Ickmusic Live: The Human League, 1980
Dropping back into the early new wave scene, we go to a June 1980 show featuring the original lineup of the Human League. The founding members were Philip Oakey, Martyn Ware, Ian Craig Marsh, and Philip Adrian Wright (who ran films and slide shows onstage, but was still credited as a full band member). Oakey remains today as the only original member of the still functioning Human League. Ware and Marsh left the group in late 1980 and went on to form Heaven 17.
I’m no aficionado of science fiction or video games, but the name Human League comes from the game Starforce: Alpha Centauri, one of the first sci-fi games.
So the sound quality of this show is not superb, in fact some would argue that it’s shitty, but I still like to listen to shows like this as sort of a historical document – a piece of music history. So Human Leaguers – behold!
The Human League
June 10th, 1980
VPRO Radio, AmsterdamIntro
Dreams Of Leaving
Almost Medieval
A Crow and a Baby
Perfect Day
Marianne
Empire State Human
Rock ‘N RollCheck the Human League out on
.MORE ELECTRO GOODNESS – As an early electronic music bonus, Radio Free Wohlman has an entire podcast “transmission” dedicated to the Kraftwerk family tree. Check the post out here. An hour full of Kraftwerk history. Well worth your while, friends.
M.I.A.
The Sri Lankan beauty’s new video for “Jimmy” has Ickmusic central breaking out in a hot Bollywood sweat! Zeowie!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9_Dk_F98cU]
M.I.A.’s Official Site (if you’re prone to seizures, do not visit)
The Sleepy Jackson
Luke Steele. If that isn’t a name destined for show biz, I don’t know what is. Luke is the main man in The Sleepy Jackson from Perth, Australia, one of the most isolated big cities on God’s green earth (The most, maybe?). He’s a man of many instruments influenced by George Harrison, Walt Disney, and Woody Guthrie. Since ’99, he has released two full albums, 2006’s Personality (One Was a Spider, One Was a Bird), and 2003’s Lovers, which this song comes from.
The Sleepy Jackson:
Rain Falls for Wind(mp3) – from Lovers.Here’s The Sleepy Jackson Official Site | MySpace
Site Note: So I just added this feature that allows people to see a preview of a web site just by hovering your mouse over a link. Pretty cool in my opinion. I showed my buddy Jim at work, and he looked at me like I was crazy, and said, “Dude, uh, Safari 2.0?!!”. I guess Safari on Macintosh has this as an option in their browser. Mac snob.
But anyways, I think it’s cool. What do you think? Your results will determine whether it stays or goes. Does it annoy the crap out of you? Or are you okay with it? Do tell. No comments mean you indeed do not give 2 shits either way, and I’m OK with that.
Enter the Mowo
Into the “jazz drum & bass” realm we go. Mocean Worker is the recording alias of producer Adam Dorn. He’s the son of well known Atlantic Records producer Joel Dorn, who has produced everyone from Coltrane and Mingus to Roberta Flack and the Allman Brothers.
Adam (or Mowo, his self-dubbed nickname) has a pretty impressive Celebrity Playlist on iTunes. Of his top 10 tracks, he busts out Prince’s “Girls & Boys”, “Early in the Morning” by the Gap Band, Sly & the Family Stone, early Van Halen, and D’Angelo. I’m liking his influences.
So this Mowo track caught my ear a few weeks back on – you guessed it – Sirius, and here it is. Laid back, jazzy, funky vibe. Me like.
Mocean Worker:
Salted Fatback(mp3) – from Enter the Mowo! (2004), $14.99 here on Amazon, but $9.99 on iTunes.Mocean Worker’s Official Site | MySpace
Mmm-mmm M.I.A.
I’ll freely admit that a large part of what draws me to M.I.A.’s music is her looks. Her exotic Sri Lankan roots, her sexy Brit-rap, and infectious beats like this (courtesy of Diplo), make for some damn fine listening. And like Borat would say, she make me think of sexytime. Very nice! High Five!
M.I.A.: XR2 Turbo (mp3) – this download and others available on her MySpace page.
Great Thunderball!
Looking ahead to October’s releases, ESL Music (Thievery Corporation’s label) will be releasing Thunderball’s latest, Cinescope. Washington DC’s Sid Barcelona and Steve Raskin are the force behind Thunderball. They excel at drum and bass, breakbeats, dub, and downtempo – all with a classic 70’s cinematic feel behind it.
They recruited Afrikaa Bambaataa for a couple of tracks, and Roots for another, so the boys have their connections. They spend their time performing DJ sets at various clubs, and also have a 8-piece band they pull together from time to time.
If you’re like me, once in a while you like to mix it up a little. This album puts that different little spin on things. Some tracks, you feel like you’re inside a blaxploitation film, others, you’re envisioning sexy young vixens dancing around you in a red, velvety, smoky lounge (like “Chicachiquita” below). Well, I guess I try to picture that with anything I listen to. * Excuse me, what’s that honey?? Haha! You know I’m only kidding! Okay, I’ll rephrase!! Jeez…. Ahem… right, so songs like “Chicachiquita” will elicit thoughts of your husband or wife or significant other dancing seductively around you in a red velvety lounge.
Official Site | Buy Thunderball’s Music
A Little Electrik Boogie
Thanks to the fine folks at Eighteenth Street Lounge Music, I got my hands on a copy of the upcoming release by Ursula 1000, which is basically NYC-based multi-instrumentalist and “mild-mannered” DJ Alex Gimeno. I’ve really enjoyed listening to the CD over the last couple of days. It’s an entertaining and fun listen, with break beats, electronic, old school, and funky rhythms pervading the eardrums. You’ll see what I mean by fun when you hear these two tracks.
“Kaboom!” is goofy, non-sensical pop-funk, and in my opinion a great album opener. With the Austin Powers-ish “Hello Baby”s and Izumi Ookawara belting out “wham wack zonk zing”s and “thud fizz plop ring”s.
“Electrik Boogie” harkens back to 80’s synthesizer funk. Alex definitely was listening to some of the same stuff I was: Prince, Zapp, Midnight Star. You’ll hear it…
Ursula 1000:
Kaboom!(mp3) |Electrik Boogie(mp3) – from ‘Here Comes Tomorrow‘, set for a March 21st release. Pre-order it!- Official Site: http://www.ursula1000.com
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Did somebody say Midnight Star?
Bonus: Midnight Star:
Freak-a-Zoid(mp3) from ‘No Parking on the Dance Floor‘It’s Time for some Grebo
(flyer is from 1993)
Well I thought I’d dust off some old quality tuneage and rock the blogosphere with the sounds of Pop Will Eat Itself. I only have one of their releases – ’91’s ‘Cure for Sanity’ – but it was and remains a very high energy, entertaining, rock/pop/rap/dance hybrid. I even learned a new word tonight. The Poppies developed a new genre of “grimy and raunchy” music, called Grebo. You Brits out there, ya heard of Grebo? New on me. PWEI stayed active between 1987 and 1996, as far as album releases go.But this is good stuff. Funky electronic sounds make for a pleasurable listening experience. Ladies and Gentlemen, Pop Will Eat Itself.
Pop Will Eat Itself:
88 Seconds…& Still Counting(mp3)
From: Cure for Sanity, 1991.