Funky Friday

This is a re-post. The evil Blog-Google monster deleted this post on 2/12/2009, almost a full year after all of these audio links had expired. Pretty pointless move. eh? No audio content, just writing. Wankers.

The breakdown - Marianne Faithfull's '80s classic gets a nice beefy updating, Goldfrapp is dreamy, drippy gorgeousness and Air are funkier than you've ever heard. Estelle is a British singer/rapper whose album Shine is out next Tuesday on John Legend's label. It features John, as well as Kanye West, Cee-Lo, Mark Ronson, will.i.am and Swizz Beatz. It is the perfect Mid Atlantic blend, managing to maintain it's British-ness while also sounding very American.
The Presets = Justice + Depeche Mode. Madonna has a sleek pulsating groove that rocks like Kraftwerk and a chorus that sounds like Minneapolis. Lyrics Born dishes up some prime G-funk, Santogold brings the electro-dub hop hybrid, and Casxio offer sleek disco pop.

Marianne Faithfull - Broken English (Baron von Luxxury Slow Touch Rmx)
Goldfrapp - Happiness (Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve Remix)
Air - Kelly Watch The Stars (Moog Cookbook Remix)
Estelle - Pretty Please (Love Me) (feat. Cee-Lo)
Estelle - American Boy (feat. Kanye West)
The Presets - A New Sky
Lyrics Born - Cakewalk
Madonna - Candy Shop
Santogold - Shove It
Casxio - Seventeen
_______________________

KRAFTWERK - A Few Last Words...

Kraftwerk were ace. They started on time and played most everything I hoped for - except for "Pocket Calculator". The sound was good and the visuals were great - yay, robots! Florian Schneider was not with the band (his replacement even had his own robot), so only Ralf Hütter was left from the original four. It was a real thrill for me to hear these songs played live, so it will always hold a special place in my heart. The band plays Coachella this weekend - enjoy the show!

SET LIST:
The Man Machine
Planet of Vision
Numbers / Computerworld
Homecomputer / It's More Fun to Compute
Prologue / Tour de France 2003 (Etape 1, 2 & 3)
Tour de France (original)
Vitamin
Autobahn
Computerlove
The Model
Neon Lights
Les Mannequins
Radioactivity
Trans-Europe Express / Abzug / Metal on Metal
curtain
ENCORE
The Robots
Elektrokardiogramm
Aerodynamik
Musik Non Stop

The photo above is from the actual show in Minneapolis, and is part of reslbear1's Kraftwerk 2008 flickr set - some nice shots that really evoke the mood of the gig! There are also a bunch of clips on youtube from the shows in Minneapolis and Milwaukee. Sound quality varies, but there are a few good ones.