The Not-Pop Jukebox

It's Halloween, my dears, and what better to celebrate the holiday than an instrumental with a loosely related title? Thus I bring you Zombie Dance from Action Man. In as much as zombies are capable of dancing, I suppose this one might get them moving to something resembling the beat.

If nothing else, the heavy-duty fuzz and quick-change sound ought to scare some of the your trick or treat guests this evening. Have a listen to Zombie Dance and let me know if it was frightening or fun.

This whole enterprise stated when I discovered that David Byrne had covered Don't Fence Me In. Now, as a Bing Crosby fan, I knew the song by heart but I really grooved to the Byrne version of the song. Then...then my dears I discovered the Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald version.

Now, if you enjoy people who have a good time and know how to laugh at themselves, I can't possibly recommend that cover enough. But I still find Bing Crosby to have such an amazing voice that we can't do without his original, nor could we pass by the David Byrne take on Don't Fence Me In. And, naturally, I needed to find as many versions as I could.

You didn't think I'd leave you all out of it, did you? Of course I couldn't. And so I bring you ten versions of Don't Fence Me In, some of them more fun than others. IN addition to the ones I've already mentioned, you'll find Willie Nelson (natch), Harry Connick Jr., Chumbawumba (no, really), and James Brown (seriously, you can't make up this stuff).

Have a listen and, if you have a favorite I'd love to know which it is, particularly if it isn't here and I'm missing it. Honestly, I rather like the James Brown version. Who knew?

To listen to Get Your Pants Off you'd think you were hearing a 70s funk/jazz group. Yet it's off the most-recent album (as in "released in 2012" recent) from the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. While it's a little more funk heavy than many of their songs, it's a pretty good introduction to the band's sense of humor and their style.

Obviously, this isn't the first time I've written about the grungy, non-blues band. If you like this one click on their name above or have a listen to She Said. Let me know what you think!

I was listening to "London Calling" today and thought, "Why haven't I posted Jimmy Jazz already?" And so, here I am with some classic Clash for you all, just the way you like it: clearly explaining that punk isn't all screaming and discordant guitars. Have a listen to Jimmy Jazz and get a feel for why The Clash were so seminal in the punk scene, 'way back in the day, and why I love them still.

While some people might hear "French hip hop quintet" and run the other way, you must know me well enough by now to know that I jumped all over Hocus Pocus. When you can't understand the words and all you have is the music and the sound of voices washing over you, you can really enjoy the work without trying to parse meaning. I've enjoyed listening to them quite a lot this evening but, when I heard Here's Johnny! I knew I had the song for you, my darlings.

Now, I must caution you that Here's Johnny! is hardly typical of their sound. Hocus Pocus definitely give you more mainstream hip hop...with, y'know, actual instruments. That's right, I've got a third group for my jazz hop genre to go with Spekulation and Janelle Monae.

Now, if you want something more typical, try Mr. Tout le Monde or, for something much harder, Vocab!. And if you're familiar with Hocus Pocus, drop me a recommendation, would you? Merci!

I call this edition of You Pick the Winner "I'm a MaWoman". Today we pit a bluesy rock classic from Bo Diddley, I'm a Man, against Koko Taylor's down-and-dirty I'm a Woman. Have a listen to both and tell me, my dears, who does a better job representing his or her gender? Which is the better song overall? I love 'em both so I'm looking to you for guidance.

I thought it terribly sad that the only time I've posted Chuck Brown was the day he died. Today, have a serious, James-Brownian jam about Bustin' Loose to make up for that lack. As I'm sure you've guessed, the horn section really makes this for me, but there's plenty of funk going on in the background.

Bust your thing loose of the chair and shake it for ol' Chuck Brown. Let me know what you thought, would you?

The Illuminoids put together this great mix of L7 and CSS, a sort of zombie song for the Halloween Mashup of the month. I included the video because it's pretty disturbing and makes the undead thing really work.

Sadly, the song is four years old and I couldn't find a single place to download it for free (except those freaky pirate sites where you're not altogether sure what else will hitchhike on your computer). The Mashuptown post lists a site for The Illuminoids but apparently it's dead. If you know where people can get it, please let me know. Until then, enjoy the song and the video.

It's Friday and we need a song about drinking, but it's got to be fun. Handily for you all, I've got Two Bottles of Wine just for you. You get the wacky Jason Webley and Rev Peyton's Big Damn Band, together at last just like you always wanted. Okay, maybe you didn't but they certainly work well together. Enjoy your Two Bottles of Wine and, if you're of a mood, you can hear Webley's Drinking Song oom-pah it's way along on Grooveshark. It's more drunken and maudlin than fun, though. I imagine it'd make a great sing-along right at the end of the night, though.

Ha Ha Tonka not only has a fun name to say but they play some fun, country-fried, pseudo-bluegrass music. Usual Suspects details the story of a small-town Jezebel, a pretty tried-and-true subject but, by perhaps accidentally invoking the movie, it makes me picture Kevin Spacey trying to avoid the attentions of some overly made-up high school girl in a skimpy sundress.

Okay, I didn't until I made up that last part. I'm easily distracted today. At any rate, Ha Ha Tonka pulls of such lyrics as "100% I'm made of cotton, I shrink when I sink in hot water. That little girl, so hot she's scalding, ain't gonna be nothin' left of me."

As a metaphor that's pretty original. The driving beat behind it keeps you starting over, even though the song ends pretty much just like any other small-town girl story. If you like Usual Suspects have a jam to their cover of Red Meat's 12-Inch Three Speed Oscillating Fan or St. Nick on the Fourth in a Fervor.

For some reason, I always thought Little Toy Gun would make a fun James Bond soundtrack song. It just seems like the sort of thing your typical villain-ess would be thinking as she's seducing 007. Of course I don't think they do that sort of thing any more. It's probably not "gritty" enough.

In mourning for the new Bond movie that stars that not-Bond, Mr. Craig, let's have a great song that could have been in a 007 movie, if only they still made them. I promise I'll stay off my James Bond Hobby Horse after this. Probably. For a while.

I'm in a quandary, my dears, and I need your help. Much as I love the version of Hanuman on "11:11" (have you heard it?) the extended, brassified, drum-fueled take on "Area 52" fills me with joy.

So I come to you with a plea: listen to both and, after you've finally finished dancing your booty off, let me know which you like better. I simply can't decide.

How is that I've only posted one Red Elvises song? You people are supposed to remind me about these things. Luckily for you I realized I'd been neglecting this important part of your musical education.

For this Friday evening, let them teach you to Twist Like Uma Thurman. Get up, get down, and go find your copy of Pulp Fiction for further inspiration, though I don't actually recall her doing the twist as such in the movie.

It's been a long time since I absolutely swooned over a band, my darlings, but today I discovered The Head and the Heart. I've been listening to them for an hour and I'm as in love with them even more than I started.

For a gorgeous taste, start with Lost in My Mind. From 2:47 to 3:03 I just stop whatever I'm doing and suck up the harmony as a reminder that the world can be a fabulous place. In fact, the entire last two minutes of the song restore my faith in my fellow man and in the music industry in general.

If you like this a tenth as much as I do, try Ghosts which has more wonderful harmony, piano, and a driving beat to go with it. This is the sort of music that ought to be pop but isn't, my dears. It's also the sort of thing that makes music blogs worth writing. Was that enough gushing for one day? Yeah, I thought it might be.

I demand real swing today, a crooner crooning and a horn section wailing. Thankfully, there's always Ain't That a Kick in the Head. While the song has been recorded by others, notably Robbie Williams, Dean Martin owns the tune. It fits his swoony-croony, slightly looped style to a T. Of course, he was the first to record it, too.

So for today, celebrate love in its most potent form, the kick in the head that makes you dizzy with happiness or at least hormones. Tell me this doesn't make you want to dance. Go on, tell me.

Get your skank on, darlings, and have a jam to the utterly well-named ska-awesome that is Suburban Legends. In their most suburban of songs, High Fives celebrates looking "totally bitchin'" and acting like superior asses in high school.

Now, it just so happens that They Might Be Giants has their very own, kid-based song called High Five which features that same game that jerks play on other kids in high school. For all it's doofy lyrics, it's still got some great horns and a pile of disco sensibility that you don't expect from the duo. Nor, if you've not kept up with them, do you expect a kids' chorus, but you get that, too.

So enjoy a pair of High Fives from me. C'mon, guys, don't leave me hangin'.

What's Up, What's Up, my darlings? I've brought you Nils Landgren Funk Unit to funk up your Saturday. You just can't beat some Swedish funk of a weekend evening.

In truth, the Funk Unit is as much jazz as it is funk, with a little swing sensibility thrown into the mix. You know what a sucker I am for a horn section and Nils Landgren has them in spades, grooving and jamming and generally making me dance like a fool.

Enjoy What's Up, What's Up. If you like it, you might want to move on to House Party and Stuff Like That. Do let me know what you think or if you have a favorite Nils Landgren Funk Unit tune to share!

It's Friday. That calls for a goofy song, one that's gone around for decades and still retains its swingin' goodness. That's right, boys and girls: it's time for Louis Jordan's Ain't Nobody Here but Us Chickens. Eight times. Don't miss the great BB King version.

It was way back in January that I posted Acollective but I never did come back and post more from them. As they've not yet gotten around to gracing us with another album I thought I'd post Whisky Eyes both as a tribute to an earworm and because I told you I would, eventually.

The chorus gets trapped in my head, going 'round and 'round, but I do really enjoy the saloon-style piano, as well. References to Schopenhauer and Plato's cave didn't hurt, either.

There's a lot of energy in the song, which you know I love, and it's most definitely chair dance material. Heck, sometimes I even get up and shake it, particularly at the end. Have a listen and let me know if you managed a full boogie, too.

It's been ages since I posted anything by the darling Coeur de Pirate. Let's say Adieu to that oversight with something so much more full and edgier than anything she'd done on her first album. Heck, I' haven't even posted anything from her 2011 album, "Blonde".

And so here you are, my dears. If you really want to see how adorably twisted Beatrice Martin is, you can watch the video for Adieu. Once again, it's a great little movie but it distracts from the song so have a listen to it first so you can really concentrate on wondering when the next woman is going to explode.