Muppets & Porno!

Did you guys know that Mah Nà Mah Nà (the lyrics of which contain no actual words, just a lot of nonsensical words resembling scat singing) was written by Piero Umiliani and debuted as part of the soundtrack for the 1968 Italian softcore pornography movie "Svezia Inferno e Paradiso" (Sweden, Heaven and Hell). This pseudo-documentary about wild sexual activity and other behavior in Sweden featured Mah Nà Mah Nà playing in the background of a sauna scene!

The song became more widely known from its renditions by The Muppets. On November 30, 1969, Mahna Mahna was performed on the The Ed Sullivan Show by a Muppet also known as Mahna Mahna (crazy bearded guy in the dark glasses), and his backup singers the Snowths (pink creatures with crazy drag queen eyelashes).

Enjoy the bizarre comparison below:
PLEASE BE PATIENT... IT TAKES FOREVER TO LOAD!

Bat for Lashes

Fur & Gold features an extensive use of piano on most of its 12 tracks, but not in an “I am an artiste, bow down before my introspective profundity” Tori-Amos-sorta-way.

In additional to all the tickling ivories, there are a lot of other unique sounds on this album… on THE WIZARD I could swear they’re using a Maxwell house coffee can filled with dried lima beans to get that sound. And the much-lauded track PRESCILLA definitely uses the hand jive and a harpsichord to keep the beat.

Oh, and did I fail to mention Natasha Khan’s incredible voice?

This half-Pakistani, half-English songstress has been pegged as the British response to the U.S. freak-folk movement (comprised of artists like Joanna Newsom, Devendra Banhart, and Cocorosie). But let me reassure you that Bat for Lashes is much more accessible to the general public that the American fringe artists to whom she’s been compared.

The debut album is a hauntingly beautiful, richly orchestrated work that, for all its experimentation, is an album that I think we can all agree is AWESOME.

In this video for WHAT'S A GIRL TO DO,
keep an eye out for some masked sweetness at the .39 mark!

New sound, new look, same glorious Goldfrapp

The first single from Allison Goldfrapp's fourth studio effort, A&E, moves from electronic to ambient. The album drops February 26th, 2008.



Goldfrapp gets down with earth in this video by director Dougal Wilson.

Ion displacement won't work in the basement

Vampire Weekend is a quartet of Ivy League grads from upper Manhattan that make no attempt to disguise their polo-shirt wearing origins (in the photo to the right please notice the telltale embroidered alligator on Koenig's cardigan).

All in all, this album is preppy, poppy, fun... and, in spite of references to French architecture, English grammar and upscale Italian fashion in their lyrics, the thinking man's indie rock this is most definitely not!

Taken at face value this band is awesome and this CD is a great first effort, but (*there's always a but!*) if you start to read up on the band... you end up wanting to smash them in the face with a 2x4... preferably one studded with rusty nails and broken shards of glass.

Let me share with you this pompous quote from the lead singer : "I found this really cool record from Madagascar that I started getting into, and when we started writing songs together as a band, afro-pop became something that we wanted to strive for." Good grief, a record? Seriously? Can you imagine this iZod wearing twat sitting on the front lawn of his summer retreat in the Hamptons grooving out to some contemporary African music on a vintage phonograph -- gimme a break!

Computer Camp Love

She's not a tramp. Her name is Judy.



Here's a little something to tide you over until Tom posts his review of the Devo-esque DataRock, a Norwegian trio of electro rockers - Fredrik Saroea, Ketil Mosnes and Kevin O'Brien - who who hail from Bergen, the same home town as pop-princess Annie, who makes an appearance on the final track.

Apples & Anthrax

This weekend I happened to be outside when the mailman arrived, asking for me by name. He handed me a sealed express mail envelope - no sender's name, no return address - which contained a used Apple Store Gift Card, with a remaining balance of $0.

This is the perfect way to drive someone bat shit crazy.

Though I lust after an Apple computer, the only connection I have to Steve Job's cash cow is through iTunes - the repository for my 10,000+ song collection. The first thing I did was check my iTunes account and see if there had been any untoward activity, like a download of the complete repertoire of Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine, but everything looked normal. Same with my other credit cards. Same with my PayPal. Same with my bank account.

Lauren thinks it's some weird mailing mistake, but the sender KNEW MY NAME, KNEW MY ADDRESS and, most importantly, KNEW THIS MYSTERY WOULD CONSUME AND EVENTUALLY, INEVITABLY DESTROY ME! I can't stop thinking about it, worrying about it and most annoyingly for my friends and family, talking about it - I mean, why would a complete stranger from Atlanta, Georgia spend $16.25 to next day air me an empty Apple Store Gift Card, complete with the little Apple Store Gift Card Case? Can you picture them, racing into the post office and cycling through the mailing options. First class mail, too slow. Priority mail, too slow. No, they gotta get this precious cargo - this used, empty Apple Gift Store Card - to me as quickly as the United State Postal Service will allow, damn the cost! It's totally crazy, and that crazy is catching.

What does it mean?

What do they want?

Do they know what I did last summer? Dun, Dun, Dunnn!

Break out the conspiracy theories people - We gotta turn this beat around because I am just one more sleepless night away from heading to Atlanta, with murder in my heart and crazy in my brain!