As I was doing my daily perusing around the internet I stumbled upon an article that shocked me.  It read

Chimps: Not Human, But Are They People?.

At first I clicked on the article expecting an article that would finally tell me that chimpanzees are just furry dwarves with hands for feet (something I always suspected after watching videos like this one)

But what I found out in the article was even more frightening than a chimp getting a haircut.  According to scientists, via WIRED magazine, the chimp population has now reached critical levels.  In recent years the number of chimps has fallen from 10,000 in West Africa to only a couple thousand.  I was appalled by what I had read and immediately needed to get a hold of the situation.  To help put things into perspective I listened to a band I had just discovered a band called Buena Vista Social Club.  A collection of all the great Cuban artists of the 40’s and 50’s they joined together in the late 90s with slide guitarist Ry Cooder to form this Cuban Super group.  Their afro-cuban beat helped me put things into perspective and realize that I can’t do anything about the chimp population, but I can dance like an idiot in my apartment to “Candela”.  So to help you forget your worries I am putting the song up here for your enjoyment.  Dance away.

A little bit of pop culture for the blog.  Tah-dah!

Here’s the top 30 albums played on KSCR last week:

If you find yourself looking for something besides the normal Thursday night fare, come out to 2nd St. Jazz in Downtown LA /Little Tokyo on October 23rd. A bevy of bands, all featuring USC students, will be playing at the hole-in-the wall jazz club with some of the most original music you have heard in a long time.

Cossack
Nebula Explosion
Sock Oom POW
(w/ special sets)

October 23rd, 8:30 pm
$7 (includes a drink)

2nd St. Jazz
366 E. 2nd St.
LA, CA 90021

Stop by to hear some of the music your peers are playing and discover something above average.

This has been pent up for a while but I have finally gotten up to the point where I have to put it out there.  Stevie Wonder is the man and everyone should know this!!  if you haven’t heard his album Songs in the Key of Life it is definitely something that everyone needs to pick up and listen to!  There are too many good tracks on the album to count and each one is imaginative and creative in its own right.  It took him nearly three years to finish this massive double album ( an extra ep had to be included in the original pressing to fit all the songs on) it was definitely worth the time in the studio.  There are so many good tracks on the album but one of my favorites is a song called “Pastime Paradise”.  Many of you may have heard a sample from this song in both Coolio’s “Gansta’s Paradise” and Weird Al’s “Amish Paradise (I still like Weird Al’s version better, thats right I said it), but here is the original which I think is definitely Wonder-Full(terrible pun but what do you expect?  its midnight).  Anyways take a listen.

Studios heavily rely on movie trailers to attract audiences to their new movie.  But, with so many movies coming out each month, the sinking economy, and rising movie ticket prices, what distinguishes one trailer from the next?   Some studios try to place a song, popular or not, to try and draw the audience into the movie and to help them feel more connected.

Sure, there’s the standard Harry Potter-Dark Knight-Star Wars trailers that only use composed music performed by orchestras and since the books/previous movies of these movies are already so vastly popular, there’s no need to make the trailer stand out in a musical way.  However, more independent movies or movies with a less solid fan base sometimes try to catch viewer’s attention through music.

The “Watchmen” trailer debuted at comic-con this year, with “The Beginning is the End is the Beginning” by the Smashing Pumpkins playing in the background, and with the song the trailer attracted some much deserved buzz.  The movie itself does not boast a celebrity cast and cannot rely on the fan base of the graphic novels and therefore by creating this dark trailer with dark images and an even darker song, the caught people’s attention.  Personally, I had never heard of the novels and I was never a fan of the Smashing Pumpkins until this movie trailer.  Now, I love the song, I love the trailer, and I plan to see the movie.  Maybe I’m just an easy sell.

Garden State now has a cult fan base, however, when the movie was in production, there were no paparazzi staked out in between scenes on the set to see Zach Braff and Natalie Portman hanging out.  And so, when it came time for Fox Searchlight to release a trailer, they called on the help of the Postal Service’s song “Such Great Heights” for background music.  Maybe the movie became so popular because of the acting and the killer script, but I like to think it had something to do with how well the song went with the trailer theme and made you think, “Huh.  This movie is totally about my life.”

And then there’s this summer’s comedic hit, “The Pineapple Express.”  The trailer not only brought back M.I.A’s song “Paper Planes,” but the trailer also hinted at the genius of James Franco, who has never been cast as a strong leading figure in a movie before.  For the greater part of August, “Paper Planes” was played on the radio and I caught it as some people’s ringtones too.  Also, the movie was a success (the trailer song was not played in the movie, though that would’ve have been so cool) and James Franco now has a legit career (maybe).

Does the music that’s played in a trailer sway your decision to go see in theater?  I would say sometimes it does.

Parenthetical Girls - Entanglements

The Parenthetical Girls is a band from up north (originally from Washington but are now based in Oregon) that make melancholy experimental orchestra-driven pop/indie/folk music. They are best known for their dark and cryptic lyrics and the exaggeration in the lead singer’s voice. Their music is beautiful and haunting. For their 3rd and most recent album, they have chosen to record with a full orchestra, creating a completely different sound than before, filled with elements of baroque and classical music. Imagine it as what it might sound like if Beethoven had a voice to accompany his already emotional works. My favorite song on the album is a cover of The Windmills of Your Mind, which has been covered by many artists before- though nothing can compare to the transformation this song undergoes when the Paranthetical Girls translate it into a classical and tragic masterpiece. 

You can listen to the song here and buy the album here.
http://www.myspace.com/parentheticalgirlsband

In the past decade the record label Elephant Six has turned out some really great bands, but the odds are you’ve probably never heard of them.  If thats the case let me fill you in on some history.  Begun in 1993 by Robert Schneider, William Cullen Hart, Bill Doss, and Jeff Mangum it was only active until 2002 but in that small amount of time signed dozens of bands.  Some notable bands from the Label were/are Apples in Stereo, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Olivia Tremor Control, Of Montreal, Beulah, Circulatory System, The Sunshine Fix, Elf Power and many other notable side projects and off shoots.  These bands all had held the idea that they whould bring back music from the sixties and, to verying degrees, each band attempted to do so before either moving on or breaking up.  If you haven’t already heard some of these bands here is your chance to hear some of my favorite songs by some of these artists. Enjoy!

Apples in Stereo

Neutral Milk Hotel

Olivia Tremor Control

Of Montreal

Beulah

In case you enjoyed some of those videos you will be pleased to know that the Apples in Stereo (one of the founding bands of the label) brought back the Label in 2007. Elephant Six is back in business! Woot Woot.