Doe Paoro - "Born Whole"

Doe Paoro is a New York based singer/songwriter with a difference. The difference is that while traveling through the Himalayas, she trained in Lhamo, a Tibetan folk opera tradition, at the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts. The style of singing in the tradition that dates back to the 14th century, is described as being vocally acrobatic. Her vocal training was life changing for her.... and as you will hear on "Born Whole," we are the better for it. "Born Whole" was inspired by a woman she met in Cambodia who had lost her husband during the Khmer Rouge period, while pregnant. She told her about her constant search for another husband. This made her think about the mythical idea that we must have that partner for our life to be complete. Like we are born whole but become half when we lose that attachment. It's a beautiful piano led indie-pop/soul song - oh, her vocals are pretty good as well.

Napoleon XIV - "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" and much, much more....

Napoleon XIV's one hit wonder "They're coming to take me away, ha-haaa!" was released in 1966. It was a big hit but lost its momentum after many stations in the USA banned it because of the mental health theme. Basically, the song is about a guy losing his marbles after his dog disappears. It was quite clever at the time because of the new technology that allowed the change of pitch, as if being sped up, but without any change to the tempo - a technique that became quite common and annoying... chipmunks come to mind. While it is quite basic, and is nothing other than novelty, it still holds up quite well today.



The B-Side was the song played backwards. There a no satanic messages but it's freaky all the same. I'm tempted to playlist this on Bitter FM.
"!AAAH-AH ،YAWA ƎM ƎʞAT OT ʚИIMOƆ ƎЯ'YƎHT"


"They're coming to take me away, ha-haaa!" actually had an answer song (I love answer songs) released the same year - it was from, who else? but Josephine XV. The song "I'm Happy They Took You Away, Ha-Haaa!" was from her perspective and used much the same song structure. One comment on Youtube about this song was "I think they took the wrong person away" and I can't disagree with that.
Josephine XV - "I'm Happy They Took You Away, Ha-Haaa!"


But wait there is more!
The Emperor (aka. Bob Hudson) released "I'm Normal" in the same year, still. It was more an imitation or parody than a cover version.
The Emperor - "I'm Normal"

Three Phone Calls

Jerky Boys - "Auto Mechanic"
We will start this phone call trilogy with The Jerky Boys. The prank calls from these guys were regularly played on bFM and we couldn't get enough of the Frank Rizzo character. It led to bad impersonations at the pub with even worse New York accents.



Bob Newhart - "Defusing A Bomb"
Bob Newhart's stand-up comedy routines were predominantly one sided phone conversations. His deadpan delivery was key to his success in a style of comedy that he made his own.



Fred Dagg - "The Phone Call"
During the 70's John Clarke's Fred Dagg character was a local hero. The stereotypical Kiwi farmer allowed us, including stereotypical farmers, to laugh at ourselves and our culture.

David Lynch - "Star Dream Girl"

David Lynch is better known as a film director, but his films usually have a strong musical component to them - from increasing the impact of dark, intense and disturbing visual scenes, to musical performances from either cast members or from artists in a dingy darkly lit bar. His most successful collaboration was with Angelo Badalamenti for the Twin Peaks TV series. David Lynch has just released his second solo album 'The Big Dream' and while it is miles away from 'Twin Peaks,' it is still captivating. Like his movies, there is no predictable direction or conclusion. The first single "Star Dream Girl" is a powerful gothic blues gem.

Suede - "Indian Strings"

"Indian Strings" comes from Suede's 1999 album 'Head Music.' Brett Anderson may be singing about heartbreak, but with the sweeping strings and wonderful psychedelic indie-pop soundtrack, our empathy is easily replaced with self-centred enjoyment.
Post brit-pop glory!

Lee Hazlewood - "Some Velvet Morning" - Phaedra & Grandpa

Lee Hazlewood's final album 'Cake or Death' was released after his diagnosis of renal cancer. It was a fitting farewell. He even included friends and family on a couple of tracks. One was his granddaughter Phaedra, who thought "Some Velvet Morning" was written about her. Something like this would normally come across as self indulgent and tacky, but not when it is Lee Hazlewood. Priceless.



If that whet your appetite - here is the original

Eleanor Friedberger - "Stare at the Sun"

Eleanor Friedberger released her second solo album 'Personal Record' last month and it is worthy of all the praise. Her original band 'The Fiery Furnaces' (a duo with her brother Matthew) broke up or went on hiatus a few years ago and she has reinvented herself as a solo artist with much more consistent songwriting. The Fiery Furnaces were great at times but were also sometimes either self-indulgent or intentionally challenging. 'Personal Record' is strong throughout. "Stare at the Sun" is catchy, hypnotic and upbeat - an ideal indie rock single and perfect for radio. The album is very much a personal record, the themes and lyrics are certainly ambiguous, but also quite revealing at times.

Josh Rouse - "Julie (Come Out of the Rain)"

Josh Rouse released his ninth album 'The Happiness Waltz' earlier this year. As you can hear on "Julie (Come Out of the Rain)" he has now perfected that catchy pop-folk sound he started with the essential 'Under Cold Blue Stars' album from 2002.

Dawn Penn - "You Don't Love Me (No no no)"

Jamaican reggae artist Dawn Penn first released "You Don't Love Me (No no no)" in 1967 and re-recorded it again at the same studio (the famous Studio One recording studio and label) more than 25 years later and released it as a single in 1994. History repeating.

Sagat - "Fuk Dat"

I remember this song being on high rotation on 95bFM in Auckland after its release in the early 90's. I've only just found out that there was a clean version called "Funk Dat" - thankfully student radio allowed us to hear it like it was meant to be heard. The beats are a bit basic (more like something I do on Garageband quite easily) but in 1993 it sounded fantastic and the creation of loop based music wasn't as easy as it is now.... the iMac was still about 5 years away.
Here is another verse, but from the 'glass half full' perspective. "Why is it? every time I go and buy a coffee in this town - when I finally get it - it's perfect - Fuk Dat... is great."



Fine Print... thank you for excellent coffee - Storehouse (Chemex), Belmondo, French Cafe, Sierra, Replete and BP to name a few.

Morrissey - "Irish Blood, English Heart"

"Irish Blood, English Heart" has to be the greatest song of Morrissey's Post-Smiths solo career, or at least from the latter half of his solo career. "Irish Blood, English Heart" comes from his back-to-form 'We Are the Quarry' album released in 2004. It's not just Morrissey in top form here - the band is on fire. Fantastic!!

Peter Sellers - "A Hard Day's Night"

After hearing about Peter Sellers' interpretations of Beatles songs at a dinner party a couple of years ago, I finally got around to checking them out and "A Hard Day's Night" has been added to Bitter FM playlists.

Lorde - Tennis Court

From a British perspective the last week has been quite good. The British and Irish Lions won the rugby series in Australia, Chris Froome is leading the Tour de France, the cricketers have won most sessions so far in the ashes test - although the Aussie fightback was unbelievable and gave them a slight edge, but there is some thrilling cricket to come in this test. Oh, and Andy Murray won his second major with his Wimbledon title.... speaking of tennis, Lorde has a new single out called "Tennis Court", fuck I admit - this is such a crap segue because Lorde isn't even British. But I will keep calm and carry on... Lorde had a number one hit here with "Royals" from her EP 'The Love Club' and she has now followed that up with her "Tennis Court" single. At only 16 years old and still at school, who knows what the future holds for her, but if she can learn a lot from this experience, she may have a fruitful career. She confirmed one thing for us recently (probably not that surprising). That even having a number 1 single and EP for weeks doesn't necessarily transfer to a lot of funds. In a recent interview she stated that her bank balance was a single figure and that her eftpos card was declined when buying a subway sandwich. Sign of the digital age or bad management? I don't know, but if you run into her at some stage, shout her a sub.



Royals

Lee Hazlewood - "I'm Glad I Never..."

Lee Hazlewood released one of the greatest break-up albums when 'Requiem for an Almost Lady' came out in 1971. But unlike most of the well known break-up albums, this one is full of wit. "I'm Glad I Never..." explains a doomed relationship perfectly... and all in just over one minute.

The Chills - "Molten Gold"

First we had a unexpected new single and album from David Bowie and then more recently a new single from The Pixies and now out of nowhere comes a new single from The Chills. I don't know what the next surprise will be (a double album from The Smiths might be asking too much) but I'm enjoying these comebacks. For Chills fans - this one is Gold.

Blood Ceremony "Goodbye Gemini"

Canadian band Blood Ceremony are taking the flute back to metal fans a few decades after another band somehow got away with doing the same thing. Blood Ceremony are not another Jethro Tull, however, the comparisons will be inevitable to all that stumble upon them. Apart from the flute being the instrument of choice for vocalist Alia O'Brien, the band is otherwise a stomping metal outfit that would've been as much at home in the 70's... or even a couple of centuries ago in relation to their lyrics. The themes are witches, black magic and rituals etc - Hammer Horror style.

Serge Gainsbourg - "Requiem pour un con"

Trip hop. We know all about trip hop. It originated in the early 90's. The founding bands and artists were Massive Attack, Tricky and Portishead. It originated in Bristol. That's it in a nutshell.....

Well maybe not. It just may have originated in 1968 in Paris.

Small Black - "No Stranger"

New York quartet 'Small Black' have a new single "No Stranger" from their second album 'Limits of Desire' and it is a dreamy synth-pop song that may find them a wider audience. With the lyrics "Take me, I can be whoever you want/You’re no stranger to me" the theme is obvious and the video drives the theme home perfectly... in a slightly unexpected way.

Pixies - "Bagboy"

I noticed a headline the other day 'Kim Deal quits The Pixies' and I thought WTF, they broke up years ago. Turns out they have reformed. And luckily for us, before Kim Deal left they recorded at least one song, we know that much because it has just been released as a single and given away on their website. Although, I should say that I can't confirm Kim Deal was present for the recording of this, but it sure sounds like her on backing vocals. It's true that Frank Black has been quite active since the Pixies first broke up and a lot of it has been great - but I didn't expect him to ever sound so much like the Pixies again, or as we remembered them. Maybe I should give credit to the other members because they really have pulled it off with the single "Bagboy". There won't be another 'Doolittle' but this is pretty fucking good all the same. Where is my mind?!!

Emika - "Centuries"

Emika is an English musician of Czech origin. Her second album 'Dva' has just been released on Ninja Tune. She has moved further into darkwave territory and away from her dubstep beginnings. "Centuries" is certainly dark, with a video to match, but the pulsating beat is hypnotic and even a bit uplifting. But don't be fooled - this is no shiny happy feel-good number. In fact, it takes you into the depth of sadness towards the end, which is even reminiscent of Henryk Gorecki's 'Symphony No. 3' featuring Dawn Upshaw. Emika may have joined the likes of Grimes with this album.

Tina Turner - "The Acid Queen"

The Who's Tommy is possibly the greatest rock movie of all time. Tina Turner's performance as The Acid Queen is one of many startling performances by the star studded cast - including members of The Who themselves. Memories of Ann-Margaret rolling around in baked beans and chocolate spewing out of her TV, Elton John performing "Pinball Wizard" while wearing platform boots a few feet high and Keith Moon as the drunken dodgy Uncle, all come to mind. But it's Tina Turner's Acid Queen that was the show stealer ... but only just. I think it must be time to revisit the Tommy movie.

French for Rabbits - "Goat"

French for Rabbits have followed up their sublime debut EP 'Claimed By the Sea' with a new single that will take your breath away. The single "Goat" is an intimate confession, rather than an apology, about being as stubborn as a goat. The cello adds to an atmosphere already haunted and melancholic. Sensational!
Don't be stubborn enough to let this one pass you by.



Download it at this address http://frenchforrabbits.bandcamp.com/