from either of those shows, let's go back to the wonderful time of 1981, and watch a lighting crew in action.
"Some of them are airplane landing lights." Cue me falling over from laughter.
Posted by: Wonderduck at February 21, 2019 10:50 PM (PzbzM)
6
I worked for a guy once whose claim to fame was installing lighting at Studio 54. One of his other installations was in a hotel in Mexico where he installed rectangular car headlamps in the stair risers. Apparently if you run 10 of them in series, it's fine to hook them up to the mains. At least in Mexico....
Posted by: Mauser at February 22, 2019 09:09 PM (Ix1l6)
7
Eighty aircraft landing lights. Oh how things changed in later years, eh? I sort of wonder who in the band really pushed for the Vari-Lite deal, or if that was a Tony Smith thing.
Also: It's weird to see the Genesis trio when they were big-ish but not post-Invisible-Touch big. Total dorks, all three of 'em.
Posted by: GreyDuck at February 23, 2019 04:54 PM (rKFiU)