STAR TREK FAN BANDS: NOT NEARLY AS BAD AS ONE WOULD THINK

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A Klingon death-metal band. Just think about the sheer awesomeness of that concept.

"Trekkies 2" is a 2004 documentary about the most extreme 'Star Trek' fans, produced and hosted by, of all people, Bing's granddaughter Denise Crosby. The soundtrack album features some funny bits of dialogue from the film, a few soundtrack cues, and lots of entertaining fan songs. Somehow Fred Schneider of the B52s ended up on here as well. Maybe he's a Trekkie? Wouldn't be too surprising.

As for the musical acts, who pretty much only perform at 'Trek'/sci-fi conventions, Warp 11 are quite good in that Descendants/Bad Religion/Green Day-style of melodic punk. "Everything I Do, I Do With William Shatner" really is as good as it's title. No Kill I: The Next Generation (yep, that's the band's name) make a great Devo-ish New Wave ruckus. Ash Productions are two charming teenage girls. Reminding us of Trek fan history, Leslie Fish does it old school: a solo acoustic "filk" (sci-fi folk) tune. And then there's death-metalers Stovokor, who not only dress up as Klingons, but they sing in the Klingon language.And if you ain't down with that, well, pally, you have landed on the wrong blog.

I don't know much about 'Trek" beyond watching the original series ("TOS" in Trek talk) as a kid, but it's inside nature is what I like about this stuff. Fan music, like song-poems, make me realize how generic most music is. Frank Sinatra couldn't have sang about "Star Trek" (or what his favorite color is, or who he supported for President) because he had a general audience, so we just got lots of love songs since, presumably, that's a human universal. So it's fascinating to me to hear people singing passionately about something very specific. They can only exist in the rarefied world of fellow fans, or, in the case of song-poems, they just put out tiny pressings of private recordings. They don't have to worry about what the music biz (even the "indie" end of it) thinks.

Trekkies 2 The Official Soundtrack

1. Since I Was Zero - Denise Crosby 2. Beam Me Up - Fred Schneider 3. The Worst Time To Call - Gabriel Koener 4. Italy Theme - Billy Sullivan 5. Channeling Roddenberry - Karl Miller 6. Red Alert - Warp 11 7. A Girl Came - Brian Dellis 8. Everything I Do, I Do With William Shatner - Warp 11 9. We're Niners - Michael Leon 10. Boldly Going - No Kill I: Deep Space Nine 11. Extremities - Gabriel Koemer 12. Vulcan Mind-Meld - No Kill I: Deep Space Nine 13. Low Frequencies - Jason Lewis 14. For The Glory Of Qo'nos - Stovokor 15. Klingon Santa Claus - Denise Crosby 16. Life In Exile - Stovokor 17. My Rank Is Commander - Renee Morrison 18. Arkansas Theme - J.J. Holiday 19. Ever Hear Of Filking? - Denise Crosby 20. The Expendable Guy (Live) - Ash Productions 21. A Typo - Kathleen Sloan 22. Banned From Argo (Live) - Leslie Fish And Friends 23. What's Normal - Dave Smith 24. No Kill I Theme Song (Live) - No Kill I 25. Auk - Jean Whitehead 26. Tranya (Live) - No Kill I 27. Remain Calm - Allen Maxwell 28. Data And The Beta (Live) - No Kill I: The Next Generation 29. Starbase Dentist - Denise Crosby 30. We Are The Borg (Live) - No Kill I: The Next Generation 31. It's Just Good - Jon Garrison 32. Germany Theme - Billy Sullivan 33. Ethan's Aliens - Ethan Philips 34. Beam Me Up (Instrumental Reprise) - Fred Schneider 35. Lame Reality - Ward Young

3 Styles of Jazz Music

Jazz comes in many varieties and in this article I will be comparing and contrasting 3 of these styles including New Orleans Jazz, Harlem Stride, and the White Jazz. For the New Orleans Style I am using the song "Potato Head Blues" by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven and for Harlem Stride I chose the song "Charleston" by James P. Johnson and lastly I chose the song "There Ain't No Sweet Man" by Paul Whitman to represent White Jazz.

New Orleans is the birthplace of Jazz and the New Orleans Style is one of the oldest forms of Jazz. At the time of the birth of Jazz in the late 1800s black people were oppressed and segregated. This led them to have a music of their own that was deeply rooted in music and rhythm. After the civil war there were a lot of extra instruments available and many blacks purchased them and began playing music. These blacks may not have played their instruments very well, but they did use rhythm very distinctly and this lead to the first jazz music. White Jazz was the white community's response to the new music of the blacks. At first white musicians played songs written by blacks, but eventually they developed their own style which lost some of the edgy feel and in my opinion does now swing as much as black music from that time. Harlem Stride is the eastern piano style of playing jazz, it is played by using the left hand alternating between bass notes and midrange notes. This creates an oom-pah feeling to the song, and while the left hand is kept busy with the stride the right hand is free to play complex melodies.

As mentioned earlier Jazz is rooted in rhythm; it has that feeling to it that cannot be explained in words, but is instantly recognizable when heard. When listening to the songs "Potato Head Blues" and "There Ain't No Sweet Man" it is easy to find similarities in the rhythm that they employ. Both of them are written in 4/4 time and employ very low notes played on brass instruments to keep the tempo. On the other hand in the song "Charleston" there is only one instrument used and that is the piano, but there are still single notes played very low on the piano to keep the rhythm. All three of these songs are played at an upbeat tempo but "There Ain't No Sweet Man" somehow seems to be played at a much slower pace. This is accomplished in the song by having the musicians play their instruments in an almost lackadaisical fashion.

Many people do not consider notated jazz music true Jazz because it is impossible to capture the feeling of Jazz with notation. Paul Whitman used notated music in his song "There Ain't No Sweet Man" because it was played by a large orchestra and it otherwise would have been impossible to play with that large of a group. Both "Potato "Head Blues" and "Charleston" were not notated when they were recorded, and that allowed for some spontaneity in the recording which is a large part of the Jazz feeling. Sometimes the melody of a piece can be lost to the untrained ear because of the way the song is interpreted in a Jazz style. These three songs were all designed to be played as Jazz and they are considered to be Jazz songs and in "Charleston" and "There Ain't No Sweet Man" it is easy to pick out the melody, but when I listen to "Potato Head Blues" the melody is hard for me at the beginning because so much is going on.

"Potato Head Blues" immediately starts off with polyphony style and this is mainly the reason why I can't seem to find the melody as well at the beginning. "There Ain't No Sweet Man" has a small intro that shortly breaks into a homophony and although there is still a lot going on in the song all of the instruments revolve around one melody. When listening to these songs I hear crisp harmonies throughout and this consonance of harmony used in the songs makes them very enjoyable to listen to. "Charleston" is a fun and happy song to listen to but because it only involves one instrument, the piano, it does not have as much depth to it as the other songs. In "There Ain't No Sweet Man" a full orchestra is used including brass, woodwinds and stringed instruments. Using that many pieces in a song creates a fullness to the music and a complexity that is not easily replicated. "There Ain't No Sweet Man" uses the trumpet for the melody and also the voice. "Potato Head Blues" also uses trumpet as the primary melody carrier but many other instruments are used including the cornet and even a guitar.

The overall tone and feelings of the songs are vastly different from each other; "Charleston" is a very upbeat song that has a playful side to it, I would describe the song as having a warm and cold tone at the same time. "There Ain't No Sweet Man" has a distant feeling to it while the instruments are playing the intro but even after the singing begins there is still a distant feeling mixed in with the lyrics. For the most part "Charleston" just has one volume throughout the song but it still uses the dynamics of hard and soft to emphasize different parts of the song. "Potato Head Blues" and "There Ain't No Sweet Man" use a wide variety of volume levels and dynamics to get the feeling of the songs across. This is partly possible because of the different instruments used; when they use softer instruments such as the guitar, during a bridge in the song it can be particularly effective as a transfer into another part of the song.

All three of these songs are considered to be Jazz and in my opinion they all have that swing to them which is imperative to a Jazz song. However, these songs swing in different ways, "Charleston" uses the Harlem Stride to keep the song moving around and liberates the right hand play the melody in a swinging jazz style that is full of fun. "Potato Head Blues" use strong polyphony to grab the listeners' attention right at the beginning and eventually dives into solos where the musicians show off the ability to improvise in the Jazz style, which the do in an astounding fashion. "There Ain't No Sweet Man" may not have the, off the cuff, feeling that the other two songs have, but its uses each instrument to the advantage of the group and the result is beautifully arranged piece that manages to gain the jazz feeling without the direct improvisation.

Start Making Original New Indie Pop Music

In the past, being recognized as new indie music artists was so hard to do. You had to be a really good musician in order to be heard for your unique new indie pop music. Nowadays, with the help of the Internet, all you need to do is upload your song into a website and wait for people to comment on it. As it becomes easier, more and more people are doing it, and the difficulty is now focused on how to be heard amidst the thousands of aspiring new indie pop music artists. Here are a few tips so you can be heard.

How New Indie Musicians Beat Writer's Block

As a new indie music artist, you need to have serious writing skills. But sometimes, even the most experienced independent artists, to the latest indie musician on the blog, we all sit for hours with nothing to write about. Do you always suffer form creative block?

Whenever we get this, we usually say that we are not inspired enough to write something. But the truth is that creative idea is just inside your head waiting for the right moment to pop out. So what can you do about it? Stimulate your brain to get it ready for creating some truly original new indie music. Do something that involves a creative process. Watch a movie, listen to some good songs, read, paint, or whatever it is that get you going. And when that idea pops out of your head in the middle of the night, be sure you have a piece of paper at your bed side. In fact, it is better if you carry a small notebook with you so that your ideas will always be written and never forgotten.

The Traditional Or Contemporary Church Music Controversy

There is a controversy brewing in the Christian community in regards to the style of music offered in a church worship service. There is some debate as to which is more appropriate. Whether you agree or disagree I hope this article will help you decide.

This controversy stems from the use of traditional verses contemporary music. This has stirred up quite a bit of debate. In this article I want to share with your some thoughts and ideas regarding contemporary church music.

The danger of contemporary church music stems from the fact that modern music as an art form is thought of as a variety of entertainment. When shown in this light the real danger is that contemporary church music can look more show business more than a ministry. This is the primary argument of those who favor traditional music.

As you study your Bible you will learn about several examples where music is important. Here is one example. David was skilled musician. One of his early jobs was to play music for King Saul. When ever he play for the king, the king was either soothed or agitated by the sounds he heard. That is the power of music to reveal emotion and produce an emotional reaction. The emotions were reveals purely on Saul's attitude at the time.

Consider music is an important part of modern society. It has been that way from the creation of civilization. Music will mirror the culture. It tells the stories of important themes and ideas. By this we learn about the many implication of the world view. It says a lot about our society.

The purpose of church music is to be a part a worship service. It is part of the ritual. The music is integral in the service. The songs used in the service need to be based on solid biblical principals. Now when you combine this idea with current music styles we get contemporary church music.

So what makes a song fall into the category of contemporary church music? This type of song is identified by first by its lyrical content and second by the music genre. You should realize there are a multitude of musical genres. These genres include rock, jazz, country, rap, folk, and classical. Each genre provides the listener with us with a variety of performance style options.

The music genre is really at the heart of the controversy. The modern praise and worship songs use up to date music style that appeal to our modern culture. It offers the listener modern lyrics and song music style with a traditional biblical message. In fact this genre of music is more defined by the lyrics than the style of music. What we find is the most common theme to contemporary church music is worship and praise and worship to God and/or Jesus.

Regardless of the type of music here are three things to keep in mind when considering song selection for your church.

* The songs must proclaim God's Word

* The songs need to be appropriate to the worship service

* The songs need to mirror the belief of the congregation

As you can see the crux of the issue is about the style of music. We all have preferences to what we like and don't like. Sometimes we want the status quo other times be may be more adventurous and try new things. But the bottom line is that no matter what music genre it is the lyrical content that guides us. Especially when the lyric are in agreement with the Scriptures.

"Get some haircuts on your kids! Teach 'em some decent music!"

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This nearly hour-long sermon starts off nicely enough, before we get to juicy quotes concerning: dirty stinkin' hippie beatniks! The Communist conspiracy! 15 minutes in we get to hatin' on The Beatles and rock music. "DIRTY FILTHY VILE ROCK FESTIVALS...are bent on destroying America." Hey, botanists! We learn about how rock music kills plants - it's been scientifically proven! He recites almost all the lyrics to "Back in the USSR" and "White Rabbit" ("Feed your head! Feed your head!"). He pronounces Bob Dylan's name "Bobby DIE-lin" and Phil Ochs "Phil Oh-cha," and screams about LSD. First time I've heard a preacher quoting Frank Zappa.

Communism did fall - clearly it was no match for Pastor Jack's awesomeness. Sound collagists/mashup producers...start your samplers!

sermon by Pastor Jack Hyles

His "Satan's music" page has lotsa good readin': "The Jonas Brothers—Satanic to the Core!!!," "Country Music Television (CMT) is of the Devil," and "Miley Cyrus' Supports Immoral Rights, Corrupts the Bible, and Works to Destroy America!"

(Long hair and sandals are evil? Isn't that how Jesus dressed? Damn hippie liberal...)

God bless windy for the tip.

Top 5 Pop Music Numbers in Last Few Weeks

Do you love pop music? That's great. Here we would like to find out the top 5 pop music numbers that are doing great in different music charts across the world in last couple of weeks. Perhaps you have all these numbers in your private collection. But this list would definitely add something to your pride. So, here we go.

The top artist who has been rocking different music charts across the world for last 12 weeks is Pink. This pop powerhouse performer has been around since late '90s but in the primary days she was taken just as another pop artist. But now, the weather has changed in her favor. Her move from a local 'Club Fever' to the international arena is unbelievable. Anyways, "So What" from her latest and fifth studio album "Funhouse" is the top number that has acquired the top position in different music charts of 11 countries across the world. And this is the most successful solo number in her music career.

The next number in the list is Katy Perry with her 'Hot n Cold' from her latest album "One of the Boys", released on 17th June, 2008 in US and Canada. The magical combination of cheeky music and commercial pop are doing great in different top pop music charts across the globe. The debut album has already sold 749,000+ copies in different parts of the world and it is certified Gold in US.

Mexican Water Jug/Soda Bottle Folk Instruments

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A welcome recent trend in Mexican and Mexican/American music is playing instruments made out of recycled garbage. Apart from looking real cool and producing new sounds, it's another example of the resourcefulness of low income people (see also The Congo's Konono No.1, and Staff Benda Bilili.) So far as I know, there haven't been any recordings of this stuff yet, but there are a few YouTube vids featuring the Sparkletts bottle/garden hose (or PVC pipe) "tuba" and plastic 2 liter soda bottle "trumpets." I say "so far as I know" because the comments are all in Spanish and I'm just not bilingual enough to understand it all, e.g.: are there any recordings featuring these instruments? And the last video demonstrates how to make a water jug tuba - can anyone out there translate it for me? I want! Muchas grassy-ass.

First up, the border style known as norteña music. The flatulent sound of this tuba makes me laff!:



Slightly better sound quality on this tune; note the European polka beat, the mark of the norteña (Northern) style, aka Tex-Mex:



South of the border for some Coke bottle mariachi:



Judging by other videos, it seems pretty basic: garden hose or pipe, connects to bottle (e.g.: 12 oz soda bottle), connects to big jug. But - que? - this vid makes it seem more complicated:

Pierre Bastien's Musiques Machinales

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It's a "Two-For-Tuesday"! On Wednesday! Here are two absolutely spellbinding albums by French composer Pierre Bastien, who, since childhood, has been fascinated with the idea of incorporating machines into music. His first experiment was with a spoon attached to a metronome striking a pan. Since then he has come far indeed, constructing Erector Set-like rockin' robots, and on his "Mecanoid" album, brilliantly incorporating (non-hip hop) turntablism. Over the repetitious rhythms of his machines he often blows cool Miles-like jazz horn. The results, on his "Musiques Machinales" album, range from the Steve Reich-like minimalism of "Chez Les Crânes" to "Marchin' Band," reminiscent of "Rain Dogs"-era Tom Waits. Scratchy fiddle and, on at least one song, what sounds like a musical saw also feature in his cabinet of curiosities. Like Frank Pahl and his Scavenger Quartet (whose "We Who Live On Land" album I recently posted in it's entirety) gorgeous melodies such as the one on "Vipers" from "Musiques Machinales" sell these obtuse ideas. Magical.

PIERRE BASTIEN "Musiques Machinales"

PIERRE BASTIEN "Mecanoid"

Christmas Songs - Top 5 Traditional Christian Songs

Music brings peace to the soul. Christian Christmas songs were a way for people to spread the joy and message of the festival through music. That is the reason for the evolution of Christmas based songs.

Through the years, many artists have come up with their own originals songs, while most have adapted traditional songs to new tunes. Of those traditional songs, 7 are listed here as the top most listened to songs.

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

Originally written by Charles Wesley in 1739, this song has been widely adapted by music artists from every genre possible. It is considered one of the best Christmas songs till date.

In the original version the first two lines were 'hark! How all the welkin rings, Glory to the King of Kings'. In the present version it has been changed to 'Hark! The herald angels sing, Glory to the newborn King'. The best adapted version of this song till date is Blackmore's Night's version.

Camp Records Was Totally Gay

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The Queer Music Heritage site sez: "Almost nothing is known about the mysterious 60's record label Camp Records. They released an album and ten 45 rpm records of gay parody songs, most done with effeminate voices. I believe they were issued in the early 60's, as they all appeared in an ad in the gay magazine Vagabond, dated 1965... The artists singing most of the songs were uncredited, or with names obviously made up, like Byrd E. Bath and B. Bubba, but one name stands out, Rodney Dangerfield...This would have been very early in Dangerfield's career, as his website bio says he decided to devote his career to comedy at age 40, which would have been in 1961. But I don't think it was the comedian we know..."

This is not only funny stuff, a must for novelty music fans, but a peek into an underground world all but unknown to mainstream society at the time. Hard to believe now in this age of RuPaul, but this type of music was extremely rare - it was practically illegal. "The Queen is in the Closet" album often takes familiar public-domain melodies and sets new lyrics to them, e.g. "A Naughty-cal Tale" is based on the old sea chanty "What Do You Do With A Drunken Soldier." The 45s sometimes get into rock 'n 'roll territory. "Homer The Happy Little Homo"? "Stanley the Manly Transvestite"? What are you waiting for, you silly savages? They're all free for your downloading pleasure at this fabulous site here:

Camp Records

Don't forget to scroll to the very bottom of the page for a more recent (1980) single. I've known about this site for a while (thanks to Spacebrother Greg) but was reminded about it after recently reading John Rechy's classic autobiographical novel "City Of Night," which deals with the same underworld of hustlers and drag queens. It was a surprise best seller in the early '60s, pulling the lid off the scene, and tho some of it hardly seems shocking to modern sensibilities, it's still pretty fascinating. Rechy's genuine experiences invest the book with an authenticity that will make reader feel thoroughly familiar with this world by the end of the book. The next step in your low-life lit journey, after you've absorbed Chandler, Bukowski, et. al.

Musical Genres Or Styles of Guitar Music

Music is a free expression of emotion and feeling. It is an artistic expression of passion for melody, rhyme, measure and lyrics. Man's love for music is evident on the number of musical instruments that were developed and used through the decades. Among these ancient-modern instruments is the guitar.

Guitar is one of the stringed instruments that have a history rooted from the ancient times. Through the centuries of its use, it has created thousands of tunes and has entertained millions of people from the era and area on which it was used. The ancient forms of music created by the guitar also evolved along with the guitar's many forms. With man's continuing passion for music and for this stringed instrument, modern times have created modern niche of guitar music.

Blues is one of the vocal and instrumental forms of music that uses blue notes. It has emerged from African-American communities through their spiritual and work songs as well as chants. With the use of rhymed and simple narrative ballads, the community has created music with a prominent call and response pattern. Blues are traditionally played with a piano as in churches and gatherings. Later on, the accessibility of guitars and its popularity among bands have made more music for blues, making it the root for some other musical genres such as the jazz, rhythm and blues, bluegrass and rock and roll.

Jazz is one of the popular genres of music that are played with the guitar. It is known to have originated from the blue notes or Blues. Considered a confluence of African and European music traditions, Jazz is distinct for its improvisations, polyrythms, syncopation and swung notes. Jazz has made beautiful music with its fusion with the big-band style swing, bebop and Latin, Afro-Cuban and Brazilian music. Eventually, Jazz was incorporated in 20th century American pop music.

The more recent musical genre of guitar music is pop music. With its noticeable rhythmic element, melodies and hooks, its mainstream style and conventional structure made it very popular among the teenage population. Today, these are the music that usually appears on top of the record charts, which are determined by the number of sales and popularity in air play. And most of the songs in this genre are accompanied by the tunes of the modern and classic construction of guitars.

The versatile application of guitar to music explains why professional guitarists can play all musical genres. From rock to pop, classic to modern beat, no one will ever miss out the significant contribution of guitar tunes to the whole effect of a song or musical piece. Even for novice guitar players or those who are starting to learn to play the guitar, the selection of play pieces or practice pieces is limitless, making the learning process more interesting and exciting.

PRANKSTA PRANKSTA

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It's not about the salary, it's all about hilarity. First up, a video sent to us from reader Pseudonym Smith: "It's economics as rapped by Keynes and Hayek, and I now know everything I ever will about their ideas." Ha, yeah, me too. Listening to debating economists is like an atheist listening to a debate between a Christian and a Muslim. I'll admit that these guys do have mad flow. But are they as good as Red Shadow, The Economics Rock 'n 'Roll Band?



I was surprised to learn that there are two "chap-hop" rappers coming str8 outta England, takin' ya back to the '80s - the 1880s, that is. Last year we covered Mr. B The Gentleman Rhymer, now dig Professor Elemental. His album "The Indifference Engine" features the dis rap "Fighting Trousers," but gentlemen, please, there's no need to fight - tho they have different styles (Elemental is more of a Jules Verne adventurer-type than Mr. B's Bertie Wooster sort) they both share a love of manly mustaches, drinking tea, and sampling old 78 rpm records. Anyone who can bust rhymes over Slim Gaillard's "Flat Foot Floogie (With a Floy Floy)" (on the excellent "A Fete Worse Than Death") is a right def emcee, eh, what? I would start with the song "Penny Dreadful," as it serves as a jolly good introduction to our man.

Professor Elemental "The Indifference Engine" - listen to it streaming for free, or buy.

The Rappers Delight Club are, indeed, a delight - from their MySpazz page: "This is a musical side project for a rotating group of [Baltimore] elementary school children that I work with. This is probably the best thing you'll ever hear [True dat]...This project comes out of a "typical" daycare program. Every month we do different clubs, and the Rapper's Delight Club is just one club that I do every year...We've just finished a new track, "I Don't Wanna Grow Up...Yet", that uses Tom Waits' "I Don't Wanna Grow Up." He also thanks bands like No Age and Yo La Tengo for providing music. The kids are most definitely all right.

I have come to really hate the painful ordeal of flying, but this dope rapping flight attendant would make it easier. It's an acapella - any mashup producers want to use it? Maybe with "Leaving on A Jet Plane"?

"NOTHING QUITE PREPARED ME FOR GROUND ZERO"

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You maybe getting 9/11 fatigue right around now, and those bad tribute songs I wrote about last year won't help, but this rousing musical theater-style song should pick you right up - after all, it's by a singing telegram guy. As his website says, it's his job to make people happy ("Ask about our special Neil Diamond tribute.")

The song starts playing automatically once you click on this page (AND you can read/sing along with the printed lyrics):

Kerry Prep - "Ground Zero"

And how 'bout that Burger King ad, eh? Even more tasteless than their fries. Thanks to IVOR for the tip.

The Unique Music Genres of Colombia

Colombia has several styles of music that originated from its territory long ago and remain popular to this day...

Vallenato: Born in the city of Valledupar (Cesar) from which its name is derived, this folkloric style of music is especially popular in the country's Caribbean region. It owes much of its rhythms to the slaves brought from Africa in centuries past. Carlos Vives is vallenato's biggest star. Valledupar hosts an annual "Legends of vallenato" festival. Folks from the Caribbean region have the odd custom of installing huge speakers on their porches and blasting vallenato at top volume day or night. Nobody complains!

Guasca: Folk music from Antioquia, where the town of Betania considered the "capital" of the genre. The lyrics are typically vulgar and humorous. It's biggest star, Octavio Mesa, died recently. International pop star Juanes has said much of his inspiration came from the latter.

Llanera: Music from the "llanos", or plains, of eastern Colombia. It's distinguishing characteristic is its very original use of the harp, producing sounds that are decidedly not classical. Villavicencio, in Meta, is the capital of this music genre.

While in Colombia, you'll hear all three styles on a daily basis, whether it be in taxis and buses, or bars. Colombians love their music and can't seem to get enough of it. Other popular music styles didn't originate from Colombia: cumbia, reggaeton and Mexican rancheras. You'll hear more Vicente Fernandez tunes here than in Mexico! On the pop scene, native son Juanes is more popular than native daughter Shakira, the international phenomenon.

Vote For M4M Idol!!

Don't you wish all of those "[name of country] Idol"/"X Factor"-type shows had good music? Well, now here's your chance to be Simon Bowel (pictured left, on toast) - vote for any of the artists featured on this sampler of home-brew recordings. Most of these acts wrote to me asking for a review of their work, but, goshdurn it, I just don't have the time. Forgive me, bedroom maestros of the world.
But these are all FREE releases, so if you like the sampler tunes, there's often whole albums for you to download. It's really good stuff. I wouldn't subject you-all to anything I didn't genuinely enjoy, so it's gonna be a tough call. A real horse race.

How do you vote? Simply listen to the "M4M Idol" collection i posted below and then leave a comment stating who's your favorite artist of the bunch. The winning artist will get a full-length review (woo-hoo!) in a future M4M post. Yeah, I know...sorry I don't have any valuable cash prizes/record deals to offer the winners, but hey, I get hundreds (sometimes thousands) of eyeballs on this blog each day, so they are getting some exposure.

Musically, it's quite a variety show: lo-fi outsiderness, postpunk prog, campy surf, subversive sound collage, Afro grooviness, ambient/noise soundscapes, twisted electronica, some strange things resembling catchy pop songs. And then there's Jinnwoo's "Sorry Song" which "...was written as an apology from myself to the world for being such a bad and horrible creature...I recorded the piece naked, and in the rain." What would Paula Abdul think?

M4M Idol

1. Bloody Death Skull - I Miss My Homeland 2. Future's Lament 3. Holding Hands
4. Buttress O'Kneel - Exhibit W 5. Buttress O'Kneel - Darkness
6. Cutthroat convention - Warui Neko 7. Cutthroat convention - Parasite's Paradise
8. Death to the Brutes - Death Set 9. Death to the Brutes - No Love, No Ecstasy
10. Docteur Legume et Les Surfwerks - Phibes and Vulnavia, Just Married! 11. Die 1000 Wellen Das Dr Mabuse
12. Jinnwoo - Sorry Song
13. Marc Broude - For the Flies
14. Mike Colin - Fish Bulb 15. Mike Colin - The Future is Not Written
16. Moebius II - Innerstate '94 17. Moebius II - Magic Mirror
18. oreaganomics - Fallin Out Of Buildings Fallin In Love 19. Create Something to Love
20. Pompey - Bivouac Sack 21. Pompey - Candle
22. Sam Simmons - Midge
23. Skinjobs - Money in the Bank Vs. Money in the Pocket 24. Skinjobs - Sunshine

Remember, you can't complain about who won if you didn't vote!

K9 FUSION

A few years ago, I was picking up one of our dogs from the groomers, and spied a display of CDs credited to K9 Fusion. The back cover said, "10 1/2 year old mixbreed, Sven the Love Dog, plays each and every instrument on his debut album. The only exception is the drums, which are played by Sven's owner Steve Brooks. Every intense vocalization is produced by Sven, or one of his canine friends...face it, this Dog's the SHIH TZU! Enhanced CD contains a video of the making of K9 Fusion. See for yourself as Sven pounds the piano, claw-picks his guitar, and gnashes his teeth on bass strings with the ferocity of Hendrix himself." Of COURSE I bought one.

The "album" is actually only 13 minutes. The drums basically hold it down, with random plunking, plucking, and growling on top, giving it a canine free-jazz feel. Some sounds have obviously been sampled and looped to make it more "musical." My fave track "Dirty Dog Love" sports a sweet funky bass groove. Obviously it's been looped, but I find it hard to believe that a dog could come up with something like this even once. Hmmm...

Song titles include: "Sing Along With Bitch," "Snot: An Interlude," and "Star Spaniel Banner." I don't think the track "Pants" has anything to do with trousers - it's 7 seconds of a dog panting.

K9 Fusion - "Who Really Loves You"