We’re back to Cool & Strange Music for March 21, 2016! This week’s chart is the grooviest and most out of this world line up of musical bizarreness on the planet!

Today, I have some homework to catch up on so, let me clear out my Cool & Strange cabinet. First up is a band we featured last week called Messer Chups. Messer Chups is a trio from St. Petersburg, Russia (used to be called Leningrad for all you geekoholics!) Messer Chups have tons of fab tunes. They used to be in a unit called “Messer fur Frau Muller” and I’ll tell you more about them in a minute. But first, this awesome twist for all you David Lynch and Twin Peaks fans! Here’s their FB page: https://www.facebook.com/messerchups/?fref=ts

#3) Messer Chups – Twin Peaks Twist https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZZHrK311aw

Next up is another artist that debuted two week’s ago on our Cool & Strange Music countdown. It’s Hexstatic from Jolly Old. Two guys who mix up visuals as well as sounds. This is an awesome mashup of the 1966 smash hit by Frank Sinatra’s daughter Nancy Sinatra. Here is Nancy’s original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbyAZQ45uww. Now check out the Hexstatic mashup. This is KILLER!

#2) Hexstatic – Nancy`s Boots  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu8VEN4K83o

At #1 is the band that was the original configuration of Messer Chups. Their name was Messer fur Frau Muller (In English that translates to: “A Knife for Mrs. Muller.”) There isn’t much information about either band on English language pages on the internet, but one common thing I’ve noticed is that the guitarist, Oleg Gitarkin and that hot Russian goddess on bass, Svetlana Zombierella Nagaeva, were in both bands. This next song was one of, if not the, most requested song in the 25-year history of my radio show.

#1) Messer fur Frau Muller – The Best Girl in USSR https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUzcKlgy_a4

SPOTLIGHT ARTIST! Today a special treat! It’s Mr. Diagonal. Not much seems to be known about Mr. Diagonal but we do know that he was once a member of Mr. Diagonal and the Black Light Orchestra which was a group that consisted of a guy named Mr. Diagonal and two statues (judging by their FB page). Now, according to informed sources, Mr. Diagonal suddenly disappeared on Feb. 29, 2016 and hasn’t been seen since. Some are suspecting “fowl” play. I suspect he’s “chicken.” Nevertheless, he is under contractual agreement to appear in Japan for several shows starting today, in fact, and lasting until the end of this month. To prevent Mr. Diagonal from being sued in Japanese court, I hear that Dan Barbenel has agreed to step in and perform at these shows…

I’m sure Interpol will be there too with questions for about the sudden disappearance of  Mr. Diagonal and where Mr. Barbenel was at the time. Go check it out. Tour dates below the video. Here is Mr. Diagonal’s FB page:  https://www.facebook.com/mrdiagonal/?fref=ts

SPOTLIGHT ARTIST!  Mr Diagonal – Holiday on Ice  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrVKsWx_CKc

MARCH 22-31 – Dan Barbenel solo tour of Japan. Here’s the webpage URL: http://mrdiagonal.com/

3/22 Kyoto RAG

3/24  Kobe Kyu-Guggenheim-Tei

3/25  Osaka Knave

3/26  Kanazawa Mokkiriya

3/27  Tokyo Pit Inn

3/28  Kashiwa Nardis

3/29  Yokohama Airegin

3/31 Tokyo Saravah

Well that’s it for Cool & Strange Music for this week. Have a great weekend! – Mike in Tokyo Rogers