If music be the food of love, blog on
It’s been a great week for music fans who are slowly realising that death does not necessarily unbecome art.
There’s ‘new’ music from The Beatles, of course.
And although it’s been kinda leaked for years, the second, unreleased album from the great Kirsty MacColl has finally seen the light of day, after 40 years, thanks to the Streaming Gods. For someone who loved her forays into synth-rock and new-wave super-production, I’m a little chuffed.
I was halfway through a note to Spotify when I saw one of the greatest pop singles of all time, Together In Electric Dreams, incorrectly credited to Human League, rather than Giorgio Moroder.
Glad I did my research, though. I had forgotten that this was a collaboration with Philip Oakey. It’s not a Human League track, but they consider it one of their Greatest Hits and still perform it at concerts.
Nice to find it on the playlist today though. I can highly recommend the Spotify Stations app as a shortcut to your pool tunes.
UPDATE: Australian daytime TV has the definitive cover; sometime around 1985. Glorious.
that air horn is blowing away
the clear thinking that’s needed to stop
the loud air horn from making itself the discussion
They Might Be Giants – “The Neck Rolls Aren’t Working“
Relying on the 100% Accurate, Exhaustive, Methodical process from Mr. Gerbear, I hereby award this year’s #Eurovision points. Australian Jury, you have your marching orders.
As always, this is based on a listen alone; I haven’t seen or heard the televised performances, so if someone bums a note or has a notable bum, I haven’t been swayed. We’re doing science here, people.
Here’s the full list. I’m as surprised as you are about some of the positions. Especially Spain. Am I a tree*?
But not about The Netherlands. The Netherlands’ entry is bad and they should feel bad. Points négatifs.
UPDATE: Moar science – this suggests my controversial pick of Lithuania at #3 has support in the extant literature. Science!
Looks like another in-depth analysis of Eurovision voting is in order. Stay tuned until after the spoiler period has passed in Western Australia…
Here’s my prediction for Eurovision this year. Russia will undoubtedly win, but Malta brought a banger this year.
This top 10 is based on The Song alone – I haven’t seen any of these acts in action, so I reserve the right to edit these after the second semifinal.
Who gets your vote?
Context: “The crickets sing a song for you”, also. It’s all about the rhythm, not the melody.
Just rediscovered this audio file I put together a few years back. Worth a listen with headphones.
Australia’s 5th placing in Eurovision 2015 was an outstanding result for a first (and only) time contender. ‘Our’ performance in last night’s final proved that Guy was the right Guy for the job.
It was heartening to see Sweden (the winners) and Austria (the hosts) putting Australia first in their voting; but there are 4 nations who registered ‘nil points’ for the Aussies, and, in that light, their friendships should be reviewed:
PORTUGAL: I have some good friends in Portugal, what gives, guys? Boycott Nandos Chicken.
AZERBAIJAN and GEORGIA: come on, Turkey would have been totally cool with giving us some points they’d been here this year:
Glad we only gave you guys a point to share. We can’t really go after any of your multinationals, so let’s just be spiteful and rethink buying baklava.
CZECH REPUBLIC: Might be time to reconsider that Škoda.
UPDATE: It’s worth noting that the hosts, Austria, had the wurst score from the final, receiving not a sausage from their guests. That’s kinda rude, right? They can cry in their beer with their German friends, who also left voteless.
First screenshot from the new toy
BONWAG 
