You'd never know it's not human.

As you know, I usually post videos. Here's something special...
In case anybody is unaware of what a theramin is, check out its wikipedia entry.
As an example, a theramin is the ghosty sound in the Beach Boys "Good Vibrations"
(speaking of the Beach Boys, they've got a new album out... expect a video soon...).

This time around, I'm giving you something radically different than the standard fare... Puccini's "Nessun Dorma" from the opera Turandot. Oh, yeah... here's some more info about that...
Anyhow, if you listen with your eyes shut, you'll definitely hear a beautiful voice bringing this piece home, but if you watch the video, you'll find that it's something entirely different... enjoy this one thanks to my absolute favorite blog, synthtopia ( I'm sending you there directly, even though it's a youtube vid so you can give this page some love.... and please look around while you're there... support this page, it's awesome.)

Here you go... Puccini's "Nessun Dorma" from Turandot on theramin.

friendly reminder...

Hey.... you should go back and check out the stuff I've put up in the past!
This stuff's all cool... honestly... take a few and flip through it if you haven't.
Thanks.
I guess you can check this out while you're at it.

Possibly my favorite song title ever....

Ok, so it's not the best video, but at least it makes some sense. A bunch of snippets from the Thor movie and Atom And His Package doing "I am downright amazed at what I can destroy with just a hammer."
Like I said... it's not the best video, but it's the best I could find for this... and I was downright set on putting this up here. There it is.

my woshin mashin....

Just saw this stuff over at side-line (a great electronic, goth, industrial, alternative site) and was instantly smitten. Cool sound, great videos, had me tappin my feet and shakin my head at the same time (much easier than walking and chewing gum or patting your head and rubbing your belly).
Anyhow, the band is My Woshin Mashin (and I have no idea what that means... wait, on further inspection, I'd say it's read like "my washing machine," damn i feel stupid)... lets see what we can find out...all right, they have a band camp site that you can navigate about and see what their deal is. I especially like how they say they're influenced by And One (totally called that one), Napalm Death, Rage Against The Machine, and Queen... love that list. But apparently they're from Berlin, and consider their music "brutal pop."

HEY THIS IS IMPORTANT!!!
  At this very moment, if you direct yourself over to their soundcloud page, you can listen to AND DOWNLOAD a whole bunch of their shit. Do yourself the favor of checking this stuff out, then purchase it on Bandcamp...

so anyway, heres a few videos... wierd stuff... really... I love it.

AAAHHH!!! It's Godzirrraaaaa!!!!

Columbo... I guess I don't miss him this much, but great track.

And this is pure genius... Any Depeche Mode fans out there???

That's enough.... but navigate yourself over to Youtube (or be lazy and click through the videos above) and see many other oddities including My Woshin Mashin live.

This will keep me bouncing all day. 

Just had to put this here...

check this stuff out... listen to this.
Pulled out of Portal... perhaps youve heard of this game???....
This is outstanding... need to see more stuff like this... honestly.....

I haven't blogged stuff from soundcloud before... it'll probably become commonplace...
just follow the link for now... I'll link the rest of these better, just kinda in a rush...
sorry, but check it out.

really

http://soundcloud.com/swatdojo/cake-is-gone-original-mix

happy birthday Bob Moog...

This one gets double duty (heh... doody)...
In honor of Bob Moogs birthday, I'm going to show you two amazing things...
sorry, three. The first is this list of Moog players. Fantastic.

2nd... Apoptygma Berzerk uses Moog synthesizers. If you haven't heard of these guys, and are into electronica of any type, check 'em out.  These guys will come up a few times in the near future in my posts... I can damn near promise you... anyhow... as a special for fans of the band, here's a video that goes back a bit to their more aggressive days... Deep Red.

3rd... As it turns out, Abba are actually cool. And adding drag queens doesn't hurt, either... in fact, it only adds to the fun. But actually... Abba used Moogs as well... and that just makes them cool by default... to say nothing of how much they influenced European pop, electronica, and new wave.
So there.... they don't suck... honestly.

Just goes to show you...

You just never know when someone is messed in the head. They may seem clean cut, and in this case, all normal like, but hoooooo boy. Watch this video through to the end... really....

I always come back to this...

I am going to preface this video with the insistence that you go buy this whole album immediately.

And as many of you have never heard of these guys, please feel free to educate yourselves.

Now that I've got that done with...This is The London Suede... and really, anyone who cares just calls them Suede... silly name disputes aside. To me, these guys are legends. It may just be that an ex of mine from college introduced me to them, it may just be that this album distinctly paints pictures of another life, another time for me, like no album can.... but honestly, nearly everyone I've ever introduced to this album (in particular, and again like no other album has), has become completely infatuated with it. It is an amazing album....   oh, yeah.... The London Suede, "DOG MAN STAR" go get it, dammit.
Anyhow, it's a living breathing entity. It's vibrant, aggressive, aloof, distant, sad, mournful.... It will remind you vividly of something amazing, even if you've never heard it before... you will truly feel this album... honestly, one of the best albums ever. I'm not over selling this, either.
These are just two videos, and you should check out the rest....
Above is "We Are The Pigs," the 2nd track, and really the first "standout" if there are any on this opus. I really like the guitars in this, dark and smokey... sedate but expressive... the track has energy but it seems to hang in space....
Below is "The Wild Ones," a gorgeous video... I really feel this track... it pulls at something deep in me. Check them out, and then check out the rest of the album. Suede have a number of other albums, more raw, sometimes more poppy... do yourself a favor and check out the albums"Suede," "Stay Together," and definitely "New Morning," then you can check out "coming up" and lastly "head music", which, though it has high points, has the most lows of all their albums....
But really, finally had to put this up here... you won't be disappointed. Listen to this.

Numan Owns

Not sure how I missed this one, but it actually came out last september. This is off Gary Numan's newest "Dead Son Rising," and I really liked this video.  Gary Numan is a favorite of mine. I love how he's written off as this old man and washed up new waver by so many people... man, they just have no idea... first of all he pretty much created much of what is the mainstreamness of electronica (funny to think that LMFAO wouldn't exist without some old British rocker)... but besides that, he's still far creepier than any of these modern "metal" bands, or whatever... you feel when he does his thing that this is just him, and he really owns the way he comes off... like it's not for show even one little bit... I feel like he has a lot of demons...
Even so... Gary Numan is always on the cutting edge of coolness... check out this interview from GQ, of all places... HERE....
Seriously, though... if you look at this other vid (those of you over 30 will remember this), you'll see the very dark, spooky, and heavy Fear Factory get totally trumped by Numan's gloom.... as they look like clean cut guys, and Gary Numan really sells the "I'm stealing your soul" like some dark entity in a sci-fi movie as he sucks up fear factory's lead singer, Burton, appearing in his place... It's like an Agent in the Matrix. (on an off note, Numan's Gloom would make a great band name)..

I used to know a girl like this...

    A girl I know showed me this song... she finds it fairly creepy (in a good way), I don't know...
reminds me of a less glam, more obvious version of "All I Need," by Motley Crue. This band is a bit new to me, and I have yet to really check out their other stuff (tons on my plate lately), but they seem interesting. Reminds me of something that would have come out of the mid 90's. Definitely cool.

Check it out.  Polkadot Cadaver's "Chloroform Girl"


Also, whilst you're at it... I have to post a motley crue video at some point, so while I'm on topic...
All I Need... supposedly banned... I don't really remember that, but Girls,Girls,Girls came out in like 87 or so, so there's been some time there, and it's a bit foggy... anyway, this ones got more of a crime scene, sad 80's hair metal, arguement leads to murder aesthetic, but the songs are fairly similar in content.... "I love my unresponsive girl".... and all that...

But there's no chicken...

So I went to a bar to meet someone recently... that sounds sketchy or sad... I went to meet someone I met through craigslist... that sounds worse... I went to see someone I've contacted through the musicians section... we were gonna bs about music but he was not there... no great loss, I had a beer and saw a fantastic (crappy) rendition of karaoke Danzig... Someone sang "mother," and I realized that not only was this comic gold, I hadn't heard it in a while... needless to say, here it is.

And it's not the one I saw, but the sentiment is the same. Here's a karaoke version...

Is that "One Eyed" Willie?

Needed to claw back into some classic rock for a bit... and since I'm a Tull fan, I've been listening to some of their less frequented stuff... totally check this out, the aqualung-mygod blog, as there's tons of cool stuff there. And also check out Tull's site ... for real, check out their website there's tons of goodies here... follow this link or point your browser to j-tull.com , thought I'd share the love... possibly one of my favorite videos of theirs, this kinda reminds me of some of the royalty from Yellowbeard.

oh yeah, kissing willie... on the rock island album. Not my favorite album, but some great stuff on it...

You can really taste the....

And One just released new stuff... featuring Eskil Simmonson of Covenant and Douglas McCarthy of Nitzer Ebb... I can totally hear the covenant...  good stuff. Check it out.... can't wait for more.

Tone Loc? Remember this guy?

Just went to a friend's wedding and actually heard this... hadn't in some time.
Real quick.... here it is.

More deaths to whine about....

Ok, ok, it's not all bad... but when I heard that Vidal Sassoon died today, I just had to put this up.  It was just what I thought of at that moment. I can't say that I'm poorer for him passing... if anyone can come up with a reason why this should be sad, I'm down.  Fittingly, this is a song by one of the most notoriously whiney guys out there, so I guess that should do.

WWJD... really?

.... and I can't let that last sentiment go yet... I have to put this up here... it's pertinent, and actually a great track.
     As an aside, this is Die Warzau with the talented Emilie Autumn in the video...  incidentally, check them both out (I'll put up some more of their stuff here eventually, but there's alot of ground to cover, so no promises when). Die Warzau is an electro/funk/industrial/rock/whatever band from Chicago. They've been around for a long time.  Emilie Autumn does her blend of "victoriandustrial" violins and electronic crunchiness, like a very theatrical Tori Amos with a morbid sense of humor, period costumes, an MC505 and great makeup. has had a few prominent positions... erm.. such as on the Saw 4 soundtrack... anyway... as a continuation of the last post... Born Again...

Peter Steele is the answer...

All the good ones are dying it seems... gah, I know that sounds angsty, but two in one week is alot.  Maurice Sendak, I hear, thought about death alot.  You know who else thought about death alot?  Why, Peter Steele, of course... even faking his own death back in 2005, and often joking about it.  In that vein... totally no pun... here's Type 0 Negative's Everything Dies (above), and Everyone I Love Is Dead (below)...

And while were on Peter Steele, again no pun intended, and getting past the death stuff, and moving on... today North Carolina votes on enshrining their ban of gay marriage in their state constitution... and though I'm neither gay nor in North Carolina, it's a sad thing to see people fight so hard to preserve a screwed up status quo... so this is for all those folks who are afraid of their own demographic decline and other peoples sexuality...

...he sailed off through night and day...

I know... this is a music post... a music post.... a celebration of all things that sound like stuff... but shit went DOWN today... and I appologize, as this will be more than my usual brief post, and their will be alot of stuff here...though to be fair and respectful, I'll split it up... today Maurice Sendak died. The beloved author of "Where the Wild Things Are" (among others, not to sell his other books short, there were some good ones... but...), let's face it, Wild Things touched everyone's childhood, and will for years to come. First MCA, now Maurice Sendak... I just read the book to my two youngest, and teared up a bit... I've included a video of the book being read... and even though it was recorded a few months ago, I like the way he chokes up a bit reading the ending... I understand completely.

I heard a great interview with him on NPR today. I've got the link to it, including a trove of other good stuff for you right here. Enjoy.

Thank you Mr. Sendak

Suicidal Tendencies...

    A friend of mine wrote a song, and I feel bad that I hear this song every time I hear it.  I would totally give her bonus points for pulling this out live in it's place (kinda like how anyone could get points for singing "what I got" to the music for "black water" by the doobie brothers).
Anyway, watching the video really made me feel odd. Look how young he looks...
gah...

I love this video. Makes me giggle every time I see it.

    Ok, so this is Jimmy Urine from Mindless Self Indulgence. His side project "the left rights" has been out for a while now, and I have to say, it's still amusing me.  It reminds me of how MSI used to be, brief, random... like the Ramones with computers and energy drinks.  This video, by the way, was directed by the great Jonen Vasquez of Invader Zim and JTHM fame (etc.)
    I dig the atmosphere, if you didn't know better, you'd just think it was two standard high school girls gettin down on their webcam. Totally everyday stuff, right?

Just sayin'

Thought I'd add a little more to the page. It'll be evolving slowly. No other reason for this post... ok, I guess I can give you this..... watch closely... definitely make a point of looking these guys up. They used to have a pretty cool rig to play live with, if I remember correctly.

-Emergency Broadcast Network. Psychoactive Drugs.

Tom Waits and Cookie Monster... separated at birth?

This is amazing... my youngest daughter always called this "The Cookie Monster Song," and now I know why.  It's all those late nights googling obscure videos.  I'm amazed that someone took this much initiative to do this. Really. This is really, really well done... not to mention that this is a great tune... seriously, it just goes to prove that if something unusual strikes you, there's probably already a hilarious video of it out there on the internet.  Seriously, it never ceases to amaze me.

For your viewing pleasure, Cookie Monster doing his version of Tom Waits "God's Away On Business."

(To clear things up, Tom Waits is actually singing, and was not, in fact, the voice of Cookie Monster.)

I forgot Pantera...

I played a show with some friends last night, and during one bands set, a friend of mine burst out with the well known notes of Pantera's "walk."  I have certainly lost touch with Pantera over the years, and honestly the last album I truly remember was "the Great Southern Trendkill."  That being said, hearing that woke something up... and even thought their most well known (early) stuff, "walk" and "this love," wasn't really my favorite (good stuff, but not my favorite), they did have a few earsplitting tracks that punctuated key moments in my life... All the Dimebag stuff aside, Pantera hit pretty hard, and I think this may be the hardest... and the intensity of the live show doesn't hurt either.

Here you go... Primal Concrete Sledge.....

Rip MCA

Adam Yauch died on friday. This breaks my heart. We all knew him as MCA from the Beastie Boys, and his contributions to modern music are innumerable.  I grew up listening to the boys.  I saw all their stages of development, from their early punk days through the non-stop party of License to Ill, through the outrageous style of Pauls Boutique, the in your face vibe of Check Your Head, and far beyond.  They were innovators and pioneers in the truest sense, and MCA's death saddens us all.  I wanted to post a few of my favorites.  I don't know what else to say other than that he made our world a better place.

Still Not Wearing Hats...

Saw this over on Tom from Assemblage 23's blog waveformless.blogspot.com, and had to put it here, too.  Men Without Hats is one of those bands... for those of you who don't or can't remember, these guys gave us "The Safety Dance"... ahem... one of those bands that comes up in casual conversation so much that it's got to be more than a coincidence.  They are releasing a new album this month, and as you can hear by the chatter at the beginning of this track (incidentally, no video along with this one, check the "safety dance" link for video), it's being produced by Dave Ogilvie.  This is amazing news.  I have to say that the track is infectious.  Can't wait to check out the rest of it...  bring it on, guys.