Songs You May Have Missed #51

13 Mar 2012 1 Comment

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: ,

riverside

Riverside: “In Two Minds” (2004)

Warsaw, Poland’s Riverside is a progressive rock band fronted by Mariusz Duda, whose voice has made him a welcome guest in prog circles. Riverside plays a brooding and atmospheric brand of rock that may call to mind older prog bands such as Pink Floyd, or some of more recent vintage, such as Porcupine Tree and Opeth. At times the intensity is closer to that of a metal band, and on other songs they opt for a more mellow, melodic and acoustic sound such as on “In Two Minds”. Duda handles either style quite capably.

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2013/03/27/recommended-albums-42/

Top 10 Wedding Song Requests Ten Years Ago

13 Mar 2012 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Wedding related

Okay, so I don’t clean out my office as regularly as I should. Or ever, really. But today the neglect paid off because I blew the dust off of a binder containing some music lists that might have had a more practical use to me ten years ago, but today are good for a chuckle. So chuckle along as you read Mobile Beat Magazine’s 2002 Top 10 Mobile DJ Requests. And be thankful that we have Rihanna now (who’ll probably seem just as played out as “Old Time Rock ‘n Roll” in 2022).

  1. Electric Slide-Marcia Griffiths
  2. YMCA-Village People
  3. Cha Cha Slide-DJ Casper
  4. Love Shack-B-52’s
  5. Get the Party Started -Pink
  6. Amazed-Lonestar
  7. Brown Eyed Girl-Van Morrison
  8. Old Time Rock ‘n Roll-Bob Seger
  9. You Shook Me All Night Long-AC/DC
  10. Celebration-Kool and the Gang

Songs You May Have Missed #50

13 Mar 2012 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: ,

harlem

Harlem Shakes: “Niagara Falls” (2009)

Another band that unfortunately split after releasing just one full-length album, New York’s Harlem Shakes’ too-brief oeuvre has been described as “quietly ambitious”. It did take me a few listens, but that’s the way of most music that has real shelf life.

Lead singer Lexy Benaim’s vocals are just one of a diversity of endearingly off-kilter hooks on this record. They made a joyful, infectious sound. I wish I could have heard more from these guys…

Songs You May Have Missed #49

13 Mar 2012 3 Comments

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: ,

fisher

Jeremy Fisher: “Scar That Never Heals” (2007)

I don’t know if I’ve heard anyone channel Paul Simon as plainly as Jeremy Fisher does here. But it’s 1972 Paul Simon so it’s cool. It’s not a sound Paul uses much anymore, so somebody might as well. I saw this guy open for the Proclaimers and his highly enjoyable set was a nice bonus.

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2013/07/03/songs-you-may-have-missed-438/

Songs You May Have Missed #48

13 Mar 2012 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: ,

tusk

Fleetwood Mac: “Farmer’s Daughter” (1979)

Originally written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love and appearing on the Beach Boys’ 1963 Surfin’ U.S.A. album, “Farmer’s Daughter” was resurrected by Fleetwood Mac as a concert encore and is an exquisite showcase for their harmonies.

Lindsay Buckingham even duplicates Carl Wilson’s chugging guitar sound. A live version, recorded at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in front of crew and a few friends during the Tusk tour, was actually released as a single but did not chart.

This version, from the reissued Tusk album’s bonus disc, is a little cleaner-sounding, although the live recording is pretty flawless itself.

“Glad to help you plow your fields.” Indeed.

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2013/04/27/songs-you-may-have-missed-401/

Songs You May Have Missed #47

12 Mar 2012 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: ,

the bills

The Bills: “Nowhere To Be (And All Day to Get There)” (2005)

The Bills’ 2005 album Let Em Run is one of the most stylistically schizoid albums I’ve ever had the confusion of listening to. It touches equally deftly on folk, jazz, bluegrass, zydeco, ragtime…and sea chantey. The record begins with the type of overture you’d associate with an opera, in which several of the melodies to follow are represented, each in a distinct style. Genres change with dizzying frequency throughout the rest of the album, sometimes mid-song.

The Canadian band who shortened their name from the Hill Billy Band to simply the Bills hasn’t been heard from since this, their third album. But clearly they were a unit whose competence over a diversity of styles was quite impressive. And this particular track is still the only song I know to use the word “insouciance”, for what that’s worth.

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2023/01/02/songs-you-may-have-missed-735/

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