Saturday, October 10, 2015

Song of the day

"Icecream Meltin' Mellow", by Pizzicato Five.


Recently I have been on a major Pizzicato Five kick. Probably this is not unrelated to the fact that the fifteen-year-old has spent the last two weeks in Japan, sending back infrequent and cryptic messages along the lines of "I bought this thing, I don't know what it is, I don't know what it's made of, but it's REALLY COOL". (I suspect he has, right there, summed up Japan for the non-Japanese in one easy sentence.)

But anyway it is always nice to revisit Pizzicato Five. There are always hidden surprises. Like this song. Its title, "Icecream Meltin' Mellow", almost perfectly encapsulates the sense of bitter-sweet melancholy that lies within its grooves. That's a pretty neat trick, given that English is not their native language. Plus, the song has everything over its six-and-a-half minutes: reggae grooves; scratching; rapping; and a full-on disco string section. What could possibly go wrong?



Bonus beats: Marin Mixes 1 and 2.