Coast of Malabar
I had this one on an old mix CD I recently pulled out. It’s nice to unearth a gem like this once in a while. You don’t get better than a Ry Cooder traditional ballad with the Chieftains backing him up. Beeyoootiful….
From The Long Black Veil (1995)
Koop Island Blues
I heard this on Radio Paradise yesterday, and was instantly forced into stress-free relaxation mode. Koop is a group from Stockholm, Sweden, led by Magnus Zingmark and Oscar Simonsson. They’ve got some very cool jazz and swing vibes going on. As it’s put in their bio: “the swing of the 1930s, the exoticism of forgotten orchestras and entertainers performing on late 40s yacht cruises to Jamaica.”
They have Japanese singer Yukimi Nagano singing on a few tracks on their latest album, Koop Island, including this song. Her voice just puts me in a nice place.
Koop:
Koop Island Blues(mp3)Buy Koop Island (only available as an import in the US).
Watch a short YouTube clip of Koop with Yukimi Nagano.
Selections from Baby Ickmusic
My seven month old daughter has mastered the art of the “walker”, as we call it. You know, the little wheeled seats you can plop your infant in so they can scramble around the house with wild abandon. My daughter’s getting pretty good: 360’s, circling the kitchen island at lightning speeds, and now selecting music for you, the Ickmusic reader.
Her latest thing is to stop by my CD racks in the morning, select one CD, and place it on her little table on the walker. Obviously, I see it as a sign that she is itching to contribute to her pop’s music blog. So tonight, her first two selections…
The first CD she picked was Cloudcuckooland, by the Lightning Seeds. This 1990 album’s biggest hit was “Pure”. If you don’t think you know it, I bet it’ll sound familiar to a lot of you. Great song, nice catchy electronic pop. The Lightning Seeds were originally a one man outfit. It was the brainchild of Ian Broudie (born in Liverpool, England).
The Lightning Seeds:
Pure(mp3) – from CloudcuckoolandI once read that the name ‘Lightning Seeds’ comes from Prince’s “Raspberry Beret”: “the thunder drowns out what the lightning sees”. Ian liked the sounds of that, morphed it into ‘Lightning Seeds’, and the rest is history.
My daughter’s second pick was a Stone Roses CD single for “Fool’s Gold”. They broke big out of Manchester, England in the late 80’s. The founding members were vocalist Ian Brown and guitarist John Squire.
So it’s clear to me that my 7 month old daughter was focusing on late 80’s / early 90’s British music, containing founding members with the name Ian. Brilliant!
Speaking of brilliant, I have always believed this song to be just that: a brilliant 10 minutes of trippy Manchester funkitude.
The Stone Roses:
Fool”s Gold(mp3) – buy The Very Best of the Stone Roses.Ok, one little picture of my little one. Can’t resist…
Stephan Crump’s Rosetta Trio
There’s a multitude of music sent my way, and I sure wish this was my day job so I had the time to listen to everything, and give these artists the time and attention they deserve. So I try to listen to all I can. After all, one of the great things about music is there’s always more to discover.
One of those discoveries came recently, as I heard a track by Stephan Crump’s Rosetta Trio. Stephan plays electric and acoustic bass, and is part of the NYC progressive jazz scene. Among his many projects, he is a member of the Vijay Iyer quartet, singer/songwriter’s Jen Chapin’s band, and also has collaborated with Gregg Bendian in Gregg’s Mahavishnu Project. For you regular readers, you heard Gregg’s name in my recent Nels Cline interview. Nels and Gregg collaborated on an album. Stephan’s web site even mentions that he has worked in some way, shape or form with Bruce Springsteen. I will be seeking more info on that little nugget.
So the Rosetta Trio is billed as an all-string progressive jazz ensemble of upright bass with acoustic and electric guitars. Their MySpace site has a few songs streaming. Here’s one of them. I love the vibe. I guess I just love hearing how different people manipulate their instruments in different ways, and these guys are laying it down in a very unique style. It’s jazz, but it’s not. There’s something inventive and fresh going on.
Stephan Crump’s Rosetta Trio:
Tag(mp3) – from the new album, Rosetta. Pick it up on CDBaby or iTunes.Visit Stephan Crump’s web site.
Visit his MySpace page.So Long Greg Wiggle
Those of you who aren’t mothers and fathers of young children may not feel the impact of this development, but it’s genuinely sad news to hear that Greg Page, aka Greg the Yellow Wiggle, has left the Wiggles due to a chronic condition known as orthostatic intolerance…
Put simply, it means that when Greg stands up, his heart does not compensate for the change in posture by pumping more blood around his body for it to function properly. A similar problem occurs when there is a change in the environment such as a warm room or hot weather.
This condition is causing problems with his walking, balance, speech and coordination. It relates to the proper functioning of the autonomic nervous system, which is the way the human body regulates things we don’t consciously have to think about such as heart beat and temperature regulation. [from this press release on the Wiggles web site]
It bums me out. There are a multitude of children’s television programs, and most of them can be quite grating on an adult’s nerves, but the Wiggles is something different. That’s one I’ve enjoyed over the last few years as a new father. Good music and very likable guys. I took my daughter to a Wiggles concert this past spring, and I’m pretty sure I enjoyed it almost as much as her.
Greg will be replaced by Sam Moran, who has been an understudy for the Wiggles for nine years. We’ll still watch, but there will always be a void.
Wiggles Trivia: Former Split Enz and Crowded House drummer Paul Hester played a recurring Wiggles role as “Paul the Cook”. He’s the guy you saw singing “Fruit Salad”. He sadly committed suicide in 2005. Bummer post, I know! Sheesh…
Computer Blue Debut at First Avenue
I was getting my Prince fix on tonight, and came across some amazing footage from 1983. A very kind soul, godar1990, has posted some tunes from a gig at First Avenue in Minneapolis, a gig where Prince debuted tunes from ‘Purple Rain’.
Check this out… if you want to explore others from this show, click here. Thank you godar, and thank you YouTube!!! I guess this may be filed under ‘Enjoy it While it Lasts’…
The Ramones Live in 79
Tonight it’s a full-on late 70’s punk rockin’ assault, as the Ramones rock Northwestern University. Coming to you from way back in October of 1979, this is a supercharged set from Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee and Marky. It’s quite shitty to think that three out of those four are no longer with us. Johnny died of prostate cancer in 2004; Dee Dee died of “heroin toxicity” in 2002; and Joey’s been gone since April of 2001, when he died from lymphoma.
So in memory of the punk pioneers (they formed in 1974, and were a heavy influence on the British Punk ‘revolution’ of 1976, the Clash and the Sex Pistols among them), turn this one up loud and enjoy.
The Ramones
“Rock & Roll College”
Cahn Auditorium, Northwestern University
Evanston, Illinois
October 13, 19791. Intro
2. Blitzkrieg Bop
3. Teenage Lobotomy
4. Rockaway Beach
5. I Don’t Want You
6. Go Mental
7. Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment
8. Rock N Roll High School
9. I Wanna Be Sedated
10. I Just Want To Have Something To Do
11. She’s The One
12. I’m Against It
13. Sheena Is A Punk Rocker
14. Havana Affair
15. Commando
16. Needles And Pins
17. I’m Affected
18. I Want You Around
19. Surfin’ Bird
20. Cretin Hop
21. All The Way
22. California Sun
23. I Don’t Want To Walk Around With You
24. Today Your Love, Tomorrow The World
25. Pinhead
26. Do You Wanna Dance
27. Suzy Is A Headbanger
28. Let’s Dance
29. Chinese Rock
30. Judy Is A Punk
31. We’re A Happy FamilyChristmas Idol
Who is this good looking fellow singing in the snow? Why it’s Mr. Billy Idol singing “Jingle Bell Rock” of course. I know it’s November, but my freak neighbors have had their Christmas lights up for a week now, so it’s open season here on Ickmusic. And I just couldn’t keep these videos to myself. I’ve been watching in amazement as Billy Idol, former member of Generation X, belts out the Christmas hits in these priceless videos.
I can’t help but think that someone put him up to this, that this is some extravagant bet that Billy plans on winning. But joke or not, Billy has released a whole album of Christmas classics, and as you’ll see, he’s as giddy as a schoolboy on Christmas morning to sing them for you…
Billy Idol: Jingle Bell Rock |White Christmas | Happy Holiday (MySpace videos)
What’s next, a Johnny Rotten – Clay Aiken Holiday Duets album?
The New Banner: some of you may notice a new banner up top. It’s nothing spectacular (I’m still working on that), but it’s a picture I took over Thanksgiving weekend in Tucson. We were walking back from a park at dusk, and saw many many birds on the wires above. So I felt compelled to snap a photo.
The picture above is only a small part of it. The full photo is here. I don’t know why, but I like it. There’s a whole lot of stuff going on in that photo. Lots of individual birds coming together to commune on the local wires at the end of a beautiful day. And of course, it can be interpreted as the five lines in a written music staff. Huh? You feeling me now? Okay, I have just spent entirely too much time writing about my bird picture. Go watch Billy again.
How to Unravel a Good Thing: Gary Glitter and Kramer
I was listening to Joan Jett’s radio show on Sirius’ Underground Garage (the brainchild of E Street’s Little Steven). She kicked off the show by spinning an old Gary Glitter tune. This tune comes from 1973’s Touch Me, Glitter’s second release. The album’s biggest hit was “Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)”, which reached number two on the UK charts in January of ’73, and was later covered by Miss Jett in the early 80’s. Another hit on the album was the song I heard this past weekend, “Hello, Hello, I’m Back Again”.
As many or most of you know, Mr. Glitter hasn’t fared too well over the last couple of decades. He was busted for child porn in the UK in the late 90’s, and is now rockin’ and rollin’ away the days in a Vietnamese prison, after being convicted early this year of “obscene acts” with two Vietnamese girls.
So it’s unfortunate that listening to Glitter’s music now immediately makes you think of his misdeeds later in life. It’s a shame that he’s permanently scarred the accomplishments of a successful music career.
And now, of course, thanks to Michael Richards’ idiotic and hate-filled rant at a recent stand-up gig, he’s helped mar every future episode of Seinfeld I’ll ever watch. The “Seinfeld Curse” has even managed to reach back in time and foul up all of those brilliantly funny episodes. Oh, they’ll still be as hilarious as they’ve always been, but I’ll always see Kramer and think “Ah! Racist idiot!”
Well played, Gary Glitter and “Kramer”, well played!
Gary Glitter:
Hello, Hello, I’m Back Again(mp3) – from Touch Me, available on The Ultimate Gary Glitter | eMusic has it too.I defy you to watch Gary Glitter sing “Another Rock ‘n’ Roll Christmas”, and not think of Gary as a “slimy, sinister git”, as one of the YouTube commenters puts it. But who knows, maybe Gary will be “rockin” your “stockin!”
Check these Blogs out
A couple of cool music blogs to take note of…
- I’ve been enjoying Hidden Track, since soon after it kicked off in October. The blog is a spinoff of Glide Magazine, a great music site. Ace Cowboy and Scotty B. have the controls. I like their writing, their content, and their senses of humor. And I think they’re even getting paid for it! Give me some tips, boys. Must – – find – – a way.. Go give ’em a visit. One of their recent posts has a download of Dylan’s “Masters of War”, as performed by the Roots.
- Breath of Life has been on my Sage and Bloglines subscriptions since I found some great Prince posts a couple months back. One of their latest posts takes a look at The Wailers tune “Dreamland”.