Tracks of my cheers

It's non-negotiable in my house that Damon Albarn is a Total Fucking Genius because his talent for tunes is a rare thing in pop. It doesn't get better than Tender, Albarn's gospel stylee bittersweet love song.



That makes me feel good to hear, I can tell you. In a different vein, but equally uplifting is She will only bring you happiness by Mclusky. Mclusky could easily have been dismissed as a novelty band, had they ever come to notice. Sadly, they didn't, but they have a devoted cult following. Or had, I should say, since they are now defunct.



Curiously, listening to Tender made me think of Jigsaw falling into place by Radiohead. Dunno why. It's about the only decent track on In rainbows. I'm not a huge fan of Radiohead but they have their moments. OK computer was a decent album if you don't mind a band five miles up their arses. Obviously, I have no problem with people up their own butts, since I live a country mile up my own most of the time. I think I like Jigsaw because it sounds like the inside of my head and Thom Yorke hits that place where you almost cannot stand to hear him almost not able to stand it.



I've recently been listening to a lot of Shpongle. I don't know how exactly you'd describe this. I've seen it called Goa trance, but it's much more laidback than that suggests. It's incredibly well produced psychedelic ambient techno, I suppose. It also makes me glad that P. is offline because she would rip me a new one when she realised I was bullshitting when I said flutes can never feature in good music. The proof that they can is right here: Behind closed eyelids.



You ever have a song that you love but you forget how much you love it, so you don't hear it for ages? Rez is one of those. It's one of Underworld's finest moments; it has none of the quasi lad rock than they sometimes indulge in (particularly on their most recent, not very good album), and is pure belting techno. Which is no bad thing IYAM.

Happy memories for me too, but let's not go there; those days are gone now, right?

Those familiar with Underworld's music will recognise that in this video Rez segues into Cowgirl, which is also excellent. The video is vaaaiiirrry nice, particularly if you watch it at 4.20 iykwim.



Sadly, there's no video for What is real by Cabaret Voltaire, another rediscovered beauty, but I found Yashar (several videos of it, actually). This is the John Robie remix. I think I prefer the original on 2x45, but this is the one I first heard. I daresay the Cabs also have a cult following but I've only ever met one person who had even heard of them, let alone liked them. Their career spanned proto-industrial, featuring cutup and awesomely paranoid lyrics, proto-techno, IDM before it was ever called that and whiteboy funk that doesn't suck, if that's not a contradiction in terms.



Now, I know no one has read all the way to the end, so we're safe to put this complete fucking gem here. There are good mashups and bad and this is brilliant. It's Kylie, obv., the single most fuckable Aussie ever, and Can't get Blue Monday out of my head. It's about 15 times better than you think it's going to be, if you can believe that, and you think it's going to be brilliant, because both New Order and the Kylester are ace.



Now you know that once New Order get a mention, I'm going to be wanting to listen to some. They remain far and away my favourite band. Here's the legendary live appearance on Top of the Pops. If I didn't have a million reasons to love them, their insistence on not miming would have done it. They murder it, obv., but it was still one of those wonderful moments when you realise that some people in the biz really do love it like you do.



I couldn't find the original. Youtube has the '88 version but it's an object lesson in how to spoil a song completely.

Right, that's it. Last song is from the soundtrack to the brilliant Slumdog Millionaire, which is a movie in the old style, and is, did I mention, brilliant. Check out O Saya too; it belts.



Actually, fuck it, since we had a Blue Monday mashup and MIA, we should have MIA's Blue Monday mashup, right? Crap video but what can you do?

If you don't go mental for the Pixies drop, well, what can be done with you, hey? Peace now.

posted by Dr Zen @ 7:22 pm