This will be Our Year (took a long time to come)

I kept thinking I had already posted these, but I looked through my old posts/tags and can't find them. So I guess I just imagined that? LOL. I would be remiss if I didn't share these though, as they are my two favorite songs that are appropriate for a New Year (or really anytime, because they are awesome).

"This Will Be Our Year" - The Zombies - Just a link to hear the song on YT. Enjoy its perfection.





"This Year" - The Mountain Goats - a really random video, I guess they've been like taken hostage to perform? I am distracted the whole way through looking at his fake head wound. But I like that it is quirky and memorable. And he uses the word "cavalcade" which earns him like 1 million gold stars, in my book. Especially coupled with the reference to a next year in Jerusalem (love me some vaguely religious refs, especially to something said at a Seder, you don't get that a lot).
Digression: If you don't listen to TMG, you should. The man is a genius. I saw him live (solo) several years back and he was electric, you can't take your eyes/ears away from him, just so charged/passionate/on-fire/magnetic/FIERCE/words-of-that-nature.  Check out also one of his more recent songs - "Psalms 40:2" (he has at least one more vaguely scriptural/or inspired by a verse type songs, I don't know why; they are pretty killer).







Have a safe and ridiculously Happy New Year! Make it through!!

An American Christmas

"An American Christmas" - The Boston Camerata  (they are an "early music ensemble")

Probably one of my top five favorite Christmas album out there.  I won the CD as a prize from the local classical music station (which sadly got bought out and switched to some other format several years ago, but was a staple of my childhood).... The DJ (who has an amazing voice himself) would do kids requests for Christmas music during a few hours in the mornings during the time leading up to Christmas. And kids would request their carols, and you could dedicate songs to friends/family, etc and they'd be read out... It was really cute and fun, and you'd listen for your songs etc.  Anyways, I loved it and earned the nickname 'dedication queen' LOL because that's how big of a nerd I am. But I also got some free tickets to some performances and a stack of great classical CDs (which I still have) - including this one. It is a whole different animal than what is generally associated with Christmas music today.

Which is great because my parents aren't really holiday music people, but this has good crossover appeal because the vocals are just strikingly fantastic, that you can still love it, even if you're not into Christmas. And especially if you like nice old traditional songs that you can imagine being sung in some stern Puritan meetinghouse or the like. And I do.

The whole thing is really old, folksy, songs we don't really hear ever, nor would necessarily even think of some of these being "Christmas-y". It's very different. I could rave about how lovely the singing is... it's just all stellar. A nice refreshing cleanse for the ears (and maybe the soul) from all the poppy-plastic-overplayed 'holiday' fluff tunes that dominate the airwaves this time of year. Personally if I hear any more 'Christmas' songs that contain the word 'shorty', I am going to burn something down (not because it's not christmasy, just because it's terrible). If you occasionally feel that way, and like classical/renaissance/folk things - than you too may love this album as much as I do. There's something so hauntingly beautiful about the melodies and arrangements.

I listened to it on the plane down yesterday and it drowned out both kids and idiots with admirable ease/grace. Highly recommend. Unfortunately, though, it seems people aren't putting the songs up on YT... didn't find any fanvids set to them, LOL.


You can hear two more on their site, and you can read some educational liner notes as well. They also have an all Renaissance Christmas album as well, and you can hear one song here. Or hit their shop for many other good albums.



(I hope the  sound on these works for you. It worked fine when I drafted this post at my house, but my parents house it's reallllllly faint. I'm hoping that's just because of their terrible computer, not the sound quality of the video. I also couldn't get the share feature to work on the second, again, hoping it all works for you.)

"Bozrah"





"Kingsbridge"- http://www.youtu.be/watch?v=6eIj4IB6HO8&feature=related



What are your favorite not-so-famous Christmas songs? Please share in the comments.


Merry Christmas!!!!

Wham!

Merry Christmas Eve! Posting over the holidays will be sporadic (as usual, maybe moreso).
Please enjoy this classic Christmas gem. 


"Last Christmas" - Wham!

Come on, we all wish our lives looked like this, don't we? The hair, the skiing, the tortured longing looks...

Light up the night, beat back the shadows

My house, the first night

Happy Hanukkah everyone!!

Last year I had a few songs, including Miracle, by Matisyahu and Candlelight by The Maccabeats (which is still the only thing I hear in my head when I hear the original non-Hanukkah version when I'm like, at the gym or something). This year The Maccabeats covered Miracle. So it all comes together. They are also doing a charity thing with this video - trying to raise money during Hanukkah for bone marrow donation - http://makesomemiracles.com/ so go check that out!

Hey guys, Blossom is in this video!!! (You can win a phone call with her or BBT swag from donating to the above). I love her. So she kinda makes the video for me. Also, her menorah is AMAZING. All the ones in the video are great and make me have serious menorah-envy.





And then, The Fountainheads (from Ein-Prat Academy, Israel) have two great Hanukkah songs/videos that I didn't see until this year. And they have a great Passover one I see, it's super cute. I will bust that out later. Love love love to see people make fun modern Jewish holiday songs. Good work, people. Very good.

"Light Up The Night" - I really like this song. They did a fantastic job writing something beautiful and catchy.  Selected favorite lines - "Light up the night, beat back the shadows..." is my fav, but this is also good -

 "For just eight nights / gather together / glimmers of those / who light up your life" 

And the part in Hebrew is transliterated as follows: Al Hanissim, Al Hapurkan (for the miracles and for the salvation) / Yamim Hahem, Bazman Hazeh (In those days, at this time). Those are similar to many refrains in old traditional Hanukkah songs.

And the video is cute, though IDK why there are Matrix-y bits, and a bit of what looks like wizarding Harry Potter-ness. It's amusing. Love the prominent featuring of sufganiyot (traditional Israeli Hanukkah jelly donut, I can't wait to go home so my mom can make me some!) and the use of kids in candle headbands (which I love, even though there are really bad dorky pics of me and my siblings as kids in something similar).




"I Gotta Feeling"  is based on the dreaded BEP song. It is pretty cute and fun. I love the part where the guy spins the dreidel on his head. Tonight's gonna be a bright night!!





And for your jazzy holiday music mix, a bass version of the ancient song "Ma'Oz Tzur" - Alex Bershadsky. And I wasn't really expecting much from the video (since it's just jazzy bass), but it's really stylish and has just flashes of him, city shots, and a candle... LOL a little much maybe for a wordless video, but it's cute and classy and I liked it.





So everyone enjoy their holidays, whatever it is - may it be full of light and hope and all that good stuff.


And don't forget -

"You don't need deck the halls or jingle bell rock Cause you can spin the dreidel with Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock..."

Music Truth Freedom

RIP Vaclav Havel - "Truth and love must prevail over lies and hatred."

In honor of the Velvet Revolution then, a little Velvet Underground, to commemorate - "Sunday Morning"

Miscellaneous dancing & good beer commercials

We interrupt this round of posting holiday music for a wee little dance break -

The opening of the Indian reality show "Just Dance" featuring the apparently insanely popular Hrithik Roshan (just watch the opening dance... the rest is just him talking, not exciting). The YT clips for him are endless. Best YT comment on this? "paid audience are overacting too much" LOL (they also don't hesistate to point out the MJ imitating and the hamminess). If you don't at least chuckle while watching this, I don't even know. I wish our reality shows were this over-the-top... it's so trying to be the most epic thing ever. It's a dance contest! Love it. We all need a little Bollywood in our lives, I think. More big dance numbers!





And then, I try not to comment on too many commercials (I'm not promoting anything), but I really like these new Heineken ones. They just look so fun and swingy and energetic without looking annoying, even though they throw like everything possible in there. It's what you wish your drinking life looked like, rather than the sometimes dingy unattractive reality of your local pub... These are all hip and delightful. Makes me almost want to drink Heineken, and post about how much I enjoy watching them, so I guess they did their job. Both feature good music, a clearly well-measured intentional dose of quirk, vintage movie-type vibes, and cute well-dressed guys with mustaches. Continue this trend, advertisers!


"The Entrance"



And "The Date" is my favorite because they break into absolutely great dancing at the end. It's so adorable.






Any good/amusing dancing caught your eye recently? Share in the comments for us all to enjoy together.

Riu Riu What??

So I was looking through my Christmas music selection cause I'm taking my playlist to a party this weekend (I don't really trust their music selections as I think they're all quite young, LOL, also I think there may be square-dancing or something if that gives you some insight in what I must contend with). Realized there was no Ríu Ríu Chíu, which one must have. I like this song because: it is so gorgeously distinctive and medieval, a song in Spanish is a nice break from other overplayed Christmas songs, and it has a great name (Riu Riu Chiu are supposedly the sounds of the Nightingale? Fascinating).  Did some searching, and... awesome discovery time! 

Someone has awesomely remixed this very ancient song into electronica - no longer solemn, but still quite beautiful in its own way, I think. It might be just the ticket for a holiday workout? Or jazz up your otherwise quiet holiday get-together? Do it.

I believe you can listen to the whole thing here - although at 6 minutes plus, it might be a bit long for those of you with non-electronic-drum-and-bass tastes. (This version is also available, and cheaper, I think, on iTunes and Amazon, but they limit their preview length, so this link works for that.) 

"Riu Riu II" - DJ Breaks : http://www.digital-tunes.net/releases/riu_chiu_ii?fb_share=on

Then for the slightly more traditionalists, you can hear a standard version by Chanticleer. 

Or, maybe The Monkees are more your style? I love it, this version is fantastic. Though their voices are softer than the version above, they all sound lovely together, very sweet and reverent. The song goes only about 1:33 - then the candle is blown out (cute) and the video continues with them wishing a Christmas message and bringing their crew out to thank them and etc. It's all very adorable.

What is your favorite lesser known Christmas song? I have a contribution towards those coming up (if I remember to post).

Or a favorite remix discovery? Share!

(I am working on more Hanukkah music for next week, don't worry!)

Who else is listening to Christmas music already?!

Because I certainly am! It makes the dark grey afternoons at work seem ever-so-slightly more festive.


Mildly embarrassing admission: I love me some Hootie (the man himself, not his band so much). He is so smooth-voiced and calming. The man can sing.

The song itself is nothing special lyrically (pretty bland), and I would probably not think twice about it, but something about the warm and reassuring way his voice sounds ensures that this song worms its way into my brain at this time of year. Also I like the random fiddling bit. His "Winter Wonderland" is a little too heavy-handedly countrified for me so it did not make the cut for my Christmas mix (although I also secretly love that he sings country now, I think his voice is perfect for it), but this blend of smooth, swingy, slightly-country Christmas I really like. Lull me to sleep anytime, sir.

"Candy Cane Christmas" - Darius Rucker







And then just to remind ourselves.... Hootie greatest hits. I knew this person once whose teacher (math I think) in like, Junior High or some such, made a quiz that was like all the answers were tied to trivia about Hootie & The Blowfish? Something like that? Not sure. I probably don't have permission to share that story either, LOL, sorry I can't clarify. I bring it up because they always claimed they did really well on the quiz because they knew already knew all the Hootie facts, that's how much they liked them.

"Only Wanna Be With You" - Admit that you know all the words. This song reminds me of being a teenager.  Also, the video is hilarious... it's super random. Basketball. Golf. It has Keith Olbermann in it. Love the head slide @1:16ish, and the supremely dorky dance @2:02ish. I love that over on YT one commenter calls it "probably the most 90s looking video ever" LOLZ.


Hootie & The Blowfish - Only Wanna Be With  You by AtlanticRecords



"Hold My Hand" another great YT comment "God damnit I love the 90s"


Hootie & The Blowfish - Hold My Hand by AtlanticRecords



"Let Her Cry"

Hootie & The Blowfish - Let Her Cry by AtlanticRecords





I may or may not share some more Christmas and Hannukah favorites. What is your mildly-embarrassing Christmas music secret?

Twitter vid roundup

Consider this also your Follow Friday roundup if you like good music'n'stuff. Heavy dose of the quirky today, with a shot of hysterically terrible at the end.  Enjoy!

Via @killrockstars -

"Rip Up Your Stitch" - Ashia and The Bison Rouge - It's got a lot of look going on with costumes, dolls and paper dolls and circusy folk... Also, keep an eye out for the guy whose hat appears to maybe be a bison head? I love that. Also the almost-angry faced child dancing @3:04. . .




And "Top Ranking" - Blonde Redhead (video starring Miranda July of  "))<>((" fame)





Via @laughingsquid -

"Thick as Thieves " - Kalle Mattson - aka 'a stopmotion history of the world' - very cute. I love the mix of textures / paper / craftiness. My favorite part it the end. So true.






And possibly the best/worst for last, via @pajiba
"pajiba Dustin Rowles 

It will melt off your face, stab you, and take your wallet: RT@JarretMyer: The Worst Music Video Ever Made. bit.ly/tjwhnG

"Hailing from Cleveland, Alternate Reality's video was shot on location at historic Squire's Castle in Willoughby Hills, Ohio between July and November 2011. Interesting factoids: The video features 20 actors, 3.5 lawyers, 4 Slovenians, 4 lead singers, 7 employees from 4 Cleveland area law firms, 3 horses, and one historic castle"

"The King That Never Was" - Alternate Reality