Mad Mix Mustang / Jay-Z : 99 Problems

Let's close the week with what seems like a totally obvious mash: take Jay-Z's classic "99 Problems" and mix it with Nena's classic "99 Red Balloons". Har-de-har, we all get the joke. Except, man, I don't know how he did it, but the tune totally works.

Listen to the musical progression underneath the rap. As Shawn spits the verses, the samples underneath build tension, adding a little bit of organ every few bars, until right before the chorus where in comes the drum roll and the song speeds up double-time. This continues well into the next verse until, at exactly the right moment, it drops back into the slower funky riff. I think this is the key to a successful mash and really underscores the craft that goes into it. Rather than just looping a single sample, as so many rap songs have done previously, they really dig into the instrumental bits and build an actual song underneath. You could totally play this live and it would be awesome.

As with the others, I don't think you can buy the mash anywhere, but you can pick up "99 Problems" on Jay-Z's The Black Album and "99 Luftballons" on Nena's original album which has both the English and German versions.

[You can listen to Mad Mix Mustang's mash of Jay-Z's "99 Problems" by navigating to the post "Song085" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

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Phil Retrospector / Marvin Gaye : Sexual Healing

As I mentioned yesterday, a really good mashup goes farther than slapping the vocals over the top of an instrumental track. And like most art, or any idea for that matter, for every thousand or so half-assed attempts to slap something together, there arises one piece of brilliance that makes the rest of the crap worthwhile. Phil Retrospector's brutal distortion of Marvin Gaye's classic is one of those shards of brilliance.

Phil takes Marvin's sexually charged funk staple and forces it deep into the dark bosom of Wendy Carlos' electronic soundtrack to A Clockwork Orange. Not only does this pervert the entire meaning of the song (have you seen the movie?), it creates a damn spooky tune. Somehow, probably through pitchshifting or AutoTune, he manages to cast Marvin's vocals into a decidedly minor key such that they perfectly fit the eerie, almost frightening, soundscape Wendy created. In addition, Phil has Marvin cooing to himself in the background like some ghostly, whispering backup singer. The result is clearly something new, freaky, yet engrossing, and a strong argument for the legitimized existence of mashup culture.

Naturally, you can't purchase this mash anywhere, but you can purchase the original "Sexual Healing" on Marvin's 1982 release, Midnight Love. Wendy Carlos' soundtrack for A Clockwork Orange is available on CD as well.

[You can listen to Phil Retrospector's mash of Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing" by navigating to the post "Song084" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

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Wax Audio / The Beatles : Come Together

At its most basic, the mashup is slapping one song's lyrics on another song's music.  But at its most creative, the mashup is a full-on remix, taking elements of both songs and creating something truly new, unique and interesting.

The Beatles have been done to death, by radio, by covers and certainly by mashups.  The most famous is probably Danger Mouse's mash of Jay-Z's The Black Album with The Beatles' self-titled 'white album' and there are a couple other entries worth checking into, another one of which will likely make its way to these pages in the next week or so.  But this one is by far the best.

Wax Audio has taken a great piece of rocking electronica, Justice's "Waters of Nazareth" and laid it underneath one of the best rock songs of all time, "Come Together" by the Beatles.  But, in doing so, he's altered the pacing and flow of Lennon's masterpiece, cutting it apart and repiecing it together, reinventing both songs.  At first, the interplay is pretty straightforward, but towards the end, Wax Audio plays with the dynamics, adding some echo and a nifty breakdown.  Notice also how he introduces the organ from "Nazareth" into the second part of the song.  And I especially love at the end when he gets John to throw down the shout-outs, a sort of digest version of the whole song.  This thing is composed, folks.

Unfortunately the only version he's got up on his site is the cheesy one where he added samples from Barack Obama and Martin Luther King Jr. speeches.  Fortunately, I'm here for you kiddies, bringing you the unadulterated version.  You can't buy this mash anywhere, but you can get the original "Come Together" on the Beatles' classic Abbey Road and the backing track was generated from Justice's excellent LP, Cross.

[You can listen to Wax Audio's mash of The Beatles' "Come Together" by navigating to the post "Song083" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

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Go Home Productions / X-Press 2 : Lazy (ft. David Byrne)

Here's another of my early favorite mashes.  This one is similar to Skee-Lo's "I Wish" in that I had never heard the original before hearing the mash, so to me, the mash is 'the original'.  And frankly, it's much better than the original.

Popular-culture-wise, there's all sorts of things going on.  First, there's David Byrne singing vocals on a track by some band called X-Press 2. Then, Go Home Productions takes as their base for the song, Kelly Osbourne's version of Madonna's "Papa Don't Preach".  That's like six different collaborators thrown into a giant vat and out pours this amalgam of rock that might be the best thing David Byrne has done since Talking Heads broke up.

I'm not quite sure how he did it, but the rock of the original fits perfectly under David's vocals.  Every little bit matches so perfectly, it's hard to believe they were two completely different songs.

You can't buy "Lazy" anywhere, but X-Press 2's original can be found on their 2002 release Muzikizum, and Kelly Osbourne's cover is on the 2002 single release, Papa Don't Preach.

[You can listen to Go Home Productions' mash of X-Press 2's "Lazy (ft. David Byrne)" by navigating to the post "Song082" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

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Soulwax / Skee-Lo : I Wish

This first mashup is the one that started it all out for me.  It's a version of a rap song by Skee-Lo, which itself is pretty funny in that it's self-deprecating, the complete opposite of every other rap song out there.  This is placed over the top of some creative resampling of Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger" and "Cannonball" by The Breeders.  Both songs fit the original rap pretty well, which I think is one of the keys to a good mash.  You can't just throw an a cappella rap over any old tune.  You need to find pieces that sort of match in feel.

Although, I was thinking, there isn't much different between this mash (especially the beginning) and any song by, say, Will Smith or even off Paul's Boutique from the Beasties.  I'm not sure for a rap song when it moves from plain old sampling to a full-on mashup.

Anyway, the song rocks, mainly because Survivor rocks, and Soulwax, one of the progenitors of popularizing the mashup, does a great job of taking the propulsion of their instrumental parts and creates a super bed for Antoine's rap. It's especially cool if you've ever heard the original, which is slower and laid over a sample from a 1981 R&B jazz-fusion LP. Yeah, the mash is better than the original.

You can't buy the mash anywhere. But Skee-Lo's original is off his 1995 album, I Wish. You can find Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger" on their Greatest Hits and The Breeders' "Cannonball" is from their album, Last Splash.

[You can listen to Soulwax's mash of Skee-Lo's "I Wish" by navigating to the post "Song081" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

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Vacation

I'm going on vacation, but hopefully, if I set this up right, the flow of tunes will remain uninterrupted.  All the posts are ready and set to go and are scheduled to automatically post themselves at the appropriate times.

I'm going to use this next week or so to explore the concept of the "mashup". Most of these are curiosities, but occasionally one shows up that is really special, and I will be trying to bring you these.

So, gear up and I hope you enjoy.

White Rabbits : While We Go Dancing

Don't know much about White Rabbits except I like them.  I think I first heard them when I had satellite radio and used to tune into the 'indie' channel.  They've got a pretty unique sound, a typical upbeat pop band but with the added glory of a honky-tonk piano.  The songs are well-crafted with solid hooks which makes for a strong debut release.

"While We Go Dancing" takes a two-step pop rhythm (think go-go, or The Go-Go's) and layers over it with a sweeping, almost waltz-like melody that's somehow evocative of the grandeur of a ballroom.  The piano plays a strong supporting role, but isn't the lead like it is in say, Ben Folds Five.  And most of all, in this age where the indie superstars like Bright Eyes take themselves so seriously, it's just fun.  It's music to dance to, to party to, to have fun with.  And that's nice.

You can find "While We Go Dancing" on White Rabbits' first release from 2007, Fort Nightly.  It's a great pop album all the way through.  They've got a newer 2009 release, but I haven't heard it yet.

[You can listen to White Rabbits' "While We Go Dancing" by navigating to the post "Song080" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

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The Eagles : The Disco Strangler

I don't have much to say about the Eagles. I mean, they're the fucking Eagles for god's sake. What could I say that hasn't been written already? Except that one of the functions of this blog is to introduce you to interesting music you probably haven't heard before, and this song almost certainly falls into this category (unless you're a huge Eagles fan).

It is a very strange song. It sounds a bit like someone rammed "Life in the Fast Lane" headlong into Studio 54 and the result was this mangled wreckage of a tune. It's funky, fooling around with a disco offbeat, but it's hypersyncopated, too funky to really dance to. The angular guitar is clearly a Walshian Eagles lick, but it's off-kilter with the rest of the track and the snare staggers around like a drunk at closing time. The whole thing stumbles along, seemingly ready to come crashing down at any moment, but it manages to hold itself together, and in the end you end up with a frustratingly catchy tune.

"The Disco Strangler" is available on the Eagles' final 70's release, The Long Run, which has a bunch of hits on it, as well as the so-awesome-I-almost-posted-it-instead "Those Shoes".

Listen to "The Disco Strangler" on Spotify.
Listen to The Long Run of Spotify.

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Back Door : Catcote

I first heard of Back Door while researching a sample from a Beastie Boys record. They had a song called "Stand Together" on their 1992 LP, Check Your Head, that sampled a Back Door track called "Slivadiv". If you know the song you'd instantly recognize the crazed honking sax riff they borrowed.

Anyway, we tracked the record down in the hallowed annals of WRUW and gave it a listen. I thought it interesting, but not spectacular. Years later, I ran across it on some sort of P2P network and pulled it down because I wanted to hear the sample in context again.  But I listened to the whole album a couple of times and it grew on me.

Back Door is a bass-drums-sax trio that plays music along the lines of progressive rock or jazz-rock fusion like Mahavishnu Orchestra or Return to Forever.  This particular song starts off with a bang, rocking hard from the get-go, hammering a staccato jazz riff a couple of times to make sure you really get it.  Then they toss in a quick variation or two and head right into the solo.  I love when the sax player first takes a breath and someone in the background yells "Yeah!"  They're absolutely right.  The sax wails through the solo over a furiously funky backbeat and the band finishes off by beating on the riff one more time.  This whirlwind of a song is a concise chunk of rock that never lets up on the energy.  It reminds me a little of the highly engineered rock of the Ruins.

"Catcote" is from Back Door's self-titled debut from 1973.  The whole album is great, especially if you like jazz-rock fusion.  The band was notable for using the bass as a lead instrument along with sax and for being one of the first groups to use chords on the bass.  The songs range from soft ballads to full-on riff-rockers like this one, but they're all pretty good.

[You can listen to Back Door's "Catcote" by navigating to the post "Song078" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

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John Martyn : I'd Rather Be the Devil (Live)

This is another psychedelic folk number, like Jake Holmes, Tim Buckley or American Gypsy.  John Martyn was a British singer who was a pioneer in the folk-rock and blues-rock traditions developing across the pond in the late 60's.  Apparently he was pretty good friends with Nick Drake, another psychedelic folker who you might see pop up in these pages in the next year.

John began working with a jazz bassist for this album, which might explain it's general funkiness and meandering song structures.  They vary in energy from the nice light straight-up folk of "May You Never" to the harder blues edge of Skip James' "I'd Rather Be the Devil" which is the star of the album.  I've selected the live version because it's a little edgier than the album version, but they're both excellent.

The song kicks of with some acoustic guitar played through an echo pedal, which sounds distinctly similar to "On the Run" by Pink Floyd.  Then the bongos kick in and the song launches itself, buoyed by near constant tom work.  It lurches forward from verse to verse, full of tension that rarely, if ever, dissipates at all through the song.  You do get the feeling that the devil is really riding out after him.  John has a unique way of singing, a slurry, sibilant, almost falsetto (see: Nick Drake), that further pushes the song into psychedelic territory.

You can find this live version of "I'd Rather Be the Devil" on the re-release of his seminal 1973 release, Solid Air.  It's a fantastic album, great listening for a dark, rainy night.

[You can listen to John Martyn's "I'd Rather Be the Devil (Live)" by navigating to the post "Song077" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

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Lesley Gore : Off and Running

I like Lesley Gore. If you didn't grow up with her in the early 60's you probably only know her from her smash, "It's My Party", which is too bad, because she had a few other gems after that. Perhaps my favorite song by Lesley is "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows" which may be the happiest song on the planet. If you can't smile when that song is on, you have no soul.

"Off and Running" is a swinging little number from a later album with a fairly aggressive orchestration for a pop song. The verse kicks off with a series of staccato hits by the band which dovetails into a nice go-go beat, propelling the song along at a breakneck pace. Lesley's vocals have the right mix of pop melody with just a touch of rock swagger that really makes this a fantastic end-of-relationship kiss-off piece of bubblegum. The energy never stops, even for a moment.

The version I have came from a vinyl copy of her 1967 album, California Nights, lovingly posted about a year ago on the always incredible Iron Leg blog. You can also find it on the Mercury Anthology box set, which is no longer in print, but can be found used.

[You can listen to Lesley Gore's "Off and Running" by navigating to the post "Song076" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

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Jack Peñate : Spit At Stars

Jack Peñate's music is high-energy upbeat Britpop, simple, cheerful and glorious. His 2007 release, Matinée, is one of my favorite releases of all time, chock full of bouncy summer licks, aching to be sung on a sunny day with the windows rolled down. Think "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves, and you'll have a good idea of the type of feel-good pop I'm talking about.

Contrary to what his surname would suggest, Jack hails from Britain and carries that same cockney accent that makes Lily Allen such a cutie. Apparently, it's quite the fad over there to sound a bit lower class, and some singers take some guff over it, much the same way we in America might mock the suburban homies wearing Ed Hardy T-shirts with their hats cocked sideways and speaking in an approximation of gang-speak they picked up by listening to one-too-many Snoop Dogg records.

Faux shizzle.

I have no idea if that's true for Jack or not, but it doesn't really matter. "Spit At Stars" is a glorious nugget of delectable pop nougat, with just enough rock to make it sizzle. There's not much more to it than that. Every song on his debut album is just incredible, so you can't go wrong. Plus, Amazon will deliver a used copy to your door for just six bucks. How sweet is that?

[You can listen to Jack Peñate's "Spit At Stars" by navigating to the post "Song075" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

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The Last Shadow Puppets : My Mistakes Were Made for You

The Last Shadow Puppets is a side project of Arctic Monkeys' front man Alex Turner and Miles Kane of The Rascals. It's a bit of a departure from the pop-punk stylings of the Monkeys, concentrating instead on the bombastic orchestral pop of the late 60's, early 70's, like Shirley Bassey, Scott Walker and early David Bowie.

It's a great album, yet another in a long line of fantastic albums from 2008. The songs are expertly crafted and wonderfully orchestrated, with swooping strings and punching horns. Plus, there's Alex's nifty little South Yorkshire accent, which is endearingly strong, coming through in spades on every song.

With so many great songs, it's tough to choose, but I went with "My Mistakes Were Made for You", because I think it embodies most of what the band claims they were shooting for. The lyrics are dark and moody, there's a groovy little backbeat, and the horns add just a touch of class while the soaring strings expertly propel the drama.  Actually, it reminds me a little of "The Windmills of Your Mind" by Michel Legrand or something from a John Barry soundtrack, both of which are fine things to be reminded of.

You can find "My Mistakes Were Made for You" on The Last Shadow Puppets' excellent freshman release, The Age of the Understatement.  What's really amazing, given the depth and grandeur of the music is that these guys were like 22 years old.  It's one thing to put out a great rock album.  It's another to put together such a phenomenally orchestrated masterpiece.

[You can listen to The Last Shadow Puppets' "My Mistakes Were Made for You" by navigating to the post "Song074" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

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Laurie Anderson : Gravity's Angel

"And at his funeral all his friends stood around looking sad. But they were really thinking of all the ham and cheese sandwiches in the next room."

Laurie Anderson is awesome. Well, at least until the mid 80's. I think she kind of lost her edge and went a little too poppy. You know, that thing where one of your favorite artists comprises their sound enough that it totally sucks for their long time fans (you), but not enough that anyone who wasn't listening before would suddenly be interested. That is, it's too mainstream or mediocre to be interesting to you, but still way too bizarre to be interesting to anyone listening to Top 40 radio.

But I love her. Come on, she uses a tape-bow violin for god's sake. Could you be more awesome than that? Her work centers primarily around musical rhythm and the rhythm of speech. It's primarily spoken word, often funny, very dry, and backed with all manner of electronics, samples, drum machines and other musical technology.

"Gravity's Angel" covers all of those bases, plus a little bit of singing and Peter Gabriel too. You've got the constant rhythm of the bell, the scattered, electronic rhythm of the drum machine, samples floating in and out, and her trademark stilted vocals with her trademark wit and excellent turn of phrase, plus just a dash of pathos. I like the way the song conveys stasis, almost like the stories are frozen in amber and she's excavated them, holding them up like a historical curiosity for you to examine.

"Gravity's Angel" comes from her 1984 release, Mister Heartbreak. It's slightly more accessible than Big Science, but not much. It's an amazing album though.

Not that you care, but I used to have her Home of the Brave video until I sent it off to the Goodwill, thinking I would definitely get it on DVD. Except that it's not available on DVD. Dang it.

[You can listen to Laurie Anderson's "Gravity's Angel" by navigating to the post "Song073" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

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Zap Mama : Brrrlak!

Zap Mama was a five woman a cappella group, formed by a ex-African living in Belgium.  Their sound is heavily influenced by the rhythms of Africa, especially the pygmy tribes, as well as European pop song.  The rhythms they employ are intense, sometimes complex, and the harmonies are gorgeous.  The group sings in English, French and occasionally an African language, though I have no idea which one.

There were a number of great songs to choose from off their first album, but I chose "Brrrlak!" as it contains most of the group's signature techniques.  It starts with the a cappella rhythmic singing, including some very tribal hoots and chirps. There's the beatbox-ish percussion bubbling along through the entire tune, turning downright funky near the end.  And then there's the gorgeous melody sung over the top, in both French and English.  It's a very worldly presentation from an extremely worldly group and highly enjoyable.

"Brrrlak!" comes from their first LP from 1993, Adventures in Afropea 1.  It's a great album all the way through, stretching from medieval-style hymns to rhythmic chants to beautiful pop melodies, sometimes all in the same song.

[You can listen to Zap Mama's "Brrrlak!" by navigating to the post "Song072" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

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The Police : Nothing Achieving

The Police used to rock. I mean, a really, really long time ago, back when Sting was wearing black and yellow football shirts, back before Andy Summers joined the band, back in 1977*. But they really did rock. Their first single "Fall Out" is a nifty little hard rock effort, though I'd say it owes more to the snarling garage rock aesthetic of the late 60's.

The flip side of the single is the tune I want to discuss today. It's a curious chunk of punk rock history with the prerequisite angry-at-your-parents lyrics and a nice little melody.  Gordon's distinctive falsetto soars and dives over the chugging guitar riffs and weaves in and out of the band's stops and starts. And while it was in no way indicative of their work to come, it's a great little number that really deserves more exposure.

You can find "Nothing Achieving" on the Police's big box set, Message in a Box: The Complete Recordings. Or, I suppose you could try and dig up the single from somewhere. That'd be kind of cool.

*: They still rocked later, just not as often. "Synchronicity II", for example, is a sizzler.

[You can listen to The Police's "Nothing Achieving" by navigating to the post "Song071" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

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Steely Dan : Gaucho

You probably know who Steely Dan is. They're all over the FM dial, from the oldies stations to classic rock.  They've had a string of radio friendly hits like "Black Friday", "Peg", "Deacon Blues", "Hey Nineteen" and the awesome "Kid Charlemagne"

One thing I really like about Don and Walter is that they sculpt this production-perfect music, somewhere between 70's schlock and smooth jazz, which should by all rights be just terrible. But it's amazing stuff. Not all of it, not all of it. Some of it bombs, but more often than not, it's great listening. And then, once you're grooving along to their sound, stop a minute and listen to their lyrics. It's all about pop-culture references, drinking, drugs and sex. Seriously. I mean, they named the band after a giant metal dildo. They take these semi-taboo subjects and dress them up in FM-ready baubles, where the execs and the sheep ate 'em up and Walt and Don laughed all the way to the bank.

So, the danger about putting up a song by Steely Dan is that everybody has an opinion on them already. You already probably 'know' whether you like Steely Dan or not.  If so, yay.  If not, I don't think this song will change your mind.

I had a couple of tunes I could have gone with. There's "Kid Charlemagne," about a guy who sells drugs, which is probably my favorite Steely Dan song and is easily up in the top 100 songs of all time. There's "Don't Take Me Alive" about a guy on a tower with a rifle. There's "The Fez" which is about wearing a condom when you have sex. ("Ain't never gonna do it without my fez on.") All of these come from The Royal Scam which I actually discovered first on vinyl back when I worked at a record store. I thought about going with something from Two Against Nature, a newer album from 2000, which is actually pretty good. But instead I dug deep and went with "Gaucho" from the album of the same name.

"Gaucho" is about a confrontation between a guy in a club and another person who brought along a friend who is a total poser. Writing a song about something like that is enough for me to like it. The lyrics are dripping with smarmy cynicism, culminating in the chorus: "Who is the gaucho, amigo? Why is he standing in your spangled leather poncho and your elevator shoes?" You get a vivid picture of two guys out in the lobby arguing about this completely oblivious interloper standing next to them who's "snapping his fingers like a fool."

It took me a while to get into this song. The instrumentation is pretty standard soft rock, but the melody in both the verse and chorus is very abstruse. It's complicated, jagged, a little off.  For Steely Dan, it's actually somewhat difficult listening. You might call it progressive or even jazzy, I suppose, but it definitely doesn't swing. Still, I really like the chorus. It's fun to sing along with both for the melody and the lyrics.

Anyway, give this one a couple of listens to sink in and see if it doesn't grow on you. "Gaucho" comes from their 1980 LP, Gaucho which was their last effort before they 'broke up' for twenty years. I have this one on vinyl too, but the version you're hearing comes from their excellent box set, Citizen Steely Dan. I picked it up for like $30 used, I think. Definitely a worthwhile investment.

[You can listen to Steely Dan's "Gaucho" by navigating to the post "Song070" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

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Big Business : Shields

So, we talked about the Melvins a couple of weeks ago and how they drafted the entire band Big Business into their fold. This happened in 2006, I believe, and here we have a track from Big Business from 2007. You can hear the similarities. In fact, if you had told me this was the new Melvins release, I probably would have believed you.

They've got the same metal-influenced, bottom-heavy, hard rock style, which I dearly love. Intense, sturdy drum work and thick, detailed bass riffing underscore the urgency of the screaming almost-metal vocals. This is coupled with a great sense of dynamics and pacing and even a nice melody with what sounds like harmonies, but could just be the overtones generated from his shouting. It's tough to tell.

"Shields", from their 2007 release, Here Come the Waterworks, hits on all cylinders and is a perfect example of their sound at its perfection.  There's not a duff track on the entire disc. A great album.

[You can listen to Big Business' "Shields" by navigating to the post "Song069" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

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Tears for Fears : I Believe

Okay, here's a secret. With all the crazy, wild and fun music I listen to, one of my top ten favorite albums of all time, coming in just under Paul Simon's Graceland which I think at this point takes top honors, is Tears for Fears' Songs from the Big Chair. You've already heard the two most popular songs from the album, "Shout" and "Everybody Wants to Rule the World". "Shout" used to get on my nerves something awful, but I loved, loved, loved "Everybody". That's what prompted me to get the LP in the first place, I think.

I remember being 15 and driving at night in our Subaru through the back country of ... Montana? Colorado? Utah? One of those western states, through desert and down canyon roads with my mom in the car and this cassette playing over and over. Bless her heart, it must have cycled around five or six times before she finally asked me to take it out. She doesn't really like music at all, especially anything like this, but she put up with it. I love ya, mom.

There were a couple of tunes I could have chosen. I thought about going with the Discipline-inspired "Broken" or the moody electronic Yaz-ish art rock of "Listen". Instead I went for the simple, still beauty of "I Believe".

"I Believe" is 'blue-eyed soul'. That is, sweet soul sung by white boys. That sounds perversely derogatory, but it's actually complimentary, applied to Robert Palmer (pre-"Addicted to Love") and Daryl Hall ("Sara Smile" anybody?) back in their heyday. Nowadays people throw it at Michael Bolton and Joss Stone, both of whom make me shudder.

The song is simply orchestrated. A jazzy kit, some piano and a lone sax, plus the vocals.  It plays like a light jazz combo in a hotel lounge. The vocal line is superb, soft but strong, with a subtly complex melody, on top of which they throw in some tricky little touches. At one point a sax solo steps in & takes over, purposefully derailing the rest of the band. At another, there's a sudden burst of light applause, a phantom audience suddenly expressing their approval at an incongruous announcement from the singer.

It's a gorgeous song and I hope you enjoy it. "I Believe" is from Tears for Fears' excellent 1985 release, Songs from the Big Chair.

[You can listen to Tears for Fears' "I Believe" by navigating to the post "Song068" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

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Does It Offend You, Yeah? : Epic Last Song/We Are Rockstars

Does It Offend You, Yeah? is a band with some issues. First of all, their name is crazy. It's got five words, two pieces of punctuation, and is a complete sentence on its own. This means it's very difficult, up to the point of embarrassment, to discuss the band with anyone who doesn't already know about them, which is pretty much everyone I've ever met.

Second, they can't seem to decide what kind of band they want to be. On the one hand, half the album sounds like rock-based electronica, along the lines of Justice, and the other half sounds exactly like an 80's revival act, like an upbeat Modern English maybe, or even a little like early U2. So I kind of wanted to explore this dichotomy and post two songs by them, one from each of their sides.

"Epic Last Song" is, appropriately enough, the final song on their album, and while not spectacular, it is a thoroughly enjoyable slab of pop. It somehow manages to sound really, really familiar, and yet I can't figure out who it sounds like. Maybe you can let me know your thoughts in the comments. In any case, there are a few other straight-up pop songs like this on the album.

"We Are Rockstars" is a more dance-oriented tune. It kicks off with a straight-up four-on-the-floor beat snazzed out with some really nice cowbell and slaps you right in the face with some super-intense synth riffs. It hammers on the beat for a while, but then drops into a calm breakdown that sounds like it's straight off an A Flock of Seagulls record, with some vocoder thrown in to really set that 80's mood. That lasts a little while, then it's back to the thrashing synth and rhythm. This switches up a couple more times through the song, until finally the monsoon of sound ends, tossing you up onto the beach in blissful silence.

Basically, whichever side of the road the band feels like traveling, it's a solid record all the way through. Both of these songs can be found on their 2008 release, You Have No Idea What You're Getting Yourself Into.

Also, since I've promised a song a day, this post will cover the next 2 days. Enjoy!

PS: In case you weren't sure about their 80's leanings, one of the songs on their new album is called "Home Is Where The Heart Is (A Song For John Hughes)".

[You can listen to Does It Offend You, Yeah?'s "Epic Last Song" by navigating to the post "Song066" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

[You can listen to Does It Offend You, Yeah?'s "We Are Rockstars" by navigating to the post "Song067" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

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