Arcade Fire & David Bowie -- Life On Mars? (Live at Fashion Rocks)

Greetings!

Life on Mars? is one of David Bowie‘s best and most moving songs. Appeared for the first time on the album Hunky Dory from 1973, BBC Radio 2 later called “a cross between a Broadway musical and a Salvador Dalí painting”.  The attached version is a recorded performance of David Bowie together with Arcade Fire (featured last week) at Fashion Rocks on 8th September, 2005 in New York.

Life on Mars? seems to have quite strange lyrics and it is rumored that David Bowie used the Cut-Up technique for this song (influenced by William S. Burroughs)…

The original pop-video for the song:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueUOTImKp0k

Lyrics:

It’s a God awful small affair
To the girl with the mousey hair,
But her mummy is yelling, “No!”
And her daddy has told her to go,
But her friend is no where to be seen.
Now she walks through her sunken dream
To the seats with the clearest view
And she’s hooked to the silver screen,
But the film is sadd’ning bore
For she’s lived it ten times or more.
She could spit in the eyes of fools
As they ask her to focus on

Sailors
Fighting in the dance hall.
Oh man!
Look at those cavemen go.
It’s the freakiest show.
Take a look at the lawman
Beating up the wrong guy.
Oh man!
Wonder if he’ll ever know
He’s in the best selling show.
Is there life on Mars?

It’s on America’s tortured brow
That Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow.
Now the workers have struck for fame
‘Cause Lennon’s on sale again.
See the mice in their million hordes
From Ibeza to the Norfolk Broads.
Rule Britannia is out of bounds
To my mother, my dog, and clowns,
But the film is a sadd’ning bore
‘Cause I wrote it ten times or more.
It’s about to be writ again
As I ask you to focus on

Sailors
Fighting in the dance hall.
Oh man!
Look at those cavemen go.
It’s the freakiest show.
Take a look at the lawman
Beating up the wrong guy.
Oh man!
Wonder if he’ll ever know
He’s in the best selling show.
Is there life on Mars?

Enjoy!

Aracde Fire – Intervention

Greetings!

This week’s tune is by Montreal, Canada based indie rock band Arcade Fire, fronted by the husband and wife duo Win Butler and Régine Chassagne.

‘Intervention’ is the second single released from the band’s second full-length album, Neon Bible, from 2007.

From Wikipedia:

Following Aracde Fire’s tour in support of their first studio album Funeral (2004), the band bought the Petite Église in Farnham, Canada, previously used as a café, church and a Masonic temple… The band spent the latter half of 2006 recording a majority of the album there. They additionally recorded in Budapest, Hungary where a Hungarian orchestra and a military men’s choir were used.

…The arrangement and composition of the album… lead to a sound of dread and dissonance, and the band used a number of less common instruments to achieve this sound; in addition to the orchestra and choir, Neon Bible features a hurdy-gurdy, mandolin, accordion and pipe organ.

…The artwork for the album is a photograph of a six-foot neon sign that the band commissioned for use while on tour. In the photograph used for the cover, the lighted Bible is caught in mid-flicker.

Enjoy!

TV on the radio – Halfway Home

For this Monday’s Tune I’ve chosen to include the song “Halfway Home” by TV on the Radio, who were  featured on Monday’s Tune last year.

The song is from the album ‘Dear Science’ which was named the best album of 2008 by Rolling Stone, The Guardian, Spin Magazine, Consequence of Sound, MTV, Entertainment Weekly, Pitchfork Media’s readers poll, and was ranked 7th in Q Magazine’s list of the 50 best albums of 2008, where it was described as “art rock with a human face”.

From Wikipedia:

TV on the Radio (often abbreviated to TVotR) is an American experimental rock band formed in 2001 in New York City. The band’s music spans through numerous diverse genres, from alternative rock and electro to free jazz and soul.

The Apples – Attention!

Greetings!

And today, to continue the story from last week, but sans politics, here are The Apples – an Israeli jazz band who’s members are from Haifa, Tel Aviv and New York.

From Last.fm:

The group began in Israel in 2002 with the core of electronic artists Schoolmaster & Mixmonster and the steadfast rhythm unit of Shai Ran and Yoni Halevy. The idea was to lay down a funk foundation laced with live samples and organic effects, with a jazz-based front line of improvising horns. The tunes are constantly growing and never sounds the same way twice, for the ensemble is forever changing up the format, responding to each other and to the audience’s energy.

Today’s track is “Attention!” taken from the bands debut album of the same name.

I saw them playing in London in October, and I recommend to all to do the same.

Enjoy!

Max Richter – The Haunted Ocean 4

Hello all,

It is time to go back to the weekly Monday’s Tune after a long break.

For the first episode of season 2, I’ve decided to send a tune that Dina sent a week ago in her own music list. The track is by Max Richter, composed for the Israeli docu-animation Waltz with Bashir,  directed by Ari Folman.

Dina wrote as follows:

Yesterday, as the Israeli government was contemplating a long due cease-fire in Gaza, I was in a small cinema watching a film about another Israeli war, more than twenty years ago. Waltz with Bashir is a recently released full length animation feature written, produced and directed by Ari Folman. The film deals with the first war in Lebanon and the massacre in Sabra and Shatila.

Israel has had many wars and military involvements, but this is the only Israeli film that actually shows in the most sincere, realistic and unpretentious way the affects of the war on one’s psyche and what is going in the mind of the young soldiers involved – all these from insider’s viewpoint and based on Folman’s own story. Another remarkable thing is that this is a first full-length animation feature produced in Israel, and maybe it it telling something about Israel, that the first animation is also the first serious exploration of war experience…

I urge you all to see that film if you can, it is really important, and not only for Israelis… It has recently opened in New York.

Today’s music comes from Waltz with Bashir. It is an instrumental feature called The Haunted Ocean. Except few Israeli songs, most of the film’s music was written by Max Richter, a German-born composer, now living in the UK. His music was also used in a film Stranger than Fiction.

The Cinematic Orchestra -- Man With The Movie camera

The Cinematic Orchestra - Every DayIts seems that Monday's Tune has become a bi-weekly event, instead of every week. I will try to return to normality soon...

Today’s featured tune is by one of my favourite team of musicians, The Cinematic Orchestra, a British-based jazz and electronic outfit, created in the late 1990s by Jason Swinscoe.

Today’s track is called “Man With The Movie Camera”, from the 2002 album Every Day, released by Ninja Tune [independent record label]. The song was later reworked and was part of a 2003 soundtrack album by The Cinematic Orchestra to a re-released version of the 1929 silent documentary film, Man with a Movie Camera, by Russian director Dziga Vertov.

Man with a Movie Camera movie poster

About the band members, In addition to Swinscoe [from Wikipedia]:

the band includes former DJ Food member Patrick Carpenter on turntables, Luke Flowers (drums), Tom Chant (Saxophone), Nick Ramm (piano), Stuart McCallum (guitar) and Phil France (double bass). Former members include Jamie Coleman (trumpet), T. Daniel Howard (drums), and Alex James (piano). The most recent addition to the band is Mancunian guitarist Stuart McCallum.

The following video is an edited version of Vertov’s film, released as a music video for the song:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvTF6B5XKxQ

Enjoy!

Nisennenmondai – Destination Tokyo

Nisennenmondai - Destination Tokyo

I was planning to send something else, but I’ve just returned from a gig of a really cool band and I wanted to share the experience.

The performance was by the Japanese band Nisennenmondai.

Explanation in their own words:

we are 3piace girls band from tokyo japan since 1999.
nisennenmondai mean “computer bug problem”.
“bijin record” since 2006 are self rabel.
“bijin” mean butiful man and women.

Guitar-takada　Bass-zaikawa　Drums-himeno

The girls are playing instrumental electronic stuff while using the “normal” rock instruments, with some help of the sampler-pedals under the feet of Takada.

Great music. Great performance.

Enjoy!

Jose Gonzalez -- Heartbeats

José González - Veneer

After a week break for some good times and some sun in Israel, another Monday is upon us.

Today’s main feature is José González, a Swedish indie folk singer-songwriter of Argentine descent.

The song ‘Heartbeats’, from his first album, Veneer, is a cover of a song by fellow Swede duo The Knife.

The special for today is Readiohead‘s latest video clip, ‘House of Cards’ [from the album In Rainbows], which was done without lights or cameras, but with the use of a 3d scanner. Released last week, this is a unique collaboration between programmers and musicians, and with Google Code as the Host.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nTFjVm9sTQ

Enjoy!

Every Monday I send my friends a song. From now on I will have the text published here together with the song available for listening. Slowly I will have the previous Mondays as well.

Yann Tiersen feat Elizabeth Fraser – Kala

Yann Tiersen - Les Retrouvailles

Today’s song is by a French musician and composer, Yann Tiersen, who’s mostly known for composing the score to Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s film Amélie.

His latest studio album, Les Retrouvailles, released in 2005, features a number of high-profile guest vocalists.

Today’s song is featuring Elizabeth Fraser, who was the vocalist and lyricist in Cocteau Twins.

Enjoy!

The Accidental -- I Can Hear Your Voice

Today’s song is a song by a new and upcoming [nu?] folk band from London, whom I happen to know a quarter of - The Accidental.

From their biography:

Take the man behind The Memory Band and co-founder of Trunk Records (Stephen Cracknell), the twisted songwriter from Tunng (main man Sam Genders), one half of Fence Collective duo The Bicycle Thieves (my friend Hannah Caughlin) and singer-songwriter Liam Bailey. Put them in front of a PC with the help of a few friends and the outcome is new collective The Accidental and their beguiling debut album There Were Wolves.

The song is their second single, ‘I Can Hear Your Voice’, released May 12th.

[There is a wikipedia page now]

The Accidental -- I Can Hear Your Voice

the-accidental-i-can-hear-your-voice

Today’s bonus clip is by Imogen Heap, in her song and video “Just For Now”. All done with her voice, her hands and a live sampler and some vocal effects.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=25VGdNU3nrU

Imogen Heap is an English singer-songwriter from Romford, London, most famous for her work as part of Frou Frou and for her 2005 solo record Speak for Yourself, which she wrote, produced and mixed herself. In 2006, she was nominated for two Grammy Awards.

Enjoy!

]]> http://www.criticalflare.com/blog/mondays-tune-the-accidental-imogen-heap/feed/ 0 http://www.criticalflare.com/blog/mondays-tune-flight-of-the-conchords/ http://www.criticalflare.com/blog/mondays-tune-flight-of-the-conchords/#comments Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:00:53 +0000 Zohar http://www.criticalflare.com/?p=145

Flight of the Conchords -- Ladies of the World

Today’s featured band is ”Formerly New Zealand’s fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo”, AKA Flight of the Conchords, or - Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement.

Listen to their words, watch the videos, enjoy the music…

The Killers -- Read My Mind

The Killer's - Sam's Town

Today’s tune is by The Killers, an American rock band from Las Vegas, who are part of the post-punk revival.

The post-punk revival is a movement in alternative rock of the 2000s where bands draw from of the original sounds and aesthetics of the post-punk sound of the late 1970′s, some also taking cues and influences from various genres…

Enjoy!

TV on the Radio -- Staring at the Sun

TV on the Radio - Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes

The first Monday’s Tune of 2008… with hopes for great sounds this year.

TV on the Radio is a Brooklyn based avant-garde rock band formed in 2001. Their music spans genres as diverse as indie-rock, electro, trip-hop, free jazz, doo-wop and soul.

Today’s song is “Staring at the Sun”, appeared in TVOTR’s first LP Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes.

As an extra, here is the video for the song “Wolf Like Me”, the first single from their 2006 album ‘Return to Cookie Mountain’.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUB1xSAAADk

Enjoy!!

Acoustic Ladyland – Cuts and Lies

Acoustic Ladyland - Skinny Grin

Since I’ve heard about ‘A Melody for Saturday’ (Nigun Le’Shabat), a weekly email that Dina’s friend, Boris’ sends to his friends, I wanted to do something similar.

So for my first Monday’s Tune, I present “Cuts and Lies” by London based jazz band Acoustic Ladyland. Lead by Pete Wareham (Saxophones) and featuring vocals by Anne Booty, these tune is a combination of punk rhythms with jazz sensibilities.