THE TOFU HUT

Hi there.
So, I've tried hard to maintain a distinct line between the personal and what I share on the blog.
But special circumstances.
After four weeks of new york living, my lunatic once would be roommate has changed the locks on the door.
I called the cops. Turns out she had been talking to them all day. With a good faith agreement, that's all you have to bind you: good faith. I got no rights.
I'm of the opinion that the person in question is deeply mentally unwell and potentially dangerous, tho' I'm worried less for myself and more for my stuff.
As such, I spent some cash on Tel Aviv car service and took everything that wasn't furniture out as quickly as possible.
I'm living in a friends apartment, having dragged all my stuff across town.
God bless my friend for coming to the rescue, as I would otherwise likely have lost everything I owned.
She also has a bustedass ibook that requires a rock to keep it running (don't ask) and an internet connection, although for some reason it won't allow me to log into gmail (where I've forwarded all my mail to these days).
And just before I disconnected my computer and ran it out of crazytown, I discovered that mozilla erased all my links, including some fifty musicblogs I've yet to hype.
It's been a difficult week and that was a little cream for the coffee.
So.
I'm out a month's worth of time and probably 1400 bucks worth of money invested in making myself comfortable, tho' quite a great deal of that is salvagable. In a month, I'll be able to take stock and depending on if this harpy sees fit to give me my deposit back, I should really only be out about five or six hundred dollars. The stress and confusion have been immense, especially as I've taken this week to start a new job. So I deal with this nonsense in the morning, go to work in the afternoon and then head right back over for more fun in the evening.
No music for a little bit; the computer is in multiple pieces right now.
Hopefully in less than a week, I'll be in a position to see about getting going again, but first I have to:
A) finish moving what I can
B) secure this job and start working. It's only waiting tables, but it could be the difference between hope and the abyss.
C) find a new home and put this entire horrible mess behind me.
In the meantime, I recommend you embrace all of the magic that the sidebar has to offer. If you haven't fully explored my copious link collection (and I doubt that you have) you should take advantage of the silence to do so now.
I want to get back asap. This is important to me, tho' I'll be damned if I can concisely explain why and I'm too tired to give the longform answer.
Okay. That's it for now and likely it for a week or so. We'll restart our regularly scheduled programming afore too long.
I hope you're doing better than I am.
cheers.

It's gonna be a slightly less obsessive posting schedule (both in terms of length and frequency) until I get my work foolishness and home foolishness in a row. About the latter, you don't want to know; trust me. On the former, I have a helluvagood story to tell that involves urine. And no, it's not a piss test.

As always if you have or know of a New York jobbiejob for me, that would be cool. But you know this routine:

Blahblahblah i need a job blahblahblah hire me in nyc blahblahblah help help help blah.

On to the tunage.

Not that you'd know it by my past entries but I'm a BIG fan of electronic music, especially mid-to-late 90's (though a Ray Scott post probably looms in the not too distant future). YES, there's a lot of crap in the form but Heinlein's law is appropriate ("99% of EVERYTHING is shit"... and don't forget Heinlein's corollary: "Heinlein was an optimist.").

I get a tetch annoyed with the subgenre-ing out the wazoo (tho' the obsessive can always reference ishkur's amazing site to decide if what they're listening to is "newstyle gabber" or "illbient"). One would think that fans of such a generally maligned artform would band together; instead they break up into smaller and smaller chatrooms where you have to be solely into 196 BPM songs composed entirely of sped-up electric guitar, tympani drums and cookie monster vocals to be a "real fan".

Unsurprisingly, people tend to view electronic music with a wary eye after that degree of elitism. There's a tendency among lotsa indykids to reject anything with the general flavour of "Get Busy Child" as mindless pabulum.

But, hey: I _LIKE_ pabulum sometimes!

Nonetheless, the tracks selected for today's Hut are HARDLY pabulum. They're all wired to shoot the message directly from your coccyx to your reptile brain and get you moving to hurricane speed.

Plug it in.

electric glisten

Orbital - "Technologicque Park"

After almost fifteen years of cutting edge electronic, Phil and Paul Hartnoll are calling it quits. Orbital is releasing what they claim to be their last album in June and I don't buy it for a second. These guys are going to stop TOURING, yes; but more music will come.

Orbital has been a mainstay of film, TV and videogame soundtracks for years now; you've undoubtedly heard "Halcyon+On+On" whether you know it or not. They've been getting their due from the press since step one, but with their patently radio-unfriendly style (thirty minute tracks?) and offbeat sensibility (go give "I Wish I Had Duck Feet" a listen), they've remained somewhat under the US MTV generation's mainstream eyelevel.

More's the pity; I'm as obsessive about Orbital as I am about Prince and would love nothing more than to spread the gospel.

They also put on one fuck of a good live show.

It's as likely as not to show up on the forthcoming "Blue" album, but for now you could find "Technologique on the last track of disc one of the XXX soundtrack, available from Amazon.

It's a STRANGE soundtrack; one disc of (ostensibly) rocknroll and electronica and one disc of (ostensibly) rnb and hip hop: Mr Cheeks, Pastor Troy and Joi cohabitating with Queens of the Stoneage and Rammstein?

Less of a soundtrack, more of a collection of confused licenses. This is bound to catch some giggles twenty years from now.
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Loopz is Orbital's official website and is likely the best artist website I've seen in terms of excessive content. Click on "remix comp" for a healthy dose of 80+(!) Orbital remixes for download.
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An '02 interview with the brothers Hartnoll.

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Underworld - "Dinosaur Adventure 3D"

All of these are tracks that I work out to. I don't think I've ever told anyone this, but when I lift or run, I tend to do some ultra-dorky mental visualizations to help maximize the adrenaline boost I get from the songs; mental movies that accompany the track. After awhile, I have a comfortable scenario that I've linked to each song. These tend to be pseudo-comicbook fantasies that appeal to gutlevel machismo and keep my feet hitting the ground or the weight rising and falling.

Surely, I'm not the only one?

This is by way of explaining that when the "WAAAAAAAAAR MACHINE, WAAAAAAAAR MACHINE" chorus kicks in, I'm in a mecha Gundam style battle and I tend to sorta zone out, yknow?

Buy One Hundred Days Off from Amazon.
Though not quite as satisfying as "Beaucoup Fish" or "Second Toughest of the Infants", this is a solid album. "Dinosaur" is the best track on there, tho'.
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Dirty. org's Underworld Pages are excellently laid out, meticulously researched and overflowing with audio samples. They provide a great way to learn and listen more.
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For the true fan, you'll love underworld live. It's absolutely awash with audio and video cuts.

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Daft Punk - "Aerodynamic (Slum Village Remix)"

If you wanted this on CD, you could always get Daft Club from Amazon but except for this one track, I simply can't recommend it.
The album is a musical trainwreck; a collection of offbeat remixes that either add nothing to the original or just wrongheadedly run the song off the musical tracks. I say this as a big fan: it ain't worth your time.

So if you MUST have it on disc, why not get the Kiss of the Dragon soundtrack from Amazon instead? That way you at least get some NERD and Mystikal to boot.
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"Because we are Daft Punk and we don't need to show our faces to get on a magazine cover or sell shitloads of records. Because we're young. Because we're sexy."

A very neat Mixmag article on the young Punks. Search around on the Mixmag site for their Orbital article as well; it's awful good, but I can't find a permalink.
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This bizarre little Daft Punk/River City Ransom video for the undeniable "Harder Better Faster Stronger" is just something short of compulsively re-re-re-re-re-re-reloadable, so since I don't want the boss to have to make you quit running the damn thing in the background, I'm gonna be kind and toss you a bonus cut: my current favorite remix of this superbadass track, Pojmasta's "Hard to Forget".

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spiffy

I've got LITERALLY dozens of musicblogs to share, but this one just came in and I thought I'd be the one to break it.

"Anyway, here's what I'm meaning to do: Every post consists of two songs, and at least one has to be a) Swedish and b) unknown outside Sweden. Age is no concern. Sounds ok?"

Certainly does. Welcome 'Marx vs. the Monorail' to our midst.

Sam Beam avoids the blue ones

Things has been a tetch on the hectic side here in the city and I seek respite with a short post and the sweet sounds of gentle music. Here's three tracks by three artists who all seek the path of least resistance; songs for evening the keel and drawing in clean unobstructed breath calm blue ocean calm blue ocean ommmmmmmm

We'll go back to our regularly scheduled postings tomorrow with a collection from three cornerstones of modern electronic.

glisten

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Iron and Wine - "Jesus the Mexican Boy"


Buy The Sea and the Rhythm direct from Iron and Wine's publisher.
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Pitchfork interviews Sam Beam, the voice and sound of Iron and Wine
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The tinymixtapes interview
Not a bad site; I'm curious to explore.

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Sufjan Stevens - "Dress Looks Nice On You"


Buy Seven Swans, direct from Sufjan's publisher.
Also drop by the "Michigan" section for tons of outtake songs.
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Fascinating interview from '01.
Sufjan discusses "faith-based" music and his desire to play banjo for Stryper.
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A more recent interview with a cleaned up Sufjan, flanked by cuties in spandex and feathers. Progressions.

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Rufus Wainwright - "The Money Song"

This song is an obscure B-Side, but if you like what you hear, you can buy Wainwright's new album, Want One from Rufus' official website.
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A recent Independent (UK) interview
"Elton John saved me."
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Rufus DID come into a lot of money and he DID move to New York City.

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Hard living makes for difficult typing.
There'll be an update probably before noon.
Keep an eye open; I can't.

We've been good boys up here at the Hut and tried to stick to some general themes but my well-publicized "eclectic" streak is bubblin' over the sides o' the pot. Let's mix it up, shall we?

Howzabout some racist old school RnB, smooth'n'mellow jazz and a little conceptual classical on this sunshiny Friday?

If the sun ain't shinin' where you at, just pretend.

glisten

The Olympics - "Big Chief Little Foot"
(also known as "Big Chief Little Puss", I think)

Okay, I'm gonna be real here for a second: while I can understand the outcry of anger directed at Andre3K over his teepee-hijinx at the Grammys, I gotta say that folks are picking the wrong lightning rod here. Does anyone seriously believe that Andre was doing anything more than fucking around and dressing up like a little kid dressing up all Kaw-liga? Outkast has a rare knack for turning shuckandjive on its head and invert traditional hiphopwear in a way that no one else but Camron seems to have the guts to try. Cut the guy some slack.

I would also suggest that the public outcry is considerably more muted to call for Big Boi to tone down his hardcorestereotype pimpware. Can I assume it's okay for grown men to dress like idealized slaveowning, abusive criminals but if they toss on a headdress THEN it's offensive?

I must need my glasses, cuz I'm seeing doublestandard.

Anyway, we sure have come a long way from the days of The Olympics when lyrics like "I'll give you firewater in exchange for your daughter" were radio friendly. This track is bound to be damned to never see the airwaves again and is likely to be purged in the name of a historically revised, brightercleaner past.

Well, "Bullshit" sez I. This is just too damn catchy, oooowowowowowowow chants and all. Pump it up.

Buy The Olympics All Time Greatest Hits from Amazon
This is some seriously fun dance music. Sure, half the songs sound identical; so did Robert Johnson.
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An excellent article on the Olympics
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The Native American Nations

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Eddie Harris - "Boogie Woogie Bossa Nova"

Eddie Harris is drastically underrated by the hiphop sampling community and somebody needs to get on the ball and start frantically biting this man's action. He's dripping high recognition jewels and nobody wants a piece? I'm baffled. Can anybody refer me to some Eddie samples?

"Boogie Woogie" couldn't be much smoother if it tried. It's an archetypical Harris piece: easy to listen to, cool blue and effortlessly groovy. Harris always makes it look too easy.

Buy the Eddie Harris double CD reissue Free Speech/That's Why You're Overweight from Amazon
Fifteen bucks for two good jazz albums is a fair price.
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Eddie Harris.com
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Les McCann (from the stellar "Swiss Movement" album) remembers Eddie.
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Glen Gould - "So You Want to Write a Fugue"

For those who don't know, a fugue is a "musical composition in which a theme is taken up and developed by the various instruments or voices in succession."

Also for those who don't know, a Glen Gould is "a supremely gifted artist and Canada's most renowned classical musician of the 20th century . . . a recording artist, radio and television broadcaster and producer, writer and an outspoken apologist for the electronic media."

I'm taken with this piece for the sake of its brilliant conceit: it's a specific type of song about the difficulty of writing this particular specific type of song. On top of that, it's got grandeur and drive and bitchin' style.

This is the first classical track I've posted to the Hut; I wouldn't mind doing some more. This is not a genre that I have much experience in, so recommendations wouldn't be out of order.

Buy the double CD The Glenn Gould Silver Jubilee Album.
An excellent way to introduce yourself and vis versa
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The official Glen Gould site
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Anatomy of a Fugue
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Fugues and Fugue Sets
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The Fugue Project
Veddy interesting.
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musicblog clicky

Woooo! Heres FOURTEEN new musicblogs for you to peruse. Your cup spilleth over!

DJJayR's mashes are pretty much one and all worth the DL. Haven't found a dud in the bunch. I'm strongly recommending the Eamon vs. "I'm Your Puppet" (almost made the F.U.C.K. mixtape, but picked another mash instead), the Prince vs. Khia and the Little Kids singing 'We Will Rock You' over 'Tipsy', which is just sparkling.

As if this wasn't enough, son also recommends his fave mashes from other DJ'. All sites are already available here on the Hut but it's always nice to be led to water.
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Culture Deluxe hosts mashes and mixes galore; it seems like another major hideout for the big players of the GYBO crew. Be sure to test out the "Search CDX" option; you'll find loads of interesting tracks. I recommend you start by typing 'Britney', just to get a sense of what's available.

Incidentally, you don't know what fear is until you fire up what you think is a mash of 'Slave' vs. 'A Love Supreme'. Turned out to be 'Love Supreme' by JS16. Whew.
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IDC's mixnmashes are a bit house-y for my tastes and I don't recognize a lot of the bands sampled. Predictably, I _do_ like "Power Kiss" quite a bit. Go experience for yourself.
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In the file under "whaaaaa...?" category, please peek in on Voices on the Wind a soundblog with COPIOUS quantity of purported "ghost recordings".

Burroughs and Gysin were big proponents of this sort of thing; I imagine they'd be amused.
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In case you haven't figured it out yet, I'd like to make the Hut your one stop shopping center for all your musicblogging needs. This means three things:

1) If you have a musicblog that's not listed here yet, email me and let me know about it and I'll happily add it.
2) In the name of diversity, I'm going to be grabbagging A LOT of different sorts of stuff.
3) Some of the things I put up are simply not going to be music that I would ever really listen to.

Which is sort of my way of introducing the Monkees Sing Along page.

Tork, tork, tork.
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Reset Music just made me FINALLY replace 'Gay Bar' on the iPod Gym playlist with his mash of 'Gay Bar' and 'Ignition'.
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I'm LONG overdue dropping props to Fave List newcomer Word in the Alleys, run by fellow monkey pals.

WORD has a flavour like the PENNYARCADE boys doing a musicblog, which may or may not be intentional but is definitely entertaining. Right now, they're frontin' Buck 65, Hot Chip and Tom Waits; plus smarm, righteous indignation and irony aplenty. It's a heckuvatasty stew so get goin' and bring your spoon.
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Those of you on the ATHF tip will instantaneously recognize MC Chris as the voices of Sir Loin and MC Pee Pants. MC Chris has also been MUCH beloved throughout the web for his Nerdcore anthem "Fette's Vette" (check the unbelievably copious collection of remixes to determine just how deep that love is).

Chris' tracks are all fun but the surprise comes when the cat actually shows some real skills ("bust my biscuits over Britney in a bubble bath" had me agog).

His comedic material is VERY funny. Make sure not to miss the "Imperial Senate" skit; this is real must listen material for any one of you who could entertain the idea of engaging in an argument over who would win in a fight between Darkseid and Thanatos (Darkseid, of course. Kirby power).
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STILL not enough DJ ackshun for you? Then head over to Wired Sounds, (DJ cry.on.my.console's spot) and cop the Outkast "B.O.B." vs. Requiem for a Dream (EVERYTHING sounds good with this), the A-Team Theme Remix Remixed (with Cameo cameos!) and the Snap/Clash/DaftPunkMash (leaves your head spinning).

It's Optimally Prime!
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Okay, two more mix and mash sites, then I swear I'll stop: Eve Massacre and bOOmbOx.
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David F. Presents is a French blog chockablockfulla all manner of offbeat musical choices. Can, Missy, Elvis Costello, Bantam Boys.

Special props for directing me to Negativland's Mashing of the Christ, tho.

Those screenshots merely reinforce my intention to NEVER see Gibson's magnum oafish.
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Here's an odd one: Musical Family Tree.

"This site is run by Jeb Banner of Indianapolis Indiana and is dedicating to archiving the music he and his friends and his friend's friends have made, and continue to make, over the past 10 or so years."

Literally hundreds of songs. Close your eyes, throw a dart and get started.
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The Wily Filipino wins the award for best blog name.
Music posting is occasional (betwixt political observations), excessively offbeat (The Trees? Style Council? Icicle Works?)and quite wily.

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spiffy

Satan's Laundromat is "a Brooklyn-based photolog with an emphasis on urban decay, strange signage, and general weirdness."

Tho' it's not quite the same thing as being here (trust me, it's even stranger than dude makes it look), it's awful close. A real eye, good taste, love for the graf and constantly renewing content makes this one a nobrainer.
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Chauncey Billups is a sportsblog that is CONSISTENTLY cracking my shit up.

Consider this commentary on Kevin Garnett, who "had to throw a franchise and a city on his back and deal with the fact that his starting point guard had an 80 year old woman's hip, his Coach couldn't decide on a rotation, his prize free agent center played like he was imitating Nicolas Cage in Birdy, and starting shooting guard had a broken back! WALLY SZCZERBIAK STAND THE FUCK UP! UNLESS THAT HURTS THEN FEEL FREE TO SIT DOWN!"

BILLUPS has become my current "obsessive reload" site. I hope that this guy can keep this level of quality up on the offseason. Maybe he likes football, ah hope ah hope?
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Weighing in at a manly 190, we have Byron Crawford; talking shit about Avril Lavigne, reviewing the new David Cross album and copping the best visual feel on the mostly naked Alexandra Kerry that I've seen yet.
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I've been meaning to add Throbbing Skunk Ape to the sidebar for weeks now. And here we are.
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Big props to my cousin Shane and his fiancee Kayla. Drop by Kayla and Shane and show them love. Buy them silver. Buy them china. I cant. I'm too fucking broke.
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Matt and Sean and Keith have already weighed in on their loverly promos from Sumosonic's Heavy CD series; and I suppose I should do the same.

Here's the game: you pay $40 bucks, these fellas mail you twelve CD's on th' monthly tip. The packaging is all artsy and swooft and you get your CD's in a DVD box, which makes for nice storage. The CD's are some reasonably vivacious mix action with new music of considerable variety; the two I got had Kelis, El-P, Telefon Tel Aviv, the Van Bondies, Prefuse 73, Dangermouse, Prefuse 73 and Count Bass D (among many others); fairly akin to FLUX, TtIKTDA and GRAMOPHONE's tastes.

My only beef would be as to the considerable paucity of info on each artist, but the fellas at Heavy counter that by giving Hut-like links to each artist's site.

At something less than three bucks a disc, this is a pretty good deal for those of you who:
A) like your music on CD, not MP3 and/or dig the packaging,
B) don't have access to a DSL/Cable line to DL tracks from the many musicblogs out there,
C) would like a prepackaged smorgasbord of fairly new tracks to pick through.

If you got answered "yes" to any of those three, Heavy is definitely worth your dime. Drop by and tell 'em the Hut sent you.
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Without sounding too much like a preening idiot, can I say that I'm happy to see all the heavy hitters in the blog community "doin' th' right thing" and linking tracks (when applicable) to a "here's where you can buy it" source?

Just seems to me that this is only going to make our collective case stronger when our canoe gets rammed by the QE2, knowwhutimean?
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Here's a big "hell yeah" for GMail. Thanks to a friendly heads up from Sean at GRAMOPHONE, yours truly went hunting on blogger and got himself a GMail account. I'm just starting to explore with it but thus far it looks bloody great; the kind of improvement over hotmail that mozilla was over IE, which is to say MASSIVE.

I'll switch out addy's afore too long and with my 1 gig of storage I can stop worrying about having to obsessively checking my mail to make sure it isn't filling up any more. Don't let THAT stop you tho'; I love gettin' mail.

On a related topic, thanks to the many of you who've been droploading tracks. I'm sorry I don't have time to reply with personal thanks, but there's just too many people tossin' me music. It's great!

You've all provided some interesting songs and occasional hits for this wandering jew. It's a pleasant mitzvah.

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gotham

A pair of finds while knocking about the streets of the city:

Kidrobot (in Soho) presents a scenario I've long envisioned: a store that sells action figures exclusively to adults. Sure, they front a little like it's art, but the geek-friendly staff (they were playing Dinbot's "Whipsta" when I dropped by!) knows the score; it's a toy store for rich kids with condos. Out of my price range, but hella fun to browse.

I was quite surprised to see a live broadcast booth all Radio-Raheemish goin' on streetside at EVR (in the East Village, natch; 21 1st Ave if ya wanna visit, 212-254-7104 if ya wanna call).

On closer inspection, the card in the window informed me that "Eastvillageradio.com is a 24/7 live nonprofit, freeform 88.1 FM station with over 50 local DJs and personalities. At our streetlevel sound booth in the heart of the east village, we are committed to providing a diverse mix of music, news and views unavailable on mainstream radio."

If you're in OR out of New York, check this shit out. Seems pretty damn neat to me.
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On the job front: where there was once no gig, there are now three. I've got two waiter gigs I'm starting on Friday and Saturday, respectively (we'll see which of the two stick; possibly both will and that might be okay for awhile too) and a gym that I'll be picking up a few hours at. I've been busy.

The goal is to have at least ONE stable job by the end of next week.

Again, none of this is the final answer (copy writer or bust), but they'll do to continue putting food on the table and music on the airwaves for a bit. Again, please keep me in mind for all your media-oriented action.

I also do bar mitzvahs.
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Hey, I know this is some petty shit; but the recent Morning News mitzvah and various links have swollen the daily hits to about six hundred a day. Meanwhile, I got ONE comment yesterday (thanks Beat).

Hello? Talk about the weather; talk about your bypass surgery; heck, you can even talk about the frikkin' MUSIC, just say somethin', ahight?

I get so lonely and I can't let just anybody hold me...

Gil explains it all to you.

Short Hut today, which means you only get music.
Howsabout some funky stuff? Here's some RnB oriented action for you: one track by a living legend, two by young men who are shaping up to leave their fingerprints on the face of modern music.

glisten

Raphael Saadiq - "What's Life Like"

Saadiq is one hustlin' cat. These days he's back in the producer's booth, but this ex-member of two supergroups (Toni, Tony, Tone and Lucy Pearl) tossed out a fascinating mishmash of a solo album in '02. There's strange filler, excessively short AND long tracks, lots of talky sections and several pure classics mixed in.

"What's Life Like" is of the latter category; a pleasant little confection, a three-minute backrub while you're waiting for the pizza to get here. Soothing, endearing and simple, "Life" is as gentle as a clarion call for a life well considered can get.

Buy Instant Vintage from Amazon
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Pookie Records, Saadiq's label.
Hey, remember I was all like, "whatever happened to Joi" a few posts back?
New album dropping late June.mind the .pdf
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Interview, pics, audio
Courtesy of Chevy Trailblazer? WTF?

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Gil Scott-Heron - "It's Your World"

Very few artists can get away with saying that they created rap without inspiring a wave of "bullshit" in their wake; I would allow Heron that luxury, but he's cool enough not to front, y'heard?

Though his street rhyming is always on point, I'm generally more taken with his more musical endeavors. Case in point, "It's Your World" is half SesameStreetJazz, half P-Funk and all badass tight.

I love Gil and hope his shit is in order these days or at least that he's happy.

Buy It's Your World from Amazon
"Possum Slim" and "17th Street" alone are worth the price of admission.
Gil's also got a happenin' Greatest Hits collection or two and no record collection is complete without a dogeared copy of Small Talk at 125th+Lenox.

Listen, if you guys are unfamiliar with his work, tell me and I'll post more. I'm afeared that Heron's influence and backlog is getting ignored by a music industry that would rather not credit a clearly troubled man with genius and that's a egregious error.
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Plenty of good Heron sites on the web.
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One more: a stylish Heron website, in French

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Bilal - "Sometimes" (Live)

"The Best Prince Album He Never Released" is a cliche that gets trotted out at least twice a year; Bilal's "First Born Second" begs the comparison. Leaping into the void of a D'Angelo-less marketplace, Bilal had a remarkably fertile period of production; guesting with Badu, Jill Scott and Common and producing as impressive a freshman album as I can remember. Then, as is getting all too common for the whole "neo-soul" crew, he ghosts. What are we to make of that?

I'm just hoping they're all holed up someplace, forming a superhero group or something. Bilal strikes me as the Green Lantern type.

"Sometimes" was one of my favorite cuts on the album; an enigmatic, head-bobbin' showcase for Bilal's vocal acrobatics. Here's an obscure live version for your delectation.

Buy First Born Second (with the non-live version of "Sometimes" from Amazon
One of my favorite albums of 2001; Amazon's too.
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Bilal fansite
More than a little out of date, but some nice audio/video (tho' the video is really more audio... Down in front!)
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Not to be confused with French comic book/movie wunderkinder Enki Bilal, but don't sleep on Enki.
"Immortel" looks HOT.

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I'll have a big Friday edition hot for you come breakfast time.

Pic of The Cats and the Fiddle (circa 1940) courtesy the Big Bands Database

The "Fuck" CD's are going out today, so while we wait for our reviews to trickle in, let's have a week of (sorta) genre themed posts, what say?

Here's some certifiable hepster music from the 1940's and, just for kicks, an obscure Texas piano blues track recorded in the sixties that was likely played around the same time.

glisten

The Cats and the Fiddle - "Public Jitterbug No. 1"

The Cats and the Fiddle's big hit was the fairly schmaltzy, "I Miss You So", later covered by Little Anthony and the Imperials. While I'm not so much a fan of their ballads, Cat/Fiddle's swingin' hepster stuff is awful palatable.

Commentary on this track would be appreciated; I'm considering doing a week of this style of music and am curious to hear if that's of interest to you folks.

Buy Volume One of the Complete Cats and the Fiddle, "Killin' Jive," from Amazon
If you like this track, you'll pretty much like the whole album. Promise.
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Nice overview of the band's history, with discography.
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Learn more about jitterbugging

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Clarence Williams - "You're Bound to Look Like a Monkey When You Get Old"

Williams wielded enough clout in his day that he billed himself as the creator of jazz. That's a flat untrue statement, but he was certainly one of the most influential musicians in the genre.

Buy "New Orleans Pioneer: Great Original Performances 1923-1944" by Clarence Williams from Amazon
Surprisingly contemporary stuff
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Williams bio and some audio cuts
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The Smirking Chimp
Seymour Hersh's reporting over the past month has been nothing short of heroic.

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Robert Shaw - "Groceries On My Shelf (Piggly Wiggly)"

Robert Shaw was a touring musician throughout the twenties and thirties, but quit the game to buy a grocery store ("The Stop and Swat") and settle down with his second wife. In the late sixties, Shaw started playing professionally again and his time-capsule-precise stylings caught listeners' and critics' attention. He continued performing until his death in the mid-eighties, but only a handful of his songs were ever professionally recorded and distributed.

Shaw's ragtime/barhouse stop-and-start piano work in combination with his soulful voice is downright hypnotizing.

Information you don't need, Part One: While in high school, I worked at least three times as the giant pig mascot, "Mr. Pig". I also was Chuck E. Cheese a while.

It was a sad time for everyone.

Buy "Ma Grinder" by Robert Shaw, direct from Arhoolie Records
With the brilliantly named "Here I Come With My Dirty, Dirty Duckings On" and "Whores is Funky" (neither sounds quite as good as the title would suggest, but C'MON!)
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Shaw bio
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The Piggly Wiggly homepage

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musicblog clicky

I'm not positive exactly WHAT is going on over at Sloro, even after downloading the tracks he's offering (sorta wankish progrock live stuff); but he gets bonus points for turning me on to Tout Puissant Konono No. 1.

THAT'S entertainment!
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Mystery and Misery offers great heaping spoonfuls of "independent and underground music". I'm not familiar with a one of these bands; plenty to spelunk.
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No Frontin', Just Music is occasionally offering a selection of TTIKTDA style indiepoprocks; not much to speak of at the moment, but stop by and give him a word of encouragement to carry on, eh?
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Hip Hop Music delivers what it promises. News, industry gossip and call outs and occasional tracks and remixes for download. The Kanye/P.E./Coltrane (!) mashup is particularly worth the dl.
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Thank Me For the Music has a host of somewhat dated topoftheBritpopsongs. Again, not a one of these tracks are recognizable to me (save the dsisco remix), so opportunities for expansion abound!
Of course, don't forget to thank the fellow for the music. Squeaky wheel and all that.
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//blahblog is a dj blog filled with dancefloor and house remixes of the "close your eyes and shake your shoulders and hope the E kicks in soon" variety.

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spiffy

Mark one up for the "whafuck?" category: One of my fave blogs, Trapped by Undead, Need Help (as told by a small group of survivors of the zombie apocalypse) is now rerouting directly to the US Army homepage.

Clearly, this means something; but what? Signs point to "panic time".
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On a somewhat less 1984-ish tip: Information Leafblower is very much worth a peek. Media, music, news, sports and a hagiography of Sportsguy quotes; but I happen to like Bill Simmons too, so everything's copacetic.
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You're just playing yourself if you're neglecting to take a regular peek in at Basic Hip Digital Oddio. This past week (maybe if you hurry you can catch it?) there was an AMAZING offbeat Nat Adderley Quintet album (with Cannonball in tow) that featured freeverseboppoetry on the signs of the Zodiac (primo mixtape material); last week was the song styling of Moms Mabley (!). Gwan over; find out what all the shoutings about.
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Massive addition to the sidebar to go up tomorrow. Keep your eyes peeled.

glisten: minimalist

Short Hut today; blame the Spurs/Lakers game (GODDAMMIT!), an acting piece I'm trying to get ready for Sunday and my continuous machinations toward finishing my moving in and spiffing up process. Hopefully I'll be done tomorrow and can look into shoehorning some themes into this space. Meantime, here's a pretty sweet (if scantily clad) doubleplay:

Leadbelly and the Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet - "Rock Island Line"

Purchase "Alabama Bound" from Amazon
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Ledbetter's "Songwriter Hall of Fame" listing
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Some background on the history of the song.
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The Lead Belly Page

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Johnny Cash - "Rock Island Line"

Buy "The Essential Johnny Cash: 1955-83" from Amazon
Rarely has the word "essential" been so appropriately used.
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Johnny Cash.com
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Buy posters of Rock Island Trains

glisten stew

Anonymous Singers - "Histe Up the John B. Sail"

This traditional sea shanty is best known to the modern listener as the Beach Boys hit "Sloop John B."

Brief inappropriate confession time: I simply don't get the Beach Boys and it's not for lack of trying. What is it about Pet Sounds that makes everybody so damn smile-y? I must be missing a West Coast music gene or something. Certainly it suffers a bit from commercial overload ("now why do I want an orange soda?") but I know too many people who consider them gods to overlook the appeal.

Still. Over my head.

Not so for this track tho'! So real you can taste the salt on the air.

Purchase "Deep River of Song: Bahamas 1935 - Chanteys and Anthems from Andros and Cat Island" direct from Rounder Records
You'll be eatin' fish tonight.
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Here's a ton of information on the many variations of this song. Midi tracks, even!
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Once more: Just the Czechs this time.

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The Fairfield Four - "Standing in the Safety Zone"

Their signature song.

The Fairfield are another group that I grew up with; my pops was somewhat instrumental in getting the band reunited in 1980 and I spent many a formative hour listening to this stuff.

That "clanka-lanka-lanka" rhythm has its roots in the sound of trains on the tracks. "Clanka-Lanka" was also the name of the label my dad worked with in the eighties; I think I still have a Clanka-Lanka T-shirt around here somewhere. Pretty dope.

Difficult to believe this is solely acapella, no?

In many ways, going to concerts to hear performers at this level of artistic and musical excellence has spoiled me. I need to get out and see some more live stuff soon, get back down to earth and maybe write some concert reviews for the Hut.

Any recommendations? Tickets, maybe?

A Fairfield article for "No Depression"
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Deacon James Hill's obit
I saw him perform many a time and visited him on his sick bed. He was a good friend to my father and as strong a vocalist and a man as I ever met.
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Purchase "Standing in the Safety Zone: 1946 to 1949" from Roots and Rhythm records.
This album is published by P-Vine, a Japanese label that has an astonishing array of reissued gospel, bluegrass, jazz, rock... you name it.
A P-Vine imprint is always a good sign, plus they're RIAA safe.

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Tech 9ine - "Freak"

Tech always seems just on the cusp of escaping the backpack ghetto; one "Slow Jams" duet away from heavy MTV rotation. Rumour had it he was gonna guest on an Em track, but no official word yet.

His constant flirtation with the mainstream has been awfully well documented, including his relationship with Quincy Jones and misadventures in big label signings.

Bottom line is that son can flat out FLOW. This particular track is an unreleased outtake that never got a pressing because of (you guessed it) sample clearance problems. Any child of the eighties will instantly recognize "Darling Nikki"; this almost made it into a bonus purple glisten day, but I think Tech can carry his own shit, right?

"When I was in high school I would wake up in the morning and after I took a shower I'd put on a non-lubricated condom 'cause it could be on at any hour" is a helluva mouthful but 9ine makes it all railgun buttery.

Can anybody with an MP3 editor tell me what that backmasking part says?

Buy 9's "Anghellic" from Amazon
Hella good album. High points include "Einstein", "This Ring", and "Twisted".
Plenty of other good material floatin' around on that disc; highly recommended.
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Tech N9ne's home on the net
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The "React" interview

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The Orlons - "Big Girls Don't Cry"

Here's an interesting little cover of the Four Seasons/Frankie Valli hit that I like better than EITHER of those two.

The Orlons are the originators of "The Wah-Watusi". And that's all I have to say about that.

Purchase "The Orlons: All Their Hits and More" from Dead Dog Records
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A brief history of the Orlons
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This little green man will do the watusi for you.


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musicblog clicky

Again, sorry if these are all old news; I'm still playing ketchup.

Circuit Benders is a strange duck: modded electronic toys that are then used to produce electroglitchy tracks.

Speak and Math gets down, ya'll.
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Remember Zia, from our first mix CD review? The chica who played the CD at the London gym and cleared the house? Well she's back, in pog form, with Never Came Home.

Seems like Z has exhausted her bandwidth for this month, but those of you on the ball managed to cop that new Elephant Man and Sean Paul, right? Somebody fund this girl; she's fun to read.
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James over at Moistworks is really running the genre gamut; but with special attention to ska, quality hip hop and mashup material, he's rapidly pedalled to the front of the pack. A real find and a new addition to my forever expanding daily clicks.
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Kittytext is true to the title: the text is as (or more) important and entertaining than the tunes, which is always welcome.

Dolly Parton, Waylon Jennings, Bill Evans and the Streets? Now that's my kind of dinner party!
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Listen Closer indulges my interest in the new Nelly Furtado (to great effect; why this girl is being written off by pop40radio as a onehitwonder confuses the hell out of me) and I appreciate the followup linkage to sales sites.

(Brief words of advice: Those of you with new musicblogs should consider AT LEAST linking to a purchase option of the album in question. Seems only fair, in my eyes.)
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Where the heck has Radio Babylon been hiding? Hustle over and snap up the bushel and a peck of Bjork rarities while they last and then see what else you can scare up.
Get in on the ground floor; this is bound to blow up shortly.

spiffy

Four spins later, I'll say that "Van Lear Rose" is worth a buy, if only for 'Portland, Oregon' and 'Little Red Shoes', both of which are beautiful.
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I _BADLY_ need to update the sidebar. I'm maybe fifty links out the loop. Be patient; I'm hustling.
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More people of excellent taste single out the Hut for accolades, but not cash donation. What's wrong with you people?

Ah well, here's a prop list: senses working overtime (another mp3blog aggregator; these are becoming a genre all their own. This one's got a nice clean interface and a friendly writing style), Utility Fog Blog ("a weapon of mass destruction related program activity"), De Schulpjes (We love the Dutch!), Byron Crawford.com (media madness, soon to sidebar jump), rockcriticslinks (hey ya'll; I'm a ROCK CRITIC!), headphones save lives (proudly ushering in the New Gyromantic Era with open tentacles arms"), dratfink (occasional mp3s and justifiably angry political quotes), keanerdotnet (I'm gonna investigate this as soon as I'm done with this entry; nice art and I wonder if he's got a story to match...) and Angry Magic Duck (for a stuffed duck, he's got good taste in the ladies. Kim Deal, rrrrrowWWWR!).

Thanks one and all.

gotham

Man, what a poor day I picked for a run! I showed up at the reservoir at three o' clock and apres moi le deluge as th' frogs say. Ended up running something like four miles in POURING rain on a trail flooded at least ankle deep throughout. Interesting, but not the sort of thing you'd like to do on a regular basis, ya know?
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How I knew I was back in New York: returning to my temp. crash pad in Chelsea Friday night, I saw a cute dwarf in a halter top stumbling out of a corner bar.
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How I REALLY knew I was back in New York: said cute dwarf proceeded to spray the sidewalk with a copious technicolor yawn. Lotta puke for a little woman, but that's the city for you. Everybody's reaching higher.
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Hey now, I know that it's only been a day, but where's my barrage of job offers?

C'mon folks, we both knew I was just in it for the money. Time to put up or shut up and get this boy into the ranks of the Paul Harveys, the Rush Limbaughs, the Elvis Mitchells. I'm hot to assemble my media empire!

Or you know, an internship or a secretary gig. Whatever. But time's a-wastin'! Who've I gotta give a foot massage to to get an interview around here?

i know ya'll missed the bounce

Ladies and gentlemen: Elvis is in the building.

Howdy howdy howdy! Feels like it's been a month! It almost HAS been a month. Did you miss me? I missed you. But heck, what with my previously personally penned fill-in oneaday posts, you probably didn't even notice I was gone and for that we must needs pay proper appreciation with a big Tofu THANK YOU to the faithful aboveandbeyondthecall attention of Sean at Tangmonkey, without whom etc. etc. The brotherhood of the musicblog is a powerful tonic for this sad sick heart; kowtow, kowtow, kowtow.

One hopes that it goes without saying that the three of you out there who STILL aren't reading Gramophone have some small hope of saving your immortal soul if you hustle over there right now, but I make no promises.

Those of you lookin' for music should scroll on down; I'm gonna indulge in some catsup jawin'.

Just you and me left? Fair enough. Let me regale you with LOADS of dirty laundry.

Just prior to fleeing the Florida coast, I was contacted by a fine fellow at Flagpole; Athens GA's prime source for weekly hipster news(or so I'm told). Seems the golden polish of the Tofu shine beams as far as Georgia (or maybe they's just twisted on 'shine, whichever); cause them thar folks requisitioned a cleaned up copy of the rambling purple glisten text for publication! My rambling reflections on Mr. Nelson saw print at the end of April and this was cause for no small celebration here in BeanCurdTown. The plan is that this will be only the first in what we hope to be a long string of journamalistic misadventures culminating in my eventual JaMA essay, "A Case Study of Aural Detritus Ingestion as Panacea or 'Earwax: She's Good For What Ails Yuh'".

The first leg of my grand-go-bout set me down in semi-sunny Nashville;home of the Goo Goo Cluster, Gran'pa Jones, Lynchburg Lemonade and (for the moment) my immediate family. Heading to the homestead gave me ample opportunity to raid both the local library and mi padre's music collection which offered up some sixty CD's worth of gold; quite a bit of which will find its way to the halls of the hut sooner rather than later.

While in the "Music City", I got to meet with Chris, longtime Tofu listener and first time caller. Chris was kind enough to pop for drinks, hook me up with a copy of Van Lear Rose (which, though I haven't had a chance to listen to heavily, sounds on first impression to be fugginastoundin) and tour me around some of the recently built sights. Much obliged for the Southern Hospitality, son. Music cognoscenti should go drop by Chris' site; there's excellent dish, acutely funny writing and bright ideas aplenty in them thar hills.

I also fielded a few VERY interesting and lively calls while in Tennessee for an NPR spot on "MP3-J's" that you can listen to here. It's an informed intelligent piece and I'm eating my heart out that I've managed to elude the whitehot spotlight yet AGAIN. Dude, I coulda had audio of Bob Edwards saying "Tofu Hut" fr'crissakes! Ah well. Ben Walker put together a well balanced and erudite argument and Elaine, Sean and Matt are certainly amongst the best voices the field has to offer so I can't complain. But I think I will anyway.

(On a similar note, props to Soulsides and Tangmonkey for their recent respective Village Voice shoutouts. We're just out of the public eye, folks; cresting anyday now.)

I should also note that I had some pretty serious email withdrawal while I've been between terminals, so today and yesterday's been all Christmastime; opening my shempshemp addy, I found it full of all kind of blog-related goodies and commentary and kudos. Thanks to everyone who droploaded tracks and shared kind words. It's much appreciated.

Now for the big news: your favorite son is a New Yorker again and how's it feel? Just like I pictured it, skyscrapers and ev'rythang. Today finds me typing away in the very maw of Hell's Kitchen; my second time making a go of living in the City and my first time laying my head down nightly in the isle of Manhattan. I always thought Manhattan living was like living in a mall, but we takes the (relatively) reasonable home we finds and we likes it.

The past two weeks have been all about fixing up my 11X6 cell into livable condition, finding furniture and running crap back and forth across town from overpriced boutiques and my temporarycrashpad. The bed was delivered today; there's another day or so of unpacking and buying bricabrac and then it's be time to get started on the business of living in earnest.

Now what does this mean to you? Well, first I'd very much like to meet up with fellow NYC musicbloggers and/or musicfans to trade tracks, talk shit or go see some music; so please drop me a line and we can grab a drink and discuss Lil' Flip's finer points (or Mingus or Hank or Baaba, whatever floats your boat). Bonus points if you're iPod Nation; BIG bonus points if you'd like to play Dance Dance Revolution (I'll bring a pad, three discs and a PS2 if you can provide a TV and some space). Elaine, I'm looking at you for that last one. Are you ready for five footed action?

The other thing is that although I do join the city that never sleeps with a fairly sweet apartment (Only six floors up ["penthouse"]! And no oven ["simple maintenance"]! And did I mention that the shower is in the kitchen ["cozy"]?), I most certainly am NOT yet gainfully employed and that means my New York people are obliged to throw your boy a bone.

I'm young, energetic, bright and I can do anything; more info is an email away.

No job will be discounted out of hand, but preferable gigs would involve work with a publisher, a magazine or a label where I could work with editing, copy or the web. Industry people, you're looking at my portfolio. Lord knows, I can keep a deadline.

Look at it this way, if I can't get a gig that supports my internet habit, no more music and we're ALL gonna go hongry. Me moreso than you, but c'mon. Have a heart.

Also, the sooner I'm a member of the middle class, the sooner I'll quit bitching. So SERIOUSLY, get in touch; I'm primed and ready to rock.

Ain't too proud to beg.

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glisten stew

Yoko Kanno - "Green Bird"

Yoko Kanno has a hand in much of the best music in the worlds of anime and video games. She's probably best known for her work on Macross and Cowboy Bebop, where this particular track originates.

Kanno is seldom the sole artist performing on her tracks and this one is no exception: the solo vocalist is a woman by the name of Gabriela Robin, tho' some suspect a degree of dopplergangerism.

Haunting and gentle. Puts me in the mind of falling leaves, which fans of the show will tell you is TOO appropriate.

Buy the limited edition "Cowboy Bebop Soundtrack" Box Set from Amazon.
But dude, if you do? You are SUCH an otaku.
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The Shrine to Green Bird details the circumstances of "Green Bird" within the pertinent Cowboy Bebop episode and obsessively explores and dissects this choice tidbit.
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The Yoko Kano Project
Loads of info and audio!

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Goodie Mob - "The World I Know (Country Livin')"

Before there was Cee-Lo, there was "that reallytightmotherfucker from Goodie Mob". Actually, pretty much all the guys in da Mob carried their weight, but SweetShuga'Lo has certainly seen the most solo success. Not to talk shit, but you gotta wonder what Big Gipp is doin' these days. Oh right, he's doin' Joi. He's doin' ahight.

Goodie Mob is probably somewhere in my top five favorite hip hop groups, longside Tribe, De La, P.E. and th' Roots. And the Coup. The Beasties. Bone. Th' Wu. Run DMC.

Never mind.

You can find this obscure track on the "Slam" soundtrack, available from Amazon.
With Big Pun, Nore, KRS, Dead Prez and Mobb Deep.
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Lyrics
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The break up.
Considering the "different directions" everyone went in, I'd say a reunion is unlikely for at least another few years.

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Air - "Sexy Boy" (Cassius Radio Mix)

On paper, this don't do much for me; but put it on the iPod, set me out on the track and watch us go. The length is just right for the last mile and change; the constant BPM grind and the synth buzz force a hustlin' pace consistency.

Definitely head and shoulders over the original. "Talkie Walkie" is high up on the list of albums I need to get. Like shortly.

Buy the "Sexy Boy" single from Amazon
With a bonus B-side, "Jeanne"; later released on Moon Safari (yes, I know it's nothing to do with Air).
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Astralwerk's Air site
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Astralwerk's Cassius site

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Mary McDonald - "Titty, Give Me Some Titty"

I've been wanting to work this sucker (pun intended) in for awhile, but was never sure when to cut her loose. Guess now's as good a time as any.

A perfect addition to your offbeat mixtapes. Ms. McDonald seems just as tickled as anyone, don't she?

I tried this method myself recently and got nothing for my troubles but a healthy slap.
These modern women. Sheesh.

Purchase "Deep River of Song: Alabama" from Rounder Records
Also where a few of those children's songs from Kiddy Glisten came from.
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Choosing a Wet Nurse, circa 1612
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On behalf of mankind: Evolution, we thank you.

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musicblog clicky

Damned if you sumbitches didn't make another THIRTY musicblogs while I was gone! It's my own fault for wanting to keep an index on the phenomena; but I feel compelled to hunt down ever more even when I can hardly keep up with the music I already have. It's the selfless part of me. Or the obsessive compulsive, I lose track of which.

Anyway, here's five new musicblogs for you to play with. Sorry if these come as old news; I'm playing two legs short in a three legged race and trying to make up the distance.

Dopplebanger's tracks merit a look around but there's one mashup on there that's made such heavy rotation today that I'm happy to take on the onus of hosting it myself: Requiem for an Usher.
"Yeah" is a bittersweet love song at best (a style that Usher has had pretty much down for years now) but this mix with Clint Mansell's Requiem for a Dream wrings out every last drop of darkness and angst in that puppy. "Decided to cheat" sounds like it's breaking his heart; the "yeah"s sound like yelps of pain rather than pleasure.
Of course, after "ass to ass", maybe even "Shiny Happy People" would sound anguished over these strings... anybody wanna take that challenge?
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The Dub-Hung Remix has its moments, but the real story here is the terrific irony of a cease-and-desist sale of the remix letter from an artist who's made his bucks singing badly over other people's music.
Of course why anyone would buy a William Hung remix album under any circumstances boggles the mind, but who am I to judge?
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On the more serious tip, The Red Hot Jazz Archives offers metric tons of pre-1930's RealAudio soundclips. Go on spelunking and you're bound to come out with jewels.
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Tamil Mahal's Bollypop site is a slloowwwww download, but when you're offering a pair of soundtracks by "Lagaan" composer A.R. Rahman you can afford to make folks wait.

Get it while it's hot; this site goes up and down like (insert your own joke here).

Heh. I said "insert".
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Space Debris Presents... is yet another in the burgeoning line of retrolicious-hosted exotica/rare/strange/vinyl sites. Currently, SDP has a full album by flutist/saxumaphony Alex Scorier. Pretty funky stuff; go get you some.

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spiffy

Defining "weird": reading about your baby godsister blogging about "making out" with a guy. Hey, Laura! Get to studying kid! And for christsakes USE A CONDOM OR I WILL KILL YOU. No doubt.
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What happened with Blogger while I was gone? Heavy redesign and everyone's blog via blogspot requires multiple refreshes to rid it of the gibberish. Anybody know what's up?
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I'll email info on the mix CD to all ya'll tomorrow. I just got the final tracklist right and it looks pretty fuckalicious.
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Two non-blood family folks have been especially helpful in gettin' me started down here, Julie (who's beau has been tricked into putting up with this blog as a homepage) and Kim. Thank you ladies; yer godsends.

Now the rest of my NY peeps: where you at?

megaspiffy

Don't spare the excitement kids; we're back on the air!

I've officially touched down and the internet connection is up and running.

Let's celebrate with a CD, what say? First two North Americans to leave an email along with notice that they'd like a mix are gonna find a stuffed P.O. box within the week. (You furriners are welcome as well, but I'm gonna need some help with postage... if you're okay with that, by all means: sign up!)

This go-round, the theme is Filthy Unlabeled CD Kollection, songs that celebrate the word "fuck".

18 and older only, please; 21 if you're planning on drinking while listening.

My plan for the remainder of the week is to allow oneaday days to give way to glisten stew, where I'll serve up heaping bowlfuls of leftovers from the oneaday kitchen.

Of course there's also plenty of catching up to do around and about the musicblog world; plenty of action in those works.

Don't forget to thank Sean for keepin' us afloat in me absence; I certainly won't.

Much news, new musicblog clicky and more tracks on the way tomorrow.

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glisten: oneaday: minimalist

I'm away from my desk right now, so if you'll leave a message after the beep; I'll get back to you.

John Lennon - "Oh, Yoko!"

Purchase the remastered "Imagine" from Amazon
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John Lennon.com
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"Stephen King shot John Lennon"
Yiiiiipes.

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glisten: oneaday: minimalist

I'm away from my desk right now, so if you'll leave a message after the beep; I'll get back to you.

Aesop Rock with Doseone - "Odessa"

Buy Aesop's "Labor Days" from Amazon
Wonderful stuff. Still haven't heard "Bazooka Tooth" yet, so no opinion that direction; but "No Regrets" and "9 to 5er's Anthem" are top 100 material, fer shure.
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The interview
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Def Jux's Ace Rock page

James Brown - "The Old Landmark"

I caught "The Blues Brothers" not that long ago and it holds up awful well, at least partially because of the ultra-high quality of the music. There's John Lee Hooker givin' up the "Awhawhawhawhaw" and Aretha doing my FAVE rendition of "Think" and Ray shakin' ALL ya'lls tailfeathers and this brill bit of JB evangelism. It's enough to make you pretend that fuckin' travesty of a sequel never happened.

The moment under the magnifying glass here has recently undergone a sort of revival, in the form of this LeBron (congrats pal! You lived up to the hype!)/Bernie Mac Nike commercial. That none of the "how-dare-you-paint-james-as-jesus" hullaballoo touched on the obvious homage to "Old Landmark" seems utterly disingenous (or maybe just stupid), but hey; nobody asked me. That's showbiz.

Anyway. Blues Brothers. Best. Chase scene. EVAR, as the kids say.

Buy "The Blues Brothers Original Soundtrack" from Amazon
Remember back when Dan Aykroyd mattered? Yeah, me neither.
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James Brown wallpaper and a somewhat "urrrrr" JB mix as well. 'Twere I you, I'd stick with the wallpaper and go buy Startime instead.
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The Godfather of sampling
A (surely only partial) list of works that sample JB tracks.

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glisten: oneaday

I'm away from my desk right now, so if you'll leave a message after the beep; I'll get back to you.


The Nashville Bluegrass Band - "You Wouldn't Know Love"

This one brings up a bit of bile; "You Wouldn't Know Love" was on my ill-conceived 'healing from the heartrending breakup' mix and is unfortunately poisoned by bad memory.

Posting it here is an attempt at laundering some finery. Lord knows the poor thing deserves a second chance; just listen to that glorious array of strings: fiddle, mandolin, guitar, banjo, bass.

No percussion; that's just my heart breaking.

Purchase "Unleashed" direct from Sugar Hill Records
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My Southern readers might want to catch N.B.B. when they sweep by on tour.
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The N.B.B. managed to latch onto the Down from the Mountain Tour, hardly unreasonable as Pat Enright, one of the group's vocalists, performed the voice of one of the Soggy Bottom Boys.

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glisten: oneaday

I'm away from my desk right now, so if you'll leave a message after the beep; I'll get back to you.


They Might Be Giants - "Spiralling Shape"

Sleepin' on TMBG is as easy as sleeping on Tim Duncan or Timbaland (to work the "T's"): they're all so astonishingly talented and gifted and effortlessly successful and prolific that you can't help but feel that they're not really trying.

Every album TMBG has put out has at least four good tracks; most of them are great from start to finish. More DIY indie punk than any hundred tattooed, pierced-septum, would-be TRL pop idol dethroners; John and John never quite escaped the "novelty song" geekghetto in the eyes of the music buying public but if they give a fuck they cover their emotions awfully well.

I could just post daily TMBG for the next two years and be quite happy.

This track gets the pick because of its brilliant and Zen friendly lyrical theme, vibraphone breaks, and liberal use of the word "groovy".

"This could lead to excellence... or serious injury."

TMBG is my anti-drug.

Buy "Factory Showroom" direct from TMBG
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TMBG's sizzlin' siteLotsa audio and fun stuff. You gotta love these guys.
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"Gigantic: A Film About Two Johns"

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glisten: oneaday

I'm away from my desk right now, so if you'll leave a message after the beep; I'll get back to you.


Devin the Dude - "I-Hi"

Not many hip hop tracks make their rapper's humiliation the topic, but "I-Hi" is not just any track. The techno drums and serpentine sax paints a cartoon world somewhere between Sesame Street and Fritz the Cat. Devin slides in all Slick Rick greasy and absolutely burns down the walls.

How this cat continues to get slept on by the mainstream baffles me. Great flow, bright lyrics, vicious beats... what do you people want?

Rumour has it that Devin's dropping a double CD in mid or late May; lord knows that in a post- Cee-Lo/Outkast radio friendly world, he's absolutely primed to make a big jump. Here's hoping this'll be the breakthrough.

Buy "Just Tryin' Ta Live" from Amazon.
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See, Sasha was feelin' it; why weren't you?
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What's up with Devin's bio and shit not showing up on the Rap-A-Lot artist's page?
Get that stuff up, stat!
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XZibit Central hosts quite a few XZibit audio files including the Devin/Nas collabo "Some of 'Em".
Worth copping.
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The interview.