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Wednesday, July 14, 2004

Mouse Spider pic courtesy these folks

arachnaglisten: spider mix CD 3
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8. TV Theme - "Spiderman"

Tuwa: I remember watching this show as a kid and being unimpressed with it, in spite of my deep and abiding love for Spider-Man: Spider-Man would put his arm forward in the web-shooting pose and the web, looking quite a bit like a fishing net, would fall on the bad guy from above. Dig the music though. Good times. It's fun, it's happy, it has a horn section.

Brian: The coolest super-hero (beside Captain Black) with the coolest theme music (beside Captain Black).

Captain Who?

Mason: the classic spiderman theme. they should make a rule that all tv shows need to have a theme song that describes the show.

This is really a nicely crafted little track; clocking in at exactly a minute, it's catchy, inoffensive and unforgettable. Beats the hell out of "I'll Be There For You", I can tell you that.
Sorry about the lousy quality. What it lacks in kbps, it makes up for in nostalgia.


Buena Vista has just reissued the old cartoon in a SIX-DISC DVD, Spiderman: The '67 Collection. Click the previous link to see the trailer for the set or order a copy (for less than a buck an episode, the price ain't bad.)
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Here's more background on the history of the sixties animation...
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...and don't forget about Spidey's 1981, 1994 and 2003 cartoon incarnations.

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9. Timbaland, Missy Elliott and Magoo - "Here We Come"

Brian: Genius. Friendly neighborhood Timbaland.

Tuwa: This is hilarious, but good. And now I know why I like the old Spider-Man theme: that melody rocks. Add a funky beat and sparse bass and some harmonizing, and you have an inspired bit of chillout hip-hop.

Mason: timbaland and magoo? was this a hit song? i don't think i've heard this before. i wonder why timbaland always hides his voice like that. this must've been from that late 90's-early 00's period where everyone was ripping off tv themes.

Timbaland is, of course, Jesus.

Buy "Tim's Bio" from Amazon.
With sweet cameos by Missy, Nas and Jigga; Twista and Ludacris (before they were household names) drop astonishing tracks as well. The real star is Timbaland's unconscious beats. He was in the zone in the late nineties, everything was poppin' so hot that you could SENSE his cockiness.
How cocky? Cocky enough that the track after "Here We Come" ("Wit Yo Bad Self") was an interpolation of the "I Dream of Jeannie" theme. That's cocky.
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Timbaland Heaven is THE spot for Timbo info.
Obsessive as obsessive gets.
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The infamous NPR interview.
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MissyandTimbaland.com offers a TON of RealAudio songs along with some EXCESSIVELY cool news:

"Timbaland is set to produce at least 3 tracks on Utada Hikaru's upcoming Lp slated to be released this fall. Utada will be performing on the soon to be released UNITY album which will be produced for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. The song is titled, "By Your Side," and features Timbaland and Kiley Dean. The album will be released in Japan on July 7th, and internationally on July 12th, 2004."

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10. A. R. Rahman - "Spiderman"

Mason: this sucks. is this fantomas? i'm sorry, i just don't get it (and obviously there is something to get).

Brian: What a gas. Not icky. Mike Patton + Timbaland x Tamil = AR Rahman. I'll never think of spiders the same way again.

Tuwa: Not feeling the first part of this at all--it sounds sad for some reason--though it gets good later. This could work as the theme to the Bollywood Spider-Man, if they ever made one and chose to do the Gwen Stacy storyline (yes, it's a tragedy). (It's possible, I guess...) Indian music is something I don't know much about, but the Lagaan tracks you posted rocked so I'm past due looking into it.

Rahman is the composer (and likely instrumentalist) on this track. Longtime readers will recognize Rahman as the genius behind Lagaan; the more Broadway knowledgable among you will know him as the man behind Bombay Dreams; the Bolly savvy will know him as the supermegastar he is.
I think this cut is daring, bizarre and fun; online reviews suggest it's the standout song from the soundtrack album.


I can't find a copy of the "New" soundtrack that has this track on it (can anybody help?), but India Plaza is offering a pretty sweet deal on a Rahman greatest hits collection.
Couldn't tell you how dependable their shipping is, tho'. Caveat Emptor.
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The Times of India's lukewarm review of "New".
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An exhaustive AR Rahman bio and discography are available at this fansite.
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Here's the official website of New. Hyper!

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spiffy

Alright, so after seeing a brief talk with O-Dub, I've made a few VERY minor changes regarding layout to make this goshdarn thing more readable. I have to tell you that web design is NOT my thing but I'm certainly able to recognize that a SERIOUS reworking of this puppy is warranted.

Any fans of the Hut who would like to take a crack at rebuilding this website will be rewarded with a permanent link, some music and a lot of gratitude. I'm dead serious and sort of desperate but horribly broke. I might buy you dinner.
Any takers? Inquire within, please.
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I avoided Kingdom of Loathing for as long as I could, but I am now completely hooked. You know how sometimes when you're watching a really lame film, you hope against hope that maybe there's something really good about to happen that's going to make you realize that what you thought was "lame" is really "RAD" and you just didn't understand what was going on yet? Well, that's what the first two days of playing KoL are like. Avoid online spoiler sites; just get started and figure things out on your own as best you can. The constant depth and surprise make this one of my favorite games since Dungeon Siege... and it's free!

Sign up now, then send all your meat and items of appreciation to forksclovetofu... and watch out for that warwilf!
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Along with that Reuters story that's been spread all over the web (versions, pirated and otherwise, have shown up at zeropaid, USA Today and CNN:Money), The Hut has also cracked the popular press via Blender magazine.

Blender's August issue contains the obligatory "Hot 100" List, tastemakers and such. You know the drill. Imagine my surprise to discover:

"#88 - AUDIOBLOGS: They're just like regular Weblogs, except they also include MP3s - new ones every day, often including rare or not-yet-released songs. Fluxblog, Soul Sides and Tofu Hut are three of the best, curated by crate-digging fanatics."

So there you are.
According to Blender, I'm hotter than Franz Ferdinand [100] and (oh the irony!) Nellie McKay [91]; though still not as hot as William Hung [76], Pimp Cups [31] or jail [25].
Go figure.
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Man oh mighty, have I been a busy cat!

For starters, I'm part of the Square Table over at NYLPM. Tom Ewing has taken to sending out a new pop single once every few days for review and then posting the reviews at his site. I'm having a ball so far and am always excited to find something new in the post. Yay Google! Yay Tom! Drop by and check it out!

Also, if you look to your right you'll see a list of new reggae musicblogs to choose from. Make sure to look them over; there's some AMAZING stuff in there.

I also have a few other projects in the embryonic state. More on them as they develop.

bonus glisten

Fortyone is a seriously brilliant nutjob; a dj talent who does all his work with nothing more than a pair of speakers, a simple mix program and a microphone. He boldly samples where no man has sampled before and the end result bears more comparison to jazz than scratch culture. A typical Fortyone track requires patience and focus and will generally reward you with two giggles, a headbobbin' beat and deep respect for the arduous work that goes into every mega-edited second.

Just to make things more wacky, Fortyone GIVES HIS MUSIC AWAY. God help us, he creates for the sheer joy of creating and sharing the things that he creates! Doesn't he know that we're in a recession?

Here's a few tracks off Fortyone's Smaller Portions album to get you started.

1. Fortyone - "Just Crazy"
2. Fortyone - "Plunderphonics"
3. Fortyone - "Just Say I'm a Horse"

You can download Fortyone's Different Mayonnaise EP at Comfort Stand Records and then email him at the email he lists on the previous clicky for more. Or just email him and tell him how cool he is. I'm gonna do that right now!