SummersRadio™ New Music! Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band - 'Moonbeams'/ 'Cheshire Cat Cry'
From O to Ono - from 'Moon Song' to 'Moonbeams'... Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band is releasing a new album next month called 'Take Me To The Land Of Hell'! The album will be released on September 17th on vinyl, cd and download on Chimera Music. If you pre-order the album from Chimera you receive a free instant download of 'Moonbeams' here: https://chimeramusic.com/#
'Moonbeams' is a hybrid of styles - ambient, dance, rock and experimental - kudos to Yoko - there aren't many 80 year old humans releasing music this interesting... Enjoy!
'Cheshire Cat Cry' is another new song from the forthcoming 'Take Me To The Land Of Hell' album - this anti-violence rocker features Lenny Kravitz on guitar... Enjoy!
This year I thought we'd go with a couple classic originals. If you'd like to take part in her current film project '#smilesfilm' - where her goal is to capture a smiling photo of every person in the world (!) you can do so here: http://www.smilesfilm.com/ I like how she thinks big (http://imaginepeace.com/) and she looks amazing for her age - this photo was taken today:
First up we have a song from her 1981 album 'Season Of Glass' - the first one she released following John Lennon's death in 1980. I think this song covers a lot of ground - beauty, happiness, sadness, grief and loss - it's a truly sincere love song... Enjoy!
I was quite pleased that Paul McCartney finally made peace with Ono this year by declaring that she wasn't responsible for the inevitable breakup of the Beatles. Her 1980 single 'Walking On Thin Ice' is one of her best known songs - and also the final recording that she made with John before his death.
I still remember when I first heard this song - I had never heard anything like it and I reckon I still haven't since. It has such a unique, almost eerie feel to it - and it's a remarkably great dance tune - it truly is one of my favourite songs of all time... Enjoy!
SummersRadio™ Rare Remix + Free Download! The Beatles - 'Tomorrow Never Knows' (David Apple Remix)
Today's post has been inspired by two things - Remembrance Day - and a headline from today's NME online: "Yoko Ono Thanks Paul McCartney For Saying She Didn't Split Up The Beatles" http://www.nme.com/news/yoko-ono/67120
The peace achieved between Ono and McCartney provides symbolic hope for peace between nations - even those who've been at odds for decades. For 42 years some humans have continued to blame Yoko (and some fools still will) but they're wrong - the truth is out now.
As a human with a very anti-violence stance I wear the white poppies for peace at this time of year. You can learn more about them here: http://www.ppu.org.uk/whitepoppy/index.html
He released this remix of the Beatles classic 'Tomorrow Never Knows' from their 1966 album 'Revolver' in February, which cleverly incorporates keyboard elements of Radiohead's 'Everything In It's Right Place' - and other interesting bits into it. If it's to your liking simply click on the download icon below or the link above for your free copy!
Is world peace possible? Perhaps not today, but 'Tomorrow Never Knows'... Enjoy!
SummersRadio™ New Video! Dum Dum Girls - 'Coming Down' (video)
Dum Dum Girls have just released a new video online for their single 'Coming Down'! We first featured 'Coming Down' last July when it was released as a limited free download as a taster from their second album 'Only In Dreams' which came out in September http://summersradio.blogspot.ca/2011/07/summersradio-new-music-free-download_22.html.
'Coming Down' received a limited released on 7" vinyl in September but an official video has only been released this week - and it's directed by band member Malia James. It uses the 7" edited version of the song and it appears to be a tribute of sorts to a live performance art piece by Yoko Ono.
Yoko first performed 'Cut Piece' in 1964 in Japan where she sat kneeling on the stage wearing her best suit of clothing, with a pair of scissors placed on the floor in front of her. Audience members were invited to approach the stage one at a time, and cut a bit of her clothes off. They chose which part to cut - and they were allowed to keep their piece. Here's a photo from a 'Cut Piece' performance in 1965 in New York:
While I love this song - and Yoko Ono (you can check out my celebration of her birthday last month here: http://summersradio.blogspot.ca/2012/02/summersradio-new-music-remixes-yoko-ono.html) I'm currently undecided as to how well this video fits with the song itself. I might just prefer the original non-official slide show video which can be seen in the first link above - particularly because the song is unedited there (over two minutes longer) but regardless this new video is still a fine opportunity to give this beautiful song another listen... Enjoy!
SummersRadio™ New Music + Remixes! Yoko Ono - 'Will I' (Creamer & K Mix)/ 'Walking On Thin Ice' (FKEK Vocal Mix)/ 'Everyman... Everywoman...' (Passengerz Ono Mixshow)/ 'She Gets Down On Her Knees' (Morel Mix)
Yoko Ono turns 79 today - Happy Birthday Yoko! The average person's knowledge of Yoko Ono's music is probably her half of 1980's 'Double Fantasy' album with John Lennon - but Yoko is now into her fifth decade of recording a wide range of musical styles. Unless you're a big fan like myself you may be rather surprised to know that for the last decade she's had a very successful run of dance/ club singles released - featuring remixes of earlier recordings by some of the world's top dj's and producers.
Now it may seem odd at first to think that a woman in her 70's is making house and electronic club hits, but she's always been recording cutting edge music. In fact her first recording with John Lennon was in 1968 with an album called 'Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins' - an album of experimental electronic music. So to celebrate her 79th birthday I shall feature some of my favorites from this new remix era - including her newest club single 'She Gets Down On Her Knees' which has just been released this month.
As a fan of Yoko Ono one thing that bothers me is how very much hate is unnecessarily thrown her way - when she's dedicated so much of her life to promoting peace. (http://imaginepeace.com/) It's mostly from people who foolishly try and blame her for breaking up the Beatles - and by those who don't appreciate or get her music or her art. She has all too often been the butt of weak jokes - in fact I just saw a movie trailer on tv for the new Reese Witherspoon vehicle which features a Yoko Ono joke in it - in the trailer! If that's supposed to be one of the funniest bits of the movie I hardly think it's going to be a blockbuster. In my opinion a Yoko Ono joke is the sign of a lazy uninspired comedy writer - they're seldom funny - usually just cheap shots capitalizing on the fact that her name is so recognizable within pop culture.
Naturally Yoko is well aware of this, and as a response to far too many lame 'Oh, no!' jokes Yoko decided to drop her first name for these remix projects - releasing them under the name 'ONO'. Since 2001 she has released 16 remix singles with every one charting on Billboard's Dance charts - with 11 of those reaching the top five - and nine of them have hit number one! This places her in the top 20 list of artists with the most number one dance hits in the United States - surpassing some other well known artists such as New Order, Kylie Minogue, and even Michael Jackson - and this sees her tied with Depeche Mode!
This first remix didn't hit number one, but it's one of my favorites by association. At the time of it's release I was dj'ing at a cool downtown Vancouver venue called DV8 Lounge - which sadly was recently leveled to expand a nearby park - which is still better than say, building a parking lot! I would also play visuals - trippy dvd compilations - and this song fit well with one that featured gorgeous scenery of the sky and bodies of water - and she references such things in the song.
'Will I' was originally a track from her 1995 album called 'Rising' and 'Will I/ 'Fly' was released as a remix single in 2003 - this is the 'Creamer & K Mix' by John Creamer and Stephane K... Enjoy!
'Walking On Thin Ice' is one of Yoko Ono's more successful solo singles - and it was also the song that she and John Lennon had just finished recording on the night he was fatally shot - on December 8th, 1980. It was subsequently released as a single at the end of January 1981 with the title listed on the cover as 'Walking On Thin Ice - For John'. This is one of ten remixes that were released as a single in 2003 - by artists such as the Pet Shop Boys, Danny Tenaglia and Felix Da Housecat. A lot of the remixes are really good but I particularly like the groove of this 'FKEK Vocal Mix' by Francois Kevorkian and Eric Kupper... Enjoy!
'Everyman Has A Woman Who Love Him' is a track from the 'Double Fantasy' album, which was released as a single in 2004 featuring 12 (!) remixes. It was retitled 'Everyman... Everywoman...' and the lyrics were changed to include gay and lesbian couples! This is the 'Passengerz Ono Mixshow' remix... Enjoy!
This is Ono's newest remix single - 'She Gets Down On Her Knees' - originally a track from her 1981 album 'Season Of Glass'. This is the 'Morel Mix'... Enjoy!
'You like?'™ Become a fan of SummersRadio™'s Facebook page here:
SummersRadio™ STARTLEFEST 2011 Halloween Spectacular Continues! Yoko Ono & The Brother Brothers - 'Yes, I'm A Witch' Few people are as loved and loathed at the same time as Yoko Ono. 'Yes, I'm A Witch' is a track from an album called 'A Story' which was recorded in 1974 - but it didn't get a proper release until 1997. Then in 2007 the song was included on - and served as the title for - a remix album where artists such as Peaches, The Flaming Lips, Le Tigre and Spiritualized were invited to cover or remix the Yoko Ono song of their choosing!
While Yoko's playing up to some of her haters in the lyrics of this song - I also like how she stands up for herself and the outsider and underdog in all of us - by pointing out the importance of being true to ourselves. To quote a few lines:
'Were gonna say,
Were gonna try,
Were gonna try it our way.
Weve been repressed,
Weve been depressed,
Suppression all the way.
Were not gonna die for you,
Were not seeking vengeance,
But were not gonna kill ourselves for your convenience.'
This is Yoko Ono & The Brother Brothers with the amped up 2007 version of 'Yes, I'm A Witch'... Enjoy!
SummersRadio™ New Music! Computer Magic - '(Just Like) Starting Over' Computer Magic is the solo project of Danielle - who goes by Danz - a 21 year old dj/ student who lives in Brooklyn. She started Computer Magic a year ago and so far she's recorded and posted 18 electronic pop songs on Soundcloud which you can check out here: http://soundcloud.com/computer-magic/tracks
This is her newest recording - a cover of John Lennon's '(Just Like) Starting Over' - the first single from his 'Double Fantasy' album with Yoko Ono, which was released in 1980. The production is not quite as elaborate at Lennon's of course, but I quite like Danz's voice. This is Computer Magic's cover of '(Just Like) Starting Over'... Enjoy!
