Song for November 2nd, 2010: "Resurrection (Penguin Prison Remix)" by The Temper Trap

The song is...Resurrection (Penguin Prison Remix) by Australian alternative rock band The Temper Trap. I have posted about this band before but for the sake of tradition: the band consists of members Dougy Mandagi, Jonathon Aherne, Lorenzo Sillitto, Sebastian Kirwan, and Toby Dundas, they originate out of Melbourne, Australia, and they have been active on the music scene since 2005. This song is more recent release and remixed version of their song Resurrection, which appeared on their June 2009 and first studio album titled Conditions. A free mp3 download of this remixed version can be found here.

#44 of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown! Peter Schilling: Major Tom (Coming Home) (1983)

Here is #44! And the song is...Major Tom (Coming Home)," by 80's German synth-pop artist Peter Schilling. Peter Schilling was born on January 28, 1956 in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, and he began his music career back in the 1970's. His songs were known for featuring sci-fi sorts of themes, such as astronauts, aliens, holocausts, and other dark sorts of post-apocalyptic imagery. Major Tom (Coming Home) is considered to be his one international hit song and was featured on his 1983 album titled Error in the System. According to wikipedia, it was intended as a re-telling of the 1969 David Bowie song Space Oddity. There isn't a whole heap more of information out there on Schilling, other than he had a few other single releases worth mentioning and checking out including The Different Story (1986) and Terra Titanic (1984). I included this track on the Countdown I spent many a night dancing to it at a local 80's night and the DJ used to always play this song, and obviously the chorus is the sweetest part. It is a bit hard to locate the English version of the song as Itunes and Amazon seem to only carry the German language version, which is annoying, but as they say 'seek and ye shall find.' Enjoy, and we are already on to rest of the countdown!

Song for November 1st, 2010: "Holidays (feat. Alan Palomo)" by Miami Horror

And the song is....Holidays (feat. Alan Palomo), by Aussie electro-pop group Miami Horror. Miami Horror is a four-piece group out of Melbourne, Australia which has been active on the music scene since 2007 and consists of members Benjamin Plant (producer), Josh Moriarty, Aaron Shanahan, and Daniel Whitechurch. The group has released an EP titled Bravado (2008), as well as a full studio album titled Illumination (just released in August of 2010) from which today's song comes off of. Much of Miami Horror's music has been influenced by 70's and 80's dance-pop and electro-synth, which makes for an interesting mixture going into the '10s. I recommend checking out both the Bravado EP and Illumination album as they both have great tracks on them!

Steve Judd's Global Forecast November 2010

DJ Topcat Mashup: "Folsom Prison Gangstaz" with Eazy E & Johnny Cash

Brief Movie Review for "Me and You and Everyone We Know" (2004)

 3/5 Stars ***
Definitely not a formula movie, and reminds me a bit of the same kind of awkward tension and humor that was in Napolean Dynamite, but quite a bit less comedic. The people are definitely not glamorous personas, but more like true-to-life awkward and lonely people. I wouldn't watch it again but it may be worth checking out if you are into the indie-genre.

Song for October 30th, 2010: "Punching In a Dream" by The Naked and Famous

The song is...Punching In a Dream by 5-piece Kiwi-indie-rock band The Naked and Famous. The Naked and Famous has been around on the music scene since 2008, originates out of New Zealand, and it consists of members David Beadle, Thom Powers, Aaron Short, Jesse Wood, and Alisa Xayalith. They released their first album titled Passive Me, Agressive You on September 6th, 2010 and this song can be found their as track 2. Their second single release from the album proved to be a #1 hit on the RIANZ New Zealand Singles Chart, and this song peaked at #11 on that same chart. I personally don't understand how this song didn't get press in the USA and UK, but it didn't, I suppose that in the end its all about record contracts and copyrights etc, which is why you still can't find the entire new album on itunes, but you can at least find the single Young Blood there (which was the #1 in NZ) and you can buy the album as an import on Amazon.com. If I were to describe their sound or compare it, I would compare it to MGMT's Oracular Spectacular album (and not their rather anti-climactic new one). Anyways, check it out and hear for yourself.

Song for October 29th, 2010: "She And I" by Bird and Prey

The song for today is...She and I, by Australian punk-rock band Bird and Prey. Bird and Prey originate out of Brisbane, Australia (in sunny Queensland) and consists of members Josh Aubry (Vocals),  Jahman Davine (Guitar), Angus Durham (Guitar/keys), Beau Jenkins (Drums), and Chris de Wet (Bass Guitar). Now, this song is not yet available on youtube, as far as I can tell, so you can listen to it on their myspace page here, or you can listen/download a free mp3 of it on their triple j unearthed site here. Boo!

#45 of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown!: "If You Leave" by OMD (1986)

Ahoy! We are at #45 of the Countdown! And the song is...If You Leave, by 80's English synth-pop group Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD). Also commonly abbreviated and known as OMD, this group originated out of the Wirral Peninsula in Merseyside, England back in 1978, which presently consists of members Andy McCluskey, Paul Humphreys, Malcolm Holmes, and Martin Cooper. McCluskey and Humphreys were the founding members of the band and are considered the 'core members' to this very day. If You Leave was a single recorded specifically for the John Hughes classic 80's film soundtrack to his film Pretty in Pink, and it was used mainly for the final scene of the movie. It would be OMD's biggest hit in the USA, peaking at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart that year, at the same time it would only reach #46 on the UK Singles Chart. I don't really have a whole heap more of information on OMD, although I do remember that they did some more soundtrack work for some other 80's John Hughes movies including the iconic Weird Science, and I haven't yet quite decided if I will feature more of their hits on this countdown, maybe, but maybe not, we shall see....

Song for October 28th, 2010: "Mr Keeperman" by Buchanan

Today's song is....Mr Keeperman by Australian indie-rock-pop band Buchanan (pronounced bew-cannon). Buchanan originates out of Melbourne, Victoria in Australia and consists of members Josh Simons (vocals), Jon Bara (guitar), and Sanjay Schuback (drums). Buchanan has just recently released a new EP titled The Safety Beach in May 2010. This song can be found on that EP, which is available on Itunes, or you can still go to Triple J Unearthed and download a lower quality free mp3 version of the song here. Also be sure to check out their myspace page for more band info here.

Brief Movie Review for "On the Beach" (1959)

4/5 Stars ****

The message here is "There is still Time." One of those movies that makes you think a little bit and put things in perspective. Also, was filmed and set mostly in Melbourne, lots of shots from a truly great city. The threat of nuclear war seems less, but now we have climate change and drowning in our own other various poisonous substances in our food, water, air, and soil...fun stuff to think about aye! Definitely not an upper movie, and don't watch if you don't like marinating in that forboding sense of inevitable doom for 2 hours, but that said its probably one of those movies everyone should have to watch in school.

Song for October 27th, 2010: "The Eagle" by Grafton Primary

The song for today is....The Eagle, by Australian electro-noir band Grafton Primary. Grafton Primary are an electro-duo  consisting of brothers Benjamin Garden (keyboards/synth) and Joshua Garden (vocals) along with an occasional drummer or bass-guitarist for live shows only. They come out of Sydney, Australia and they have been active on the music scene since 2006. They have released one full length studio albums in the past and The Eagle is a single to come off of their upcoming new 2011 studio release album titled Sophmore. Now the youtube video below is a remix version of the original, but it is the only version available on youtube, and their videos are the most-postable (if thats a word) so that is what I have posted below. You can still find a free mp3 download of the original song here.

#46 of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown! Robert Palmer: Addicted to Love (1986)

At #46 we have....Addicted to Love by English Grammy Award winning singer/song-writer Robert Palmer. Robert Palmer was born on January 19th, 1949 in Batley, Yorkshire, England. Palmer was well-known for his solo-work and music videos (such as for this song) and another for the song Simply Irresistable, both of which feature identically dressed models with pale faces, dark eye, makeup and bright red lipstick, which was meant as a sort of tribute to the women in the art of artist Patrick Nagel, who was quite big in the 1980's as well. He was also well-known, at that time, for being the lead singer of 80's super-group 'Power Station,' which generated 2 Top 10 US Singles in 1985. Addicted to Love was released in 1986 on Palmer's Riptide album and it peaked at #1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and on the U.S. Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. According to wikipedia, this song was originally intended to be a duet between Palmer and Chaka Khan, but Chaka Khan's record label wouldn't give her permission to work on Palmer's record label, and thus it became a solo-song, but still good all the same. The images this song brings back is that scene from the classic 1988 movie Cocktail where Tom Cruise and Bryan Brown are blasting this song in the crowded bar whilst flare bar-tending, was totally rad!