Señor Coconut

Rocket From The Crypt, “Good Bye”

RFTC almost in a Smashing Pumpkins kind of mode here. Can’t decide which band would be more insulted by that comparison.

Señor Coconut, “Pisco Control (Jive Electico)”

Señor Coconut’s album of Kraftwerk covers done in a Latin style is a delight, a charming re-interpretation of the Kraftwerk originals that really highlights the beating heart at the center of those shiny, robotic songs. Alas, the first Señor Coconut record (this one, El Gran Baile) is sort of a testing ground for some of those ideas of merging electronic music with Latin style, and it’s not nearly as much fun.

The Beatles, “I’m So Tired”

Big same, Beatles.

DJ Krush, “Jikan no Hashi 2”

Do I need to hear “Jikan no Hashi” for this song to make sense?

Abstract hip-hop artist DJ Krush’s 1996 MiLiGHT featured a bunch of collaborations, resulting in a bit of an uneven record. But at the heart of it are always his jazzy beats, so it’s still a pleasant listen.

The Skunks, “The Chairman”

Well, that’s pointless.

Nice stuff today.

The Mars Volta, “This Apparatus Must Be Unearthed”

This is from the first Mars Volta album. So, as you can tell, the Mars Volta were swinging for the fences right away. You never really know where they’re going, and that just was more and more true as things went along.

Señor Coconut, “The Robots”

Oh man, you’re all in for a treat. Señor Coconut is a project of electronic artist Uwe Schmidt, who created this album to document a fake Latin group doing an entire album of Kraftwerk covers. It’s pretty much all note-for-note covers of the originals, but with little flourishes here and there. It’s all played with a totally straight face, and it’s 100% delightful. I never knew that I needed fake Latin covers of Kraftwerk, but I did. Very much.