The Muse in Muzak

You know, in all my multi-media ramblings, I haven’t really touched on music since my Year End Wrap Up. And that was all of what? Five months ago? An eternity, folks. So without further ado, allow me to introduce my five most recent musical discoveries, the folks I listen to when I write, when I script my game, when I write these posts, and yes, when I read your queries.

1. Brental Floss: You folks may or may not find him funny. Personally, I think he’s hilarious. And I know this makes me sound like a huge nerd, (oh noes! The cat’s out of the bag now) but he’s the Weird Al of video games. If on the off chance any of you are actually closet classic gamers in disguise, you’ll be glad to know he’s got an album out, but the hard copy can only be bought from one store. You can get the MP3s from Amazon or iTunes though. When I did, one of the tracks didn’t download though. So angry, Amazon. So very angry.

2. Daikaiju: Last time I did this, prominently featured was Man or Astroman, a 90s surf rock revival with a sci-fi theme and a heavy dose of psychedelic undertone. The fact is that they’re awesome, but they sort of petered out. Their first three albums are solid gold but they sort of faded to being merely good. That’s where Daikaiju, a more recent giant monster themed band comes in. The description of the you-tube posting of my favorite of their songs, “The Trouble with those Mothra girls” is accompanied by a fan’s description which runs thus- “This song makes em want to surf on the juices produced by my own melted face. Truth is you're simply not worthy. Press your face against your speaker and BLOW YOUR MIND.” And it's true. You're not. But Daikaiju in their ultimate wisdom and compassion will allow you to listen anyway. Still, I think you should check out the live version here if only to see the killer guitar work at the end. Not only are these guys about the most kick-ass instrumental band ever, but even though they’re not big time, they’re tireless self promoters, which all y’all should look into.

3. Reverend Horton Heat: You’d think I’d have been listening to these folks all along. I like goofy, up-tempo stuff, and being that I actually know who Johnny Horton (Jen-You-Wine 50s honky-tonk) is, I can’t really think of who would be the intended audience if not me. But I was never really in on the psychobilly crowd before now. Maybe I should be.

4. Well, while I’m on the topic of psychobilly, I would be remiss not to mention The Meteors, even though I don’t honestly know that much about them. Do I need to?

5. Los Straightjackets: If you’re interested in some top tier straight up classic Ventures style instrumental surf rock, these just might be your boys. And yes, they always wear those Mexican wrestling masks. Why you ask? Well don’t. You don’t know what they’ll do to you if you piss ‘em off. They’s kuhraaaazy. Also, they’ll be celebrating my birth with a free concert in Rowayton CT towards the end of July, if any of you fine folks care to join me in rocking the fuck out.