• Acoustic,  Folk,  Laid Back

    Little Sea Horse

    Non-parents may want to move on to the next post, ’cause this one’s a little ch-ch-cheesy.

    I’ll make it short & sweet – my four year old daughter attended her first day of kindergarten today. I’m a proud papa, and I’m sort of blown away that I have a child who is now going to school. Seasoned parents are nodding their heads, while at the same time shaking them in a sort of “you have nooo idea what you have in store for you” way. It just keeps getting more and more interesting, folks, and I’m just underway…

    Well, a couple of weeks ago, my girl had a sort of “graduation” ceremony at her YMCA preschool. Her class was referred to as the Sea Horses. As the Sea Horses shuffled through in a controlled-chaos single file to receive their cute little certificates, with their cute little caps on, I had this Bruce Cockburn song going through my head. It comes from a brilliant 1976 album called In the Falling Dark.

    I count this and Dancing in the Dragon’s Jaw as two of my all time favorites. They soothe and calm me, and bring me to a good place when things seem a little jagged and confused.

    The lyrics merit an appearance here (bolded by me):

    Little seahorse
    Swimming in a primal sea
    Heartbeat like a
    Leaf quaking in the breeze
    I feel magic as coyote
    In the middle of the moon-wild night

    In the forge-fire time
    Your mother glowed so bright
    You were like a
    Voice calling in the night
    And I’m watching the curtain
    Rising on a whole new set of dreams

    The world is waiting
    Like a Lake Superior gale
    A locomotive
    Racing along the rail.
    It’ll sweep you away
    But you know that you’re never alone

    Little seahorse
    Floating on a primal tide
    Quickening like a
    Spark in a haystack side
    I already love you
    And I don’t even know who you are

    Nice eh? It’s enough to make a tough dad get a tad misty eyed. And that’s okay. Congrats kiddo – I have no earthly idea how I ever got along without you.

    Bruce CockburnLittle Sea Horse (mp3)

    Buy In the Falling Dark

    To illustrate even further how much I love this album, here’s my favorite off the record:

    Lord of the Starfields (mp3)

  • Rock

    Hawaii Mud Bombers: Swedish Surf Rock!

    They’re the Hawaii Mud Bombers. They’re from Sweden. And they r-r-rraawwk. I am telling you. Swedish surf rock! They impressed Little Steven so much that he signed them to his Wicked Cool Records label. They released Mondo Primo in the U.S. last summer, but being that I just discovered it, the album quickly moves to the forefront of my Summer of 2008 soundtrack, and my “get off my ass and run” music.

    Hawaii Mud Bombers are made up of:

    • Hans Jörnlind, Guitars and vocals
    • Petter Godske, Vocals and guitars
    • Mats Carlborg, Drums
    • Mattias Utterström, Bass

    Quality tunes. Make Mongo happy.

    Hawaii Mud BombersMTV (mp3)

    Hear a handful of tracks from the album streaming on their web site in GREAT quality, may I add. Seriously. Go there, let it play, and go about your web surfing. You won’t be sorry. It will urge many of you to, indeed….

    BUY Mondo Primo!!

    More mp3’s from the band here.

  • Friday Five

    Ickmusic’s Friday Five: August 1, 2008

    The Man From Shuffle, he says

    It’s my wife’s birthday in the coming week and as a special wink and nod to her I thought it appropriate to dedicate this week’s entry of “The Theme Days of Summer” to her (cue the “aww’s”).  That said here’s the playlist:

    Match ANY of the following conditions

    NAME contains Happy
    NAME contains Birthday
    NAME contains Wish
    NAME contains Cake
    NAME contains Party
    NAME contains Celebrate

    This pulled up considerably less tracks then I expected and at least half of them were “Partyup” or “Partyman” by Prince.

    Last weeks “Question the Answers” playlist is the first that has been promoted to a full-time playlist. From the comments from the Faithful Friends of Five it would seem that you are all enjoying these as well. So much so that I’d like to invite some of you to send me your ideas for future playlists. There are four Fridays left this summer and I’m giving two of the four back to the Fivers! So send your ideas to michael at ickmusic dot com with the subject line “The Theme Days of Summer” and I’ll choose the best two to be featured in a coming Friday Five.

    For those who have not joined in the Five, here’s how it works: … I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes and share my five with some words for each track (and on occasion the song itself).

    Then it’s your turn! You can play along with the themed playlist or just share the first five of your shuffle, either way the fun is in playing musical voyeur for the day.

    Here are this week’s tracks:

    1. Van Halen – Poundcake (from Best Of, Volume 1)

    Originally from the cheeky titled For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, this was, to me, the second pinnacle in the bands career. Sure 5150 and OU812 were both excellent in their own right, but it was on For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge that the band hit their stride. From the Makita vs. Guitar intro of “Poundcake” to the smash hit “Right Now” to the closer “Top of the World” (the opening lick which, for you astute students of Ed know, is actually the closing tag to “Jump”) the record never let up and delivered. It also was the last good record that the band has put out (save for the single “Humans Being” which kicks all sorts of ass).

    2. DJ ShadowThe Number Song (Cut Chemist Party mix) (MP3) (from Midnight in a Perfect World)

    DJ Shadow showing up twice in two weeks, what’s the chance? This is a great remix of “The Number Song” by Shadow’s partner in crime Cut Chemist, with a bit of Latin flair to bring that real party vibe. Seeing how it’s out of print, here is your chance to hear it as well.

    3. Bobby McFerrin – Don’t Worry Be Happy (from Billboard Top Hits: 1988)

    Here’s an admission of a guilty pleasure, I absolutely dig “So You Think You Can Dance?” and this week the aptly named Twitch performed his solo piece to this track and I’ve got to say he perfectly embodied the joy that this song brings. For the record I’m predicting Joshua to win, though any one of them really could and I’d be satisfied.

    4. Prince – Life ‘O’ the Party (from Musicology)

    Mama said if you ain’t got nuthin nice to say, don’t say anything at all. I will say that this is the only track on Musicology that I skip. Not as bad as “Jughead”, but damned close.

    5. Beastie Boys – (You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party) (from Def Jam Music Group Inc.: 10th Year Anniversary)

    Now this is a send off into the weekend! From the box set that no one on this earth should be without this is the single that made all of suburbia sit up and take notice (and tremble a bit). The Beasties trademark blend of Hip-Hop and Rock with a three chord punk aesthetic. For the record, I tried to find and embed the video but apparently Universal does not like that. Hrmph!

    So that’s the Five for this week, Happy Birthday to my beautiful wife Christine and if you see Pete around be sure to buy him a drink and give him a pound as I believe he’s got a birthday coming up in the next week as well… so now what’s helping you party through the day?