Artist Showcase: Mr. Oizo

Guten Tag readers,

If you are an avid reader of the BU Central blog, you may have heard the name Mr. Oizo mentioned in one of my posts before. If you are any other person, it is probably unlikely. Mr. Oizo is a French DJ known for his song “Flat Beat”. The video (below) features Flat Eric, the most adorable head banging hand puppet I know.

 

Mr.Oizo (from the french word oiseau, meaning “bird”) is a strange guy, and it certainly shows in his music. Especially in his second album, Mustache (Half a Scissor), which is mostly made up of random noises. Interestingly however, the entire album was created digitally, using no analog equipment (like mixers or turntables etc.) He certainly makes up for it with his latest album, Lambs Anger. My favorite songs are the ones that use samples from random French films (I’m assuming that they’re films) like these:

Pourriture 2

Positif

Still, Mr.Oizo manages to slip in some of his strangeness, with songs like “Bruce Willis is Dead” and “Gay Dentists”. These are titles that make you say…”huh?”

Anywhoozles, I hope you enjoyed some… different… music. I don’t see Mr. Oizo hitting the main stream anytime soon, but he is still one of my favorites!

Enjoy the rest of your week,

Tim

Random Music Friday: Celebrity Tributes

Hia guys and gals,

Here is a riddle for you: What do Michael Jackson, Bruce Willis, Barbra Streisand, David Bowie, and Clint Eastwood have in common?
A: They are all the central theme for some of my favorite songs!

This week, I want to try something new: instead of just picking any random song from my library, I figure a little structure is necessary. So the theme for this blog will be Random Celebrity Tribute Songs!

Here is a list (in no particular order) of some of my favorite random celebrity tribute songs:

1) Duck Sauce – Barbra Streisand
Duck Sauce is a DJ duo made up of A-Trak and Armand Van Helden. This song is their biggest hit, at one point reaching #1 on the chart for its genre.

2) The Scofflaws – William Shatner
Apparently the Scofflaws were Trekkies! They decided to write a whole song about Mr. Shatner and his role as Captain James Kirk.

3) Mr. Oizo - Bruce Willis is Dead
No, he’s not really dead, but this guy decided to write a song ahead of time. I guess he wanted to be prepared when the occasion arises? Mr. Oizo is one of my favorite musicians (I actually had the chance to see him in NYC last weekend. He was on the dance floor while the opening band played, and I got to dance rigth next to him – one of the best shows I’ve ever been to ever!), and I find this song to be super catchy. Although, I think it would be better without that guy going “WOOOOOooo’ all the freaking time….

4) Flight of the Conchords - Bowie
Since Jemain and Brett talk alot about Bowie in space, I think this song is probably about David Bowie’s “Space Oddity.” If have ever heard the Flight of the Conchords before, you know how hilarious they are. This one is just as strange and funny as any other!

5) Boys Noize – This is Michael Jackson  + Cocotte
More like an intro to another song, but close enough. I don’t know what it is about these DJs, but

6) Gorilliaz - Clint Eastwood
So alright, no actual mention of Clint Eastwood in the song, but I’m sure you can relate it to him somehow. I just really love this song.

mmkay then, enjoy! ‘Til next time!
- Tim

Super-cali-fragilistic-experimentali-docious

This week I’ve been listening to some strange music. According to the world’s most trusted source of answers about anything, Wikipedia, experimental music is something that “pushes the boundaries of the genre, or incorporates unorthodox, new, distinctly unique ingredients.” Whatever it is that I’ve been listening to lately, it certainly is unique. This experimental mood of mine has brought me down two very different musical paths: experimental jazz, and experimental electro.

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One of my favorite jazz bands “Medeski Martin & Wood” (who is actually coming to the House of Blues tomorrow 11/18) is a great example of experimental jazz fusion. The organ/drum/bass trio love to jam and try new things. Most of the time it works out, but sometimes not so much… Last time they came to Boston, they improvised a few songs that sounded like a woman going through labor and a hippopotamus having a bad acid trip accompanied by a blindfolded gorilla drumming with his eyes closed. But hey, that’s what sound experimentation is for!

Here is a good example of an strange, but enjoyable MMW song: Beeah

And if you don’t like that, give them another chance! This is more Jazz, less experimenting: Last Chance to Dance (Perhaps)

On the other end of things is Mr. Oizo, a French music producer/director/DJ. I’ve fallen in love with the album “Lambs Anger”, which is more mainstream than his earlier albums. I’ll let the music speak for itself here.
Listen to Half a Scissor off his second album “Moustache”:

Weird stuff right? Yah, I know, but I can’t get it out of my head. I love it! The entire album is like this: glitchy, fuzzy sounds over a strange beat. (This is kind of what I would imagine a waterfall would sound like if Tron were real life.)

His later album “Lambs Anger” has more of a dance beat to it, and isn’t so terrifically odd. Still, some of his songs are just so random.
Like, for example Bruce Willis is Dead:

But my favorite song my Mr. Oizo, and definitely my favorite song of the week, is Positif. The only lyrics are some lady or robot (not really sure which) saying crazy things in French like “Stop Reproducing Yourselves” and  “You are animals!”  It sounds so much better when she says it, trust me.

Well, that’s all I got for this week… Au revoir!
- Tim

HALLOWEEKEND!!!

Hey everyone!

Are you all as excited for Halloweekend as I am? Unfortunately, I won’t be in Boston to celebrate because I’m trying something new this year: Halloween in Los Angeles! Tomorrow at 7am, I’ll be on my way to La La Land aka the City of Angels to attend Hard Haunted Mansion at the Shrine Expo Hall.

OK Tim, that’s great, but why should I care!?! The answer: well, I guess you shouldn’t, but this blog has to be about something right? And they always say to write what you know. (But who are they anyways? They say a lot of things…) Anyways, since I don’t think many of you are going to fly across the country tomorrow, I figured I would share some of the artists that will be there!

Here are the 5 performers I’m most excited about:

1) Bloody Beetroots – Death Crew 77

These two Italian stallions have teamed up with several artists including Crookers, ReSeT!, and Steve Aoki. This is my favorite song: Warp 1.7(ft. Steve Aoki)

2) Rusko

The King of Dubstep. I’ve seen Rusko perform about 4 times now, and its just as amazing every time. This is Rusko’s “Woo Boost” with incredibly odd video:

3) Crookers

2 DJs (also Italian, just like the Bloody Beetroots) who combine hip-hop and house to create Hip House! I’ve taken a liking to this song… it makes me want to dance! “We are Prostitutes” – Crookers: (warning? adult material? Idk, they say ‘prostitutes’ a few times)

4) Mr. Oizo

French DJ who plays all kinds of crazy stuff. He was one of the first DJs that I ever liked, even before I knew anything about techno music. Here is his song “Flat Beat” with awesome music video to boot! I guess you could say this is minimal:

5) Jack Beats

Again, Electro/House and whatnot.  Members are Scottish DJ Plus One, along with Beni G from the Mixologists. Here is their song “Get Down”:

Here are some more that didn’t make it to the top 5. make sure you check them out too (I won’t put a video cuz this blog is way too long as it is):
Boys Noize, Erol Alkan, Fake Blood, A-Trak, Flying Lotus

OK kiddies, that’s all for this week! See you next Friday and have a safe fun Halloweekend!

-Tim