Category: Lists (Page 14 of 19)

Weekend Video Vault for October 13, 2006

October 13, 2006 / Captain Capm

Chalk it up to being Friday the 13th! I tried posting my weekly dose of fave videos for all you who need a fix out there earlier today, but due to YouTube’s gigantic spaz attack of lag and some software troubles, I failed. My original post said that I would say something corny about today’s date and might have even culled together some “unlucky” themed videos, but I was too above that. Well, looks like the day got its revenge on me in the end. Or not. Here’s another 10 far-out rockin’ clips for your eyes and ears to love. Have a groovy weekend and find a new stranger to love, won’t you?

Scissor Sisters – “I Don’t Feel Like Dancing” How do you go and top your already trippy groovetastic video for “Take Your Mama”? Well first you write a song that’s as equally catchy and then soak up a lot of acid trauma and good vibes and voila – you’ve done it! I enjoy the look of Ana Matronic in this clip. Now if only I could find a freak mama like that.

Mosquitos – “Boombox” This Brazilian-tinged group has been grooving the hell out of everyone who’s been in earshot of their lovely melodies over the course of a couple albums now. This tune was used in a couple commercials at the time (and it’s easy to hear why – those hooks) and is featured on the group’s self-titled debut disc. Now if only I could find a groovy chick like Juju.

White Town – “Your Woman” Well, at least White Town had one really good song. The rest of the album this cut was taken from was complete boredom caught on tape. The video’s just as good and is an homage to the silent film era. Nice lenses and effects implemented throughout. I have nothing to say in regards to finding either of the leading ladies in this one.

MC 900 Ft. Jesus – “If I Only Had A Brain” The Jesus mails himself to himself. What a way to travel. Now if only expedia.com offered such cheap rates.

Stone Temple Pilots – “Days of the Week” I have no idea why Shangri La Dee Da isn’t revered as the great STP album it really is. That’s OK, as I could never really get into the much more appreciated No. 4. This is the best STP song, period. A short blast of power pop that clocks in at under three minutes with funky visuals and Scott Weiland wishing he could be David Bowie. Now if only these guys could get back together.

Faith No More – “Everything’s Ruined” Yes, Faith No More make their second appearance in the Vault. Shoot me, they made some great clips. This one’s categorically even stranger than the one for “Easy.” It uhhhh…, well you just have to see it, I s’pose. Now if only I could boogie like Jim Martin in this one.

Pavement – “Cut Your Hair” Oh, that wacky Pavement. Although, I’ll never forgive that chick who told me to waste my money on the band’s Wowee Zowee disc. Ouch. Yet here we have the band in full-tilt catchy mode slipping in subtle music biz digs in various symbolism. Of course, they broke up and none of it mattered, but this song is still peachy. Now if only I could drink some of that blue stuff.

Taco – “Puttin’ On The Ritz” Here we have this video in its “Original Uncensored Version.” In this clip, there are people wearing blackface and dancing about. So be it. Nothing could really be more offensive than the look of Taco himself in this video. What’s with that weird head-shifting thing? I loved the After Eight album as a kid and recently re-purchased it on iTunes. I have no idea how I never noticed until listening to it again the other day how the album is almost completely devoid of electric guitars. Now if only Taco could make a huge comeback.

The Waitresses – “I Know What Boys Like” That’s my good pal Chris Butler playing that groovy green guitar (and the person whom also penned all the Waitresses tunes). Chris told me this song, along with the theme to “Square Pegs” and “Christmas Wrapping” all do well enough still to put enough coin in the bank to put his kid through college when that day rolls around. Since then, Butler’s had a heck of a solo career with many fine albums issued. Now if only I had a guitar like that.

Pink Floyd – “Arnold Layne” To close this week, we’ll journey back to the days when Pink Floyd sometimes had a “The” prefacing their name and overbloated epics like The Wall were not even an inkling of an idea. But if you must know, my fave Floyd albums are Atom Heart Mother and Animals. Something about cows and pigs. Now if only I could get a mannequin.

Lists, Videos

Deep Cuts: Duran Duran

October 11, 2006 / David Medsker

Duran Duran has a lot more to their musical résumé than “The Reflex” and “The Wild Boys.” Indeed, if those songs were wiped off the face of the earth, I would be perfectly okay with that. There is also a considerable breadth of style on these albums as well. They weren’t just a synth-pop band. There are experiments in art rock, house music, Latin music, atmospheric pop, and funk. One thing’s for sure, they were not afraid to fail. And on more than one occasion, that’s exactly what they did. But they came back wiser every time.

The following list – a two-disc set, no less – contains my favorite Duran Duran songs, or in some cases remixes, that you may not have heard before. They’re listed in chronological order, since that’s important in understanding how the band’s sound has evolved over the years. Purists will surely take me to town for my omissions – I was never a big fan of the early B-sides like “Late Bar” and “Faster than Light” – but I stand by my choices…at least for the next five minutes, at which point I will surely want to replace five songs with five others. Enjoy.

“Sound of Thunder” – Duran Duran
What better way to start a Deep Cuts piece on Duran Duran than with a song that opens with a flanged keyboard riff similar to “Planet Earth,” the song that started it all. “Sound of Thunder,” though, isn’t nearly as sunny as “Planet Earth.” It still has a badass groove, and John shows his chops as a bassist for the first time, but the song is one of the moodiest dance songs you’re likely to find. There was talk about what it meant that the words “Earth,” “Memories” and “Thunder” appeared in bold type in the album’s artwork. The answer: absolutely nothing.

“Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)” – The Singles Box 1986-1995
This originally appeared on the import 12” single for “The Reflex” (and made its CD debut on the soundtrack for the 1994 movie “Threesome”), but it was recorded in 1983 while the band was still touring in support of Rio. This Cockney Rebel #1 smash (with that band’s singer Steve Harley singing backing vocals here) gets an extreme makeover, turning the first verse and chorus into a torch song. At that point, the song positively explodes into dance rock heaven. Listening to Andy’s blistering solo, you can practically hear him saying to himself, “You know, I’d love to form a band where I could rock out all the time. I wonder if John would be interested…”

“Breath after Breath” – Duran Duran (a.k.a. The Wedding Album)
Stunning. Still one of my favorite Duran songs to date, this duet with Brazilian singer Milton Nascimento was a radical departure into Latin music for the band (unless you count Mark Berry’s remixes of “Meet El Presidente”), and it came, conveniently enough, at a time when there were no expectations of how Duran Duran should sound. They had finally outlasted the whole new wave/romantic thing, and that clearly liberated them. This was also the first real guest performance on a Duran track, and the band was smart enough to know not to upstage Nascimento and his sweet, sweet tenor.

To read the read of our choices for Duran Duran Deep Cuts, click here, and come back to ESDMusic to share your comments.

Deep Cuts, Lists, Pop, Rock, Songs

Movie Tunes: The Top 40 music moments in film history

October 6, 2006 / David Medsker

There’s nothing better for someone who’s a fan of both music and movies to sit down in a theater, watch a film, and find yourself in awe of how the director has utilized a pop song to set a scene or convey a mood. It’s easy to know that you need a romantic song for a romantic moment, but finding the right song…? That’s the hard bit…and it gets even harder as you have to provide the proper sonic backdrop for just about every key moment in the film. Bullz-Eye polled all of our movie and music writers (and then some) to get their favorite uses of pop songs in movies.

The only real criteria we set was this: the song couldn’t have been written specifically for the film or have made its debut on the film’s soundtrack. This was pretty rough on us at first, because it meant we had to say so long to Simple Minds’ “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” (“The Breakfast Club”), bid bye-bye to O.M.D.’s “If You Leave” (“Pretty in Pink”), and offer a fond farewell to Kate Bush’s “This Woman’s Work” (“She’s Having a Baby”).

Fortunately, we had a lot of great songs – and movie moments – waiting in the wings. But be advised: our descriptions contain spoilers galore.

Some sample choices:

36. “Closer,” Nine Inch Nails – Se7en

When I popped in the DVD of “Se7en” to refresh myself with the film’s usage of Trent Reznor’s composition, I was legitimately surprised to find that it didn’t actually begin with it; there are, in fact, four minutes of screen time preceding the song’s appearance. The thing is, the film’s opening credits – over which the harsh, thumping industrial beat of “Closer to God” plays – are so damned creepy and set the tone of the 123 minutes that follow that it never occurred to me that they weren’t the first thing in the movie. The quickly-cut close-up shots of an unidentified individual (later revealed to be our man “John Doe,” a.k.a. Kevin Spacey) filling journals with miniscule handwriting, blacking out lines in books, going through photos of various medical experiments, and – worst of all – using a razor blade to remove his fingerprints will make you shudder. Reznor’s music does most of the talking. In fact, he only sings one line at the very end of the credits: “You get me closer to God.” Uh, actually, it’s about as far away from heaven as you can imagine. If you’d had any idea that this would be the most comfortable you’d feel for the next two hours, you’d’ve walked out of the theater right then and there. – Will Harris

28. “Jump in the Line,” Harry Belafonte – Beetlejuice

With all due respect to the “Day-O” sequence in “Beetlejuice” – it does appear first, and therefore comes as a complete surprise – it is the movie’s closing number, as it were, that gets our vote. Perhaps it’s the song’s relative obscurity (it did not make the Top 40, while “Day-O,” actually titled “Banana Boat,” reached #5), or maybe it’s the song’s brash energy and instant familiarity that roped us in. Oh, who are we kidding, it’s then-fifteen-year-old Winona Ryder, suspended in air and lip-synching to Harry Belafonte, shake, shake, shaking her body line, while the dead football players do a hilarious callback as her backup singers. It was also great to see Michael Keaton’s title character get a, um, little dose of karma from a witch doctor as well. All in all, it is the perfect ending to an unforgettably loony movie. – David Medsker

19. “Tequila,” The Champs – Pee Wee’s Big Adventure

I think it’s safe to say that my entire generation discovered this classic rock song thanks to Pee-Wee Herman and his first flick. Seeing him turn a rowdy biker bar’s clientele into a bunch of grooving softies while dancing to the song on top of the bar in his trademark shoes was the highlight of the movie. How can you not hear this song and not get images in your head of Pee-Wee doing his great little dance? I recall seeing and hearing it for the first time and wondering just what the hell that song was; I even went so far to tape it from the movie itself onto a cassette, so I could groove along with it whenever I liked. Pee-Wee has always been one of the coolest, and we owe him so much thanks for introducing a ton of kids to this always-great song. – Jason Thompson

To see the entire list, click here.

Alternative, Electronica, External Music, Lists, Pop, Rock, Songs, Videos

Weekend Video Vault for October 6, 2006

October 6, 2006 / Captain Capm

Hey kids, I’m back with your weekly dose of music videos to groove to. As usual, it’s an eclectic bunch of songs that should expand your musical horizons nicely. Enjoy!

Maximo Park – “Apply Some Pressure” This is actually the second video shot for this excellent song, and the better of the two (so says I). For some reason, I can’t find Maximo Park’s album for purchase anywhere locally. Weird. Also, if you’re going through a breakup or divorce the lyrics are really nice. Yes ladies, I’m back on the market!

Juliana Hatfield – “Universal Heartbeat” Ah, Juliana. Meee-ow! Rarrr! Lookin’ nice in both a ragged and primped up version in this clip. All set to a nick rockin’ song to boot, too. And if you really dig Juliana, she recently made available once again 31 fantastic unreleased songs for download on her official site. Dunno if they’re still there. Go surprise yourself.

Hall and Oates – “Your Imagination” Yes, it’s Hall and Oates time! This song was a single from the great Private Eyes album, but didn’t chart as well as the other singles taken from it for some reason. Here we have classic ’80s H&O hamming it up for the camera, with G.E. Smith and T-Bone Wolk looking appropriately goofy as they always did. Great song, groovy video.

Geggy Tah – “Whoever You Are” Learn to drive responsibly with Geggy Tah. Who? Yeah, you’ll know ’em as soon as the song kicks in. A good song for driving around to as well as learning from in this highly educational clip.

Foo Fighters – “Big Me” Ah, it never gets old. The best song Dave Grohl ever recorded. If you disagree, take it up with your local congressman.

Edie Brickell and The New Bohemians – “Love Like We Do” This was always my favorite song of Edie’s and also the track that got me to go out and buy Shooting Rubberbands At The Stars at the time. Unfortunately, only this song and “Little Miss S.” really grooved me from that disc, but so it goes. I still dig her shoes in this clip.

10cc – “Donna” An early clip of the great 10cc doing “Donna” for a group of rowdy kids. OK, so I jest about the rowdy bit. Still, this is a great song and one of my all-time fave bands. If you’re familiar with 10cc only through “I’m Not In Love” and “The Things We Do For Love” you owe it to yourself to pick up The Complete UK Recordings which contains their first two (and best) albums 10cc and Sheet Music, complete with all of the extra singles and alternate versions recorded at the time.

Urge Overkill – “Sister Havana” Man, I don’t think these guys ever topped the grooves locked in on the Saturation album. The only thing that comes close for me is The Stull EP, and that of course is missing the tasty Butcher Brothers production job. Nash Kato’s solo album Debutante is also pretty damn tasty. But here the guys hit the big leagues and rocked out mightily.

Frank Black – “Los Angeles” Man, the early ’90s were filled with a lot of great music, weren’t they? No? Bullshit, they were. It’s true though, what they say. You really can’t go back home. Times have changed too much and God only knows when another musical upheaval will come around. It’s all about the products and consumables anymore, maaaaaan. Hey man is that Freedom Rock? Turn it up!

The Rentals – “Friends of P.” All right, the more I think about it anymore, the more I realize maybe Matt Sharp was right for getting out of Weezer when he did. Not that I’m one of those Pinkerton freaks or anything, but seeing how the Weez kept getting larger diminished returns after “The Green Album” there’s much to speculate about there. And, as much as I really loved Weezer at one time, they seem to bore the crap out of me anymore, and that goes for any of their albums. So here’s to you, Matt. And until next week, have a lovely time in the real world, children.

Lists, Videos

Before the Spotlight Kid steals them: The Chauffeur’s Top 10 Music Videos

October 1, 2006 / David Medsker

We had originally planned on doing a piece for Bullz-Eye on the best music videos of all time, but apparently a slew of other sites were tapping our phone lines, because before we could even begin tallying votes, Slate or one of those sites assembled a near-perfect list, bastards.

So, since the Spotlight Kid has stolen OK Go and the Art of Noise off of my list, I feel I must strike now, or forever hold my peace.

1. Fatboy Slim: “Weapon of Choice”
You’ve all seen it, you all love it. Christopher Walken busts out the soft shoe in a hotel lobby. Walken said in an interview that the second day of shooting, which is when all the wire work took place, was one of the most painful things he’s ever done.

2. Avalanches: “Frontier Psychiatrist”
How do you make a video for a song that samples everything under the sun? You put every single thing they sample on a stage together. The spooky choir goes up top next to the cowboys, and the woman smacking the whinnying horse goes in the middle. If you can listen to the song a couple times before watching the video, it’ll make the video look even better.

3. Blur: “Coffee & TV”
How about that, a video that tells a story, remember those? Blur guitarist Graham Coxon has gone missing, and the milk carton that has Coxon’s “Have you seen me?” shot on it decides to track him down. Impossibly cute, with an ending that will bring you to tears.

4. Kenna: “Freetime”
You have to love a video that’s shot entirely from the knees down. The setup: a guy gets in a fight with his girlfriend, and goes out to blow off steam. He pretty much gets his ass kicked from then on, but to say how would spoil the fun. As an aside, Kenna’s record New Sacred Cow was woefully underappreciated.

5. Supergrass: “Pumping on Your Stereo”
Everybody loves muppets. Supergrass should have their own Saturday morning TV show, based on this video alone.

6. Nine Inch Nails: “The Perfect Drug”
The Spotlight Kid will surely gag when he sees this entry, but this video, directed by the peerless Mark Romanek, is Trent Reznor’s finest, for my money. Love the shots of that vulture, and that sequence during the drum breakdown is stunning.

7. Gnarls Barkley: “Gone Daddy Gone” (YouTube) (Windows Media) (Real Player) (Quicktime)
Heatseeker, New Entry. A publicist just dropped a link to this vid in my mailbox, and damned if it isn’t one of the coolest clips I’ve seen in ages. Picture the members of Gnarls Barkley as fleas and ticks, and singer Cee-Lo has a crush on the lady of the household, who obviously doesn’t return his affections. Silly, clever, and in the end a little sad. And dig that “Fight Club” tribute.

8. Madonna: “Oh Father”
The best video David Fincher directed that no one talks about. The shadow work in this is chilling, especially that slo-mo funeral procession.

9. Jamiroquai: “Virtual Insanity”
The band may have since dropped off the radar since this song’s peak, but its video still kills. The walls have wheels.

10. Duran Duran: “Burning the Ground”
Is this the world’s first mash-up? This clip of the medley of Duran singles compiled for their 1989 best-of Decade is impossibly well-edited, synching up the original clips to the mash-up despite any differences in beats per minute. The amusing part now is the ending, with then-members Sterling Campbell and Warren Cuccurullo filling out the quintet to enter the next decade. Campbell would leave the band after one album.

How’d I do, Kid?

Lists, Pop, Rock, Songs, Videos