Friday, February 26, 2010

Whistling Dave; Scooter

Scooter is a German hard dance band founded in Hamburg, who have sold over 25 million records and earned 80 gold and platinum awards. Scooter are considered the most successful single-record German act with 23 top ten hits. The band is currently composed of members H.P. Baxxter, Rick J. Jordan and Michael Simon. Although most of the band’s early recordings are in the styles of happy hardcore or hard trance, Scooter have experimented with other dance genres such as hardstyle and jumpstyle, and occasionally hip hop, hard rock and house.”¹



“‘Whistling Dave’ [is an instrumental song that] samples the Russian folk song ‘Korobeiniki’, known as the theme music from the video game Tetris, specifically the Nintendo Game Boy version.”²

 

do you remember this?

“Music A in the Game Boy edition of Tetris has become very widely known, to the point that Level 20 in Tetris DS is based on the Game Boy version of Tetris and uses that theme. It is an instrumental arrangement of a Russian folk tune called ‘Korobeiniki’ (with various Latin spellings), which has been covered by UK dance band Doctor Spin, US alternative rock band Ozma, Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, Basshunter the Swedish Eurodance DJ, and also the German techno group Scooter on their 2007 album Jumping All Over the World. It was also sampled in ‘21 Concepts’ by MC Lars. Music A and B are also remixed and arranged for Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and can be selected for the stage ‘Luigi's Mansion’, as well as being used in custom stages. The song has also been remixed for two dance games, under the name ‘Pumptris Quattro’ in Pump It Up NX2 and ‘Happy-hopper’ in Dance Maniax 2nd Mix.”³



“The song ‘Korobeiniki’ is based on a poem with the same name by Nikolay Nekrasov, written and printed in the Sovremennik magazine in 1861. Due to its increasing tempo and the dance style associated with it, it quickly became a popular Russian folk song.

“Korobeiniki were peddlers with trays, selling fabric, haberdashery, books and other small things in pre-revolutionary Russia. The song tells the story of a young Korobeinik trying to sell his goods to a dark-eyed girl named Katya, eventually kissing her which leads them to disappear into a rye field, and she mysteriously ends up taking a turquoise ring from him. The events that lead to her getting this ring are expressed through metaphor.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Dry Freezing Tongue; Mallu Magalhães

Mallu Magalhães became famous by MySpace. When she did 15, she asked to her parents money instead gifts to record some of her own songs. MTV Brasil paid attention on Mallu music style (her influences are bands like The Beatles, Belle and Sebastian, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash) and invited her to participate in a global project called “Sessões MTV”. Thenceforward, she is “taking over the world”!

Becoming famous, Mallu met Marcelo Camelo. She and him played and sung together in some concerts, spent time touring around the country, released one song together... Sure enough, sooner or later, they felt in love and started to date. =)

This song tells about her tactless with boys*. She is also unskilful with the English language. Despite she can write songs in English good enough, her accent is awkward and funny. Don’t you think so?


I wanna call you and suddenly hang up the phone
Just to feel those brave winds inside me going on
And that’s all I need and you’re just calling back
My rusty fingers scratch my weak falling neck

Look how easy I am, am I just a cheap one?
That you can have your secret song just whispering on the phone

And that’s all I need, that’s my floor and stairs
That’s my blood in tracks, that’s my water and air

So, pass the time we are waiting
Here goes the life I am playing

Here goes another secret song,
That’s me playing my dry freezing tongue,
Here goes another boy I keep
And here goes another job I quit.




Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Doce Solidão; Marcelo Camelo

After the members of Los Hermanos decided to take a break and confirmed the hiatus, the singer Marcelo Camelo started his solo carreer and released his first solo album in 2008, naming it “Sou”. The cover of the album has a play with the words “sou” and “nós” — one meaning the other if read upside down — which means, respectively, “[I] am” and “we”.

“Sou” was attended by artists like the singers Dominguinhos and Mallu Magalhães. The whistled track is sung only by Camelo, it’s so soothing and sticky that I can hear it for hours...


Posso estar só
Mas, sou de todo mundo
Por eu ser só um
Ah, nem! Ah, não! Ah, nem dá!
Solidão, foge que eu te encontro
Que eu já tenho asa
Isso lá é bom, doce solidão?




Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Deixa o Verão; Los Hermanos

Still in Valentine's Day aura, the next three posts will be a trilogy: Los Hermanos was the former band by the singer Marcelo Camelo; Marcelo Camelo is the guy who dates the sixteen multi-instrumentalist Mallu Magalhães.

The band Los Hermanos was born 1997 in Rio de Janeiro. Under the Ska Punk genre mixed with Hardcore and MPB they made a lot of success with their eponymous first album. The time passed and the band matured to an indie rock style, then (the 2 last albums) to a lo-fi sound, charged with an old samba characteristic.

"Deixa o Verão" was recorded on the penult album, the 2003 "Ventura". It was written by Rodrigo Amarante, the guitarist-bassist-pianist-flautist of "Los Hermanos". This song tells about lazyness: the refrain means "let the Summer for later...", it sounds like The Smiths, one of the influences of Amarante.

Today, Amarante is playing in the band Little Joy.


Deixa eu decidir se é cedo ou tarde
espere eu considerar
ver se eu vou assim chique-à-vontade
qual o tom do lugar.

Enquanto eu penso você sugeriu
um bom motivo pra tudo atrasar.
E ainda é cedo pra lá
chegando às seis tá bom demais
Deixa o verão pra mais tarde

Uh ah ãã aeãeã

Não tô muito afim de novidade
Fila em banco de bar
Considere toda hostilidade
que há da porta pra lá

Enquanto eu fujo você inventou
qualquer desculpa pra gente ficar
E assim a gente não sai
que esse sofá tá bom demais
Deixa o verão pra mais tarde

Uh ah ãã aeãeã

E eu digo,cá entre nós
deixa o verão pra mais tarde

Uh ah ãã aeãeã




Monday, February 22, 2010

Welcome to the Jungle; Richard Cheese

As I promissed, here it is: Welcome to the Jungle, the Guns n' Roses song whistled and “lounged” by Richard Cheese!

This cover is a piece of gold! It has all a big band atmosphere, doesn't look like a hard rock song at all... Cheese shouts like Plant in "Dazed and Confuzed"! He whistles the melody of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" referring to the jungle. Screams like Tarzan in the beginning also.
I couldn't find a music video...

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH OH OH OH!

Welcome to the jungle
We got fun 'n' games
We got everything you want, Honey
We know the names
We are the people that can find
Whatever you may need
If you got the money honey
We got your disease

In the jungle
Welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to your na-na-na-na-knees, knees
I wanna watch you bleed

In the jungle
Welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to your na-na-na-na-knees, knees
I wanna watch you bleed

And when you're high you never
Ever want to come down, so down, so down, so down!
YEAH!
OH OH OH OH YO!

You know where you are?
You're in the jungle baby
You're gonna die!

In the jungle
Welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to your na-na-na-na-knees
Watch it bring you down!

I couldn't put the song playing entirely, so you can listen it clicking here!