Diverse sounds

"You're digging a hole in your neighbourhood you're crazy but you're lazy"

Massive Attack at their finest here, lyrically, musically and visually stunningly brilliant.

Karmacoma. Jamaica Aroma. Ja make it in Roma?

Cheers, Tom.

Before they (or should it just be he) won a mercury prize and became the darlings (albeit for about 4 minutes) of the indie scene (shudder), antony and the johnsons produced, in my mind, one of the best albums so far this century. however, i realise they (he) are (is) like marmite, so here goes. all from the first album, enjoy!

to be honest the whole album is packed full of amazing songs, and i could copy and paste forever. but i wont.

For me, Orbital were one of the pinnacles of 1990s dance music. I picked this track because it's a particularly good video as well as a good song.

The Box, by Orbital.

Cheers, Tom.

I Got A Name- Jim Croce

Like the pine trees linin the windin road
I've got a name, I've got a name
Like the singin bird and the croakin toad
I've got a name, I've got a name
And I carry it with me like my daddy did
But Im livin the dream that he kept hid
Movin me down the highway
Rollin me down the highway
Movin ahead so life wont pass me by

Like the north wind whistlin down the sky
I've got a song, I've got a song
Like the whippoorwill and the babys cry
I've got a song, I've got a song
And I carry it with me and I sing it loud
If it gets me nowhere, Ill go there proud
Movin me down the highway
Rollin me down the highway
Movin ahead so life wont pass me by

And Im gonna go there free
Like the fool I am and I'll always be
Ive got a dream, I've got a dream
They can change their minds but they can't change me

I've got a dream, I've got a dream
Oh, I know I could share it if you want me to
If you're going my way, I'll go with you
Movin me down the highway
Rollin me down the highway
Movin ahead so life wont pass me by

Just putting this out there, i'm not a huge fan myself but i would count a hollywood a-lister releasing an album of tom waits cover versions as obscure and perhaps a little bit disturbing. what do you guys think, i have to say i'm unimpressed...

yesterday is here aint bad i suppose but mainly because of the instrumental arrangement. personally i just dont think her voice cuts it.

Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds

Released 40 years after Orson Welles' infamous radio version of the H. G. Wells tale, Jeff Wayne's musical version of War of the Worlds straddles old-style radio drama and contemporary orchestrated narratives by Rick Wakeman and David Bedford. And while it lacks the sophisticated arrangements of, say, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, it does boast an impressively odd cast - this may be the only time that a member of Thin Lizzy worked with Richard Burton.

Indeed, it's Burton's sonorous tones that sustain this work; his frequent solo narrations are eminently listenable, whereas sections featuring dialogue with other characters often come off as a bit stilted.

The music is competent studio rock, and "Horsell Common and the Heat Ray" does strike just the right balance between Burton's narration and an accompaniment built around a buzzsaw guitar riff.

Overall, it's pleasant as a period piece, and still a fine way to introduce younger listeners to Wells' classic tale. (And if you can find it in a vinyl, it comes with a nicely produced narrative booklet with gloriously lurid illustrations by Geoff Taylor.) Source -- Paul Collins, All Music Guide

The track-list for the audio file you are listening to is as follows:

01 - The Eve of the War
02 - Horsell Common and the Heat Ray
03 - Forever Autumn
04 - The Fighting Machine
05 - Thunderchild
06 - The Red Weed
07 - The Spirit of Man
08 - Dead London
09 - Brave New World
10 - The Spirit of Man (2007 Mix)

For more like this, please visit iBanter.co.uk

enjoy!

just a little bit of rahsaan roland kirk for you all today. musical genius in my opinion.

enjoy.

talking heads
once in a lifetime
david byrne

Jour de Foule

just a couple of tracks from the dezurik sisters. i heard them first on the cd 'flowers in the wildwood - women of early country' a few years back, and since then their voices have never left me. i think you'll see why!

pretty amazing stuff. they have a really incredible vocal style, quite unlike anything ive heard before. the first tune is a lot more 'yodelly' but still hauntingly beautiful. as for the second song, sweet hawaiian chimes, its probably one of my favourite songs ever. hope you enjoy it as much as i do!

Bach

Farouz

The Volga Boatmen

Old Man River

Shenandoah

Dickies

or this bunch of Banana Splits?

this is a band that i had a real religious experience to at uni. i'd never heard music like this before, and since then i've opened my eyes to so much more that music has to offer. i'm not saying this is the best music, but its probably the band thats had the largest impact on me in the last couple of years (before that, i'd say floyd)

so. here's some 65daysofstatic, if you dont want to listen to it all, at least listen to the last track, its incredible.

^^^ one of my favourite performances of all time.

there's so much more to them than that, but i dont want to bore/stun people. but if you like it, listen to retreat! retreat!, await rescue (amazing drumming), little victories and a failsafe for more incredibleness (is that a word?)

anyway. enjoy it.

firstly, ive got a little project going on at the moment, so help would be appreciated greatly. i'm trying (mainly for my own pleasaure but i will make it downloadable also) to create a 90 min mixtape/dj set of tunes. this is quite hard to explain but here goes. i want a sort of gradual rise then a half hour peak then a comedown in the tempo/general aggresion of the tunes. its all sorts of music, from floyd to shpongle through some ambient black metal, what i'm trying to get at is like you see in some post rock, like a gradual build up of pace, a peak/plateeau of noise followed by a reduction until all is calm. but instead of having it over a song, i want it over a longer period. am i explaining this very well. probably not. anyway i was wondering if anyone had any decent ideas for the sort of peaky time. i'm good with psy-trance/ambient chill stuff and i'm good with the comedown stuff, but not so good with the full out peaky music. colin murray tried to do it on his radio 1 show once but i didnt like it. so im trying to outdo him.

anyway, any suggestions is great, i want it to be as trippy as poss (like a drug induced trip without the drugs) so any sort of psy-music, jazz/world stuff is good. anyway. thanks in advance. here's some post rock music, a genre that i'm really getting into but is sadly underappreciated (most people think it is just arty bollocks)

explosions in the sky are great. to be honest, this wasnt the song of theres i wanted, but youtube only has so many andi wanted to get a full(ish) one. all the songs are quite long.

spiderland by slint is an amazing album in the genre. its different to post rock nowadays (it came out 91 i think) but still great. this is a pretty famous song.

godspeed you black emperor are the most credible p.r band around in my opinion, they make some stunning music. this isnt the full version but i cant find any decent videos of theres on youtube. bah! anyway, enjoy.

Surely one of the greatest bass players of all time???

Again, like cake, i think everyone thinks primus are a bit of a novelty band (song titles like winona riders big brown beaver cant help!) but in my opinion they are one of the best alt-rock acts out there. here's some proof;

incidently, the original version of this (from sailing in the sea of cheese i think) had tom waits on vocals. tom waits the utter god of course...

like i said. les claypool is a genius!

Cake were seriously underrated. I suppose since they didnt take themselves seriously they never got the chance other bands did. still, not worrying what people thought about them allowed them to write amazing songs.

both classics. for me anyway!

Dont know if this can be classed as genuinely 'obscure' (they played glastonbury), but here goes anyway.

definately one of the best jazz/world/mad acts out there at the moment, seeing them live is definately better than seeing them on here, but hey.

i'll do more crazy nippon antics later. check my blog out (shameless plug) for more stuff like this;

www.epistemological-savagery.blog.co.uk

Starfire,

The King's Head Inn, Bledington, or

This guy?

Were you ever in Quebec
Stowin' timber on the deck?
Where there's a king with a golden crown
(where ye'd break yer bleedin' neck)
Riding on a donkey!

Way hey and away we go
Donkey riding, donkey riding
Way hey and away we go
Riding on a donkey.

Were you ever off the Horn
Where it's always fine and warm?
Where's there's a lion and a unicorn
Riding on a donkey.

chorus

Were you ever in Cardiff Bay
Where the folks all shout, "Hooray!"?
"Here comes Johnny with his six months pay
Riding on a donkey."

chorus

Were you ever in Timbucktoo
Where the gals are black and blue?
And they wriggle their arses, too
Riding on a donkey.

chorus

Were you ever in Vallipo
Where the gals put on a show?
Wriggle their arse with a roll and go
Riding on a donkey.

chorus

Wuz ye ever down Mobile Bay
Screwin' cotton all the day?,
A dollar a day is a white man's pay.
Ridin' on a donkey.

chorus

Wuz ye ever in Canton
Where the men wear pigtails long,
And the gals play hong-ki-kong?
Ridin' on a donkey.

chorus

Wuz ye ever in Mirramashee
Where ye tie up to a tree,
An' the skeeters do bite we?
Ridin' on a donkey

chorus

Wuz ye ever on the Broomielaw
Where the Yanks are all the go,
An' the boys dance heel an' toe?
Ridin' on a donkey.

etcetera

Verdi's Requiem: Dies irae

New Russia State Symphony Orchestra, Moscow. A punchy version with Claudio Vandelli conducting.

Buena Vista Social Club. Orlando "Cachaito" Lopez on Bass. He died today in Havana, aged 76.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JEdf7XsV5g

Chan Chan

DEAF SCHOOL - The second 'best' band out of Liverpool

Songsmith fed with Stock Charts, from Johannes Kreidler

"Portal" is one of the best computer games ever written, as much for it's sense of humour as its innovative gameplay.

This song is from the end credits, and is sung from the POV of a futuristic computer that has variously been a friend accompanying you through hard times to a vicious human killer trying to burn you to death.

I wonder if it means anything if you haven't played the game? Here is the credits version, below is a link to a version with better sound quality but no movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYLVb2FcAas

Just found 'Tea for the Tillerman' never too late ah?