August 26

One of the things I love about this blog is it gets me searching again. I was researching today’s blog, when I came across Yagmur Sangul, whose name is missing a couple of umlats and such. (Thank goodness I’m writing a blog and not kill-pronouncing his name.) He’s the guitarist and primary songwriter for a Turkish band called maNga; yes, they named themselves after Japanese comic books. They’ve got an Incubus sound with Coheed imagination.

Actually, I checked out their website, and they’re a bit of awesome. The song above translates to, to the best of my research, "Leave Me Alone". Google “maNga Turkey” if you want to find out anything about these guys; sorry I don’t speak Turkish….

I’ve known how awesome Shirley Manson is for some time. Ever since I heard her sing “Vow” on the first Garbage album, I’ve been captivated by the girl.

Garbage - Vow
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Shame Guitar Hero 5 isn’t out yet; apparently, she’s one of the characters you can play the game as.
If you head to her Facebook page, you can hear a couple of songs from her solo sessions - will they be on her long-anticipated solo album, or will there be another Garbage album?

Today’s a good excuse to say “thank you” to Mark Snow, the composer of “The X-Files” theme, the song that made all whistling songs creepy. In fact, I think that’s the secret sauce that makes the creepiest shows creepy. There’s “X-Files” and “Twilight Zone”, the apex of creepy TV songs. Every other show either sounds like an amusement park ride (“Tales from the Crypt,” “Monsters”) or chintzes on the music altogether (“The Outer Limits”, “Fear Itself”)
In tribute, I found this duo on YouTube doing an acoustic guitar take on the “X-Files” theme. If that’s not creepy enough, realize that the entire performance is filmed with their heads cut off. For what reason? Are they hideous? Inhuman? Members of the witness protection program? I want to believe so…


Finally: another birthday girl, another discovery for me. Chantal Renaud was a big deal in 1960s France, the face of an entire genre of music. I don’t understand a single word she said, which somehow makes this song harder to shake out of my head.
Either you’ll enjoy it, or file it in your “WTF” file. Either reaction’s acceptable.


Tomorrow: Requests and Dedications…