free your ears

Sorry people...

2006-06-18T20:11:00.000Z

But the downloads from this site are down, and won't be up for ages. Don't bother trying until I give you the heads up. Sorry about that! And a new post is coming I promise.

At some stage.

Orphan boy...

2006-06-01T22:48:00.000Z

Right then, it's been a while since I've posted, but I've been busy and haven't had great internet access... Well, yeah, it's no excuse but whatever. Good news in that ripway have doubled my bandwidth limit, so I haven't had any trouble recently. Anyway, the band today isn't strictly foreign BUT some people consider Lincolnshire another country and frankly I want to give these guys a shout for two reasons:

1. They come from Grimsby, and I went to school there for a while and, as much as it pains me to say this, I've grown to like the place and support the football team.
2. They're actually pretty good and have signed an album deal.

Who are these elusive musicians then? Orphan Boy, the band that sounds strangely similar to The Libertines and takes influences from all over the place. They've got some funny songs, some that are more serious in an Arctic Monkeys sort of way (British social scene... Binges). One their site they say they sound like "Nancy Sinatra being raped by the Gang Of Four". Um, yeah, sure guys, calm down! The first of their songs which I'm going to present is "The Great British Sitcom". This is where you're supposed to feel a warmth rising inside you as you realise that you are going to listen to a band which has been frightfully ignored for quite long and yet has the talent and ability to do very well indeed (as do many others out there). Of course they're not The new Beetles but they certainly are nice enough to pass the time. Ah yes, the song. Now, the beginning is worryingly similar to Fallout Boy's "Dance" with the drums starting the beat but never fear, for the fashionably rough-sounding guitar soon kicks in and immediately any doubt about the origins of this song soon fades away: oh yes, this is from "the North", that foreign land to so many Southerners. I particularly like the bass, and there are moments where I think to myself "hoi! This is The Fall!" but that can only be a good thing.

~~Orphan Boy - The Great British Sitcom~~

The band's first gig was actually with Clash-man Mick Jones, and the band's name actually comes from one of the members (Smiffy) playing on his lonesome, therefore being the Orphan Boy. Somewhere along the line it stuck though, and that was that. Anyway, "Got Plenty" is the song you'll hear immediately if you go on their site, which means I can assume that this is their "hit". To be honest, it's not the best tune in the world, especially the almost forced guitar solos. And yet, there is a nice feel to it nonetheless. Then again, this is a live recording and I can't promise that this'd sound anything like it on a CD. The 300 records they're selling have pretty-much sold out I believe, even though it hasn't even been released yet. They are minor legends in Grimsby so it doesn't surprise me one bit!

~~Orphan Boy - Got Plenty~~

Ask a member of the band what the songs are all about, and you're answer will be "Lovers and loudmouths, hooligans and humanoids, digital boys and digital girls, creepy old men lurking around in graveyards and tracksuit wearing tricksters flogging vouchers at the pawn-shop. Stuff like that. Not just characters, but stories, emotions, opinions, rants and roams off the beaten track, where the lyrics aren't signposted and the words run pretty and untame. Keep it cryptic and you'll do fine. But never rhyme baby with maybe." What the Hell does that mean? Well, apart from the words of wisdom at the end (which Oasis really should follow)he's telling us that Orphan Boy is an honest band that doesn't go around singing about stuff it has never experienced or at least seen. I'm sure you could think of numerous other bands that do for me though...

And now comes "Birthday", one of their slower songs, just to show that they can do something else as well. I love this song, it's got a very nice ballad-feel to it and coming from a band like theirs, that's quite rare. Add to that the fact that he plays the harmonica in it, and you've just got an ace song. Not much else to say about that really, this is going into my "all-time classics" folder (well, it would if I had one). It's your birthday todaaaaaaay

~~Orphan Boy - Birthday~~

Have a good'un and please, if they ever break through, buy their album. You won't be disappointed!

'Tis a perfect day!

2006-05-18T15:55:00.000Z

Wow. Never thought I'd do it, never thought it'd arrive, but I made it. I am now, officially, finished with school for ever. So, with such an occasion, comes celebratory music right? Surely, for such an event, happy music is required. And this, of course, is what I give you. I'm in an exceptionally good mood today (this has nothing to do with going down the pub straight after my exam at 11am and irritating our headmaster intensely by going to lunch with a slightly edited school uniform, we understand each other), so what I'll start with is "The Saints". They're from Oz, as are in fact the other band showcased today, "Jet". Everybody knows Jet really, but The Saints aren't quite as famous yet, if they ever will be.

EDIT: If the downloads don't work, give it an hour for Ripway to calm down and come back.

The Saints were around in the late seventies to very late eighties - their only two singles coming in 1989 (according to Wiki anyway). What's the song then? Well, if you've ever heard of The Saints you'll know that "This perfect Day" is a bloody good track. Whilst that never made into the tracks, it somehow made its way into my collection, so it can't be completely unknown, since as much as I'd like to pretend that I know bands no one else does that simply isn't the case. The track then. Well, basically, it seems to sum up what punk around their time was about: not particularly catchy, dirty and a fairly simply beat. The voice is in a typically teenage vein of a kid pretending to be older and tougher than he actually is (much like many other bands out there), but for some reason it seems adequate for today. Well, I say "some reason" when I mean rebellion, standing up to authority and generally misbehaving. Not that that's what we're doing, quite the contrary - haven't done anything particularly awful in the eyes of the school law. Anyway, The Saints come from Brisbane and actually formed in 1972, but things only really kicked off once they moved to Britain in 1977. Apparently though, they never quite broke into the market and in fact EMI had so little trust in them that they didn't make enough copies of their single to sell, and never did, meaning they never entered the charts until 1989. Actually, I say that, but that's complete crap, as I've just noticed. In fact, the only track that made it quite well was what I'm about the give to you, "This Perfect Day", which got to number 34 in the charts in 1977. So I'm sorry, royally screwed up that one. Oops. Anyway, what am I blabbering on about, have a good listen:

~~The Saints - This Perfect Day~~

Now then, Jet, they've made it big already. With their debut album in 2003, they did pretty damned well: 2.5 million copies sold around the world already. They come from Melbourne, and sound like they would have been absolutely awesome a small-time band. Loud, active, and it gets your ass moving. There's nothing to do but howl along when it's playing in a pub or club. In fact, the video for "Cold Hard Bitch" (which you're not getting) is filmed in a pub. It is literally just that: music for alcohol, although also enjoyable without the stuff obviously. They aren't particularly special with their singles, but this is their best: "Are You Gonna Be My Girl". You're probably going to hate me for getting this earworm back into your brain, but let's face the truth, eh? It's ace, and you shouldn't have to care about the fact that it was in almost every advert of 2003/04. The beat and guitar riffs are, like I said, designed to get you moving. And my oh my, can they do it. And one day, I'll remember what it is it reminds me of so freightfully (any clues from the 10 regular readers?), and tell you, and you'll go "aaaah, of course!" Anyway, enjoy, I can't really be bothered to write more right now and I'm sure most people just come for the tracks anyway :(

~~Jet - Are You Gonna Be My Girl~~

And, as Jeff Buckley must have said when he finished school: Halleluja.

When I was a child... I was a Jedi?

2006-05-14T22:11:00.000Z

Don't fret, this is not a tribute to Star Wars-inspired music. As such. This is actually a part of one of my favourite ever songs: "Song For a Jedi", by Dionysos. This is just quite simply a brilliant song. Dionysos generally make very good music, but unfortunately I only own the one track, although of course radioblog has it all available on streaming. "So who in God's name are Dionysos?" I hear you ask. Well, according to my bestest friend in France, they are the best live band in France right now. Oh. That good eh? This song is really old, and I never imagined them being anything more than a one hit wonder really. I knew they had other stuff, but the best Live band? Wow. Must fit that into my plans one day! For those who aren't in the know (and I certainly wasn't), Dionysos is actually the Greek god of wine and excess.

So what's this song I keep raving on about then? All you know is that it's about a bleedin' Jedi. Well, let's look at the first couple of lines shall we (in English):

When I was child
I was a Jedi
So nervous
That when it rained
Often I'd electrocute myself
And I met a girl in fairy form
So nervous
That when she scratched (my back)
My skin turned itself
Into a pyrography

Ho-hum. I'm sure an analysis of his brain would yield interesting results, for this is just brilliant. Of course, that's just the first couple of lines, so it goes on a bit more about electrocution when they kiss, for example. Either way, it was a superbly popular tune when it first came out, and what we like to call an earworm. It will not leave, no matter what you do, which whilst at times infuriating is mostly OK, since it keeps the other tosh around out as well. As an example of how popular it was, the single went gold, which means it sold somewhere between 250,000 and 500,000 copies. That's a lot of CDs - as you might know.

Anyway, I shan't keep you waiting much longer for this utter beaut:

~~Dionysos - Song For A Jedi~~

I thought long and hard about what track to put up next. Truth is, I'm running out of good songs. But then, I struck gold whilst looking through my collection: a song by Etienne Daho. Ah, good old Etienne Daho. He's been around for too long, he has. 1981 is when he essentially started his music career, but he's still around now! Either way, this song was released in 2003, and although not massively popular it still made the charts and everything. The song, called "If", is not in English, but is actually just as if (no pun intended) someone here called a song "ive" - most words of the song is basically are list of words finishing with "if", all of them loosely related in some way or other, e.g. "too massive/abusive" and so on. I'm impressed with how many he found to be honest. I'm not sure who he sings with, which is irritating because I know I knew this once (UPDATE: Turns out it's Charlotte Gainsbourg, don't know anything else she did).

What I like about this song is that every single line rhymes. Sometimes they use words that don't end with "If" - but only in the middle of a line. Somehow, you almost get hypnotised by the tune and I can't see why no one else seems to have tried to do this. It's really great to relax to, as it doesn't veer too far away from the basic beat, apart from the odd little electronic sound.

~~Etienne Daho - If~~

I know there seems to be an overload of French music right now, but as soon as Brazavil gets less busy he wants to introduce you to some superb stuff from further out - Serbia, amongst other places, so watch this space!

I've only put on two songs today because I don't want my bandwidth to be put under too much strain again, I'll see how it works with these two. Maybe if it calms down a bit OR I find a better, cheaper place there'll be more again.

Bandwidth overload!

2006-05-11T22:24:00.000Z

I would have made a post containing MP3s today had it not been for my bandwidth being busted last night by some nutter - I've got to wait till it calms down 24 hours so that MP3s aren't locked anymore. Encouraging as it is, I'm not willing to pay more either :p

See yous all tomorrow!

Come to Lambe! (this is not a tourism blog)

2006-05-05T16:29:00.000Z

Right then. It's been over a week, sorry about that, but I am in the middle of IB exams, and although I'm past the worst part now there's still plenty to come. Today we're going to look at another Sziget favourite, Matmatah, another French rock group, but with a bit of a twist: they come from Bretagne, and so - at least their first album - has heavy Celtic music influences, and some more "Middle-Eastern" - if there is such a thing. I'm going to go over their older stuff, simply because I prefer it. Now, they even sing in English sometimes! Oh dear. Anyway this is about 8 years old, and "Emma", the first track of the week, was a massive hit. Careful - it can get stuck in your head, but it's a good song nonetheless. The song is (predictably) about a woman called Emma. Thing is, I'm not sure who she is. Every line describes something she is. What we do know, for example, is that she's on the TV. We know she's 10 times prettier than Tara, that his girlfriend doesn't like her, that she gave him emasculating kicks, that she's 100 times prettier than Tara, that's fit, that she's cold like the the tiles on her bathroom floor, and after more than one listen it can get pretty tedious, but then he changes the tone a bit and tells her she's rotten, which livens it all up a bit. The guitar plays a strong role every now and then, but instrumentally this song isn't particularly special.

~~Matmatah - Emma~~

Ahhhh, now then. The title will make sense now. The next song is "Lambe En Dro", which I would guess means "Come to Lambe" or something in the local Celtic tongue. The song's lyrics are basically telling the listener that, for different reasons each time, they should come to Lambe. Whether it's because you've failed your exams (one ticket please) or that you've got extra Mary Jane to share, you should come. That little Celtic-y tune that sets this song apart from anything else is something I could basically listen to all day, and the refrain they repeat never gets really boring. Woo to Matmatah then! Another huge hit that one, and their most famous tune along with Emma. 2 Albums later and people still only recognise them because of those songs. Seems a shame really. The fact is, they've strayed too far away from their original tone and are just another rock band now.

~~Matmatah - Lambe En Dro~~

"La Fille du Chat Noir", or "The Black Cat's Daughter", shows a completely different side of Matmatah, a much slower one but to which you wouldn't resist jumping about to during a concert - as was the case in the Wan2 tent at the Sziget. There's not much to say really, it's just a decent track from their album (La Ouache) which has to be in there.

~~Matmatah - La Fille Du Chat Noir~~

Lastly, here is "La Piquette", a great song to howl along to. Lost my voice for a while after that one in their little concert tent, I'll tell ya. I always liked the drummer of Matmatah, who has been changed, and he gets a good couple of beats going in this song alone which I'd love to be able to play. He likes to use beats which remind me a lot of a parade ground, and this is something that wouldn't work with many bands. This is one where it does, so enjoy....

~~Matmatah - La Piquette~~

That's all again for a while, but I'm sure you'll be occupied for a little while with these. Oh and before I forget, check out what's topping the French charts.... clicky

The fabulous destiny of Amelie

2006-04-27T16:36:00.000Z

Today is going to be a bit different, not only because I'm posting a completely different style of music, but also because the guy I'm going to talk about is already relatively famous anyway. I actually remembered I had this watching the English version of the apprentice yesterday, as it was on when Syed got fired (about bleeding time too). But the fact is, if anyone is sitting at work right now and feels like putting on some music but without disturbing their co-workers, this is the kind of music you need. Yann Tiersen makes music everyone, and I mean absolutely everyone, can enjoy. He too was at the Sziget festival. Unfortunately, the organisers in their infinite wisdom put him on the theatre stage which is next to a hill. Meaning only about 500 people were expected to come. Oh, how we laughed as thousands packed in to watch him (if you look carefully at the picture you can see people trying to watch him from the side). I myself only saw him by walking around the stage and looking through a gap in the side for while. There are now two things that make him famous: writing Original Soundtracks to films (first "le Fabuleux destin d'Amelie Poulin", or "Amelie" for non-French speakers, and Goodbye Lenin) and now working with Shannon Wright. Haven't gotten round to listening to it yet, but I'm sure radioblog or pandora have it available in streaming, or you could of course just buy it.

Either way what I am going to be concentrating on today are two albums: "l'absente", which was one of his first pushes away from rock, and the soundtrack to Amelie. Like I said before, this is music everyone can have on. Some love it, others tolerate it, but noone I have met outright hates it. There are some beautiful piano pieces, achordeon and orchestral pieces in there. This is not only due to the fact that he knows how to play the aforementioned instruments and how to conduct an orchestra, but because of the actual music he writes. As we know, the best musician in the world will sound awful if his writing is pathetic. Not so at all with Tiersen, who seems to go back to Roma, Gypsy and old French music for inspiration. He rarely sings himself, but prefers to let others do it for him. For this track, "La Parade", I believe it is Lisa Germano singing. Good combination then - nice husky voice with him playing the piano in the background, and his band in the background, doing wierd stuff. Hooray! She worked with him on another track on the album, but I don't have he bandwidth to host it here.

~~Yann Tiersen & Lisa Germano - La Parade~~

The next track is the most famous of all - the soundtrack to the film, "la valse d'Amelie". One of the most relaxing tunes I know I think - other than the "Orchestral Version", which I'll give you too. It is, for lack of a better word, absolute genius, and if you haven't heard this, download it now! It'll get you out of a bad mood, it's a very uplifting song. My alarm is set as playing the orchestral version of this, I wake up to this. And I'm still not sick of the triangle I hear at the beginning of every morning (unlike The (International) Noise Conspiracy, my alarm's tune for a while, I don't shudder at the sound of it). It's simply beautiful. There's not much to rival it, being perfectly honest.

~~Yann Tiersen - La Valse d'Amelie~~
~~Yann Tiersen - La Valse d'Amelie (orchestral version)~~

"Comptine d'un autre ete: l'apres midi". Oh, I could listen to this all day, its almost a shame it's so short. The reasoning behind it, I presume, is that you can have too much of a good thing. As usual for the Amelie soundtrack, no singing, but it doesn't need any. It's one of my favourite tunes of all time, and was the track in the episode of "The Apprentice" yesterday. That program is the only TV I watch now, and since it's only on once a week I don't get too distracted from more important things. Anyway, I thought I'd finish on a good note, and this does the job damned well.

~~Yann Tiersen - Comptine D'un Autre Ete: L'Apres-midi~~

I seriously encourage you all the buy at least the soundtrack to the film, absolutely magnificent. A work of complete genius, and will hopefully be remembered for a long time. I'd love to hear this in 10 years somewhere, and so will you, I'd have thought.

That's all for today, tune in sometime in the near future for more!

Nuzeeland!

2006-04-23T21:27:00.000Z

Well, I mean, New Zealand's music is usually heartily ignored, apart from our old friends of Crowded House a long time ago, so it can still fit into the Blog's description. To be honest, I have no clue at all of what New Zealand's music scene looks like now. But I do have a double-disc of New Zealand's classic tunes on. And so, I shall now introduce you to wonders such as the magnificent Blerta. Now, they were active in the 1970s, so my claim that it is Hugh Grant talking s actually ridiculous, and I apoligise to those who believed me. I only thought this because I was told this by the person who gave me the CD, and only Wikipedia were kind enough to correct me. Anyway, I like it. If you're wondering, Blerta stands for Bruno Lawrence Electric Revelation and Traveling Apparition - Bruno Lawrence being the most prominent member of the group. I'm still not actually sure why I like this song. It's certainly not my usual style, so I can only suppose that it's got something to do with the optimistic, hippy-like lyrics. Oh yeah.

~~Blerta - Dance All Around The World~~

Darcy Clay. I don't think you'll know him. This was his only real hit, and that was in New Zealand and no further. One interesting fact: he killed himself in 2002 before an anti-suicide gig. "Jesus I Was Evil" was recorded on a 4-track recorder in his bedroom, or at least all the instruments were, and I think it's easy to tell, but it's great. Not necessarily a classic, but give it a chance and after a while you'll like it. I started playing this repeatedly when I first heard it, and I think the Wikipedia description of "country-fried punk rock" seems just about right. I haven't any other of his stuff, but this seems like a good start. Oh, and by the way, he opened for Blur when they went to New Zealand.

~~Darcy Clay - Jesus I Was Evil~~

Fur Patrol, orginially from NZ, now live in Australia, but by Jesus the lead singer's got a good voice. Nice song to relax to, this was released some time in the year 2000, when the band still had all its 4 members. Which it doesn't anymore since 2004, yet they carry on regardless, which is nice since they decided not to replace the guy who left as a sign that he could come back whenever he wished. Oooo goody. The song is called Lydia, and is a call for attention more than anything, as some other girl seduces her man. I think. I really like that soft guitar that pops in everynow and again.

~~Fur Patrol~~

Now how can I mention New Zealand without mentioning Split Enz? They even made it to the UK and America in the late 70s/early 80s. Not that they were that successful, as their quirky approach wasn't much appreciated by the critics at the time, something of a shame - although they did get to a top ten spot. In some of the more remote parts of the US, they were even met with a hostile reaction to their music. Anyway, I've struggled to choose an apt song to represent them. The band had some serious trouble with members leaving, but somehow managed to pull through regardless. Anyway, I've decided that "Six Months In A Leaky Boat" is the best song to show their style. Typical of the time really, what set them apart was their live performance, which although I wasn't born to see was something of an originality, with them dressing up etc... And making it more interesting to watch than, say, a folk music artist who just stands on the stage and strums gently on his guitar.

~~Split Enz - Six Months In A Leaky Boat~~

That's all folks!

UPDATE: It turns out Split Enz are doing a reunion tour thing in Australia in June... I guess that means we won't be seeing them in Europe then.

Black Desire

2006-04-12T10:33:00.000Z

Ok then, after over a week of non-postingness for various reasons, I'm back! Hooray! For my triumphant return, I introduce to you aguably the best French rock band, ever. No Joke, these guys have consistantly battered anything trying to emulate them. Although Bertrand Cantat (lead singer) is in prison for manslaughter, the other band members are still around and contractually still have to release an album, which they're thinking of doing when Cantat has finished his sentence. I was unable to find the track they are working on now, which is for a French film called "Enferme dehors", not actually out yet.

Cantat is now in prison in France, although he committed the manslaughter (and was convicted) in Lithuania. He killed his then girlfriend under the influence of cocaine during an argument.

Anyway, he certainly helped get the French rock scene going, and he famously worked with the Tetes Raides. So what's all the fuss about? Well, he's got the usual anti-globalisation, rebel approach everyone loves so much. He famously said to the director of his record label: "You and I might live on the same planet, but we are from different worlds". He might not have invented it, but it stuck and he was seen as a legend ever since. One of his most famous songs on the subject is "L'Homme Presse", in which he describes the hectic lifestyle as a star, and how others (especially the media) are constantly trying to milk as much money as they can out of him. Simple yet effective, I like it. It's raw, and it doesn't try to be clever when it doesn't need to be. Great stuff.

~~Noir Desir - L'Homme Presse~~

Noir Desir are famously anti-fascist and during the last elections refused to play in Alsace because it had the highest percentage of National Front voters. Typically, that's where I used to live, so no "Noir Dez" for me. The next song, "Un Jour en France", was written against fascism and whilst it obviously won't have had any influence on voting patterns, it is an attack on people's impression that everything is well in France. It is classic Noir Desir and therefore cannot be ignored, and although it isn't the best Noir Desir there is, it's very good nontheless.

~~Noir Desir - Un Jour En France~~

As well as being politically motivated, Noir Desir also write nice music to listen to where the lyrics aren't the most important thing. A couple of years ago they went all out and collaborated with Manu Chao, who some out there might have heard of as a classic French/Spanish/English language singer of catchy little numbers. "Le Vent Nous portera" (yes, there does seem to be a theme of wind taking things away - see Louise Attaque) was a massive hit in the charts as well as usual Noir Desir fans, and there isn't much to say apart from the fact that it is much calmer than the other tracks mentioned so far. There'll be more Manu Chao some other day, so if you like the gentle guitar strumming in the background, there's plenty more where that came from!

~~Noir Desir - Le Vent nous portera~~

Lastly, here comes "Des Armes". This song was written as a protest against firearms around the world and how they are used as a tool to kill (as they would be) people. Th lyrics talk about the people who own and love their weapons, and not about the manufacturers, and he goes into the way people derive pleasure from owning them.

~~Noir Desir - Des Armes~~

So that's all for today, but I'll become more regular in my approach soon, I promise! I've been a bit on the busy side lately!

Oh by the way, check out radioblog - type the name of pretty much any band in the world in there and you can listen to it streamed. It's great! And if you missed any artists you're interested in, they are there too.

A trip to Vietnam!

2006-03-30T19:49:00.000Z

Well, not literally, since really I'm talking about French Indochina, or as the French call it, Indochine. Oh, and it's really the name of the band, not where they come from. And they're French, and don't play oriental-sounding music, so if you came here expecting a Manchurian cover of Smells like Teen Spirit well, I'm sorry to disappoint. Actually, Indochine, despite having a logo which reminds me of a Ku Klux Klan burning crucifix (see above), has been around for years. Formed sometime in 1981 I believe, they for a long time competed with the likes of Noir Desir and Telephone as one of only few decent old French rock bands, since this is after Renault's (yes, that's his real name) prime. And anyway he didn't really do rock. Good God I digress, but the point is they are actually the only ones left really. I mean yeah, you get the newbies like Saez and Matmatah, and the fastfolky music the Tetes Raides make, but Noir Desir's lead singer famously killed some actress a couple of years ago in Cocaine-fuelled craziness, and Telephone just split up in 1986 after their last album...

And yet, Nicola and Stephane Sirkis carry on banging out those tunes until 1999, when Stephane died of Hepatitis. Nicola carried on without him ("Indochine vit, Stephane le voulait", or "indochine lives, Stephane wanted it to be so"), and has since become more of a success than ever - he has since sold millions of the three albums that followed. Does that say anything about his brother? I don't know, since some of the older classics were apparently written by him. It is worth noting also that during the early nineties they were pretty crap.

So what's all the fuss about then? I only have one album, so I can't talk much about the older tracks, Paradize having been released in 2002. But I do have the most famous track of all: "J'ai demande a la lune" (sorry missing accents - can't find how they work on Linux), which frankly was played to death on different radio channels, especially NRJ (which is a play on letters, like NRG would in english). It is about how someone asks the moon if his loved one still wants him. Sounds wierd, but it's a nice and slow song which you'll end up humming all day (or, when climbing up some mountain in the middle of the Lake District when it should probably be the last thing on your mind)

~~Indochine - J'ai demandé à la Lune~~

Unfortunately, the other tracks are in M4a format, which will usually only work with iTunes, or on another player if you've got the codecs.

This track is called Marilyn, and no one has ever really been sure if it's about Monroe or Manson, although it is most probably the latter, as it uses a guitar riff not unlike some used by Satan's son. Again, you might find yourself going "oooohooohooohooooooooooooo" randomly in the middle of the day, which can only be a good thing!

~~Indochine - Marilyn~~

"Le Grand Secret" was recorded in collaboration with Melissa Auf der Maur, whom I've never heard of before or since but has, to a German-speaker, a hilarious-sounding name (Melissa on the Wall - ok, not that funny). Another much calmer song, I like it because of its piano which acts as a good background sound. Don't worry you probably won't end up singing it though. Classic love song really.

~~Indochine - Le Grand Secret~~

Dunkerque. Now there's name for a track eh? Scene of the crushing-defeat-turned-into-heroic-victory-because-sailors-were-told-to-help-and-did in early WWII, it uses cool sounds in the background to make it sound about a million times better than it would without them. Never quite been able to figure out what the track is actually about, but it goes on about normal life kinda-things, saying that "the world is a pervert" as its opening line. As you would.

~~Indochine - Dunkerque~~

This is it for a while now - won't be able to post for about 4 or 5 days, but I promise I'll be back! I guess that's why I provided a whopping 4 tracks for you today - to keep you calm.

any queries, comments etc email morrybyte@gmail.com

End of the First week of FYE! Yay!

2006-03-29T15:58:00.000Z

So here we are: one entire week of Blog. I don't think I'll be posting every day, this system of 1 in 2 seems fine, with the occasional exception to the rule no?

I had a look at the official site, and RADIOHEAD are playing at the Sziget this year, along with Robert Plant! Hah, I can think of one or two people who'll want to change their opinions about that place!
Anyway, this week I thought I'd introduce you to Ska-P. Obviously dramatically different, since it is Ska punk which I saw at Sziget. They're very politically motivated Spaniards, calling for the legalisation of Cannabis and, during the Live, dressing up (see piccy) as "Tio Sam" (uncle sam), showing their bum and getting an entire crowd to show both its middle fingers and shout "Mr Bush: Fuck Off!". Great fun.

The first track is entitled Cannabis and people going utterly mental in scorching hot weather, and at the end of the week I was actually pretty sick of it because it was played every five seconds around the Island in the countless bars and nightclub/ish tents there are.

~~Ska-P - Cannabis~~

The second track is McDollar, a funny little song which, predictably, is a bit of an attack on the "American economic invasion", as they put it before they played it. Funny little tune, seems like a bit of a happy one, and is the track which is the closes to Ska there is really.

~~Ska-P - McDollar~~

Finally, here is "Planeta Eskoria", which despite my rudementary Spanish and the internet I can't find the sense of. No idea what it means, but hey, these things happen with the music I post here, and it's a much more aggressive song than all the others. Strangely, during one of those breaks where the guitar takes the lead, I get the impression it comes from Inspector Gadget. If you get what I mean, thank God, I'm not actually going insane!

What's that? Oh yeah the song: ~~Ska-P - Planeta Eskoria~~

Sadly, I found out a couple of weeks that they split up in late 2005 - to be fair, they had been around for ages though. So there you go, that was Ska-P, better Ska punk than Less Than Jake. Which is always good!

UPDATE: Eskoria comes from escoria, which means something along the lines of repugnant/disgusting. So, the name of the track means disgusting/repugnant planet. So there you go!

Young and stupid?

2006-03-27T23:01:00.000Z

A bit late, but I figured I'd still put it up today:

The first track is by an extremely successful (in France) artist called Damien Saez, who's been around for a couple of years now. I don't actually like very much of his stuff, but for some reason the live version of "Jeune et Con" is, well, good. He got English musicians to come over, according to the DVD on his second album, so strictly speaking this is only half allowed here. But that's good enough for me! Anyway, the song is essentially about the youth being considered young (obviously) and "con" - which basically is, if you haven't somehow learned all of the French ones, a naughty word for stupid. It works well, and I like it, but not on the album, which is strange.

~~Saez - Jeune Et Con~~

The other one is by the world-famous, CAPS-locked dEUS, also from Belgium, I figured if I mentioned them in the Ghinzu post I'd have to show you what all the fuss is about. Actually, almost certainly not about this post, because it isn't in their usual style, but for some reason I absolutely love it. Maybe it's the little fart sound he makes, or the drum beat in the background, or the howling, I can't quite put my finger on it (as it so tragically often is with these things). In English, but well worth the small download in my opinion. Don't be discouraged by this song if you don't like this song: they cover all sorts of musical styles, from Jazz to Pop right through to real wierdness - maybe for another time. Anyway, enjoy:

~~dEUS - Fell Off The Floor Man~~

See yas all, now up to 36! Woo!

Hungarians ahoy!

2006-03-25T17:21:00.000Z

21mb have been downloaded from here! Woohoo!

Anyway, today I've got something completely different. This summer I went to the Sziget festival. As well as having a complete wail of a time with one of my bestest friends over there, there were one or two bands (one week, 8 stages, full from 6 - at least midnight), some good, and some pretty awful to say the least, notably Korn - but maybe they aren't that good anyway.

Louise Attaque were there, so I guess I should have mentioned it before, but they were very good. Maybe it was the 5,000-strong French contingent making it more enjoyable to sing old classics, it was wierd. For Lea, everyone in the crowd was putting their arms around their neighbours. The fat bloke I was next to ended up being a bit of a nutter, but that's part of the fun. In fact, I'd say that's the fun. Two Hungarians we met on "Day 0" (you can start camping before the festival actually starts) suggested we go see Quimby and Kispál és a Borz, who are two relatively popular bands and were going to be playing. We figured we would, and they're actually quite good. I reckon the only criticism I've got is that Hungarians seem to have something about singing with huskey voices.

Anyway, I preferred Quimby, they seemed a bit more into their act, with Kispal's performance being far below what I would later hear on the album, although they did strike me as pretty darned good on the day as well.

~~Quimby - Halleluja~~ (no relation to the Jeff Buckley, Rufus Wainwright, Leonard Cohen song, or whoever it is who wrote that song. The amount of versions of it boggle the mind!)
~~Kispál és a Borz - ...Ilyesmi~~

See all 17 of you tomorrow, most probably!

Knife Mania!

2006-03-23T18:30:00.000Z

I won't be discouraged the lack of traffic, I promise! Anyway, I'm going to add three new tracksw to the tally today, both of them by a superb Belgian band called Ghinzu (after the knives). My initial reaction when I heard them was to think "Muse", but really they've got a style quite to their own. Either way, they got relatively famous both in France and Belgium, who are as some might know Muse-lovers anyway. They sing in English, and some of the lyrics of the album can be a bit kinky. I find them pretty impressive, and I'm reliably informed that they are fan-bloody-tastic live, which all made me wonder why they've barely broken into the mainstream in other countries such as Italy and Germany... I'm guessing there are quite a few bands making relatively similar music, but I still find them special. Also, their drummer was a part of dEUS in their early days (before their first EP), something I only just realised the other day - but according to some, this isn't much of an achievement because everyone in Belgium seems to have been in dEUS at some point or another. Oh.

I unfortunately have never been able to get my hands on their first album (it is out of circulation), but you can listen to the tracks from that one on ghinzu.com . It's good listening, but not as good as "Blow", which I find has a far more advanced blend of music.

The first song was their one and only hit, "Do You Read Me", featured on the CD of Rock Mag (french version of kerrang), and also one of my favourite tracks of all time. It's not your usual indie style, but still listenable by anyone's standards:

~~Ghinzu - Do You Read Me~~

Song number two, "Dragster Wave", is much slower in its build up and I find the piano's little solos magnificent. This was actually the first song that I heard of theirs, and it caught my attention instantly! Still haven't understood what it's actually bout though.

~~Ghinzu - Dragster Wave~~

Lastly, "Mine" reminds me of an older song but I can't quite put my finger on it - which is why I'm posting it, it might come to someone else, you never know!

~~Ghinzu - Mine~~

That is all for today I'm afraid, stay tuned for more though (all 2 of you who have downloaded my other two songs)

Right then, here we go!

2006-03-22T23:03:00.000Z

My first tracks aren't going to be anything obscure, and in fact I think I'll make the wierd kind of music a rarity, since people are close-minded enough about listening to French music.

I grew up to Louise Attaque, they were special in France because they became what is really an over-night success, and their amazingness spread by word of mouth. By the age of 10, we were jumping about at birthday bashes (called a "Boom" in French - always thought that was apt) to "Je t'emmene au vent". Try picturing kids dancing to this nowadays, especially in England or the States (I guess - never actually been). I can't see it happening to be honest, which is a shame really because it's really good, and really not that long ago. The song's lyrics aren't really that important anyway, and I find that most of Louise Attaque's lyrics are very clever in they always link in to each other.

~~Louise Attaque - Je T'emmene au vent~~

Which is where the next song comes in, much calmer and yet just as catchy - this is, along with the other one, the best stuff!

~~Louise Attaque - Lea~~

Hello there!

2006-03-22T22:37:00.000Z

I have decided, in my infinite wisdom, that there is a distinct lack of foreign music around. Now, whilst I may post a song in English if I particularly like it, I'm essentially going to be posting songs from other countries, which may be bloody famous over there, but not here even though it is perfectly acceptable!

It won't be a daily blog, but I'll update it as often as I can