This Makes Sense to Me

I was toodling around youtube this weekend and came across this video of Daft Punk's Around the World. I watched it over and over again. This is definitely my kinda thing. It's got the playfulness of Devo but without the spudboys sexual frustration. I love all the pop culture gems that are just hiding in plain sight. Plus, the choreography is absurdly fantasitc.

I had a weird thought too
If I went back in time to say... the 1920s and the folks there asked me what the future was like, I'd just show them this video without any explanation.


-Swinebread

Zombies Ate Her Brain

By The Creepshow


-Swinebread

Bands I Missed: the Donnas

What’s that I hear? Why, it sounds like rock & roll. I’ve missed it so.

How come this all-girl, hard rock band isn’t more popular? I don’t know. But they sure can jam.

Maybe they’re the female Ramones, the inspire everybody and get none of the credit except by a few in the know…

And up until recently I didn’t know, but now I do.

The Donnas, listen and be amazed.



-Swinebread

Bands I Missed - THE AQUABATS!

The Aquabats! YES, these guys dress up as superheroes, fight Supervillains, and have an infectious sound. This is my kinda band! So how come I didn’t get into them? Well, the band formed in 1994, the year after I graduated from college. By then I was outta touch with all things musical (musical to me that is) as much of my time was spent away from the west coast. Lets just say I was forced to listen to country music and Oompa bands… so I just wasn’t aware. *sniff* Anyway, I know about the Aquabats now and love their music and their shtick. To be honest, I discovered them back in February but I thought this video was a great Halloween tune. So I waited until October. It’s called Fashion Zombies. It’s my hope that this song gets included in the Halloween rotation from now on.




Incidentally, The Aquabats will be in Portland on Nov 27. At the Wonder Café See here I marking my calendar.

Here is a demo the band produced in 1999 to get the networks interested in funding a series. it’s called "The Aquabats in COLOR!" Too bad it wasn’t picked up. Even a pilot would have been great! Ah what could have been…


-Swinebread

Bands I Missed: Fujiya & Miyagi

Here's an English Band, Fujiya & Miyagi, I came across while cruising Youtube. The music is great and the video is fantastic. Gammers will appreciate all the dice (chuckle). I missed ‘em because they were just here in Portland 3 months ago as you can see here. Oh Well. This song's title is Ankle Injuries.


-Swinebread

Bands I Missed: Shonen Knife

I’m starting a new topic that I’ll come back to occasionally called: Bands I Missed. I’ve never been very good about looking for new music, going to concerts, or following up on bands that I might like. So there has been a lot good stuff that I missed out on. Of course with the web being as it is today, it is easy to sample, or stumble across something. So first up is: Shonen Knife.

This Japanse girl-group has been around since ’81 but didn’t start making waves in the US until the late ‘80s. Shonen Knife is kinda’ like the Ramones (which Shonen Knife are big fans of) in that many famous bands site them as an influence and admire their music, but the girls have never had a huge smash hit. The gals of Shonen Knife are innovators if not household names though. Their favorite music includes girl groups of the 50’s and 60’s and punk rock. It makes for a delightful mix of pop sentiment and punk honesty. I like to think of them as Go-Go Punk or Kitsch Punk. If Devo exposes the darkside of our pop culture than maybe Shonen Knife is the light. I have seen their CDs around over the years but I never picked one up and I really regret that now. College would have been so much better with Shonen Knife blasting from the Stereo.

Oh and because you might be wondering, shonen means ‘boy’.

Here is the first song I came across called: Riding the Rocket. It is a really fun song with great hooks. Also, the video has, what I consider, one of the most important pop images of all time… Godzilla with Mickey Mouse ears!


Join me in checking out more Shonen Knife!


-Swinebread