(Get Down With) The Theme from The Love Hive

New music today! This is the first of a new series of songs about the Love Hive. What is the Love Hive and why should you care? Over the next few weeks we'll explore more of the Love Hive and its philosophy. Stay Tuned.

http://www.victorlams.com/audio/VLams_-_The_Love_Hive.mp3

60 Ton Whale

There is not really that much which can be said about this tune other than it was inspired by true events.

http://www.victorlams.com/audio/VLams_-_60_Ton_Whale.mp3

Flying House of Loreto

Walked into work today to the shocking and sad news that one of my coworkers had died over the weekend. For some reason this song seems the only one remotely appropriate.

NOTE: This song is now available for download from Amazon MP3, Lala.com, and available soon from iTunes and Rhapsody.

Smoke Stays In Your Lungs

Our first Buried Folderol Week concludes with this rare gem from 1996. When asked in college what my ideal job was, I would often reply (and still do), "lounge lizard". Sadly, the closest I've ever come to realizing this dream, aside from that time I played piano at that one bar in Brugge, was when I would lug my keyboard to the Not Another Cafe in Ann Arbor, Michigan, or to the monthly Intervarsity Christian Fellowship Coffe-House Night at Hillsdale, College. Becuase I had a keyboard and no one could stop me, I would often perform there. I would usually start off with this tune, much to the bewildered stares of the three or four people who'd gathered there, which left me with only 179 additional minutes to fill with my own unique "musical-wallpaper"... until Casey showed up with the rum, at which point the rest of the mucial ambience would kind of degress into mediocre Charlton Heston impressions (and the bewildered stares turned into vacant chairs).

http://www.victorlams.com/audio/VLams_-_Smoke_Stays_In_Your_Lungs.mp3

Mellowday

We kick off our first ever Buried Folderol Week with a trip all the way back to 1995 (or 1996 - I'm not sure of the exact date but it was definitely after Stevie Wonder's "Conversation Peace" came out, from the sound of things). I had occasion this past weekend to dig out my old 4-track cassette recorder and Big Box O' Tapes, just to see what was on them. I had almost forgotten, in this age of Digital Audio Workstations, how much fun it was to work with audio tape. And yes, I'm being sarcastic.

I do recall writing and making this track in college (sequencing the music on my Mac with a Roland JV keyboard and Alesis SR-16 drum machine, two sound sources which alone could define the early-to-mid 1990s pop sound) and then playing it for my friends Alec and Kara Lee in their car where it was heartily mocked (I think mostly for the falsetto "Laaaa, la la la la laaa" bit).

Later, I believe, I would go on to enter this song into the John Lennon Songwriting Contest and receive back the 7-word review: "Imagine there's no this song. We did."

Anyway, if you like cheesy pop based on a really lame pun, this is for you.

http://www.victorlams.com/audio/VLams_-_Mellowday.mp3

P.U.R.G.A.T.O.R.Y.

This song first appeared on Catechism Rock! last year, and you can read the entire saga of how it came to be by clicking on that link. One of my shorter, but more cherished creations.

Enjoy!

http://www.victorlams.com/audio/VLams_-_Purgatory.mp3

Have You Dug His Scene?

For this Monday's song, we take a strong left turn into uncharted territory (for me anyway): the remix. "Have You Dug His Scene?" was, I believe, my second attempt at a remix, brought on my repeated listenings of the second Verve CD of remixed jazz classics. The remix is no Brazilian booty-shaker, granted, but perhaps you'll get your groove on to it (and perhaps you won't. It's free. What do you want?).

Anyway, this undertaking, undertook in October, 2003, taught me one thing, at least: if you're going to do a remix, make sure you have something better to work with than a 64kps .mp3 file as your source material (snapped up from the wonderfully eclectic 365 Days Project).

Here's what CrudCrud has to say about the original:

"Yaphet Kotto did this jazz poetry blast back in '68, and it comes off as a bit less Burn Baby, Burn than the Last Poets. Perhaps that is because Kotto is the son of a Cameroonian prince! And his producer on this is fellow African Hugh Masekela. Coming from Africa and seeing the plight of American Blacks in the 1960s, especially the institutionalized poverty, is a bit different than living it. So maybe that is why Kotto doesn't spit the same rage as the Last Poets. Or maybe he is just a different cat. Man, I don't wanna kill your head so forget that jive for a second and check out Kotto's Beat-inspired 'try (as in poe'try)."

http://www.victorlams.com/audio/VLams_-_Have_You_Dug_His_Scene.mp3

gothictootsiePOP

For the second tune of the week we turn the pages all the way back to September, 2003, and a cheerful little Goth tune. I forget exactly what provoked this tune. Anyway, here it is in a slightly re-imagined form (I went to re-master the track and realized I'd misplaced my harpichord samples when I upgraded FLStudio, so the whole thing has been updated a bit). The old version is still available somewhere online, though, if you want to hear the differences. Have an enjoyable weekend!

http://www.victorlams.com/audio/VLams_-_gothictootsiePOP.mp3