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| What you're about to read is a collection of pointers to some of the music I've discovered on the iTunes Music Store, music I like enough that I want to share it. If you're an iPod owner and an iTunes fan (and if you aren't, what are you doing here?), maybe you'll find something new. Click on any of the CD covers to bounce over to the store and sample a few tracks. And then maybe stop by my other blog for a few well chosen words (and maybe a random snark or two). | 
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| Have some music to recommend? I can always use a few pointers. Use the comments link at the bottom of the page. | ||||||
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Mon, 23 Oct 2006 |
| Oy to the World - a Klezmer Christmas / The Klezmonauts | |
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Jeeze, is it the Christmas buying season already? Sure seems that
way, at least on the iTMS; lots and lots of new versions of dreary old
(unroasted) holiday chestnuts among the store's offerings. But all is
not lost, at least if your sense of the season's anything like mine.
Enter the Klezmonauts, who give this whitebread material a
dose of ethnicity it so desperately needs. Not for those of a more
reverent mindset, but for the rest of us it's good jazzy fun.
(Apologies to anybody was offended by the preceding. At least I have two whole months to be forgiven, what with coal stains being so difficult to get out of sweatsocks.) |
| [ Category: Holiday | Add a comment | Link ] | |
Mon, 26 Dec 2005 |
| Hanukkah Rocks / The LeeVees | |
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I'm not one for holiday music. Then again, Hanukkah (or Chanukah, as
I've always spelled it) isn't a holiday. It's a festival, and one
that has taken on major significance largely because of its occasional
proximity to Christmas. If Gentiles can spend themselves into
oblivion for their children, how can we Chosen People do any less?
Anyway, back to holiday music. Hanukkah Rocks is not at all traditional. It's fun, it's irreverent, it's tongue in cheek. Although it's honest enough to center around that great Jewish tradition, nay, fixation. I refer of course to food. Because the real Hanukkah traditions are consumable, not consumer. If you know what I mean, and I think you do. |
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| [ Category: Holiday | Add a comment | Link ] | |
Fri, 02 Dec 2005 |
| Barenaked for the Holidays / Barenaked Ladies | |
Can you believe I've kept this blog running for more than a year?
This time last year I was snarking about
David Hasselhoff, a
gift that keeps on giving. This time I decided to honor the
Nonsectarian Winter Gift-Giving SeasonTM with a little
Barenaked Ladies. I mean, who can resist a bossa nova
version of
Gene
Autry's biggest hit, done on what sounds like a $99 keyboard?
Or a very jazz trio-y version of
God
Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen; very merry indeed.
Heck, in the spirit of inclusiveness there are even three Chanukah
tracks, which
demonstrate
clearly that Chanukah is not a great holiday for
music1. Passover, now there's some great tunes.
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| [ Category: Holiday | 1 comment | Link ] | |
Mon, 24 Oct 2005 |
| Halloween: Monster Mix / Mannheim Steamroller | |
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I used to love Mannheim Steamroller. I was introduced to
them back in the dark ages by the friend who helped me to pick out my
first decent (translation: not Radio Shack) stereo. Back then
New Age wasn't quite the
cliché it became later; it was just neat instrumental stuff
that sounded really good through those expensive speakers.
Mannheim Steamroller is still around, making holiday and novelty albums, as well as combination holiday/novelty albums like this one. Not deep stuff, I grant. But who wants deep on Halloween? Now all we need is the rest of the Steamroller catalogue and I'll be happy. |
| [ Category: Holiday | 1 comment | Link ] | |
Wed, 22 Dec 2004 |
| The Night Before Christmas / David Hasselhoff | |
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With Christmas just a few days away, even we nonbelievers start to get
the excitement of the season. Just think: soon crap like this won't
be shoved at us everywhere we go!
I don't get David Hasselhoff; I really don't. The guy can act, at least in situations that allow for multiple retakes. And he can sing, I suppose, at least in the sense of being able to carry a tune. But what explains his success, such as it is, as both an actor and singer? A friend sent me a tape of his lead performance in Jekyll & Hyde on Broadway. And having seen Robert Cuccioli, I was impressed with how barely adequate Mr. Hasselhoff was. Closeups were a mistake, as they revealed his inability to show whatever emotion would have been appropriate for the moment. And yet here he is, providing entertainment to the masses, even if only in the most ironic sense. I note, by the way, that Amazon has no listing for this album. In fact, most of the albums they do have are imports. Which, in this season of hope and cheer, gives me a warm feeling about my fellow Americans. At least in this, we would appear to have better taste than our European friends. Update 12/25: Whatever one may think of Mr. Hasselhoff's gifts as an entertainer, how can we deny his role as a force for good? As the BBC reveals in this article, Mr. Hasselhoff is distressed not to be acknowledged for his role in the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany. Guess his voice is a lot more powerful than it sounds. (With apologies to Mark Twain.) |
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| [ Category: Holiday | 7 comments | Link ] | |
Take me home: 
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