The Not-Pop Jukebox

I find it shameful that more people don't know what a stellar voice Bobby McFerrin has. Heed the lesson, those of you yearning to have just one massive hit: it will haunt you for the rest of your life. For a true taste of the compositional and vocal talent this man possesses, try Bang! Zoom! instead. It's jazzy and layered and lovely and wouldn't chart on a dare. That's just how I like my favorite music, you know. With luck you'll like it half as much as I do, because that's still a lot.

How could you all let me go so long without sharing Eatliz and their peculiar, fascinating brand of rock? In truth, when I first heard the band, I wasn't a big fan. That, my dears, is why you should always listen to something at least twice.

The more I heard from them, the more I enjoyed Eatliz. Their groove isn't immediately accessible but that's no bad thing, and in part the entire point behind The NPJ. They practically make my point for me! At some points it's like Siouxsie and The Banshees and at others it's crashing, driving rock. Then it turns a bit sadder, more contemplative. Over it all is a musical sensibility that takes a bit to click. When it does, you may find yourself hooked.

While I recommend the whole album, "Teasing Nature", I thought I'd share Mystical Lady here today as it supports my contention that they really do sound like Siouxsie (and that they rock). Have a listen or three and let me know what you think.

I can't help it, I love MIA. Technically she's not a chart-topper, at least here in the US, but this video does have well over 8 million views. It's over four years, but still that's pretty popular. That plus a SuperBowl performance with Madonna pretty much makes her pop music.

I don't care. I listen to a song like Buckly Done Gun and three beats in I've forgotten all about music snobbery and self-imposed rules. I'm too busy dancing. For a full-on Friday, add a little MIA. If you can take another after this one, have a listen to Galang or Bad Girls.

As I was jamming all over the living room I was thinking about her sound and thought, "What if MIA did a song with Die Antwoord?" Then my head exploded so I had to stop thinking about it. You go right ahead, though, and tell me if this is an idea for which the musical world is not ready or if it's another of my psychotic collaboration ideas that would never work.

As we get over Humpday, let's enjoy some wondrous proto-rock, some foot-tapping soul from the fantastic Big Maybelle. It's got some classic 50s saxophone and that twangy rock guitar that used to be all the rage, but it's also got Maybelle tinkling the ivories and her voice just made for what used to be called R&B before that turned into smooth jazz for the Top 40 crowd.

Enjoy Big Maybelle singing her Ring Dang Dilly off and hearken back to a more innocent time...at least as far as radio play went...and the hey day for Okeh Records. Let me know if it doesn't make you want to hunt down some bobby socks and dance the Jitterbug, because it sure does me.

First, please not that the exclamation point in the title of this post is not an expression of my excitement about this head-to-head match. It is, in fact, an part of the name of Frente! (The grammarian in me finds it hard to include that name anywhere but the end of a sentence.)

The point, however, is that Frente! and Emma Louise both feature exceedingly feminine singers in songs about jungles. Both, in fact, are titled Jungle. The two share a certain sensibility. I just want to know which of them you prefer. One lines out very particularly that the jungle exists inside her head (that would be Emma Louise) while Frente! leaves the particulars a bit more open.

Have a listen to the pair and let me know whose claim to her own jungle more compelling. Should you enjoy the two, you might listen to Cat Empire, who had a massive instrumental of the same name.

Y'all have gone nearly a year without lynching me for not sharing more Robotic Pirate Monkey and I thought I'd let you know how much I appreciate that by bringing you--perhaps predictably by this point in the sentence--more Robotic Pirate Monkey. As it's dinner time and the song made me get down while cooking up (a storm, that is), it seemed appropriate to share Shake n' Bake.

I don't know if you remember that culinary oddity (and I don't know if they still make it) but it seems to me this song would be perfect for flapping a bag of pre-seasoned bread crumbs and raw chicken about the kitchen. I also suspect, given some of the other titles and sound clips, that baking chicken isn't exactly the sort of thing they had in mind.

Whatever the reason, have some down-and-dirty, fuzzed-out electronica. If you've got a box of Shake n' Bake in your cupboard maybe this will give you the inspiration to finally get it out and make some non-fried chicken!

It's incredibly rare that a song moves me enough that I have to stop everything for a few minutes after hearing it just to absorb what I've heard. Requiem Dem accomplished just that.

Normally I focus on up-beat songs, some dark but few slow. Today I find myself unable to think of anything you more deserve to hear, my darlings. DJ Champion (and Pilou Côté...and an orchestra...and a bunch of other people) have finally released a new album and you can stream the whole thing on YouTube. Naturally I immediately began to do so.

I haven't made it through all seventeen songs, yet. I had thought to share Half a Mile at first but wanted to hear more. Then I hit play on Requiem Dem. Keeping the song in context, knowing that the four-year period between albums had been filled with a cancer battle that almost claimed Maxime Morin's life, this song moves from piercing power to intensely personal. It literally brought tears to my eyes.

And so, while I normally would have chosen something fun or just danceable I had to share a song that struck me hard. Requiem Dem is deep and complex, anguished and hopeful. It's a powerful piece from a talent that the world nearly lost. Then go get the album, "#1", from Champion's site. You should be able to explore the videos for the whole album right here.

Renowned reggae singer Jimmy Cliff released a new album in 2012, which I just discovered last week. It came to my attention via a most-unexpected cover of Rancid's Ruby Soho which I heard on the radio. At first, I thought, "How did I now know Rancid was covering Jimmy Cliff?" Then I realized that I knew they weren't. Mind? Blown.

It turns out that "Rebirth" is rooted in punk, having been produced by Tim Armstrong. Cliff not only covers Ruby Soho but Guns of Brixton in which The Clash sang about Cliff's The Harder They Come. That's almost as much fun as Peter Gabriel covering Vampire Weekend's Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa.

Beyond all that, Jimmy Cliff's cover of Ruby Soho is solid rocksteady. Have a listen and do check out the whole album. It promises reggae fans and music lovers in general a return of the great Mr. Cliff and it delivers in full.

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Ah, the siren call of women murmuring "you are a powerhouse of love" directly in your ear! Powerhouse, to me, is a love song of the highest order. In part that's because it sounds dirty until you listen to the lyrics and in part it's because of the Howard Jones synth-slaying playing complete with a pounding rhythm. That sounds dirty, too, but in reality a song that makes my honey shake his heiney with me shows what love is all about, because my honey don't dance.

Okay, that may have been TMI, so I'm going to just let you jam to the 80s hit-maker who's still out there doing his thing. Have a listen to Powerhouse and let me know if it's a love song that makes you as happy as it does me.

For an old blues and jazz master like Taj Mahal, you don't always expect a huge sound. Luckily for you I'm here to share wild gems like Feets Don't Fail Me Now. You get Taj's great voice, a full choir, and horns. For those who like his roots sound it's a mighty switch but it's a song not to be missed.

In case you didn't realize, this is a cover of the Little Feat song Feats Don't Fail Me Now. Personally, I find this one a stellar re-imagining that stays true to both Taj Mahal's rambling spirit and the sound of the original. He recorded the song for a George Lowell tribute album in the late 90s, "Rock and Roll Doctor".

Whatever excuse the world found to get this cover made, I thank it heartily. I'll take any for a rollicking, romping tune that makes me get up and dance. Have a listen and let me know if you like it, too.

Some days you need a massive mash to make your day. Today is one of those days. Conveniently for you, my darlings, I have here a 24-song mash-stravaganza from JT & C (that would be John Twig & Crowfield) guaranteed to get your bootie rockin'.

Save Them Mashups takes a pile of hits from the past decade or two in a few different languages and makes a big mess of awesome. There's Etta James, Skrillex, Daft Punk, Gorillaz, Lady Gaga, and Duck Sauce, to name but a few.

You can find the download link on the SoundCloud page linked above and below. JT & C are new to me so I'll be listening more. If Save Them Mashups is any indication, I'll be sharing more in the near future. In the meantime, have a listen and let me know if you love this one as much as I do.

This post is a rant only tangentially related to The Ohio Players. That’s okay, because all you really need to know about Love Rollercoaster is that it’s quintessential funk, practically the epitome of the genre. If you don’t know it, listen to it.

The song leapt into my head today and I thought, “I bet that’s how what’s-her-face thinks of herself.” As my familiarity with Nicki Minaj is limited to clips of her lolling about in a metallic bikini for a few seconds in videos for various mashups, I had to find one to uncover her actual name. That’s not quite the point I was trying to make.

That contrast between a modern-day performer—one I think of more as a burlesque act than a musician—with some talented people deservedly famous for their music rather than their willingness to shimmy in very little clothing got me recalling how some remarkably unattractive people with wonderful voices and/or musicianship sold a whole lot of records once upon a time.

Don’t misunderstand my point: appearance has always played a part in marketing. The music industry is no different than any other in that respect. Why else the pre-Photoshop prevalence of soft-focus album covers? Why else the widespread use of matching outfits for bands for every public appearance?

Sex sells, again as it always has, though folks used to have to do it the hard way, in person and then on television. There have always been talentless hacks trading on their appearances. In my rosy view of the past, however, these were flashes in the pan, people who caused a furor and disappeared, one-hit wonders deservedly shoved back into obscurity after their little moment in the sun.

I really did have a point. Talent used to count for more than the willingness to writhe about in your undergarments on the Internet (and this applies to men as much as women, of late). It wasn’t all, but it charted and it sold records. It got recording contracts.

Sure, there’ve been a lot of remarkably bad songs recorded and sold over the past hundred years. A goodly number of them have been about drinking, drugs, and sex. Anyone who denies that is either deluded or lying and is obviously not a fan of funk, disco, or the blues.

This brings me around, full circle, to Love Rollercoaster and the fact that someone singing (and actually singing, rather than approximating and letting a machine hit his or her notes) about so specious a topic can still demonstrate a remarkable ability to make music.

Have a listen to The Ohio Players and let me know what you think. Do you agree or am I relying too heavily on my rose-tinted headphones?

What do you get if you cross Frank Sinatra with Sylvester Stallone? I don't know, but it would look and sound a lot like Dany Brillant. It would swing hard to some fantastic big band music. For evidence, I offer you Ca l'fait de Big Band. Sorry, that's all I've got to say about it. Have a watch and see if you disagree.

For a lineup you never thought you'd see, unless you happened to see the show, boogie up your Friday with Willie Nelson, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Kid Rock getting a Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On. While this isn't vocally the best version of the song I've heard (or listened to tonight), it more than makes up for it in energy and sheer number of horns. For a Friday, what more do you need?

[Note: They take a little break after 3 1/2 minutes but then they wail right back into with with full Jerry Lee Lewis piano hammering and brass blaring. It's worth it to wait through the interlude.)

When you hear "Boston-based folk trio" you likely don't picture anything like what you get with The Ballroom Thieves. Sure, they've got the classic upright bass and acoustic guitar, but they fall pretty far over on the alt end of the folk spectrum.

For one thing, they've got an enormous amount of energy that just shines both in their vocals and in their playing. In Vampires you can hear the guitar strings straining under the hammering they're getting but it's perfect for the song.

If you like Vampires, try Armada. Do let me know what you think, and big thanks to +Ferdinand Zebua for introducing me to them.  I'm definitely going to be keeping an ear out for more.

You poor dears have been without Earth, Wind, & Fire for far too long. To that end I bring you one of my favorites. Got to Get You into My Life is not only a quintessential EWF song but it's off the first cassette I ever owned: "The Very Best of Earth, Wind, & Fire, Vol. 1". I still have it, by the way, though it's much the worse for wear. I actually bought a replacement for it but never could bring myself to toss the original.

If you're ready to get your groove on, complete with funky horns and lots of seventies style, have a listen to Got to Get You into My Life. You can pick up the CD for seven bucks right now via the album cover above, about what I paid for that second cassette a couple of decades ago. If you're a disco funk fan like I am, throw me a few recommendations or let me know your favorite Earth, Wind, & Fire song!

Ever since I posted MoJo I've had MOJO in my head. Thus, I'm sharing with you all today the official video for the song which has entertained me many a time. It's also given me a new record for Shortest Post Title, methinks.

In case you want to find more (and who could blame you?) you might want to use the full name for which -M- stands, Matthieu Chedid. It's a bit like trying to find Eels by looking up E--Google doesn't know what you want given only a single letter.

None of that diminishes the sheer joy of MOJOM. Have a watch and a listen and try to resist the urge to dance in public like -M- and his pals.

Let's have something brand new on the cusp of a brand new week. Limited Fanfare Records has a new sampler available via Amazon for free (click the link to get the album) On it, you'll find the alt-rock goodness of Plains. Hurricane City starts out with a good bounce, rocks out in a grungy sort of way, and then bops through to its satisfying end. You can't get much better than that with Monday staring you right in the face, now can you?