Studio Bonus – Saturday Night Shodan
Bonus Studio on what seems to be turning into J-Pop night. Sort of.
From The Weekly Constitutional –
If you are anything like me, you have more than once found yourself sitting alone in your room listening to Steely Dan cover bands while lamenting:
“If only a group of chinamen would form a group devoted to doing spot on covers (except for the accent) of the Steely Dan classics…”
Well friends, your wait is over… Coming at you from Japan, here’s Steely Shodan…
Rather surreal hearing him sing “the shine in your Japan, the sparkle in your China.”
Here’s their version of “Kid Charlemagne” –
Donald Fagen of Steely Dan hears them for the first time –
And here’s some balls-out awesome –
No flies on them.
The band is a near perfect replica with a slight Japanese twist, and the singer looks like a streets-of-Chiba pimp or one of the gangsters in Black Rain, making him perfect for the, uh, less than cheery lyrics that Walt and Don are notorious for. It’s like Steely Dan crossed with Blade Runner.
Saturday Night Studio – Vanilla Mood
I first discovered this band 5 or 6 years ago. Then forgot about them.
“Day By Day” with Yui on violin, Mariko on cello, Waka on flute, and Keiko on piano, although Emilee has apparently sat in for Waka at times.
It’s a catchy enough tune, kinda reminds me of the Corrs a little.
They did some more classical sounding pieces like this and this, and did a cover of Volare because apparently any non-rock band is required to play it, much like how federal law required all West Coast 70s bands to have Michael McDonald sing backup vocals on at least one track per album. Beatles covers work much the same way.
These pretty women* also included Roy Orbison in their cover catalog…
This one sounds like the intro to some late 60s/early 70s comedy-variety show –
And speaking of late 60s/early 70s American television –
* Hey, I don’t write the show, I just use what the program director gives me.
Rocktober Request Line
I’m the DJ, Nightsky
Hello Baton Rouge
Won’t you turn your radio down
Respect the seven second delay we use
Internet station NSR with jazz and conversation, here til the sun comes through the skylight. Call in with Rocktober song requests or to discuss why you’re for tougher legislation.
While we wait for your calls to come in, here’s a classic uplifting song about the Disc Jockey profession –
…. it seems someone let the manager into the DJ booth again. Let’s try that again….
Rocktober – 1st Friday
Friday Night, 12:30 pm EST. Rocktober’s Friday night Videos is back –
… and begins counting down to Halloween with a request from the DJ’s wife, Rob Zombie’s Dragula!
Bonus from that great american band –
Got a request? Drop it here.
Saturday Night Studio – Battle Of The Happy Cheery Theme Songs
NSR: “Got any ideas for a Saturday Night Studio post?”
Mrs. NSR: “How about some relentlessly cheerful anime openings?”
NSR: “…….”
NSR: “Sure, why not”?
Have some unrelenting upbeatedness!
Azumange Daioh
Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita
Eureka Seven Opening
One that I recall from when I was a kid (before they called it “anime”)…
Battle Of The Planets!
Equation For Failery
So I was reading this article* when a video ad popped up [“Mildly NSFW” warning deleted because it’s just too stupid to be sexy] –
#PlusIsEqual, it’s called. The mathematical contradiction that is it’s name tells you everything. It’s yet another attempt at social hrönir, trying to make made-up stuff real.
Mind you, these are not ugly women, and a few might even be somewhat attractive. But it’s in spite of their weight, not because their weight is the imaginary number they’re pretending it is. If we follow the non-Euclidean reasoning that Plus is Equal, wouldn’t Double Plus be DoubleGood? I don’t see Rosie O’Donnell’s geometric orders of magnitude in the ad.
Then there’s the obligatory yells of “Everyone deserves to be celebrated!” and “No one’s ignoring us anymore!” The first one is crap (“When everyone is celebrated, no one will be special!” or something like that), but I am willing to concede the second point. No one can ignore them now, although maybe not in the manner the makers of the video intended. Perhaps using a drum pattern similar to those used in movies when the elephant herd is stampeding was not the best choice.
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*My wife was watching an Azumanga Daioh episode called “Equation For Victory.” I walked by during the relentlessly cheerful theme music and recognized a character (Osaka, it turns out) from her endless appearances on the internet as a forum avatar and the like. My wife said Osaka was the poster image on a TV Tropes page called “Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant,” which links to many interesting and fascinating articles such as the charming and delicate teen love song mentioned at the top.
No Sleep
So I was going to finish my night by reading a couple comic strips and going to bed. Dilbert was reasonably amusing as usual, but then I made the mistake of going over to Pearls Before Swine….
Another night ruined…
Saturday Night Studio – Xylophoning It In
….because when one thinks of rock music, one immediately thinks of \m/ xylophone \m/ !
[If flashing or flickering lights affect you negatively, don’t click some of these videos]
Xylophone has a somewhat obscure history with popular music, but it’s been quite a number of songs, especially in the 80s. Tears for Fears used it to good effect in their song “Change” –
Dig those crazy dance moves during the bridge. So 80s.
The Thompson Twins were known for skilled percussion work by Alannah Currie, including some understated xylophone in “Hold Me Now” –
They had a string of hits in the mid-80s, then just sort of disappeared. Wonder whatever happened to them?*
Rumors on the street claim that Lisa Lisa & The Cult Jam snuck some xylophone into their hit song “Lost In Emotion,” but rock scientists have been unable to confirm this conclusively.
Bananarama dabbled with Xylophone in their song “Cruel Summer” –
Cops chasing the band to no avail, only to end up dancing in the streets with said band… a defining characteristic of 80s videos.
[Yes, yes, I know summer is pretty much over, and what month it is. Have some September with amusing xylophone and a gleefully abused puppet.]
Xylophone has made it into some more recent songs, such as the Pomplamoose song I cleverly snuck in above, as well as a relatively recent hit by Gotye [Warning: skinny dude who doesn’t like pants. but hey, it’s got Kimbra]. Specialists are still trying to figure out how to pronounce “Gotye” but many agree it has nothing to do with an exuberant affinity for goats.
At the end of the day, however, it appears that the all-time king hell middle-finger-to-the-world winner of rock xylophone is this classic –
Such nice, undisturbed fellows.
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According to this 2004 piece by Ace Of Spades HQ, Thompson Twinner Joe Leeway later developed an interest in politics and/or economics…
Saturday Night Studio – While My [Insert Instrument Here] Gently Weeps
One of the best-known songs by the Beatles is “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” written by George Harrison. It’s a rarity among Beatles songs in that an outsider, Eric Clapton, played lead guitar.
It’s incredibly famous, widely revered, held in high regard by the most respected and accomplished musicians and songwriters. Which is very nice, but I don’t really care. I’m pretty lukewarm about the song.
However, it’s also been covered a number of times, and this is where it gets interesting. Most Beatles covers are adequate at best and pathetic at worst. Consider the song “Tomorrow Never Knows” – how does one make an insane acid trip like that boring? Yet many have tried, with Beatle-envying wannabes Oasis taking their best shot at murdering it.
WMGGW has its share of lame covers, I’m sure, but once you start switching out the guitar for other instruments, say, the ukulele, things start to happen…
Who woulda thought a uke could rip like that?
Then we come to that ultimate 80s musical instrument, the keytar (mixed with visuals from MS Paint Adventures, for no reason discernible to me, but kinda fun anyway) –
Everybody else go home. Especially those Oasis twits. Victorious Moment indeed.
SJWs Always Lie
Last night I purchased Vox’s Day’s new book, SJWs Always Lie: Taking Down The Thought Police. It’s only been out a few days but seems to be doing pretty well.
The book is well worth reading. I’ve seen examples of SJW attacks and tactics in my own life, and they happened pretty much in the manner Vox describes. He lays out strategies for anticipating and dealing with them. If they haven’t happened to you or someone you know, it’s just a matter of time.
nightskyradio 