Search This Blog

Tuesday, June 6, 2023

Picky Balletomane

Bicycle Day’s 80th Anniversary Poster depicts late cosmic and prolific guitar picker Jerry “Captain Trips” Garcia who had a dominant compositional hand in over 100 albums and 450 songs by The Grateful Dead alone. B&C lists a dozen songs that celebrate April 19th, 1943, the day biochemist Albert Hoffman first dosed himself with LSD and rode home by bicycle gingerly.

Recording a song and releasing to world for free can be a cheap ticket, lawn dart, long shot, or low road to upstart infamy. Pandering to base instincts and hormonal urges will always attract indiscriminate consumers, whereas only a balletomane or critic can appreciate choreography and compositions presented from deep thought, diligent practice, and drop dead talent. Consequently, more chunks of coal exist than multi-caret diamonds, while outputs of consequence get buried beneath payloads of nonsense.

You get to vote which is which among another 5 dozen newly identified tunes directly related to bicycling, most recently released. Surprises how few of them reference e-bikes, which have grown in popularity over last 2 decades, and how many unique titles continue to emerge, as if composers and musical groups had no clue 3,000 others already covered similar emotions and experiences. Would have posted this before Tax Day had not examples kept appearing; probably ought to keep monitoring sources. How many click tracks and glitch beats are needed to capture a clacking chain, dancing derailleur, or whirring wheel?

Alexey Marti, Bicycle [jazz], Travesia, self, 2017

Animal Portraits, Bicycle, Young Mothers EP, 374731 Records DK, 2018

Arno Schubert, Bicycle [hip-hop], single, RNO Records, 2020

BLERTA (Geoff Murphy), Bicycle Song, The Return Trip [soundtrack], EMI Music, 2004; begun in 1970 as Bruno Lawrence Electric Revelation and Traveling Apparition, and compiled in 1976, these humorous short stories and songs chronicle group’s tour of New Zealand.

Calypso Rose, The Bicycle [Trinidad folk], Calypso Rose, Ra, 1968

Contact Lens, Bicycle, Silos, 699663 Records DK, 2020

David Gibb, Rusty Bicycle, Pedal Onwards, Little Seeds Music, 2022; “Rusty bicycle, left out in the rain... grease those gears, oil that chain, else you’re not going to get to ride that bike again.”

Demian Feriy, Bicycle [eam], I, self, 2012

DJ Mahoutsukai feat. Hana Mari, Saki Ibuki, Anzu Kojima & Shino Kuroki, By Bicycle [techno], By Bicycle Ep, simasima, 2023

Dom Whiting, Drum and Bass on the Bike, DJ event videos since 2021

Elias Caldwell, Bicycle [synth], Iridescent, [self], 2023

Eliot Park, Bicycle, Just Be, self, 2018; “Birthday present, oh, what a dream! Shiny red with a sparkly seat. and I can go about a-hundred-and-three on my B-I-C-Y-C-L-E. Saturday, oh, what a day! Rolling down the road through the sun and the shade, no training wheels, no siree... I’m the king of the road on my bicycle, bicycle. Yippee ki-yay, and away we go.”

Ezra Fike, Bicycle, Alphabet Pie, self, 2017

Gerald Taucher. E-bike [Austrian], Zwischen Domois & Heit, self, 2022

Giancarlo Scalzi, Bicycle, Missing Pieces of Scoundrel Rocco, Dimetric Sounds, 2013

Gidiboyy, Bicycle, Gidiboyy Lomo 2, 3666843 Records DK, 2022

HÅN & Killowen, Bicycle [alternative], projections on a human screen, self, 2021

Harlem Yu, Bicycle, The Moonlight That Can’t Be Turned Off, Mandopop, 2013

Indian Summer Jars, feat. Sarah Fiore, Ragbrai, Heart Rock, self, 2014

Janet Blair, Bicycle, Over Under, self, 2020; “Life’s no game of chicken, that bird just doesn’t fly. Love is seeing ours not mine. It’s kinda like the pedals on my child’s bicycle. The pedals lock beneath your feet, you try to make them go. To move the bike along, one of those pedals must come low, snd start the forward cycle: confess, repent, grow.”

John Colleoni, Bicycle (Rev Tribal) [Italian techno], Retrosynthwave, Italian Way Music, 2022

JooJoo, Bicycle Day [acid dark techno], Darkprog Mixtape, self, 2022

Joy Lewis, Bicycle, single, Gabbiani Records, 2021

Keezy, Bicycle [hip-hop], single, self, 2018

Lea Miller, Jr, Bicycle [piano instrumental], In Tenda Nel Bosco [In a Tent in the Woods], Sunshine Music Records, 2021

Lions of the Interstate, Bicycle, Hug Point + Death / Love, self, 2019

Liquor Bike, various titles [post-punk], Neon Hoop Ride, Grass Records, 1994
Liquor Bike, Pavements And Sidewalks, Lowborne, Merkin Records, 1993
A “liquor bike” according to urban slang is any conveyance one uses after losing license to operate a motor vehicle.

Lonnie Park, Bicycle Day [juvenile], My Earth Songs, self, 2020; meant to encourage children to ride ecologically to school in support of UNICEF, so not an LSD reference.

Macbeth, Bicycles [Italian metal in English], Vanitas, Art Music Group, 2002; “Service is suspended, Service shall resume. Service running late again... Cities got new friends that the cities really cared. The looks are trifle shifty, and they’re not about to change. ‘Cos no one likes what they are not, and slowly we're strange, and everyone's buying bicycles. Not the bus, bicycles; Not the train, bicycles.”

Margo Lauritzen, Bicycle [indie alternative], She’s a Scientist, self, 2020; “A bicycle is very nice and you should try it once or twice. A bicycle is very cool; if it breaks you can fix it with bike tools. A bicycle is very clean, it keeps our trees and gardens green. A bicycle is very neat, see them gliding down the street! Bicycle, Bicycle, Bicycle!”

Markus Nikolaus, Bicycle Day [psychedelia], The Acid Kids, Porzellan Bar, 2021; influences include riding a bicycle under LSD during COVID lockdown in downtown Berlin. “But baby, we can be as good as new. Take some acid, take some truth. Take my heart, it’s all for you. Let’s take it back. Going with the bike all day, Bicycle Day; let’s take it back.”

Marwin Fetwig, Bicycle [eam], Secrets, UBM Records, 2022

Masaya Yanagi, Bicycle [jazz], single, self, 2021

Michael Cassady & Paul Rust, RAGBRAI, Don’t Stop or We’ll Die, self, 2022

Midichlorian, Bicycle Day 2023 [synth & spoken word], The Slow Ride, self, 2023

Mr. MoJo, Bicycle Day [dubstep], Bicycle Day Mix 2022, self, 2022

Nancy Kopman, Bicycle [juvenile], The Seasons, self, 2013

Oneul, Do exercise! (Bicycle) [instrumental], Cosy Piano Music, self, 2021

Oolong, Bicycle Day [explicit punk], Edema Ruh split EP, self, 2022; “Finally, biking. Hoping for better things, I won’t even say it... Feel like there’s something with the beat in the air; I’ll follow.”

OV, Otomo Bikes [techno], Figs Compilation, Future Times, 2019

Pavel Dobeš, Bicykle [Czech], K svatku, Parlophone, 2001; “My baby has a bi-bicycle and rides like the wind... She has a bi-bicycle and I have a bi-bicycle. We both ride like the wind.”

Pedro Coudsi, Bicycle [eam], Bicycle, Dreamhop Music, 2022

pijama land, Bicycle, Léopard, Sonder House, 2023

Refeeld, Bicycle [English jazz instrumental], Sunny Weekend, self, 2021

Revival Now!, I Ride My Bike in the Rain, At the First Revelationiest Project, Arkam Records, 2016

Robert Pletzer, E-Bike Song - KitzBühel [Austrian folk], video single, self, 2018

Self Made Man, Bicycle [Swedish], Lust Garden, Heartwork Records, 1990

Soleil Rouge, Bicycle [synth], Evolving, 2022

Sukisha. Bicycle [J-pop in Japanese], Beside Your Bedside, self, 2019

Swanky, Bicycle Day [synth], 1943, self, 2023

The Falderals, Bicycle [folk], Love Everything, self, 2019

The Gray Goo, Bicycle Day [psychedelic doom funk], 1943, self, 2022; single track bicyclists from Montana open their debut album with 10 minutes of heavy vibe a bit reminiscent of Mogwai, Hunted by a Freak.

The Penelopes, Bicycle [synth], SpaceBoy [soundtrack], Pour Le Monde, 2021

The Singing Lizard, Bicycle [juvenile], Make Believe, AlphaBeat Records, 2014

Timothy Eerie, Bicycle, Ritual, Nomad Eel Records, 2019

Tom San Filippo, Bicycle Day, single, self, 2023; “The genie's out of the bottle; explain I cannot till my words and my mind stop to soar. Reality shattered, and from here, ever after, perception has opened her doors. Dear Mrs Hoffman, there’s been a problem…”

Trachta (Francis Trachta), Bicycle, Differences, self, 2012

Trophy Jump, Bicycle [Croatian in English], Haphazard, Horn & Hoof Records, 2019; “Dominik once said that he would beat a bike thief dead; that’s the only person that he would murder. Must be really sad to lose your two-wheeled friend to a guy that's definitely not worth her. What kind of person you must be to steal some stranger's property, especially if you steal a bicycle, then you must be the worst dude in the world.”

Wurmy Wormfield (Charles Herman-Wurmfeld) & friends, Bicycle Day [juvenile], fangtasia music, 2021

Xdinary Heroes, Bicycle [K-pop], video, JYP Entertainment, 2023

You Anin, Bicycle [techno], Inside, self, 2018


No comments: