Tek-One – Broken String
Broken strings. Broken wings. Kill your dreams. Dirty, filthy dubstep.
The last time I listened to this I thought there was a draft in my house but it was just the bass pushing the air out from the sub-woofer.
New Music: Hard Mix
Hard Mix-Callers
A DJ from either North or South Carolina, I can’t quite remember but he makes some nice music. Wobbling, fun house mirror music.
So many memories…
Amen Breakbeat
Carcrash International
Carcrash International – The Whip (1992 remixed version)
Me (to a DJ who was in the middle of a Joy Division-y set): Who is this your playing?
J: Hard Crash International*
Me (mentally scratching my head…): Hard Crash International?
DJ: Yup!
Me:Hmmm…
Why hadn’t I ever heard of this band? I looked them up on Youtube right on the spot and I couldn’t find a thing. I get home and then it dawns on me, Carcrash International! I’ve had this record in my house for like 15 years. This is what I get for not ever giving it a proper listen, I’d totally missed out on this song. Time to revisit the record collection.
original version, 1983
I was born with a cannibal instinct
And bound up in the house of fear
For sweet kisses love and affection
I had to eat myself alive
*He probably said Carcrash International and I couldn’t hear him over the music.
On Beauty
My grandmother Jessie, circa late 1940s
My grandmother taught me many things but in the realm of beauty she often repeated this motto: “Beauty hurts, you have to suffer for it.”
The Lindy Hop and The Charleston
The Lindy Hop from the 1941 movie Hellzapoppin’
Al Minns & Leon James doing the Charleston
The human body is capable of the most exquisite movements.
Por Allà Viene Durruti
Por allà viene Durruti – Chicho Sánchez
Egyptian Lover, Part 2
Egyptians practicing the fine art of rock throwing, January 25, 2011.
I’m been enthralled by Al Jazeera’s live feed of the uprising in Egypt. Riot cops running from protesters, folks celebrating on top of army tanks, lots of burning stuff and fires in Cairo!
It only makes me pine for my faux-Egyptian connections even more. But just this week, I learned an extraordinary fact, one that gives hope to my far-fetched dreams of an Mexican-Egyptian heritage. According to Chicana musician Lysa Flores who recently participated in an Egyptian group art exhibit, Citizen, Participant “Egypt sent 20,000 troops to Mexico in the 1860′s to help Mexico boot out Maximilano and none of those Egyptians returned…” What? Could it be that perhaps, one of those soldiers could’ve been related to the grandfather I never knew and recently tried to find in Guadalajara? Probably not, but I still feel the nostalgia when gazing at the Eye of Horus.
Amr Diab-Omal Eih
All this revolution and uprising needs some musical accompaniment so how about some Arabic Pop/Al Jeel music by one Egypt’s most popular artists, Amr Diab? His sorta dorky style is quite charming, too bad he’s all slick and dolled up now. The 80s was the BEST time for Arab Pop, in my opinion.
One of his most popular songs, was previously featured on the blog here. And of course, EVERYONE knows this song, Nour El Ain.
Oh, you’ve all been waiting for this Egyptian Lover? Why didn’t you say so?
The Egyptian Lover – Egypt, Egypt
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She Wants
New music from Metronomy! I can always count on them for some decent melancholy electro-pop. This video is a nice representation of what dreams are like, severe looking woman and all.
This Metronomy song’s still my, uh, favorite though: A Thing for Me.
Jacno
Jacno-Triangle (1979)
A friend was asking me tonight about the band Rita Mitsouko, a longtime favorite of this blog. And then a few minutes later, I got notice that the one and only Jean Claude Vannier will be hosting a tribute to Serge Gainsbourg at the Hollywood Bowl this August. Gasp! This Hollywood Bowl concert might even surpass seeing Dead Can Dance and Nouvelle Vague a few years ago. As you might’ve noticed, I have a special fondness for all kinds of French music but my tastes these days tend towards French Cold and New Wave. Recently, a friend made me a copy of So Young but So Cold, an excellent compilation of 80s synth-pop and cold wave from France and that’s where I came across this excellent tune by Jacno. I loved his work in Stinky Toys and his collaborations with Elli Medeiros known appropriately as “Elli et Jacno.” Sadly, Jacno died of cancer on November 6, 2009 (excellent tribute here). Coincidentally, almost exactly two years earlier Fred Chichin of Rita Mitsouko also passed away from cancer.
Bonus! Bonus!
Stinky Toys-Birthday Party (1979)
I somehow overlooked featuring this video and song on the blog, which is quite strange because it’s a favorite (cringe, trying not to use THAT word). Stinky Toys are considered to be one of the first punk bands in France.
Lyrics:
Chinese chinese birthday party
Give me chinese birthday cake
Chinese chinese birthday party
Give me chinese birthday drink
Getting younger every day
Getting younger getting younger
Younger every day
Gonna be a baby soon!