Wikipedia is a dangerous place! I have lost hours of my life meandering about it’s vast expanses. Those are hours I’m never going to get back. I got stuck in a bit of a wiki rabbit hole last night, first stumbling across Internet memes which in turn led me to this track. Don’t even ask!
Randomly it’s a public service announcement from Melbourne Metro Trains. While it’s very simple, I can see why it went viral. The hook has completely infected my brain and I have been unable to shake it all day. It should come with a health warning of it’s own!
This is a nice and light. A perfect summer tune! If only the weather matched the vibe of the song. For some reason the adjective that comes into my head when I hear it is Balearic. Not if this is at all accurate but it somehow seems fitting.
Roosevelt hails from Cologne, Germany and is signed to the Greco-Roman record label. When choosing his DJ name he obviously wasn’t thinking of how to optimise for use with search engines! Hence I don’t know too much about him. But sometimes that’s okay.
As I mentioned at the weekend I have noticed a World Music deficit of late. I have been researching and listening to as much as I can in order to try and close this gap.
You won’t be looking into the genre too long before coming across Fela Kuti. The Nigerian troubadour is veritable world music royalty and a pioneer of Afrobeat music. He also found time to be a prominent political activist and all around interesting chap!
I really like how this track contrasts most of the other African music I have posted so far. I tend to be drawn to relentlessly upbeat, energetic sounds. This is much more languid and funky, and those horns are irresistible!
There are two reasons why Oasis have been on my mind recently. Firstly, I was at a pub quiz and one of the questions was “what were the band Oasis originally known as?” The answer is at the bottom, kudos if you know it, it was news to me.
Secondly, someone referred to the Wonderwall Generation in my company (I am kicking myself that I can’t remember the exact context, I think it was sporting). It made me smile initially and then I realised it was a pretty apt way to think of the mid-90’s and probably that I am not far off being a part of said generation.
I have somehow only featured Oasis once so far, posting the peerless Slide Away what is now nearly two year ago! Champagne Supernova is also a classic and perhaps a slightly unappreciated one compared to Don’t look back in anger and Wonderwall, the two biggest hits off the seminal 1995 album (What’s the story) Morning Glory. True story – it was the first ever CD that I owned.
Someday you will find me, caught beneath the landslide in a champagne supernova in the sky…
There is the added bonus of a pretty epically 90’s video here too…
I thought something mellow was in order to help cope with the jarring prospect of the first Monday morning of 2013. The ever-soothing sounds of Sigur Rós will do just the trick.
This is taken from their 2002 album ( ). There is a pretty apt video here too, which I take to be their native Iceland. Hopefully the combination will help ease the pain a little.
I can be guilty of getting distracted by things that are shiny and new. As I mentioned yesterday, as part of choosing my 30 favourite tracks of 2012 I also reflected on the music I have posted recently. Just as I realised that I needed to post more World Music, I had also been neglecting my first musical love, Soul.
This has been somewhat addressed by posting James Brown, Fontella Bass and The Impressions over the past fortnight, but I can still never get too much Soul.
William Bell is a favourite who I was surprised that I hadn’t posted already. He is from Memphis, Tennessee and made his name on the hometown Stax label alongside such other great as Otis Redding and Issac Hayes. I first heard his music unwittingly, as he seems to be a favourite of hip hop producers who seem to sample him extensively.
A few years ago I had the thrill of fulfilling a dream and visited Memphis and Soulsville USA, the Stax rexording studio which is now a soul music museum.
While reflecting on my Top Tracks I realised that some of the very best music I heard in 2012 was African, particularly Sorie Kondi and Dark City Sisters. Following this, I intended to squeeze in some more world music posts towards the end of 2012 but lack of research time meant that I didn’t get around to it.
I dedicated myself to listening to as much music from South America and Africa as I could find this week and came across a couple of gems, not least this. Look out for the rest in the coming days and weeks.
This Kenyan number has all the classic ingredients that appeal to me: an irrepressibly upbeat tone, a relentless tempo and that distinctive tinny guitar sound. Not to mention the video! There is something pure and just utterly charming about it. The simple pleasure watching of ebullient people dancing while keeping perfect rhythm fills my heart with joy.
The video and song both remind me a little of another Kenyan band and blog favourite Nguuni Lovers Lovers, who I posted a couple of years ago.
I am a little in two minds about whether posting guilty pleasures on a Friday was a successful ploy or not last year. This has lead me to wonder whether it is worth continuing or not. Let me know if you have any feedback on this. My current thinking is that it’s good to mix things up so I will continue it for now but perhaps review it again in a couple of months.
This track is a favourite. I am actually very surprised I haven’t posted it already. While I might connect with some other Outkast songs in a more substantial fashion, this is simply one of, if not the best pop song I have ever heard. On the basic level of “Does it make you want to move?“, it doesn’t get much better than this.
Shake it, shake it like a Polaroid Picture, shake it, shake it…
I have been reading about Oxford’s Hugo Manuel AKA Chad Valley for a while now. He seems to have been featured by just about every website I look to for ideas on new music. He also seemed to included in every “Best of 2012…” list I read over recent weeks. Sometimes you just have to accept that the universe is telling you something.
While I am not wholly convinced just yet by his sound (Depending on the reviewer “chill wave”, “dream pop” or any number of other banal monikers…), I really like this track. The vocals and synthesiser (not to mention the video) give it an 80’s feel that I am always a sucker for. A friend suggested he has a little of the Rick Astley’s about him, in both sound and look. But don’t hold that against him…
A short post today having spent all day yesterday agonising over my top 30 tracks of 2012.
To my surprise, I realised over Christmas that I hadn’t posted this already. Quite an oversight on my part. It is taken from the classic 1965 Highway 61 Revisited album, it’s one of Bob Dylan’s high points (in fairness there are quite a few to choose from).
