September 30th, 2009
The temptation is to rattle off a litany of $5 adjectives and complex scenarios involving myself, rural Sweden in the spring, several forest nymphs and the words “frolic,” “carefree,” and “jaunty.” But c’mon. Like all Dungen-related projects, The Amazing, coaxes new ideas of a worn-out premise. Gustav Estjes is absent from the proceedings but his star ax-man, Reine “Rule with an Iron” Fiske, is along for the Saab excursion, along with the band’s drummer Johan Holmegard. Paired with Christopher Gunrup and Fredrik Swahn, The Amazing not only live up their name but strangle their competition, Amazing Baby. You know, pastoral guitars, that purple, the whole psychedelic dream. Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good. Almost as good as nymphs.
Download:
MP3: The Amazing-”Code II”
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
September 30th, 2009
Photo via RA
Gemmy’s Myspace features a YouTube clip of the introduction to the Back to the Future II Nintendo game. For this, he is the darkhorse of the bass brigade. While gawky geeky American twenty-somethings re-construct childhood via cassette noise tapes and Dan Deacon’s artery-clogging electronic twaddle, Gemmy, straight out of Bristol, takes two-step, Dre’s hydraulic funk, and 8-Bit’s right angles, and crams it into a blender with blades as sharp as Sonic the Hedgehog’s hair. This is nostalgia not for the sake of self-congratulatory winking remembrance, but to channel a child’s notion of infinity. Like all visionary music, Gemmy’s sounds limitless, both futuristic and familiar, the sort of thing that seems like a logical conclusion but one that you never could’ve predicted. He remembered the rules of “Regulate”–the rhythm is the bass (though it remains uncertain how the bass can be the treble.) Maybe he just needs to grow a beard and wear spectacles.
Download:
MP3: Gemmy-”BK 2 The Future”
MP3: Gemmy-”Bass Transmitter”
MP3: Gemmy-”FACT Mix #25″ (Left-Click)
Posted in Gemmy, Dubstep | 1 Comment »
September 29th, 2009
Possibly my favorite Ghostface track of all time. “In the Rain (Wise)” first appeared on the Canadian edition of Supreme Clientele and I’ve always thought of it as part of that classic. The is the joint where Ghost perfected that “rhyme all over a soul song” idea that’s become a signature part of his style, absolutely BODYING the Dramatics’ psychedelic soul classic ”In the Rain”. Building on the original’s theme of heartbreak, Ghost pens a heart-wrenching dedication to a friend/mentor delivered in the kind of dusted-New York 5%er poetry that arguably made him the best writer of his era. But the miraculous part is the flow: Ghost spits so vivid that even if you’d never heard rap before, the urgency and pain in his voice paint the whole picture. This is the morning after “Impossible”.
Download:
MP3: Ghostface Killah - Wise (In the Rain)
Posted in Sach O | 5 Comments »
September 29th, 2009
Continuing the recurring gastrointestinal sub-plot started with his “Trap Goin’ Ham” video, Pill debuts “Cooking with Pill.” The 4th Ward’s finest is one of the only rappers on earth that can get away with making a “Big Boy” with honey buns. Funny stuff and seemingly delicious, but I wish that rappers expanded the spectrum of culinary shout-outs. Mainly, I’m waiting to see a Chef Raekwon guest-spot on Anthony Bourdain. And if you were wondering, 4175: The Refill has been pushed back to early November, presumably for synchronicity with Turkey Day.
Download:
MP3: Pill-”Glass”
MP3: Da Bill Collector, Pill and S.L. Jones-”Grind Time”
ZIP: Pill-4180: The Prescription (Left-Click)
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September 29th, 2009
For those interested in the burgeoning Bristol Purple scene, Richard Carnes’ Resident Adviser piece provides the most in-depth look at Joker, Guido, and Gemmy yet. I wish that the crew didn’t have names that read straight out of a never-aired “Batman Goes to Italy” episode (60s camp-edition), but I’ll manage. The piece confirms that a Joker full-length is on its way, one which portends to build on the strength of the instant-classic “Digidesign” and “Do It” singles.
The article also has a quote from Kode 9 that is the best description of Liam McLean’s music that I’ve heard: “Wiley stuck in an elevator with…Cameo. You hear his whiney pitch-bent synths on a dance floor, it’s like some kind of group electrocution taking place. Those synths sound like a big laser frying everyone’s brains.” If you’re anything like me and looking for a stop-gap until Joker becomes the next UK dance phenomenon that fails to cross-over in the U.S. (a.k.a. The Aphex Twin Memorial Award), you’ll become obsessed with these tracks from the Kapsize EP, his 2007 debut that established his reputation as one of the scene’s leading lights and easily the best Joker since Jack Nick.
Download:
MP3: Joker-”The Bop”
MP3: Joker-”Stuck in the System”
Posted in Joker, Dubstep | No Comments »
September 28th, 2009
The instant MOST PRIZED POSSESSION of my vinyl collection, acquired this weekend at the Lower Haight’s outstanding record shop, Groove Merchant (thanks to a heads-up from the always on-point O-Dub). You can have your random rap full of arcane regional signifiers, I’ll take mine with Darryl Strawberry 16s, and guest-spots from UTFO, Whistle, and a very-young Richie Rich (with arcane regional signifiers). Considering that Mr. 415ivin was arrested a few years later on possession of cocaine and Darryl’s struggles with the drug are legendary, “Chocolate Strawberry” may rival Less Than Zero as the finest thing 80s Cali coke culture ever produced (other than maybe “Dirty Laundry.”) After all, the synth lines on here glow with glossy, nose-dripping, blood shot-eyed, Rockwell-esque paranoia–not to ignore that the song title sounds like a filthy sex act that only The Butterscotch Stallion would enjoy.
Recorded at the Bayside Recording Studios in Queens for Darryl’s short-lived Strawsome Records imprint, “Chocolate Strawberry” was manufactured and distributed via legendary West Coast indie, Macola Records. How bizarre is this 12″? Production credits are attributed to The Kangol Kid, Richie Rich, and Michelle Strawberry, Darryl’s sister. Presumably cut in the off-season following the Met’s ‘86 championship, The Straw’s rapping makes Ron-Ron look like Rakim, but the beat grooves in a codpiece funk sort of way and there are scratches from DJ Silver Spinner and Mixmaster Ice. For sheer kitsch value alone it’s priceless, but it also manages to nicely encapsulate the tail-end of the sequined suit electro-rap that ruled the West Coast pre-Straight Outta Compton. The only way to improve this for me would be an Eric Davis guest-spot.
Pictures of the vinyl below the jump, courtesy of West Coast Pioneers, who thankfully exist so that my feeble photo editing skills aren’t revealed to the world.
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Posted in It Got Weird, Didn't It? | 2 Comments »
September 28th, 2009
Sach O’s R&B dick is on Thursdays (II).
If you think about it, Raekwon The Chef and Ghostface Killah just dropped a bizarro-world Speakerboxxx/Love Below on us highlighting the extremes of their respective personalities. While Rae spent the past few years crafting the thuggish if reflective narratives of Cuban Linx II, Ghost has been working on “his R&B album”– a purportedly more mature offering that he’s been hinting at ever since the promo run for Pretty Toney. The timing couldn’t have been better. While The Big Doe Rehab featured its share of highlights, it was also the first Ghostface album to feel like…just another Ghostface album. A well-versed fan of Dennis Coles is well aware of the man’s ear for classic soul and R&B guest spots and a return to the knowledge kicked earlier in Ghost’s career could be invigorating after a few years of crack rap. However, the same prospect of an R&B album also raises the specter of 14 “Back like that’s”: compromised label-pleasing songs that do more to highlight Def Jam’s R&B roster than Ghostface’s talent behind the mic. So what do we get, dope or dog food?
A little of both. As a whole, The Wizard of Poetry succeeds but it’s also impossible to listen to without the nagging doubt that it was compromised by poor A&Ring and industry constraints. The emceeing is never at fault and Ghost nails practically every verse on the album with the incredibly raunchy Stapleton Sex and the classic long-form storytelling rhyme on Guesthouse alone proving that he’s still the most consistently excellent MC in his age group. When paired with the right singer and hook such as Raheem DeVaughn on “Do Over,” a brilliant slice of soul that should have gotten the 7+ minute extended Isaac Hayes treatment, Ghost’s emotional rhymes mesh perfectly with the guest vocals making it clear that he’s just as adept on smooth tip as he is bagging crack with Rae. But while the rhymes remain stellar and the highlights rank with Ghost’s best, the proceedings are occasionally derailed by cheap production and budget-brand crooners.
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Posted in Sach O | 13 Comments »
September 26th, 2009
A great song from a great album. As Gotty points out, “Raekwon forced his co-stars to “rise to the occasion.” Low-budget as low-budget can be, but judging from the ample waistlines of these Siegel and Shallah, the catering truck must’ve been something fierce. The question remains: where is Blue Raspberry?
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September 25th, 2009
Were I to finally succumb to the quasi-cosmic entropy that envelops soft California skulls, I’d blame the melodramatically named “Summer of Death” on a psychic shift between old and new blood, some paroxysm of pestilence, some inauspicious wormhole of time. But I don’t buy it. This is nothing more than a litany of “So It Goes,” or in Jim Carroll’s case, “these are the people who died.” Far from anonymous, the author/rocker/one-time All-City baller, never attained the level of modern fame that envelops Facebook Feed R.I.P.’s. Such is life, when you lack a Point Break on the resume. Instead, Carroll left behind a modest anthology of his 60 years–a half-dozen slim volumes of poetry, two short memoirs, and a fistful of albums of poetic post-punk, nothing particularly notable since the first Bush administration.
Predictably, the brunt of Internet bandwidth this season was consumed eulogizing less notable figures (or the necrophiliac plundering of Mike Jack’s sepulcher), with Carroll’s death largely unnoticed in the online world, save for the pro forma NY Times obit, a few graph-long laments, and this outstanding Slate article from his long-time editor. By the time he died, the long-time Manhattan native was a walking anachronism, a vestige to an era when the Apple was rotten, a festering, yet absurdly creative metropolis that once produced seemingly sui generis figures like Carroll every generation. You know this already, besides I wasn’t there, and I’m willing to bet you weren’t either. But even if we weren’t, I’ll take Jim Carroll over the Dash Snow set any day.
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September 24th, 2009
I have a new column at LA Weekly. It is called Hits from the Blog. It is about what you think it is about. The first installment is a woolly manifesto about what to expect in ensuing weeks, plus an interview with City Councilman, Ed Reyes, about the current state of medical marijuana in Los Angeles. Many thanks to Jeffrey Greenblatt, a.k.a. Some Dude, for giving his blessing to borrow the name from the now-defunct original, Hits from the Blog.
I promise this will only get weirder. Stay tuned while I re-load.
LA Weekly: Hits from the Blog
Download:
MP3: Cypress Hill-”Hits from the Bong”
Posted in Hits from the Blog, LA Weekly | 5 Comments »
