faux pas recently featured on what is easily the most tastefully pimped out music blog on the net, undomondo. my questionable viral e-marketing scheme (ie find blog that i really like, & email them with breathless desparation) wins again! undomondo unearths great forward-thinking music - you won’t find any mind-numbingly generic blog house there - and you should visit there every day, like i do. they do a weekly podcast that i’ve just started listening to and its great. mutual e-back-slapping rules.

and now some much-loved songs in a retro style, from me to you, because i’m feeling generous.

1. dutch funk band covers neil young classic featuring mad steel drum solo. no further explanation needed. in fact, that album cover there should be all the explanation you require… this song never ever fails to inspire me, & never gets tired and i’ve been wearing out for a few years now, since i found it while randomly trying to make someone a “river”-themed mix cd:

MP3: Dutch Rhythm and Steel Band - Down by the River

2. faintly maniacal calypso band-leader waxes lyrical re: how to tell girl martians from boy martians (thanks to wally for passing on this one):

MP3: Lord Christo - Trip to Mars

3. 1951. young jazz piano legend-in-the-making ahmad jamal, recorded live in a bar. my favourite thing about it is easily the steady sounds of glasses being chinked in the background, people murmuring, occasionally a muted exclamation of appreciation or a hint of a jeer… the silence is alive.

MP3: Ahmad Jamal - Ahmad’s Blues