Music Whenever: Kat Robichaud, Dan Deacon, The Delegators & More…

Hello again. So as stated, it’s been a bit rough of late and 2016 has gotten off to such a shaky start, it’s almost like being in an Irwin Allen film. So for this go round, I’ve picked six songs that are at least relatively cheery, so we collectively get some musical therapy, yes? Yes.

First things first. I had no idea Kat Robichaud was on The Voice. I know as much about The Voice versus other reality shows as I do about badminton versus other versions of sportsball. With just about the same level of caring. What I do care about is this song, which I’ve played a ridiculous number of times. This is the second version on her album, the “Ringmaster” rendition, which I prefer to the “original” because this sounds more anarchic and mental. And I am drawn to songs that sound like they’re recorded in the middle of an electric street carnival. You are Jack’s utter lack of surprise. The album she released with The Darling Misfits is, appropriately enough, Kat Robichaud and The Darling Misfits. You can find the album on Amazon and her website with all of her linkages can be found here.

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Dan Deacon previously released America, one of my favorite albums of 2012. Here we have his latest, Gliss Riffer, which about half the songs are somewhat like this one, “Learning to Relax.” I would describe this as what would happen if The Postal Service had been zapped into the world of Tron and then had whatever music they created remixed into themes for Saturday morning cartoons for oversugared children. Again, something I would go for. The devil you say! As I said, half the tracks on Riffer have this same chaotic air about them and quite efficiently crank my tractor. You can find the album on Amazon. Deacon’s online home is here.

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After Rob turned me onto BBC Radio 6, my pocketbook has been aching because there’s too much in the way of good music that I find from the numerous shows there. Case in point, The Delegators from London and their version of “Nowhere to Run,” which I originally caught on Craig Charles’ funk and soul sonic emporium. It’s a song from Martha & the Vandellas that is so iconic, you can imagine that anybody messing with it would just screw it right the hell up. Ah, but no: their ska-groove take featuring Janet Kumah just rocking the vocals…it’s infectious. You can find their album, All Aboard, via their Bandcamp page. Their online-ness can be found here.

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And while we’re in that musical neighborhood, let’s visit with Jackie Estick and “Boss Girl,” which (from what I can tell, anyway) was a B-side released in 1961. Unfortunately, I wasn’t really able to find a lot of info about him. Considering the number of Jamaican music compilations I’ve found him on, I assume he’s Jamaican. It’s hard to get stuff past me. The only other indicator was a UK country designation on one of his singles, but that could have been the location of the label itself. You can snag it solo from Amazon as an MP3.

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The BBC Live Lounge is something I’ve praised before…you either get bands doing awesome live versions of their own stuff or awesome covers of somebody else’s stuff. In this case, we have Basement Jaxx doing an a capella version of “Raindrops” that I prefer to the original, honestly. And it takes a very special song to involve a vocoder and make me not want to punch a duckling in the face. This is from 2009’s Live Lounge, Vol. 4 and doesn’t appear to be available stateside, though you can snag it for cheap from Amazon UK.

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And last but definitely not least is the closing credits song from The Man from UNCLE, a film that is, for me anyway, an anti-depressant. I’ve watched it so many times on Blu-Ray that I’ve lost count. If you haven’t seen it, then you should. This is Nina Simone with “Take Care of Business For Me” …and I’m going to recommend you snag the soundtrack as well, since it’s freaking fantastic.