Category Archives: Awesome Music

Spray Takes A, Er, Stab At Charlie Brown!

You know how a lot of pop stars take themselves terribly seriously and want to talk all the time about their “art” and stuff? England’s Spray is, thank heavens, not like that.

The brother/sister act comprised of Ricardo Autobahn and Jenny McLaren seems to love sharing a good laugh as much as they enjoy having one. As such, their output has included songs with titles as amusing as “Squabble at the Rotary Club,” “Everything’s Better With Muppets” (which also just happens to be true and “You Eat One Lousy Foot, and You’re a Cannibal” (which probably is also true).

Frankly, how “Everything’s Better With Muppets” didn’t get picked up for that “Muppet Show” reboot is beyond us! See/hear for yourself below.

Anyway, as an added bonus, beneath the duo’s cheekery, they match melodies that you’ll never get out of your head (even if you try) with electro-synth productions that percolate as appealingly as brewing coffee.

Spray’s latest album, Enforced Fun (giddily reviewed here by My Fizzy Pop!!), includes a deliriously deadpan introductory monologue by actress-singer Jane Badler (the hamster-eating villainess from TV’s “V” and man-eating vamp from music videos like “Four Corners to My Bed”). Their latest single, “It’s the Night of the Long Knives, Charlie Brown,” includes lines as memorably nonsensical as “It’s a million o’clock” and “I’m running low on acceptable pants.” You can check out the video — complete with headography — below.

And if you prefer to sing along, they’ve also created an eye-popping lyric video.

Full disclosure: Spray are pals of ours. They’ve even helped with a lot of the music for our elaborate home movies — and by “helped,” we mean “made it sound like music rather than what we and our relatives would sound like left to our/their own devices.” For instance, imagine our “smash soundtrack hit” “Idiot” without their professional intervention.

But that in no way diminishes Spray’s genius. If you doubt it, you may review further evidence via their animated — yes, animated! — video for “Manga Eyes.”

 

Choir Creates A Musical Moment You’ll Never Forget

Take a second to go get a pair of headphones and some tissues. We’ll wait. Now… get ready to be transported by a 1,500 voice choir led by guest vocalist Rufus Wainwright. And then, after you’ve watched the video and said to yourself, “I must take part in this,” keep reading. We’ll tell you how you can do just that!

Okay, now take a moment and compose yourself.

So obviously, you’re thinking, “How can I join this awesome group of people?” Well, the first step is… to go to or already be in Canada. Normally, Choir! Choir! Choir! meets weekly in the backroom of Clinton’s Tavern in downtown Toronto.

How It Works

As their site explains, “You show up, you get a lyric sheet, and become part of Choir! Choir! Choir! You will join a group of highs, mids or lows, and by the end of the night, master three-part harmonies for a pop song or two.” They have two Facebook groups: One for those who want to attend on a Tuesday and one for those who want to attend on a Wednesday.

Meet The Founders

Daveed Goldman and Nobu Adilman launched Choir! Choir! Choir! back in 2011 as a “weekly, no-commitment singing event.” Since then their musical empire has expanded to include singing workshops, music festivals and even leading corporate team-building sessions. Meanwhile, their weekly sessions have found their devotees singing songs from the catalogues of everyone from A-Ha to Yazoo. (Come on, guys! We’re gonna need you to do a ZZ Top number, if only to complete the A-to-Z thing we’ve got going here!

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Got a special event coming up? You can even hire the Choir folks to perform. They’ll gather a group of singers, train them and put on a show! Imagine wooing your special lad or lady by having a bunch of people to stand outside their window and sing “In Your Eyes.” On second thought, no need to imagine it… here’s what it would sound like!

For more on Choir! Choir! Choir!, click here.

The Beards Bid Farewell

We’re pretty sure that when you think bands with beards, you think of ZZ Top. Who doesn’t, right?

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Anyone who’s ever heard the awesome music of the Australian group The Beards… that’s who!

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Originally founded back in 2005 in Adelaide, South Australia — not be confused with Arendelle, the fictional home of Anna and Elsa — the foursome have since developed a cult following by singing about nothin’ but beards, beards, beards. (In fact, that happened to be the name of their second album… <i>Beards, Beards, Beards</i>!

Now, most people consider their breakout hit to be a tune called “If Your Dad Doesn’t Have A Beard, You’ve Got Two Mums,” we’re partial to a tune called “I’m In The Mood For Beards.”

In 2015, the band marked a decade of making music by putting out a 2-disc compilation called “Ten Long Years, One Long Beard” and now, it looks as if they are doing a farewell tour, with their final performance slated to be held October 28, at The Governor Hindmarsh in the place where it all started, Adelaide, Australia.

We’re not sure exactly why they’re calling it quits… heck, maybe they’re just itching to shave! But we know that if they put on a show anywhere we can get to, we’ll be there!

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Bohemian Rhapsody… With A Twist!

It’s probably safe to say that Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody is one of the best known pieces of music from the modern rock era. Thanks to its use in movies, TV shows and advertisements, even people who think they don’t know the tune have probably had the earworm stuck in their head.

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But you’ve probably never heard it done quite like this…

Because when you think of Bohemian Rhapsody, it’s unlikely you think of a pipe organ, let alone a player pipe organ. So I suggest bookmarking this page, because after watching this awesome video, you may find yourself unable to hear the original tune without immediately wanting to show everyone in the vicinity this clip…

When Bette Davis Met Divine

For his follow-up to his viral smash mash-up “The Golden Age of Video,” Ricardo Autobahn allowed the kibitzing of this site’s Charlie Mason, whose obsession with femmes fatales is as well known as Margo Channing’s fondness for martinis.

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The result is “The Golden Age of Bad Girls,” which is almost certainly the only song you’ll hear today that features the vocal stylings of actresses ranging from Taylor Swift to Kim Richards and from Molly Ringwald to Maggie Smith. If you’d like to do the math, take Autobahn’s “Golden Age of Video” (edited by the indefatigable Rev. Diva Schematic)…

… add to it Charlie’s vixen addiction, as exhibited in his own tribute video…

 

… and you wind up with “The Golden Age of Bad Girls”:

 

How many of the flicks and their oh-do-devilish divas can you name? List them in the comment section below! Ready? Set… GO!

Meet England’s Coolest Swingers!

There are two kinds of people in this world: Those who sort of geek out over Eurovision, and those who somehow remain completely oblivious to the international song competition. Given that MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow has publicly declared herself to be one of the former, we consider ourselves to be in good company.

For the uninitiated, Eurovision features several dozen countries performing songs which are often wildly over the top. How far? Well, last year’s winner was Conchita Wurst, a bearded drag queen who belted out the tune “Rise Like a Phoenix.” (In the name of full disclosure, it should be noted that “Phoenix” was co-written by this site’s co-founder, Charlie Mason!) Over the years, the festival has featured singing pirates, crooning grannies and even, in 2008, a ginormous warbling turkey named Dustin.

Sometimes, being the Wurst can be awesome!
Sometimes, being the Wurst can be awesome!

Seriously.

But every now and then, some truly awesome music emerges, including this year’s entry from Britain, “Still In Love With You” by the pop duo Electro Velvet. The catchy song will have you tapping your toes and comparing it to 1983’s version of the Irving Berlin classic “Puttin’ On The Ritz.” Not that everyone is thrilled with the selection. Writing for Britain’s The Telegraph, Neil McCormick slammed the selection as “a trumped up cabaret duo featuring the frontman for a Rolling Stones tribute act and a girl who failed the blind audition for the last series of The Voice performing an ersatz music hall jazz triffle written to order by a veteran professional jingle writer.”

Bianca Nicholas and Alex Larke prove they’re a couple of swingers!
Bianca Nicholas and Alex Larke prove they’re a couple of swingers!

Ouch.

Then again, trashing Eurovision entries is traditionally half the fun and, where England is concerned, practically a national pastime. Eurovision 2015 will be broadcast from Vienna beginning on May 19, at which point the world will be able to judge the United Kingdom’s entry for themselves. Want to get a jump start on the judging? That’s why we’re here! Ready? Set? Dance!

So… does England have a hit or a miss on its hands? Sound-off in the comment section below!

 

Norway Has Another A-ha Moment!

Previously, we thought the coolest thing to come out of Norway would be the threesome that sang “Take On Me” in the ’80s. But that was before we heard the Scandinavian country’s entry in the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest (it’s sorta like American Idol, only a million times bigger and with a greater variety of accents).

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Not only is the duo of “A Monster Like Me” music to our ears, its video is as gorgeous as it is wicked. Savor it!

 

Home Depot: The Musical

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If there’s one thing every single advertisement sets out to do, it’s get — and keep — your attention. And that’s not easy. After all, we’re a people with short attention spans. Also, it’s an ad. A commercial. Ain’t nobody got time for that! Unless, perhaps, it’s this fun musical mashup in which a trio of happy Home Depot employees sing Disney tunes rewritten to reflect everything from flooring to paint chips. The result is so ridiculously entertaining that you might well find yourself sitting through the entire thing… despite it running nearly eight minutes. Stranger still, you might find yourself — like us — compelled to share it.

This Ain’t Your Grandma’s Mary Poppins!

We live in a world where pretty much anything and everything more than 10 years old gets remade. And while nobody has actually decided to remake the beloved children’s movie Mary Poppins, this makes it sort of easy to imagine how easily the flick could be taken in a different direction for a whole new generation of viewers!