Tuesday, November 8, 2005
MADONNA, TAKE 2 + LUCKY SOUL
Hmm.... For some reason, my posting of Madonna's "Sorry" did not work the first time around. So here's an alternative source, just in case I can't get the old link up and running.
[MP3] [left-click] "Sorry"
Also, I have fallen in very-quick-love with an English band called Lucky Soul. I discovered them today over at Indie MP3 - Keeping C86 Alive!. So high-tail it over there and download all four available songs.
[MP3] [left-click] "Sorry"
Also, I have fallen in very-quick-love with an English band called Lucky Soul. I discovered them today over at Indie MP3 - Keeping C86 Alive!. So high-tail it over there and download all four available songs.
MADONNA
Poor, pitiful Madonna... I mean... um... "Esther." The harder the girl tries to infuse her acting with poignancy and passion, the more clear it is that she has absolutely no talent in that medium whatsoever. So disregard her babbling from that balcony and by all means cry for her, Argentina. For the love of god, cry for her.
Madonna's music, on the other hand, deserves at least one listen before being utterly dismissed. The fact that she has survived (and often thrived) for nearly 25 years now is almost beyond miraculous. I mean, who could have foreseen this upon first hearing "Holiday" back in the day? (And poor Cyndi Lauper; this could have been her.)
With her latest LP, Confessions on a Dance Floor, it seems clear that Madonna had her eyes, ears, and marketing mojo squarely fixed on Gwen Stefani's Love. Angel. Music. Baby. This time around, Madonna wants her fans (even the straight ones, I presume) to set their booties to "vibrate" and forget 2003's comparatively subdued (and commercially unsuccessful) American Life.
Unfortunately, these are fairly mundane Confessions - a lot of "I took the Lord's name in vain" instead of "I coveted my neighbor's wife... from behind... many times." Still, I'm a sucker for any song that samples ABBA so brazenly as lead single "Hung Up," and there are one or two other tracks that break from the otherwise generic pack. No doubt that will be enough to keep the Material Matron treading water in the pop-culture pool well into her 50s.
[MP3] [left-click] "Hung Up"/Madonna
[MP3] [left-click] "Sorry"/Madonna
[MP3] [left-click] "What You Waiting For?" [Jacques lu Cont remix]/Gwen Stefani
Madonna's music, on the other hand, deserves at least one listen before being utterly dismissed. The fact that she has survived (and often thrived) for nearly 25 years now is almost beyond miraculous. I mean, who could have foreseen this upon first hearing "Holiday" back in the day? (And poor Cyndi Lauper; this could have been her.)
With her latest LP, Confessions on a Dance Floor, it seems clear that Madonna had her eyes, ears, and marketing mojo squarely fixed on Gwen Stefani's Love. Angel. Music. Baby. This time around, Madonna wants her fans (even the straight ones, I presume) to set their booties to "vibrate" and forget 2003's comparatively subdued (and commercially unsuccessful) American Life.
Unfortunately, these are fairly mundane Confessions - a lot of "I took the Lord's name in vain" instead of "I coveted my neighbor's wife... from behind... many times." Still, I'm a sucker for any song that samples ABBA so brazenly as lead single "Hung Up," and there are one or two other tracks that break from the otherwise generic pack. No doubt that will be enough to keep the Material Matron treading water in the pop-culture pool well into her 50s.
[MP3] [left-click] "Hung Up"/Madonna
[MP3] [left-click] "Sorry"/Madonna
[MP3] [left-click] "What You Waiting For?" [Jacques lu Cont remix]/Gwen Stefani
Friday, November 4, 2005
MADRUGADA OBLONGATA
Thanks again must go to Chris the Swiss at Music of the Moment for so generously sending me an extra song by Madrugada. For some reason, it put me in mind of a favorite song of mine that I'd yet to post here, so now seems as good a time as any.
I'm not sure that the songs sound all that much alike - the Madrugada settles into a nice soothing groove and stays pretty consistent to it (Tindersticks-esque, methinks). The other song is by Craig Armstrong and Paul Buchanan. Armstrong worked with Massive Attack and is also a soundtrack guy (Romeo + Juliet; Ray), while Buchanan was (and perhaps still is) the lead singer of the Blue Nile. I love how the strings and vox build to such an emotional crescendo on their collaboration, and I always find myself putting it between Portishead's great live version of "Roads" and the Smiths' "There is a Light That Never Goes Out" on mix CDs. So, what the hell, I guess I'll go ahead and post those, too. Enjoy the mood...
[MP3] [left-click] "Let's Go Out Tonight"/Craig Armstrong & Paul Buchanan [from the Craig Armstrong LP The Space Between Us, 1998]
[MP3] [left-click] "Roads"/Portishead [from the LP PNYC, 1998]
[MP3] [left-click] "There is a Light That Never Goes Out"/The Smiths [from the LP The Queen is Dead, 1986]
[MP3] [left-click] "Majesty"/Madrugada [from the LP Grit, 2002]
I'm not sure that the songs sound all that much alike - the Madrugada settles into a nice soothing groove and stays pretty consistent to it (Tindersticks-esque, methinks). The other song is by Craig Armstrong and Paul Buchanan. Armstrong worked with Massive Attack and is also a soundtrack guy (Romeo + Juliet; Ray), while Buchanan was (and perhaps still is) the lead singer of the Blue Nile. I love how the strings and vox build to such an emotional crescendo on their collaboration, and I always find myself putting it between Portishead's great live version of "Roads" and the Smiths' "There is a Light That Never Goes Out" on mix CDs. So, what the hell, I guess I'll go ahead and post those, too. Enjoy the mood...
[MP3] [left-click] "Let's Go Out Tonight"/Craig Armstrong & Paul Buchanan [from the Craig Armstrong LP The Space Between Us, 1998]
[MP3] [left-click] "Roads"/Portishead [from the LP PNYC, 1998]
[MP3] [left-click] "There is a Light That Never Goes Out"/The Smiths [from the LP The Queen is Dead, 1986]
[MP3] [left-click] "Majesty"/Madrugada [from the LP Grit, 2002]
MADRUGADA
I've given a lot of love to the Swedes since starting this blog back in June. Only relatively recently did Beat the Indie Drum turn me on to one of their neighbors from Norway (the bound-to-be-big Robert Post, whose great "Got None" is still available [here]... but hurry).
Madrugada is a Norwegian three-man band that's been making music for about a decade now. Their last LP, The Deep End, was released earlier this year, though I doubt many Americans have even heard of it. I would highly recommend the three songs from the album below. The lead singer has a highly distinctive and resonant voice, and each tune succeeds in carving out its own unique character.
So let's show the oft-neglected Norwegians a little love here...
[MP3] [left-click] "The Kids Are on High Street"
[MP3] [left-click] "The Lost Gospel"
[MP3] [left-click] "Subterranean Sunlight"
Madrugada is a Norwegian three-man band that's been making music for about a decade now. Their last LP, The Deep End, was released earlier this year, though I doubt many Americans have even heard of it. I would highly recommend the three songs from the album below. The lead singer has a highly distinctive and resonant voice, and each tune succeeds in carving out its own unique character.
So let's show the oft-neglected Norwegians a little love here...
[MP3] [left-click] "The Kids Are on High Street"
[MP3] [left-click] "The Lost Gospel"
[MP3] [left-click] "Subterranean Sunlight"
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