Johnny Tsunami - Music Blog

Aaah, life of the free! Last week was the first week of my independent life as freelance developer. So I have all the time in the world, but forgot to post my song of the week anyway. Great start!

Luckily I got the chance to catch up on my second home, which I hadn't visited in over 5 months, so it felt like a coming home. To make the best of this, I decided to go there every evening starting Friday with The Grande Mothers Re-Invented, a Mothers revival band with 3 of the original members fronted by Napoleon Murphy Brock. I used to be a big Zappa fan and this was pretty cool, but I kinda expected to much of it. A few years back I saw Zappa plays Zappa (also with Napoleon Murphy Brock) which was a big show with guest performances by Terry Bozzio and Steve Vai and pretty much expected the same thing on a smaller scale. Of course this was nothing like that, but what I do saw where a bunch of musicians thoroughly enjoying themselves, which was eventually also pretty awesome.

The real treat came on Saturday though. I was tending bar at a concert of the Hackensaw Boys, an old time Bluegrass band from the US of A. You probably can't get more redneck than this, but dammit they know how to create a party. The high octane intensity and of their uplifting songs had the whole crowd dancing in no time at all. I knew their records, but I'm thankful I saw them do their magic live. Check out a rendition of their song Nashville on an American Radio show:

And on sunday an old Doe Maar (you probably have to be dutch and 40 to know them) band member decided to perform translated Bob Dylan songs. It was boring as hell, but it made the awesome party of the Hackensaw Boys the day before even better.

This week's song is inspired by a upcoming turning point in my life, in which I chose freedom over my current job. After this weekend, I'm unemployed free to do what I want! Thinking of a song which accompanies this choice, I stumbled upon a classic video.

Not only is the song is from an album aptly titled Freedom of Choice, but the song is also one of the first videos ever featured on MTV when it started in 1981, which is kinda ironic to me. Also, the video is about guys with funny hats whipping the clothes of women, which isn't ironic and doesn't actually make sense, but is still awesome. The intrinsic 80's vibe the song has is also nicely balanced by the 70's musicality still lingering in the songwriting. All in all, the song is a timeless classic of artistic coolness.

Unfortunately I can't find an embedable version of the song, so I'm adding the song and video played backwards. If you're willing to stop thinking about it, it also serves as something ironic or metaphorical or something.

Devo - Whip it

This song of the week is in honor of an artist I loved a long time ago, but then forgot for a while and now love again. Drop the Lime used to be a Breakcore DJ, but at some point I haven't traced yet, he completely went 180^o in style. He now produces and DJs dirty electro tunes, most of which I think are a bit bland. I even mentioned him as an example in my review of Breakcore.

Until I came across the song below. It's a mix of Rockabilly and Electro and it fits perfectly, all the way down to the Harmonica drop. The guy even has the look to pull off the style associated with it. It's like his whole career was just one big preparation to him inventing the a new style I've decided to call Electrobilly.

Drop the Lime - Hot as Hell

With the 30-Day Song Challenge now a whole week behind us, it's time for the second song of the week (and the first official one). Coincidentally this is also the first week I'm back in the Netherlands after living in Berlin for over 9 months during last year. Being back in at my hometown with my old friends again is really comforting, but I know I will really start to miss the city of the endless party when the weekend kicks in.

This week's song is about my feelings for Berlin. It's not a new song or anything, but there is one iconic sample in this song which makes this the ultimate reminder of the city that sometimes sleeps. I'm of course talking about the Paul Kalkbrenner song Train, taken from the soundtrack to Berlin Calling. If you've ever taken the S-Bahn in Berlin, you will instantly know which sample I mean. Also, the video explains it.

If you don't know who Paul Kalkbrenner is you've been living under a Techno stone for the past 3 years. After the movie in which he portraits ... well, himself basically, he was instantly shot to stardom. I must admit I've never seen the movie though and I think he is kind of boring as DJ, but the woooweewooo in this song makes it all worth it.