earWorms 67 & 68

[jc: guest post]

Wow... I did it again! I missed yet another week of earWorms. Clearly something in the world ain't right. On the bright side, Katie and I went and saw Juana Molina last night (with our upstairs neighbors/landlords). It was a good show and the venue was seriously impressive.

So... continuing on this global tour, this week we'll be hitting two more exotic locations. The first stop will be Australia and our next stop should be Antarctica... but we'll see how that shapes up.

Australia
I think I'll start the AU section off with a bit of 1960s pop. As many of you know, I am a bit of a sucker for 60s girl groups (and girl pop)... innocence wrestling with bubbling teen desire makes for some fine music. To give you a little flavour, I'll post two treats from Little Pattie.

After that bit of pop, how about one of my favourite Aussie blues rock groups... AC/DC. Sure, they've put out more crap than quality, but their good stuff is truly good. That is more than I can say for most of the music on the airwaves.

Next up, the one... the only... Men at Work. Say what you like about them - it won't change the fact that they put out some catchy tunes.

Finally, we take a turn back to the dark side and give a nod Nick Cave. I'll post a solo track as well as a track from The Birthday Party (my favourite Cave project).

video:
Little Pattie: We're gonna have a party tonight
Little Pattie: Sunshine, Lollipops & Rainbows
AC/DC: Jailbreak
Men at Work: Down Under
Nick Cave: Red Right Hand
The Birthday Party: Deep in the Woods (live)
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: I Put a Spell on You (live)



Antarctica
Now this one is a challenge. With a permanent population of one... finding continental music from here is nearly impossible. So the best I can do is share a bit of music inspired by the location. The seventh of Ralph Vaughn Williams' symphonies, Sinfonia Antartica is exactly what we need. Dark and moody with spooky vocalization... perfect.

And now for something completely different... Paul D. Miller (aka DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid) recently put together a large scale A/V project called Terra Nova: Sinfonia Antarctica. It is an interesting piece and a departure from much of his more abstract work. Dig it.

Finally, in an attempt to get back to the "world tour" goal of show casing artists from various locations, I want to highlight Cheryl E. Leonard an experimental sound/music creator. She's from San Francisco, but currently in Antarctica gathering and composing sounds recorded from the natural world. You can read about her trip on her blog, Music From The Ice.

video:
Ralph Vaughn Williams: Sinfonia Antartica (Side A)
Ralph Vaughn Williams: Sinfonia Antartica (Side B)
DJ Spooky: Terra Nova: The Antarctica Suite
Cheryl E. Leonard: Floating snow and ice

So there you have it - a world tour. Our next stop will be back home in North America. See you next week. I think.


[/jc: guest post]