Category: musical things!

these things sound nice!

Imagine Dragons: “Radioactive” on SNL

Screen Shot 2014-02-08 at 12.29.54 PMI haven’t watch Saturday Night Live in many years, but recently I found a song called “Radioactive” by a group named “Imagine Dragons”, and stumbling around YouTube I found that they performed the song with a rapper named Kendrick Lamar on SNL just a few days ago. This is a powerful song, and the live rendition they gave on SNL is one of the most energetic of performances I’ve seen of any band. I don’t really like rap, but Lamar’s soliloquy definitely boosted the energy of the rest of the performers, and the audience was fully engaged, as you can tell by the applause at the end.

I’ll have to listen to more of their music, to get a feel for what else they’ve done, and I also want to find the lyrics, but at least this is a good song to get the heart racing and adrenalin pumping.

Addendum: According to an entry in “Songfacts”, the lead singer “struggled most of his life with depression and ADD and anxiety issues. He explained to AbsolutePunk that he penned this song ‘coming out of a pretty serious spell of depression and having a new awakening and a real vigor for life.’ He added: ‘That’s the general thing where that song came from. There’s more specifics to it, but that’s the basic, general idea.'”

Enjoy!

Blue Man Group and Taiko drums – great together!

So, I wandered around Youtube again, as is my wont, and found a really neat collaboration between two of my favorite things, Blue Man Group and Japanese taiko drummers. I think the group is called “Kodo”, but the caption says “Blue Man Group meets Wadaiko”, so I’m not sure. I do know the name of the song is one of BMG’s titles, “Mandelgroove”. This performance is full of awesome percussion, including the largest taiko drums I’ve seen (although there are probably even larger ones), plus it’s got the signature Blue Man Group humor as well as their excellent coordination and peculiar instruments. I would love to have seen this live, but even on a Youtube video it still has the energy and the power of the performance. BMG is an acquired taste for some, but no one can deny their creativity and their ability to make strange and quirky music (and the instruments to play it!). Of course people that know me and come to this site know I’m all about quirkiness!

So, for this video, if you have good bass speakers, crank them up, sit back and enjoy some good good drumming!

Back to the blogs! Russian flash-mob! New job!

So, it’s been an eventful couple of weeks, so eventful that I had to actually spend the time living them, instead of blogging about them! Between searching for a new job, interviews, traveling to see family for Christmas, and fighting the lingering snot-virus that took up residence in my sinuses, I really haven’t much of a chance to write up anything.

Now, though, the holiday travel is over, I’ve accepted an offer to work (at last!), I’ve recovered from the annoying cold, and I have some free time until the new job starts, so I’ll be getting back into the swing of blogging things!

First up, I stumbled across this video from 2012 of a flash mob in Russia performing “Putting on the Ritz”! It’s really nice to see at least some Russians having a great time, it’s a refreshing change from the old Cold War Soviet days when all the pictures you would see from the USSR would be dour, grayish, bland things, with the occasional “official State Culture” entertainments. One of the commenters on the YouTube video was pretty funny, saying that it sounded like the singers were singing “Putin oguretz”, which is “Putin is a cucumber.” In the old days that person would have been “disappeared” but now he just joins in the sea of snark that is the YouTube comment section!

At any rate, here is the flash mob, enjoy!

“Welcome to Tokyo” Olympics promotional video by “World Order”

There’s a musical group in Japan called “World Order“, started by a former kick-boxer and now choreographer and composer (why have just one career?) named Genki Sudou. The group has made several music videos, and their signature style is to dress in expensive business suits and march in robotic unison through crowded streets in Tokyo, followed by pop and lock dancing to music composed by Sudou. They’ve been featured in ads for some companies in Japan, as well as performing in different places around the world.

Since Tokyo won the rights to the 2020 Summer Olympics, “World Order” made a “Welcome to Tokyo” video, where they perform their song and dance in various famous (and not so famous) places in Tokyo, such as Akihabara, Asakusa, Ginza, Roppongi, and Tokyo Tower. It was neat seeing this, because I’ve been to most of the places they perform in this video, which makes me wish I had been there when they were recording this! Seeing familiar places also makes me want to go back again, although with my current employment situation that’s not going to be possible for a few more years.

At any rate, here is “World Order” performing their song “World Order” in Tokyo.

Enjoy!

Power tools dubstep…

One of my favorite Youtube artists is Joe Penna, the “Mystery Guitar Man“. I’ve posted about him before, he’s a master at taking small video segments and literally “playing” them as notes in pieces of music. He’s also experimented with stop-motion animation, odd mechanical contrivances for making music, recreating old technology, and other unusual things. He’s worked solo and collaborated with other musicians and Youtubers to create short musical video pieces. His enthusiasm about the technology of video and music is undeniable, and he always looks like he’s having tremendous fun creating his works.

This video he made has been out for a little while, but I recently re-discovered it while roaming Youtube. I kind of like some music called “dubstep”, but not in any great way (some performers make pieces that go on for a good part of an hour, and that’s way too long for me). This short clip is kind of an interesting take on the genre. Using only video clips containing the sight and sound from various tools he used while building a sign for the sponsor of this video, he manages to make a very presentable “dubstep” piece.

Enjoy!

Ikimonogakari, a nice J-Rock band

Doing my usual late-night Youtube surfing, I came across several videos featuring a Japanese light-rock band named “Ikimonogakari.” The first song I heard was a live version of one of their songs, “Kaze ga fuite iru” (風が吹いている, “Wind is Blowing”), which opened with the lead singer spotlighted, and the members of the band joining in, before going into a full stage performance. The style of music was very light rock, kind of late-60’s or early 70’s pop, but the lead singer, Kiyoe Yoshioka, really brought a lot of energy and heart into the song. Her voice and range was so impressive I had to look for more performances by them.

This one that I found is a perfect example song for the band, which is really only the three, Yoshiki Mizuno on bass and Hotaka Yamashita on guitar and harmonica. THe song is “Sakura”, their first single, and even though this version goes into full orchestral mode, the beginning with only the three in the spotlight really shows their ability, especially Yoshioka-san’s impressive vocal range. I’ll be keeping an eye out for their CDs whenever I can!

楽しんで、ください！
(Enjoy!)


Update:

Thank you Sony Entertainment, for blocking this video from being shown in the US. (tch)

Dick Dale and Stevie Ray Vaughan – “Pipeline”

This is guitar work of the highest order! One of my favorite “surf” songs, performed by Dick Dale and Stevie Ray Vaughan for the 1987 movie “Back to the Beach”. Two guitar greats, one fantastic song, and a high-energy performance that won them a Grammy nomination. This video show them performing the song, with lots of scenes from the movie interspersed.

They just don’t make them like this anymore, although Dick Dale is apparently still touring in his 70’s!

Enjoy!

“Old Hippy 3” – Bellamy Brothers

I wasn’t old enough to be a hippy, by a few years, and I likely wouldn’t have been one if I had been old enough, but I can definitely feel the weight of the years since then. The Bellamy Brothers first recorded “Old Hippy” back in the early 80’s, then did a sequel in the 90’s, and this looks to be the third. The first one gave the point of view of a 35 year old, then a 45 year old, and now a 55 year old. Interestingly enough, the opening verse is spot on, “He turns 55 next Sunday” and I turn 55 two Sundays after this post. Most of the other parts of the “old hippy”‘s life, I can’t relate to, never having been married I have no grandkids, but my brother and sister do. I do relate to the feeling of trying to be closer to God, and being more reflective in seeking the quiet times. There are parts of the song that are universal, too, to anyone stuck in middle age.

The man who made this video recorded a ride on his motorcycle one Easter day, and it’s a great accompaniment to the song, as he looks to be about my age.

At any rate, enjoy this, even if you have to turn the volume up more than you used to!