Track 13

What's the best way to attack this song?

1. I could try to act like I know something literature, but I'd fall flat on my face. I know what a Faustian deal is and know that it's a literary to allusion to a story about a guy named Faust. By the way, somebody makes a Faustian deal every other week on Supernatural. It doesn't seem all that related to the song anyway - perhaps only in the mind of the songwriter. Besides, I'm much more interested in Fausto Carmona, which was the name baseball pitcher Roberto Hernandez used to obtain a visa with that underestimated his age by about three years. Coming across as a young prospect instead of an old one can make all the difference.
   
   Frankly, I would have changed my name to Fausto Carmona because Fausto Carmona is about the most badass name in the history of Earth. Age ain't nothing but a number, baby.
2. I could talk about the fact that I just wanted a chillout song that official signaled an end to the rave up portion of the mix. Something you can put on and cool out to. Take it away Mick Jagger:
   
   
   
   
   
   

   Ever hear Mr. Tony do this on the radio? I always laugh. It's probably in poor taste as a Hell's Angels security guard killed someone, which is the event some people erroneously claim ended the hippie dream for the 60s.
3. I could acknowledge the fact, while I love to drive along to trancy, dream songs like this, that you don't. That you prefer to listen to a catchy tune that you can sing along with. I probably should just stick with Andrew WK, I guess.
   
   

   
   

   It does have Japanese lyrics and unless I'm crazy, I recall you saying that you enjoyed weird J-Pop music. Not that this is J-Pop in anyway shape or form, but it gives me an excuse to embed the following video.

   
   

   
   
   

   I should probably try to cater to your preference for music that has rollicking singalong potential though.
4. I could talk about Gorillaz for awhile. Gorillaz was the collaboration of Blur lead singer Damon Albarn and visual artist Jamie Hewitt. The idea was to create a virtual music group for the internet age. The band "members" were cartoon characters and the band's website an Adobe Flash wonderland. There was airhead lead singer 2D (voiced by Albarn), homicidal bassist Murdoc (who never spoke), African American drummer Russell (who provided by hip-hop and was voiced by Del the Funky Homosapien early on. By the way, Del the Funky Homosapien is possible the greatest hip-hop moniker ever. Better than Fabalous, at least.), and thirteen year old Japanese lead guitarist Noodle (voiced by Miho Hatori in this song and in others.) Dan "The Automator" Nakamura also produced a number of songs, heavily contributing to the hip-hop side.
   
   I think the idea was supposed to create a post-everything musical experience that could genre hop at will, but most of the songs that aren't hip-hop
   
   
   
   

   end up sounding suspiciously like Britpop. Specifically Blur. Gorillaz was essentially Damon Albarn solo side project for awhile. And because I loved Blur, I was super into Gorillaz for awhile.
   
   Digression: I usually am not one to follow an artist's side project. I like the bands I like and I become very attached to that version of the musical universe. Radiohead? Yes. Thom Yorke side project? No. (Though I don't know what the difference is a lot of the time.) Spoon? Very much yes. Britt Daniel side project? No. Electric Six? Yes. Dick Valentine Side project? Well, probably, if I could get my hands on it. But I haven't tried as hard as I would to find a 6 album though. Not sure why Valentine needs a side project, considering he writes all the music and most of the other players have been interchangeable (knife!) parts that feel like coming along for the ride. (Live drummer technology.) Anyway, Blur? Yes. Gorillaz? Yes. Why? For one, Blur had broken up and this seemed like closest thing to the continuation of Blur. Secondly, and almost certainly more importantly, my brother said it was cool.
   
   Now, artists probably identify infinitely less with adhering to their particular band's aesthetic as fan's do. Britt Daniel may talk about wanting to put out songs that don't feel like a Spoon ablum, even thought they sound just like a Spoon album. But all of a sudden I don't care as much as if it were Spoon. But they do this all the time. They love to hop around and cross pollinate (especially "alternative" artists) which is something I obsessed with for awhile. For example. Miho Hatori was one-half of alt-Japanese/New York City duo Cibo Matto. Cibo Matto is probably best known for the video of the song "Sugar Water." Directed by whom? Michel Gondry of course.
   
   

   
   

   ("Sugar Water" is on the Buffy Radio Sunnydale soundtrack by the way.) Miho Hatori also provided guest vocals on the following Beastie Boys song (one of my favorites):
   
   

   
   

   When I was really into music, I would deep dive into all this stuff. Who directed what music video. Who works with the same producers. Who appeared on other people's records. I can play six degrees of separation with a bunch of this stuff. (Although it's usually a lot fewer than six.) I was fascinated by it. I think the arbitrary rule of being inherently resistant to side projects basically existed as a way of limiting choice. If I don't place artificial barriers on my choices, I often find myself lost in a rabbit hole that I don't come out of for days or run into paralysis by analysis.

Of the four options presented, you obviously care about 4 the least, so some combination of 1-3 is what this blog is about then.

1. Fausto Carmona is a badass name.
2. Cool Out! Cool Out!
3. I apologize for including songs that are essentially instrumentals that rob you of the chance to exercise your beautiful singing voice. Would that they could be "Common People", am I right? Also, the Japanese lyrics are repeated in English by Albarn towards the end, in case you were wondering.