November 28th, 2007
It’s a full-time job just trying to keep up with all the rap records that leaked over the past week. I mean, The Wu, Scarface, Beanie Sigel, Styles P and now Ghost. Fuck. It’s a lot to handle. It’s enough to make a blogger want to call his local herbal dispensary to re-up for the winter.
In the meantime, I’m through a first few cursory listens of The Big Dough Rehab and I’m really liking what I’m hearing. I’m not sure how good it is yet, and I’ll save the hyperbole for the inevitable full review (I’m actually trying to exercise a bit of restraint this year…I know….I know…how un-bloggerly of me). But “Yolanda’s House” featuring Meth and Rae is currently floating it’s way around the web and if you haven’t heard it yet, you should. It’s pretty great. Though I’m still not sure if it can top Pharoahe Monch’s “Never Walk Again,” which rocks that same sample. Discuss.
Download:
MP3: Ghostface Killah ft. Raekwon and Method Man-”Yolanda’s House”
MP3: Pharoahe Monch-”Never Walk Again”
Posted in Miscellany | 6 Comments »
November 26th, 2007
My Morning Jacket’s cover of “Blue Moon” sounds pretty wonderful on this crisp Fall evening. Perhaps you agree.
Download:
MP3: My Morning Jacket-”Blue Moon”
Posted in Miscellany | 1 Comment »
November 26th, 2007
Sometime after 50 arrived, the art of the narrative wandered into a blizzard of coke raps, artificial hood mythologizing and pandering simplicity. Complexity no longer moved units, and with sales sliding, Scarface xeroxes and ringtone rappers became the safe bets. You can’t blame the suits either. They’re just trying to save their jobs and besides, Young Jeezy went platinum, Rick Ross nearly did, and Mims, The Shop Boyz and Soulja Boy had the most popular singles of 07.
Of course, hip-hop isn’t dead, but it’s hard not to deny that over the last decade, the major label system has done an abysmal job of putting on talented young rappers. Outkast know this. Their latest song leaked from DJ Drama’s upcoming Gangsta Grillz album is called “The Art of Storytelling, Part 4″ and from the title alone, you knew it was going to be special, considering the first 2 are vital organs of Aquemini, with Volume 3, a remix aided by Slick Rick, arguably the greatest storyteller of them all. On the surface level, it’s easy autobiography, Andre kicking a stream-of-consciousness rant about groupies. Big Boi playing Outkast’s id, offering menacing backhands and boasts about the hierarchy of his harem. But that’s just the frame.
Inside the lines, Andre subtly indicts the hair-metal excess of contemporary hip-hop (how dare I throw it on the floor when people are poor”), re-affirming his outsider status in spite of the 30-plus million sold and drawing from the wellspring of self-righteous anger and terminal hunger that feeds so many great artists. The most played-out cliche in hip-hop is “the game needs [insert rapper’s name here]. But if the game needs anyone, it’s Outkast. Not the bullshit neo-Prince of The Love Below, the moody, cynical brilliance of their prime. Outkast were the last of a breed. The last great weirdos allowed to sneak through the gates, before they shuttered in a sober gray clangor.
10 11 Years Gone
“Part 4″ finds Andre searching for the moral compass that hip-hop lost sometime in the late 90s when greed no longer became good, it became necessary. Jay-Z’s rant on American Gangster was right. It’s stupid to blame hip-hop when Tila Tequila’s bi-sexual dating show, ultra-violent films, and geo-political ambition often seem like America’s chief exports. Without lapsing into strident protest, Andre points out the boring desperation of most rappers that desperately try to think of new permutations of the same tired tropes (”these ain’t these same old rhymes to have you dancing in some club”.)
Extraordinarily self-aware, Andre knows we’re listening. How can he not? This is Outkast after all, the guys responsible for the best selling hip-hop album of all time (and arguably, the best). Yet rather than pathetically bitching and moaning about Internet rumors (not to name any names), Andre has spent his comeback year decimating every beat thrown his way. If it feels like he’s taunting us it’s because he is, with his lyrics and flow rust-proof, despite frittering away a half-decade presumably taking liquid acid and watching Purple Rain on repeat.
“Da’ Art of Storytellin’” is a challenge to all-comers, a dare to the rap world to see if anyone stronger has emerged since Andre got bored with hip-hop sometime around the millennium. It’s that all-too-rare, adrenaline-racing, boombox monstrosity that whip-saws you to attention and makes you remember why you loved hip-hop so much in the first place. In an ideal rap world, this song would get at the very least as much burn on car stereos as “Soulja Girl” (notice, Andre’s bumping 100 Miles And Running). The sort of thing you’d hope would shift some teenage rapper’s paradigm from the obscene commercialism of the newest school, to the line of storytellers descended from Slick Rick and Kool G Rap, This should be required rewind listening for all aspiring rappers. Fuck being a motivational speaker, an actor, or a “brand,” rappers should want to tell stories, not be them.
Download:
MP3: Outkast-”Da Art of Storytellin’ Pt. 4″
Posted in Miscellany, Best Of | 10 Comments »
November 23rd, 2007
It’s impossible for Thanksgiving weekend to feel like Thanksgiving when it’s 70 degrees out and sunny and you randomly found yourself last night in a vaguely “trendy” Los Angeles bar watching a fedora-clad couple make out like they were trying to empirically decipher what the other had for Thanksgiving. (Seriously, do these people find each other on online fedora dating services?)
To palliate my sorrows after this grotesque incident and from my trytophan overdose, I’ve been listening to reggae all morning. Not in the mood to write anything right now, so I’ll save the blather. I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving and that these lilting sunny-day jams make everything a bit warmer wherever you are. Godspeed. Or something.
Download:
From Kaya
MP3: Bob Marley & The Wailers-”Easy Skanking”
MP3: Bob Marley & The Wailers-”Misty Morning”
From Marcus Garvey
MP3: Burning Spear-”Marcus Garvey”
From Forward The Bass: Dub From Randy’s 1972-1975
MP3: “Impact All Stars-”Extraordinary Version”
Posted in Miscellany | 3 Comments »
November 14th, 2007
Forget the fact that “The Barrell Bros.” sounds like the title of an 8-bit NES game or maybe a Providence-based gross-out comedy made by the Farrelly’s, because the latest single leaked from The Big Dough Rehab is great. Why they released the underwhelming “Celebrate” first is beyond me. “The Barrell Bros” is just a snarling beast, reading like Madlib’s “Block Rock” filtered through a Vincent Price score; full of eerie synths squealing like poltergeists, hard ominous drums and Ghost, Styles and Beanie spitting with the frantic hunger of escaped convicts. No hyperbole today. Just smoke a blunt and play this loud in your car. (Grape-flavored and Jeeps are highly recommended, respectively).
Download:
MP3: Ghostface ft. Beanie Sigel & Styles-”Barrell Brothers
MP3: Ghostface-”Block Rock”
Posted in Miscellany | 10 Comments »
November 14th, 2007
I’m sure I could ramble on for a few thousand words about my trip to New York but something seems inherently retarded in that. Of course, there’s something inherently retarded about blogging, so you’ll just going to have to settle for a few half-baked observations about my trip through the Eastern Seaboard. Like that all-knowing oracle Howie Mandel once said, “deal or no deal.” (Then again, Howie Mandel posed for this photograph, so in truth, he cannot be trusted).
- The thing about Los Angeles is that no matter how much you try to pretend that it isn’t all sunshine, fake tans and Hollywood dreams going to seed, you end up on the airplane out of town, sitting behind a bleached 20-something updating her resume to include a new MTV horror/reality/comedy show. True story. She wore massive aviators and spent the entire six-hour plane ride trying to master the art of looking affected and disaffected at the same time. Worst of all, she listened exclusively to Creed and Papa Roach.
- I spent most of my first weekend hanging out with the writers from Stylus. Great guys, all of them, and I’m not just saying that because I’m trying to be to tactful. However, like LA producing nothing but aviator-clad zombies laboring over the minutiae of their IMDB pages, if you get a bunch of music writers together chances are it occasionally ends up sounding like a bad chapter from Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs. Like seeing the Joy Divison biopic as a group in the East Village, or debating the merits of esoteric writers who wrote columns for Spin in 1993, or talking about that L’il Wayne fellow that the kids seem to love. Bringing up L’il Wayne is like yelling fire in a crowded room. The next thing you know everyone has stopped paying attention to the cute girls sitting at the table next to you and instead only want to deliberate the meaning of the phrase “my dreadlocks swing on my back like Rapunzel.” This is all true except for the Rapunzel part. But really, Wayne should be disqualified as being considered a Great rapper for comparing himself to Rapunzel (and/or Tahitian Treats). It’s not like Biggie was comparing himself to Goldilocks.
- The bar scene in New York is a lot cooler than the ones in LA (duh). The problem with LA bars (other than the 1:30 last calls and complete absence of effective mass transit) is that if you want to do something considered cool you end up hanging out almost exclusively with assholes. By contrast, New York seemed to have bars every 10 staggers, plus a surfeit of secret speak-easy spots that play only David Bowie. (Mostly). At this point, I’m reasonably convinced that NYC bars are contractually obligated to play one David Bowie song a night. Though, said Bowie song must be selected no earlier than Hunky Dorie-era Bowie and no later than “China Girl.”
As A Music Blogger I Am Contractually Forbidden to Say Anything Bad About David Bowie
- Despite the ever-wise Tal Rosenberg’s admonition that “the China Town Bus is mad sketchy,” and Zilla Rocca’s sound advice to keep my eyes peeled for the Narc’s, I still decided to take the Chinatown Bus to visit Zilla in Philly. Needless to say, it isn’t recommended unless you’re into being stranded with for three hours in the cold in nowheresville Jersey. However, if you do get stranded for three hours in Jersey, the only way to keep your sanity is to go into a nearby gas station, purchase a blunt and proceed to smoke out the only three people on your bus that don’t strictly speak Mandarin.
- Luckily, I finally made it to Philly and drank 40s in front of South Philly High with Zilla, his manager Big O, and briefly, Zilla’s Clean Guns partner, Nico the Beast. The encounter left me convinced that Nico the Beast is currently the winner of the Ol’ Dirty Bastard Award for Most Accurate Nickname in Rap. Dude is literally a beast. Like 6′1 250 lbs. and not a fat 250 either, like could start on D-line for the Eagles huge. Coupled with the fact that Big O is even bigger and scarier-looking than Nico, I’m willing to bet that in an indie-rap Royal Rumble, no one would want to fuck with Beat Garden.
- I did not see Percee P out in front of Gray’s Papaya. This was kind of disappointing. Instead, I bought Check the Technique at Fat Beats, got told by a clerk that the music stores in LA suck (thanks, dude) and ended up finding a $4 hardcover copy of Portnoy’s Complaint from a guy selling books on the street. Combined with the french fries and the soup that I got at Waverley Diner across the street, it more than made up for Percee’s absence.
But Whose Idea Was It To Name A Hot Dog Stand After a Discolored Tropical Fruit?
- I like Joy Division a lot. They’re a very good band, probably a great one, but one I just don’t listen to all that much. For one thing, I’m not 21, epileptic and with vaguely Goth tendencies. For another, they make a kind of somber rainy day music that doesn’t make much sense in precipitation-less LA. But just because their Manchester gloom works well in NYC, it still doesn’t give DJs the right to play “Love Will Tear Us Apart” twice in the same night. This actually happened to me my last night in the City and it was within a mere two hours of each other. C’mon dude, there are like 11,212 great songs in existence (rough estimate) and you’re playing the same played-out hipster anthem twice in 120 minutes? Though to be fair, the DJ deserves credit for playing Bell Biv Devoe’s “Poison” and “Set Adrift On Memory Bliss.” And granted as wack as PM Dawn were (and I believe wack is the only suitable descriptor tag), I’ll ride any day for the inherent greatness/hilarity of “Set Adrift On Memory Bliss.” I apologize in advance.
- After consuming 11 or so Dunkin’ Donuts’ French Vanilla-flavored Iced Coffees (with cream and sugar), I’m convinced that Los Angeles can not and should not be considered a major American city until has a Dunkin’ Donuts franchise. Of course, the problem is that if Los Angeles did have a Dunkin’ Donuts, it would be marketed as a “trendy Dunkin’ Donuts” and the Olsen Twins would go there and Paris Hilton and Lindsey Lohan and Satan dressed up as the Crow.
- In fact the only thing that made me nostalgic for Cali in my week-long absence was the aforementioned DJ spinning “California Love.” Take that for what you will.
- Other miscellaneous revelations and shame-less plugs for friends that don’t fit in anywhere: I met up with Nerd Litter in New York and feel compelled to tell the world that he’s not actually a nerd. His blog name is just a clever ruse. But it is a good site and you should read it unless you don’t want to, in which case that’s cool, have fun being a Calvinist. I also had the opportunity to break bread with Barry Schwartz, the mad genius behind Disco Vietnam. Listen to his music, friend him on the Myspace, write him a sonnet.
Download:
MP3: David Bowie-”China Girl”
MP3: Lil Wayne-”Dipset”
MP3: Clean Guns-”We Just Run Things”
MP3: Joy Division-”Love Will Tear Us Apart”
MP3: Disco Vietnam-”The NP (Natalie Portman)”
If you know someone who uses drugs on a day to day basis and you think they need help with their drug use then it may be a good idea to look into drug rehab for the right place for them. Sometimes drugs can get a grip on people beyond what they can handle so finding drug treatment for them may save their life.
Posted in Miscellany | 10 Comments »
November 12th, 2007
So apparently a new Wu-Tang mixtape leaked last week while I was gone. I’m sure most of you already have it, but for the few that don’t, I’ve uploaded it so you don’t have to go through the trouble of registering with Loud.Com.
Most of the tracks have already been released in some form, be it the leaked 8 Diagrams singles, cuts from the last Masta Killa and Meth albums, or last year’s little-heard Mathematics joints. And after having listened to it all weekend, I’m going to go out on a limb and predictably declare it my favorite mix-tape released this year, yes, even better better than Da Drought 3 (to be said with a voice dripping with sarcasm). If anything, Wu-Tang Returns, coupled with Tal “Flashes of Quincy” Rosenberg’s repeated declarations of the greatness of 8 Diagrams’ has me counting the days until Dec. 11 (or at least the leak date).
ZIP: Wu-Tang Returns: The Mix-Tape (left-click)
Finding some fun music quizzes on the Web isn’t too difficult, not with all the quiz websites out there. If you have a kid that could use some educational quizzes, such as a computer quiz to help them brush up on PCs or geography quizzes to prepare for a school text, the Internet could help out in that respect as well.
Posted in Miscellany | 1 Comment »
November 11th, 2007
At the moment, I’m captioning a photo essay on R Kelly for Metromix. No really. I’m also listening to Double Up in its entirety for the first time ever (though I have previously re-played the videos for “Real Talk” and the “I’m a Flirt Remix” roughly 423 times). But for some reason, right now, I’ve become convinced that “I’m a Flirt” might be the single of the year. All this despite the fact that T.I. is the blandest rapper in rap history abd T-Pain seems less like a pimp than he does horny space alien. The epiphany has left me deeply concerned with what this says about my taste but more troubled by what the song’s existence means for humanity.
Download:
MP3: R Kelly (ft. T.I. and T-Pain)-”I’m a Flirt Remix”
Posted in Miscellany, Videos | 3 Comments »
November 1st, 2007
By the time you’re reading this I’ll be en route to New York City. I’ll be there until next Thursday, so no blogging all next week. Sorry. But I’ve never been save for a six hour stretch I once spent at the Met and/or waiting for a Yankee game to get rained out. And I tend to live by the general rule that if you’ve never been drunk in a city you haven’t actually been there. This doesn’t count for Mormons, Priests or Emos.
In order to adequately prepare myself I’ve been listening to Tha’ Dogg Pound’s “New York New York” on repeat. Why? Because it was my favorite song when I was in the 9th grade and because it is awesome and because I am reasonably certain that Kurupt never spit a better verse (save for “Doggy Dogg World.”) Of course, I’ve never really dug into the solo Kurupt discography, but honestly, I think that’s a decision I’m alright with. And don’t think this is some sort of West Coast subliminal, I’ve been listening to “NYC Everything” to balance things out (you always know it’s a good week when there’s two Bobby Digital references).
I’ve got a million posts I’d like to write before I leave, but as Kurtis Blow once said, “these are the breaks.” But then again, Kurtis Blow was also the first rapper to ever pose shirtless on an album cover, which means that he’s probably directly to blame for this.
And Listening Is Pain…
There’s a good half dozen or so posts I wanted to write before I left that I’m just not going to get the chance to do justice to. So I’m just going to try to do my best Skeet on Mischa or Sexy Results (RIP) imitation. Bear with me. First things first, last Saturday night I saw Poison. And no, I’m not talking about Michael Bivens, Ricky Bell or Ronnie DeVoe, I’m talking Brett Michaels, C.C. Deville and a whole lot of hairspray. I’ve never really liked metal and I’m not about to pretend to because it’s supposed to show how eclectic and open-minded musically I am.
However, I will say that after watching an hour of Poison, I can’t help but respect them. They definitely rock out and even if their music sucks, as my friend put it, you can’t deny the fact that at every Poison concert in 1987 there were at least 14 girls with “Fuck Me Brett” signs. Which makes sense when you see them live. There is no denying the fact that those guys are rock stars in the purest form. The show also left me struck with one other unmistakable conclusion, no good rock star ever loses their hair. Really. Look at Bono, the guy completely sucks yet he still has a magnificent mullet. Brett Michaels? The guy looks like a fucking rock n’ roll unicorn. Billy Joel. Hairless as the women Hank Moody sleeps with (on another note: watch Californication immediately).
After watching Poison, I drove to a friend’s Halloween party, dressed as Hunter S. Thompson while listening to American Gangster, which seemed to make sense at the time because both men seemed to confirm the veracity of Bob Dylan’s “you gotta’ be an honest man to live outside the law” philosophy. At least, if you believe Jay-Z’s stories. Anyhow, American Gangster is a very solid and respectable comeback. Not 5 mics amazing, not on the level of Reasonable Doubt, Blueprint, or even Hard Knock Life Vol. 2, but certainly on par with The Black Album in 4 mics/7 or 8 very good songs territory. Hell, I’d probably put it ahead The Black Album were it not for that godawful collaboration with Li’l Wayne. And just when I was starting to tolerate the little rapping gremlin. Honestly though, what the fuck is the guy doing on a song called “Hello Brooklyn.”
You Should Hear the Song Where Wayne Raps About the Time Baby Bought Him A Gun Rack
Halloween also made me realize how depressing it must have been to actually be Hunter S. Thompson. Just wearing aviator shades, a pith hat and a Hawaiian shirt, people expected me to dance around and start yammering about inhaling ether and guzzling whiskey. Which is cool, I’m usually up for that sort of thing, but I felt like a trained monkey being asked to recite dialogue about being in Bat Country. After about two hours of pretending to pretend, the whole thing felt exhausting and I ended up sitting in the corner of the now almost empty party reading Catcher in the Rye. I suppose there’s irony in there somewhere, but I don’t have the time nor the motivation to try to pick it out at this juncture.
Two more shows in brief: Ghostface, Rakim and Brother Ali, all backed by the Rhythm Roots All-Stars was pretty great. Granted, this was my fourth time seeing Ghostface this year and even I have my limits, but I never fail to get amped up when I hear “Fish” or “Daytona 500″ live. Rakim was Rakim. Shorter than I expected but consistently excellent and Brother Ali held his own against the other two better than you’d imagine.
I also saw Neil Young at the brand-new Nokia Theater. I really don’t want to talk about it. Before last night, I thought it was damn near impossible to go to a bad Neil Young show. But the Nokia Theater really did its best. Still, bad Neil Young is better than awesome Green Day any day of the week. Anyhow, Duke pretty much nailed the disenchantment we both felt and when I get back from New York I’m going to channel my rage into a diatribe for the LA Weekly about the sheer wretchedness of the place. Okay? Okay. I’m good. You’re good. We’re all good. Now I have to go to New York and do my best to embody the spirit of this film.
Oh Kermie
See you guys in a week.
Download:
MP3: Tha Dogg Pound-”New York New York”
MP3: RZA ft. Method Man-”NYC Everything”
Posted in Miscellany | 3 Comments »
October 2nd, 2007
Today is my 26th birthday. Accordingly, I plan on staying as far away from the computer as possible and enjoying a full 24 hours of sloth and indolence. Regularly scheduled programming will resume tomorrow.
Also, if you’re a blogger and still haven’t updated your blogroll to the new http:/passionweiss.com site, can you please take a second to do so. Thanks.
Download:
MP3: Modeselektor-”Happy Birthday”
MP3: Jens Lekman-”Happy Birthday Dear Friend, Lisa”
Sometimes the personals you find in the newspaper won’t serve your needs. If you’re looking through your local personals and you aren’t sure if you’ve found the kind of singles that you’re interested in then you may be interested in free California singles listings that you can find on the Internet.
Posted in Miscellany | 11 Comments »
