Here’s another Vampire Weekend track, Mansard Roof. I’ve had this album on repeat since yesterday afternoon. And, when I say that, understand that I work from like noon until 5-6AM. That’s a lot of Vampire Weekend.

The stuff is so peppy, and I love the cellos and strings in many of their songs. Keeps me bouncing, happy, and moving. I’m not kidding… the guys here have been trying to sneak pictures of me “dancing” at my desk.

Their album, Vampire Weekend, is available via Amazon’s MP3 store. Love Mansard Roof and A-Punk.

Loving this song right now, and loving the fact that I found it via Coolspotters. It’s not really what our site is about, but it’s this sort of serendipitous discovery that makes our site fun. You can get in on the fun soon!

Via a friend via AW, I discovered Girl Talk today. You must listen to this album. Funny, clever, and good music. Go get it. For the local peeps, he’s playing at Toad’s Place in New Haven in 2 weeks.

What makes his stuff cool is that it’s entirely composed of short samples of a bunch of different songs blended together into a new composition. Some of the combinations are just surprising and trying to identify songs is part of the fun. On top of that, hearing an 80s track overlaid with a hip hop track from 2007 or a remake of an old song next to the original just is a cool experience. This guy is talented.

Update: By “this album” I mean Night Ripper. Oops.

First up is Saul Williams take on U2’s Sunday Bloody Sunday. Great cover, interesting video, which features a little part played by Leo Fitzpatrick, still best known for playing Telly in the completely f’d up but powerful film, Kids. If you haven’t seen that movie, you should. Just give yourself time to recover after.

Next up is Buraka Som Sistema’s Sound of Kuduro, featuring M.I.A. among others. My sister got me exposed to M.I.A.’s frantic sound, and Buraka’s track fits her style. The song title and video got me googling a bit, and I now understand the title. Kuduro is a style of music from Angola that then found its way into Portugal. Angola used to be a Portuguese colony, which explains the migration and the fact that a Portuguese artist is behind this track.

Speaking of the Angolan Colonial period, one of the very best books I’ve ever read was about the Angolan Civil War as the last throes of colonialism came crashing down in the 60’s and 70’s. The book is Another Day of Life by Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuściński. It is an amazing book, translated from the original Polish. Absolutely amazing, and a quick read, too. Pulling together the links for this post, I found out that he died last year. He has written some amazing books, and his death is a loss. I need to get some of his other books. I feel like I have Imperium on a shelf downstairs, so maybe that will be the next plane ride/take a break read.

Anyway, back to work with me. Consider this your random music/books/history post of the week.

For those of you who haven’t been reading the comments, my post on Nike’s new commercial has received some interesting comments from readers. The commercial features a track by Saul Williams, List of Demands. The choice of this song has been controversial for two reasons. He’s an outsider voice, and someone held up as a pure artist. Having his music used in a commercial, and for a Nike commercial on top of that, has really surprised fans. Just Google “Saul Williams Nike Commercial” and you’ll find posts, comments at sites like Last.fm, and comment threads at YouTube where fans of his are shocked and dismayed that Saul Williams “sold out.”

The second issue, discussed in this AOL Sports Fanhouse blog post, is whether the song is appropriate for a commercial. That one’s less interesting, though.

Saul Williams addressed the first controversy on his web site. Here’s part of what he had to say:

1. yes, i approved the use of my song (which i wrote in my bedroom on a thursday afternoon, while Saturn was at school).

…

7. I have never seen a Nike ad and thought “I gotta get those shoes”, but I have thought, “who sings that? I gotta get that album”. which is to say, am I selling Nikes or is Nike selling Saul Williams albums?

8. I made $0 from the sales of that album….so far.

9. As I’m typing this I’m watching Poetri (from Def Poetry’s broadway cast) in an Arby’s commercial.

10. What happened to all the people who said, “Saul, I wish more people could hear your music?”

11. I might consider myself a sellout if I wrote a song FOR a corporation, but an ad exec asking me to use my song in their commercial, strikes me as not much different as a student asking to use my song in their film. Granted I can think of plenty of corporations that I would say no to and a couple of years ago I probably would have said no to Nike, just as I did to Mercedes (but they actually wanted me to write a poem about a car! A poem!). But, yes, I knew that Nike had made certain steps in addressing issues, which I had to research years ago as my neice, who is a formidable athlete, and daughter have both begged me for Nikes. Although I do not personally own a pair, I remember what it was like to be in junior high school. They’re both really excited about the commercial.

…

13. I’ve had quite a few pro-football players come up to me in airports and restaurants to tell me that they listen to my music (even before games!).

14. I don’t watch football (unless it’s soccer).

15. ipods ain’t green.

Hit the link to see the reaction, or hit the FM thread about the commercial. Some fans aren’t buying it.

As most of you know, I pay attention to the music used in commercials and soundtracks, precisely because I find them to be a great source of new music that doesn’t make the radio or iTunes top sellers (my usual ways of finding new music). I really appreciate what music supervisors do both in commercials as well as in soundtracks. I love how they find a phrase or a feeling and focus in on it. In a lot of ways, they’re analyzing the music by zeroing in on that one aspect of a song.

In other words, I’m that guy Saul Williams is talking about. I’ve never bought a pair of Nikes because on the commercials, but I did go out and buy the single and then his last album, which, by the way, is pretty damn good, released direct to the audience for $5, no DRM, and was produced by Trent Reznor.

So, obviously, I’m OK with Saul Williams’s move here. “Selling out” is relative, and it’s about the purity of what goes into the art, not necessarily how it gets used. Nike’s ad agency chose it, and paid for it, and didn’t do anything underhanded with it. He has no moral issue with Nike (satisfied with their changes on the labor front), so he should go for it.

I’m not a super-fan, so I don’t have a lot invested in Saul Williams’s journey thus far, so maybe I’m missing something. Fans invest a lot in their favorite artists, especially when it’s an artist that’s less popular or has “outsider” as part of their identity. I can respect that, but my theory is that as long as he’s making the same kind of music and using the same approach to his art, this can only be good.

This could be the first time a Single of the Week artist from iTunes may actually work out as something I want to listen to.

Neat song and neat video.

This is from the “My Better” campaign. Good stuff. Track is available on iTunes. No luck on Amazon MP3.

Update: I have more on the song and this commercial in this follow on post.

Listening to Red Right Hand by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds right now off of the X-Files soundtrack. It’s an old one, but there are some really great gems in there. Red Right Hand is one of them. Check it out.

I have this habit of having movies or TV shows playing on my computer or in the background while I work. Since I’ve seen most of them dozens of times before (otherwise, it’s distracting), I end up listening to them more than watching. Late last night I had M:I:III on in the background and heard a violin phrase I knew I’d heard before. Quick thought later and I realized that the music was very similar to Lost. JJ Abrams directed M:I:III, so I started wondering if he had a favorite composer he brought along with him from project to project. Quick Google later and I find that the composer is Michael Giacchino and that I do indeed like a lot of his work:

In 2001, J.J. Abrams, producer of the television series Alias, discovered Giacchino through his work on the video games and tapped Giacchino to provide the new show’s soundtrack.[8] The soundtrack featured a mix of full orchestral pieces, often mixed with upbeat electronic music, a departure from much of his previous work. Giacchino would also provide the score for J.J. Abrams’s next project, the 2004 television series, Lost[9], which was an acclaimed soundtrack that used a unique process of using spare pieces of a plane fuselage for the percussions. His score for Lost is notable for a signature thematic motif - a brass fall-off at the end of certain themes.[10] In 2004, Giacchino was given his first big feature film composition, when he was called on to provide the soundtrack for the Pixar film, The Incredibles.[11] Director Brad Bird had heard Giacchino’s work on Alias and asked him to work on the soundtrack for the new movie. The upbeat jazz orchestral sound was a departure in sound not only for Giacchino but for Pixar, who had previously relied on the works of Randy and Thomas Newman for all of their previous films. Brad Bird had originally sought out John Barry, who was best known for composing many of the early James Bond movie soundtracks, to compose the music, but was reportedly unwilling to write music for an animated movie. Giacchino was nominated for two Grammy Awards in 2005 for his work The Incredibles: Best Score Soundtrack Album For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media and Best Instrumental Composition.[12] Giacchino also composed scores for the 2005 films, Sky High and The Family Stone, and the television movie, The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz. In addition, he wrote the music for Joseph Barbera’s final theatrical Tom and Jerry cartoon: The KarateGuard, premiering in Los Angeles theatres on September 27, 2005. Giacchino also composed the score for the movie Mission: Impossible III, directed by J.J. Abrams, which was released on May 5, 2006.[13] Giacchino’s latest musical achievement is his Paris-inspired score for the newest Disney-Pixar film, Ratatouille, which includes the theme song, Le Festin performed by French artist Camille. He has received his first Academy Award nomination for this score.

As of late, Giacchino appears to be deepening his collaboration with JJ Abrams, as he wrote an homage to Japanese monster scores in an overture entitled “ROAR!” which played over the credits of the Abrams produced monster movie Cloverfield. It was the only original music for the entire film. Giacchino is scheduled to score Abrams’s upcoming Star Trek film as well.

His work is good, and I’ve even played some of the video games he’s scored prior to hooking up with Abrams. You can find his stuff on Amazon if you’re interested in hearing clips. The M:I:III soundtrack is pretty good.

Her reaction as her win is announced is pretty awesome, just in it’s simple honesty. If you didn’t see it, take a look. Now, does anyone know who “Ray Ray” and “Joe” are?

If you haven’t seen this video, watch it. A high res version is at Dipdive.com. I haven’t seen a politician evoke this level of enthusiasm in my lifetime.

Which do you like better? Obviously the videos are different, so just focus on the music.

Here’s Yael Naim:

Here’s the original:

Thoughts?

In case you missed it, Yael Naim is the artist featured in the MacBook Air commercial.

That’s the video I found on YouTube for that song. It’s a pretty good one, will have to check out her other stuff. Her stuff is on iTunes DRM Free:

I caught the tail end of this on NPR driving into work this morning and was touched by the parts I heard. I was bummed that I missed the beginning but then I remembered a key thing. This being an NPR broadcast, I was able to find the recording online where you can listen to the whole documentary of this remarkable series.

If you don’t know what This I Believe is, it’s basically a radio segment that airs during different NPR shows that features an essay by any person, usually American about what they believe. I never knew the history of the series, which was started in the 50s and hosted by legend Edward R. Murrow. The modern incarnation on NPR features regular folk and on many mornings I’m struck by how eloquent and honest they are.

There’s a podcast for the modern incarnation (iTunes link).

You can submit your own essay at ThisIBelieve.org, or read selected essays online or in the This I Believe book.

I’ll give you a taste of these essays here. The original 1950s show featured distinguished Americans and world figures rather than regular Americans. I’d like to leave you with Robert Heinlein’s essay, which you can listen to at the web site above or in the documentary:

Our Noble, Essential Decency

I am not going to talk about religious beliefs but about matters so obvious that it has gone out of style to mention them. I believe in my neighbors. I know their faults, and I know that their virtues far outweigh their faults.

Take Father Michael, down our road apiece. I’m not of his creed, but I know that goodness and charity and loving kindness shine in his daily actions. I believe in Father Mike. If I’m in trouble, I’ll go to him. My next door neighbor’s a veterinary doctor. Doc will get out of bed after a hard day to help a stray cat—no fee, no prospect of a fee. I believe in Doc.

I believe in my townspeople. You can knock on any door in our town, say “I’m hungry,” and you’ll be fed. Our town is no exception. I found the same ready charity everywhere. For the one who says, “The heck with you, I’ve got mine,” there are a hundred, a thousand, who will say, “Sure pal, sit down.” I know that despite all warnings against hitchhikers, I can step to the highway, thumb for a ride, and in a few minutes a car or a truck will stop and someone will say, “Climb in Mack. How far you going?”

I believe in my fellow citizens. Our headlines are splashed with crime. Yet for every criminal, there are ten thousand honest, decent, kindly men. If it were not so, no child would live to grow up. Business could not go on from day to day. Decency is not news. It is buried in the obituaries, but it is a force stronger than crime.

I believe in the patient gallantry of nurses, in the tedious sacrifices of teachers. I believe in the unseen and unending fight against desperate odds that goes on quietly in almost every home in the land. I believe in the honest craft of workmen. Take a look around you. There never were enough bosses to check up on all that work. From Independence Hall to the Grand Coulee Dam, these things were built level and square by craftsmen who were honest in their bones.

I believe that almost all politicians are honest. For every bribed alderman, there are hundreds of politicians—low paid or not paid at all—doing their level best without thanks or glory to make our system work. If this were not true, we would never have gotten past the Thirteen Colonies.

I believe in Rodger Young. You and I are free today because of endless unnamed heroes from Valley Forge to the Yalu River. I believe in—I am proud to belong to—the United States. Despite shortcomings—from lynchings, to bad faith in high places—our nation has had the most decent and kindly internal practices and foreign policies to be found anywhere in history.

And finally, I believe in my whole race—yellow, white, black, red, brown—in the honesty, courage, intelligence, durability, and goodness of the overwhelming majority of my brothers and sisters everywhere on this planet. I am proud to be a human being. I believe that we have come this far by the skin of our teeth—that we always make it just for the skin of our teeth—but that we will always make it, survive, endure.

I believe that this hairless embryo with the aching oversized braincase and the opposable thumb—this animal barely up from the apes—will endure, will endure longer than his home planet, will spread out to the other planets—to the stars and beyond—carrying with him his honesty, his insatiable curiosity, his unlimited courage, and his noble essential decency. This I believe with all my heart.

Powerful stuff.