It’s been way too long, but I’m popping in tonight to post a few random recent discoveries.
Bedouin Soundclash - “St. Andrews”.
A nice reggae-inspired rock band. Or maybe they’re a rock-inspired reggae band.
Bedouin Soundclash - “When the Night Feels My Song”
This is just a fantastic song that makes you feel so good. It reminds me of Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros.
Goodtimes Goodtimes - “Kids”
A lovely song that, as it’s title suggests, seems to be directed from a father to his children or maybe just to the younger generation as a whole. At least, that’s the best interpretation I can come up with. Cheesy in the best possible way. Goodtimes Goodtimes - “Kids” (audio)
The entertainment media has been in a tizzy this week about the 9/11 album sales showdown between Kanye and Fiddy. Rolling Stone put the two of them on a homoerotic cover, with an editorial blurb featuring the most idiotic quote ever, from 50: “September 11 - we take a negative thing and make it into something positive.” Huh? Even respectable critics like Jim and Greg from Sound Opinions joined in the hype, urging their listeners to buy Kanye’s album and “trash” 50’s record.
Anyway, the most insightful comment of the whole event comes from the fine bloggers at Oh Word.
If you buy one overblown, overhyped, overrated rap record this week, make sure it’s the one by the guy talking about his clothes and money, NOT the one with the guy talking about his guns and money. The future of our Hip Hop depends on it.
I like Kanye, but this whole media event is just another reason why Hip-Hop is Annoying (see next post). The industry is getting desperate.
Nas’s latest album, Hip Hop is Dead generated a flood of responses, from bloggers, fans, artists, industry execs and the mainstream media. Some people completely rejected the notion (KRS-One named his latest record Hip Hop Lives). Others used the controversy to push their own agendas (the usual suspects calling for a “cleanup” of rap lyrics). Of all the responses, I think this might be my favorite.
Record labels made this shit, oversaturated it
Now they’re mad cause record sales down, that’s the way it is
It all sounds the same so the kids download it
Now they’re eyein’ them
I wouldn’t buy that shit either if I was them
My only wish is that the song was a bit longer. At 2:22, it feels like there is a verse missing. Now that’s annoying!
It was complete chaos. In the midst of an enormous budget crisis, NYC cut back many of it’s social services. Garbage workers, teachers and police officers went on strike. The “Son of Sam” killer was running around murdering young girls. There was a city-wide blackout for an entire week during the hottest stretch of the summer, leading to rampant looting and violence. Huge graffiti murals blanketed the subway trains, prompting public outrage and admiration. Entire blocks of city neighborhoods were deliberately burned down by slumlords to collect insurance money. The crime rate was about 75% higher than it is today. Can you imagine that?
At the same time, there were cultural revolutions underway–as punk rock, hip-hop, salsa and disco offered different ways of responding to the urban chaos.
I’m completely enamored by this pivotal pop culture moment, not just because I’ve been indoctrinated by hip-hop’s nostalgic “back-in-the-day” tales. Although the circumstances in NYC were certainly miserable, there’s something about the year 1977 that’s like lightning in a bottle. It’s amazing how all these incredibly awful things pummeled New York at the same time. And it’s equally or even more amazing how so many creative people came together in these circumstances to birth these enduring cultural movements.
The story of 1977 is the subject of a fascinating book by Jonathan Mahler, called The Bronx is Burning. The story of 1977 is so rich that Mahler barely even touches on the cultural explosions taking place. Mahler’s book mostly focuses on the Yankees’ unlikely race to the World Series and on the heated political race for NY’s mayor. It also contains a detailed account of the blackout, from the perspectives of the engineers responsible for monitoring the city’s power supply. It’s a highly recommended book, and 1000 times better than ESPN’s current mini-series, which is supposedly based on the book, but instead chooses to sensationalize the Son of Sam case and completely skip the mayoral race.
The documentary that airs on VH1 this weekend will surely focus more on the cultural aspects of1977. I can’t wait to see it, although (in the spirit of 77) I don’t have cable TV, so I’ll have to wait until the DVD comes out or somebody offers to tape it for me…
Here’s a segment from the show that deals with the blackout:
Heard this on the radio here in Jamlando last night–played on the local Top 40 station, which means it took Jay-Z to lend his weight to Amy Winehouse to get her into the pop mainstream. Which is sad.
And I recoiled at first, I must admit, but when I realized it was Jay-Z, and heard the rhymes, and the Britney/Anna Nicole name-dropping, it started to work. I can see this being a pretty big club hit at the moment, being as all these skinny bitches do, in fact, spend quite a lot of time in rehab.
(Get this while ya can…I’m betting it’ll be gone soon.)
I like the way Art Brut lead singer Eddie Argos says that. “Pop song.”
Art Brut’s second album, It’s A Bit Complicated, hit my iPod with butterflies in my belly. It was one of those classic situations where I really wanted it to be good, but still had some trepidation that maybe it would never live up to my expectations. When you fall head over heels for a band, albums aren’t really “albums” at all; they’re more like love letters, and as open as your mind might be, if they don’t say and do just the right things to keep earning your love, you end up soaking in a bubble bath with a bottle of red wine, the ink running wet on the wadded-up CD insert in your hands.
What I like so far about Complicated is that it meets my expectations in some ways, but defies them in others. The first record, Bang Bang Rock N Roll, was so charming thanks to Argos’ lyrical self-depreciation; he was never above taking his own piss if it got a laugh or a nod of recognition. Like Chuck Berry, his idol Jonathan Richman, and countless other great songwriters, he’s a master of the details–the mix tape filled with b-sides, drinking Hennessey with Morrissey, “I’ve seen her naked…TWICE!” It’s not that the songs weren’t catchy, or the band wasn’t tight; they are and they were. Argos just stole the show.
This time, it seems as though the whole band has come ready to win, most notably lead guitarist Ian Catskilkin. From the opening track, it’s his sneaky, fluid riffs that fascinate. Argos’ songs are still funny as hell, but it’s hard to replicate the tone of that first record, with its standout tracks of self-reference and pure yet ironic ambition. This time, the songs are more traditional boy/girl stories, each well told. And the guitar riffs just knock you on your ass.
So it’s a good listen, so far, and I’m glad Art Brut’s back, and I pray to sweet Jeebus that they come back to Orlando, cause they were here and I didn’t go, and that was a real dumb-ass move on my part.
In college, I camped out all day in sub-zero weather to catch a distant glimpse of Les Ladies du Spice, who were donating some props from their film Spice World to Chicago’s Planet Hollywood. (What can I say? I thought it would be fun to write about. It was. It was not, however, fun to attend.)
Anyway, part of what they donated were some short-shorts. Here’s the exchange between a few of the Spice Girls, as I recall it:
On tonight’s episode of Sound Opinions, Jim and Greg called The White Stripes latest single “a masterpiece”. Being a geek, I had to run to my computer and hear the song for myself.
It definitely captures that classic rock sound from the 70s or 80s. I suspect this might be a song we’ll be hearing on rock radio for the next 20 years. I wouldn’t call it a masterpiece, but it has “hit song” written all over it.
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