This one’s a bit embarrassing, if only because the Piano Man is so out of style these days. I heard this tune on the radio the other day, and it’s been stuck in my head since then, so this is partly an effort to purge the saccharine sweetness from my cerebral AM playlist.

When I was a kid I was super into BJ, and probably knew all the lyrics to every song on the Greatest Hits compilation of 1985. I possibly even purchased the album that came out after that one, River of Dreams, but I lost the habit for this style of musical theatre pop when I met a kid at computer camp who was WAY more into Billy Joel than me. Like, superfan status. Knowing I couldn’t compete with that level of sheer cornball, and also anticipating a time when I might want to actually *date a girl*, I started listening to gangster rap instead.

Anyway, check out the awesome video above (not so subtle racial stereotyping included!). 1984 was a million years ago, huh. If you’re feeling extra nostalgic, check out this one too.

They’re voting. And if you don’t, they win. And everybody loses.

This article is part of the CA Midterms 2010 series.

Thankfully, I woke up this morning only hearing the music of this infectious electro duo, because the following video is effing creepy. It uses stock commercial footage (you can almost hear an ad for some pharmaceutical, or Tampax, or a car rental company just by watching) and very subtle “enhancements” that pretty much make these mopes into hellspawn.

Which is to say, it’s still a pretty good video.

Had this song stuck in my head when I woke up this morning. The Grey Album remains solid six years on – a testament to Dangermouse’s talents. I think it would be easy to mess up a Jay/Beatles mashup, and I’ve maintained that this version is better than the beats on The Black Album.

Anyway, here’s the tune (no official video).

Constituent parts after the jump.

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This one’s not hard to trace. I went to karaoke last night (it was crazy expensive – $9 beers anyone?) and attempted to sing Kanye West’s “Gold Digger“. Although I thought I knew the lyrics, the delivery is actually really hard. Say what you will about Kanye, but his style is hard to emulate. Also, it was pouring rain, so it made me think of flooding, and then probably the disaster that was New Orleans during and after Hurricane Katrina. In the wake of that tragedy, during a benefit fundraiser, Kanye, in one of his first outbursts, said on live television: “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.” Hence, the inspiration for this amazing song.

(Editor’s note: I’m not sure if this is the original video, but it’s the only one I could find.)

A local hero who has been blowing up the LAirwaves. Great stuff, buy the album.

Here’s a video for the lead single, Maybe So, Maybe No. It features a bunch of iconic LA spots, from Venice Beach to the Santa Monica skate park to Crane’s Tavern in Hollywood.

The newest frontier of wordplay. I can’t quite figure out which beat (got it – Exhibit C – thank you KCRW playlists!) was on repeat upstairs when the alarm went off, but that might have to do with the fact that I was having a dream about zombies (I totally hit snooze and jumped back into the fray). So I’ll post two videos. The first is a teaser for his first big single, titled Exhibit A:

Listen to the full song here.

The second track, called Dimethyltryptamine, is a heavy hitter, politically and visually. Be warned there is some disturbing imagery.

Hmm, for some reason the song playing on repeat in my head this a.m., called “Slow Down” by the lounge-hop group Morcheeba, seems to be sending me the wrong message. 2010 is the year I want to kick ass, and that’s making me think it’ll go fast. But it’s a good message any other day I guess.