Old is New Again

This week's Musica Obscura brings us some great, old tunes and some new ones inspired by old, sometimes ancient music, and sometimes just inspired by '60s music.

Betty Hutton – Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief
Betty Hutton, what can we say. Perhaps she said it best herself when she sang the hilarious song, “I’m just a square in the social circle. Anybody here wanna fight?” No one could sing so sweetly and then huck up a spitball in the middle of a song. Her lyrics and vocals are delightfully over the top. She was one of the underrated singers and comediennes of the 1940s. Catch her in perhaps her best film “The Stork Club” (1945). “Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief” is a Hoagy Carmichael classic from the aforementioned film. If you liked Björk’s “Oh So Quiet,” you’ll love the original ‘cause no one belts it out like Betty.

Other Betty Hutton Songs to Check Out: It’s Oh So Quiet, Anything You Can Do, A Square In The Social Circle, It Had To Be You, I’m An Indian Too, Stuff Like That There

Vanessa Paradis – Be My Baby
Motown beats, and supreme treats. Paradise a la Lenny Kravitz. Vanessa Paradis that is. French Pop, and American sensibility. If you can call Lenny Kravitz American, but his music definitely is. Lenny Kravitz produced the album which has a certain ‘je ne sais quoi,’ an infectious drum, sultry vocals, and that accent. Ooh la la. Vanessa started early with a pop career, modeling and films. She was devastatingly lovely in the French film “La Fille sur le Pont” aka “The Girl on the Bridge.” Vanessa Paradis and her pop music may be obscure, but her spouse isn’t. She’s the better half of Johnny Depp.

Other Vanessa Paradis Songs to Check Out: Foule sentimentale, Sunday Mondays, One, Lonely Rainbows

Natacha Atlas – Kidda
Although born in Belgium, Natacha Atlas explores her Arabic roots through her rhythmic musical vistas. None of the 4/4 Western pop here, only exotic Arabic scales, rhythms, and textures. Formerly the lead singer of Transglobal Underground, their influence is felt on all of her solo albums, which they helped produce. She sings not only Arabic, but reggae, R&B, hip hop and Indian inspired songs in Spanish, French and English.

Other Natacha Atlas Songs to Check Out: Mon amie la rose, Leysh Nat-Arak, Fakrenha, Yallah Chant

Sorten Muld – Som stjernerne på himlens blå
Sorten Muld from Denmark are incredibly original featuring ancient Scandinavian ballads with trip-hop beats and an amalgam of historic folk instruments and electronica. Ulla Bendixsen's voice dances delicately in Danish over the techno backdrop, spinning tales of romance and loss while hurdy-gurdy, bagpipes, violin, and sequencers pulse on in dark, urgent colors. Exceptional and worthy of their two Danish Grammys.

Other Sorten Muld Songs to Check Out: Ravnen, To Søstre, Muller’s Datter, Venelite, Kirsten, Kong Harald

Sissy Wish – About A Machine
Sissy Wish is singer / songwriter Siri Wålberg who has been compared to the incomparable Kate Bush, but she’s perhaps more melodic and less strange than Bush, but still quirky. “About A Machine” could have been the theme to one of those spaghetti Westerns starring Clint Eastwood if it had been recorded in the ’60s with its decidedly cowboy guitar and Indian vocal chorus. Siri Wålberg won last year’s Norwegian Spellemann Prize (Norwegian Grammy) for Best Female Artist and the album was perhaps the most highly critically acclaimed album in Norwegian pop history.
Other Sissy Wish Songs to Check Out: Dictaphone, Everything Goes, Reveal, Sleep Back Tomorrow, No Company