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Fatta connection: music past and present

Tuesday, June 15, 2010 | 1 comment

Today I woke up quite late. The end of last week I had slept badly, and while I was able to sleep reasonable well Friday and Saturday night, the past two nights I hardly slept at all. And no, it wasn't our one month old son keeping me awake, he sleeps most of the night. Maybe it was a combination of the heat and the upcoming move to our new house

Too tired to actually do some work I was just idling a bit behind the computer -- listening to music -- when I decided to say "hi" on Pidgin to my long time and very good online friend Andreja on. I was listening to "Twelve Inch Confrontation Mix", an album by "Black Star Liner". And since the current track was "Fatta Connection" I opened the conversation with:

fatta
connection

I discovered Black Star Liner in December 2008 as "Boris Blank", one of the members of Yello. Since I like Yello a lot, I downloaded the "Boris" tracks I had found on ftp server, and fell in love with one song: "Low BMW". Later I learned that "Boris Blank" was not the actual artist but that I had downloaded nearly all tracks of Black Star Liner's "Bengali Bantam Youth Experience!", an album that's still on my wishlist, together with "Twelve Inch Confrontation Mix" and "Yemen Cutta Connection". And no surprise that I like Black Star Liner: I do like Eastern/Asian/Bollywood music a lot, and some songs have parts that do remind me of Yello.

Andreja misunderstood the two lines I wrote, thinking that we had already moved to the new house and I was expressing content with my new Internet connection; fat pipe is geek speak, which Andreja speaks quite well, for a (very) fast Internet connection. So after I replied that we hadn't moved yet, to clear up the confusion I gave her a link to the song on YouTube. And after some catching up, Andreja gave me a link on YouTube in return and soon we were talking about music and exchanging YouTube links.

Andreja and John's YouTube exchange list

Below follows the list of songs we built up during our conversation. Each link is followed by some additional information, which is not always related to the actual conversation Andreja and I had. I've omitted one link I actually overlooked during the conversation and a link to "Ray Cokes - Most Wanted (K 1/8) with Radiohead since the part has no music in it.

Black Star Liner - Fatta Connection (John)

Great Black Star Liner track that's on "Twelve Inch Confrontation Mix".

Natasha King - On Ice (Andreja)

A song I like a lot, I like the dark atmosphere that I hear in the music. Somewhere in the mid 80's I recorded this song on tape while it was playing radio station "Radio Stad den Haag". It took me quite some time to find the name of the singer and song; googling for parts of the lyrics like for example "I am skating in the dark" and "blue shadows" didn't come up with anything useful.

But then I learned thanks to an email from my friend Simon that that "Radio Stad den Haag" also has a forum. And it took me one post, with parts of the lyrics as I heard them, back in December 2006 to learn the answer: the song is "On Ice" by "Natasha King".

Klapto - Queen Of The Night (John)

Since I spotted "Queen of the Night" by Klapto in the related sidebar on YouTube it was the next song I gave to Andreja. Another song I learned much later the name of.

Back in the 80's I listened a lot to Italo disco - still do at times - and this is one of the songs I taped back in those days.

Gary Low - You are a danger (John)

Another Italo disco song. I like "La Colegiala" by Gary Low much more, but more on that later.

I Rave U featuring DJ OZMA (Andreja)

Andreja replied with the above song and told me to bear with the first 30 seconds. A fair warning I would say. I asked her if Hiro -- referring to Hiro Nakamura the fictional character of NBC fanatasy drama Heroes -- would show up at some point. Anyway, even while I can appriciate the silliness going on but the music is not my style.

Gary Low - La Colegiala (John)

I replied with another Italo: La Colegiala, a song both Esme and I like a lot. When I read through the comments I learned that the original song was composed by Walter Leon of Los Ilusionistas from Peru.

Sandra - In The Heat of the Night (Andreja)

Since we were now back in the 80's Andreja gave me a link to a song by Sandra. I told her that my brother was a huge fan of Sandra back then.

Los ilucionistas - Colegiala (John)

In the mean time I had tracked down the original of La Colegiala. While I do like the version by Gary Low more, I am glad that I now know it's a cover of a much older song originating from Peru.

Sandra - Johnny Wanna Live (Andreja)

Andreja gave me a link to another Sandra song: Johnny wanna live.

Tapps - My Forbidden Lover (John)

I replied with another favorite 80's disco song of mine by the Tapps: "My Forbidden Lover". Fantastic song.

The Flirts - Danger (John)

I followed the Tapps link by one to the Flirts, another group I liked a lot back in those days. I told Andreja that Bobby Orlando was behind the Flirts. She had never heard of Bobby 'O', so I told her the guy who got ripped off by the Pet Shop Boys (OK, I used stronger language).

I told Andreja that I recalled that Bobby Orlando went to law school, sued the Pet Shop Boys and won.

The Flirts - Passion (John)

The next link I gave was another song by the Flirts. I own the single of Passion on vinyl and it's somewhere back in the Netherlands in my mother's house. I only hope it survived my attempts at "scratching"...

Erasure - Love to hate you (Andreja)

Andreja replied that she earlier this day had made a trip down memory lane and had been listening to Erasure.

Roni Griffith - Desire (John)

I was still with my mind with Bobby Orlando, so I replied with a link to another Bobby 'O' production. The pumping sound is very recognizable and reminds me of the Flirts.

When I looked at the comments I noticed that the most "recent" was by Roni K. Griffith, the singer in the video:

Its the first time I saw myself last year on this video. My daughter emailed it to me from ny. Thanks for the comment. Roni Griffith

Army of Lovers - Crucified (Andreja)

Andreja replied with another song she grew up with by "Army of Lovers."

Why? - Bronski Beat (John)

When watching Erasure I tried to remember which, somewhat similar band, did "Tell me why?". And finally I found them: Bronski Beat. Not one of my favourite songs or bands, but I recall that this song was very populair back in the days.

Big In Japan - Alphaville Official Video HD (John)

Andreja told me that her favorite band from age 9 until 13 was Roxette. So I asked if she also liked T'Pau (of "China in your hands"), and AHA. When she somewhat confirmed I wrote: "well, here is another of those songs you liked back then:" and gave her a link to "Big in Japan". To which she replied that she liked it, but fell in love with the Guano Apes cover of this song.

Desireless - Voyage Voyage (Andreja)

The next song I got from Andreja was "Voyage Voyage". Not really my thing.

France Gall - Ella, Elle L'a (Andreja)

She followed "Voyage Voyage" with "Ella, Elle L'a" by France Gall, a song I like much more. She told me that she in general doesn't like French stuff, but this one is nice.

Mike Oldfield - To France (Andreja)

"... since we're talking french.. Back to France is amazing song". And I had to agree with Andreja on this. I like Mike Oldfield, and I love his songs that have Maggie Reilly on vocals. Fantasic voice. I told her that I like "Moonlight Shadow" and "Foreign Affair" as well.

Propaganda - Duel (John)

The next link I gave to Andreja was a song by a band my brother used to like a lot: Propaganda.

Propaganda P-Machinery (John)

Then I posted a link to another Propaganda song, one I like a lot: P-Machinery

Art Of Noise - Moments In Love (John)

Since Trevor Horn produced Propaganda my mind jumped to another band back of those days that I liked a lot: "Art of Noise" of which Trevor was a founding member. And since I was quite sure Andreja would know "Moments in Love", one of my favorite "Art of Noise" tracks, I gave her a link to the video.

Enigma - Return to Innocence (Andreja)

Next Andreja gave me a link to a song by another band my brother liked a lot: Enigma. The aforementioned Sandra was for a time a member of Enigma, providing the vocals. I never liked Enigma much though, but I have heard their music coming from my brothers room often enough to recognize some songs.

Adiemus - Adiemus (Andreja)

Then Andreja mentioned another favorite of my brother: Enya. But at the time of writing this blog entry I noticed a comment on the YouTube page stating that the song Andreja linked me to is not by Enya, eventhough the singing is similar. The vocal parts are performed by Miriam Stockley.

Weezer - I Just Threw Out The Love Of My Dreams (John)

The next link I gave to Andreja is one of my favorite Weezer songs. I love Rached Haden (vocals) in this song. And the song has also that "slow motion" sound I love in "Buddy Holly", another great Weezer song.

Weezer - Buddy Holly (John)

I bought my first Weezer (blue) album in New Zealand, somewhere in 2001. But I knew them long before that. The video for "Buddy Holly" was one of the best extras I discovered on my Windows 95 installation CD. And yes, I did watch "Happy Days" which makes this video more than great.

Pet Shop Boys - Suburbia (Andreja)

Since the Pet Shop Boys had already been mentioned by me it was no big surprise when Andreja gave me a link to one of their songs: Suburbia. I replied that I like some of the Pet Shop Boys, but that I like Bobby 'O' more, for example "West End Girls".

Torch Song - Don't Look Now (John)

Next I gave Andreja a link to another of those songs that I taped ages ago and only recently learned the name of the track and band. And again it was a member of the Radio Stad Den Haag forum who provided the answer after I posted parts of the lyrics. To assist others on their quest some parts as heard:

It's so bright
in the dream light
...
Don't look now
'cause you might be flying
Don't look down
You gotta keep trying
...

Berlin - The Metro (Andreja)

Andreja replied with a link to a great song by Berlin. While I knew Berlin way before "System of a Down" I heard their cover of "The Metro" before I found out about the original by Berlin.

Bobby Orlando - Whisper to a Scream (John)

And since I had still Bobby 'O' in my head I gave Andreja a link to one of my favorite Bobby Orlando songs: Whisper to a Scream.

Berlin - Sex (I'm A....) (John)

And since Andreja had moved on to Berlin I followed that one with a link to my favorite Berlin song: Sex (I'm A...) a track that's on the same album as "The Metro": "Pleasure Victim". Note that the lyrics, available in the desciption of the video, and video itself are most likely not suitable for work (NSFW).

Shakespeares Sister - Stay (Andreja)

"Something completely different...," Andreja wrote before she gave me a link to Stay by "Shakespeares Sister". Back in 1990 I had a girlfriend who liked them a lot, and even had her hair similar to the first girl in the video of Stay. Music-wise, I like Bananarama more than Shakespeares Sister.

Freestyle - Don't Stop The Rock (John)

On my computer I have a folder with "Miscellaneous" music, so I went through that one for inspiration and the first link I gave to Andreja was to one of my favorite "electro" songs: "Don't Stop the Rock" by Freestyle.

G.L.O.B.E. & Whiz Kid - Play that Beat Mr. D.J. (John)

And Freestyle brought back a memory of an older song I like: "Play that Beat", so I looked for it on YouTube and gave Andreja the link to it. But then I discovered that it had talking in it at various points. Still, the song is a good one in my opinion.

Hasim - Al-Naafiysh (The Soul) (John)

Since Andreja didn't like "Play that beat" much I gave her a link to another "weird one", another of my favorite "electro" tracks: Al-Naafiysh (The Soul). It's another of those songs that I have on tape for ages but only recently learned its name and the name of the performer: Jerry Calliste Jr (as Hasim).

MC Lars - Space game (Andreja)

Andreja replied with a link followed by the remark "nerdcore.. .apparently". Not really my thing, even though the singing reminds me a little of Eminem's Without me, a song I do like.

The Safety Dance - Men Without Hats (John)

I gave her a link to another great 80's song: "The Safety Dance". I think the video goes very well with the song, and the blonde girl really seems to enjoy herself.

Futuristic Sex Robotz - Positronic Pimp (Andreja)

Before Andreja replied she gave me a link to "Positronic Pimp", another example of nerdcore. Not really my thing, nor is Star Trek -- from which parts are used to make the video that goes with the music -- for that matter. Lyrics are NSFW.

Don't Come Around Here No More - Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers (John)