Don’t Get Sentimental

Dear Dave,

Don’t get sentimental. Jokes aside, you make an interesting point. Given the music is so closely tied to image, style, fashion, and other media, I’m wondering where things will go in terms of those as well under the Carter Theory. Will we delve into fashion trends of the past? Will we be wearing 80’s garb AND singing along to our favorite 80s songs? Will movies and sitcoms fall back on older pop gems to supply their soundtracks? And given that, will we be making movies about the past? Maybe TV and movies could be a vehicle for new music. You know how many indie songs end up on soundtracks for movies and TV series, and in commercials. After all that’s how our dear friend Feist made it big. I will be curious to watch all of this unfold.

There is always a big thing though, be it a pop gem or not, someone gets the spotlight, and some record company makes a killing. While mass marketing may not be the same now as it was before, other things in the past just kind of blew up on their own, through independent circuits. Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” was a bit of a fluke in the sense that college radio started playing it and people latched onto it immediately. That’s the first example that comes to mind. But grunge was a huge success, an enormous movement that had us all angsty and flannel-clad. And you never hear people rocking out to Nirvana at bars. At least I don’t.

While I agree that there are songs that lend themselves to being mass marketed and constantly played at bars for people’s enjoyment, there are movements that propel themselves on their own and THEN the market capitalizes on them. Grunge, hip-hop, and all that jazz (badum bum). There are other ways for things to get big, and there will still be “shared-experience pop music,” it just might not be your grandmother’s shared pop music.

Until then we can continue listening to Bon Jovi masterpieces like this one:

Or who knows, maybe we’ll be stuck in a world full of awesome covers of classic 80’s songs like this one by Petra Haden:

And just for kicks, how about this cover by Finnish symphonic metal cover supergroup, Northern Kings:

Sincerely,

Marcelo

P.S. How sweet are metal covers?

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

The song “Blueprint²” is featured on Jay-Z’s 2002 album “The Blueprint²: The Gift & The Curse.” The beat on this song initially caught my attention because it’s very epic sounding and very familiar, although I couldn’t figure out where I knew it from.

Later, after doing some reading on the Jay-Z vs. Nas feud I realized that this song was chock full of punches towards Nas. Then after some further reading on “The Blueprint²: The Gift & The Curse” I found that the sample came from “The Ecstasy of Gold” by Ennio Morricone, from the score to “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.”

The way I became familiar with “The Ecstasy of Gold” is not through “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” because I have never seen it sadly enough, but because it is one of the songs on Metallica’s “S&M” album which was recorded live with the San Francisco Symphony. Apparently Metallica has been using it as their intro music for their concerts since 1983. I had no idea. Apparently the Ramones also used the song for the same purpose.

Ennio Morricone as you may or may not know is a very well known Italian Academy Award-winning composer who has done film soundtracks and scores for tons and tons of movies.

The use of this classic and epic piece as a sample in a hip-hop song is simply brilliant. The producer on the Jay-Z track is Charlemagne, who I have never heard of before, unless he is the historical figure Charlemagne King of the Franks. And I don’t think he is. Below is a studio version of “The Ecstasy of Gold” in youtube video form, the song “Blueprint²” by Jay-Z, and the live Metallica S&M version of “The Ecstasy of Gold”.

Jay-Z - Blueprint²

Metallica - The Ecstasy of Gold

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

So a few nights ago I rewatched the first two episodes of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia  Season 4 which debuted last Thursday on FX, and will be on Hulu “eight days after their initial TV broadcast.” That’s the next Friday for those of us who don’t have TV’s.

Anyways I’m not giving away much by saying that one of the episodes features the Ghostbusters theme. After hearing the theme and having it fresh in my memory, naturally I youtubed it, and I found this glorious piece of work by Ray Parker Jr.

One of the things you might notice right away is that the video is incredibly corny, and chock full of cameos. Just to name a few of them, Chevy Chase, John Candy, and Jeffrey Tambor a.k.a. George Bluth Sr. to most of us. And yes, Chevy Chase does in fact appear twice in the video.  Feel free to point out any others in the comments section.

The Ghostbusters theme lead me to my next youtube search, which is of course, Mistah F.A.B.’s classic, “Ghost Ride It.” “Da Yellow Bus Rydah” mayn.

This of course lead to great videos of people ghost riding.

First, the ghost riding grandma. The old dude is the man. I hope that when I’m an old man I can be at least half as cool/ridiculous, at most three times as cool/ridiculous. Otherwise that would be too much.

Next up, the cop that ghost rides her cop car. I think this is pretty badass. Especially since she cooks that fool.

So that’s my post. Enjoy.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

As you’ve seen throughout my feature, samples from existing musical compositions are often taken and reworked into a new song or beat. This is not always the case however, as any type of sound can be sampled, and serve as the basis for a song, or even an entire album.

Movies and music have an important relationship with each other, as music plays a crucial role in creating memorable scenes and providing ambiance in films, and movies influence music with themes and ideas, and often provide inspiration for songs.

It is no secret that the Wu-Tang Clan is heavily influenced by Kung fu, martial arts, and samurai films, even taking their name from the classic “Shaolin and Wu Tang.” The influence of these films on their style can be heard in numerous dialogue samples scattered throughout their group and solo albums, and has persisted throughout their careers.

"Liquid Swords"

GZA a.k.a. The Genius, one of the founding members of the Wu-Tang Clan, released his second solo album “Liquid Swords” in 1995. The album instantly became a hip-hop classic, and drew heavily on dialogue samples from the classic samurai film “Shogun Assassin.” The samples serve as a leitmotif for the album, with the dialogue playing an important role in creating a cohesive feel between songs. Truly a genius way to create and album, it helped solidify its place in hip-hop history.

“Shogun Assassin” is a classic in its own right, having influenced Tarantino’s “Kill Bill.” The movie is even featured in “Kill Bill Volume 2″ towards the end where the main character and her daughter watch part of it. I’ve watched “Shogun Assassin” several times now, and it’s definitely worth a watch.

The eerie synth soundtrack featured in “Shogun Assassin” also adds to the theme of “Liquid Swords,” allowing for very unique production work throughout the album. The following clip is one of the more memorable scenes in the movie, and also provides the opening to the legendary track “4th Chamber.”

The album opener to “Liquid Swords” which shares its name with the album title, features a sample from the opening monologue to the film, which contains the memorable line, “people said his brain was infected by devils.”

This line also made it’s way into Cage’s “Agent Orange,” which prominently features a sample from another classic movie. “Agent Orange” samples the title music from “A Clockwork Orange,” which is cleverly named “Title Music from A Clockwork Orange.” Cage also opens the song with his take on the opening monologue from “A Clockwork Orange” which can be seen below.

Below I have featured “4th Chamber” by the GZA featuring Ghostface, Killah Priest, and RZA, a remake of “4th Chamber” by Jin featuring Chan and LS, “Liquid Swords” by GZA, “Agent Orange” by Cage, and “Title Music from A Clockwork Orange” by Wendy Carlos. Also, check out the sweet fight scene from Shogun Assassin at the bottom. If you haven’t seen “Shogun Assassin” or “A Clockwork Orange” I highly recommended them. And all of these songs below are sick. Enjoy.

GZA - 4th Chamber

Jin - 4th Chamber

GZA - Liquid Swords

Cage - Agent Orange

Wendy Carlos - Title Music from A Clockwork Orange

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

So recently I started reading a book called “Mutants” by Armande Marie Leroi. It’s a really cool book about people born with what can be seen as extreme genetic mutations (conjoined twins, cyclops, etc.), and the myths and legends of monsters and demons that were built around them throughout history. The book goes about explaining these mutations in a very accessible and scientific way, and removing all of the stigma associated with what were once perceived as “monsters.” It really gives you an appreciation for all the things that had to go “right” for most of us to come out “normal.”

With the idea in mind that legends about monsters and other creatures may have a scientific explanation, and that most of these legends are just hype and exaggeration, I logically went to Wikipedia and started looking for more monsters. I soon found an article on cryptids, which are creatures whose existence has been suggested by legends and the like, but has not been scientifically proven. Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, the Jersey Devil, and others fall in this category. I soon started digging through the list of cryptids, and stumbled upon an article called “Bloop.”

Several times during the summer of 1997, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration detected an ultra-low frequency underwater sound off the Southwest coast of South America, using U.S. Navy equipment originally used for detecting Soviet submarines. The sound that was recorded matches the audio profile of a living creature, although for an animal to make that sound, it would have to be much larger than a Blue Whale, and there is no known animal that could have produced that sound. Here is the eerie underwater sound, in youtube form.

To date the source of the “Bloop” remains unknown, and has become a source of speculation. Many explanations involve giant squid, in the style of the Kraken most recently portayed in “Pirates of the Caribbean”. Others have suggested that the monster from “Cloverfield” may have been the source of the mysterious “Bloop.”

One of the more interesting theories is that the “Bloop” was made by the Cthulhu, of H.P. Lovecraft’s most famous story, “The Call of the Cthulhu.” The Cthulhu is an extraterrestrial being that can be found deep beneath the ocean in the city of R’lyeh. It is usually described as a human-like creature covered in scales, with an octopus or squid-like head, claws, and wings. The interesting part about this theory is the coincidence between where the “Bloop” came from, and where the city of R’lyeh is located. Check out this map.

So along with being utterly fascinated with the information I’ve just presented to you, you may be thinking, “but Marcelo, what does all this have to do with music, and why in heavens is it on your music blog?” Well young grasshopper, here is my coup de grace. I am about to complete the great trifecta (in slang terms meaning “a set of three”, not horse racing terms because I didn’t do it in order) that is “music, pop culture, and anything else that comes to mind.”

The “Bloop” is prominently featured in the Dntel song “Life is Full of Possibilities,” on the album of the same name. It’s really even more eerie to hear the sound put to music. Dntel does an excellent job of creating a really creepy and dark ambiance based around this mysterious sound.

Those of you who do not recognize Dntel by name may be more familiar with him as the producer for The Postal Service. In fact Ben Gibbard (vocalist for The Postal Service) and Dntel first worked together on the song “(This Is) The Dream of Evan and Chan” also on the album “Life is Full of Possibilities.”

I have also featured the Metallica song “The Call of the Ktulu” which is a variation on the title of Lovecraft’s aforementioned story, “The Call of the Cthulhu.” I just thought it was also appropriate for this post.

So there you have it. Underwater monsters, giant squid, extraterrestrials, science fiction/horror/fantasy writers, movie references, Dntel, and Metallica. Tune in tomorrow for my weekly feature “Saturday Morning Samples.”

Dntel - Life is Full of Possibilities

Metallica - The Call of the Ktulu

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!