It’s been a while, and so a backlog of musical tidbits has been gathering at the top of my spine, periodically releasing pleasant shivering waves. I’ve been enjoying listening to some things, in other words. Hey, let’s direct some of that energy at the internet!
The song from the new iPod commercial will give you cavities, but you’re not fooling anyone by pretending you don’t have it stuck in your head:
Al3x tweeted this a while ago, and I’ve been meaning to pass it along: a Beach Boys mashup that adds yet another layer of harmony — or maybe shifts everything into a different key and uses the original melody as the harmony? Whatever’s going on here, it’s clear that it’s beyond my pretending-to-know-about-music comfort zone. One thing I can say with confidence is that the process strips away the cheery, brave face covering the song’s subtle plaintiveness. It also goes THUMP THUMP THUMP, which I find less exciting. But the net effect is pleasing.
Friday’s Penny Arcade unveiled a world of amazingly competent videogame rock. Things have come a long way in the past few years — it’s no longer enough to just channel 8-bit nostalgia through a six string (although that remains pretty fun, too). Most impressive are The Protomen, who seem to be in the business of recording Thermalsish epics about Megaman. Check out the flash video at their site. Things don’t really get going until past the second voiceover, but after that point they get better and better. There’s also this, their newest track, an unholy mix of Springsteen & Styx which actually works out quite well.
Also linked from that post: Man Factory’s concept album about Street Fighter 2 (available as a free download). It’s somewhat hit or miss, but the slow jam about Balrog is definitely worth your attention (as are the titles of all the tracks).
Talking about this stuff prompted Chris to send me a link to a project of a friend of his: remixed Megaman 2 themes. I haven’t listened to them all yet, but Chris is right when he says that the Amen break-laden Airman track is solid.
Finally, it’s been a while since I’ve engaged in any Wrens advocacy. I understand that some of you are doubters. However, I also understand that a number of you are having emotional crises about getting older. Hey, me too! I’ve been at it since I was about 16, in fact. If you’re new to this you may not have noticed just how amazing The Meadowlands is when you first listened to it. The first five songs are the strongest block of album-openers I can think of — go listen to them. I’ve been revisiting Meadowlands after spending the past year or two with Secaucus, and it’s just as good as I remembered.
You’re familiar, I hope, with The Advantage?
I am not! As soon as I manage to fix my computer’s sound, I intend to remedy this.
OK! I’ve listened to them, and liked them. But within that genre I think I have to cast my lot with The Minibosses.