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Cool stuff, WMOM

Some Music Died January 4, 2011

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One of the best bass players EVER to grace modern music passed away on Jan 4. Mick Karn. (Also see his profile on All Music Guide).

Mick Karn 1

He was the bass player for Japan, Rain Tree Crow, Dali’s Car, Gary Numan & Tubeway Army, No-Man and many others. I’m particularly fond of an album he did with Yoshihiro Hanno in 2000 called Liquid Glass. If you haven’t heard me play it once in a while, you probably aren’t listening. Mick Karn was heralded throughout music, even in the standard jazz genre’s as one of the best bass players around. He was also proficient with very odd (to my liking) implementation of woodwinds in rock music. He was very good at clarinet and bassoon. He used them a lot in the music he made in the 90’s with Jansen/Barbieri/Karn (or JBK) which was the instrumentalists from the band Japan.

Nobody sounds like this guy playing bass… NOBODY. If you don’t believe the power of this, try you tube’ing his name and look at all the people trying to play his bass lines.

This video is actually fun to watch and listen to. You can really hear the quality in the sound Mick Karn was driving at. Listen to this guy try to teach a Mick Karn bass line. He’s doing “Cantonese Boy” from Japan. Just the sound of the fretless bass played in this fashion gives me freakin goose bumps.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m gonna miss Mick Karn.

Here’s another good write up on him.

Cool stuff, WMOM

My Fixation On Japanese Techno Pop AKA Nippop Brings Me Happiness in Dark Times

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Well, as you all know I’ve been incredibly sick.  Haven’t had a flu/bug like this in a long time.  Add to the fact that my boss has been calling me everyday and every night even on weekends about work crap (and I cant bill for the time he harasses me), I needed to stumble over some music that made me feel good.

It’s times like this I need to find me some music I like.  So I was combing YouTube for videos.  Some of you may know, in the past year I have developed this taste for Japanese pop music courtesy of Yellow Magic Orchestra and Human Audio Sponge/Sketch Show.  There’s a spin off from these bands from the drummer/vocalist Yukihiro Takahashi that I’ve fallen in love with called Pupa.

Pupa-Floating Pupa
Debut album from Pupa called "Floating Pupa"

If any of you have been in the car with me this summer, you have inevitably heard some of this stuff.  Well, I have been overjoyed to find that they have put out a follow up album called “Dreaming”.  The title track (which I’ve instantly fallen in love with) has a video.  Here it is:

What I have found charming about this band is that there are so many instruments at play.  Further research on YouTube of their live concerts shows them up on stage with so much junk (horns, guitars, drums, keyboards, everything) that the musicians barely have room to be on stage.  It’s quite interesting.  This is a video of them live performing one of my favorite songs from their first album. Yukihiro Takahashi sings lead vocals on this one. He’s gotta be like a million years old by now. The lyrics saying, “is this the way how it’s supposed to be…” is a question I ask myself every freakin day!

No dance music, beautiful blond bitches with boob jobs, plastic surgery patients, fat black lady singers screaming over top, or great stage show here folks, just good music being played by talented people (something that is sorely lost on today’s music purchasing public). Imagine this in music! Real live harmonies and the thing I love the most … sustained droning electric guitars. This stuff sticks to my ear like glue, and somehow makes me happy with all the bullshit going on in my pathetic life.

Either way, be rest assured this is getting high rotation on WMOM.

Enjoy some Dreaming Pupa (and laugh at the name like I do!) It’s Burt Bacharach meets the Japanese!!

silly, WMOM

AUUGH! Todd is comin back to Philly!

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As most of you know I am one of the world’s biggest Todd Rundgren fans.   I think I’ve seen him live and met him in person more than any other of my favorite musical artists.  He’s coming to Philadelphia to the Keswick Theater in Glenside Pennsylvania just outside of Philly.

What makes this so special for me and other Todd fans is that he will be playing 2 classic albums in their entirety.  I went to see him do his album A Wizard/A True Star with JohnnyD last year and it was SPECTACULAR!  This year, I’m going with Bitchin Bob for this one. Here’s a crazy bit from last year’s show.  He goes through some 10 crazy costume changes for this stuff.

For what it’s worth, I just thought I’d share a little of my excitement over this. In this day and age, one must make an effort to report on good things. Keeps ya from losing it!

Cheers and poop!

Chronicles of the Absurd, silly, WMOM

Bono needs Doans® pills! “OUCH! ME BACK!”

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If you haven’t heard, the self proclaimed savior of the world and personal do-good’er Bono from the band who defined “sell out” known as U2 has been admitted to a hospital for emergency back surgery.  Personally I think its from bending over in those stupid rock and roll poses in his music videos while the camera sails under his crotch or down his big mouth.

He’s probably in the hospital right now saying, “how kin yew poke foon of me in yer bloog when there’s all this suffrin’ goin on in me back!  NURSE!  I need another Nooty Booty bar!!!”

Here’s the CNN article, if you are pretending to give a crap!