Up

I finally got to see "Up" last night, and it was excellent. If you haven't seen it yet, do so. Michael Giacchino's soundtrack (Amazon | Lala) was also good, especially if you sit through the end credits to hear all the danceable parts.

The Up With End Credits track starts off with a waltz (the main Ellie/house theme from throughout the movie), blends nicely into a mellow cha cha, then something kind of bluesy, then a quieter, slower return to the waltz. You could probably edit out specific dances, but it might also be interesting to just dance it as a 7.5-minute medley.

The Spirit of Adventure is a fun little one-step-able (110 bpm) song. Or if you take it as 220 bpm, you could make a fast charleston or something out of it. It's amusing, and also happens to be the song that comes on when the music credits show up (which is always interesting to notice).

The Married Life has another 4 minutes of the waltz theme with some different tempos and moods. It could perhaps be edited a bit and used on its own, or maybe spliced into the waltz from the end credits? I haven't tried playing around with that yet.

Vermillion Lies

Vermillion Lies is my latest jackpot find from my random Last.fm browsing. They're one of those bands that has such a delightful variety of styles and sounds that you never quite know what you're going to hear next. Their press page talks about their "unique brand of beauty, silliness, and creativity," and "songs ranging from lyrical folk ballads to raucous circus marches." I've been listening to their two albums on repeat for the last day or so, and I was also glad to find a number of danceable songs, so here they are.

• I Should Fly (Rotary waltz, 160 bpm) - Amazon MP3, Last.fm
  And if you can't fly, you should waltz. :-) Good contrast between verses and chorus, which is always nice to have for dancing.
• Shady (Polka, 130 bpm) - Amazon MP3, Last.fm
  Nice mandolin part in this one. Would need some shortening and maybe a little slowing down for dancing purposes, though.
• Blue (One-step, 112 bpm) - Amazon MP3, Last.fm
  One of the sisters can do a vocal style that reminds me of Ingrid Lucia (of the Flying Neutrinos), or maybe Billie Holiday, which gives it a very vintage sort of sound with the swing guiter. Plus, there's a kazoo!
• Done Wrong (Polka, 122 bpm) - Amazon MP3, Last.fm
  Similar style to "Blue," but the instrumentation makes it sound more polka-y.
• Bone Yard (Cross-step waltz, 118 bpm) - Amazon MP3, Last.fm
  Sort of a dark one, and with a lot going on the arrangement which could potentially muddy things, but I think the piano keeps the beat consistently enough to dance to.
• Global Warming (Rotary waltz, 155 bpm) - Amazon MP3, Last.fm (free download!)
  This one is probably better for listening than dancing, but I wanted to include it just for general amusement and silliness. "Everything's going swimmingly."

New Songs - 24 February

Below are a number of songs I've found and enjoyed in the last few weeks.

If a song is available for legal download, a link is provided. I always pick Amazon over iTunes because it's DRM-free and higher bit-rate. Unfortunately there's a lot of music not available for à la carte downloading, and in those cases I'll try to give other purchase suggestions. If you're stumped finding a song and/or really don't want to spend $15 for a whole CD, drop me a note.

Rotary (fast) Waltz:
Graham Colton - Best Days
Roxanne Potvin - La Merveille

Polka
Zucchero - Per Colpa Di Chi Note: this is the live version; the original, which I recommend, is available on the CD The Best of Zucchero Sugar Fornaciari's Greatest Hits

Polka/Hustle
Mika - Love Today

One Step
Benoît Charest - Belleville Rendez-Vous (from the soundtrack of Les Triplettes de Belleville)