music
oracknows | December 24, 2011I can't believe I forgot to post this, particularly since I actually got to see Tim Minchin perform this song live three months ago. It was very, very good, and it's one of the best Christmas songs I've ever heard:
Unfortunately, not being in Australia, drinking white wine in the sun appears not to be in the cards today. However, visiting family is. See you all next week.
aardvarchaeology | December 13, 2011
This song is just irresistable. Check out The Kinnardlys' web site. Thanks to the Spiel gaming podcast for the tip-off. Always good tunes between segments there!
gregladen | November 28, 2011As you know, my nephew, LeRoy Bell, was a contestant on the XFactor singing contest. You may also know that he was voted off the show last week. I'm not going to say much about that other than to note that LeRoy was NOT the 8th or 9th best singer in the group. He was clearly in the top three, and he was voted off prematurely. But that's how these things work. In the end, America will Choose. A Country Western Act.
Anyway, I thought that by way of acknowledgment of LeRoy's Talents I'd point you to his previous work. It's all good. You can get his CD's or download individual songs on…
aardvarchaeology | November 19, 2011
Here are some albums that I've been listening to lately. (The previous peek into my listening habits is from May 2010!)
Daikaiju. Daikaiju. 2005. Virtuoso instrumental surf rock.
Dungen. Skit i allt. 2010. Psychedelic 70s prog.
Graveyard. Hisingen Blues. 2011. Bluesy and psychedelic 70s metal.
Jobriath. Jobriath. 1973. Piano-heavy folk/glam rock.
Jobriath. Creatures of the Street. 1974. Piano-heavy folk/glam rock.
Karaboudjan. Sprodj. 2001. Heavy instrumental prog metal.
Mercury Rev. See You On The Other Side. 1995. Psychedelic art rock.
OK Go. Of the Blue Colour of the Sky. 2010. Funky new…
aardvarchaeology | October 5, 2011
Blues & metal fans, take note. The album you need to get right now is Hisingen Blues by Swedish sensations Graveyard.
And check out the Aardvarchaeology Merchandise Store!
sastyk | September 28, 2011Headed offline for Rosh Hashana, but leaving you with hopes for a happy, healthy, bright New Year.
Happy New Year to all!
Sharon
aardvarchaeology | September 10, 2011Dear Reader, please try saying "ENSKTBLEH". Yes, six consonants in a row. ENSKTBLEH. OK? Now sing it, loudly and happily. Go!
I've spent three happy days at the first ever Picture Stone Symposium in Visby, listening to papers, moderating some bits and giving a presentation of my own that went down pretty well. And one evening I was reminded of a) that I'm a weird singer, b) that one of C.M. Bellman's least felicitous phrases occurs in one of his best-beloved song lyrics.
During a reception Thursday night in the Picture Stone Hall of the Gotland County Museum, a UK colleague asked me and a…
oracknows | July 19, 2011Since I was still recovering from TAM9 last night and crashed on the couch at around 9 PM, I didn't have time for one of my usual logorrheic posts. I did, however, have time to take note of an update on a story I started covering six years ago. One of the greatest things about having a long running blog (six and a half years) is that sometimes, after not having heard anything for a long time, I'll be surprised by new information on a story I commented on years ago and can update my readers. So it is with this rather bizarre story about two teenaged girls who formed the group Prussian Blue…
sciencepunk | July 18, 2011YouTube artist and multi-instrumentalist Michael John Blake has been exploring the musical patterns within mathematics, by assigning each note on the major scale a numeral. In this wonderful composition he plays Tau, a number used in a similar way to Pi, for calculating values of circles and whatnot.
oracknows | June 16, 2011Well, well, well, well, well.
Look who's coming to blight my hometown, and look who's doing it hot on the heels of my having directed some not-so-Respectful Insolence at him. Yes, it's Deepak Chopra himself showing up on Saturday to bring his woo to one of the places that least needs it, downtown Detroit:
Excitement and diversity is coming to the Metropolitan Detroit community this Summer! Chene Park Amphitheater is bringing an entirely new experience to the City on Saturday, June 18th, 2011: The "Music & Mastery Holistic Festival".
The "Music & Mastery Holistic Festival" is a full-…
oracknows | June 9, 2011Whenever I call an anti-vaccine activist "anti-vaccine," frequently there will be an indignant response along the lines of either, "I'm not 'anti-vaccine'; I'm pro-safe vaccine" or "I'm not 'anti-vaccine'; I'm a vaccine safety activist." (This latter retort is a favorite of Barbara Loe Fisher.) Another favorite retort is, "I'm not 'anti-vaccine'; I'm for 'informed consent'" or "I'm not 'anti-vaccine'; I'm for freedom!" (Imagine the person saying this looking like this the photo below.)
Anti-vaccine warrior crying "Freedom!!!!! (from vaccines)"
Not infrequently, it doesn't take very long to…
jdupuis | May 9, 2011Ok, not really.
It's hard to directly compare the industrial disco-metal stylings of Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails with the tango nuevo of Argentina's Astor Piazzolla. The music itself is very different.
Or is it? Both of them -- Piazzolla and Reznor -- certainly create music that has a propulsive, relentless almost narrative drive to it, also music that appeals to both the head and the heart and the feet.
It's really all about the passion and intensity. You don't listen to either Reznor or Piazzolla and come away from it with "eh."
You see, I listen to music on my commute. I have…
oracknows | April 19, 2011Hot on the heels of his excellent effort Immunize, ZDoggMD is back for a followup. Unfortunately, his partner in crime, Dr. Chase McCallister, billionnaire hemorrhoid surgeon, whose woo-fighting alter-ego is Doc Quixote, screwed up. Wandering into the University of Google, he came up with a rap that would do Mike Adams proud:
More reason than ever to get your vax on!
aardvarchaeology | March 27, 2011
I was reminded of this timely song when discussing an odd 7th century burial at Norsborg with my friend Dr. Ing-Marie Back Danielsson. The buried individual has been murdered, which triggered the association.
oracknows | March 17, 2011You know, I really know the feeling described in this song:
I really do. How about you?
peconomy | March 14, 2011I am Peter Economy, and I have for as long as I can remember been a fan and practitioner of both the arts (specifically, the musical arts) and science. Some years ago, I had the very good fortune to be invited by Harvey Seifter to help him write a book on New York's Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and its unique leadership model. As you may know, one of the things that sets Orpheus apart from most other orchestras is that it has no conductor. Instead, different musicians within the orchestra take on leadership roles depending on their own talents and interests. The book -- Leadership Ensemble:…
aardvarchaeology | March 14, 2011Juniorette is a precocious seven years old. Here's her rendition of Leonard Cohen's 1984 song "Hallelujah", with the Swedish lyrics by Py Bäckman. The performance is influenced to a certain degree by another young Swedish singer's version, Molly Sandén's on her 2009 album Samma himmel.
While Cohen's beautiful lyrics deal mainly with broken love affairs through biblical allusions (compare the Pixies' "Dead" and "Gouge Away"!), Bäckman's lyrics are a bit too churchy for my taste. "[The song] has something that takes hold of you / And leads you from night to day / And suddenly you want to…
aardvarchaeology | February 16, 2011
When skeptical darling George Hrab released his latest album, Trebuchet, he placed a golden ticket in the sleeve of one copy that went into regular distribution. On the ticket was Hrab's phone number and a promise to come and play a gig for free at the venue of the recipient's choice. When the call came, it was from a guy in Helsinki.
Upon Hrab's mentioning this on his podcast, I suggested to my fellow board members of the Swedish Skeptics that we might make the trip worthwhile for the man and organise some Swedish gigs. Everybody liked the idea, and Hrab was happy to oblige. Then the…
mikethemadbiologist | January 22, 2011I sound like this:
I have no idea what's going through this dog's mind. Likes singing, I guess.
oracknows | December 27, 2010File this under another "better late (as in after Christmas) than never."
Remember Elyse Anders? Remember how she successfully rallied skeptical activists to try to put the kibosh on an effort by the anti-vaccine group SafeMinds to infiltrate theaters with their commercials desguised as public service announcements over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend? Remember how she actually had considerable success, particularly with AMC Theaters? Well, it turns out that our job might not yet be done:
Last night, after I had a glass of wine and a delicious butter pecan cupcake, I got a disturbing text…