They Only Look Like Dirty Hippies

I accidentally discovered this sweet little ditty through a live version I heard a few days ago, and I am now hooked.

A little background info on the band: The Magic Numbers are two brother-sister pairs who all met at a London Catholic School. The two pairs met there, I mean. I'm sure the siblings knew each other somewhat longer. Then they became a band.

Anyhoo, two personal points I'd like to make: 1. "Forever Lost" was from their 2005 debut album. I know I'm way late on this, but it's just so good I gotta share it. 2. I really think I need to get over whatever preconceptions I have of bands based on their grimey looks, crappy album covers, or... mainly their grimey looks. I almost missed out on My Morning Jacket, and the Magic Numbers have a very poppy, Carpenters-esque sound. Moral: don't judge a band by its B.O.



And the live version: The Magic Numbers - Forever Lost (Benicassim live)

Triple Threat

1. Is Q-tip done being pretentious? I'm not entirely sure, but Getting Up sounds miiiiighty nostalgic.

2. Anyone remember Common on Armand Van Helden's Full Moon joint? Well, the Universal Mind Control's electro groove is probably as close as dude will get to doing another house track (click through as embedding's been disabled).

3. Back when Black on Both Sides dropped, I remember listening to New World Water and thinking, shit, did Mos take ISF16 too? As supplementary material to my Cal course on technology and globalization, the track was totally on point. Mathematics is the new New World Water.

An 8bit Family Affair

Like many Asian males who never played intramural sports, the boy Fat Kids are avid video game fans. Jerome's Wii is his baby. Bobby's obsession with anything involving a controller stems partly from a console-less childhood. I'll pretty much go wide-eyed for any game that involves stealing cars or firing off rocket launchers. On several occasions, we've talked about doing a gaming blog, but the biggest obstacle is that I can't get games for free on Mininova.

However, we'll always have video game music to tide us over. Enter: Chiptune band, YMCK.

Good entrance.

I mentioned YMCK a few months ago, mistaking them for a Taiwanese band simply because the latest news item on their official website at the time was them playing a Taiwanese festival. Oops.

Anyway, a few days ago I finally got their 2008 release, Family Genesis, and it's Chip-tastic. To pay my respects to this album, I finally signed up for another file-hosting site and uploaded a couple select tracks:

YMCK - Sabita Tobira No Dai 8 Tengoku

YMCK - Starlight

Old habits are still hard to break, so here's a video for sake of blog consistency:

Hot Babes, Martinis, Licenses to Kill, and Bitchin' Songs

I read somewhere a long time ago that one of the greatest musical honors is to be asked to write a James Bond film theme. Alumni have included Nancy Sinatra, Shirley Bassey, Paul McCartney, and perennial favorite, Quiet Riot. Kidding.

Anyway, prepare the marble busts for the newest additions, Alicia Keys and Jack White, with "Another Way to Die" for Quantum of Solace:


And while we're at it, here are couple of my favorites:

Garbage's "The World is Not Enough":


And Carly Simon's "Nobody Does It Better":

Half-Assed Reunions

2 reunion stories to get you moderately amused:

1. Jackson 5

The good news: Janet's opening for the guys.

The bad news: Michael wants nothing to do with it.

The redeeming news: There were six brothers, so technically, they still could call themselves the Jackson 5.

Final take: Throw them a fucking bone, Mike. We're in the middle of a recession, and your sibs need to put food on the table.

2. Led Zeppelin

The good news: After an assload of reunion rumors, this one's finally kinda substantiated.

The bad news: Robert Plant wants nothing to do with it.

The redeeming news: Dee Snider of Twisted Sister claims the other guys are working with the singer from Alter Bridge.

Final take: It'll probably be better if they don't mention the Alter Bridge part.