Busy today, catching up on some reading. Meanwhile, here’s something I found over at Mick’s place. Korean combo Winter Play cover Billie Jean. It’s rather good.

As usual, the archives and greatest hits are yours to explore.

Another batch of ditties from the ephemera archives.

BB Davis & the Red Orchidstra: Get Carter. (2007)

Elmer Bernstein & Jimmy Smith: The Carpetbaggers. (1964)

St Germain: Rose Rouge. (2000) 

Pal Joey: Party Time. (1991)

Edmundo Ros and his Rumba Band: The Coffee Song. (1947)

Valaida Snow: (You Bring Out) the Savage in Me. (1935)

Louis Prima: I Wan’na Be Like You. (1967)

John Barry: From Russia with Love. (1963)

Bernard Herrmann: The Day the Earth Stood Still. (1951)

John Williams: Luthor’s Luau. (1978)

Feel free to add your own. Previous mixtapes here, here, here and here.

Readers will doubtless recall Daito Manabe and his electrically triggered facial contortions. Manabe has now roped in some friends for an ensemble performance.

Wes Johnson’s short impromptu film of birds on power lines. 

powerlinerflyers from wes johnson on Vimeo

Music by Yann Tiersen. 

Busy today, but readers with an interest in free music may want to take a look at Spotify, which has an impressive library of tracks for online listening. As usual, feel free to poke about in the archives and greatest hits. See also mixtapes 1, 2, 3 and 4.  

Dan McPharlin uses cardboard to construct tiny retro synthesizers and related paraphernalia. 

There’s a short interview here.

More musical oddments from the ephemera archives.

Valaida Snow: Caravan. (1939)

Margaret Whiting & Johnny Mercer: Baby, It’s Cold Outside. (1949)

The Vince Guaraldi Trio: Linus and Lucy. (1965)

Astrud Gilberto: Agua de Beber. (1965)

Burl Ives: Ugly Bug Ball. (1963)

Ray Charles: It Should Have Been Me. (1954)

Lalo Schifrin: Shifting Gears. (1968)

The Flying Lizards: Money. (1979)

Les 5 De l’Harmonica: In the Mood. (Circa 1947)

Annette Lajon: Chanson Gitane. (1942)

By all means add your own. Previous mixtapes here, here and here. 

I’m not sure how long this will remain available online, but here’s Suzie Templeton’s 2006 stop-motion retelling of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf. The detail, sets and character design are pretty marvellous and the film’s 29 minutes pass quickly. However, those of you familiar with the original story may raise an eyebrow at the reimagined ending, in which the wolf is released back into the wild – no doubt to resume his predatory ways – and the witless duck is presumably digested.

Part 1: 

The musical potential of 49 microwave ovens.

To you and yours, a very good one.

Busy today much of this week, but here’s a third helping of ditties from the ephemera archives. 

Joe Thompson: Sticky Fingers. (2000)

The Ink Spots: Your Feet’s Too Big. (1935)

Marlene Dietrich: You Go to My Head. (1938) 

The Skatalites: James Bond Theme. (1967)

Screamin’ Jay Hawkins: I Put a Spell on You. (1956)

Johnny Cash: Personal Jesus. (2003)

Herbie Hancock: Triangle. (1963)

Louis Armstrong: High Society. (1956) 

Ethel Waters: Stormy Weather. (1933)

Shawn Lee and his Ping Pong Orchestra: Cha Love. (2005) 

The bar is now open.