While Sarah and were I driving around in our rented Avenger in December, we appreciated the Sirius satellite radio it came with. I’d never played with that before. It’s pretty sweet. We tuned right in to “Left of Center Sirius 26” and pretty much left in there the whole time. Given my previous post, I’m sure that sounds like a talk show akin to AirAmerica.
Well, it’s not. It’s just a music station, but they play interesting new rock; kind of like The River used to in the mid-to-late-’90s before they sold out and fell back into snoozy listening. You know, stuff that it would be hard for me to find elsewhere (except maybe Narg and Carrie’s mix discs). And there was a really hot track attributed to Mark Ronson we heard in a Walgreen’s parking lot, where I was stocking up on a rainbow of deodorant flavors for the next year or so. We made a note to remember the name, and then forgot about it promptly.
Until Phil posted most recently on his blog, that is. Thanks a bunch for the reminder, Phil!
Went over to iTunes (where I had resolved to buy less music after buying this Mac mini, not more), found the song, and found the whole album was going for only €7. Reading up a little bit on him in his blurb on iTunes, we found out he’s behind two albums we really dug from last year – Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black” and Lily Allen’s “Alright, Still.” Well, duh — no wonder we like him.
Here’s why: the man is not shy about horns. Trombones, saxophones, and especially big ole barry saxophones. And devoted readers know I dig well-done mashups and unusual cover versions. His covers of Trainwreck Spears’ “Toxic” and Radiohead’s “Just” are really, really, interesting.
If you’ve got iTunes, take a listen into “Toxic” or “Just”. The original one which piqued our interest was “Oh My God” (obviously) featuring Lily Allen on lead vocals.
I like it when the funk comes back around.