Zoopraxiscope

A bit of psychedelia from 1967.

Heron’s backing band on this tune was “Tommy and the Bijoux.” For months after I first heard this I looked for more of their music. Later I discovered that I had most of their records in my library already, and possibly you do, too.

The music of the “Touhou Project” series of video games has inspired an astonishing amount of fan music in nearly every style. Here’s a suite of Touhou music arranged for masked string quartet.

A tune by Yoko Kanno, sung by Akino Arai.

Andy “Thunderclap” Newman may have played the piano as if he wore boxing gloves, but here Williams Albright and Bolcom put something a little more forceful on the pianist’s hands.

I wanted to post something from Switched-On Bach, but W. Carlos doesn’t want it on YouTube. We’ll have to make do with this homage. The third movement is here; it begins with the two chords that constitute the second movement.

I drank enough beer for a lifetime in college, mostly plain, not fancy.

From Koenji Hyakkei, the slightly more accessible of Tatsuya Yoshida’s Zeuhl ensembles.

“Something in the Air” was their big hit, but this was more fun.

How’s your Icelandic?

Feel like a howl-along?

More crazy Finns. These play surf music.

A live recording of a tune Satriani wrote back when he had hair.

Like Leo Kottke, Peter Lang was discovered by John Fahey over fifty years ago.

… and now — Mozart?

The Bothy Band returns.

The opening to Satoshi Kon’s Paprika, featuring Susumu Hirasawa’s “Mediational Field.” You can hear the full-length version of the tune here.