Wednesday 10 September 2008

Radio Ljubljana 2

I can't embed today's video because the option has been disabled on youtube. Nevertheless it's a great song, and I hope the added inconvenience of a further mouse click doesn't put you off.

Astronautalis - Ocean Walk

If it sounds familiar, it's probably because Clarks used it not too long ago to sell shoes. Because you walk in shoes, you see? It works on a multitude of levels.

It didn't actually persuade me to buy their footwear, but it did inspire me to track the full track down (once again iTunes fails miserably to cater to my needs). Astronautalis describes his music as "rap for people who don't like rap", and that's as good a description as any.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not sure what you're missing but iTunes indeed has Oceanwalk on the You and Yer Good Ideas cd by Astronautalis as well as The Mighty Ocean & Nine Dark Theaters. You might also be interested in http://www.eyeballrecords.com/release/382

SpaceSquid said...

It certainly didn't have it the last time I checked (which was a little while ago admittedly). Perhaps it's a recent addition, or perhaps you and I have different regional variants of iTunes (I'm still bitter that my favourite song from Eagle vs Shark is only downloadable if you happen to live in New Zealand). MO&NDT was there, though.

Anyway, I shall check it out when I return from Slovenia. Thanks for the info!

Dan Edmunds said...

Just so you know, out of principle I'm refusing to click on the link. I will at least hold in my mind that it is some kind of whiney white boy...

SpaceSquid said...

What the Hell kind of a principle is that?

Plus, he's a whiny white boy who raps. That's got to count as musical development of a kind, at least.

Anonymous said...

"white boy"...too funny. are you from the last century or what?? IMO the color of someone's skin shouldn't make any difference as long as you like the music.

fyi - iTunes now has a link to pre-order Astronautalis' newest release.

Anonymous said...

i didn't realize iTunes was based on one's geographical location. that's unfortunate to be sure.

and

poor senior spielbergo...a principle that refuses to allow you to click on a link is so sad. holding thoughts like that in your mind can be very limiting to your growth potential.

SpaceSquid said...

In S. Spielbergo's defense, the term "whiny white boy" is shorthand for my music collection, which consists almost entirely of gentlemen of the Caucasian persuasion informing me that they cannot seem to find themselves a date. There's no conscious agenda to it, it just seems to be what has happened, and Spielbergo likes to mock me over it.

I guess what I'm saying is that of course music should be enjoyed regardless of skin colour. It is, however, hardly revolutionary to suggest that there is a correlation between skin colour and cultural heritage, and between cultural heritage and musical influence taste, and finally between musical influence and musical taste. If your taste in music is a little limited (and that's an accusation you can probably throw at me, though not to the degree my compatriots believe), it's likely that there will be an obvious cultural bias in there as well.

Moreover the term "whiny" as applied to a song does perhaps indicate a certain range of musical types, from shoegazer through to emo, stopping off at country and even some mainstream rock, that are almost entirely dominated by white artists. What other kinds of whiny music is there? I guess you could make a case for blues, but I would argue the blues are more moaning than whiny.

So, yeah. The colour of an artist does can make a difference to whether or not you are likely to enjoy them. That's all we're talking about here. Not "well I really liked Bloc Party then I found out their singer is a second-generation Nigerian immigrant so now I hate them".

On the other hand, I agree entirely that Spielbergo needs to stop hindering his personal growth. But then again, the man is as stubborn as a super-glued mule, so I wouldn't hold your breath.

Oh, and congratulations to red shoes and anonymous for being the first two people to comment on this blog without me immediately knowing who they are. You wait for ages, then two turn up at once...

Anonymous said...

Hee hee; limiting growth potential :-)

Thus are the dangers of trotting out in-jokes on public blogs revealed!

SpaceSquid said...

Wait. Who's Jamie?