Great soundtracks: "Inception" feat Hans Zimmer and Johnny Marr

I went to see Inception a few weeks ago and it is just one of those amazing movies that leave you sitting quietly as a mouse in your seat and makes you want to clap when it's over. I am not sure if I have felt like this since Matrix. Something utterly new, a new way the brain things about the world around me. As I watched the movie in the theatre I was struck by the great soundtrack to the film, and as I watched the credits, I saw not surprisingly that it was one of my favourite soundtrack composers that had written it, the amazing Hans Zimmer. I have loved his work in stuff like The Da Vinci code and Gladiator etc.). So I have listened to the soundtrack for a few weeks now, and it's truly amazing. The build up's and the tension really take you back to the movie experience and makes you sit on needless even when you are not watching the movie.

Today I realized something not surprising but quite wonderful. Johnny Marr (of The Smiths) is playing guitar on the soundtrack! Of course it's him, I said to myself! Of course. And it is so perfect. So go see the movie, listen to the soundtrack and see Johnny talk about it!

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

Friday Fun: Ed Byrne On The Smoking Law

As a smoker I find this clip extremely amusing, I hope you out there who is not smoking also can see the trials and strangeness in the everyday lives of this dying race ;)

Great websites: Audioboo

Audioboo reminds me quite a lot about a page I found a few years ago, but I have lost the link to. That page was filled with the sounds of the world, meaning it had a big map and you could click on different parts of the world and hear the sounds from this place. Audioboo also have some of that but also all kinds of other sound things. For instance I just listened to a man who had linked his clip to a road and where he talks about the fact that he does not want to drive on this road but wants to stay home in bed.

For me, this page is an amazing treasure chest. It mixes my love for sound and music with my love for people (most of the time). As a cultural historian I love how people go about with their little lives and how their customs and identity is shaped by and help shaping culture. It's like having the whole world in your computer. I love it so far and is looking forward to exploring it more and hopefully upload some of my own stuff one day.

Great covers: Amanda Palmer does Radiohead

I have heard about these covers for some weeks now, but haven't really found them anywhere online (Maybe I haven't really looked hard enough either..:) But anyway, here one is at least. The great Radiohead covered by Amanda Palmer and her ukulele. I love the title on the album, that alone almost reveals that this is a very cool record. It is: "Amanda Palmer Performs the Popular Hits of Radiohead on Her Magical Ukulele" Here is a link to her version of Idioteque. To even think about doing such an electric piece of music on something simple as ukulele is impressive enough, but she also actually do a very good job. I wish I could hear the rest of the album!

Friday Fun: Pingu Hop by DVA

(Yes, I know it's not Friday, but since I haven't posted anything in my Friday Fun series for a long time, this should be OK. You can look forward to your Friday on a Tuesday.)

I found this song totally randomly online while searching for other good music, through Spotify's related artist feature I think. And it's first of all just hilarious! But also cute, jazzyy and make me want to groove around the floor. It's something about penguins themselves that is just extremely funny if you like slap stick humour like me, I think. Hope you like it too!

Spotify link

New Music: Sean Lennon

I can't believe I haven't written anything about the magnificent Sean Lennon here yet! I discovered him for real in around 2006, but I post it now as new music, because I believe too few people have heard this.

I have always thought that Mr.Lennon was the exciting Beatle, so I thought to myself... "Wait a minute, that Sean Lennon, he must be one talented guy with those parents, what kind of things have he done." So I searched him up on the internet, and there it was: Such great music. The scariest thing, that should not scare me, but still did, was the fact that his voice and way of writing music sounds so so much like his father. The melodies are just delightful, springy and catchy and the voice, yes, we have heard that voice before. I was awestruck and still is.

Young Mr. Lennon is not surprisingly involved in all kinds of musical and artistic past-times in New York, and I must take my time some day to sit down and read up on it all, and I will tell you more then. For now, let the great music speak.

Ah! And I of course was reminded that his whole name is of course Sean Ono Lennon, thanks to his brilliant website..

Sean Lennon on Spotify.

And here are some videos:


This one can't be built in, but is equally great:
Parachutes

The Duke Spirit again

In november 2008 I found the lovely band "The Duke Spirit" and somehow they slipped out of my attention, but I found them again now, and my oh my, they are still fresh, raw and so so cool. So to follow up on my blog about this a few years ago, I still love them. And it was refreshing to hear. Hope they will release some new stuff soon!

For your enjoyment, the lovely live version of "The Step and The Walk".

Frank Sinatra Talks

Nothing beats Frank Sinatra on a rainy day (OK, maybe Ella is in the same league, but you get the picture). My love for Frank Sinatra started around about 2000 when I bought my first best of record, just to ease nicely into it. I am however sure he left his mark on me before that. I remember watching a live concert with him from Oslo on Norwegian TV when I was a kid. And the fact that I remember that, probably means that I like it, since I must have been about 4 at the time.

When Spotify came into my life about a year ago, I to my delight found a lot of live recordings in there by Sinatra. Still there is nothing that beats the cd "Live from The Sands" with Count Basie from the late 60's. I mean, with two such musical titans it MUST be good. It's just so much life and delight and joy and coolness in that recording. But what I also discovered is that Sinatra talked tons when he was doing live shows. It's not surprising, since he's like the greatest man showman ever, but these live cds include whole tracks where he ONLY talks. And it's insane stuff. He is crazy, witty, funny, cheesy and just plain great. I have decided to save all of those great moments in a play list on Spotify. You can listen to it here. Enjoy! I am so sad I never got to see the great guy live!

Great photos from a great band

If you like the band Phoenix, or if you just like to watch great photos, you should absolutely follow their RSS feed. Wherever they go all over the world they take photos and post them. And they are often lovely strange and artistic. Yet another great reason to love them, I think.

The address you need is: http://wearephoenix.com/journal/?feed=rss2 in your rss reader.
I use my Thunderbird to do that for me.

I was just about to post some links to photos from the rss here now, but Google tells me that Phoenix homepage is dangerous, so maybe you should wait a day or two them. Argh.

Design by Humans: The world's coolest t-shirts

A few weeks ago I ordered some very cool t-shirts from Design by Humans and today they arrived! I have been wanting to buy something from this store for years. All the designs are submitted by users all over the world and I love the uniqueness of that and the fact that a lot of the shirts have a story behind them. For instance "Apparently cats only have one life just like the rest of us" which is a tribute to the makers two dead cats.
I had to pay a lot more taxes than I thought to get them into Norway, but it was worth it. Seams like high quality shirt and I can recommend it for anyone.

The one above and the one below are the ones I choose: (Click on them for more info)

"Apparently cats only have one life just like the rest of us"