ZION'S LIONS

SUPES EXCITED!

About a month ago, I issued a songwriting challenge for my weekly post over at Crazytownblog, and this is the result!  Basically, the plan was to write a shameless pop song that might gain something in the direction of the 100 million + views that Rebecca Black has somehow mustered-up, scathing reviews notwithstanding.  If so, fame and fortune?  If not, at least it was more fun than playing the lottery!  Plus it inspired a long-distance collaboration with one of my best friends from high school, the multi-talented LA-based singer/actress/badass, Lynnette Li. 

A pretty big change from my more esoteric atonal piano mashup projects--funny thing is, I probably spent more time on this one!  Below is the official video (in typical ZILWAUKEE style), guaranteed to get you (or your tween nieces) fired up for summer!  Enjoy, download from iTunes (it should be available there and other sim places for a mere $.99!), spread the word, fire up!

Brubeck: Impossible

For this week, I've mashed-up two of the greatest tunes ever written in 5/4 time: Dave Brubeck's "Take 5" (1959) and the "Mission: Impossible" TV theme song (1966).  I lifted the drums/piano from my vinyl copy of "Time Out," added the MI bassline myself, and recruited my friend Guy Sion to play the melody on alto, and to add a little of his own flair to the piece.  Of course, I had to keep Joe Morello's iconically weird drum solo (mostly) intact. 

I was excited to long-distance collaborate with Guy on this one: he is a badass Israeli sax player who now lives in Norway.  We met hustling flutes and clarinets to NYC middle schoolers at a local music store a few years back.  He sent me four takes that were all killing, so it was very hard to choose--thanks Guy!

I paired it all with an excellent clip of James Bond skiing in the Alps from the beginning of "The Spy Who Loved Me" (1977).  Am I the only one who has occasionally confused the "Mission: Impossible" theme for a Bond theme?  Well it is in that spirit that I pair them together here!  Free mp3.

SALT-N-PEPA VS ANTON WEBERN

An unlikely mash-up inspires Finnish disco dancing!  Free mp3.
Original sheet music from Webern's Variations for Piano, Op. 27, II (1936) below.  I used the first movement a couple months ago for this Black Flag mash-up.  Love these little atonal German piano pieces! 

BANKSHOT! (Op Ivy Cover)

For this week, I've had the pleasure of working with The Hood Internet's ABX (otherwise known as my friend and one of my oldest collaborators, Aaron)  He's one of my best bro's from college, and we've played in a few bands together, but this is our first collaboration in about 6 years, so fire up!

Aaron came to me with the idea to do a sortof chillwave version of Operation Ivy's instrumental classic, Bankshot.  He sent me an awesome first draft with a bunch of great omnichord samples, and I started adding layers of synthchoir and other fun sounds.  We tossed it back and forth until we got it just right, and then paired it up with a bunch of awesome basketball footage.

I'm more and more realizing that this was a good project for Aaron and I to tackle together.  Not only did we both play in high school ska bands with funny names (me: The Beauty School Dropouts, him: Skavation Army (where's your web presence at, dudes?)), but both of our high school ska bands did Op Ivy covers! (us: Bad Town and Unity, them: Knowledge)  Also we are both totes awesome at basketball. 

Watch/listen above, download the free mp3 here, and please enjoy!

QUEEQUEG

Back to the tunes!  I'm about 2/3 the way through Moby Dick, which I've been lovingly devouring, and I've been particularly taken by all of the Harpooneers, especially Queequeg, who is the loose inspiration for this music/video pairing.  Three more harpooneers with awesome names (Tashtego, Daggoo, and Fedallah), I smell a song cycle!  I'm pretty happy with how this one turned out, rough trombone chops and all.  Watch/listen above, free mp3 here!

ps: I started blogging over at Crazytown yesterday, and I'll be posting there on Wednesdays going forward.  Check out my first post!

FREE GUITAR!!!

One more no-headphones-required post, then back to the music next week! 

I posted this to craigslist the other day:

As you might have already guessed, I did not actually find this guitar on 53rd St, but rather, snapped this picture of it at the small but excellent Picasso: Guitars 1912-1914 exhibit at MOMA.  I thought it would be fun to see what kind of responses I might get from unsuspecting browsers of the sometimes entertaining free stuff category on craigslist. (Disney Funsicle Kits anyone?)  I got about 30 emails quickly before the posting was "Flagged and Removed."  Apparently I have befouled craigslist's pristine reputation, and I hope they can forgive me.  Meanwhile, here are some highlights:

from Michael T:

hi, I'd like the guitar.  I'm decent with a soldering iron and I only date women that appreciate my guitar collection hobby.

from Adam Z:

hey saw your ad and wanted to know if you still have it in your possession and just had one question, is that how the guitar looks or is the pic a bit distorted? thanks for your time

from Dale K:

Could you send me the larger pic of this guitar?  I'd come to astoria to get it, but I can't make out in the little craigslist pic if I think I can work on it or not, please let me know.  thank you.

from Sergiones:

Hello!
Can you please specify dimensions for the guitar? and do you have
better picture of it?
Thank you.

[There were lots more like this.  I did have one fan though!]

from Melissa:

Hahahahabahaabaha ur post is funny mr. Picasso
U made my day

[and only one hater!  Well, other than the people who flagged me]

from Austin B:

sounds great. i feel badly though. why don't we make it an even trade. you can have this vintage urinal.

Well played, Austin B, well played.  Not that this experiment was so deep, but I do think it's interesting to wonder if we can recognize art outside of the museum context.  I happen to think this sculpture (the guitar, not the urinal) is beautiful and fragile and somehow embodies a musical spirit beyond the form that it suggests, but I can't deny that it has a slight elementary-school-art-class feel (which I love).  Is that only special because it was made by Picasso, and in this case in particular because you can really feel the hand of the artist?  Or would it still be special if you didn't know what it was, and saw it sitting next to a trash can on 53rd St?

Chocolate Maple Porter

I'm on a ski trip in beautiful Colorado this week, so no new music for this post.  I've been drinking some excellent Colorado beer, especially the Breckenridge Brewery Vanilla Porter (the cream soda of beers), so I'm inspired to share pictures of my recent adventures in beer-brewing.  I just finished my first batch of ZILWAUKEE'S BEST, Chocolate Maple Porter, which turned out great.  Malty, a little sweet, and delicious.  Hooray beer! 

Cooking the mash.

Straining the mash before boiling. (note homemade lauter tun)

Giving the wort an ice bath.

Young beer in the fermenter, with blow-off tube.

4 weeks later, first pour!

Radiohead vs Schoenberg

Here's a little mashup to add a some atmosphere to your Friday.  Radiohead's hyper-rhythmic "Feral" from their excellent new album "The King of Limbs" gets put in the Delorean and sent back 100 years to mingle with a pre-12-tone Schoenberg piano gem.  (Six Little Piano Pieces, Op. 19, no. 2, 1911)  I played the keys for this one, which took me a few more takes than it should have.  Watch/listen above, download the free mp3 here, and check out the original Schoenberg sheet music below.  Enjoy!

Oh yeah, the choreography is by the extremely creepy, Teletubbies-esque, Boohbahs. 

The Boohbahs are five furry, gumdrop-shaped creatures.  Their thick, shimmery fur sparkles with tiny lights; their Kewpie doll style heads are hairless and feature big eyes with rows of lights for eyebrows. The Boohbahs do not speak, but instead make noises like squeaks, oohbahs can retract their heads into their furry necks.  Their names are: Humbah (Yellow), Zumbah (Purple), Zing Zing Zingbah (Orange), Jumbah (Blue), and Jingbah (Pink).

River Rouge

Here is another glitchy fuzzbass groove--a follow-up of sorts to THUNDERSNOW--this time paired with a quasi-scandalous Debra Paget cobra dance from the Fritz Lang's 1959 low budge-epic, "The Indian Tomb."  I'm pretty sure this was filmed in Germany and that no one involved was Indian.  Huzzah!  Music and all instruments by moi.  As usual, watch/listen above and/or download the free mp3 here.

I also have two new ZILWAUKEE logos to show off, updated from my little graph paper sketch.  I got some stickers printed (so I can label my home-brew, ZILWAUKEE'S BEST!), so if you want one, send your address to eday@monsieurjour.com and I'll snail mail a couple to ya!

I Wanna Punch Glenn Beck (Glenn Beck in the neck)

Music and lyircs by me.  Last year some friends and I tried to start up a punk band in NYC called either Sweatband or Night Sharks, and I wrote this song for us.  We quickly discovered that it's hard to start a punk band when you're all in your early 30s.  We would try to practice, but we would often have to cancel for very non-punk rock reasons.  Chris had to work late.  I was volunteering.  John was at a wedding in Costa Rica.  So guys, if you're not snowboarding in Vermont or taking improv classes this weekend, I might be able to skip my wine tasting to make room for band practice!  Watch/listen above and/or download the free mp3 here.  Oh, and also, Glenn Beck sucks, obvs.

NO DEPOSIT, NO RETURN (Anton Webern vs Henry Rollins vs Captain Hollywood)

Here I've sliced-and-diced the first page of Webern's "Variations for Piano, Op. 27" (1936), added a beat suitable for the breakdancing stylings of Captain Hollywood (1983), and sprinkled in some spoken word from the A-side of Black Flag's "Family Man" (1984) for added seasoning.  I love how my friends and mash-up masters The Hood Internet make songs dance and groove in ways that they don't in their original forms, so that's basically what I'm going for here, ZILWAUKEE-style.  Check out the video above and/or download the free mp3 here.  Original source music below.  Fotokopieren gesetzlich verboten.

THUNDERSNOW

A glitchy bass-lead instrumental post-ska jam with electric trombone.  Music and all instruments by moi.  Paired with a fine 1960 Nancy Kwan.  Watch/listen above, and/or download free mp3 here.

ZILWAUKEE (the logo)