The Not-Pop Jukebox

I'm going on vacation for a week, starting tomorrow, so I wanted to share a relevant song or two with you folks before I go. The idea of posting that pop-tastic POS from The Go-Gos makes me nauseous so you'll have to settle for the Red Hot Chili Peppers covering The Ohio Players' Roller Coaster of Love which I actually like better than the original. I don't know how often I'll be posting over the next ten days, but I'll try to pop in at least once in a while. I hope you all have a fabulous first week of July. If you've got a great tropical vacation sort of song, please share it with me.

On a bright and sunny Tuesday afternoon, I thought I'd offer a song about the sun. Okay, it's not actually about that love star shining relatively nearby/ On the Sun is, however, a great song. If you're into dub and reggae and all sorts of mixed-genre sound, check out The Black Seeds (who are, I'm told, very popular in New Zealand). On the Sun was released on the album of the same name in 2004, which means that there's a lot more out there if you like this one. As ever, Grooveshark offers a delectable selection of their music reaching back to the debut album, "Keep on Pushing" from 2001.

How about some rousing pseudo-reggae in the form of a bunch of guys from Argentina who now live in Los Angeles to spice up your Sunday afternoon? I don't remember where I heard this track but I do know that I've got it on half of the playlists I've created. The energy and sheer, rollicking joy make me smile every time. That's not bad for a song in which I understand about one word in ten (does "no" count as a word?) Apparently, it's off the Los Pinguos album "Magia" which was released in 2001. The other tracks mostly keep the uptempo mood but simply don't get me going the way Fumaza does.

I heard Rum and Coca-Cola on the radio yesterday and it came to me that I'd never really listened to the lyrics. As I was mocking the pathetic attempts at accents for which the girls were famous I realized what they were singing: "Both mother and daughter working for the Yankee dollar."

Now, I'm fairly certain they didn't intend to write a song about getting drunk and picking up some hookers. I know it was about GIs on shore leave and all but I think they meant something much more innocent: soldiers were nice to the girls and had the money to buy them presents which their boy-next-door options did not. But it still sounds like The Andrews Sisters are singing about whores in Trinidad. As proof that I'm not the only one who thinks so, I give you this video. The description starts, "A song about alcohol and... prostitution? I'm sure it's all very innocent..." and then goes on to give the lyrics. See? Your grandparents were naughty, naughty people, as I've always said they were.

For a Friday night quickie, please accept this offering of Depeche Mode. You may take my lack of a Michael Jackson post as a moment of silence in his memory, if you wish. Why, you may ask, am I posting something as well-known as Master and Servant? Because of the Anthony Atcherley remix of said Depeche Mode hit into It's a Lot Like Life into which I bumped on Feral Party Kids via the The Hype Machine. It's been in my head all night. And I always did like the song.

I got to thinking about how many songs exhort you to shake your something or other. Naturally, I had to make a list. I've excluded some of the really dreadful (although I left Junior Senior's Shake Your Coconuts for hilarity) and some of the repetitious (like several versions of Shake Your Hips that were nearly identical). I still have fifteen different Shake Your _____ songs to share with you today, ranging from AC/DC to 2 Live Crew. I've arranged them in alphabetical order to keep from showing favoritism (and because I couldn't decide which was my favorite, although I have the first two on vinyl from when I was a kid so they hold a special place in my heart and my music collection). Tell me if I've missed a great Shake Your _____ song, please. You know I always want more!

About a year ago, I posted a song from Gabin. I promptly forgot all about it until today, when I went looking for the song Mr. Freedom from their album of the same name. I then realized that I'd posted another of the duo's songs on my Scat Singing and Nonsense Songs page. For some reason I never connected the three songs, even though two of them appear on the same album.

Lo the price we pay for individual mp3 downloads and free on-line feeds in this day and age. Had I purchased the whole album then I could have been enjoying both songs from "Mr. Freedom" plus great tunes like The Other Way Round all of this time instead of finding myself wanting to buy it now when I already own one of the tracks. You'd think I'd have learned to do more research before I buy a single song but apparently I dropped the ball on this one. Please learn from my lesson and enjoy the fruit of Gabin's labor on me.

It’s time again for You Pick the Winner, the exciting game in which I offer you a choice between two songs about the same general topic and you tell me which one does a better job. In this round, we pit Will Dailey against Jellyfish. I’ve made no secret of the fact that I very much like the former but it just so happens that I adore the latter as well. Both Baby’s Coming Back and Love Is on the Way are ridiculously happy songs, ones with which I think all of us can identify to some extent. They share similar, simple beginnings and tell the story of men who practically tap dancing over the fact that a woman with whom they are in love will soon be knocking on the door. Dailey’s take includes a few more instruments but the two share a similarity, both in story and in structure. Which one to you like better?

I apologize for the dearth of posts this week. In a plea for forgiveness, I bring you the Daddy Day Mix to tickle your ears. It's got a little something for everyone. I've included Was, Not Was with Dad I'm in Jail as a classic, Go Daddy O from Big Bad Voodoo Daddy as a two-fer for you swing fans, Mindless Self Indulgence yowling about Daddy, and Howlin' Wolf, Clifton Chenier, and James Brown. Don't miss Angelique Kidjo's Papa, while you're here.

All told, I've gotten together a baker's dozen male-parent-related tracks, skipping the ones that are sappy, cruel, or explicit. I did include Papa Legba, not because it's about a father but because, well, look at my name. My children have requested that I include If I Could Fart Like My Father as well, sheerly for entertainment value, so it rounds out the list below. Happy Father's Day to you dads out there.

For those of you in the grip of World Cup fever, I bring you a song that's tangentially about football (that's soccer to you US folk out there). The late, great Kirsty MacColl took a game and a lying dirtbag, shook them with her inimitable gift for words and her love of Central and South American rhythms, and cooked up this fabulous song for what turned out to be her last album. Her sound bounced among many genres but the common thread was her wicked sense of humor. Even sadder songs displayed her flair for language. If England plays Columbia this year, may you hear this song in your head as you watch the action. Happy World Cup season!

Who here hasn't had an experience where you found yourself dating someone completely not your type and wondered, "What the heck was I thinking?!" Don't lie, that was a rhetorical question. For those of you willing to admit it, I offer Elizabeth Cook and her experience therewith, including a '76 brown and tangerine El Camino. The song is a little country-fried, as you'd perhaps expect from Ms. Cook, but it's a whole lot of fun and well worth a listen or three. The next time you find yourself with someone and you can't imagine what possessed you to spend time with them, think of El Camino and hopefully you'll realize that it could be worse. If not, you should probably just go home and go to bed.

To demonstrate just how far behind the times I am, I only just discovered that the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion seems to have misplaced Jon Spencer. Wait, no, that's just a Wikipedia rumor. As far as I can tell, the band has been releasing albums under the full JSBX name all along, including the three re-released this year. You can get a pretty good picture of their sonic playground from these albums, from the almost-surf-rock sound of Let's Smerf on "Now I Got to Worry" to straighter rock-blues sound of Chicken Dog from "Dirty Shirt Rock 'n' Roll" to the screaming rockabilly of Hot Shot on their live album "Controversial Negro". The web site seems pretty neglected, but only since March, 2010, and still bears the full name. Here is yet another example of why taking "facts" on Wikipedia as gospel should never happen. If the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion still calls itself that, who am I to argue?

A while ago I got an e-mail from the World Music News Wire alerting me to their fabulous site. They don't post music but they do have lengthy articles about little-known music acts from around the world. I finally got around to checking out the site and have been reading avidly for quite some time. I thought I'd share one of the acts about whose new album they recently posted, Fishtank Ensemble. The album released May 11, 2010, "Woman in Sin", wasn't available on Grooveshark but you can listen to "Samurai over Serbia" there. Here, I'll just share a taste, the song Fraima, and my recommendation that you have a look at the site and get your fill of not-pop world goodness.

Because I've spent too much time enjoying the music this evening I'm going to offer you a full ten minutes of the goodness that is the Monty Alexander Trio, one of the many, many incarnations of the man. He's played with the greats and recorded a tribute album to Bob Marlay, plays a mean mento tune and improvises jazz like the pro that he is. Have a good time with this one and I'll be back with something a little more specific tomorrow.

It's a grey and dreary day here, so I needed a little cheering up. Happily, I knew precisely to whom I should turn. Moxy Fruvous does it for me every time. I'm including their version of the Spiderman Theme because, well, they do a relatively faithful sound with their own twist on the lyrics. If you haven't heard them I recommend having a listen. They sound like an a capella group here but most of their songs include some guitar and the occasional other instrument. Try The Mitosis Waltz, Huge on the Luge, and The Greatest Man in America. They are more satirical and political than your basic band, but that was their shtick and, hey, at least they can sing and be funny at the same time.

Thought for the day: what would you get from mixing David Bowie, Lou Reed, David Byrne, and They Might Be Giants? If that puzzled you, I recommend listening to some songs from The Divine Comedy. They take TMBG's fascination with relatively-obscure cultural details, the common sense for the bizarre that all of them share, voice elements from the first three, and some synth that owes a debt to the work of all of them. I don't know that they count any or all of these among their influences. The band lists itself as "chamber pop", which pretty much rules out the "pop" label and shifts them to something more like "alternative indie". Their tenth album, "Bang Goes the Knighthood", was released on the 31st of May, a mere ten days ago. You can listen to the whole thing at Grooveshark. I'll just include on track here to whet your appetite.

I am a child of the 80s, folks. Come on Eileen and LL Cool J are in my blood. That means that DJ Lobsterdust's Knock Out Eileen is a match made in heaven for me. If you, too, would like to revel in the goofy combination of the rapper-turned-actor getting tough with Dexy's Midnight Runners, have a listen but be prepared to laugh. If you like it, head on over to his official site and download the song for free. Take a look around while you're there. You'll find a mash-up of Das Racist and The Rapture as well. That one didn't give me the giggles like Knock Out Eileen but my kids know all of the words so they like that one better.

Everyone loves cheese. That holds true for music as much as for food. Some enjoy brie or Gouda and some Velveeta, but everyone likes something cheesy. I've admitted enough cheese love by now that you shouldn't be surprised by another admission. It happens that I'm not the only one who loves this song, and I can prove it. Witness nine different versions of Hooked on a Feeling, including the original from BJ Thomas, the hugely popular Blue Swede version, a horrid cover from Baja Men, and the cheese master himself, David Hasselhof. [Note: Grooveshark was being very, very difficult yesterday and then I accidentally published this post with only the first sentence or so. It's been a rough blogging weekend. Maybe this goofiness will make up for any confusion.]

Have I told you lately that I love The Dandy Warhols? No, I haven't. It turns out that the post of Scientist from nearly two years ago no longer plays and I haven't mentioned them since. Shame on me, I say! I've neglected a whole mass of weird and wonderful songs like Scientist and Dan Rather Rap. Unfortunately, the version of the former on Grooveshark is not the rocktastic one from "Welcome to the Monkey House" but a re-record from "The Dandy Warhols Are Sound". The original moves faster and displays a lighter touch. In either case, the Woo! and opening baby giggles get me every time. Dan Rather Rap, on the other hand, displays the quirky talent they have for combining wild elements into something fun, strange, and often thought-provoking. And to think I came to them via my long-established love of Kurt Vonnegut.

For the most part, if you've heard two songs from The Magnetic Fields you've heard them all. (I say that because of Tokyo-a-Go-Go and some other songs that feature a female vocalist.) But that doesn't mean that you can't enjoy them in rotation with other bands, just that listening to a whole album leads to clever-lyric overkill with angsty-vocal overload not far behind.

That said, Let's Pretend We're Bunny Rabbits deserves a listen or two. It's cute, yeah, but not really in a fluffy bunny way. The Magnetic Fields are deep in indie country, with nontraditional "rock band" instrumentation and a distinct lack of auto-tune coupled with a strong flavor of geek. If that sounds like your sort of thing, enjoy the bunnies and have a listen to You Must Be out of Your Mind for a nice anti-love song to get the rabbits out of your mind.