Pogo

Guess what, I'm actually back!!! I have a ludicrous amount of spare time this semester with high speed internet available so expect updates to be weekly or bi-weekly for sure. And I have to celebrate my return with an old favorite that I'm sharing here for the first time: Pogo.

I could gush endlessly about this amazingly talented musician but I'll try to keep it reasonable. He's a very hard man to pidgeonhole considering that the closest genre he fits is Dance/Electronica but it doesn't even fit that. In simplest terms, he is sampling audio from any number of great movies and creating a wonderous amalgamation of seemingly abstract clips and fragments. And before that starts getting really confusing, here's an example using clips taken from the old Disney version of "Alice in Wonderland" (his most popular piece)

He can be a bit of a hard sell for those that find his music hard to get behind but the rewards of the music itself far outweigh any complaints that I can comprehend. His tracks have sampled a wide variety of films (mostly "family" films) including classics like Mary Poppins, Hook, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Up, Toy Story, Harry Potter, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, The Sword in the Stone, and many others that I will never know. The music has a strange way of invoking emotions and memories of the movies while still remaining distinct. The actual music behind the "lyrics" is amazing as well (the bass beat to Alice had me addicted for weeks.) The videos themselves are works of art as well. But the best part of the bargain is that nearly all of his music is free!!! His profile on LastFM contains four free EPs containing most of his music including a album dedicated to Alice in Wonderland. Most of the rest of his music can be found on his website or on the youtube pages for the individual songs. And because I'm just sharing the love, I'll post some of his best tracks below. Enjoy!!!

UPDATE: I realize that I did a poor job at really linking you to the other tracks not on last.fm so here are two real links to "Expialidocious"and "Upular." Some of the other links I've used have dried up but look around and you will find them.

His newest song made from Toy Story, sponsored by Pixar!!

His song from Up, also sponsored by Pixar

His song sampled from Hook, which Sony tried to sue him for...

And finally a real world mix made for he made for his mother on Mother's Day. Sweet...

Apologies Needed (Not a band name)

Sorry peoples... I've had a really hard time keeping this updated over the summer due to little to no internet access at times and a lot of other things on my plate. I'm leaving for New Hampshire this week for 2 1/2 weeks with no internet unless I drive into town to use the library's wifi. I will try to throw in some more over the summer but I won't have a consistent schedule back until the fall semester. Sorry but enjoy anyway!!!

Game Related Music (In Honor of E3)

Another apology for lack of updates. Anyways... I thought I'd unload quite a few different game related bits of music today in honor of E3 (biggest gaming expo of the year) this month. I've already done some like Jonathan Coulton's songs, 8 Bit Weapon, and the video game theme website but I also wanted to give some more.

First up is another fun 8-Bit renditioning of a classic. The entire Pink Floyd album "Dark Side of the Moon" has been redone very faithfully in an 8-Bit style and is a really good listen especially for those that appreciate the original album. The author's website contains several different zip files of the album so pick your favorite and download!

Next up is a great compilation album in tribute to the Sega Genesis from a bunch of different artists. Simply entitled "Loser," it contains music related to nearly every good game from the console with many of them being really good. There are a couple bad nerdcore raps but the majority is very entertaining. It even contains a cover of "Billie Jean" in accordance with MJ's Moonwalker...

And lastly this site contains many more game related albums but they can be really hit or miss so venture at your own risk. Oh wait, one more. A fun and hilarious rap to an old mario game BUT IT IS HIGHLY VULGAR!! WATCH AT OWN RISK!!! Enjoy!!!

Rainbow

In tribute to Ronnie James Dio's passing this past month (due to cancer), I thought it only fitting to offer a great song from his days in Rainbow. The song "Kill The King (Live)" is available on Amazon from a live cd in Munich from 1977. Great song by one of the greatest metal vocalists to have ever lived. I was blessed enough to see him with Black Sabbath (Heaven and Hell) as my first real rock show. He will be missed.



As an extra treat, check out this old music video cartoon to a song he sang. Trippy but beautifully animated video, amazing song, and Dio singing rock make this something not to miss. Enjoy!!

Goot: Revisited

In making up for my absence, prepare for several new entries!! But I'll start with Goot (who I have mentioned before) who has more music up. Recently he posted several new covers including "Beat It" by Michael Jackson, "She's So High" by Tal Bachman, and "Fireflies" by Owl City. Unfortunately "Beat It" and "She's So High" are not free but are available on iTunes. "Fireflies" on the other hand is free from his website. All three are very well done and worth checking out. Both the vids below are amazing as well. Enjoy!!!

House of Heroes

Hey Younglifers (and everyone else), quick update today with a fun christian band called House of Heroes. Christian music as a genre can be hard to find for free so stuff like this is appreciated. Even though they are technically classified as Christian, they have a very broad appeal and should be enjoyable by anyone. They have a great varied sound that mostly stays within alternative but can range from poppy acoustic to even a heavy metal sound (within the same song even!) Amazon has 4 free songs from 2 separate locations. The first is a three-song EP titled "The End is Not The End" containing the songs "In The Valley of the Dying Sun", "If", and "Lose Control." "In The Valley of the Dying Sun" in particular is really good if the high vocals in the chorus don't annoy you. The other songs do not have that falsetto though... If you download it as an album it's free but if you do it song by song there will be a cost. The second is a free Christmas song off of another 3-song EP titled "The Christmas Classics - EP". "Silent Night" is available for free and is an honestly good cover with a nice string ensemble through the bridge. If you don't have an Amazon account, you will need to make one for free but it will ask for info like credit card for billing (it is Amazon after all.)

The video below is for "In The Valley of the Dying Sun" and is actually a very good video and adds extra layers of meaning to the song. Warning: There is lots of blood and violence in the video. Enjoy nonetheless!!!

UPDATE: The Christmas single has been removed by Amazon (they are often temporary deals) but the EP is still intact. Another song from their newest album is available from here if you post a message through Twitter about it. Please give them a chance and download this great music!!!

8 Bit Weapon (ComputeHer)

Before I dive into my choice for today, I want to recommend my brother's blog site that he just started for highlighting indie or smaller artists that deserve your attention. We'll both be trying to cross promote and link to each other with my site hopefully offering free music to many of the bands he recommends. Check it out!

Every now and then I run into some really good 8-bit styled music and most of the time it happens to be from the same band. For those who don't know 8-bit music is basically what you would hear from a old-school video game system (Nintendo, Atari 2600, Commodore 64, Gameboy.) Some bands even go as far as only using the original consoles to make the music such as 8-bit Weapon (also known as ComputeHer). Their site has plenty of free music worth listening to including two full EPs. The first was created as a soundtrack to a retro-styled cellphone game (that has since been released for free for PC) called "Reset Generation." The whole album is available as a zip file directly from here. Good stuff with a fun techie remix of "American Pie" ironically called "2D Died." The second album is an 8-bit re-imagining of the movie "Tron." It includes several pieces from the original soundtrack redone in bleeps and bloops and is available here. Several other of the singles are specifically worth your attention including "Gameboy Rocker", "Crazy Comets", and "Mario 2 (Drum Mix)." Other tracks have been available on the site from time to time including a remix of a Freezepop song and a christmas themed EP but have currently been removed. The christmas EP will probably be up again by next christmas though. A couple other singles can be found on Last.fm if you're interested. Enjoy!!