July 9th, 2008
Summer Jamz ‘08 #11: G’Z Up, Prose Down
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4NBDRWLQ
Each Summer Jam is proudly co-hosted with Screw Rock N’ Roll and What Was it Anyway.
- Parliament-“Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker)
- N.W.A.-“Alwayz Into Somethin’”
- Dr. Dre-“Nuthin’ But a G Thang”
- Above the Law ft. 2Pac & Money B-“Call It What U Want”
- The Dove Shack-“Summertime in the LBC”
- Domino-“Getto Jam”
- The Twinz-“Round N’ Round”
- Snoop Doggy Dogg-“Gin and Juice”
- 2Pac ft. Shock G & Money B-“I Get Around”
- Mista Grimm ft. Nate Dogg & Warren G-“Indo Smoke”
- Ice Cube ft. George Clinton-“Bop Gun”
- The Lady of Rage-“Afro Puffs”
- Sam Sneed ft. Dr. Dre-“U Better Recognize”
- The D.O.C.-“The D.O.C. and The Doctor”
- DJ Quik-“Jus Lyke Compton”
- W.C. and the Maad Circle-“The One”
- Tha Dogg Pound-“Let’s Play House”
- Kurupt ft. Nate Dogg-“Girls All Pause”
- Warren G ft. Nate Dogg & Snoop-“Game Don’t Wait”
- Warren G & Nate Dogg-“Regulate”
- Warren G & Nate Dogg-“Nobody Does It Better”
- Parliament-“P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up”
Radio raised me. Power 106 and 92.3, The Beat, filtering in fuzzy and faint from the battered and bruised transistor, blank cassette in at all times—just in case. “Gin and Juice” and Maxells as madelines and tea, inside my broom closet bedroom, tattered with tapes as trophies. The holy trinity: The Chronic. Regulate and Doggystyle; the latter, swiped from a shuttered Music Plus, purchased by me for a mere $7 from a kleptomaniac, entrepreneurial ex-friend. Last I heard, he’d moved to Northern Arizona to escape from drug dealers. In the process, he found God and eventually assumed a position in an evangelical Korean Ministry.
Contrasted with the cluttered condo clusterfuck of this last Bush year, that Los Angeles of 1992 seems almost unrecognizable. Back then, South Central, Compton and the land south of the Ten still smoldered, a burn-out husk from the Rodney King riots that had erupted a few moths prior, as though to prove Ice Cube’s point. The city had an almost martial tone to it, there were unspoken boundaries you didn’t cross and “the club” on every steering wheel. Crips, Bloods and Bullets waged internecine warfare* so the shrill sirens of Fox 11 News at 10 told us. Hell, even in the rich parts of town, neurotic school administrators banned Raiders and Kings garb for being gang affiliated, though the closest their students had come to ‘banging’ was the Whack-A-Mole at Chuck E. Cheese.
So maybe Mike Davis was right. Maybe Los Angeles was a city of quartz. But if so, it was about to turn platinum. Thing is, everything changed when The Chronic dropped. The Dre of N.W.A. that “didn’t smoke weed or cess,” was dead, his politics largely muted. Instead, he’d found the good drugs, a stack of Parliament samples and a lanky, ex-Long Beach Crip with a flow ostensibly ordained by God to soundtrack hot and hazy Sunday BBQ’s. The combination was unstoppable and by the time Snoop’s debut dropped the next fall, G-Funk had everyone on lock, from Baldwin Hills to Bel Air, from Compton to Calabasas. You want proof that Jayceon Taylor is full of shit? Because of no self-respecting Angeleno would’ve ever bragged about shop-lifting The Chronic in ’95. What was dude listening to before that? P.M. Dawn? Snap? Jesus Jones?
The story’s rote by now. The big money boom. Suge Knight, the mad villain, burning blunts and Cohibas, glowering at the world from a plush aerie inside a pitch black Wilshire Blvd. skyscraper, the same one shared by Larry Flynt and Hustler, on the corner of Beverly Hills’ restaurant row. Dre turned hip-hop’s Howard Hughes, hibernating deep in the West Valley, obsessed with the unattainable notion of perfection and whether Winstrol could make his biceps as big as his ego. Snoop became more brand than rapper. Warren G got busted for taking Nate Dogg’s advice to be “high like every day.” And as for poor Nathan Hale, that perpetually underrated R&B master, he was somehow felled by a stroke before the age of 40. God knows what happened to Sam Sneed? Drugs. Jail. The PGA Tour?
But for a few short years there, say that stretch from The Riots until 2Pac got shot, G-Funk owned the sound of our summers. Pure California ride music to cannon out of every car stereo, soundtrack every party, the ideal accessory to cheap weed, smuggled liquor and the baking black asphalt. I don’t know what kids listen to today. Weezy? Jeezy? The Game’s compelling but hollow nostalgia? We had it good. After all, who better to make sun-scorched jams than the kids from the real land of the endless summer? Like Nate Dogg and Warren G said, “Nobody Does It Better.”
Posted in Summer Jamz, Best Of | 18 Comments »
July 8th, 2008
Per Idolator. I apologize for the inaction around these parts. Things will get back to normal soon. In the meantime, if you’re bored write your own lists in the comments. The Wikipedia album list and Robert Christgau’s website should help you in the quest. And if you’re looking for any meaning from this post, it’s quite clear. I really really like the Smiths and Dunkin’ Donuts coffee.
1981-David Byrne/Brian Eno-My Life in the Bush Of Ghosts
1982-Michael Jackson-Thriller
1983-Talking Heads-Speaking in Tongues
1984-The Smiths-The Smiths
1985-The Smiths-Meat is Murder
1986-The Smiths-The Queen is Dead
1987-Eric B & Rakim-Paid in Full
1988-Slick Rick-The Great Adventures of Slick Rick
1989-The Beastie Boys-Paul’s Boutique
1990-Digital Underground-Sex Packets
1991-A Tribe Called Quest-Low End Theory
1992-Dr. Dre-The Chronic
1993-Wu-Tang-Enter the 36 Chambers
1994-Notorious BIG-Ready to Die
1995-Genius/Gza-Liquid Swords
1996-Outkast-Atliens
1997-Notorious BiG-Life After Death
1998-Outkast-Aquemini
1999-Sigur Ros-Ágætis byrjun
2000-Ghostface Killah-Supreme Clientele
2001-Aesop Rock-Labor Days
2002-Wilco-Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
2003-The White Stripes-Elephant
2004-Arcade Fire-Funeral
2005-Three Way Tie (Dungen-Ta Det Lungt/The Hold Steady-Separation Sunday/My Morning Jacket-Z)
2006-Sunset Rubdown-Shut Up I Am Dreaming
2007-El-P I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead
Posted in Are You From the Lester Bangs School of Thought? | 14 Comments »
July 8th, 2008
Summer Jamz ‘08 #10: What Is
http://www.sendspace.com/file/ucf276
Each Summer Jam is proudly co-hosted with Screw Rock N Roll and What Was it Anyway.
01. Baka Pygmies - Hut Song
02. Disco Inferno - It’s a Kid’s World
03. Lord Melody - Carnival Proclamation
04. Junior Murvin - Roots Train
05. The Who - Mary Anne With the Shaky Hand
06. Tabu Ley Rochereau - Aon Aon
07. Johnny Osbourne - Murderer (Heavenless Riddim)
08. Mouse on Mars - Catching Butterflies With Hands
09. Allen Toussaint - Southern Nights
10. Bennie Maupin - Past is Past
11. Animal Collective - Street Flash
12.Wally Badarou - Voices
13.Kate & Anna McGarrigle - Heartbeats Accelerating
14.Kid Creole - Off the Coast of Me
15. Junior Byles - Cutting Razor
16. Prince Far I - Jamaican Heroes
17. Jackie Mittoo - Ayatollah
My primary concern with the summer jam is the winter jam. By which I mean only the exceptionally stupid and antisocial have a hard time celebrating summer. Daylight lasts longer in summer; summer is also hotter. People traffic public walkways in greater numbers. They wear less and drink more. From subway cars of commuters arises a syncopation of grunts and pants; Rorschach blots of sweat form over butterfly tattoos and the lip of leather belts. It is gross and rather beautiful, mostly because we all suffer.
And yet the summer mix—full of hot tunes advocating general irresponsibility—is basically a sham: You will have a few opportunities to press your moistness against that of another, perhaps in a pool house or a deserted side-street, but most likely you will spend the summer at work. Your victories outside it—day trips, solitary nights outdoors—will come as spiritual coups buried amongst long afternoons of daydreaming in temperature-regulated rooms.
So I guess I was appealing to the idea of summer, if not summer itself. Which, for me, turns out to mean pigmy chanting (1), Congolese pop (6, 17); reggae (4, 7, 15, 18) played by unshakably melancholic (16) white women accompanied by Celtic fiddle (13). And some other stuff, I suppose.
But when I look this all over, I realize that I have no winter jamz—I have only jamz. Summer is a synonym for liberation, an association held over from a time when the season actually meant we didn’t have anything to do (unless your parents were farmers; if that’s the case, and you worked the farm, I find that pretty admirable, for the record). This is the same music I listen to in the winter, it’s just that now I forgo long johns and scotch for wit’s-end concoctions of Smirnoff and sweetened lime juice (which I just choked on in a kind of alarming manner). Hold your head high: summer is a feeling; summer’s what you make it—if you don’t have it now, you can always have it in December.
***
More summer:
Summer Jamz ‘08 #9: Compiled by Nate DeYoung & Todd Hutlock
“If we have a theme for this mix, it would be ‘nothing from the new milennium.’ Well, for Hutlock’s portion of the mix…”
Summer Jamz ‘08 #8: Privately Owned by Theon Weber
“I’m typing this from a studio apartment in Portland, Oregon, at the tail end of a hazy First of July…”
Summer Jamz ‘08 #7: Daydreamin’ by Andrew Gaerig and John M. Cunningham
“For this mix we focused on the theme of “daydreams.” Pour yourself a drink that requires an umbrella, kick off your flip-flops, and take a listen.”
Summer Jamz ‘08 #6: It’s Not the Heat by Jeff Siegel and Kevin J. Elliott
“This mix is a reflection of soupy, unrelenting humidity. A heat mirage. A little dancing, but not too much, because we must lie down and rehydrate.”
Summer Jamz ‘08 #5: Compiled by Jayson Greene and Stewart Voegtlin
“Oh, geezus. Didn’t we all wanna give up the goose when the sweat ceased to dribble and ran?”
Summer Jamz ‘08 #4: Compiled by Paul Scott and Ian Mathers
For their summer mix, Paul and Ian decided to have a conversation, or maybe an argument, thanks to one inarguable fact: Ian hates summer.
Summer Jamz ‘08 #3: Dear Summer… by Jonathan Bradley
“My mix is for the times everything is still and quiet and perfect … I haven’t included any yacht rock or Eagles tunes, but that’s all I can guarantee.”
Summer Jamz ‘08 #2: State of the Union, Jack by Mike Orme and Nick Southall
“Two former Stylus Magazine compatriots … celebrate the summer by splitting halves of a mix CD, each trying to fill their side with songs the other writer would put on a summer mix.”
Summer Jamz ‘08 #1: Compiled by Alfred Soto and Dan Weiss
“In the context of summer, vastness suggests the abrogation of responsibility: school and relationships, mostly…”
Posted in Summer Jamz | 4 Comments »
July 7th, 2008
Banner swiped from Adventures in Sonic Fiction
Summer Jamz ‘08 #9: Nate DeYoung & Todd Hutlock
http://www.sendspace.com/file/58zmwc
Each Summer Jam is proudly co-hosted with Screw Rock N Roll and What Was it Anyway.
Tracklisting:
1. Bandulu - Phase In Version
2. Delta Funktionen - Nebula
3. Two Lone Swordsmen - Turn the Filter Off
4. The Mole - Hey Girl (I Feel So Good)
5. Stephen Beaupre - Fish Fry
6. Sweet Exorcist - Clonk (Freebass)
7. Matthew Styles - We Said Nothing
8. Ernesto Ferreyra - The Last Shooter
9. Robert Hood - Master Builder
10. Slowhouse - Unknown Track 3
11. Teste - The Wipe (5 AM Synaptic)
If we have a theme for this mix, it would be ‘nothing from the new milennium.’ Well, for Hutlock’s portion of the mix - he went so far as trying to convince me that ‘everything old is new again.’ And if that’s not a plea for a way out of a mid-life crisis, I don’t know what it is.
Old jokes aside, Hut gave me some nice surprises - “Phase in Version” is a little wonky Basic Channel rush. Todd crushes hard on this track - it probably doesn’t hurt that it was released on a Creation sub-label - and I can finally say I totally agree with him. Same goes for Sweet Exorcist. But those of us with Warp fixations already knew that. Maybe my favorite of Hut’s choices is Teste’s send-off of “The Wipe.” It’s pretty bleak for a summer jam, but the bassline nuzzles in just right.
If everything old is new again, then there’s only one constant in my selections and that’s keeping it as ephemeral as possible. Tracks like Matthew Styles’ “We Said Nothing” might be a nice little trick - detuned drums and an insistent analog synth screwdriving - but I don’t care how it ages. It’s perfect for right now. Same goes for the overwhelm-o-disco of Mole’s “Hey Girl (I Feel So Good).” But Stephen Beupre has spent the longest time as my instant-fix, from the spring deep into the summer. “Fish Fry” is nothing but modest - a slow accumulation of atmosphere, held down by just the vibrato of a meandering melody.
Ableton didn’t play nice so this “mix” is unmixed. It’s a paint-by-numbers, if you will, so make your own.
–Nate DeYoung
***
More summer:
Summer Jamz ‘08 #8: Privately Owned by Theon Weber
“I’m typing this from a studio apartment in Portland, Oregon, at the tail end of a hazy First of July…”
Summer Jamz ‘08 #7: Daydreamin’ by Andrew Gaerig and John M. Cunningham
“For this mix we focused on the theme of “daydreams.” Pour yourself a drink that requires an umbrella, kick off your flip-flops, and take a listen.”
Summer Jamz ‘08 #6: It’s Not the Heat by Jeff Siegel and Kevin J. Elliott
“This mix is a reflection of soupy, unrelenting humidity. A heat mirage. A little dancing, but not too much, because we must lie down and rehydrate.”
Summer Jamz ‘08 #5: Compiled by Jayson Greene and Stewart Voegtlin
“Oh, geezus. Didn’t we all wanna give up the goose when the sweat ceased to dribble and ran?”
Summer Jamz ‘08 #4: Compiled by Paul Scott and Ian Mathers
For their summer mix, Paul and Ian decided to have a conversation, or maybe an argument, thanks to one inarguable fact: Ian hates summer.
Summer Jamz ‘08 #3: Dear Summer… by Jonathan Bradley
“My mix is for the times everything is still and quiet and perfect … I haven’t included any yacht rock or Eagles tunes, but that’s all I can guarantee.”
Summer Jamz ‘08 #2: State of the Union, Jack by Mike Orme and Nick Southall
“Two former Stylus Magazine compatriots … celebrate the summer by splitting halves of a mix CD, each trying to fill their side with songs the other writer would put on a summer mix.”
Summer Jamz ‘08 #1: Compiled by Alfred Soto and Dan Weiss
“In the context of summer, vastness suggests the abrogation of responsibility: school and relationships, mostly…”
Posted in Summer Jamz | 1 Comment »
July 3rd, 2008
Summer Jamz ‘08 #8: Privately Owned
http://www.sendspace.com/file/tll7no
In high school, a little deranged, I called what most people call mix CDs “Grand Anthologies”, and gave each one an oblique title and liner notes written as if I had an audience of millions (if a particular Grand Anthology didn’t soundtrack my walk to school as well as I’d hoped, I’d refer in the notes for the next one to “disappointing sales”). The last Grand Anthology came out in 2004 - my senior year. It was called “Grand Anthology: The Last One”, so with this new one - which by the way is called “Privately Owned” - I join the ranks of Jay-Z, Michael Jordan, and Dick Nixon. Understand that I have since 2004 become clearer, neater, except when it comes to Grand Anthology liner notes. Because the liner notes for “Privately Owned” were written in a hurry, and I’m not sure they make sense. The album’s about summer. Just keep that in mind.
Each Summer Jam is proudly co-hosted with Screw Rock N’ Roll and What Was it Anyway.
01 T H E W R E N S. surprise, honeycomb.
02 G H O S T F A C E K I L L A H. walk around.
03 T H E K I N K S. top of the pops.
04 O U T K A S T. gasoline dreams.
05 U 2. zooropa.
06 B L U R. on your own.
07 B I K I N I K I L L. i like fucking.
08 W H Y ?. fatalist palmistry.
09 T H E R U N A W A Y S. queens of noise.
10 O K K E R V I L R I V E R. plus ones.
11 T H E R O L L I N G S T O N E S. ventilator blues.
12 E M I N E M. my fault.
13 T R A V E L I N G W I L B U R Y S. margarita.
14 D A V I D B Y R N E. miss america.
15 R A D I O H E A D. palo alto.
16 F U N K A D E L I C. can you get to that.
17 T H E V E R O N I C A S. untouched.
18 Y E A H Y E A H Y E A H S. dudley.
19 T H E D A N D Y W A R H O L S. big indian.
20 L I L ‘ W A Y N E. sky’s the limit (ride 4 my niggaz)
SURPRISE, HONEYCOMB (1). I’m typing this from a studio apartment in Portland, Oregon, at the tail end of a hazy First of July, and what this song is about - besides picking up an old crush as accompanist for a murder spree - is summer restlessness, the desire to get something done, even if it isn’t constructive, and the (secondary) desire to get someone to do it with. But itches lead to impulses, and impulses don’t always pan out. Witness WALK AROUND (2), in which Ghostface, always the world’s tensest gangsta, shoots someone without quite meaning to, can’t get over it, and by the end is pacing back and forth, waving off suggestions and requests to chill, insisting he isn’t going crazy, and finally going back outside because “I can’t take this shit no more; it’s too hot”. Which it is.
Then again, sometimes things work out, transient or not; TOP OF THE POPS (3) chronicles the first half of what Ray Davies’ dry crankiness makes clear will end badly, but that’s what happens in summer: three months of cresting thrills and then it’s September. This song doesn’t end in September, though - it ends in, oh, early July, time to break out the hamburgers and camping permits and GASOLINE DREAMS (4), a flag-burning so severe (and festive!) we need ZOOROPA (5) to come down from it. Zooropa is all about being in Europe and looking at advertisements from behind sunglasses, which makes them look cool (polarization), and it’s probably best to keep the sunglasses on what with the light and the heat and the haze and ON YOUR OWN (6), which might make some kind of lyrical sense beyond Damon Albarn’s vague state-of-the-States, um, “tapestry” (Ross Perot is mentioned, and California, and the chorus - “my joy of life is on a roll” - appears to have been translated from something) but which doesn’t need to because vague tapestries are precisely the sort of thing to which we’re itching to pledge allegiance.
So: we’ve got a season and a country, now we need some ideology. It’s too hot to really work at this, so let’s go with I LIKE FUCKING (7), which along with “White Boy” and probably “New Radio” is the angry giggly capstone of Bikini Kill’s most attractive pyramid. The thing about this band is they were funny. Nobody remembers they were funny because we prefer it when feminists aren’t funny, but they were hilarious, contradicting and mocking and caricaturing themselves, slipping the real rightousness as much under the radar as they could considering they were called Bikini Kill and were always talking about rape. This song builds through two minutes of punchy polemic before concluding with BK’s most profound bit of sarcasm: I believe in the radical possibilities of pleasure, BABE - well I mean why wouldn’t you, but the answer to that’s all in the sneer, and the antidote for the sneer’s in the guitars. Drop from the heights of radical female pleasure to the depths of overarticulate male misery for FATALIST PALMISTRY (8), the song on this mix in which, though we talk a big game, a lot of us will be spending our summer: our ability to cope is directly proportional to how funny we can be about how screwed we are. This is a defense mechanism, but it’s a good one; it only falls to something like QUEENS OF NOISE (9), from the Runaways’ second album (1977), with guitars hissing from inside the postapocalyptic Haze the Stones pumped out of the fog machines at Altamont to shroud the Seventies. (I don’t think there were actually any fog machines at Altamont.) The Haze is what summer sounds like, always has been; not the Summer Of Love but whichever one Blue Oyster Cult meant. Everything inside it comes out diffused, flattened, hard to get close to. Summer lovers don’t cuddle like winter ones.
Let’s slow down for a second, then. PLUS ONES (10) is the same Haze scrubbed and mocked by some autumn asshole, remembering a garland of song titles and fiddling with them, and ah yes remember this song? that one? me too, pass the canapes while I don another sweater. It is impossible, in July, to imagine again being so sophisticated! Right now everything’s sweat and itches and barbarism, and let’s check back in with Ghostface who’s still trying to deal (geddit), and VENTILATOR BLUES (11), besides being from Exile On Main Street which understood the Haze better than any of the other albums caught in it, contains one of Mick Jagger’s wisest dumbest lines - “everybody needs some kind of ventilator” which doesn’t mean anyone’s going to get one, which is how you end up with messes like MY FAULT (12). Now this takes place in the spring, expressly, but only because “take” rhymes with “break” and “break” goes with “spring”; pretend for a second that “take” rhymes with “vacation” - which it almost could, really, and Eminem’s supposed to be a professional; why isn’t he on top of this - and it makes more sense, because stupid guys getting stupid girls to do stupid things at stupid parties is really a summer-vacation thing; spring break is when stupid guys get stupid girls to do stupid things on TV. So this girl’s taken all these mushrooms (which Em totally did mean to give her, and being so upfront about this in the first verse and such an equivocating coward about it in the chorus is why he’s funny) and she’s gonna die, and the thing is, you don’t stay at these parties, not unless whatever’s gone wrong really is your fault - you leave poor Marshall Mathers panicking in the corner over the maybecorpse of the girl he maybemeant to give mushrooms, and you’re back into the Haze, and the Traveling Wilburys, old navigators themselves of its slipstreams and dead spots, are playing MARGARITA (13), one of the oddest songs ever written. Fades in, rambles, fades out; Dylan’s probably freestyling; Tom Petty gets a closing line delivered so much like a joke it actually becomes one. “She wrote a long letter on a short piece of paper”. You’re home - the party’s over - and is it August already?
MISS AMERICA (14) is - well, pick your poison. A) the girl you’re chasing all three months; B) like those other America songs we played, but funnier, meaner; C) just that song where David Byrne says both “fuck” and “I’ll be your teenage fanclub”. Whichever you choose you can dance to it (you!) and as we coast nervously towards September sarcastic songs about girls who are also sociopolitical frameworks are the kinds of ironies we prefer with our iced teas. (”American Woman”, by the way, has the Haze, but I don’t like it as much.) Speaking of which here’s Radiohead, who never met a sociopolitical framework they didn’t want to stand next to making scary faces, sunning themselves in dystopian PALO ALTO (15), enjoying Orwell’s Indian summer. This is what the Haze sounded like in 1997. In 1971 it didn’t sound like Funkadelic because Funkadelic weren’t into haze (they more dug earth), which is why CAN YOU GET TO THAT (16) is here - as respite, and also because, remember, it’s the last week of August by now, and there’s barely any Haze any more, just weird chilly winds and a little bit of sighing less-than-green-ery, and someone’s making preparations for the coming separation, and are we about to hit the comedown? The last four tracks, the last four days.
UNTOUCHED (17), then - by a lover, by the accomplishments our serial killer dreamt of back on track one, by Miss America, but not by those Goddamn strings which really aren’t going to leave you alone, or the grasping useless wistfulness you and the Veronicas can’t shake. You’ve got wet eyes now, letting go of things, and so does my favorite active band, whose DUDLEY (18) is a nursery rhyme about loss, hot cold season gonna sink in my sweat, God I wish it was still as hot as it used to be, that the days were as long. There’s barely enough sunlight now for platitudes and summations. BIG INDIAN (19) has both - Polonial hand-me-downs from figurative fathers, end-of-song triumphalism, and OH we just hit September. It’s not summer anymore. So feel free to pretend this last song doesn’t exist. But you’re going to need it, like nuts, for the winter. You’re going to need its braggadocio - so absurd it’s noble - and its sense of apocalypse tastefully quieter than its sense of self-importance. You’re going to need to remember, like it says on laminated flyers in elementary school lunchrooms - they can’t print this stuff if it’s not true - SKY’S THE LIMIT (20). While you’re here why don’t you boast along with Lil’ Wayne - birds don’t fly without your permission. It isn’t true, of course. They’re flying south. Go ahead, let them. And hunker down.
***
More summer:
Summer Jamz ‘08 #7: Daydreamin’ by Andrew Gaerig and John M. Cunningham
“For this mix we focused on the theme of “daydreams.” Pour yourself a drink that requires an umbrella, kick off your flip-flops, and take a listen.”
Summer Jamz ‘08 #6: It’s Not the Heat by Jeff Siegel and Kevin J. Elliott
“This mix is a reflection of soupy, unrelenting humidity. A heat mirage. A little dancing, but not too much, because we must lie down and rehydrate.”
Summer Jamz ‘08 #5: Compiled by Jayson Greene and Stewart Voegtlin
“Oh, geezus. Didn’t we all wanna give up the goose when the sweat ceased to dribble and ran?”
Summer Jamz ‘08 #4: Compiled by Paul Scott and Ian Mathers
For their summer mix, Paul and Ian decided to have a conversation, or maybe an argument, thanks to one inarguable fact: Ian hates summer.
Summer Jamz ‘08 #3: Dear Summer… by Jonathan Bradley
“My mix is for the times everything is still and quiet and perfect … I haven’t included any yacht rock or Eagles tunes, but that’s all I can guarantee.”
Summer Jamz ‘08 #2: State of the Union, Jack by Mike Orme and Nick Southall
“Two former Stylus Magazine compatriots … celebrate the summer by splitting halves of a mix CD, each trying to fill their side with songs the other writer would put on a summer mix.”
Summer Jamz ‘08 #1: Compiled by Alfred Soto and Dan Weiss
“In the context of summer, vastness suggests the abrogation of responsibility: school and relationships, mostly…”
Labels: Summer Jamz ‘08
Posted in Summer Jamz | 3 Comments »
July 1st, 2008
Summer Jamz ‘08 #7: Andrew Gaerig & John M. Cunningham
Summer Jamz ‘08 #7: Daydreamin’
http://www.sendspace.com/file/izx220
For this mix we focused on the theme of “daydreams,” the kind you have while gazing out the window on the last day of school or while absent-mindedly dipping your toes into wet sand on the beach. We went back and forth, each drawing inspiration from the other’s selections, which led to some nice surprises along the way. Pour yourself a drink that requires an umbrella, kick off your flip-flops, and take a listen.
Each Summer Jam is proudly co-hosted with Screw Rock N’ Roll and What Was it Anyway.
1. Allá, “Un Dia Otra Noche”
The Chicago-based psychedelic pop band Allá worked on their debut album Es Tiempo for six years (I heard some early mixes, courtesy of a mutual friend, way back in 2003) but chose just the right time to release it: the beginning of summer. On this, the opening track, the busy arrangement—anchored by a restless Swedish string section—threatens to swallow up the whole tune, but Lupe Martinez’s dreamy vocals keep it as light as a swiftly floating cloud. [John M. Cunningham]
2. Kid Creole and the Coconuts, “I’m a Wonderful Thing, Baby”
Strut. Buy new hat. Strut with new hat. Wonder aloud if that too expensive “Africa ‘76″ t-shirt from the too expensive t-shirt shop is 1. too expensive and/or 2. unacceptable on a white boy. But what if the hat matches the t? Ponder. [Andrew Gaerig]
3. Shuggie Otis, “Aht Uh Mi Hed”
Like Stevie Wonder, Shuggie Otis was a 1970s soul-music polymath, playing every last instrument on Inspiration Information. I particularly like his use of a primitive drum machine, though, which lends yearning songs like this an intimate homemade feel. [JC]
4. Serge Gainsbourg, “Daisy Temple”
What happens when a narcissistic French crotch-scratcher rings Sly & Robbie and they take him exactly as serious as he needs to be taken, composing rhythms out of those whirl-around party favors and … bass guitar. The latter of which is pretty standard, granted. I hope these backup singers are well-compensated. [AG]
5. Calle 13, “La Jirafa”
Calle 13 is nominally a reggaetón duo, but this 2006 single, with its lush strings, conversational flow, and romantically surreal lyrics (one is translated as “I want to wrap you in a tortilla”), is miles away from the gruff shouts of someone like Daddy Yankee. As the video makes clear, it’s also perfect for lying in the grass and conjuring up some sun-fueled fantasies. [JC]
6. Rancid, “Hoover Street”
I once suggested to my high school girlfriend that Rancid’s “Old Friend” should be “our song,” which was shot down about as fast as mom used to shoot down “chocolate cake” as “our breakfast.” “Hoover Street” ain’t that song, but it has always elicited my most churlish Tim Armstrong mumble-alongs. [AG]
7. Stephen Malkmus, “Dynamic Calories”
This breezy miniature (from the Pig Lib bonus EP) finds Malkmus asking us to imagine ourselves in an ‘80s underground rock band that never quite made it, a whimsical conceit that nonetheless retains a measure of wistfulness. [JC]
8. Ugly Casanova, “Things I Don’t Remember”
Funny how attaching a good hook makes absurdum palatable. Like if Billy B. had a little more Alex Chilton in him I might’ve made it more than 30 pages through Naked Lunch. Either way, best use of “alligator” in a song since Anthem of the Sun. [AG]
9. Pinback, “Concrete Seconds”
I’m kind of a sucker for precise, crystalline indie pop (there’s a playlist on my iTunes called Clean Guitar), and Pinback does it better than pretty much anybody (though the Sea and Cake are also right up there). Once they’ve locked in to a groove, the effect becomes almost trance-like. [JC]
10. Phoenix, “Lost & Found”
Listen for the shrugging “hmph” before “You don’t know what you’re doing” and the first chorus. For those days I wish I was younger, Frencher, and cockier and my friends were younger, Frencher, and fuller of shit. [AG]
11. The High Llamas, “Go to Montecito”
Sean O’Hagan catches a lot of flak for aping late-era Beach Boys, and recent High Llamas albums have proven that he sometimes has trouble crafting songs that transcend their retro details, but “Go to Montecito” frames its melancholic summer’s-end harmonies within a bossa nova that I find impossible to resist. [JC]
12. Gilberto Gil, “Mamma”
The opening syllabic nonsense might be the daydreamiest bars of music ever recorded, in a Highlights magazine kind of way. Then dude goes on about setting off and leaving mom behind, which, come to think of it, is exactly the sort of daydream you might have when you’re part of Highlights magazine’s target demographic. [AG]
13. The Avalanches, “Two Hearts in 3/4 Time (Edit)”
Rarely have I heard a voice more weightless than the anonymous one sampled here: the descending pattern of those la-la-las even suggests a lazily drifting feather or leaf. Completely inconsequential, and totally beautiful. [JC]
14. Low Motion Disco, “Things Are Gonna Get Easier”
One of those remixes where it sounds like your vinyl is skipping in a really cool way, a way that your vinyl never actually skips after you drop it on the ground. Saying we need more edits like this is akin to saying we need more summers. Well, of course. [AG]
***
More summer:
Summer Jamz ‘08 #6: It’s Not the Heat by Jeff Siegel and Kevin J. Elliott
“This mix is a reflection of soupy, unrelenting humidity. A heat mirage. A little dancing, but not too much, because we must lie down and rehydrate.”
Summer Jamz ‘08 #5: Compiled by Jayson Greene and Stewart Voegtlin
“Oh, geezus. Didn’t we all wanna give up the goose when the sweat ceased to dribble and ran?”
Summer Jamz ‘08 #4: Compiled by Paul Scott and Ian Mathers
For their summer mix, Paul and Ian decided to have a conversation, or maybe an argument, thanks to one inarguable fact: Ian hates summer.
Summer Jamz ‘08 #3: Dear Summer… by Jonathan Bradley
“My mix is for the times everything is still and quiet and perfect … I haven’t included any yacht rock or Eagles tunes, but that’s all I can guarantee.”
Summer Jamz ‘08 #2: State of the Union, Jack by Mike Orme and Nick Southall
“Two former Stylus Magazine compatriots … celebrate the summer by splitting halves of a mix CD, each trying to fill their side with songs the other writer would put on a summer mix.”
Summer Jamz ‘08 #1: Compiled by Alfred Soto and Dan Weiss
“In the context of summer, vastness suggests the abrogation of responsibility: school and relationships, mostly…”
Posted in Summer Jamz | 1 Comment »
July 1st, 2008
I’ll leave the thorough sample de-constructions to Dan Love or O-Dub, but couldn’t help but feel compelled to share a discovery I made the other day in my on-going quest to listen to every known bit of music ever recorded by Fela Kuti. Namely, the afro-beat derived sample for “I Will Not Apologize,” one of the best cuts from the new Roots album Rising Down.
Originally released in 1975 as the B-side on “Excuse O” “Mr.Grammarticalogylisationalism Is the Boss” attacks Nigeria’s weak educational system, a theme that I readily empathize with, because though my knowledge is spotty on the ins and outs of Lagos pedagogues, I can get down with anybody who sings “school sucks/not ready for bread.” If only I hadn’t spent the entirety of my high school experience listening to Tribe, Jay-Z, Mobb Deep and Wu-Tang, this probably would’ve made a lot of sense.
Re-released on the DJ Excel (Blacklicious)-curated 2004 comp, “The Underground Spiritual Game,” I’m surprised no one tried to flip this sooner as the sound’s claustrophobic organ line and convulsing bass licks made it an ideal beat to spit over. Aided by Kweli, Dice Raw and the unfortunately named, P.O.R.N,* Black Thought and co. do what they do best: power-to-the-people type, slightly strident political raps, but y’know, “they won’t apologize.” That’s fine, they don’t need to. They do the flip justice even if their version never approaches Fela’s god-like genius.
* Sadly, this was way better than his first name. S.L.U.T.
MP3: Fela Kuti-”Mr. Grammarticalogylisationalism Is the Boss” (Left-Click)
MP3: The Roots ft. Talib Kweli, Dice Raw, P.O.R.N.-”I Will Not Apologize”
Posted in A Tale of Two Samples | 4 Comments »
July 1st, 2008
Summer Jamz ‘08 #6: It’s Not The Heat
http://www.sendspace.com/file/qrmab7
Each Summer Jam is proudly co-hosted with Screw Rock N’ Roll and What Was it Anyway.
01. Jean-Claude Vannier - L’Enfant Au Rayaume Des Mouches
02. Meth Teeth - To My Good Friend
03. Royal Trux - I’m Ready
04. Amon Duul II - Archangels Thunderbird
05. Ruth - Mon Pote (Version Courte)
06. The Wedding Present - Spangle
07. The Congos - Congo Man
08. Depth Charge - Blue Lipps
09. Gilberto Gil - Sai Do Sereno
10. Circle ft. Verde - Gerde
11. Cut Copy - Far Away
12. Depeche Mode - See You
13. DOP - Foly
14. Nomo - All the Stars
15. Crystal Castles - Courtship Dating
16. Part Timer - Only Natural
17. The Olivia Tremor Control - Jumping Fences
18. Vivian Girls - Wild Eyes
19. Natural Snow Buildings - Gone
20. The Pizzas - Hideous Fashion
21. Sian Alice Group - Motionless
22. Cristina - Drive My Car (Long Version)
23. Frank Black - Headache
24. Jack Rose - Kensington Blues
Here in greenhouse NYC, our only real theme is “sweltering,” so this mix is a reflection of soupy, unrelenting humidity. A heat mirage. A little dancing, but not too much, because we must lie down and rehydrate. Ready the sweat-bucket.
–Jeff Siegel
This mix started from my end — where in the fickle Ohio heat and rain and wind, I’m forced to celebrate summer with a “home” vacation. That is, with the price of gas and food and alcohol going through the fucking roof, trying to conjure up a seasonal fever dream is confined to the basements, backyards, and dive bars of Columbus. So excuse the randomness, the scruffy edges, the teenage nostalgia. I don’t have beaches or skyscrapers or foreign flights to pad my imagination this year, only scuzzy, cigarette stained hangovers, bong rips, and lo-fi escapism. Jeff did a wonderful job juxtaposing my trash heap — giving us the soaring solar to my claustrophobic nocturnal.
–Kevin J. Elliott
***
More summer:
Summer Jamz ‘08 #5: Compiled by Jayson Greene and Stewart Voegtlin
“Oh, geezus. Didn’t we all wanna give up the goose when the sweat ceased to dribble and ran?”
Summer Jamz ‘08 #4: Compiled by Paul Scott and Ian Mathers
For their summer mix, Paul and Ian decided to have a conversation, or maybe an argument, thanks to one inarguable fact: Ian hates summer.
Summer Jamz ‘08 #3: Dear Summer… by Jonathan Bradley
“My mix is for the times everything is still and quiet and perfect … I haven’t included any yacht rock or Eagles tunes, but that’s all I can guarantee.”
Summer Jamz ‘08 #2: State of the Union, Jack by Mike Orme and Nick Southall
“Two former Stylus Magazine compatriots … celebrate the summer by splitting halves of a mix CD, each trying to fill their side with songs the other writer would put on a summer mix.”
Summer Jamz ‘08 #1: Compiled by Alfred Soto and Dan Weiss
“In the context of summer, vastness suggests the abrogation of responsibility: school and relationships, mostly…”
Posted in Summer Jamz | 1 Comment »
