Thursday, July 29, 2004
We DO have our three entries for the Drunk CD. I'll be in touch soon.
I'm headed out of town for the next few days to help my father at a record show in Jersey. I'll see you back here on Monday.
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glisten: Acap' CD 3
Adam - My oh my, that Dokaka is crazy. I heard over at Fluxblog (I think) that he's hooking up with Bjork in a future project. Project... Insanity! Hopefully, the finished product will be as bizarre as I imagine. Also to note, this one sounds very Cosby-esque to me.
Spencer - I can't deny the talent & hard work behind this track but good lord, this sounds like a hundred crazed pee-wee elves trying to imitate department store muzak.
Kevin - Wow. This makes me REALLY concerned about the new Bjork record. I've never had much patience for novelty records, but this is painful. I guess some people said Matmos was a novelty act too before Vespertine, so maybe there's hope.
You can't buy Dokaka yet, but if you're willing to jump through a few hoops to sign up for their free service, you can download dozens of tracks at Soundclick.
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Adam - Hooray for the Fairfield Four and Tofu Hut for introducing them to me and CENSORED's dad for introducing them to him. Sometimes I wish I felt that strongly about Jesus that it'd propel me to sing that well.
Spencer - Up til now, I had only heard the Nick Cave version of this song from his covers record. I'm surprised that his stands so well up against this one. And I'm surprised that a song about Jesus calling some broad's bluff is so magnetic. Everytime I hear it I wanna sing along & wave my finger like Mick Jagger for the "woman, you've have five husbands" line.
Kevin - The Fairfield Four actually have 5 members! Clear close harmonies, and a nice sincere arrangement of this old hymn.
This is an import, part of the astonishing Japanese P-Vine catalog, but you can buy a copy of "Standing in the Safety Zone" (not to be confused with the MUCH later Warner Bros. Recordings) from Roots and Rhythm Music for twenty four bucks. I think that's an outrageous price for a CD; for this disc, it's probably worth it.
Tuesday, July 27, 2004
blizzy blizzy blog.
Some bandwidth problems. Will call host tomorrow and see how bad off we are.
Again, anyone who can offer space would be more than welcome. We'd all love you.
Getting this up shortly.
Some bandwidth problems. Will call host tomorrow and see how bad off we are.
Again, anyone who can offer space would be more than welcome. We'd all love you.
Getting this up shortly.
Monday, July 26, 2004
Well, here we go again with another mix session here at the Hut.
If it's Monday, I must have some 'splainin' to do.
For the past several months, I've been sending out a mix CD collection with an arbitrary and offbeat theme (previous mixes include "songs by children", "songs with the word "f*ck" in the title", "songs that start with the letter B by artists whose names start with the letter B", "embarrassing music to listen to at the gym" and our last compilation, "spider music"). These CD's are sent to Tofu Hut listeners who are granted a scant few days to listen to the CD and then email me a track by track review of the mix. Then I post their reviews UNCUT, UNCENSORED and UNEDITED (but peppered with my own smartass comments and observations in italics) along with the tracks in question. It's like listening to a mix CD with a bunch of friends... only you don't have to have any friends... except me. And I'm already your friend! Yay! Get it? Got it? Good!
This time (and for the next two and a half weeks!) our theme is:
DON'T NEED NO GEETAR: ENTIRELY ACAPELLA
With the exception of some light percussion, these songs will be entirely fashioned from the human orchestra. It took some hunting, but I managed to unearth a pretty healthy variety of tracks: hip hop, blues, rock, novelty, spoken word, bluegrass, gospel, music from Bulgaria, Africa, Russia, Ireland... my cup runneth over!
I'm very happy with this mix; I sorta shook up the listing so that it didn't conform to any natural flow... that was my first inclination, but I found that it made the disc sort of hypnotizing. I've been listening to it for about a month now and I'm excited to share it (albeit in piecemeal) with all of you.
First let's meet our guest reviewers.
Kevin: An introduction: I'm Kevin from Walla Walla, WA. I just returned from What The Heck Fest in Anacortes, Washington, where I saw Calvin Johnson perform an amazing partially acapella set. It makes sense if you think about it; acapella takes the egalitarian principles of punk rock almost as far as they can go; anyone with a voice can do it.
P.S. acapella fans should also seek out the Unaccompanied Voice comp on Secretly Canadian.
Adam: Here's my commentary. It's late and I'm tired, so hopefully it worked out. Overall, pretty cool. I'm not as keen on the world stuff as I am to the stuff where I can understand the lyrics. But I dug it. Most of my answers were a bit longer than most of what the reviewers in the past had done, and I try to be clever more too. Hopefully you'll like what I wrote and I'll get to do this again. :)
Our last reviewer is Spencer, his commentary echoes a grand and sad percentage of my Hut listeners eternal refrain:
Spencer: sorry so late!
Ah well; seeing as I'm typing this up at four in the morning myself, how can I not understand? All's forgiven. Let's get to the tunage.
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glisten: Acap' CD 1
Adam - Interesting way to start the CD. Strong vocals, and very soulful. This is probably one that a lot of people wished they had an original 78 of in their collection.
If you're one of those people, you can get a copy for twelve bucks on vinyl from Otis Records. And yes, I do believe it IS THAT Otis.
Spencer - Odetta is somebody I never understood. I don't know her story but everytime I hear her music she reminds me of that guy who sang Zipadeedoodah. That said, this is a good reading of the song but I'd rather the Vera Hall version.
Kevin - One thing I notice about acapella music is that the lack of backing instruments eliminates the need for applying dynamic compression to the vocals. This means that we're able to hear so much of the detail and nuance of the vocal performance that would otherwise be lost. So much dynamic range even in a single phrase.
I won't even pretend to be a serious Odetta fan, but I very much prefer her voice as a solo instrument rather than in concert with a guitar.
Spooky and mournful as all get out.
Buy "Sings Ballads and Blues" from Amazon.
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Visit Odetta's official home on the web at Vanguard Records. Includes biographical background.
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Explore the Odetta Discography
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Read about Odetta's acting experience.
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Kevin - I can't hear Ladysmith Black Mambazo without thinking of that punchline in Mean Girls or the Lifesavers commercial. "Life! Savers! Yum!" This was apparently produced by Paul Simon. What did he do, set up the microphones? Still, absolutely lovely harmonies.
'Mean Girls' can bite me.
Adam - Ahhh harmonizing. Though some would disagree, I think Paul Simon had some taste after ditching that freeloadin' Garfunkle. The chorus echoes like a cello which is a nice effect, though the fact that this is a vocally driven track (as is most of a capella) the fact that I don't speak whatever language it is makes it that much more difficult for me to get into.
The lingo is Zulu. Here's a few simple phrases in Zulu for you to learn, with another Ladysmith song in the background.
Spencer - I don't mean to reference Disney soundtracks for every song but I can't help be reminded of the Lion King. Too slick for my liking. My friend just returned from a trip to the Florida Keys & described to me a sunset he saw as beautiful in a disgusting sort of way, like it was lifted straight from a Hallmark card. That's how I feel about this song. The harmonies are too perfect & the sound too peaceful, so much so that the song provokes no emotional reaction from me.
When this ceases to provoke an emotional reaction from ME, ya'll can put one in the brain, just to make sure.
Time and again on the Hut, I've hyped up and name dropped Ladysmith. They're beautiful people and they make beautiful music. It's a dreadful shame that they're linked forever to sillyass commercial jingles, but hey: Brother Ray was the right one baby, uh huh; ya know?
Buy "Shaka Zulu" from Amazon.
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Visit Ladysmith's official home on the web.
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Listen to the NPR interview with L.B.M. frontman, Joseph Shabalala.
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Read this Guardian piece on L.B.M.
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spiffy
I'd like to go on record as saying that it's a sin and a shame that one of the very best and first musicblogs, boomselection is down solely due to lack of hosting space. I would consider it a personal favor if one of my readers with the means to do so would find a way to get these fellas back on the air. Boomselection has been a consistent favorite for years and it really wounds me to see them grounded.
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I openly admit to not getting around to updating the new musicblogs, but it's hardly due to lack of material: it's lack of TIME. Still, there's some new hotties on the block and just as soon as I catch my breath I'll be sure to share all the HOTTness.
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If all this organic acapella leaves you yearning for a little mechanical vocoder action, may I recommend you watch and listen to some breakdancing transformers?
This is breaking the ceiling on the cool index.
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O-Dub joins the lamentations of the pedestrian nature of the new Roots album in this Voice review.
I suppose I really should buy this to find out for myself; at this point it feels more like an obligation to listen to than something I'm looking forward to and that's bad.
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I've yet to receive my first statement, but I only have one word for YOU, young man.
Plastics.
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The last track off of the new acapella Bjork album (the genesis of this mix!), Medulla has leaked and david f has it; scroll down a bit for the bjork clicky. The listing comes up as "DO" but the title is "Triumph of the Heart".
After listening, I'm distinctly underwhelmed but hopeful. We shall see.
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I'm finding it hard to believe that people are so COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY sleeping on the new Stevie Wonder Album, "A Time 2 Love," especially seeing as it's been rumoured to drop _tomorrow_. Information? Anyone?
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An Open Challenge
ATTENTION ALL REMIXERS: I'd LOVE to hear your take on any of these tracks.
Here's the deal: if you remix ANY of the tracks that I post here as part of the Acapella collection and send me a copy, I promise I WILL post it here in the Hut.
Heck, if there's enough interest I'll even do another week of remixes.
N.B.: Quality mixes only please. Spread the word; I'd go bonkers if the boys over at GYBO got ahold of this!
Friday, July 23, 2004
Presuming I get it all in order, we'll start up on the Acapella CD next week; you get a batch of filler today. Don't cry; this ain't just your average mid-season replacement. Nothing but gems.
glisten randomly
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The new album is really a blue ribbon prize, but one of the ways I'm enjoying seeing Devin's music develop is in his continuing willingness to play the fool. Sure, there's a heavy dose of misogyny but Devin catches the shaft as often as the ladies on his disc; how many rappers do you know that would open a track by crying hysterically over their woman leaving?
Devin doesn't get the girl; he gets scammed and hurt and doesn't even get the last word on his own song. "She Was Gone" strikes me as a wonderful answer track to Isley's "Busted"; sometimes the man don't win. This is modern blues done dirty and right.
Buy "To Tha Xtreme" from Amazon.
Yeah, the choice of title is idiotic, but 90% of this is shining. "Too Cute" is a sweet little radio friendly ballad, "Motha" is an incredible weed anthem, "Freak and "Come On Come" are nasty in that very gutta-style Devin does so well and "Anythang", "Don't Go", "Right Now" (which I had pulled out of the P2P ether over a year ago) and the title track are some serious smoky honey.
The absolute lack of hype is making me break out in hives. Devin is VERY deserving of a breakout hit or three and I think it's past time. Enough of this motherfucker guesting and picking up the chorus on everybody else's album. Let's send this sucker up the charts already! Go buy and spread the word!
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The interview and the other interview and the other interview.
Is Devin touring with this album? Somebody please let me know if he's coming to NYC; I'd love to see him live.
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Gato is an Argentinian music lifer who made his greatest impact on the scene with "The Last Tango in Paris" soundtrack. I like him best when he's BLARING full-bore, as on this sample track.
Just a little something to get you through the Friday.
Buy "Gato Barbieri's Finest Hour" from Amazon.
This is a healthy mixed bag of Gato, some spacey, some easier listening. You'll be bored and enthralled most likely.
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Gato's home on the internet
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A nice fansite with an excellent discography
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Thursday, July 22, 2004
arachnaglisten: Spider CD 9
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Tuwa: Eh. Someone's cup of tea, but not mine.
Brian: Cuica and Hancock what could be better. Thank you Miles Davis.
Mason: so far there's nothing even remotely spidery about this track
...excepting the title, of course. One of the last of the classic Headhunters sets. Hancock just rips this apart.
Buy "Secrets" from Amazon.
Completists will also find this track on Hancock's ludicrously designed Box set. Great music there; the packaging is a senseless mess.
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Herbie's official site
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"What is the concept of Herbie's Improvised Line?"
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Excellent fansite
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Tuwa: The singer must be tied to his chair, playing guitar with his feet. Else why sing about it?
Brian: No. No. Noooooo. This is harmful to children and everyone else. As my daughter said, "Insulting and stupid."
Mason: i thought it was the who for a second. there's something very very disturbing about this. it may as well be xiu xiu or something.
Mason, that's fucking AWESOME: the xiu xiu/raffi connection revealed at last!
Buy "Singable Songs for the Very Young" from Amazon.
I missed the whole "Raffi is hateworthy" thing, so I'm not precisely sure where the negativity comes from...
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Care to hear Raffi's song for the Dalai Lama?
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Look, how can you hold any enmity for the man who brought us bananaphone and consequently badgeranaphone?!?
Use in moderation, both animated and live action.
Lil' Spidey say BYE BYE!
That's it for Spider Glisten. Hope it met with your approval. Thanks again to our guest reviewers! Comments, suggestions for missed songs, exuberance or whatever else you've got can fit comfortably in the comments section.
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spiffy: ray
So here's the trailer to Ray. Let's compare what it sets you up to expect against Charles' autobiography, Brother Ray.
Ray: Ray is born sighted in a poor but idyllic countryside shack and goes blind as a child, but is taught how to learn to get around by his saintly mother.
Brother Ray: Pretty much dead on, except Ray considered himself lucky enough to have TWO mothers, his birth mother and his absent father's first wife. I wonder if the film will decide to smooth over that detail as too complex?
The doctors did indeed tell Ray and his moms that there was nothing they could do. Ray lost one of his eyes in his teens; he never got a definitive answer on what the reason was, even as an adult.
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Ray: Ray is first taught to play the piano by an old kindly black man in a juke joint.
Brother Ray: Accurate. The man's name was Wylie Pitman.
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Ray: Ray tries to break through to the big time by demanding his own band from his reticent management.
Brother Ray: Again, spot on. Big bands were expensive and difficult to maintain and Ray had to fight to get his first combo and fight again for his first big band, even after he had proven star power.
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Ray: Angry churchgoers condemn Ray's combination of gospel and juke joint music (file under: modern soul) as dragging the church through the mud, but Ray don't give a damn.
Brother Ray: Pretty much so. Ray says in his book that it never gave him pause, but he certainly did catch some shit.
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Ray: "He feels her wrist cause he figures that's the way to tell if she's good lookin' or not."
Brother Ray: Lifted verbatim from the book. Ray wasn't just a notorious womanizer, he was THE notorious womanizer.
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Ray: Ray's wife confronts him over his addiction to heroin.
Brother Ray: Hold on there, Smokey. Ray emphatically states that his wife, B., NEVER confronted him about his drug use and that he went to extremes to keep it away from her line of sight. Furthermore, Ray isn't especially concerned with "addiction":
I used various shit regularly for sixteen or seventeen years, and I certainly wouldn't encourage a single soul to start fucking with dope. But it may surprise some people to learn that I have no horror stories to tell. Sorry, but I just don't. Lots of what's portrayed at the movies or on TV is pure fantasy to me. Maybe other cats have gone through it; I haven't. I don't mean I wasn't sick now and then... 'cause I was. I'd hit a dry period and go through the same convulsions as any other junkie. For the most part, though, I had myself under control. There wasn't anything I could see destroying me, not as long as I was still managing my own affairs and able to play music.
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Ray: Ray is dragged down by cops and tearfully faces his attorney who tells him he'll "do what he can, but..."
Brother Ray: Ray was busted about three times; the third time was the serious one and it forced him to clean up his act. None of those busts involved struggles with the cops and although the charges on the last bust were enough to send him to jail (the first two didn't stick), the extenuating circumstances of his complete cold turkey quit (and another twist or two that I won't ruin for you) were enough to see Ray put on a five year probation. Basically, he walked.
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Ray: Ray is called "the innovator of soul".
Brother Ray: Ray was never too hot on those kind of comments.
Even today, I'm called "Ray Charles, the blues singer" or "Ray Charles, the soul singer." And this is after twenty years of singing damn near everything!
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Ray: Ray confronts his record label, asking for the masters to his own music and is roundly shot down and told "that's a better deal than we gave Sinatra".
Brother Ray: Here's the quote from the book on the subject:
By the end of 1959, I had changed labels, left Atlantic and gone with ABC. It was a tough move for me - I loved the Atlantic people - but it was probably the smartest money decision of my life. ABC made an offer to my manager and booking agent which was hard to pass up. They told me that in addition to 5 percent of the royalties - high at the time - they'd give me 7 1/2 cents of every dime's worth of profit for my services as producer of my own material. And I also had the guarantee that I would ultimately own all my master tapes which I recorded for the label.
So it looks as if they're going to play up the race card and the drug card for the sake of dramatic tension and bullshit up certain elements that have no business being bullshitted up. Still and all, Jamie Foxx is AMAZINGLY right on as Ray and he's due for a breakout performance.
I'm looking forward to it.
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
arachnaglisten: Spider CD 8
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Tuwa: Skillful at what it does, but uh, well, I won't trot out that old joke about military music. Even Sousa doesn't do it for me.
Mason: super sweet drumline action. this is spider related?
Unless I'm mistaken, "Spider" is a well-known marching band drum cadence. I personally remember hearing this echo from many a high school halftime as the kids took the field.
The United States Air Force musicbase offers a healthy collection of marching music.
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UCA's complete 2001 season.
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Buy a pretty spider drum.
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Tuwa: Lee "Scratch" Perry. A genius at his work. I'm sure he's gone wrong somewhere but I haven't heard it yet.
Brian: Ce'Cile would have been better off using this.
Mason: okay, i'd allow this to be wordless if it were a tv theme. i'd want it to be my tv theme.
Buy the Trojan Upsetters Box set.
The price is nice and the tunes are ace. Should keep you steady rockin' for the foreseeable future.
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Eternal Thunder provides a glimpse into the mind of Lee Perry. Wash up afterwards.
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The Upsetters Riddim Shower
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Tuwa: Cute. "You know, for kids."
Brian: Never heard of the Wurzels (and Adge Cutler), but I feel I should have even if I don't usually like "cheerful" English folk (songs).
Folk songs are supposed to be about drinking and murder, but this will do.
Mason: finally, a song about my living quarters.
These guys are TOO cute, aren't they? Unknown in America, the Wurzels are UK Doc. Demento with a hayseed hanging out the side of the mouth. Evokes a bit of "Belleville" for my money, but anything folksy with an accordion does that for me these days.
This track comes from the Wurzel's album, "Golden Delicious" which is NOT going to be commercially available anytime soon. You COULD get a cd from CDBBQ, but at sixtyseven bucks, you'd be a little nutty.
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Wurzelmania!
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spiffy
My very first post over at m4R is a brief review of a CD I just wrote for YRB on ERB.
Just click the links; all will be explained.
Tuesday, July 20, 2004
arachnaglisten: Spider CD 7
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Tuwa: I remember this one too. Iceman going around on that ice bridge that never needed pillars to hold it up. The narrator ruins it for me, though--I could see chopping up the music and looping it for samples.
Brian: The theme is not an improvement over the original, and the show wasn't either.
Mason: how come i don't have friends like iceman and firestar? they sound like really handy blokes to have around.
bah-bah-Bah BAAAAAAAAAAH!
As with almost ALL the Saturday morning cartoons of my youth, this has some really jammin' music that I can listen to on repeat for an hour in the same way that you can eat chocolate frosting and not get sick until the can is empty. Really though, this NEEDS some remixing. Anybody?
I also recall being somewhat pleasantly disturbed by Firestar's skintight bodysuit. Some shudders of puberty there.
Buy "Spider Man and his Amazing Friends: A Firestar is Born Vol 2 - Spider-Man Joins Forces with the X-men"... on VHS, even!
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Could I interest you in an obsessively detailed fansite?
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Firestar and Iceman, courtesy of Marvel Directory.
I only just recently gave away all my Directory to the Marvel Universe collections, so this is a godsend of a reference source.
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Sub-Zero, the Iceman Fanlisting, Ice Pansy, the Iceman Hatelisting, Fire and Ice, the Pyro and Iceman Fanlisting, Iceman VS. Pyro, "the only approved fanlisting for the rivalry between Iceman and Pyro", "No Need for Iceman" and Serenity's X-Men Fiction with special attention paid to Bobby Drake (careful with that last link; it's mostly slash).
The internet is scary, ya'll. Wear a condom.
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Tuwa: This one made me laugh.
Brian: An example of TMBG controlling all things good in the universe.
Mason: STEP ON SPIDAH!
A perfect fifty seconds.
You didn't really think there was a chance in hell this wasn't going to make the cut, did you?
TMBG is spectacular, prolific geekcore of the highest degree and one of my favorite bands in the world.
Buy "Apollo 18" direct from the artists!
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TMBG's amazing home page is virtually overflowing with neato-keen stuff and free music!
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This video of 'Experimental Film' off the new album The Spine is utterly Homestarrific!
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Dial-a-Song is finally online.
I love "Monsters of Mud".
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spiffy
Something weird's going on with the main hit counter; it's showing roughly a third of the hits that my backup hit counter shows.
This bothers me. I'm lame.
Monday, July 19, 2004
arachnaglisten: spider CD 6
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Tuwa: This one has an easy laid-back feel to it; the vocal and instrumental rhythms work together and the harmonies aren't stepping on each other's feet. And the remix used the version off _Mixed Up_, which is tip-top Cure.
Brian: A pretty little spider. An improvement over TLC, but what else could it be.
Mason: mash up? this is a reeeeaal stretch. well done though.
So if a "scrub is a guy who can't get no love from me," pretty much ALL men are scrubs by this definition, right? Because only a VERY select group are gettin' nookie from T-Boz and Chilli and NOBODY'S getting with Left Eye.
This always bothered me. I'm easily bothered. Obviously.
Ultra 396's home on the net.
Plenty of mash to go with the corn.
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Kind of a scrubby idea if you ask me.
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Sassyscrubs!
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The Cure's official site features some fairly disconcerting animation.
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Chuck Palahniuk's Lullaby merits a read. Getting a little tired of his one trick pony, tho'. And that site's a bitch to navigate.
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Mason: yum yum. trantula music eats some people up alive. this would be great music to run to. fill your ipod with scary music and pretend monsters are chasing you.
Tuwa: Seems like music from a B movie (that's not necessarily a bad thing--Mancini's work on Touch of Evil was great). Uh, so what's the movie?
Brian: Father of Fantomas and good for you too.
Tuwa's comments about Mancini are dead on.
My labeling of this track is somewhat inaccurate. It's a little hard to explain how Dick Jacobs is attached on this track; why not read here for the full story? Also stop by here to learn more about the film and the soundtrack.
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Buy "Themes from Classic Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films" from Amazon.
It includes this track but in a much different format.
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The Henry Mancini Page
A great place to go if you positively HAVE to hear Peter Gunn RIGHT NOW.
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Bellybongo is currently offering a bunch of Dick Jacobs track for DL.
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Swindon=Tarantula Central?
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spiffy
Over FIFTY new musicblogs listed to the right under "Musical Newbies". A few of the most interesting ones are capitalized and I'm especially excited about these:
I'm ashamed that it took me so long to unearth #1 Songs In Heaven. It's old school soul and rnb which is where my heart lives, but cat is having issues with bandwidth. Here's hoping it's resolved shortly; I'm consistently chuffed about what shows up over there. And hey, explore around his extended site, Pop Heaven. The desktops alone merit the peek.
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Ditties for the Party is the long awaited musicblog of the inimitable markmartin and went from zero to indispensible faster than anything since Netflix. Much excitement over there; do make sure to wash your hands afterwards.
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Audiobooks for Free requires a lot of hoop jumping and link clicking, plus the free stuff's sound quality is pretty bad; BUT it IS a pretty vast collection and the tracks are just barely listenable. I've had Spencer's "The Faerie Queen" playing as I go to sleep for the past few nights and I feel smarter (and more valiant) every day.
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Quiet American offers downloadable chunks of calm life. Perfect to playlist for times when you absolutely positively need to get your head in some sort of zen space.
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Oh shit, Spizzazzz is on the scene with a DLable remix Summer. This makes me real happy.
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Here's what I bought recently: Ice Cube's "The Predator", Little Richard's "Get Down With It: The Okeh Sessions", Das EFX "Straight Up Sewaside", Busta Rhymes "Extinction Level Event" and "Anarchy" and the new Devin the Dude "To Tha' Xtreme".
Grand total? Twenty five bucks. I have a new rekkid store nearby that I'm lovin'; no doubt.
I've only just cracked one of these: Devin's. It's beautiful. "Just Tryin' Ta Live" is on my Top 50 alltime and this one is inching in after only a dozen listens or so. I'll throw some up over on MfRobots just as soon as those guys give me the key to the Palace. In the meantime, you should go cop that; it's spectacular.
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Here's what I watched recently: The Office (both seasons), Knife in the Water and The Fog of War; all of them heartily recommended with The Office moving into a special pantheon reserved for moments of brilliance. Drop everything and queue it up NOW.
And hey, I hate to be an Indian giver, but don't click on those "Office" links until you've seen the episodes. Spoilers galore and it's a series that really thrives on you knowing as little as possible prior to seeing it.
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Here's two new visions of the Hut redesigned, both VERY MUCH in progress:
This one is from Andy and this one is from Peter.
Whatyall think? Let 'em know.
Friday, July 16, 2004
arachnaglisten: spider CD 5
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13. Ce'Cile - "Spider (Bushy Bushy Riddim)"
Tuwa: Nice groove. Love the interplay between the guitar, distorted bass, and percussion.
Brian: Yuk. She's a bad gal alright and a worse musician.
Mason: smart like macguyvah. this one's kinda boring. sorry. probably out of context.
'Twas sexy, sexy Fluxblog who turned me on to Ce'Cile and much thanks are in order. Everything that comes out of this woman is sexy, hard, vicious and sharp as a titanium razor. Make it dutty, gyal!
Buy "Bushy Bushy Riddim" from Amazon.
Be warned: this is a compilation of tracks, not a Ce'Cile album. I will admit to not having heard anything else but this cut, so you pays your money and takes your chances. This review suggest it's fairly strong, tho'.
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Ce'Cile's official site where you can listen to realaudio of the upcoming album and I got to say that everything here is BUH-lazin'. Go lap it up; it's worth finding a RA doppleganger for this.
Seriously. Go get it.
Now.
I'll wait for you.
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The combination of sweet riddims, Maxim quality cleavage and swift singin and spittin' leads me to venture a guess that when her debut, Bad Gyal FINALLY drops an American release this Summer (ah hopes ah hopes) that it will blow up like th' Godfather. I'll buy the first copy I see. In the meantime, my Brit readers are strongly encouraged to drop some tracks on me.
Can anybody explain to me why this has been so long in hitting the street? Online street dates have this hitting in '03! What gives? Is D. Vinyl mistreating this gyal?
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Feature article at Reggae Review
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The Guardian Article
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Interview at XLR8R
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14. RZA and ODB - "Kiss of a Black Widow"
Tuwa: RZA. When he connects, he knocks it to the bleachers. This one did not make it to the bleachers. Is he listening to the backing music? He's rapping like a square peg into a round hole.
Brian: No.
Mason: this shit is rough. 1:30 in and still no spider content. oh wait, black widow. omg, the blues thing comes first circle? probably not, but that would be pretty cool.
I continue to hold fast in my belief that the Bobby Digital album is horribly underrated. Admittedly, this track isn't quite top of the RZA but the freestyle ODB action (as always) makes it extra-curious.
"I axed my momma, she don't know..."
Buy Bobby Digital from Amazon.
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DL RZA music from WuTangCorp.
Worth registering for.
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A recent RZA interview and an older interview about the Bob Digi project.
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spiffy
In an attempt to try to pull back the throttle on bandwidth, time and my blogging patience/longevity/sanity: I'm going to cut back to two songs a post from here on in.
Volume of music struck me as optimally important when I started; now that there's so very many musicblogs and so very much to choose from, I'd rather give you less and hope that you actually listen.
This also makes life a little easier for me; the next three mix CD's should give me about two months of posts.
Incidentally, we got spider music for a whole 'nother week. Hope the creepy crawlies ain't tripping you out already; more's on the way.
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A brief glance over my blogroll to the right will alert you to some new folks that I'm starting to contribute to. I already told you about the Square Table popsingle groupreviews over at NYLPM (there should be a new one up today: Usher's "Burn"; suffice it to say I'm not impressed...); I'm very proud to announce that I'm going to start contributing to the always rewarding MUSIC FOR ROBOTS.
Now why would I do this? Obviously MfR is great, but why franchise the Tofu out? Well, I'm going to be sticking to this mix CD format for the foreseeable future but I know myself well enough to recognize that I'll certainly get wild hairs and offbeat interests that I'm dying to see hyped. Rather than clog up this spot with my meaningless rambling; I'll take my cuts over to MfR and clog up THEIR spot with my meaningless rambling. Let's call it equal opportunity dumbassedness on my part.
I'll make a note over here when there's a new post of mine over there so you can stop by. And hey, you really SHOULD be stopping by MfR on the daily anyway. The Grover/Belafonte/Black Orpheus post alone will twist your heart in a knot and set your tympanic nerve on fire.
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Though I deeply disagree with a great deal of his politics and I have a kneejerk fit whenever I see anybody whose homepage links directly to Ann Coulter or Ayn Rand, when it comes to the topic of fair use and copyright laws I must say I side with Mr. Barger.
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There will be the obligatory new musicblog update over the weekend, but I'm elated to welcome one promising young newbie into the fold: Radio KRUD is a MfR style group blog that just got my eternal gratitude by turning me onto the excitement that is the Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra.
The design is slick, the writing is affable and full of personality and the musical selections thus far are excellent. High hopes for the future; why not go check 'em out?
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Loads more to discuss: the Oddio Overplay writing assignment and likely Moondog meetup, the sweet package of freebie stuff from Yellow Rat Bastard, the sudden influx of friendly email (keep it coming; I'm loving it!); the "how-to-make-and- maintain-a-musicblog" primer I'm writing to be posted very very soon here at the Hut; the potential site redesign (I have men on the case!); a possible column at Better Propaganda... Nothing here pays the rent (or even a slice of pizza) but it's all fairly exciting and fun.
Have a great weekend; I'll check in for some DIAGNOSTICS and further conversation over the weekend most likely. Spider fun to resume on Monday regardless.
Thursday, July 15, 2004
arachnaglisten: Spider CD 4
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11. Ramones - "Spider Man"
Tuwa: The Ramones. Gotta love them: fun, punkish, concise.
Brian: The only thing that might make Spiderman cooler.
Mason: another inevitable. i thought this was pretty badass in highschool, now it sounds kinda tame. i seem to recall a pretty cool video for it though. my roommate just made me play this song twice.
We live to make your roommate demand you replay our tracks. We have succeeded.
This track doesn't really need any explanation, does it?
Buy "Adios Amigos" from Amazon.
Late Ramones doesn't really turn my crank.
You could also get Saturday Morning Cartoons' Greatest Hits but boy will your hipster quotient go down the toilet.
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The Ramones Official Website is pretty impressively designed... except for the damn popup music!
Listen up web developers: we don't always want to have what we're already listening to interrupted, you dig? Cut that shit out!
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The Complete Ramones Guitar Tab Compilation
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12. Joan Osborne - "Spider Web"
Tuwa: Annoying. I googled this one, and found something saying Joan Osborne was inspired by Bessie Smith. I'd bet that Bessie Smith's "Spider Man Blues" (pre-Spider-Man, natch) is much better.
Brian: I dreamed about Ray Charles too, and he was the president. My dream was better than Joan's.
Mason: hmmm... what's this then? i don't like this either. a timely ray charles reference. haha, a very funny ray charles reference, but then i guess i have a morbid sense of humor. song too long. blech.
I made this CD well before Brother Ray passed on; listening to this track now is a little disquieting and considerably more poignant. I'm hardly a fan of Osborne's but this strikes me as a pretty nice cut.
Buy "Relish" from Amazon.
I will openly admit that I don't know a thing about this album. Prince seems to think she's cool, so she's got that going for her.
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This well maintained fansite comes with plenty of music and more info than you could swing a stick at. or a cat. Or a sticky cat.
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A hella long interview with Osborne about (among other things) her involvement with the E-Zine Heroine.
Heroine is worth dropping by, if only for the Kim Gordon (of Sonic Youth)/Suzanne Vega interview. Tres neat.
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Wednesday, July 14, 2004
arachnaglisten: spider mix CD 3
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Tuwa: I remember watching this show as a kid and being unimpressed with it, in spite of my deep and abiding love for Spider-Man: Spider-Man would put his arm forward in the web-shooting pose and the web, looking quite a bit like a fishing net, would fall on the bad guy from above. Dig the music though. Good times. It's fun, it's happy, it has a horn section.
Brian: The coolest super-hero (beside Captain Black) with the coolest theme music (beside Captain Black).
Captain Who?
Mason: the classic spiderman theme. they should make a rule that all tv shows need to have a theme song that describes the show.
This is really a nicely crafted little track; clocking in at exactly a minute, it's catchy, inoffensive and unforgettable. Beats the hell out of "I'll Be There For You", I can tell you that.
Sorry about the lousy quality. What it lacks in kbps, it makes up for in nostalgia.
Buena Vista has just reissued the old cartoon in a SIX-DISC DVD, Spiderman: The '67 Collection. Click the previous link to see the trailer for the set or order a copy (for less than a buck an episode, the price ain't bad.)
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Here's more background on the history of the sixties animation...
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...and don't forget about Spidey's 1981, 1994 and 2003 cartoon incarnations.
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Brian: Genius. Friendly neighborhood Timbaland.
Tuwa: This is hilarious, but good. And now I know why I like the old Spider-Man theme: that melody rocks. Add a funky beat and sparse bass and some harmonizing, and you have an inspired bit of chillout hip-hop.
Mason: timbaland and magoo? was this a hit song? i don't think i've heard this before. i wonder why timbaland always hides his voice like that. this must've been from that late 90's-early 00's period where everyone was ripping off tv themes.
Timbaland is, of course, Jesus.
Buy "Tim's Bio" from Amazon.
With sweet cameos by Missy, Nas and Jigga; Twista and Ludacris (before they were household names) drop astonishing tracks as well. The real star is Timbaland's unconscious beats. He was in the zone in the late nineties, everything was poppin' so hot that you could SENSE his cockiness.
How cocky? Cocky enough that the track after "Here We Come" ("Wit Yo Bad Self") was an interpolation of the "I Dream of Jeannie" theme. That's cocky.
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Timbaland Heaven is THE spot for Timbo info.
Obsessive as obsessive gets.
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The
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MissyandTimbaland.com offers a TON of RealAudio songs along with some EXCESSIVELY cool news:
"Timbaland is set to produce at least 3 tracks on Utada Hikaru's upcoming Lp slated to be released this fall. Utada will be performing on the soon to be released UNITY album which will be produced for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. The song is titled, "By Your Side," and features Timbaland and Kiley Dean. The album will be released in Japan on July 7th, and internationally on July 12th, 2004."
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Mason: this sucks. is this fantomas? i'm sorry, i just don't get it (and obviously there is something to get).
Brian: What a gas. Not icky. Mike Patton + Timbaland x Tamil = AR Rahman. I'll never think of spiders the same way again.
Tuwa: Not feeling the first part of this at all--it sounds sad for some reason--though it gets good later. This could work as the theme to the Bollywood Spider-Man, if they ever made one and chose to do the Gwen Stacy storyline (yes, it's a tragedy). (It's possible, I guess...) Indian music is something I don't know much about, but the Lagaan tracks you posted rocked so I'm past due looking into it.
Rahman is the composer (and likely instrumentalist) on this track. Longtime readers will recognize Rahman as the genius behind Lagaan; the more Broadway knowledgable among you will know him as the man behind Bombay Dreams; the Bolly savvy will know him as the supermegastar he is.
I think this cut is daring, bizarre and fun; online reviews suggest it's the standout song from the soundtrack album.
I can't find a copy of the "New" soundtrack that has this track on it (can anybody help?), but India Plaza is offering a pretty sweet deal on a Rahman greatest hits collection.
Couldn't tell you how dependable their shipping is, tho'. Caveat Emptor.
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The Times of India's lukewarm review of "New".
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An exhaustive AR Rahman bio and discography are available at this fansite.
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Here's the official website of New. Hyper!
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spiffy
Alright, so after seeing a brief talk with O-Dub, I've made a few VERY minor changes regarding layout to make this goshdarn thing more readable. I have to tell you that web design is NOT my thing but I'm certainly able to recognize that a SERIOUS reworking of this puppy is warranted.
Any fans of the Hut who would like to take a crack at rebuilding this website will be rewarded with a permanent link, some music and a lot of gratitude. I'm dead serious and sort of desperate but horribly broke. I might buy you dinner.
Any takers? Inquire within, please.
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I avoided Kingdom of Loathing for as long as I could, but I am now completely hooked. You know how sometimes when you're watching a really lame film, you hope against hope that maybe there's something really good about to happen that's going to make you realize that what you thought was "lame" is really "RAD" and you just didn't understand what was going on yet? Well, that's what the first two days of playing KoL are like. Avoid online spoiler sites; just get started and figure things out on your own as best you can. The constant depth and surprise make this one of my favorite games since Dungeon Siege... and it's free!
Sign up now, then send all your meat and items of appreciation to forksclovetofu... and watch out for that warwilf!
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Along with that Reuters story that's been spread all over the web (versions, pirated and otherwise, have shown up at zeropaid, USA Today and CNN:Money), The Hut has also cracked the popular press via Blender magazine.
Blender's August issue contains the obligatory "Hot 100" List, tastemakers and such. You know the drill. Imagine my surprise to discover:
"#88 - AUDIOBLOGS: They're just like regular Weblogs, except they also include MP3s - new ones every day, often including rare or not-yet-released songs. Fluxblog, Soul Sides and Tofu Hut are three of the best, curated by crate-digging fanatics."
So there you are.
According to Blender, I'm hotter than Franz Ferdinand [100] and (oh the irony!) Nellie McKay [91]; though still not as hot as William Hung [76], Pimp Cups [31] or jail [25].
Go figure.
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Man oh mighty, have I been a busy cat!
For starters, I'm part of the Square Table over at NYLPM. Tom Ewing has taken to sending out a new pop single once every few days for review and then posting the reviews at his site. I'm having a ball so far and am always excited to find something new in the post. Yay Google! Yay Tom! Drop by and check it out!
Also, if you look to your right you'll see a list of new reggae musicblogs to choose from. Make sure to look them over; there's some AMAZING stuff in there.
I also have a few other projects in the embryonic state. More on them as they develop.
bonus glisten
Fortyone is a seriously brilliant nutjob; a dj talent who does all his work with nothing more than a pair of speakers, a simple mix program and a microphone. He boldly samples where no man has sampled before and the end result bears more comparison to jazz than scratch culture. A typical Fortyone track requires patience and focus and will generally reward you with two giggles, a headbobbin' beat and deep respect for the arduous work that goes into every mega-edited second.
Just to make things more wacky, Fortyone GIVES HIS MUSIC AWAY. God help us, he creates for the sheer joy of creating and sharing the things that he creates! Doesn't he know that we're in a recession?
Here's a few tracks off Fortyone's Smaller Portions album to get you started.
You can download Fortyone's Different Mayonnaise EP at Comfort Stand Records and then email him at the email he lists on the previous clicky for more. Or just email him and tell him how cool he is. I'm gonna do that right now!
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
arachnaglisten: Spider Mix CD 2
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5. Muddy Waters - "Mean Red Spider"
Tuwa: More good stuff.
Brian: Old beautiful Muddy.
Mason: tick-tock-tick-tock. makes me think of a corner in chicago and a two-guitar/spoonman combo. "if i don't go crazy, i will surely lose my mind." :)
Yeah, that's a great quote. As the boys' silence suggests, Muddy hardly needs discussion or description; you just feel that shit and there you are.
Buy "The Anthology: 1947-1972" from Amazon
A great and reasonably priced introduction to Muddy with no filler at all.
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Muddy's Kitchen is just one of the more offbeat niches of Waters' official website.
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The American Masters Page
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6. The Rolling Stones - "The Spider and the Fly"
Brian: Yuk. Bland. Derivative. A reason to hate the Stones if there aren't enough already.
Tuwa: The Stones. blecch. I'll give it points for not annoying me, so I like it more than most of what they do.
Yikes! There's not a whole lotta Stones love in the room! I'm hardly an afficianado, but early Stones is hard for me to argue with and calling them derivative strikes me as a bit disingenous; they WERE something of a cover band in the early days. Is the backlash more about what the Stones are doing these days or do you guys generally dislike ALL their action?
Mason: this one was inevitable. my dad likes this song a lot. i guess i do too. i am secretly hoping this will be the last blooze track here.
Yeah, that's it for the blues. Spiders are some depressing arachnids, ain't they? We'll have to pick up the pace from here on in.
I never noticed 'till I listened to that first guitar lick, but the Stripes may have inadvertently lifted something from here for "Cold Cold Night". 'Course, the Stripes have lifted a GREAT DEAL from early Stones, but that's another post.
Buy "Out of Our Heads: Remastered" from Amazon
Among their very best.
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The Stones home on the web
Can't say I've been drawn to much of anything they've done for quite awhile, tho'...
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Beggar's Banquet Online
Early 'Zine gone digital.
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The Spider and the Fly
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7. Fantomas - "Spider Baby"
Tuwa: This reminds me of Mr. Bungle, which is not a good thing. Also I can't tell if they're being earnest or if it's deliberately campy. Is this a satire of heavy metal? Is it an irony-impaired homage to Spinal Tap? Who's the producer, Dr. Frankenstein? I picture him cackling maniacally as he raises the masters to the roof, lightning flashing overhead. I'll be in the mob of villagers at the end, carrying a torch.
Brian: Scary Mike Patton. OOooooooooo. Fantomas. Goofy and creepy at the same time. That's what makes it (and him) great.
Mason: oh no, scary! cannibal spiders! someone should make a video for this song if it doesn't
already exist.
I got HEAVY into Mike Patton in high school. I acknowledge that he's a love him or hate him prospect and I'm not going to be the annoying guy forcing you to listen to one more track. Heck, I've mostly tired of his Zappa-tista schtick myself but he's fun to return to every once and again.
Buy Director's Cut from Amazon.
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Who is Fantomas? Find out more about the namesake and then check out Ipecac Records for background on the band.
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Bungle to Fantomas: Six Degrees of Mike Patton
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Spider Baby?
Put it on your Netflix queue; I've seen it and it's totally worth your time.
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Deadly Spider Baby.
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VERY tired. More interesting post tomorrow, most likely.
Monday, July 12, 2004
arachnaglisten: Spider Mix CD
Welcome to all you newcomers and welcome back to all my regulars! I'm excited to announce that we're starting another mix CD series here at the Tofu Hut. Let me explain how we do this:
For the past several months, I've been sending out a mix CD collection with an arbitrary and offbeat theme (previous mixes include "songs by children", "songs with the word "f*ck" in the title", "songs that start with the letter B by artists whose names start with the letter B" and "embarrassing music to listen to at the gym"). These CD's are sent to Tofu Hut listeners who are granted a scant few days to listen to the CD and then email me a track by track review of the mix. Then I post their reviews UNCUT, UNCENSORED and UNEDITED (but peppered with my own smartass comments and observations in italics) along with the tracks in question. It's like listening to a mix CD with a bunch of friends... only you don't have to have any friends... except me. And I'm already your friend! Yay!
Get it? Got it? Good!
This time our mix CD theme is:
EIGHT LEGS GOOD, TWO LEGS BAD -- SONGS ABOUT SPIDERS.
Let's meet our three guest reviewers.
First off is Mason. Mason was the tardy gent who kept our review party from starting earlier but he's already been chastised and has cleaned out the cobwebs:
what a mess of a reviewer i am. not only am i completely late in giving my track by track comments, i can't for the life of my find the tracklist and instructions. they're probably in the same theatre where i was able to play this disc before the spiderman 2 premeire. oh well, it's probably just as well that i don't know exactly what i'm listening to. kinda like juke box jury, but not british and with more legs. here we go.
Here we go indeed! Mason might be late but he wins brownie points for his remarkable corporate synergy; knowing that this mix got played at a showing of Spiderman2 (which I haven't seen yet, but would like to) gives me a kick. (Before you ask, the release of SM2 was NOT the impetus for this mix; just a happy coinkydink). Be aware while reading Mason's reviews that he doesn't have a tracklist handy; he occasionally gets a tetch confused.
Next, we have Brian who writes:
Sorry it took me so long. I started late and listened too much. I liked most of it. The review follows. I know it wasn't my mix, but how about Eno's "Spider and I" or The Who "Boris the Spider"? Both of those are quintessential spider songs, and I hardly ever (never) use the word quintessential. This makes three times. Thanks for letting me listen.
Believe it or not, the Who track was rejected as not spider-y enough and I'm not familiar with the Eno track, so those of you who were hoping for either of the above are S.O.L. Sorry. I imagine you'll like what's here tho'.
Last up is Tuwa, who's raring to rock:
You're right, this was a fun one. Well, here you go.
Who am I to argue? Let's kick it off!
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1. The Electric Company - "Spider Man"
Mason: ooh, i remember this. electric company? i have it connected with some childhood memory of a not very good spiderman cartoon. 12 solid seconds of funk. probably better than the cartoon.
Wasn't even a cartoon, although I could certainly see how memory would fudge on the details. Actually, this was a live action bit. If you'd like to learn more, stop by The Electric Company Spidey Episode Guide.
Stuff like this is why I love the internet. Want information on an obscure pop culture reference? Don't worry; somebody's already done months of research for you.
Tuwa: Spider Man didn't hang out too long. Must have had a mugging to stop somewhere. I think this is the shortest song I've ever heard.
If you want more, you'll have to buy the extended single by Gary William Friedman from Amazon. I'm as shocked as you are that this is available. Much less as a single. Here's more info from spiderfan.org.
This is ALMOST worth getting. I'd certainly accept it as a nice birthday gift (wink wink).
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RIP TEC MP3
Note to self: Next time a great site with tons of obviously copyrighted material pops up to archive out of print stuff: download, download, download! I missed out on pretty much EVERYTHING this site had to offer before it got grounded and I'm still kicking myself.
I loved me some EZ Reader back in the day.
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The Spidey Mego Photo Guide
With Ultra Rare Electric Company Packaging! Say it with me: oooooOOOOOOooooo!
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2. Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup - "Just Like a Spider"
Tuwa: This is the first thing I've heard by Crudup. It's a good introduction.
Brian: Perfect. Shows why Crudup was the innovator he was. Musically innovative lyrically compelling. A scary spider.
Mason: super loose blues. nothing feels in tune here. i think i love it. all this spider/blues stuff must have something to do with the black widow? we need less black cat bones, more spider webs!
Crudup is an easy sell to anyone just starting blues music; he wasn't known as "the Father of Rock and Roll" in the seventies for nothing. The music still sounds remarkably fresh and contemporary some fifty years later, arguably more so than the many who would go on to cover his tracks.
Buy "The Essential Arthur Crudup" from Document Records
As always with the Document catalog, just search for the title.
How about their new random autoloading site music feature? Neat, huh?
More obsessive types should look into Document's four volume COMPLETE Arthur Crudup reissue series, spanning fourteen years of grimy blues action.
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"One could reasonably argue that Crudup’s original 'That’s All Right', which rocks at least as hard as Presley’s follow-up take, is actually the first rock song."
The hullaballoo over this recent Time magazine article has been considerable but the piece itself couldn't be much more wrongheaded.
Arguing that Elvis' cover of a blues track was the first rocknroll cut is nutty beyond nutty; no one with even a flirtation with the history of popular music believes this for a second and the Memphis celebration isn't even ABOUT that. The article is a sort of disingenuous posturing toward an obvious stance: that Elvis was greatly influenced by black artists.
Fuck man, I coulda told you that when I was ten; don't you listen to
Chuck, punk? It doesn't make Elvis' influence on the music any less important, but he ain't reinvented the wheel. Just smoothed it out a little, did right by it and sold it to the nice people.
Now Crudup? That guy put some spokes in the wheel.
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Some light bio
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3. Lowell Fulson - "Black Widow Spider Blues"
Tuwa: I love the old blues (I mean old, before people came up with happy blues, the auditory equivalent of vanilla chocolate), and this one is no exception. I feel like I'm in the bar and it's got a wood chip floor and no one will serve me a beer because I haven't been born yet.
Brian: How can someone so generative be so generic here? Not his greatest thing. So sue me.
Mason: more blues. it sounds "smokey" to me. makes me wish i liked the blues more.
One way to like it more is to listen to it more. If you like this, why not check out these two reasonably priced compilation discs from Rough Guide records, available at Amazon. They're as good a place to get started as any.
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Also, buy "My First Recordings" direct from Arhoolie Records.
They'll even let you listen to the tracks first.
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Fulson bio
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4. John Lee Hooker - "Crawlin' Black Spider"
Brian: Rules the den. Makes you ask what happened to the blues today, and not want to know the answer.
Mason: ack, more blues. i think i recognize this one, but i'm not gonna make a guess. this i like.
Tuwa: John Lee Hooker. A national treasure, along with Willie Nelson. Some knowledgeable inspired mp3blogger should have a National Treasures week. Yeah, he's good. The melody's a bit similar to "Crawling King Snake," but that's allowed. And hell, van Gogh on an off day is still worth a million dollars.
Yeah, this bears more than a passing resemblance to 'King Snake,' but as sequels go this is more _Godfather2_ than _Godfather3_.
Hooker evokes dirty jukejoints, cigarette haze and the beginnings of inebriation better than just about anyone.
Buy "BB King and John Lee Hooker: Back 2 Back" from Amazon
For SIX BUCKS OR LESS it's a good buy.
Say, there's an idea for a good musicblog: someone who seeks out underpriced CD's on Amazon and then hypes them with a promotional track. Amazon, are you listening? Synergy, calling out right over here!
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I think this excellent fansite is much more informative, intuitively designed and more rewarding than JLH's official home on the internet; you can decide for yourself.
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Audio clips available at JohnLeeHooker.com; the sound quality is rancid but it should spur you to go get some more.
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spiffy
I just finished mailing out the NEXT mix CD on Saturday, so you reviewers should be getting it in the next few days.
Time for ANOTHER Mix CD mailer. The next mix CD is entitled CRAYOLA CD ONE: BLUE TUNES.
If you want to be a guest reviewer, here's how we play (pay close attention; I'm introducing some new rules):
If you want a copy of the next mix CD for review, email me at the address listed at the top of this page with "CAN I HAVE A CD?" in the subject line and a friendly request in the actual mail. The first three requests I receive will get a response from me detailing the rules of review. Everybody else gets a nice pat on the head. As soon as I receive the first three requests, I will update this post to let you know that we're full up. If you miss out this time, keep reading the blog; there's likely to be a few offers over the next few weeks.
Please note that there is no charge whatsoever for this CD, _except_ you are going to be expected to write a track by track review... quickly. United States only please, unless you're willing to fedex me a check for shipping and handling in which case you're in. Sorry to be American elitist; I'd love to be able to go global but it's just too damn expensive. Again, if you wanna pay for it then I'm happy to include and indulge my beloved overseas readers as well.
UPDATE: I've got my three. Be on the lookout for the next post and thanks for looking in on me!
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33 RPM is sadly MIA. What gives?
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Lots of action here in the Hut as of late. If you look to the right of the vehicle, you'll see that we have a crop of n00b musicblogs; some of the s tandouts here include the musicblog My Mean Magpie, the Real World label page (watch out for that autoloading music!) and something I was astonished to find: Amazon is posting MP3s.
Stay tuned for a PILE of reggae links that I just discovered and am riffing through. Very exciting stuff!
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Longtime readers may recall that I have a strict rule about removing tracks after about a week. We're not a library or a repository or a reference source; if you want the music in the long run, you need to go buy it (preferably direct from the artist).
There are, however, a VERY FEW exceptions to this rule; cuts that I've left on to promote sites I like or in memoriam of an artist I respect.
Unfortunately, a very few of these tracks have caught the eye of somewhat more rapacious eyes than mine and are being exploited by pay services and other similarly trashy individuals. This saps my bandwidth and it also reminds me that it's probably wise not to leave ANYTHING up permanently. So they gotta come down, but I wanted to give you all ONE LAST CHANCE to listen to this handful of songs.
Songs to Wear Pants To - "We Photocopy Our Body Parts" via Songs to Wear Pants To.
Usher and Clint Mansell - Requiem for an Usher (Dopplebanger Mashup) via Dopplebanger
Lenlow - "Chocolate Cake via Lenlow (hey, he's got a new mix up!)
Seamore Funk - R U Horny, an apology for mistaken identity track from way back in Prince Week (I'd LOVE to see the MSG concert; anybody got a spare July 14 ticket for a reasonable price?)
Jim and Tammy and Their Friends - "Oops, There Comes a Smile!", posted in support of Tammy's battle with cancer.
Notorious BIG - "Freestyle on Funkmaster Flex, posted on the seven year anniversary of Frank White's death.
Women of Mambazo - "I Say No" in memoriam of Nellie Shabalala.
When this post falls off the front page, these songs are coming down.
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Lusitania is back in the game and HOW with a MASSIVE new post that's hella fun and not to be missed.
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I finally got Meta'd! Not quite an FPP, but close to it. I'd be lying if I didn't say that this didn't satisfy a desire deep in my bloggin' heart. So Matt, can I freakin' finally join ?
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Okay, here's the six million dollar question: I've been approached by an unnamed business that has offered to pay me to post links to their site on this page. I have SERIOUS issues with making money off of this site; I fear that would compromise my already tenuous ethical position in musicposting (hence no paypal buttons, etc) but if I were to assume that they were paying for the site's traffic ranking and hipster sheen (which they assure me they are) then I'm just getting paid for my writing which is fine. I'm conflicted. What do ya'll think: should I accept advertising?
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On another topic altogether: if anyone feels like lending out hosting space, I would be DEEPLY indebted. I can't imagine that I'm not gonna be a victim of accelerated popularity unless I can find a few new sites to broadcast from. Alms for the poor?
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I've been involved in a NUMBER of side projects lately; I'll tell you about them tomorrow. Time is getting tight for me these days; I'm working something like 45 hours a week waiting tables and another 20 or so a week bloggin' and scourin' the web for musicblog info. Updates of this size are somewhat less likely in the future. Again, I plead: HIRE ME! I wanna work in music media of some sort doing copy or editing or pr or somethin'! I got's mad energy! I got over a hundred thousand words worth of portfolio material right here in this blog! I'll even take out the garbage! C'mon!
HIRE ME!
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clicky: we toot our own horn
I just posted the following at Monkeyfilter somewhat in response to the Meta-link and am reposting it here.
Take a peek.
So from multiple previous posts and from about town, most of you are probably aware that I am an musicblogger (AKA mp3 blogger AKA audioblogger). A musicblogger is a person who offers interesting, out of print, rare or otherwise engaging music to people at no charge, simply out of love for the sound and to promote artists that they would like to see get more popular. I'm not prejudiced; I also include record label sites, artist's personal sites, people who aggregate the daily adventures of other musicbloggers into digests... I like em all.
There are more musicbloggers out there than most people would believe; I've been keeping a close eye on the phenomena these past six months and have compiled what I think is the most comprehensive list of musicbloggers yet available. This resource is on my own page as a sidebar but it's not very user friendly and difficult to unearth and utilize unless you know what you're looking for (which would explain why I'm posting this here in my own blog as well)..
I figured it might be time to let loose a new (in)complete list on to the web. My hope is that (after all you monkeys take some time to explore), that this resource will be disseminated onto the web and get a few more people interested.
As of July 4th, all of the following sites were live and had tunes available to listen to.
Here's the grand collection, organized (somewhat) by genre. They are presented in no particular order of preference, barring my personal favorites.
I hope you'll forgive me an initial self link here as I modestly suggest that you might want to start your musical journey by dropping by MY SITE, The Tofu Hut? Now that that's out of the way, here's my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE musicblogs, the ones that I check daily. These are of just about every genre. Check out: Gabba.Pod, Said the Gramophone, Fluxblog, Fruits of Chaos, TtIKtDanceAgain (run by a monkey!), Basic Hip Digital Oddio , Honey Where You Been?, Comfort Stand Records, Tyrone Shoelaces, new (ish), Negro, Please, soul sides, Esselle, Boom Selection, punkassbitch, Totally Fuzzy, Cocaine Blunts, ready rock moe rex, Planet Blarg, copy, right?, Fat Planet, Scenestars, Largehearted Boy, Music For Robots, Radio Babylon, The Suburbs are Killing Us, The Lusitania, Word in the Alleys (run by a monkey!), nevercamehome, Oddio Overplay, Moistworks, GetchaBootlegOn, Tried and True Attention Getting Tactics, womenfolk, MUSIC!, bumrocks, Scissorkick, Pop 77, lacunae, 3hive, Cheeky Monkey, Bloggio Oddio, Rusty Spell, 52 Weeks, Idiot's Guide to Dreaming, Achtung Baby!,Spoilt Vict. Child, Cloud 2, Telephone Thing, Sizemore, The Crutch and Kingblind.
Here's a list of excellent music sites that tend to specialize in ROCKNROLL/POP/JAPANESE, CHINESE, KOREAN POP (a popular online subgenre)/"ALTERNATIVE"or"INDEPENDENT" AND RNB: Pop Is Pablum, robot is smashed, Torchomatic 80's, Max's Music Page, Marx vs. Monorail, Vague Space Music, Nobu Log, Modern Life Is Rubbish, Starving But Happy, My Space Music, V/VM Test Records, Bang and Burn, Sixeyes, BPatcher, 1,000,000 Love Songs, Into the Groove, Uncritical, Coolfer, Better Propaganda, Losing My Edge, Lost Bands/New Wave Era, Talkie Walkie, Wants 2B Nameless, Kittytext, Royal Music, Listen Closer, Negatendo Music, Birth/Music/Death, Bubblegum Machine, EmptyFree, classical gasp, nitpick, Mystical Beast (retired, but loved), Sleeve Notes, opacodex, So This Is Love (en espanol), The Catbird Seat, Fighting Against MtPH, Pitchfork, klepshimi, David F. Presents, Fingertips, ZenZen, big ticket, Sloro, NPG Music, Schkopi (Prince Radio), Rock'N'Roll in the Real World, Mystery and Misery, No Frontin', Just Music, Chromewaves, Dylan, White Stripes Boots, Spinal Tap Collection, george mike, John Peel, Frank Payne, Jeff's Cubicle, Live Tom Waits, Insound, Preservation of Music I Love, K-Records, 2ifbysea Records, Enthusiastic But Mediocre, J/C/K Pop Central (webring of J/C/K pop sites), Coverlog, The Wily Filipino, Epitonic, De Subjectivisten, Blackyellowblack, GLOBALPOPCONSPIRACY, Music For the Free world, NYLPM, Matador Records, Song of Solomon and I heart Nellie McKay.
Here's a few sites that specialize in HIP HOP AND REGGAE: Rank's Reggae Revival, Shutemdown!, The Box, Soulstrut, MC Chris and Hip Hop Music.
Similarly, here's a very few sites that specialize in JAZZ and OLD TIMEY MUSIC: Admas Band, The Vamps, The Red Hot Jazz Archive and The Ragtime Ephemeralist.
Here's a bunch that specialize in DJ CULTURE (which is to say: electronic music + remix and mashup DJ's): Redder Records, DJBC, Fetter Konig, Dinbot, Diffusion Online, Lionel Vinyl, Eve Massacre, Culture Deluxe, Deep Disco Force, mcsleazy, FakeID, soulwax, Reformat Records, Wired Sounds, Release the Reality, DJJayR, Tapeworm Collective, Design Project Neko, Dopplebanger, MP3BLOG, Daz Automatic, //blahblog, fourstones, djfood, Songfight, bOOmbOx, Reset Music, IDC, Fabulous Bastard, NeverHeardIt, disquiet, Go Home Productions, Empire State Human, Bush No. 10, Poj, SutureSounds, Fettdog and Warp Records.
Next up are a collective of EXOTICA/ESOTERIC/BIZARRE music hunters: 365 DAYS, Mark VII, American Song Poem Music, Empty Handed, Raymondo's Dance-O-Rama, Belly Bongo, Your Pal Doug, Little Marcy World, Show and Tell Music, Voices on the Wind, Dana Countryman, Space Debris Presents, Oddball Auditorium, Sem Sinatra's Solar System, April Winchell, Incorrect Music Siftings, Pastor McPurvis and Mister Swank.
Then we have a list of offbeat and unclassiable SPECIAL NEEDS musicblogs; musicblogs that specialize in one offbeat topic: Noam Chomsky Audio, The Fan Soundtrack Listing, Backmask Online, Drummerworld, It's A Trap! (Scandinavian Tunes), Songs to Wear Pants To, Bootleg, Tendo Web, Bhangra Plus, Circuit Benders, The Sound of Magic, Overclocked Remix, Radiant Slab, Theremin Vox, Tamil Mahal, Monkees Sing Along, Gamelan Nyai Saraswati, The Authentic History Center and John Hughes Movies.
Lastly, here's a few sites that offer something different, so YOU TELL ME where I should classify them: Brad Sucks, Webjay, Internet Archive, Illegal Art, Troubled Diva, Swen's Weblog, OpenDir, Dream Chimney, ihypq, Steev's South America, Musical Family Tree and IUMA.
Still not enough for you? Okay, here's a few more bonus music sites that feature music you can listen to or tools to find more music: Ogg Vorbis, RadioBlogClub, AltaVista Audio Search, Boombastic Radio, Downhill Battle , Eigenradio, Magnatune, DJ Martian, Oh, Manchester, mp3 4 free and Intellectual Hip Hop.
Here's one last one for good luck: at The Amazing EC Brown MusicLink Page, you'll find LITERALLY hundreds more places to find music.
And there's plenty plenty more; I have at least another thirty or forty musicblogs I haven't listed here yet and new ones are appearing LITERALLY every day.
Go forth and find new music and then go buy an album from one of your new favorites!
So let's see what _that_ does.
