Thursday, July 29, 2004
"Wearing padded bras / Sucking beers through straws"
Neneh Cherry, "Buffalo Stance" (12-Inch Mix)
from Buffalo Stance 12-inch (Virgin, 1989)
and Raw Like Sushi (Virgin, 1989)
Neneh Cherry, "I've Got You Under My Skin"
from Red Hot + Blue: A Tribute to Cole Porter (Capitol, 1990)
Neneh Cherry featuring the Notorious B.I.G., "Buddy X" (Falcon & Fabian Remix)
from Buddy X (Remix) CD-5 (Virgin, 1992)
My short-term memory is beginning to suck, and my long-term memory has always been shaky (except for the bad stuff, always remember the bad stuff). So I'm not sure where I was this week when I heard "Buffalo Stance" for the first time in, like, 4ever, but I do remember the elation I felt. Neneh's fly '80s rap, that New Order-y bass line in the chorus, her tuff gal lyrics---I fell in love all over again. It could kick off a whole nuther hip-house frenzy 'round here.
"Buffalo Stance" reminds me of going to Ann Arbor's Nectarine Ballroom (now called the Necto) at 516 East Liberty St. It reminds me of fanzine making and record shopping with Tim. We would shop almost weekly at Record Time in Roseville, where the DJs would always seem to be spinning "The Percolator" for hours on end and where you'd spy important Detroit techno folks like WDET DJ Alan Oldham just hanging out. *sniff* Let me wipe away a tear with this Glo-Stick....
The "Buddy X" remix is notable for an early appearance of Notorious B.I.G., but the original song is from 1992's Homebrew, Neneh's mostly lukewarm follow-up to 1989's smashing Raw Like Sushi.
Cherry's take on Cole Porter's "I Got You Under My Skin," for the Red Hot AIDS charity, consciously plays off the song's double modern meaning, and it has the same chilling message that ended up being associated with Soft Cell's otherwise innocent cover of "Tainted Love." (Coil made the AIDS connection eerily clear when it redid "Tainted Love" in 1985).
Neneh Cherry's recent interview with the Independent. She swears she's working on a new album. And she's a grandmother.
More MP3s at this fan site.
Marietto's fan site kicks it.
Outre Risque's fan site tempts you with the word "Risque."
One last thing on Neneh before I head off to my office's daily dance party: With all the '80s funk-punk revival going on, when is Virgin gonna step up and reissue Rip, Rig & Panic's catalog?
Posted by CP | Link |
Tuesday, July 27, 2004
"Everything you know is wrong."
Chumbawamba, "Everything You Know Is Wrong"
from Un (Koch, 2004)
Chumbawamba, "Salt Fare, North Sea"
from Readymades & Then Some (Koch, 2003)
With all the mis-mis-mis-misinformation we'll be hearing from the DNC and RNC over the next few days, here's a little ditty, "Everything You Know Is Wrong," from a band you probably forgot. Shame, because Chumbawamba released some great albums since "Tubthumping" unwittingly filed them next to "Who Let the Dogs Out?" (woof woof woof). And "Tubthumping," before you heard it 99,733,739,950,065 times, was a great song. Still is, tho Chumbawamba recognizes the tune has grown beyond them so they've let people have it. The fun thing about "Tubthumping"'s success is how its message was ignored/misinterpreted and it became a song for people of all social & political backgrounds to sing and dance to at sporting events. Kind of like the gay anthem "Y.M.C.A." I get a kick when I see meatheads, church groups and, say, Secretary of State Colin Powell doing dance routines and karaoke to a song that's about how hot the guys are down at the Y.
More Chumba media (MP3s, videos, etc).
Posted by CP | Link |
Monday, July 26, 2004
"Wondering sweet times."
Cibelle, "Waiting"
Cibelle, "No Prego"
from Cibelle (Six Degrees, 2004)
The combination of electronica and bossa nova often causes me to conk out in my caipirinha. But Brazilian singer Cibelle marries the warmth of Rio with the chill of the Eighteenth Street Lounge, and her music doesn't cause me to enter REM-stage sleep. Cibelle's self-titled debut is groovy and detailed, so you can stand up and sway to the bossa nova, samba, baiao, and trip-hoppy beats or sit down, slap on some headphones, and get lost in the album's gentle, psychedelic timbres. Her voice is a jazzy purr---a smoother, less tortured version of Portishead's Beth Gibbons---and Cibelle's melodies are dreamier than a white-sand beach. If her album doesn't immediately win you over to modern Brazilian music, perhaps another caipirinha will. Cibelle seduces you tonight along with La Fatcha at 8:30 p.m. at the Iota Club & Cafe, 2832 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, Virginia.
Posted by CP | Link |
Sunday, July 25, 2004
Now I love Ricky Williams almost as much as I love Barry Sanders. You choose: Travel around the world hitting the chalice vs. getting piled on 40 times for 16 Sundays a year? Sign me up to Expedia and fire up the chillums, brah.
Posted by CP | Link |
Sunday, July 25, 2004
Coco Crisp is a hot name...
...But Bake McBride is on fire.
Posted by CP | Link |
Friday, July 23, 2004
Rita Marley, "One Draw"
from Holding Up Half the Sky: Women in Reggae/Roots Daughters (Shanachie, 1996; rec. 1981)
Rita Marley & the Soulettes, "Bring It Up"
from Trojan Reggae Sisters box set (Trojan, 2003; rec. 1970; producer: Scratch Perry)
Just finished reading Rita Marley's No Woman No Cry: My Life With Bob Marley, and here are my impressions:
-It's short, shallow, and often redundant, but it's oddly compelling.
-Bob was a charismatic, magnetic personality, and everybody---from women to politicians to fans to gangsters---wanted a piece of him.
-Bob was a ho.
-Bob was a real ho.
-Bob was insecure, petty & jealous---and he was a ho.
-Bob could be very generous with his wife & family, even tho he was a ho.
-Rita loved Bob despite him being a ho.
-Rita was a uniquely strong woman, if also a slightly deluded one, in staying with Bob, who was a ho.
-Rastas (like any people of faith to those of us who have none) are, um, unique in their beliefs. This deep insight was also born out of my recent reading of Helene Lee's The First Rasta: Leonard Howell and the Rise of Rastafarianism, which makes the case for the need of Leonard's pro-black agenda (with influence from Marcus Garvey, of course, though the Garveyites did not like the initial Rastas) while also saying Howell was pretty much a cult leader & a ho.
-Bob died because he had melanoma, first in his big toe, which he refused to have removed. Then the cancer spread to the rest of his body. As someone who has had melanoma, and who now has a baseball-sized scar on his right leg to prove it, you get that sh*t removed no matter what your religious beliefs are.
-Bob got caught in the middle of all the eff'd up politics of 1970s Jamaica, which led to him being shot in 1976, the week before he was to perform a unity concert. He was clipped in the wing so he did the show with his arm in a sling. Rita did the show, too, with her cabbage in bandages as she was shot in the head. Doctors told Rita that her thick dreadlocks helped save her life.
-Jamaica Labor Party higher-up Oliva "Babsy" Grange helped make sure Bob had a big official funeral. Babsy is now under investigation for being linked to the gangster Oliver "Bubba" Smith, the recently killed don of the Jamaica's notorious One Order Gang.
-Rita has 38 grandchildren. She had five children with Bob, one with her pal Tacky, and one with another chap when she was 19. Legend better keep selling.
-Rita deserves all she has now due to the Marley name. She's been patient, put up with a hell of a lot of crap from Bob, is devoted to her children (and to many of the kids Bob had out of wedlock), and has attempted to protect & promote his legacy (even as she's licensed his name and image for, say, luggage collections).
-Cowriter Hettie Jones (former wife of Leroi Jones aka Amiri Baraka) isn't much of a editor, and she seems to know relatively little about Jamaica or Jamaican music. For instance, for some reason the Skatalites' name is written as "Skatalites" as if the band's "name" wasn't "really" the Skatalites and it "needs" air "quotes." What is "it" with writers "using" random "air" quotes?
-Jamaica (like its colonizer, England) might be filled with more musical talent per capita than anywhere in the world---at least outside of Silver Spring, Md.
-Jamaica is a crazy, confusing, wholly unique place---and I'm totally fascinated by it. I spent just 4 days in Kingston this past January, but I still think about it daily, hourly. I spent a month in Morocco in 1989, and that did my head in more than any place I've ever been. I can see Jamaica casting that same sort of spell on me had I stayed longer and roamed farther. But the magical sadness of Silver Spring will always be #1.
-Bob, despite his human problems---and you, Jimmy T-Shirt and Bobby von Dorm Poster, should remember that while you puff up and deify the dude before Econ 101---was a talented mofo whose songs and lyrics are worth celebrating, even if his everyday life is not.
-Bob Marley isn't the reason I got into Jamaican music (thank you, the Clash, the English Beat, and Madness), and he's not the reason I stayed there (props to King Tubby, Scratch Perry, and all the rocksteady vocalists). In fact, relative to Bob's status as Worldwide Icon, I don't know his music all that well. Not sure if I ever will, either.Posted by CP | Link |
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
Like KRS, I'm Promotional Minded
Monty Alexander & Ernest Ranglin, "Stalag 17"
from Rocksteady (Telarc, 2004)
Tenor Saw, "Ring the Alarm"
from 200% Dynamite (Soul Jazz, 1999; rec. 1985)
Tenor Saw's 1985 hit "Ring the Alarm" is one of the greatest dancehall tunes ever, and like more than 200 other songs it's built on Winston Riley and Ansell Collins' "Stalag 17" instrumental from 1973. Monty Alexander and Ernest Ranglin cover "Stalag 17" and other great Ja songs on their new CD, Rocksteady. Next time you're in Kingston, stop by Winston's Techniques store at 99 Orange Street and pick up some 45s and some car accessories. He sells both.
Do you want to read all about Monty & Ernie and jazz & ska and America & Jamaica? Then you may wanna buy the new issue of JazzTimes, which details the influence of jazz on the creation of ska. Read an excerpt here.
You like? Me too. I think the writer did a fine job. His English grammar comes down like a hammer. And there are only a few typos. That's all anyone can ask for in life, just a few typos.
Snag the mag from any major joint (Borders, Barnes & Noble, Tower, etc), or via mailorder from JT (link at the bottom of the excerpt). Even better, get JazzTimes from Ernie B's Reggae, the best mail order joint anywhere (search for Jazz Times, two words). You can get Rocksteady and 200% Dynamite there as well.
Promotional minded, you've been blinded.
Posted by CP | Link |
Monday, July 19, 2004
"I love to watch things on TV."
Lou Reed, "Satellite of Love 2004" (Dab Hands Retouch Mix)
from Satellite of Love 2004 EP (Nu-Life)
Lou overrides record company to make sure this remix sees the light of day! Does the same for The Raven!
The remix is built from the original master tapes from Lou's Transformer. Sound quality is very important to Lou. In fact, the tai chi master that Lou brought on the Animal Serenade tour was pure audiophile.
Here's a video clip of "Satellite of Love 2004." Cartoon rocket races between Superpowers in a Lou Reed video: advanced or overt? Please consult the Advancement Theory blog for education.
Who will be brave enough to work a remix that uses the Rock 'n' Roll Animal version of "Sweet Jane"---but only the 5-min twin-lead intro? Twin leads are readymades for jumping up one's boogie.
More Satellites of Love:
Jamie Foxx singing "I Wanna Be Your Tennis Ball" to Serena Williams on the ESPYs was classic. He is an incredibly funny man. Too bad the ESPYs make me wanna to burn all my baseball cards and chuck all my hockey pucks. Mostest stupid: "Larry Brown is the first coach to win an NCAA championship and an ESPY."
A decent & recent interview with Kevin Shields of My Bloddy Valentine (sic) by the guys in the Icarus Line. [Via Migwire] I love it when Kev tells the tale of getting all gangsta with the Lazy label over the Ecstacy and Wine comp.
The Suburbs Are Killing Us now feeds.
Posted by CP | Link |
Friday, July 16, 2004
HIP-HOUSE RULEZ!!!
Blogger reset all the Betty Boo / Beatmasters / Cookie Crew links to download from Blogger and not my site. That's wiggidy wiggidy whhhhack! Now they're all fixed and "GOOD 2 GO!"
HIP-HOUSE REALLY RULEZ!!!
Posted by CP | Link |
Thursday, July 15, 2004
"That style is so sold out and dated!"
Betty Boo & the Beatmasters, "Hey DJ / I Can't Dance (To the Music You're Playing)"
Betty Boo, "Boo Is Booming"
Betty Boo, "Doin' the Do" (7-Inch Radio Mix)
from Boomania (Sire, 1990)
Betty Boo, "Doin' the Do" (The Beatmasters Club Mix)
from 12-inch single (Sire, 1990)
The Beatmasters & Merlin, "Who's in the House?"
from 12-inch single (Rhythm King, 1989)
The Beatmasters & Cookie Crew, "Rok da House"
from 12-inch single (Rhythm King, 1987)
Cookie Crew, "Females" (Extended 12" mix)
from 12-inch single (TVT, 1987)
Betty Boo was a smokin' spy-chick singer-rapper. Like so many others, Boo got a big push because of the Beatmasters, that late-'80s, early-'90s production team that struck gold with pretty much everything they touched. While the Beatmasters didn't produce the whole Boomania album, their influence is all over it. Doesn't the opening riff from Betty Boo's "Hey DJ" sound like Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill"? I wish everything sounded like the opening riff of "Solsbury Hill."
The only non-Beatmasters productions here are Betty's "Doin' the Do" and Cookie Crew's "Females," but they are still fine hip-house, the only genre that matters!
Got a few bucks to spare? I'm talking less than 3? Then pony up, brah:
Betty Boo
Cookie Crew
The Beatmasters
Posted by CP | Link |
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
Monie Love, "Grandpa's Party"
from 7-inch/12-inch single (Cooltempo, 1989)
Adeva & Monie Love, "Ring My Bell"
from Love or Lust? (Cooltempo, 1991)
Monie Love, "Slice of da Pie" (El-B Mix)
from Rewind: The Sound of UK Garage (Ministry of Sound, 2000)
1. For Can't Stop Won't Stop.
2. To keep the hip-house flowing, spirits risin'.
3. Some more Monie love, even if our Monie Love has done grow up and gone all garraaddge.Posted by CP | Link |
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
Monie Love, "Monie in the Middle"
Monie Love, "It's a Shame (My Sister)"
Monie Love, "Swiney Swiney"
from Down to Earth (Warner Bros., 1990)
The Spinners, "It's a Shame"
from 2nd Time Around (Motown, 1970)
Sister Monie's been holding it down with Ed Lover on the Power 105.1 FM morning show in NYC, but she's ready to fire up the career again and start conversating to the folks that have no whatsoever clue. Monie's been putting together new material "due to her passion for the art of Hip-Hop," says AllHipHop.com. The passion! The art! So tru!!!
While she's best known for her debut on Queen Latifah's "Ladies First," Monie also crushed it on "Monie in the Middle" and "It's a Shame (My Sister)." Matter fact, the whole Down to Earth album is tite, too (her next album, In a Word or 2, not so tite). "Swiney Swiney"---only in the Daisy Age of rap could you have a song about how dirty pork is. Hiphopcologists, dig: While meat frying sounds in Daisy Age tunes have often been imitated, they've never been repeated. So tru!!!
I seem to remember that along with Cookie Crew's Born This Way and Loop's A Gilded Eternity, Monie Love's Down to Earth was one of the first promo LPs I received (buy it for one cent), so I blame all of them for the chaotic state of my basement today. I was a hard-hitting reporter for the Eastern Echo, writing in-depth pieces on bands like Slovenly and Die Kreuzen for the highly engaged student body. They just couldn't get enough of this music. Man, I was truly the voice of the people.
The Spinners were a 10th tier Motown band in 1970, and while they had a hit with "It's a Shame," Motown still gave 'em das boot after 2nd Time Around. This album is the last one to feature the lead vox of G.C. Cameron, who was replaced by Phillipe Wynne before the band signed with Atlantic and got the career-changing hookup with Thom Bell. Today you can book the Spinners for your next company picnic in two places: here or here.
The lobby of our Montreal hotel was like Grand Central Station for the jazz-fest musicians. While there were no Spinners, I did see the Four Tops and the Temptations, who were easily identifiable because of their satin-y tour coats, like the kind you get in Little League Baseball. I also peeped John Scofield, the Bad Plus, Eivind Aarset, Wibutee (wearing the same clothes from the night before), and more. I don't bother chatting up the artists, but I did run into a confused Burning Spear several hours after his concert. He was wandering around the lobby because he couldn't figure out how to get to the ground floor (it was tricky), so I led him to the elevator. May Jah's blessings recognize my directional abilities. Posted by CP | Link |
Monday, July 12, 2004
Wibutee, "We Are in Space, So Are You"
from Playmachine (Jazzland, 2004)
Eivind Aarset, "Electro Magnetic in E"
from Connected (Jazzland, 2004)
I got a haircut on Friday. Now, instead of looking like a man with shrubbery on his head, I look like a 12-year-old, 17th-century Dutch boy. Thx, Lady of the Woodmoor Hair Choppery.
Since the land of Dutch is close enough to the land of Norway, here are two tracks from Jazzland Records. While the label is owned by keyboardist Bugge Wesseltoft---who has managed to convince a few older but still open-minded jazz critics that he's Tha Future, even though it's obvious that said older but still open-minded jazz crtics never bought any deep house records---the Talent Twins on the label are the quartet known as Wibutee and the guitarist known as Eivind Aarset. If you're a fan of Amon Tobin, you'll likely enjoy these tracks. If Amon Tobin sounds like a restaurant dish, you may still enjoy these tracks. Stream the whole Wibutee album at their Web site.
If you have the hair of a young Dutch boy, and enjoy shake shake shakin' it to the Norwegian music, head over to the tres fine Scissorkick, scroll down, and grab some Jaga Jazzist. While you're there, don't skip the Seam, one of indie rock's finest. About 10 years ago I never left for a road trip without Seam and Swervedriver. Oh, how 'bout that: Two full Swervedriver concerts available for download right hurr.
My man at the Ja Observer, Mike E, gives my JazzTimes jazz/ska article some promo ink, straight outta Kingston.Posted by CP | Link |
Thursday, July 08, 2004
Finally on the newsstands:
My story on jazz's influence on the creation of ska and reggae.
Check out an excerpt of the story here.
 Posted by CP | Link |
Wednesday, July 07, 2004
Montreal, you had me at bonjour.
Our hotel backed up to Rue Sainte-Catherine, which seemed to be like St. Mark's Place (well, the St. Marks of the Ramones, not the Chipotle one now) stretched out for blocks and blocks. Some observations about this section of Montreal as I strolled down La Rue:
--Montreal must have the most white folk with dreadlocks per capita.
--Peeps of all types in tha muthafuggin' MonREEall are stylin', and the chicks are smokin'.
--Sex shoppes and more sex shoppes are the rage on Rue Sainte-Catherine, as are churches. And hookers.
--Sainte-Catherine's expansive gay district makes Dupont Circle seem like an Elks Lodge.
--The heavily tatt'd anarcho-beggar punx in Montreal make NYC's kids seem like daytrippers from Connecticut. These Montreal-ians have the crusty thing down. One dude thrust out a Burger King cup impaled on a tree branch and demanded "BEER MONEY!"
--I thought I was in France---if France loved hockey. I like France and love hockey, so Montreal you are way OK by moi.
Highlights of the fest:
--Wibutee
--Eivind Aarset
--and Nellie McKay, who was besteststst of all. She played solo, and was hilarious, charming, and supadupa great. I even went and bought her CD after the show. How very 1988 of me! Thanks for bringing back Fan Boy, Ms. Nellie. And thx for the many live MP3s.Posted by CP | Link |
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Who cork the dance?
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