Matt Harding quit his job a few years back, and wandered around Asia until the money that he had saved ran out. At a friend’s suggestion, he filmed himself showing off his unique style of dancing in various places during the trip. In 2006, his video caught the attention of Stride Gum, who sponsored a six month trip to 39 countries for another round of dancing. In 2007, Matt got Stride to sponsor a second trip around the world so that he could film other people doing his dance with him. That idea transformed his video from a neat oddity into something that you can’t help but smile at.

Matt’s latest video is four and a half minutes of people from 42 countries sharing a brief moment of silliness, which is something that we all can use to remind ourselves that there is a big, fun world out there beyond bosses, bills, and baggage. It also should serve as a reminder that if your cubicle is sucking the life out of you, you’ll never know what strange adventures are in store for you until you turn in your ID badge and leave it behind.

Matt, if the unlikely event that you ever happen upon this page, thanks for making my day a few times over. This is awesome.

(found via Boingboing)

More information on where the hell Matt is now can be found at his website, wherethehellismatt.com

Doo Wop was a specific sub-genre of R&B that was born on the street corners of the 1950’s when city kids went beyond simple harmonies of the 1940’s and began vocalizing sounds that were traditionally created by instruments. They inadvertently created an entirely new style called Doo Wop that would become a major force in popular music for over a decade. The genre had peaked in popularity by the early 1960’s, but its influence extended into the electric style of the early Motown sound through groups like the Four Tops, Temptations, Isley Brothers, and others.

I spent a couple of days researching Doo Wop bands for this list, and even though I eliminated a lot of borderline acts with a fairly strict interpretation of what Doo Wop is, I still ended up with over 130 tracks. There should be a good balance between classics and rarities, but I didn’t grow up in the 50’s, so if you notice any glaring omissions, be sure to drop me a comment.

You won’t find Little Jon & The Teen Tones in the mix (I faked the picture from an old Atlantic 45), but you can listen to the Doo Wop playlist by scrolling all the way to the left in the player below.

Enjoy!

Brad Sucks - I Don’t Know What I’m Doing (indie): I do my best to thank people who link to me, so while tracking down the person who posted my beard quest to In4mador, I found that the poster had a website featuring his band, “Brad Sucks”. Because there is an armada of unknown bands that use the internet as a deep water dumping ground for cheaply produced musical trash, I can tell you that I wasn’t very excited about the possibility of wading into the auditory garbage pile that day. The guy did link to me, so even though I sort of sighed like “here we go again” when I thought about pushing play, I found it impossible to pass over an artist with such a self-deprecating, smirk inducing name, without at least giving his album a courtesy listen.

After I got through once, I found that it had the same appeal the second and third time through. My hair is too short and my pants are too high for me to consider myself to be an indie fan, but the way I Don’t Know What I’m Doing floats around an indie pop core instead of cutting through the center makes this an indie album for people who aren’t into indie. Some of the album has an acoustic singer/songwriter or even pop-rock feel, while tracks like “Making me nervous” and “Overreacting” have a definitely electronic base. It’s so varied that you never feel like you’re being sucked into another indie trap that will end up at the bottom of that pile of CD’s that you’ve been meaning to sell.

Shotgun CD reviews are short reviews on CDs that you can usually pick up for $10 or less. For further explanation, check the FAQ

Tipsy - Trip Tease (dj): Trip Tease is an oddity by a San Francisco DJ outfit that uses space age pop as a basis for their samples. It seems like a novel concept, but when it was released in 1996, there were a fair number of people doing exactly the same thing because of an easy listening and lounge revival. The only other album I can remember in this style from the time was an album called Sacrebleu by Dimitri From Paris, which I. Fucking. Hated. That album shut me off from the style because it wasn’t done right. This one is. If you were ever into space age pop, it’s pretty cool to hear all the different samples mixed together coherently. If you weren’t ever into space age pop, it may not hold the same interest without the mental gymnastics of trying to recognize the samples as they swim by. Is it an interesting oddity to have in your collection? Yes, definitely. Would you take it to a desert island with you if you could only take 25 albums? Probably not, but it’s put together really well for both turntablist and space age pop fans who are looking for something a little different. B

Antonio Carlos Jobim - Wave (bossa nova): You may not recognize Jobim by name, but almost everyone is familiar with a little bossa nova tune called “The Girl From Ipanema” that took the world by storm when Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto recorded it on their album Getz/Gilberto in 1964. Jobim not only wrote the music for that tune, but he’s credited with writing most of the songs on that album. Jobim was a native of Rio de Janeiro and the sleepy, smooth sounds of bossa nova were his playground. For many, Wave might remind you of being trapped in an elevator in 1967, but to me, it’s an awesomely relaxing ride that transports me to a place where I’m smoking a pipe and looking out over the city from behind the plate glass of my wall-sized picture window. With one hand in the pocket of my smoking jacket, I wonder who the beautiful woman is swimming downstairs in my pool, but I can’t be bothered to investigate because women like that tend to only lead to more questions… B+

When Mike sent over an old commercial for a weird kids’ toy called the Swing Wing, my first thought was, “Monkey? check. Elephant? check. Soundtrack? Meh. If this toy only had a big name band doing its jingle, it could’ve been as big a fad for the head as hula hoop was for the waist.”

It didn’t, so it wasn’t, but thanks to some creative individuals out there, the Swing Wing may still have a chance at catching on with pre-headbangers, tiny hustlers, and kids who are on the “E”. Or the “X”. Or whatever the kids are ingesting that makes them swing around glow sticks these days.

The Swing Wing Thrash Remix (featuring Slayer)

Shotgun CD reviews are short reviews on CDs that you can usually pick up for $10 or less. For further explanation, check the FAQ

Valient Thorr - Legend of the World (rock): This, my friends, is what I have been looking for: something with enough driving intensity to trick me into playing air guitar in places that are a little too public for air guitar. This 2006 release from Valient Thorr is similar to the straight rock of the Hellacopters in some respects, but with a more driving, and purely American sound. Thanks to old school rock breakdowns that drag you down like a giant squid and then body slam you onto the shore when you resurface, the dynamic power of this album has made it one that I continually return to. If the energy of this album doesn’t get your blood pumping, then corporate America has dried your bones and left you for dead. This is denim jacket with no sleeves and a patch on the back rock n’ fucking roll. I’m not even going to mention that the band supports the National Kidney Foundation or that they have a collection of the baddest ass beards that I’ve ever seen in one band. Whoops. Well, they do. ROCK. A-

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights (soul): Even though this album was released at the end of 2007, it has the feel of an album that should’ve been released 40 years prior. This is the third release from the queen of New York neo-soul, and it’s a living museum that even a hardcore Motown fan would have a hard time believing was made so recently. I can’t help feeling like I should be listening to this on a transistor radio while laying on a beach blanket on a warm summer day when gas was low and hemlines were high. It has that easy, grooving feel of the summer beach day when all of what you’re feeling is expressed in your smile. For a kid raised on Motown, it doesn’t get much better. This is just that good. A-

I was a city mouse who was raised on soul. #1GF! was a country mouse, and no matter how much she denies it, she was raised on both kinds of music: Country and Western.

#1GF! might deny her musical roots, but classic country has earned a special place in my CD rack. When I’m slow on the draw and I need somethin’ to chaw, it’s not the tight pants wearin’, goatee sportin’, WWF lovin’ country of today that I’m after. It’s the classics: yesteryear’s harmonies of heartbreak and melodies of melancholy are what I need to get me back in the saddle.

If you’re ten gallon hat is feeling five gallons flat, click the little green button below.

Enjoy!

Warning: Before listening to this playlist, check with your doctor if you have a history of alcoholism, depression, or bleeding in the brain from a head injury. If you have any of these conditions, you may not be able to use this playlist, or you may need to adjust your dosage accordingly. If after listening to this playlist you experience tearing of the eyes, consult a physician immediately because you may be suffering from a rare, but serious side effect as a result of very specific type of heart ailment.

If this is it (oooh wop), please let me know. Well, this is it, folks. The final edition of Finetune Friday. It’s been going on for a year now, and this month’s theme is putting out any playlists that you’ve been itching to get out the door.

Over the last 12 months this has been an experiment in communicating with each other through sharing music. It was a lot of fun, but coming up with playlists that fit within my themes could be a challenging and time consuming task. I know that some lists took me hours to put together, and some of the more complicated lists took me days. The following people stuck with it every month and dedicated the time and effort into compiling lists that we all could enjoy, and I think they deserve a little something for the effort. So when they die, on their death beds, they will receive total consciousness. So, they got that going for them, which is nice.

Thanks for playing along, folks. It wouldn’t have been the same without you.

The Kings and Queens of Finetune Friday

12+ FTF’s
Me.
I’m the king (boomboom boom boom), but I don’t get credit because it was my gig. No soup for me.

11 FTF’s
K
She only missed The Mr. Men Edition. That’s it. “The Ballad of Dirk Diggler” from FTF: Sex was probably my favorite, followed by “Metallicar”, which was submitted for the King Of The Road Edition.

M-Shel
M-Shel also only missed the Mr. Men Edition, earning her place in the royal hall of Finetune Friday Fame. I think my favorite list of M-Shel’s was Hittin’ the Road, but her Christmas Holidaze list made me chuckle, too.

9 FTF’s
Christina
Christina participated in 9 of the previous 12 FTF’s, but she put out two playlists on the cinematic character list, which really should give her the bump up to 10 for the extra effort. That month, she submitted lists honoring both Damien and The Thing. Now that’s dedication.

7 FTF’s
Viv
Viv came to the party late, but has been involved with FTF without a break since December of 2007. My favorite list of hers is easily her contribution to the Science Fiction Edition, which she called “4e 65 72 64 63 6f 72 65″. The title and the entire description of this list was written in hex, which I made me burst out laughing. It’s bits of effort like this that made these things fun.

4 FTF’s
Geoffry

2 FTF’s
Digital Darryl
Tony

1 FTF
Sushi
Scott
Brian

#1GF!: What are you doing today.
Me: Practicing my beatboxing.
#1GF!: What?
Me: Practicing my beatboxing.
#1GF!: Oh no.
Me: Gahd. It’s not like I’m going to do it while you’re here or anything. I know the rules.

I’ve been a sucker for beatboxing since I first heard The Human Beat Box in 1984 a sucker for people who can beatbox, and Beardyman shows us the recipe to a perfect beatbox mix. This is what got me buh buh pft buh b’buh pft’ing for hours.

Kitchen Diaries

May will be the twelfth edition of FineTune Friday, and while I think it has been a fun ride, I’m sorry to say that this will be the last edition of Finetune Friday. The theme is completely open ended, allowing you to finally showcase that clever playlist idea that you’ve been kicking around for a while. I’m sort of psyched to hear what you come up with, as long as you aren’t including Europe’s “The Final Countdown”. Doodlooo dooooo. Doodloot doot dooooo… Gah crap.

Information on how to join in on the fun can be found on my FineTune Friday Page. If you haven’t joined in yet, this is your last chance.

Valient Thorr will be postponing all activities April 15th through June 10th because the lead singer is donating a kidney to his ailing father. They are going public with what would normally be a private family matter to help give some publicity to The National Kidney Foundation’s media outreach program.

“If I can go from a hospital bed to playing in front of a crowd of 75,000 at the UK’s Download Festival in just eight weeks, people out there might consider becoming organ donors as well. If they have family members who need a kidney, it’s definitely something to think about; and if not, they can still learn about designating themselves as organ donors on their driver’s license.”
-Valient Himself

I’ve been a fan of Valient Thorr’s driving rock and badass beards for a while now, but as someone who asks for donations to the PKD Foundation in lieu of gifts every year, this news makes Valient Thorr rock a whole lot more.

Read the full press release or get your face rocked off at Valient Thorr’s Myspace Page.

And if you’re feeling charitable, consider making a donation to National Kidney Foundation or The PKD Foundation.

Breaker one nine, this is Baron Badass Von Kickass and I’m southbound with freightshaker full of trucker tracks. If smokey is riding your back door today, get in this convoy and let the King of the Road edition of Finetune Friday help keep your hammer down until you reach the weekend. 10-4?

Quiz

Think you know the lingo of the road? Why not take a quick quiz and put your green stamps where your mouth is? Answers can be found at the end of the post.

1. What is considered the truckers’ CB channel?
2. If someone is stuck in the chicken coop, where are they?
3. If you hear that there’s a smokey in a plain brown wrapper on your back door, what should you do?
4. If there’s a 10-33 ahead of your 20, what’s going on?
5. If you’re deadheading from BeanTown to Hog Town, how high are you, dude?

Breaker one nine, breaker one nine, this is the Snowman comin’ atcha. This month’s theme, King of the Road, will be rolling into your back door on Friday, April 4.

Grab your free FineTune account and create a 45 song playlist around the songs of the open road, and we’ll release them on April 4 in a rolling roadblock of road music. If you can have your list prepped and ready by noon on April 3, that would sure help me when I’m checking your log books and getting the stats in order.

More information on how to join this convoy can be found in the April theme announcement or on the FineTune Friday page.

The Snowman is back quiet.

You know that I have a fondness for cover songs (see my FineTune Friday Covers Playlist and you know I have much love for heavy metal, but while reading Mixx the other day, I came across one of the most aptly named bands that I have found in a long time.

The band is called Tragedy, and they do all-metal covers of Bee Gees songs. I’m sitting here laughing and shaking my head at the sheer amount of wrong that is packed into this band’s very existence, yet I listened to nearly every song on their myspace page.

Just so you can feel the evil, here’s a sample of their work. It’s just. So. Wrong. If this is the kind of thing that you can’t get enough of, the band is hosting their CD release party at Bill’s Bar in Boston tonight.

Tragedy: A Metal Tribute To The Bee Gees

If you’ve ever heard Peter Frampton sing “Doooo You Feeeeel Liiiike I Doooo” in that robotic guitar voice, then you know what a talkbox sounds like. The effect has been around for over 40 years now, and has made it’s way into tracks from Classic Rock to Funk.

Because DigitalDarryl knows that I can’t resist compiling odd musical lists (like cowbell or actors turned singers), he has asked me on a number of occasions to compile a list of talkbox songs for him. Well, I’ve finally put together my 20th FineTune playlist, “The Talkbox Will Never Die”, so that D and all the talkbox fans out there can get their fill of talkbox madness by simply clicking the green button below.

I’ve included the full track listing below, but even at 60+ songs, this playlist feels a little light to me. If you can think of any talkbox songs that aren’t included, be sure to drop them in the comments.

Enjoy!

Whether you’re a Dyer, a Mulligan, a Shea, or a Hobin, a Murphy, McDonough, a Caffrey, or Connell, here’s a playlist of some of the traditional Irish songs that I grew up with to get you primed for your yearly excursion into everything green.

For the rest of you, fear not. Most of the American Irish have as much of a connection to the motherland as you do, so grab your shamrocks and join us in the parlor.

Enjoy!

Irish Folk For Irish Folk

What are you doing for St. Paddy’s Day?

Breaker 1-9, Breaker 1-9, this is the Sharkman comin’ atcha, come on back. Anyone got their ears on? We’re low on green stamps, running on rags, and the county mounties are lockin’ us in double nickels, come awn.

The Sharkman’s got to get a HEAVY LOOOOAAAAD upstate ‘fore morning, and he needs some good ol’ wide-open road music to help get the hammer back on the floor where it belongs. You put together the list, and Ol’ Sharkman will keep an eye on Smokey Bear and his photobooths for ya, come awn. The Sharkman’s back quiet.

Information on how to join in on the fun can be found on my FineTune Friday Page. If you haven’t joined in yet, no gas, grass, or ass is required. On this trip, everyone rides for free.

Every once and a while, cowbell fever rears its ugly head here at Dyers.org, and I go on a tear to find new cowbell tracks. Over the last two days, cowbell fever hit hard, doubling the size of my FineTune More Cowbell playlist.

Even though I eliminated any songs that relegated nature’s gift to classic rock to a single [tonk] [tonk], the list still stands at over 180 tracks, spanning genres well beyond classic rock.

If you’ve got the fever, click the little green button below to dispense the cure.

Enjoy!

Update (3/11/08): For those of you looking for a solid list of cowbell tracks, I added the full track listing of the playlist below. If you’re [tonk] [tonk]ing your way through it and you notice that one of your favorites is missing, definitely drop me a comment to let me know.

Whether you like Picard or Kirk, whether you think it was all so much better when Han shot first, or whether you’re one of those folks who throwes random e’s and y’s into thyngs, this is a FineTune Friday that was made for you.

If you’re stuck doing grunt work for the evil overlord today, the PSI PHI edition is guaranteed to give enough a charge to your dilithium crystals to create a worm hole to quitting time. Hell, even those of you who say “Star Track” or “What the hell is an Aluminum Falcon?” will get some enjoyment out of these lists.

Quiz

If you’re looking for a little challenge while you listen, can you figure out why would’ve included the following tracks in my playlist? (Answers are at the bottom of this post.)

1. “I am the Law” by Anthrax
2. “Ch-Check It Out” by The Beastie Boys
3. “A New Hope” by Blink 182
4. “Funk Funk” by Cameo
5. “Spacegrass” by Clutch
6. “We Care A Lot” by Faith No More
7. “What’s On Your Mind” by Information Society
8. “Breakfast Club” by Z-Trip

T-Minus four days and counting before the launch of the PSI PHI edition of FineTune Friday. This month’s theme, Science Fiction, will be leaving the docking bay on Friday, March 7.

Academy training is not necessary, so grab a free FineTune account and create a 45 song playlist around this month’s theme. On March 7, post your station to your site and drop me line so that I can clear you to join formation.

More information can be found in the February theme announcement or on the FineTune Friday page.

As I was looking for songs for the upcoming PSI PHI edition of FineTune Friday, I ran across a song that I haven’t heard in a thousand years called, “I am Chewbacca”. It’s by a band called DVDA, which is made up of Trey Parker, Matt Stone, and some of the other guys from South Park.

Over the last two days, I’ve gotten the song so lodged in my head, that my brain hasn’t been able to stop my mouth from blurting out the lyrics at inappropriate moments. Most people think it’s funny “uh oh” rather than funny “haha” when a crazy looking dude with a beard randomly mutters, “Don’t Fucking Cross Me! I am Chewbacca!” in the checkout line at the supermarket.

Because there’s no fun in having an earworm if you don’t spread it, I’m spreading this song to you. If you find the song oddly familiar, you might’ve heard it in a little cult classic called Clerks.

Here’s the “I am Chewbacca” Audio and Lyrics to get you started.

Enjoy!

Yea, baby. You know what time it is. It’s time for all the hot aural action that you’ve been longing for all month. This list has a definite R&B core, and I wish I could say that there wasn’t a lot of dancing that felt better than it looked, or that I was cool enough not to burst out laughing at the pure filth of some of the tracks, but you’d never believe me anyway. What you can believe is that I had a lot of fun putting this together.

So, kick back, turn on some LED candles, kick back with some of the sexiest tracks I could find. Or if that’s not your thing, grab the tarps, a lube bucket, a squeegee, a pair rubber gloves, a turkey baster, a tub of “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter”, a Mongolian sailing harness, a box of laxatives, a canned ham, 17 feet of strong nylon cord, three hot peppers, a Malasian tiger swing, a flyswatter, a zipper mask, three clothespins, a parakeet, two girls, one cup, and then listen in while you bring out the gimp.

If you embarrass easily, are surrounded by people who embarrass easily, or work in an environment where any mention of S-E-X will get you fired, you may want to take a pass on this until later.

For the rest of you… Enjoy!

There are only a few days for you to get your station greased and ready for the latest edition of FineTune Friday. This month’s theme, Sex, will be buttering your muffins on Friday, February 1.

If you want in on the hot aural action, grab a free FineTune account and create a 45 song playlist around this month’s theme. On February 1, post your station to your site and drop me line so that I can tell everyone what a dirty bird you grew up to be.

More information can be found in the February theme announcement or on the FineTune Friday page.

If you’re still a FineTune virgin, now’s the time to get a piece of the action.

Shotgun CD reviews are short reviews on CDs that you can usually pick up for $10 or less. For further explanation, check the FAQ

Six Feet Under - Maximum Violence (death metal): Chris Barnes serves up the some of the best death metal vocals available poured over a plate of steaming hot metal. This album has become one of my favorites of the genre, but I can’t tell you how great Six Feet Under’s style lends itself to the included bonus covers. You have never heard such kick ass versions of Kiss’s “War Machine” or of Iron Maiden’s “Wraithchild” until you’ve heard these. It may be heresy, but I like the covers better than the originals. I know. Like a flatulence after burrito night, I was a little afraid and a lot unsure of whether to let that one go. Whether you agree or not, one thing I don’t think that anyone can argue with is that the disc has a pretty entertaining cover of Thin Lizzy’s “Jailbreak”. It’s so bizarre that it makes me laugh every time I hear it. B+

The Crown - Crowned In Terror (Thrash/death): The Crown broke up in 2004, after a fourteen year career that produced six albums that rode the line between thrash and death metal. When I popped this in for the first time and heard the synthesizers on the first track, I got a little worried that I bought the wrong album. Maybe it was some sort of experimental piece written by one of the band member’s girlfriends or something, but within 55 seconds, the doodlydoodly doodlydoodly of rototoms and the machine gun fire of snare signaled the start of a nice round of Swedish thrash. The album is certainly in the modern thrash category, and I have a hard time claiming that there’s anything wrong with it, but I just can’t to seem to get into it. The vocals are metal, the music is driving and technical, but for some reason it falls flat for me a lot of the time. It never makes it above “Ok” on my metal-o-meter and I always end up losing interest and shutting it off before I can figure out why. I can’t argue with a portion of track six, where it sounds like they break into the Night Rider theme in the middle of a song, but beyond that it lacks the excitement to keep me interested. C

Ever hear a metal riff and no matter how hard you hit your mental archives, you can’t seem to place where you’ve heard it before? And then three days later you suddenly blurt out “Y&T! It’s Y&T. Gah”, leaving other people in the room confused and staring at you like you had finally snapped? Outburst aside, it’s not your fault. A lot of metal does sound the same.

Thanks to the magic of the internet, you can now watch fourteen videos containing clips of metal that sounds a lot like other metal. Even though I think that some of the similarities are a stretch, some of them are a little too close to avert the dark gaze of suspicion.

Similarities aside, if you’re a long-time metal fan, these videos will dredge up some metal that you (thankfully?) haven’t heard since you liquidated your cassette collection.

Here’s the latest volume:

Metal That Sounds Like Other Metal Vol. XIV

For more, check out this playlist of the first seven videos of Metal That Sounds Like Other Metal. If you want to continue on from there, all the videos can be found on BakInBlack’s YouTube Page.

With the holidays behind us, we’re thrusting forward into another year. Before new pressures start to mount, let’s get the group together once again for a little aural satisfaction. Your role this month is to lay out a list of songs that are naughty, bawdy, or so good that you end up making sexy time all over yourself. How you squeeze yours in is your business, but in the end, your booty better make everyone want to show you their O-face.

On Friday, February 1, we’ll cross-link the stations in a sweet, sweet musical orgy. Moist. Supple. Sorry, I just couldn’t fit those words in.

Information on how to join in on the fun can be found on my FineTune Friday Page. If you haven’t joined in yet, it’s an excellent social lubricant, and I’m sure there will be a number of shockers this round.

Cock. Once again, sorry.

Many drinks tried, but none symbolized the lounge era better than the martini. So for my contribution to FineTune Friday: Bottoms Up, ladies and gentleman, it’s Martini Time!

Purists may notice that I took a meandering path when compiling this list. Like a playboy working the room at a swingin’ party, I sometimes strayed into exotica, sometimes I shared a laugh with the space age pop crowd, and a couple of times I got caught mixing it up with the bossa nova set. Life is too short for strict definitions. Life is a party, folks. Thanks for playing along once again.

Enjoy!

The Story Of Dr. Funk

I was visiting Dr. Funk of Tahiti last week, when Johnny Walker, Jack Daniels and Sam Adams dragged in a white Russian who had been caught in a hurricane and crushed by a kamikaze cement mixer. The guy was pretty much a zombie, so Dr. Funk prepared to perform a mind eraser. I had never seen one performed, so I asked if I could hang around.

“Sure,” shrugged Dr. Funk, “Hand me a screwdriver and that scorpion bowl. I haven’t seen anything this bad since I treated that suffering bastard who fell off the rigging of a banana boat back in 82.”

You could hear the crackling of bones as he threw the guy into Singapore Sling.

Shotgun CD reviews are short reviews on CDs that you can usually pick up for $10 or less. For further explanation, check the FAQ

V/A - Ultra-Lounge Vol. 8: Cocktail Capers (space age pop): The Ultra-lounge series of discs showcase some of the oddest, coolest lounge of the 50’s and 60’s, and this one is no exception. I can’t find a solid theme running through the tracks that would indicate why this is called “Cocktail Capers”, but it really doesn’t matter because the disc is a kitschy romp through 60’s easy listening. I like listening to this particular disc while driving to make my giant-winged tint mobile feel like it’s a vintage convertible in the opening credits of a 60’s comedy/spy movie. I do a lot of smiling and nodding while I’m driving along, imagining #1GF! sitting next to me wearing a pair of big, black 60’s sunglasses and a head scarf. It’s a good thing that my windows are tinted or this disc might lead people to believe that I’m not the perfectly well-adjusted and rational person that I’ve always claimed to be. B

V/A - Ultra-Lounge Vol. 3: Space-Capades (space age pop): The tracks on Space Capades hover around 1960, when space exploration was still exciting and novel, and that really shows through the energy of this disc. It’s full of unique and fun arrangements from old-time greats like Avino Rey, David Rose, and Les Baxter, but I think three tracks really stand out. The first is a cover of Raymond Scott’s “Powerhouse”, which you may not be familiar with by name, but if grew up on classic cartoons, it will definitely be familiar to you. The Bobby Hammack Combo adds a fairly jazzy angle to the track without losing its cartoonish fun. The other two tracks, “You’re the Top” and “Lonesome Road” were written and performed by Dean Elliott, one of the composers who worked on early Mr. Magoo and Tom & Jerry cartoons. The Elliott tracks are so unique that I would go so far as to say that they make the disc worth owning even if you were able to ignore the fun in the rest of it. B+