Like colds, earworms spread pretty easily. And it was an earworm that I caught from my husband— “El Rey y Yo” by Los Angeles Negros— that inspired this mix. It’s more of an old school college radio-style set than a club set and that’s by design. If you want to hear my club sets, you can go to the clubs. This is for listening when you’re at work or in the car or doing dishes or whatever.
Continue reading Beatique Mix: January 2025
In the four or five times that I’ve listened to The Human Fear, the latest album from Franz Ferdinand, since it was released on January 10, I keep going back to one song. “Black Eyelashes” is the band’s take on rembetiko (also spelled rebetiko), a style of Greek music that was particularly popular in the first half of the 20th century, and I’m hooked on it.
It’s sounds like there have been a Greek influence on Franz Ferdinand’s music from the get-go. I can’t really pinpoint exactly what it is, but something in the guitar tones and the rhythms they use has struck me as very eastern Mediterranean since I first heard “Take Me Out” 20+ years ago. On, “Black Eyelashes,” though, the influence is so blatant that you might start imagining that final dance scene in Zorba the Greek. I did.
Continue reading Greek Jam “Black Eyelashes” Stands Out On Franz Ferdinand’s The Human Fear