I don’t know where I got T.V. Sky (1992) by The Young Gods, but it’s always been a favorite. These guys can be called “industrial” but the sound on this record is really more hard rock or metal with plenty of sampling, loops and tricky time signatures. I love the whole thing, even the 20 minute Doors-y “Summer Eyes.” My favorite is the album opener, “Our House.” The lyrics sound like something from Sesame Street, maybe because these guys are ESL. But they’re perfect juxtaposed with the minimal and ultra-heavy jackhammer riff that finally kicks in for the last minute of the song, after two minutes of almost ambient loops, with when singer Franz Treichler yells “Hey Friends!”
Another great song is “The Night Dance.” Listen for the deft sampling and looping of Guns and Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle” guitar riff.
Fans include The Edge (U2) and David Bowie.(?) Those geezers are cooler than I thought.
From the looks of it they’ve gone acoustic more recently. You can check the acoustic version of “Our House” at the Young Gods’ MySpace page.
Our house… is a house… that moves…
Just like the ocean, just like the ocean, just like the ocean
Hey friends!
If you wanna come by
It’s easy to find, it’s easy to find
Hey friends!
It’s front of the sky, it’s in front of the sky
There’s just something about the early 1960s high society aesthetic, at least how it’s portrayed in movies of the time, that speaks to me. Modern, hip, glamorous and sleek, it’s a big part of the fun of watching The Pink Panther, early James Bond flicks, and other films from this time. A few years later, things started getting weird, heavy and psychedelic in movies and music. Not that there isn’t plenty of great art from the late ’60s. The cars, clothes, interiors, the jokes, the actors, and of course the music, all make this one of my favorite movies.
The Pink Panther was released in 1963. I got this soundtrack only a few years ago. I’ve always loved Henry Mancini’s score and “The Pink Panther Theme” has to be one of the swingingest jams ever. You probably have heard so much that you don’t even pay attention to it now. But you should. It’s a tiny music masterpiece, full of perfect punctuations as it steadily builds the layers of orchestration, and then sneaks off into the distance, but ends with one last exclamation point. Tears the roof off in less than three minutes!
There are some great Bobby Darin classics on this disc from 1997 but the recording quality is lame. It sounds live, and maybe even bootlegged. I didn’t buy this album. When I was working at The Motley Fool a year or so after the dotcom bust I wandered up to one of the then-empty floors. I saw this CD sitting on a long-abandoned desk. I decided to relocate it to my desk on the one floor of our office building that held the lay-off survivors. After the first listen I could see why it was left behind. It still sounds as bad as I remember. The Fool on the other hand has only gotten “harder, better, faster, stronger.”
The title track, “Mack the Knife,” has an interesting story behind it. The Delancey Place newsletter recently emailed an excerpt from The Rest is Noise by Alex Ross. It discussed how strange and unlikely it is that this song, essentially a psychotic murder ballad, eventually became a pop standard sung by Darin, Sinatra and others.
G. Love and Special Sauce have put out a bunch of records since this 1994 debut. Even though I love this album I never bought any of their other stuff. I don’t know why, and I’m not very familiar with their later work. This self-titled debut is a classic in my opinion. I love the combination of blues, beats and hip hop. The musicianship is crazy good, and so are G. Love’s singing and lyrics. The big hit was “Cold Beverage” but my favorite is “Garbage Man.”
I never beg ba-by
I never get down, on my knees
I’m gonna get you just the same
I’ll get you just the same
All right, I’m going to have to pull back to a low rating of 9 on this one. Change is Coming by Money Mark is still awesome, just not quite so much as the earlier records. Still, I’ve probably played in its entirety at least 100 times. Overall it’s more instrumental and jazzy than his masterpiece, Push the Button. The packaging is almost as interesting as the music. I didn’t include all the artwork, but it revolves around origami swans made from different paper currencies and then set on fire. Check out the folding, and burning, directions printed on the disk itself.
The sad thing about Change is Coming is it’s the last Money Mark record I got. There have been two more full length releases and it’s ridiculous that I don’t have them, yet. Somebody help me out!
As an added bonus today, I’ve included a video with Mr. Mark from an interview that was on the Sundance Channel where he explains his relationship with the Beastie Boys and his creative process.
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