Every so often I post something around here about the weird things the Japanese folks do.
I offer this as a counterexample to show you that the Japanese do not have a monopoly on “odd.” This is a little ditty (sing along if you know the words) from an Icelandic sketch comedy show called Steindinn Okkar. To this day, I think the sketch comedy show which set the standard for everything else to come was Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Among other things, Monty Python’s cast made fun of religion and wrote funny songs.
It’s nice to see that these practices continue.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Father Thug by Steindinn Okkar.
This is my theme song. Everyone should have a theme song. Seriously, it’s like pro wrestling. What if, just what if you had a song that played for you every time you walk into a room? If life had a soundtrack, and I think it should, then every time you see me appear on the screen, this is the song that should be playing.
In other words, anything you want to know about me can be learned from this one song.
The thing about modern music videos is that corporations got their hooks into them and, being corporate, they suck every bit of creativity out of them. That’s why I haven’t watched an American music video in, oh, probably damn near a decade. The only time I seek out a music video is because someone pointed it out to me and told me I should watch it. Even with my sluttish devotion to music in general, I’ve still never seen all of a Lady Gaga video. I’m told those are creative, but I’m far too jaded to care.
Now let’s cross that small body of water called the Atlantic Ocean and see what Europe can come up with. Well, there’s a group I’ve been into for a while called C-mon and Kypski. They’re a Dutch house/dance group who spin some of the best beats in the world and they do so with their tongues firmly planted in their cheeks. So not only is their music fun, but it tends to be funny. That and they make some great videos, like this one from 2007 called The Evil Needle.
Dammit we Americans just can’t have nice things. Ladies and gentlemen, C-mon and Kypski.
In the art of sumo, the champion is called the yokozuna. This signifies that they have the highest rank in professional sumo competition. For a while this title was held by an American – a Hawai’ian named Chad Rowan. In Japan he was known Akebono Taro and he was one of the best the sport has ever seen.
Why am I telling you this?
So you’ll know how random, awesome, and funny it is to see him promoting the TV show Glee in Japan.
What we have here is Deep Throat. No not this Deep Throat and no not that Deep Throat either. I’m not even talking about this Deep Throat.
This is something different, and that’s why it’s fantastic.
This is Deep Throat by Claude VonStroke. It has a kiddo, a laundromat, a creepy bird ala the Family Guy, and hot Deutsch girls. In short, it’s gotta lotta what I like.
See here, I like all kinds of music. I love Celtic and I love Deutsch industrial. I listen to Brahms and I listen to Flatt & Scruggs. I dig on Lady Gaga and I adore Jonathan Coulton. Basically it works out to one thing, I’m a music junky. If I’m outside the house, there’s at least a 90% chance that my iPod Touch is with me. Why? Well shit, man, I can’t leave the house without music. I’d rather leave without my fuckin’ cell phone. I rarely need to call anyone, but I always need music.
But I have a weakness. I love all those artists and all those styles, and yet I have a favourite. It’s a weird favourite, which you might expect, but it is the thing that I will always stop and listen to and crave more of.
I fucking adore and worship surf rock.
The Ventures, Dick Dale, Omura Kenji, Surfaris, Nokie Edwards, Link Wray… I love them all and I will listen to surf rock all day if I have the opportunity. I know, because I’ve done just that. In my favourite groups of my favourite musical genre there exists one that I think is the coolest. They’re a Russian band bearing the unlikely name of The Messer Chups. While people might think I like them because my last name is Messer, in reality, my last name isn’t worth a dime’s bit of difference here. I’d love this group if they called themselves Ravaged Assholes.
First, they play killer, totally kickass surf rock style music. They’re quirky and they’re a joy to listen to.
Second, this is the bassist.
Yeah. Are there any further questions? If so, you may direct them to this video. Ladies and gentlemen, The Messer Chups.
The weird thing is, this is actually kind of good. Actually, I think it is good. I mean it’s not top ten material. You won’t hear it on Casey Kasem but… well, actually, it’s probably a good thing you won’t hear it on Casey’s Top 40.
Anyway, um… Ladies and gentlemen, Dr. Sagan and Dr. Hawking.
I fell in love with the Yoshida Brothers ages ago. I’ve always had a thing for musicians who can take folk instruments and adapt them to modern music. The shamisen, a type of Japanese banjo, is one of the classic instruments of Japan. Used in the bunraku puppet theatre and other forms of Japanese entertainment like kabuki.
The Yoshida Brothers took their mastery of the instrument and brought it into the modern world of music. While well known for one of their their hit songs, RISING, this one, called Kodo, is no less energetic, but a little more traditional. All in all, good stuff.
One of the best things about working in a library is that I get to see a lot of nifty things that not too many people know about. From great books to awesome music to obscure movies, not a day goes by that I don’t see something interesting.
So a few days ago I’m putting away CDs and I happen across one by a group called Chambao. The cover intrigued me. The woman was quite lovely and the image itself was striking. The red skirt splashed across a field of gold and white really caught my eye. I flipped it over and read the back and then I opened up the booklet. Shrugging, I figured it’d be worth a listen and put it back on my cart.
I got back to my desk and popped the CD in my computer and plopped the headphones over my ears. The first song came on, and I was in love. Chambao is usually described as new flamenco or even flamenco chill. Whatever you want to call their music, I call it beautiful and fantastic.
When I was a kid, I didn’t go to the movies much. It was just something we didn’t do. My grandma was homebound and my mom took care of her so she always felt uncomfortable leaving her alone for long periods of time. I didn’t really start going to movies until I was a teenager.
Thus, we stayed home and watched movies. Except for a couple brief stretches, my folks always had cable TV which afforded us access to classic movies. When VCRs hit big, we would rent and buy classic movies starring people like James Stewart, Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart, Grace Kelly, and James Cagney. So while kids my age were growing up with movie stars like Matthew Broderick as Ferris Bueller and Molly Ringwald as Andie Walsh, I was growing up with John Wayne westerns and Lee Marvin war movies. I grew up with movies that weren’t just before my generation, they were from the generation before that.
As such, I came of age watching films with talented actors and actresses. I look around the Hollywood scene today and I just don’t see the same quality. Then again, how could I? There is no one with the same debonaire charm of Cary Grant. No one stands today with the same kind of talent as Jimmy Cagney. I mean, Cagney was a man well known for playing gangster roles and yet he was also an extremely versitle song and dance man.
I want to share something with you. This a scene from The Seven Little Foys starring Bob Hope. Now people my age remember Bob Hope as a comedian who occasionally had a special on the telly when we were young. My generation sees him as a comedian and classic movie star. Yet that’s not all he was, not even close really. He was a singer and sang alongside Bing Crosby in the Road movies.
And the man could dance. Damn, could he dance. Here he is, laying down a routine with the great Cagney himself, craacking jokes, and having a real good time. Looking at this, I wonder how much of this scene was improvised. Cagney had a razor sharp wit and Hope could go tit for tat with anyone. You don’t see this kind of thing in movies anymore and dammit, I think it’s high time we did.
As time goes by, my memory eludes me. It still works very well, but I forget things that I must relearn later. For instance, I’ve always had a thing for Cyndi Lauper. Number one, she’s hot. Number two, she has a habit of using professional wrestlers in her videos, especially the great Captain Lou Albano. Number three, and this is the most important one, the lady can sing. Sure, we know her for songs like Girls Just Wanna Have Fun which is a fine example of classic pop music. But when she really digs down and opens up her vocal cords, that’s when things become magical.
A lot of people, including me, forget that one of Celine Dion’s hits, a song called I Drove All Night, was first a song by Lauper. Celine, while a talented singer, really does too much and tries too damn hard. She doesn’t sing songs, she screams them. I grant you, she is screaming on key, but at the end of the day she’s the grown up version of that annoying bitch on the playground who could scream so loud you’d hear her on the other side. Not only would you hear her, you’d pick out her goddamn scream above a soccer game, a game of kick ball, a large fight, and the Harrier landing just downfield next to the jungle gym. So let’s see what it’s like when someone with talent actually, you know, sings the song.
I get songs running through my head all the time and one of those which makes a regular appearance is this little gem from the 1980s. I’ve long been keen on the Swiss, so it’s a lovely thing when any Swiss musical group has a decent hit. Turns out, Dieter Meier and Boris Blank not only scored a hit with Oh Yeah, but wound up making a real mark on popular culture. Their song featured in numerous movies and was the background music for Twix commercials for years.
The music video comes from the halcyon days of music videos when they were actually, you know, creative and stuff. And since it’s stuck in my head, it might as well be stuck in yours.
I love spaghetti westerns. They’re everything a good western should be. They’re action packed. They’ve got deep characters who are more than guys with hats and handguns. The scenes are desolate and vast. The storyline is complex. And they have the added benefit of being Italian.
Then there’s the music.
Every spaghetti western features the most awesome music that was either composed by Ennio Morricone or someone trying to imitate Ennio Morricone. Morricone’s music quite literally defined the genre. His unique style and sound set the stage for the movie and for the action. You can say what you like about classical performances and orchestras, for my money, the soundtrack of a spaghetti western is a little slice of heaven.
And so I give you the Polish Radio Orchestra accompanied by the Choir of the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music and the Warsaw Inter-University Choir; conducted by the man himself.
I’m into ethereal and not so much into Aerosmith. I will fully admit and I completely realize the effect and the influence Aerosmith has had on rock and roll, but I’m sorry, I just don’t care for them that much. They’ve got a couple of songs I like, but for the most part… meh.
One of those songs I do enjoy is Dream On. Classic Aerosmith and it sounds a lot different than most of their other stuff, which is probably why I like it. Now, if you haven’t noticed by hanging around the blog, I’m into new age music – mostly because I dig the ethereal sound. It’s why I like Enya and Loreena McKennitt. So what do you get when you take Dream On and give it an ethereal take?
I’m serious. I kind of find this beautiful in that same exotic way that I think plants that bugs are beautiful. Though what I really find interesting about this clip is that the guy on banjo* is so totally into this song and she looks like she’s completely bored and would rather be doing anything else than singing out in the cold.
Ladies and gentlemen, um… well.. these guys.
*Yes, I know that’s not actually a banjo. But what else would you call it if you don’t actually know what it’s called?
