Category: entertainment

While I’m waiting for someone to get out of the file I need, I’ll just bang this out while I’m thinking about it. Album first songs. I know it’s almost dead now, what with the single-ification of everything. But, there’s something special about the first song on an album. It creates your expectations for the rest of the album, sets the mood, lays out the tablecloth and silverware… you know.\
I’ve been listening to a lot more rock lately… and there are some really good first songs out there. Like:

• Untitled off of Turn On The Bright Lights by Interpol – I don’t think I’ve loved the open guitar solo of a song more since The Smiths How Soon Is Now. Listen, you’ll see.
• E-Pro off of Guero by Beck – Yeah, this one rocks too. It doesn’t fool around with a gentle intro. It jumps right in and rocks on.
• Fight Test from Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robot by The Flaming Lips – Concept albums almost feel like cheating, but it works so freakin’ well.
• I Fought The Angels from Universal Audio by The Delgados – I never get tired of this album, and this song in particular. It’s so good. Simple, elegant and rockin’.
• Grace Kelly Blues by Eels from Daisies of the Galaxy – You know an album will be fun when it starts with a brass band, and goes into a bouncy little number like this. Perfectly sets up the artful quirk of the rest of the album.\
  Ok, back to work…

This year on Top Gear, they’re doing a write-in survey of the best driving songs of all time. Since I love lists, and I love thinking about lists, I decided to give it a shot. This is the seriously jet-lagged malaria-pill-induced-hysteria list, so I reserve the right to look at this list in a couple days, call myself a tool, and redo it.\
Before I bust out the list, let’s review what makes a good driving song. First, I’ll tell you what it isn’t – a good coding song. They’re two different things. Coding songs put you in a zonked out place where you can code without getting outside yourself – it pulls you into yourself. A driving song heightens everything. It makes you do everything a little crisper: accelerate, turn, brake, check your mirrors, etc. It also doesn’t have to be about driving… Anyway, here’s the list in no particular order (and feel free to add your own):

• Busy Child – Crystal Method
• Born To Be Wild – Steppenwolf: Duh, come on… this is the original and still king of driving songs.
• Saturday Morning – Eels: Often blaring when Max and I go out to breakfast on Saturday mornings.
• Sledgehammer – Peter Gabriel: Actually, the whole second disc of Secret World could be in this spot, but I said songs, not albums, right?
• Back in Black – Living Colour: The AC/DC version will do in a pinch, but I love the Living Colour cover. It’s balls out, no kidding around, and Corey Glover just runs away with it (you know, actually singing instead of screaming).
• Cowgirl – Underworld: Pick your remix, doesn’t really matter. This song kicks so much ass, it needs a list of its own (you could probably easily do a top ten Cowgirl remixes).
• I See You Baby – Groove Armada: See Cowgirl, all the same things apply. The remix from Boom is especially good.
• Communication – INXS: Good piano riff, good guitar riff, and Michael Hutchence at his finest. Oh, and meaningless lyrics, which is a plus for any good driving song.
• The Mango Song – Phish: A bonus feature for driving songs is length… the longer, the better. Six and a half minutes is just about perfect, and this song nails it. It’s not the hardest song on this list, but it flows so well it’s just a sublime driving song.
• Short Skirt/Long Jacket – Cake: Cake could run over this list if I really thought about it (see malaria-pill-induced-hysteria). For driving albums, they could have the top two or three spots, easily. This song is my favorite. It has catchy lyrics, and a hook to die for. Oh, and rock trumpets kick balls, man (it’s like kicking ass, but it does it head on).\
  An honorable mention goes to Junior Senior for both Move Your Feet and Shake Your Coconuts (a song that needs more mash-ups, come on interweb!). I’m sure there are more, but it’s time for petit dejeuner (hooray, breakfast!).

Jim asked, so I figured I’d try to collect my favorite mash-up sites. For the uninitiated, mash-ups are, musically, a combination of two or more musical works into a new whole. Mostly done by DJ’s (or at least, the ones I’ve found), music editing technology has progressed to a point of simplicity (ie: Garageband) that the “normal human” can create mash-ups with some patience and willingness to learn.\
They’re dubiously legal at the moment, and the debate is ongoing as to whether mash-ups fall under the “fair use” provisions of copyright, or they’re really really infringing. Personally, I think they’re great. They’re a fun look at a known quantity. It’s amazing to see the combinations that people come up with, and some of them are pulled off with amazing skill.\
Enough explanation, here are my favorites:

• The Kleptones – One of my first experiences with mash-ups was their unreal combination of Queen and classic hip-hop: A Night At The Hiphopera. It’s seamless in all the right ways, and done an unbelievable job at combining two genres.
• dj BC Presents The Beastles – The Beatles vs. The Beastie Boys. Need I say more?
• The Party Party – Some of the most amazing voice remixing you’ll ever hear. They make W sing Sunday Bloody Sunday, and many more. Their efforts are kind of uneven, but when they succeed, they’re not only great musically, but hysterical. My faves are the song I mentioned above, Dick Is A Killer, Imagine, and My Name Is Rx
• Pheugoo – Mashes from all over the spectrum, with an emphasis on hip-hop/divas mixed with classic rock. Very good stuff.
• Mash-ups.co.uk – A lot of dance mashed up with trip hop (which you know makes me happy). Slow Angel (Kylie vs. Massive Attack) and Leave It Dirty (Christina Aguilera vs. Living Colour – so much greater than the sum of its parts) are highlights.
• ccc – Revolved – Mashes The Beatles’ Revolver with a lot of different stuff. Other than the less-than-awesome Eleanor Ciccone, the rest are excellent.
• CCMixter – Totally legal, provides a forum for folks to create and mash-up Creative Commons licensed music. Some really good stuff. And, if you don’t have it already, you can get the Wired/Creative Commons remix CD.\
  To get a lot of the whole albums, you’ll need to be proficient with BitTorrent, but that’s a subject for another post. I have to go get my Typhoid shot now.

Someone at work has some of the best mash-ups I’ve ever heard, and they have no idea where they came from. Google doesn’t know anything about them. I’m turning to you, dear interweb, to help me track down the creators of these little masterpieces. They are:

• Fatboy’s Love Shack – A fun mix of Funk Soul Brother and Love Shack.
• 3000 Gonna Rock You – We Will Rock You mixed with a bunch of stuff I don’t think I’ve heard before, but it’s awesome. Some fun acoustic guitar over Freddie’s vocals. Might be Black Eyed Peas, but I really don’t know.
• Twist & Sex Laws – Beck and the Beatles. This one’s not as good as the first two, but still solid.
• Hella Good Mash – No Doubt and some disco-y number. Good stuff.
• Elvis Conversation – No idea, but it’s awesome. A little Elvis, a little backbeat, some bass, some amazing sprinkle of something else. May be my favorite of the bunch.
• Feeling Satisfaction – Annie Lennox (the song with “take these wings and fly” in it), and Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones. Sounds goofy, but it’s SWEET.
• It Wasn’t Me, Let It Be – Let It Be and some guy with a kind of high voice singing about a girl, a Jamaican rapper, and Lennon and McCartney. Yeah, baby.
• Are You Gonna Be My Dirrty -I don’t know why, but I can only stand Christina Aguilera when she’s been mashed up. Mixed up with a great guitar stunner that I can’t place, but I’m sure I’ve heard before.
• Hate To Say I Milkshake – I’m pretty sure that’s Boston in the background, but I can’t say which song. And, of course the “my milkshake brings all the boys to the yard” song that EVERYONE mashes, remixes and kanoodles with. I don’t think I’ve ever even heard the original.
• Get Your Music Runnin’ – Steppenwolf vs. Can’t Stop The Rock (or is it Don’t Stop The Rock?) vs. some other stuff I’ve never heard before. This one will blow your headphones off.\
  Please help, oh internet. These mash-ups deserve the respect of having them associated with their creator. They’re excellent.