Author: tunequest

Openning trade talks with the Electronians

Originally uploaded by The Polish Ambassador.

The Polish Ambassador has posted four downloadable electro-musings on intergalactic negotiation tactics.

Partake of them slowly and acclimate yourself to the Ambassador’s power. Though he is on a mission of peace and synthesized grooves, these treatises are but a prelude to the all out assault that will be Diplomatic Immunity which launches December 15.

A Specialized Nutcracker Suite

Specialized bike parts has released an intriguing holiday card for the 2006 season. It’s an excerpt of the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker suite, a perennial Christmas time favorite.

The catch is that the piece is played entirely on bicycle parts. From createdigitalmusic.com:

Glockenspiel & Clarinet melody = spokes.
Cello & Violin pizzicatos = plucked derailleur cables.
Triangle = disc brake hit.
Percussion = shifting, coasting, finger over turning spokes, chain pulls, braking, clipping into pedals, back-spinning, air out of tires.

[audio:specializednutcracker.mp3]

The Breeders – The She: This song is meandering funk

aka “rhythm by arithmetic”

title tk

The Breeders disappeared for a very long time, taking nine years to release a follow up to their 1993 breakthrough Last Splash. But when they returned, they did with gusto, submitting a stellar album that proved that Kim Deal could still write some compelling music.

The following is a mellow groove, its steady rhythm demands your attention. It’s unlike anything the band had attempted before and, I gotta say, it works. For your consideration, from Title TK, The She.

[audio:061208TheShe.mp3]

the full thing on plastic at amazon

Wouldn’t a solid gold fiddle weigh hundreds of pounds and sound crummy?

A superb cover of Charlie Daniels’ and his band Devil Went Down to Georgia. I’m not sure if the song itself was ever released, but a claymation Quicktime movie of it can be found on the data portion of Primus’ 1999 Rhinoplasty, a collection of cover tunes in the band’s trademark style.

Fortunately for you, the fine denizens of YouTube have thoughtfully provided this video. Enjoy.

Everywhere the signs

Here’s the main title for M. Night Shyamalan’s 2002 film Signs. Composed by James Newton Howard Shyamalan’s personal composer it seems, the titles are appropriately cacophonous and dissonant, but also unified and cohesive.

Tense.

[audio:061205Signs.mp3]

Oddly enough, a number of remixes were created by luminaries of the trip-hop scene and released as a single around the time as the film. Most of them weren’t that special, but the version by Morcheeba is worth checking out if you can track it down.

Pearl Jam – Faithful: We all believe, we all believe

Over the years, I’ve come to understand Pearl Jam’s 1998 album Yield as perhaps the group’s finest recording. There’s not a single bad note on its entire length and it is one of but a handful of records in my library with nothing but 4- or 5-star ratings.

At the time of its release, rock music was steadily being displaced in my mind with college-era explorations of the electronic and the experimental. But Yield hung around, receiving occasional plays here and there, slowly but steadily drilling deep into my subconscious, earning its street cred in a way that no other Pearl Jam record has done, until one day I suddenly appreciated its brilliance.

To this day, I have to credit one song, Faithfull for triggering that appreciation. It’s not the group’s catchiest, or its most rocking or even especially popular, but it does have a certain spark of soul and genius that makes it one of my personal favorites from their entire catalog.

[audio:061205Faithfull.mp3]