For years, I would hear this one song in commercials and never knew what it was. But it would show up from time to time, usually somehow technology related. It sounds a little like Philip Glass. If you heard it you would recognize it right away. So tonight I was watching TV and a commercial came on for the restaurant Carrabbas and there was the music! I hoped it wasn’t too new to Google and searched the internet, knowing there are sites where people identify music in commercials. The answer popped up in no time! And from the responses this post got, I wasn’t the only one that had been looking for the name of this for a long time. Anyway, I’d never heard of the song or the group. The song is “Perpetuum Mobile” and it is by The Penguin Cafe Orchestra. You can see them playing it on YouTube. That led me to a YouTube video that makes a movie out 200 pictures that a pretty woman (girl? she can’t be that old) has taken of herself each day, set to Perpetuum Mobile. Penguin Cafe Orchestra has some other videos here and here. They made this one using a dial tone (not my favorite).
Category: Music
Philip Glass and Akhnaten
I’ve been a fan of Philip Glass for probably fifteen years or so. One of the CD’s of his that I own is called Songs From the Trilogy, with the Trilogy being three operas he wrote during the 70’s and 80’s, the first called Einstein on the Beach and the last called Akhnaten about an Egyptian pharaoh (I guess that’s the only kind). Einstein on the Beach is probably the most famous because it was whole different take on opera and classical music in general. However, of the songs on the Trilogy CD, the ones from Akhnaten are probably my favorites. When Susan and I were considering buying season tickets to the opera, one thing I liked was that they were going to do an optional fifth show at Emory University and it would be Akhnaten. I still hadn’t heard the whole opera, just the four songs that made the CD.
Grant’s Mix
Today I went up to Athens with Mom to see Nicole and the soon-to-be Park Avenue Cashins, see the new house, eat hamburgers, and drink beer. Before I went I made a CD for Grant of some 21st century music and other stuff that I like. I hope he likes it. I didn’t have much time to figure out the best song order or even necessarily pick the best songs, but it should still be good to listen to. Franz Ferdinand’s “Michael” is probably the weakest track, but since the last CD I made for Grant and Jami had “One-Eyed Fiona” on it, I didn’t feel like I had a choice. Now that I listen to it again I realize I should have included a more representative selection from M. Ward than the classical piece by Bach that I used. He’s kind of like Tom Waits with a guitar. Anyway, if any of that sounds good to Grant, I can make another CD with more from that artist.
- The Killers – Mr. Brightside (2005)
- Spoon – The Beast and Dragon, Adored (2005)
- The White Stripes – Seven Nation Army (2003)
- Franz Ferdinand – Michael (2004)
- Modest Mouse – Float On (2004)
- The Killers – Change Your Mind (2005)
- Ben Folds Five – Lullabye (1999)
- Spoon – The Way We Get By (2002)
- Fat Boy Slim – Praise You (2000)
- The Strokes – Is This It (2001)
- Iggy Pop – The Passenger (1977)
- Franz Ferdinand – Jacqueline (2004)
- Liz Phair – Polyester Bride (1998)
- Rusted Root – Heaven (1996)
- The Strokes – Someday (2001)
- M. Ward – Well-Tempered Clavier (2005)
Spoon
In my excitement to find out more about The Killers I didn’t end up watching the rest of that episode of Austin City Limits. Sunday night I watched the next act, an Austin-based indie band called Spoon. In the AllMusic entry for The Killers they had Spoon listed as a similar artist, so I thought I might like them too. They are pretty different though. Whereas The Killers have a definite Cure and Oasis influence, Spoon has more of a Elvis Costello sound, though more like “Watching the Detectives” than “Alison”. I think they sound at least a little like X though not rockabilly like X could be, more like “Blue Spark,” at least with the songs they were performing which came from their current CD Gimme Fiction. On other albums they have a little different sound, but I like the spooky funky blues sound of these songs, particularly “The Beast and Dragon, Adored” and “My Mathematical Mind”. Those titles make them sound geekier than they really are.
The Killers
Austin City Limits is a live music show on public television. They have pretty good taste and the show has been around for a long time. Based in Austin, they seem to spotlight a lot of Texas bands. Lyle Lovett has probably been on a lot, Stevie Ray Vaughan was on it. They had The Pixies when they got back together. So if something seems remotely interesting I’ll try to record it. (For a while another PBS show had a similar lineup of well-chosen talent called Sessions at West 54th, but it disappeared after a couple of years.)