Hi-Sci-Fi

Some of Bach’s compositions were written for Lituus, a horn instrument, similar to a trumpet. But the instrument itself has disappeared, with no surviving examples to be found. Until now, that is.

Lituus is two-and-a-half metres long, with a curved, bell-shaped end. And the recreation was done using a computer program by Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) that re-designed it based on description of appearance and sound found in literature. [ TelegraphUK]

This image was uploaded with the post Worth Listening To: Echo and the Bunnymen “Killing Moon”.

by Irma Arkus

Sweating it to the oldies and goodies with Echo and the Bunnymen, the band that started way, way, way back in 1978, in Liverpool. The punk-rock sweetness of the Echo and The Bunnymen, makes it a band that to this day sounds fresh, contemporary, and meaningful.

Listen to the Killing Moon here.

This image was uploaded with the post Classics: Eartha Kitt’s “I Want To Be Evil”.

This image was uploaded with the post Worth Listening To: Drive Like Jehu.

This image was uploaded with the post Worth Listening To: Blonde Redhead’s “23” .

This image was uploaded with the post The Harvey Girls: Our History Is Your Kitsch.

This image was uploaded with the post Malajube: Older, Wiser, Coller with “Labyrinthes”.

This image was uploaded with the post Malajube: Older, Wiser, Coller with “Labyrinthes”.

by Irma Arkus

Montreal’s Malajube captured my attention a few years back with their release Trompe L’Oeil (2006), a highly enjoyable, edgier indie pop-rock tunes, with significantly tastier titles like ‘Jus de Cannenberges,’ ‘Fille a Plumes’ and ‘Pate Filo.’ Filled with

Well, now Malajube is mightier than god, their image gracefully floating across pages of magazines, and everyone is tuning into their new album, Labyrinthes.

The Dears, Arcade Fire, and Wolf Parade are all familiar names that seem to be thrown in for good measure, but unncessarily so, as Labyrinthes deserves to be evaluated on its own merits.

And there are plenty of merits to Labyrinthes. The album is called by many “strange,” but features a healthy dose of prog-rock, sprinkled with heavier, moody funk added into its arraignment of sounds.

by Irma Arkus

This Halloween, we delight and celebrate, and amongst the movies that overjoy, horrify, and excite, we need to give you some tunes too: I present you with Eartha Kitt. Earthy, sexy, burleque-ish, “I Want To Be Evil.” Find out what a cat/catwoman with a voice of a callibri can do. Check out the video/song here.

From 1983, so it is one year off being an Arctic Monkeys reference, but nevertheless, so cool. ROBOT DANCERS!!!

That is right. Basshunter, who I think is German, lays down this slammin Eurobeat song dedicated to none other than an IRC BOT. Check out the video over on Youtube and get funky! He also does one about dotA which is also totally awesome.

Over at Pascal’s Toy Piano you can plunk away at an online toy piano and compose your own little ditty or do slamming electronic covers of new wave blasphemies. ROCK ON!

Siting piracy, Dependant Records of Germany has shut down its business, and submitted their entire catalog to The Pirate Bay. I am not sure what type of music this is, but I wonder how many people are going to try to buy the records from wherever they can get the remaining stock once they have downloaded it. Makes you wonder if this was a missed opportunity. For more details check out the link HERE

This image was uploaded with the post Sebastian Tellier’s New Album!.

Oh it is coming! With a title like Sexuality and producing work done by Guy-Manuel de Homem Christo of Daft Punk, you know it is going to rock. I have been personally frothing at the mouth to hear more of this thing since I heard the song “Sexual Sportswear” and luckily one my favourite music blogs Music For Robots have posted the song “Divine” and t is truly awesome. Aside from that, look at that cover! Unfortunately, the album is scheduled to only be released in Europe on Record Maker and no North American distro seems to exist. NOT EVEN A TORRENT SO FAR!! Hopefully both of these problems are resolved soon so I can hear more and so can you, oh faithful readers of this site and listeners of the show. In the meantime enjoy!

Sony issued a statement in court, in regards to fair use issues. According to its representatives, making “a copy”, any copy, of music that you yourself own in a form of a CD is also considered “stealing.” For example, ripping your CD to your mp3 portable player, or your computer is an act of theft. I guess someone has been smoking crack, and now we know who that someone is.

Just because a multi-million dollar industry is drowning in its stupidity, due to the fact that it hasn’t changed its business model since the 1060s, does not mean we’ll bend over backwards to be shafted by a whole lot of rich people who want to preserve their source of funds. No, I will not be happy about laws and regulations that are meant to preserve an empire of crusty old business moguls who have been taking advantage of musicians since the ol’ vinyl days. Britney Spears could have used a bit less ass-shaking routines, and a bit more school, and I for one will certainly not be working hard to have her illiterate ass make more millions of dollars, or for that matter, millions more for her record company.

It is certainly not the first time and industry underwent severe changes. My favorite example is the article on French button industry. Yes, those rich button makers had to relinquish their exclusive button club. Free the buttons!

by Irma Arkus

this week’s fave is Blonde Redheads’s “23” album. From fine “Dr. Strageluv” to “My Impure Hair” the vocals of Blonde Redhead’s Kazu Makino’s vocals are captivating, creamy and day-dreamy, and I’ve just decided I love them, loads.

Catch the tunes here.

by Irma Arkus

The Harvey Girls are rockin’ smokin’ band, with ooh-lah-lah girly sounds accompanied by prog-pop sounds, all lullying about. The best part, they are no greedy pigs, and their freewear album is available on site. The Harvey Girls are not only pretty, multi-talented sirens, but accept donations as well. So, check out their noises.

If you are looking for a little bit of indie dork and offbeat goodness instead of the usual Christmas Craps I have a couple of links for you. The first is three zip files of mix cds made by some people with a more offbeat sense of strangeness that goes into making a Holiday Mix CD. One of them even includes R2D2 doing We Wish You a Merry Christmas! Pure Gold!

I have been getting some requests to start posting tracklistings for the music that was used on the show as background and breaks. So I will hopefully start posting these. Here is from Nov 4th, which was last week’ show.

Tracklisting

Main Themes
1. The Rapture – Whoo! Yah Allright Uh Huh
2. Blog 27 – I Still Don’t Know Ya

Background #1
3. Aphex Twin – Untitled (Four Tet Remix)
4. Move D – Eastman
5. My Robot Friend – One More Try
6. Old School Freight Train – Kelly Watch the Stars
7. Radiohead – Snttbrain (Four Tet Remix)

Costumes by Lucas Arts… this is so cool…

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by Irma Arkus

Introducing gods of rock and my new fave rock/punk classic, Drive Like Jehu. Their 1991 self-titled album “Drive Like Jehu,” and the 1994’s “Yank Crime” represent some of the juicier examples of post-punk rock that was thriving in mid-90s only to be replaced by behemoth we know today as POP.

Drive Like Jehu sadly did not last longer than the two aformentioned albums, as they disbanded in 1995.

That being said, both of their productions are deliciously angry, with strictest, speediest headbanging tempo. Definitely worth listening to - for a taste check here.

Speaking of the Good Doctor, found this site today. It features Tom Baker, the fourth, and probably most well known doctor, singing hits like Wish You Were Here" and "How Soon is Now." In other words this is what happens when geeks get a hold of music software. I wonder what song to play on Friday’ show…

The Doctor Sings

Tom Baker Sings the hits!

Popsheep.com posted a funny little ditty by a band called the Hobbits, entitled "Middle Earth." So head on over and scroll down to Jan. 2, 2006’ posting and get down with your bad self.

Popsheep.com

baaaaaaaa

by Irma Arkus

Mix of Eastern European folk, jazz and Romani sounds with a good dance beats, gets you the DeVotchka, aka. girl in Russian.

Burlesque band following Dita von Teese, DeVotchka broke the mold in 2003 with Una Volta, but its following SuperMelodrama does not dissappoint either.

Check out DeVotchka here.

by Irma Arkus

The Block Party rocks, and it made us dance this week in the studio. They are multicultural mavens, who represent the hip the cool and the strangely sub/urban sounds of grown-up garage bands.

Listen up! The Block Party’s “Silent Alarm” is worth paying a listen to. And we highly encourage you to do so here.