2 with ten – the letter a

astrud-gilberto

yesterday i was thinking about how different most of my friends’ itunes libraries are. i think u can tell a lot about someone by going through their music library – to a degree it reflects ur personality. i thought a fun thing to do would be to go through my own library from A-Z and pick 2 artists that start with each letter and then play one song from each. im gonna play songs by artists that i think everyone should at least be familiar with. i’m gonna pretend we’re just hangin and vibin’ out. my goal here is to hopefully inspire and reinvigorate your music library cos we all could benefit from a little change and growth. i’m on a quest for new or even old music that i havent heard (thus making it new to me) that will add something good to my life. there are too many bands out there and no way to filter them all. i will usually trust my friends opinion before any publication’s. if i pick a popular band dont fucking rag on me…it’s in my itunes and hey, i like it and im gonna tell ya why. i might even attempt to have the names of the songs also begin with that letter but that might prove a bit too difficult. ladies and gentlemen, i give you the the first installment of 2 with Ten featuring the letter A

Astrud Gilberto. I first heard astrud when i was in the company of a pretty blonde in her downtown detroit dirty hell hole of an apartment. i have loved her (astrud, not the girl) ever since. astrud was married to joao (famous) gilberto and the song she’s best known for is the girl from ipanema. interesting fact – bebel gilberto (who tours now) is technically not her real daughter – same dad, diff mom. that might explain something that i have always wondered about. i have seen her live show twice (one of those times we opened for her) and both times she didnt play her “mom’s” hit. both times i remember being bummed out to the point of swearing cos i wanted to hear the girl from ipanema. i guess there might be some weird issue with her mom- that’s the only reason i can think of for her not playing that song – damn u bebel. without further adieu here is agua de beber and not the girl from ipanema.

Air. i first heard air in the car of one of my gay friends back in 98. this guy had his finger on the pulse of what was some good electronic music back then. and no, his finger wasnt on the pulse of aything else if ya know what i mean. i was, and at times, still softly mesmerized by moon safari – their debut and easily my fav. i should play the song la femme d’argent which i consider the deepest and best track on that album but in efforts to play a song that begins with the letter A im going with alone in kyoto which is beautiful in its subtle build up psuedo chorus. this song was off a later cd…i think it was also in the movie lost in translation but i might be wrong about that and dont feel like fact checking it now. i havent been a big fan of their more recent stuff as i feel like it’s more of the same but not as good….that is the plight of almost every band. in an ideal world great bands evolve (ie the clash) instead of releasing watered down versions of their earlier records.

OK – please send me some music starting with the letter A – something u think is super cool and i would like…as well as Appreciate. Leave a comment – this will be good for everyone.

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Francis Ten

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24

10 2009

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  1. Z #
    1

    OK, sneaking these in at the midnight hour:
    Aes Dana
    http://ultimae.com/en/composers/aes%20dana/tracks.html
    (When your stuck on the tarmac during a red eye)
    and
    Arkestra One
    http://www.myspace.com/arkestraonemusic
    and because I don’t know if this is a T or A:
    The Album Leaf:
    http://www.myspace.com/arkestraonemusic
    “Broken Arrow” is getting lot’s of play on my Ipod these days. Cheers Fran…

  2. F10 #
    2

    dan where the fuck have u been!? obviously not drinking since i have no drunk voice mails

  3. Dan #
    3

    You’re spot on with the iTunes library being a window into someone. Though, I’m still a fan of buying CDs (if the album has at least 4 good songs) as they are usually out in the open for visitors to peruse and it’s less intrusive to tip-toe over to the display of CDs than to ask “hey, if I promise to avoid finding your porn, can I look through your iTunes on your computer?” Though it is 2009 and they probably have the iPod situated out in the open in a dock but still, you have to purposely ask to pick it up and look through it. And as we all know, your friend’s computer/desktop iTunes is the master not the iPod itself…so if they have William Hung’s latest music, it will be there. Though, throwing in William Hung in my iTunes would act as a sort of “brown M&M” because there’s no way any of my friends would be able to hold back harassing me for it and thus I would know they looked through my music bible. Ah, William Hung….such a bright star burnt out too fast. haha

  4. F10 #
    4

    THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR LEAVING A SUGGESTION. I HAVE JUST RESPONDED TO ALL OF THEM VIA VIDEO POST – chalkmaze – great call on aphex twin…didnt get a chance to mention this on vid but good call – nice to reconnect with a little aphex twin

  5. Chalkmaze #
    5

    Aphex Twin (Not an unknown by any means) Love this song.

    Nannou – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaXqU7hVVhI

  6. Gregg Pirazzini #
    6

    I’m a big fan of Japanese rock music even though I’m not Japanese. Did you know there’s a singer/guitarist there who goes by the name of Air as well? My favorite song of his is Hair Do and here’s a link to a live of him playing it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxxbtmgvMO4
    I also recommend his songs Me We and Liberal. He also plays jazz style music too.
    Then there’s the song Aoharu Youth by one of my favorite bands (besides WIG) Supercar and here’s the link for that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toBuWGYAh9M
    I recommend every song by them especially Lucky and White Surf Style 5.
    Looking forward to WIG coming to the Belly Up Nov. 20!

  7. Ian #
    7

    Asteroids Galaxy Tour: Sun Aint Shining No More: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTuAXV8WyuI

  8. Scott H #
    8

    OK, in an attempt to balance the rock with the smooth, I first present A.R. Rahman’s “Mumbai Theme Tune”, a symphonic little number that I simply always have an ear for due to it’s ambient goodness:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fm-l_zD–j0

    Secondly, here’s the rock, The Avengers “American In Me”. A theme tune that pretty much sold me on the punk rock back when I was 15 years old:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXb_fltp8QI

  9. Brian #
    9

    Great call on Air’s Moon Safari. Definitely one of my favorites and is commonly in my record player.

    Are you a fan of Autechre?

    br

  10. F10 #
    10

    damn – love these responses – i will check all these songs out…thanx for the you tube links – i will let u know what i think