Monday, April 25, 2005
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What a weekend! After two days of futzing about with my computer, during which The Evil Creature would erratically freeze up, reset or move with all the speed of a creeping ivy, I finally got the damn thing working again... not that I have any idea how or why. If there's anything quite as frustrating as trying to get an unruly computer back on its feet for six straight hours, I'd like to hear about it.
Once the system stopped being down, yo; I spent most of my bloggin' time beginning to revamp the blogroll; if you take a quick glance to your right, you'll see about a hundred or so NEW musicblogs and a freshly double-checked/weeded/address-corrected and ALPHABETIZED blogroll (in progress). This is step one in finally getting those links in better order and possibly onto their own page. Many of the newbies have appeared in detail on the page before and many more will get a more rigorous write up shortly. There's plenty of gold in those page so stay tuned and keep checking back as we progress and don't forget to look around at the new links!
(Incidentally, if you've sent me a link to your musicblog to hype and you STILL don't see it up on the page, it's likely been lost. Please re-send!)
Anyway, all that diagnostic silliness took so much time that I've not had a chance to put together a more wordy or complex post, so you guys get filler.
It's good filler, tho'! Enjoy!
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glisten: random
Mary Lou Williams - "Baby Man"
Williams is one of the very few musicians who could legitimately claim to have been with jazz from the very beginning; she began performing at the age of eight in 1918 and continued her professional career into the nineteen-eighties. Along the way, Williams played ragtime, free jazz and pretty much everything between.
This particular chill-out track is from a standards collection, reflecting Mary Lou's mellow side; it reminds me of late fifties Ahmad Jamal.
Buy "Free Spirits", by Williams' Trio (Mary Lou on Piano, Buster Williams on bass and Mickey Roker on percussion) from Amazon.
This is late era Williams, circa '75 (Mary Lou died some six years later); her gentle mastery of the instrument is readily apparent.
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Explore this comprehensive, well-designed and obsessively investigative site about Ms. Williams.
More information and music than you can shake a very large stick at.
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Read several interviews with Mary Lou.
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Read an interview with this piece's composer, John Stubblefield.
Stubblefield played with Williams throughout the seventies; many of his compositions are performed on the "Free Spirits" album.
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Listen to this NPR retrospective on Ms. Williams.
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Meet another Baby Man.
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Konami Kukeiha Club - "Wicked Child"
This track hails from the first 'Castlevania' soundtrack for the original Nintendo Entertainment System. Castlevania was manufactured by Konami; Konami's music composers for their games worked under the rubric of the Kukeiha Club. Konami Kukeiha Club was responsible for the music on the first two Castlevania games and that music is generally considered to be amongst the best composed for the NES.
Buy the third volume of "The Famicom 20th Anniversary Sound Track Collection" (containing the complete scores to Castlevania I, Gyruss I, Doctor Mario, Zanac and Mighty Bomb Jack) from CD Japan.
Quite a bit of filler, but the highs are VERY high.
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Visit Konami of America.
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Read this essay on the history of Castlevania music.
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Listen to this Overclocked Remix of "Wicked Child."
Hold up yer lighters!
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Read all about the extensive history of the Castlevania series.
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Watch dozens of Castlevania parodies.
Video game geeks make with teh funny.
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Kelis - "Get Along With You" (FakeID Remix)
FakeID has long been a favorite online DJ; his work is almost always an improvement on the original. In this case, he changes a good song into a truly great one.
Even though FakeID still has this song up and available for DL on his own site, I like it so much that I want to spotlight and host it myself.
I've been listening to this for weeks now; get a copy and catch the earworm.
Buy Kelis' "Kaleidoscope", containing the original Neptunes-produced version of this track, from Amazon.
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Visit DJ FakeID's official site.
Absolutely crawling with worthwhile downloads; I recommend the Fannypack, Madonna and NERD tracks unreservedly. Mufugga's AMAZING.
He's got the internet goin' nuts!
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Visit Kelis' official site.
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Watch the now-infamous "Milkshake" video.
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Listen to this audio interview with Kelis.
Sadly, she's not the most interesting girl in the room...
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spiffy
I've just started doing some writing for Stylus Magazine, reviewing the UK Top Ten Singles. If you don't get enough jibber-jabber out of me over here, feel free to traipse by there and check it out; read 'em here, here and this week's should be on the main page by the time you read this.
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Labels: music, personal silliness, stylus
