Robots Singing in 3 Part Harmony

If you were brave enough to watch the Zapp and Roger and/or Chromeo videos posted on Valentine's Day, you may have been wondering something. Well, you were probably wondering a few things and to answer your first question, yes, I genuinely enjoy both those songs. If you somehow missed them in the haze of chocolate covered cherries and avalanches of rose petals, I command you now to check them out. You won't be sorry you did and they will prepare you for the following lesson in voice manipulation. Seriously, check them out, they are amazing and I've got nothing but time.

All set? Good. Now you may be asking yourself, "What is the deal with Chromeo?" I have no idea. It all seems like an absurd joke and that guy's moustache is super creepy but the brilliance of the song is undeniable. You may also be thinking, "Why do both videos feature men with tubes in their mouth?" I wondered that too, decided to do some research and discovered something that completley shocked me and made me question the basic fundamental principles of the universe. These vocalists are not using vocoders as I always assumed. Those tubes are part of a magical device called a talk box. The talk box reproduces sound from an amplifier through the tube and directs it into a performer's mouth. By changing the shape of their mouth, they change the sound of the instrument being filtered through the talk box. It was famously used by Peter Frampton on the Frampton Comes Alive! album and allowed Richie Sambora to make that awesome "Waaaaaaaah!" sound in "Livin' On a Prayer." Without the talk box, Bon Jovi might still be just a bar band. Talk box, I thank you.

Check out Mr Frampton rocking it in the modern era. It's thankfully short so I promise it will be over before the Deep Hurting starts:


So what's a vocoder then? A vocoder is a combination of a speech analyzer and a synthesizer that allows keyboards to sing like robots. Vocals are transmitted and filtered through an instrument (typically a keyboard) where they can be manipulated and modulated as much as the performer wants. Without the vocoder, the world would be devoid of the majesty of Kraftwerk and we would sadly be without footage of this guy and his keytar:

Raise Your Guns in the Air and Wave 'Em Like You Just Don't Care

Baba Brooks - Guns Fever
'Wierd Al' Yankovic - Trigger Happy
Nick Rivers - Skeet Surfin'

The Dead Milkmen - Violent School

The Clash - Guns of Brixton
The Pogues - A Pistol for Paddy Garcia
Radio Birdman - Smith and Wesson Blues
The Beatles - Happiness Is A Warm Gun

Tom Waits - 16 Shells From a Thirty-Ought Six
Beastie Boys - Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun
Sonic Youth - 100%
Pixies - There Goes My Gun

The White Stripes - Cannon
T. Rex - Zip Gun Boogie
The Wrens - Faster Gun
Nirvana - Sun of a Gun

Richie Havens - Handsome Johnny
Johnny Cash - Don't Take Your Guns to Town
Beirut - Elephant Gun (by request)

Los Lobos - La Pistola y El Corazon

Papa M - Glad You're Here With Me
Bob Dylan - Joey

The Mountain Goats - Going to Georgia
Violent Femmes - Add it Up
Misfits - Bullet

Pavement - Drunks With Guns
Need New Body - Pow Pow
Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys - White House Blues
Bad Livers - Falling Down the Stairs (with a Pistol in my Hand)
The Cramps - Bikini Girls with Machine Guns

Affection or Dejection?

It's Battle for the Earth Valentine's Day Edition. Pick your poison.

Brimming with love? Join Zapp and Roger here:


Feeling love's sting? Sidle up to Chromeo here:


Kisses!

I Got A Fever For More Flugelhorn

I love anniversaries. Whether i'm celebrating 25 years of marriage or the 45th year of Lucky Charms cereal, I love looking back on the length of time something has lasted or how long something has been around influencing my life. Lucky and his amazing marshmallows certainly had a hand in creating the person I am today. 2008 marks the 10th anniversary of one of my favorite albums of all time, Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. I was barely impressed by the album when I first heard it but months later when my friend Lisa gave me "Holland, 1945" on a mixtape I wondered if this was the same band that bored me on her stereo many months ago. I'm not one to rewind a mix tape again and again just to hear the same song over and over but for this magical song I made an exception. Soon after, I bought the cd and quickly fell in love. Burtsing with ideas and overflowing with emotion, it never fails to knock me out.

Pitchfork has an interesting article on the album and its legacy today. It's an amazing collection of songs that suits many moods and situations. I've enjoyed it both on headphones while half dozing on the floor and driving alone at 3 in the morning shouting along with every word. It's perfect for when you want something achingly personal or if you are desperate to fill your ears with buzzing sound and bleating horns. I listened to it tonight at dinner while discussing home made play dough with the under 5 set and it worked perfectly. What's your take on In the Aeroplane Over the Sea - Masterpiece? Overhyped caterwauling? Half baked concept album? Your personal jesus?

Here's a great video featuring a snippet of an unreleased tune followed by the ever-devastating one-two punch of "The King of Carrot Flowers Pts. 2 & 3."

Giving You the Roy G. Bivness

It's colour nite here at the Rainbow Lounge. Thanks for stopping by. Now if you'd please step aside, there's a battle to be fought.

Hot Chip - Colours
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Magical Colors
Mogwai - Golden Porsche

The White Stripes - Red Death at 6:14
Cornershop - Camp Orange (excerpt)
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! - The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth

The Shins - Pink Bullets
Thursten Moore - Silver>Blue
Superchunk - Pink Clouds

The Monkees - Nine Times Blue
Big Bill Broonzy - Black, Brown and White
Tom Waits - Green Grass
Putnam Smith - Not Why I'm Not Blue

Pavement - Black Out
Pinback - Non Photo-Blue
Yo La Tengo - Black Flowers
Modest Mouse - Baby Blue Sedan

The Ocean Blue - Cerulean
Crooked Fingers - Black Black Ocean
Ween - Buckingham Green
Ram Jam - Black Betty

Mountain Goats - Pink and Blue
Led Zeppelin - Black Mountain Side
Spoon - Black Like Me
Pearl Jam - Black, Red, Yellow

Ken Nordine - Olive

Warren Smith - Red Cadillac and Black Moustache
Wire - Pink Flag
Animal Collective - The Purple Bottle

Wilco - Pot Kettle Black

Searching for Julie Delpy

I recently fell in love with La Blogotheque's Take-Away Shows. It's a repository for videos of musicians traveling through Paris making their music on the streets, in the subways and at tables of coffehouses throughout the city. Liars are featured in one episode using the inside of an elevator to assist a song. Vampire Weekend plays one of their hits in an empty courtyard using garbage cans as drums. The most recent post highlights current obsession Animal Collective taking a shopping cart for a walk and singing into cups to create the trancelike and deeply affecting wonder that is "Taste."

Please check out the site. It's fascinating to see these songs in such different contexts, augmented by traffic sounds or half sung by bemused Parisian onlookers. The kids are taking it to the streets.

And since I mentioned them, check out this video that I can't get enough of lately.

This confirms what many have long thought - Vampire Weekend are the new Monkees.

Mothra Wants to Party All the Time, Party All The Time

Rock Wisdom for Tonight " I looked at my watch, I looked at my wrist, I punched myself in the face with my fist." Bob Dylan, Million Dollar Bash


Andrew WK - Party Hard

Fishbone - Party at Ground Zero
Captain Beefheart - Party of Special Things to Do

Les Savy Fav - Who Rocks the Party
Beck - Mixed Business
Etta James and Sugar Pie Desanto - In the Basement
Sam Cooke - Having a Party

Blink 182 - The Party Song
Holiday - Your Very Last Party
Ted Leo - The High Party

Prince - Let's Go Crazy
Elvis Costello & the Attractions- The Beat
Iggy Pop - Rock and Roll Party

El Perro del Mar - Party
Yo La Tengo - Beach Party Tonight
The Replacements - Swingin' Party
Ween - Your Party

Bob Dylan and The Band - Million Dollar Bash
The Flight of the Conchords - The Humans Are Dead (by request)
Eddie Murphy - My Girl Wants to Party All the Time


Beastie Boys - Fight for Your Right
Public Enemy - Party for Your Right to Fight
'Weird Al' Yankovic - Polka Party!

Oingo Boingo - Dead Man's Party
Ratatat - Seventeen Years
The English Beat - End of the Party