Chocolate Tuba

Pato Fu, Made in Japan

A court in Brazil today shut down Twitter there because Melon Husk wouldn't comply with the laws there and turn over records from their right wing coup attempt on January 8, 2023. A lot of Brazilians made the move to Bluesky in response, and it got me thinking about some of my favorite Brazilian music. Pato Fu was an indie rock band that I got into several years ago. When I listened to my favorite song of theirs today, it struck me as a perfect Chocolate Tuba. The hook is from a classic pop song (which was originally from the soundtrack to a Swedish porn flick before being picked up by Sesame Street). The singer is singing in Japanese, not Portuguese. The climactic scene of the music video is set to some heavy dance music. The song is a real mess and shouldn't work, but it does. Brilliant.

Link to Pato Fu, Made in Japan

Posted on Friday, August 30, 2024

Metalachi, Hot for Teacher

Laura mentioned this band to me Sunday as we were walking along the riverfront in Hoboken. I looked them up. They're a mariachi band that loves heavy metal, so they combine the two. Of the songs I sampled, this one seemed to do the best of including elements of both genres. I remember the video for this Van Halen song being all over MTV when I was in college.

Link to Metalachi, Hot for Teacher

Posted on Monday, July 1, 2024

Bruno Mars vs. Strong Bad, Uptown Fhqwhgads

So, for reasons I can't disclose, Laura and I were discussing Homestar Runner, which led me to go to their site, which led me to doing a web search for "fhqwhgads", which led me to this, this little bit of brilliance, this mashup of Bruno Mars' deracinated funk with Strong Bad and The Cheat's pop. Everybody to the limit!

Link to Bruno Mars vs. Strong Bad, Uptown Fhqwhgads

Posted on Wednesday, June 19, 2024

Rachid Taha, Rock el Casbah

Rachid Taha's cover of the Clash song "Rock the Casbah" is a thorough mixing of punk and Algerian rai music. The iconic chorus is sung in English, but the rest of the song is rendered in Arabic, and rock beats and guitars mix with Egyptian-style strings. The result is amazing. Taha famously met the Clash in Paris in 1981 and handed them a tape of his band's music, which they seemed interested in. A year later, their next album included "Rock the Casbah". Coincidence? Taha thought his tape may have influenced the band. So this cover is kind of him returning the favor, bringing things full circle.

Link to Rachid Taha, Rock el Casbah

Posted on Saturday, May 25, 2024

Hakim e Cleopatra, Walk Like an Egyptian

I know absolutely nothing about this band. But my wife and I were laying in bed and she started playing this on her phone and I thought, "That could go up on Chocolate Tuba". And now it has. It doesn't particularly mesh the styles very well, but it may be more interesting for that failure.

Link to Hakim e Cleopatra, Walk Like an Egyptian

Posted on Friday, May 24, 2024