06 June 2013

6 June 2013 - Siouxsie and the Banshees - Cities in Dust

It's time for some more 80s Thursday goodness. Here's a classic Siouxsie and the Banshees video from 1986's Tinderbox. I'd like to say this is the first song of theirs I heard, but they didn't exactly hit my teenage radar until I saw the Peek-A-Boo video a few years later.

05 June 2013

5 June 2013 - Run DMC - King of Rock

Sure, they didn't know music history so well ("there's three of us but we're not the Beatles"?!  Of course, John Lennon was dead by this time...)  They might have smack talked a whole lot of sucker MCs.  They might have gone through two needles on every jam they played.

But Run DMC were hip hop pioneers - the first consistent hitmakers of the genre - the first to bring actual instruments and not just turntables into their music - the first to popularize adidas - the first to use Larry "Bud" Melman in a music video - and with good reason.  Run - Joseph Simmons - and DMC - Darryl McDaniels - played off each others' rhymes with seamless ease.  And they had a fair amount of anger in their music, too.  Hip hop before Run DMC was happy, and talking about how they were the best MCs, and dancing.  Until Run DMC started calling out sucker MCs.

04 June 2013

4 June 2013 - Selena Gomez - Come & Get It

After seeing the commercial for ABC's new guilty pleasure drama Mistresses about 8,000 times yesterday, I got this Selena Gomez song completely stuck in my head. So I thought, oh hell, if this ain't a Wicked Guilty Pleasures post I don't know what is. Guilty Pleasure tunes and TV. Perfect! And then Tony went and posted Selena Gomez playing her bestie's song I Knew You Were Trouble today at Totally Covered...I was going to scrap this post, but then I thought, awww heck let's make it Selena Gomez Day at the blogs.

03 June 2013

3 June 2013 - Baby Animals - Painless & Rush You & Email

Remember the MTV Buzz Bin from the early 90's?  I do.

That's where I discovered this hard rocking Aussie band.  Of course, when I saw their Buzz Bin video, it was this one, which isn't all that hard-rockin' at all.  But the song grew on me.  It was catchy.  It wasn't exactly like everything else on the radio.  And Suze DeMarchi - the lead vocalist - had a compelling and husky voice.



So I went and bought their CD, and put it in.  And this was track 1.  Thankfully, it was also the 2nd single.  What a great, hard-rocking song!  This is still, to this day, one of my favorite songs.



Of course, with label pressures, along with Suze's budding romance with and eventual marriage to Nuno Bettencourt, the band broke up.  But, eventually, they got back together.... and did an acoustic album of all their hits.  Including this hard rocking song.  And it worked at the slower tempo.  Here is the band performing it back in 2010.



Of course, they didn't take the edge off of everything.  Here is "Painless" from a show in 2013.



We would be doing the band a disservice if we neglected to mention that they have a new album out.  This is Not The End is available now. The first single is the compelling "Email", and we hope you enjoy it.

31 May 2013

31 May 2013 - Jamiroquai - Virtual Insanity

Remember when this song was everywhere? I do.  And I love this funky sound.

But let's talk for a minute about this video.  Let's talk about the video.   How the hell did the furniture and, for that matter, Jamiroquai, move like that?  Answer - the only stationary part of the room was the floor.  The room itself moved around.  The set was built on wheels over an undetailed floor.  The sofas were sometimes bolted to the wall, until they needed to move, and then they were unbolted.  Remarkably simple.

But back to the funky sound.  The song itself is heavily jazz influenced, much like the rest of the band's sound.  That's right.  I said band.  Jay Kay is the singer for Jamiroquai.  He is NOT Jamiroquai.  In fact, the rest of the band appears in the video, in the corridor scene.



In this live version of the song, you can hear a heavier jazz influence, complete with scat.  It's good to see that, on stage, the song sounds as good as it does in studio.

30 May 2013

30 May 2013 - OneRepublic - If I Lose Myself

Last night, OneRepublic singer and songwriter to the stars Ryan Tedder (a native Oklahoman) performed Counting Stars off his band's latest album Native for the inspiring Healing in the Heartland Relief Concert. To be honest, I really didn't know too much about his band beyond Secrets and Apologize (that last one I know more for Taylor Swift covering it on her live album). I certainly liked what I saw and plan on checking out some more of his band's songs (FYI for those who still pay for their music, Native is only $3.99 at Amazon right now). Here's the video for Native's first single.

29 May 2013

29 May 2013 - Tegan and Sara - Walking With A Ghost

Raise your hand if you thought this was actually originally a White Stripes song.  I admit it - I did.

And this isn't the first time you've seen Tegan and Sara on this blog, either.  Back then, I compared them to Simon & Garfunkel, and I stand by that comparison.  And I also said that despite that, and despite the lyrically brilliant songwriting, they still felt like a guilty pleasure.  I stand by that statement as well.

You're going back to look and see if I really said those things.  I did.

Now, I really do love the White Stripes version of this song.  It's well done.  This version is far less bombastic, but brings a different ache to the song.

And yes, Scott, it's a better version - are you happy now?!



As a bonus, here it is with three guitars.  It's a richer sound, and yet more stripped down.