Monday, June 27, 2005
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glisten: guzzle guzzle grape glory
The Nugrape Twins - "I Got Your Ice Cold Nugrape"
The Nugrape Twins - "Nugrape: A Flavor You Can't Forget"
The Nugrape Twins - "Pray Children If You Want to Go to Heaven"
Whenever there's hue and outcry about the corruption of music by corporate rapacity (in that latter case, no doubt warranted), I always find myself thinking about the Nugrape Twins, two little-known gospel artists who changed their name and put out a single/b-side jingle for a popular Southern soda pop company. Here's two folk who probably wouldn't even be known today if it weren't for their sugar-water ditties.
Not sure if I'm making a point here, other than art prevails over all and that you should REALLY listen to these 1926(27?) tracks from the Nugrape Twins. The dischordancy between the tenor and bass voices over the piano is simply amazing; you'd swear they were singing about redemption, not grape soda.
Copyright for the Twins work seems to have drifted into the public hands some years ago; 'I Got Your Ice Cold Nugrape' shows up across a wide strata of reissue albums and over at Archive.org. The rest of the Twins music is, perhaps understandably, neglected; in a funny twist, the very best of the Nugrape Twin's work turned out to be their commercial jingles. The other surviving four sides are enjoyable and affecting gospel not without its charms, but hardly as gripping their work for the soda company. "Pray Children" is probably the best of these, somehow mournful, jaunty and admonishing all at once, but lacking the fizz of the other two.
I'm not the first to feature the Nugrape Twins; Mike McGonigal of the always remarkable 'Buked and Scorned hit on the first of these tracks months ago. Personally, I've been listening to this cut since I was a lil' chick in the early eighties, so I'm happy to have a forum from which to shout out the Nugrape name.
Sip slowly; you don't want to get th' burps.
Buy the complete works of the Nugrape Twins (along with select cuts from forgotten blues titans Lonnie Coleman, Beans Hambone and Willie P. Bennett) on the superior clean-up Document disc, 'Sinners and Saints: 1926-1931'.
This is the real thing: twenty-six obscurities that offer a peek into the culture of black music of the twenties. These songs weren't blockbusters and the performers on this disc aren't legends; they often only cut one record for us to remember them by. These tantalizing tastes of lost sound offer fascinating looks at a disparate handful of men and women's bids for sonic immortality. They hold up pretty goddamn well.
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Sing along.
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Look over this riotous collection of photoshopped versions of "evil corporations ruining famous album covers"; the take on Wire's '154' is unbelievable.
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If you have a taste for the way that commercialism pervades art and media, I strongly recommend you explore the StayFree! website.
StayFree is a wonderful magazine; this month's issue features an interview with the founder of the flash mob phenomenon, critically explores the assumptions and claims behind McDonald's mass advertising and compares the markets for kewpie dolls and sex dolls; I needs a subscription somethin' fierce. Care to join me?
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No Nugrape, but you can read hundreds of other soda pop reviews over at Bev.net.
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See some gorgeous examples of Nugrape memorabilia.
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spiffy
Join the Nanotechnology list.
Or, you know, just have it ported into your skull by nanobots.
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The always reprehensible (but equally huggable) "Bol Guevara, MD" offers promising news for the future.
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Anyone out of the boom selection loop should REALLY hustle over there quick: new Lady SOV and some fascinating Brazilian favela funk for the savvy DL'er.
Labels: clicky, favorites, music
Thursday, June 16, 2005
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glisten: somethin' like th' real thang
Bilal - "How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore"
D'Angelo - "She's Always In My Hair"
Here's a match up of two of my favorite things: Prince and cover songs. Unlike the estimable (and venerable, at least by OUR standards) copy, right?, th' Hut hasn't ever dropped a cover themed post, but I'm a sucker for a well-intentioned redux. These tracks are hardly reimaginings of the originals; in many ways, they're deeply true to form. What makes these songs noteworthy is their personality and the way that they bring out the performing artist's natural talent; they're excellent showcases. And did I mention they're by Prince?
'She's Always In My Hair' and 'How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore' are a pair of somewhat obscure flip sides to Prince singles (to 'Paisley Park' and '1999' respectively) that have gathered a real following amongst fans. Rightfully so; in many ways, they're amongst his most passionate and impressive singles and (the bane of the Prince apologist) he never even gave them due respect or any sort of real release. In this sense, they join other classics from Prince's beautiful bastard children, most notably the immortal 'Erotic City', which was only given a proper album release over a DECADE after showing up as a B-side for 'Let's Go Crazy'.
'How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore' had a fair revival a few years back when it was tapped as a springboard single for Alicia Keys. That version lacks any subtlety and, worse yet, replaces the original's muted anguish with a noisy, overwhelming aural avalanche; it's the equivalent of performing 'Ave Maria' with an electric guitar and a kickline. On the other hand, Bilal Oliver's take on 'How Come' feels like it's on a choke chain; Bilal's just on the edge of breaking down from note one. When he finally does let the pain wash over him, it is brief and dramatic and forces him into an uncomfortable voice and space then trails out into nothing. As a cover, it's memorable and informs the original considerably.
D'Angelo's riff on 'She's Always in My Hair' doesn't so much alter as it AMPLIFIES it. Prince's original is a winding, Hendrix-esque opportunity for him to splay out and show off his balladeering and excellent guitar chops; D opts instead to sing most of the song in a nasal sneer , as if he's yet to forgive the girl for leaving his memory. There's a lot of barely suppressed anger in there, but it's the soul that makes you stick around.
D'Angelo and Bilal both released simply amazing albums at the start of the century and both have hit sad fallow streaks since. There seems to be a sort of curse surrounding the nu-soul movement that flourished at the end of the nineties and start of the naughties; D'Angelo, Bilal, Badu, Maxwell, Jaguar Wright, Amel Larrieux, Saadiq, Lauryn, Angie Stone and Jill Scott have never quite caught on with the public at large in the way that they've deserved to. Whether this is indicative of the points that Mark Anthony Neal brings up in his extensive Rhythm and Bullshit essay at Popmatters (which I haven't read quite well enough to yet defend or refute), is due to the nature of the music industry and its audience, has something to do with the motivation that would make people sing the blues in the first place or is just a winding series of coincidences, I just don't know. I _DO_ hope that the root itself isn't poisoned; this particular collection has the potential to drastically alter not only r+b, but the very nature of pop music itself if they could just mobilize and overcome some initial hardships..
I got my fingers crossed.
Buy the Scream 2 Soundtrack with 'She's Always In My Hair' and...uh... well, not much else really. Assuming you don't have Let Love In by Nick Cave, there IS a copy of 'Red Right Hand' on board. Between those two, you'd be hard pressed to not pay four bucks, right? Right?
Okay, maybe not. Let's say you've got a slightly larger budget and some love for Diamond D. Why not buy D'Angelo: Live at the Jazz Cafe from Amazon? D is a jewel in concert; I've not yet been fortunate enough to see him live, but this disc has been a treasured glimpse into that hallowed hall.
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Bilal's 'U Don't Call Me' is a B-side from his 'Fast Lane' single, now out of print. May I STRONGLY recommend that you indulge yourself with a copy of his astonishing debut album, 1st Born Second (via Amazon)?
Word has it that Bilal is in the studio getting the game together for a new release; New Yorkers can catch a concert, June 23rd at S.O.B.'s or, better yet, free at Prospect Park on July 1st; he's really something special live.
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Prince's originals for both of these tracks are available on the amazing B-Sides compilation disc in the three album collection The Hits and the B Sides. The B-Sides are NOT available as a single disc, so you may have to pony up (via Amazon) for the whole sh'bang? It looks nice on your shelf.
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Longtime Hut fans will recall that I posted a week of Prince rarities over a year ago, with dozens of links and thousands of words about the man. Go back and see how I used to post back before I had to work for a living:
read and recognize purple obsession.
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Read D'Angelo's famously outdated official site.
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The video and audio on Bilal's official page is missing; you can listen, read and watch Bilal Oliver music at his label's site.
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Monday, June 13, 2005
There's nothing new under the sun.
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glisten: skimming the surface noise
The Basin Street Boys - "Come, John, Come"
Ernie Cook - "Shut Your Big Fat Mouth"
What with a healthy dose of 'offensive' songs taking over the charts (Ludacris' 'Pimpin All Over the World', Ying Yang Twins' 'Wait'), the predictable backlash against how crass and shocking today's music is right on the horizon. Let's head that off at the pass: songs about dicks and bitches certainly predate the current vogue in hip hop for the shocking. Today's Hut highlights two particularly rough cuts from back in th' day. To the best of my knowledge, neither of these tracks have ever been officially released as digital media.
The Basin Street Boys are tangentially related to Five Jones Boys; members of each would work with one another in various combinations throughout the thirties and forties. 'Come, John, Come', released in 1934 on the Racy label, is another human orchestra show-stopper, with a hot faux-trumpet break right in the middle. Though this track has some of the hallmarks of traditional spiritual singing, the theme is something less than ecclesiastical; "Gone are the days when my John was full of fire / Gone are the days when my John would never tire / Gone are the days when the girls would ask for some / You'd hear those gentle voices callling, 'Come, John, come'," means exactly what it sounds like. Aside from Prince's 'Tick, Tick, Bang', you'd be hard pressed to find a catchier song about ejaculation disfunction.
Listen to several more tracks by the Basin Street Boys, courtesy of the Vocal Group Harmony Site.
Further proving that it's less the words you use and more the intention behind them, "Shut Your Big Fat Mouth" is one of the crudest and angriest songs I've ever heard, yet it could easily pass FCC approval. This country ho-down features some of the most bizarre bluegrass you'll ever hear; "You're a poor example of a woman down South" is the strangest and most violent insult I've heard this year; I expect to see this trope crop up on a G-Unit track pronto.
How to shut your big fat mouth permanently.
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bonus glisten
The Beets - "Killer Tofu"
I've been saving this song for a special occasion when it suddenly struck me that there's no time like the present for a nice present.
The Beets hail from the cartoon 'Doug', a regular fixture on Nickelodeon and later bought out by Disney. Doug Funnie, the show's lead character, was a mellow everyman eleven year old dealing with the hassles of school and life who, like all of us, sought refuge in music. Doug's favorite band was The Beets, an Estonian rock group that showed up occasionally on the program to perform one of their 'big hits'. In the fourth episode of 'Doug', The Beets cranked out the insanely catchy 'Killer Tofu', my favorite from this imaginary supergroup. I defy you to play it just once; it'll be stuck in your head for the rest of the day.
Search for The Beets entry in the priceless Rocklopedia Fakebandica.
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Read more about the Nick/ABC cartoon, Doug.
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Listen to 'I Need More Allowance' and 'Shout Your Lungs Out' on (god help us) The Beets MySpace page.
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Mix up a beet and tofu salad.
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spiffy
A brief glance eastward will confirm that; yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus: I've uncovered well over a hundred new audioblogs to add to the massive list. They rest heavy on the sidebar at the moment, but expect to see greater detail on those puppies shortly. For now, explore at your own risk.
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Monster Magazine Covers
Clearly a work still in progress, but what's there already is priceless.
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Mother's Milk Saves Vet Set Ablaze on Bus'
"Abrams, who lost his left leg in Vietnam, said he was minding his own business as he rode the city bus to the Staten Island Mall to buy a video of "The Exorcist.""
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Massive French marionettes
Just in case you missed it the first time around; you MUST watch the videos.
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Daniel Pinkwater discusses 'being fat and fabulous'.
Pinkwater is one of my heroes; if you've somehow stumbled through your miserable life without any contact with this mega-genius, you may yet be saved. Go get the two-volume best-of sets (nine books for under twenty bucks!) and listen to his NPR commentary, stat; you WILL thank me.
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Though it's continuously 'out of stock', the DMC Xclef 500 is an intriguing alternate to the iPod: a no-software mp3/wav/wma/ogg portable music player with an FM radio, built-in mic and 80 gigs of drive space for under $350.
Anybody test drive one of these suckers?
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New UK pop singles reviewed by yours truly.
As I note at Stylus, Missy Elliot's 'Lose Control' is the best pop single I've heard all year and the video (up for viewing at her official site) is a joy as well. MUSIC MAKE ME LOSE CONTROL.
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Mommy, what's a weed carrier?
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Björk and Matthew Barney's long-augured collabo, 'Drawing Restraint 9' is about to jump off with some assistance from Akira Rabelais and Will Oldham; check out some clips from the soundtrack here.
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For all your web-searching needs, there's Google. For all your Doogie Howser needs, there's Doogle.
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Friday, June 10, 2005
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spiffy
OSHA'S Fatal Facts
Each of these seventy ("There is No Number 65"?) death on the job reports includes a complex description of the incidents surrounding the accident, the victims age and sex, the repercussions and, strangest of all, a small cartoon of what the death looked like.
Why and how such a cartoon would be commissioned is beyond me; I would like to go on record as requesting that no one cartoon my death by nailgun, thanks.
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"All the music on this page was composed, performed, produced, and recorded by the students of the Choir Academy charter school, grades 4-8, in Chicago."
Let's hear it for CA Sounds! There's just something about kids rapping that does it for me; the "baby remix" could probably chart and "unknown cookie" is crunk as fuck!
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Web Wunderkammer
A lovely visual collection of offbeat items, arranged randomly and open for contributions.
Only twelve, but what a twelve!
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Kim's Video Raided by NYPD/RIAA
They arrested five people whose only crime was working there.
Because what did a mixtape ever do for Fiddy? Er, wait...
This is depressing, though why anyone would be buying mixtapes at a brick and mortar establishment confuses the hell outta me... although, admittedly, this IS where I've gotten all my Diplo from.
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BREAKIT
As a kid, I played the hell outta Breakout on the old 2600; this is doing an awful good job of putting me back in front of the old wood console again.
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H, I. T, L, E, R... Thought we'd never make it but here we are.
"Now the SS on my jacket stands for "Super Smooth".
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Bitchin' Lil' Girls singin' Korean Karaoke (autoload movie, SFW but LOUD)
The one on the right is my new hero.
via Mystuntedgrowth
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I somehow got tapped to contribute to a Salon piece on Live 8; I'm more proud of my company than my writing, but there you are.
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MIDNIGHT UKELELE DISCO
Loads of great string videos!
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Abba in Spanish
via Frank's Vinyl Museum
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I'll check back in as soon as I can with some tunage!
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spiffy
OSHA'S Fatal Facts
Each of these seventy ("There is No Number 65"?) death on the job reports includes a complex description of the incidents surrounding the accident, the victims age and sex, the repercussions and, strangest of all, a small cartoon of what the death looked like.
Why and how such a cartoon would be commissioned is beyond me; I would like to go on record as requesting that no one cartoon my death by nailgun, thanks.
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"All the music on this page was composed, performed, produced, and recorded by the students of the Choir Academy charter school, grades 4-8, in Chicago."
Let's hear it for CA Sounds! There's just something about kids rapping that does it for me; the "baby remix" could probably chart and "unknown cookie" is crunk as fuck!
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Web Wunderkammer
A lovely visual collection of offbeat items, arranged randomly and open for contributions.
Only twelve, but what a twelve!
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Kim's Video Raided by NYPD/RIAA
They arrested five people whose only crime was working there.
Because what did a mixtape ever do for Fiddy? Er, wait...
This is depressing, though why anyone would be buying mixtapes at a brick and mortar establishment confuses the hell outta me... although, admittedly, this IS where I've gotten all my Diplo from.
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BREAKIT
As a kid, I played the hell outta Breakout on the old 2600; this is doing an awful good job of putting me back in front of the old wood console again.
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H, I. T, L, E, R... Thought we'd never make it but here we are.
"Now the SS on my jacket stands for "Super Smooth".
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Bitchin' Lil' Girls singin' Korean Karaoke (autoload movie, SFW but LOUD)
The one on the right is my new hero.
via Mystuntedgrowth
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I somehow got tapped to contribute to a Salon piece on Live 8; I'm more proud of my company than my writing, but there you are.
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MIDNIGHT UKELELE DISCO
Loads of great string videos!
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Abba in Spanish
via Frank's Vinyl Museum
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I'll check back in as soon as I can with some tunage!
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Labels: clicky
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
pic courtesy Marv Goldberg's R+B Notebooks
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glisten: skimming the surface noise
The Five Jones Boys - My Gal Mezzanine
The Five Jones Boys - "Don't Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch"
The Five Jones Boys are best remembered as the performers of the legendary "Mr. Ghost Goes to Town," a Dr. Demento Halloween favorite that's been covered dozens of times since its original release in '37. The Boys were a group of Illinois singers that came to Los Angeles and managed to parlay their talent into stardom, performing in a few films as background color and musical guests. In addition to their movie work, The Five Jones Boys released a handful of extremely difficult to find sides and radio transcripts before they broke up and reformed as new vocal groups with different lineups.
The two songs posted here appeared on a single disc, released by Variety Records and have not, to the best of my knowledge, been released as digital media. The first of these tracks, 'My Gal Mezzanine' is a straight cover of the song by female jazz vocalist Cleo Brown; Cab Calloway would popularize 'Mezzanine' in 1937. The title for "Don't Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch" hails from the adulterated Aesop fable The Milkmaid and Her Pail; I couldn't say where this lovely arrangement hails from, tho'.
The real draw on this music is the beautiful sound of the human orchestra, a technique popularized some years prior to the Jones Boys by The Mills Brothers. Human orchestra was, once upon a time, the performance of the human voice to emulate strings and horns; you'll find beautiful proof of this on 'Mezzanine', where five voices meet to make an upright bass, muted trumpets and trombones. The performance of human orchestra material has somehow altered over the years to specialize in percussion, which is to say it finds a cousin in beatboxing.
For more information on the story of the Five Jones Boys, read this winding history of the ups and downs of the members of the Five Jones Boys as they become the Red Caps.
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Listen to these two selections by the 'Jones Boys Sing Band', a group that included the whole of the Five Jones Boys with a vocal band called the Four Blackbirds.
'Sleepy Time in Hawaii' is an interesting curiosity for its dense and beautiful human orchestration, but 'Pickin' a Rib' is one of my all-time favorites. The live version of the track posted at the Group Harmony site is one that I'm unfamilar with, but it's awful smokin'!
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Read the lyrics to versions of "My Gal Mezzanine" by Brown (which the Jones Boys take emulates pretty precisely) and by Calloway.
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Watch this performance by Kenny "The Human Orchestra" Muhammad, beatboxing with the New York Philharmonic.
Oldie but a goodie. I used to leave this on in the background while I surfed for HOURS; watching him emote with the mic like an opera tenor is a serious trip.
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RIP: Oscar Brown, Jr.
Oscar Brown, Jr. - "One for My Baby (And One More for the Road)"
I've been remiss in marking the passage of one of my favorite artists, the irascible, multifaceted and brilliant Oscar Brown, Jr.
Having already written extensively on the man in the recent past (click here to read), I'll simply strongly recommend that you find yourself a copy of Sin and Soul to introduce yourself to the man's best work.
The track I'm dropping here isn't Oscar's finest material, but there's something sweetly mournful about it that fits the occasion. God speed, Oscar; we should've done better by you.
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spiffy
O'SEXXXY!
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Don't believe in UFOs? Don't tell Prophet Yahweh. He'll get all Area 54 on yo' ass.
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If you're looking for a perfect card for a person who appreciates perfect cards, consider picking up a one-of-a-kind vintage photograph at Snapatorium. Makes a nice crown for a present, I can tell ya.
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More UK singles reviews by yours truly over at Stylus.
Spoiler: I like Saint Etienne and M83, not so much Audioslave and Jamiroquai.
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NOT our sponsor.
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If you want to tell the world about your love for Leslie Feist, but you don't feel like writing a 2,100 word essay, perhaps you should consider the Feist digital e-card? Plays a handful of songs of the album and tells them about her tour dates.
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I'd love it if somebody could give me the gist of this Italian audioblog essay.
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Here's three words I've been longing to say: GABBA IS BACK!
Now with a funky points based commentary system that allows YOU THE READER to contribute tracks after you've listened to enough songs. Truly innovative, exciting and GABBA!
I'm so happy to have this back; Gabba was an early formative influence and remains one of my favorite sites to find new tunes.
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The sheer breadth and depth of Kiddie Matinee floors me; check out this in-depth look at The Ghost and Mr. Chicken!
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The two greatest animated pictures ever.
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Thursday, June 02, 2005
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glisten
Joe Pullum - "Black Gal, What Makes Your Head So Hard?"
Clifton Chenier - "Blues De Ma Negresse"
Joe Pullum is a good example of an artist that the world left behind; in the early thirties; Joe released some thirty songs in a two year period, including the cut I've posted today, but beyond the apocryphal, surprisingly little is known about his life and only one photo of the man survives. Pullam was born in Houston, Texas; where he recorded "Black Gal" in 1934; Pullum (likely in his late twenties) does the vocals and the equally acclaimed and shadowy Rob Cooper is on piano.
"Black Gal, What Makes Your Head So Hard" sure does SOUND like a standard, but it is apparently a Pullum original; famed blues musician Victoria Spivey claims to have been present in 1925 when Pullum put pen to paper on the track. It was a certified hit when it was released, spurring covers by dozens of artists, including Leroy Carr, Josh White and Lightnin' Hopkins. Over the years, Pullum himself would rerecord different versions of the track three times; but nothing beats this offbeat Zydeco cover of "Black Gal" (in French!) by accordian master Clifton Chenier.
Chenier really deserves a separate post (and will likely get one at a later time), but for the moment, suffice it to say that Clifton was a singular and important character in the legitimization and popularization of Zydeco music internationally. Plus he plays a mean squeezebox.
Buy "When the Sun Goes Down: That's Chicago's South Side", the third disc in the tremendous anthology series, from Amazon OR buy "The Complete Joe Pullum, Volume 1" direct from Document Records.
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Buy Clifton Chenier's excellent "Zydeco Sont Pas Salé" direct from Arhoolie Records for only TEN BUCKS! Peep the value!
If you're not completely sold yet, the Arhoolie page offers clips of all the tracks on the album in Real format.
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Read this brief bio of Chenier and this fan page.
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Explore this Cajun Zydeco fansite.
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Transformer, what makes your head so hard?
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spiffy
Speaking of Houston artists, I couldn't have been more happy seeing Devin the Dude's first NYC appearance last night at Rothko. The man is a fantastically magnetic stage performer who traffics more in the tradition of toasting than rapping. Yeah, his flow is amazing and his interstitial beatboxing is flawless; but you get the sense that he's happiest just telling a story.
Devin is the cat who gets off the couch once everybody is good and baked and does routines to crack y'all the fuck up. His material is unfailingly positive minded, if a tetch filthy; I'd suggest that the next album be titled "Weed, Pussy and Problems," as that's really all that Devin talks about. He's also ridiculously intelligent and a bit of a music geek; in between 'Boo Booin,' 'Sticky Green,' and 'Mo Fa Me,' he freaked out the crowd by going into a straight cover of James Taylor's 'Handyman'!
In a genre filled with cats trying to be hard, Devin's got the balls to just be another guy and let his talent speak for itself. He's one of my faves and I continue to hope that he breaks through to a bigger audience. Lord knows he has the respect of the hip hop community: Dr. Dre, UGK and David Banner are all fans and collaborators; Nas and Kelis showed up at the gig. Considering the number of white college age kids at the show (a likely sign of crossover success at ANY show), maybe that dream of blowing up will come true? Stay tuned...
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Ladies and Gentlemen. There are a lot of perpetrators. But only one originator.
I have never in my life felt the need to use the phrase "No homo," but if I did, now would be that time.
More of the same, if you dig it.
Also, somewhat related: "Were You Raised by Wolves? Or Perhaps Weight Lifters?"
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Alan Moore is distancing himself from the new V for Vendetta movie; I reread the book this week and can't imagine how you'd make a coherent contemporary movie script out of this.
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Even if you don't have the action figures, you can fight lightsaber battles with the toys online.
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File under things I didn't know I needed to see that I now cannot live without: Chun Li and Ryu salsa dancing.
Hadoken, indeed.
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Could someone please explain the idea behind putting an electric fence on a boat?
Luckily, "It is Non-Lethal, so no one can die from it!"
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A short movie about creating a simple juggling robot.
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R. Kelly's five part 'Trapped in the Closet' story/song is among the most amazing things I've heard this year; the audio(!) for chapters one and two and video(!!!) for chapter one are available at his official site.
If you've somehow missed it prior, RUN there NOW. Yes, it's insane; it's also compulsively listenable.
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Can I make you a snack, perhaps a hardboiled ostrich egg covered in sausage?
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The Gamers Manifesto is already all over the web; it's "DUH!" material that most game companies clearly aren't paying attention to (stick around for the trailer after the ad). They'll keep giving us crap if we keep paying for it; be a good consumer and just buy good games, okay?
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BONUS ADD ON "JUST SHOWED UP IN MY MAILBOX AND CAN'T BELIEVE IT" WTFOMGLOLBBQ glisten
Bonecrusher - "The New Gilligan's Island Theme Song"
um. Holy shit.
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Wednesday, June 01, 2005
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glisten: ill mariachi
Ill Mariachi - The Masta Blusta
Ill Mariachi - "Nagoya, Queens"
Ill Mariachi with Shigechiyo and Kent - "Young Gunz"
Ill Mariachi - (Title Untranslated)
Ill Mariachi with Equal - "For Da Bad Boys and Ladies"
I found Ill Mariachi utterly by accident at a record show. The remarkable cover of the Masta Blusta convinced me to take a five buck chance and buy the album unheard; little did I realize that I was picking up a disc of Japanese underground hip hop. Imagine my surprise after a first listen as I began to realize that these muthas were DOPE; the beats are ol skool hotness and disjointed as hell and the emcee's lazy, swinging flow was strong and utterly unique. Nipponese or not, these guys have some street skills.
Ill Mariachi are MC Takona X and DJ Hazu out of Nagoya, Japan. Their sound is very old school and heavily reliant upon beats from New York's Juice Crew; as one fan points out, "early in the album, Tokona X says (in Japanese) that Hazu is Nagoya's Marley Marl!"
I've picked out five cuts from the fourteen track album to share with you: the titular "Masta Blusta" is (I think) VERY Def Jux; "Nagoya, Queens" bites directly into MC Shan's "Bridge"; the outstanding cut "Young Gunz" offers hotness from Dj Hazu and some great mic clashes with Takona X and friends; the Untitled cut features Takona at his tightest and the closer "For Da Bad Boys and Ladies" showcases an evergreen sample ("Daisy Lady") and some great, semi-absurd Engrish boasting and toasting.
IM are difficult to properly research online; most of the net material on the band is in Japanese and the '97 Masta Blusta album has definitely passed out of print and was never available in America to begin with (hence my willingness to post so many tracks), however:
Here's a discography of Ill Mariachi's work and here is DJ Hazu's homepage where you can sample a number of other (and more recent) Ill cuts.
Japanese readers are invited to submit any and all salient information on th' Mariachis; I loves em and would love to learn more!
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Labels: music