Wednesday, October 27, 2004
Marcia Griffiths, "Feel Like Jumping"
from Studio One Rockers (Soul Jazz, 2001; rec. 1968)
Because I don't feel like jumpin',
and I don't feel like shoutin',
and I certainly don't feel like movin', and
Lord, I don't feel like groovin' now,
la la la la laaaa,
woo hoo hoooooo.
But for a minute this morning Marcia Griffiths put some pimp in my limp.
Posted by CP | Link |
Thursday, October 21, 2004
Yulduz Usmanova, "Tak Boom"
from Yulduz (Sony, 1999)
If Pizzicato 5 were Uzbeki instead of Japanese---and if they hired what sounds like a Jamaican toaster and a South African chorus to move with the groove---they might have made something like "Tak Boom." The Silk Road meets the international superhighway.
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Out-of-date homepage de Yulduz
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eStart article on the U
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Lots of info about Uzbekistan, and Lonely Plant weighs in, and you know the CIA knows all 'bout the 'Stanz.
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And here you can read all about the human-rights abuses in Uzbekistan. Even in the post-Soviet era, totalitarianism is alive and well. Maybe recently elected parlimentarian Usmanova can do something about it.
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Buy the full CD used for about $3.
Posted by CP | Link |
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
Leaping Over Fish
Wifey-poo's uncle caught this bull shark while we were fishing. We didn't know what he had hooked at first and then BAM, up jumped the boogie. Seriously spooky. Needless to say, we didn't pull it into the boat as we are all very fond of our limbs.
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Speaking of sharks, think MP3 blogs have jumped them now that Spin and Rolling Stone have done articles? (And hasn't the phrase "jumping the shark" jumped the shark? It's so friggin' hard to keep up, man.)
Emily brought me back a CMJ-supplied copy of Spin, which features Jon C's article on MP3 blogs + a giant photo of Noz (looking blunted) and good-sized ones of me (looking Euro disco in my recently flooded basement; Emily says I look "eccentric") & Perps (looking thoughtful).
Posted by CP | Link |
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Masta Killa, "Old Man"
from No Said Date (Nature Sounds, 2004)
Was this song a hit in the summer? Or did it just have blog buzz & Web love? And if it wasn't a hit, why not? And if you can tell me why not, can you also tell me why this here gold-medal tune didn't rock Casey Kasem?
Posted by CP | Link |
Monday, October 18, 2004
Anja Lechner, Vassilis Tsabropoulos, "Chant"
Chants, Hymns, and Dances (ECM New Series, 2004)
I'm not a religious person, but Chants, Hymns, and Dances by German cellist Anja Lechner and Greek pianist Vassilis Tsabropoulos at least makes me glad religion exists. The disc consists of music by Greco-Armenian mystic-cum-nutjob Georges Ivanovitch Gurdjieff---who composed these works between 1925 and 1927 based on half-remembered songs he'd heard during spiritual travels through Asia Minor, Tibet, Afghanistan, and elsewhere---and Greek pianist Tsabropoulos, whose compositions are partially based on Byzantine hymns that are still sung in the Greek Orthodox Church. The results are combinations of Oriental and Occidental meditative sounds, with an improvised looseness that also manages to suggest folk. Maybe this supremely glorious music could have been created outside of religious influence, but I wouldn't want to chance it. Lechner and Tsabropoulos perform tonight at 6 p.m. on the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage. Free. (202) 467-4600. (I think it's also being broadcast live on the Web.)
Posted by CP | Link |
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Gone Fishing
Posted by CP | Link |
Monday, October 11, 2004
Beck, "Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime"
from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind soundtrack (Hollywood, 2004)
The Korgis, "Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime"
from Don't Look Back: The Best of the Korgis (Sanctuary, 2003) and Dumb Waiters (Asylum, 1980)
In honor of the DVD being released, here's the closing song and the OG edition. I'd also throw up the recent version by Zucchero, but that's the problem: I'd throw up. He makes Joe Cocker sound appealing.
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Met Kareem Abdul-Jabbar these weekend at the National Book Festival. Or rather, I forced my way next to the golf cart that was shuttling him from a reading to a signing of his new military history book, and I thrust some copies of JazzTimes into his gigantic hands. Kareem wrote the liner notes for a new Thelonious Monk live CD, and they're pretty good---so I told him he should write for JazzTimes and to give me a call. I'm waiting on pins & needles, but mostly needles, and there's also some hay spread around.
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Speaking of gawking NBA dudes in the flesh:
I saw the Minnesota Timberwolves' Sam Cassell at BWI Airport this summer. I couldn't figure out why he'd be in Baltimore, and then I saw something about the premier party for the The Wire, which Sammy was at, and it turns out he's a Charm City native. I always assumed he was from Venus.
Posted by CP | Link |
Thursday, October 07, 2004
Graffiti in Oslo, Norway
You gotta see this old mash note from sista Carla to Mick "D-Gen" Mars of Motley Crue.
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Our Kid David Adler brilliant (again) in The New Republic on whether the recent court ruling about sampling will really hurt hip-hop.
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My bossman at ESPN the Mag [Web site strangely out of date] puts down the racquet and brings the racket in Turing Machine, whose fab new CD, Zwei, is like Hawkwind and Can minus the vocals---which is why I'm writing some dope rhymes for the band when it hits the District on its fall tour. Granted, Turing Machine doesn't know I'm joining them on stage yet, but I think these guys need someone to bring it suburban raggamuffin' stylee to get them to the next level. (Older MP3 of TM here from its DFA-produced debut LP and one from Zwei right hurr.)
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Jeff Weaver is a bitch, and I'm all for the Cards, but I can't help but root for him (and it's not just cuz I look like dude). Once a Detroit Tigers fan/loser, always a fan/loser. Hell, I still dream about Steve Kemp.
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You heard me: Paste loves the new Vanessa Carlton song, "White Houses."
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Read it at the National Book Festival on Saturday in D.C. and then head over to the Dan Flavin retrospective at the National Gallery of Art. Least that's what I'm doing.
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Claat reggae & dancehall news
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Slipcue's guide to Brazilian music [via Woebot]
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When Mad Was Tall and Phat Was Cold hip-hop MP3s [via Cocaine Blunts]
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Futurism Ain't Shit hip-hop MP3s [via Catchdubs]
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Complete Swervedriver live albums of the studio records [via Kingblind]
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Catching Up With...
Forces at Work
Funk You
Naugahyde Life
Heraclitus Sayz
Dozer Blog
On Ensemble
And my main man with the weak jumper and chronic double dribble (and that's just at the barbecue festivals he frequents), Clint and the Clint Cam bustin' loose with the Hidden Cameras & Kylie Minogue.
Posted by CP | Link |
Wednesday, October 06, 2004
1921-2004
Download the LP:
Rodney Dangerfield, No Respect (MCA, 1980)
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Darkness, darkness, darkness, darkness---the source of all comedy.
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"I asked my old man if I could go ice-skating on the lake. He told me, 'Wait till it gets warmer.'"
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"My mother never breast fed me. She told me that she only liked me as a friend."
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"My father carries around the picture of the kid who came with his wallet."
"Oh, this your wife, huh? A lovely lady. Hey, baby, you must've been something before electricity."
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"Oh, this is the worst-looking hat I ever saw. When you buy a hat like this I bet you get a free bowl of soup, huh? Oh, it looks good on you though."
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"I hear this place is restricted, Wang, so don't tell 'em you're Jewish, OK?"
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Rodney's homepage, instant comedy
Posted by CP | Link |
Monday, October 04, 2004
"All my songs are in the same key. Sorry!"
Saw Nellie McKay in Annapolis on Saturday, and the performance was her usual mixture of stand-up comedy (or sit-down comedy, since she delivered japes from the piano bench) and slighty askew versionings (meaning, she'd mess up the songs on purpose and not on purpose).
Second best moment:
When Nellie finished her set and tried to get backstage---only to find that the door was locked. She seemed momentarily flustered and said, "I didn't lock it!" as she flung her hands in the air. McKay then had to weave her way through the crowd to escape the crowd.
Best moment:
When she recounted her recent appearance at a festival concert in China and tooled on the "diva sellout" (read: Alicia Keys). When Nellie was asked what she thought of China, the mouth roared, "It's polluted, and the people are poor except for the [concert] organizer who is living off the backs of the poor." Diva Sellout then stood up and walked out of the interview session in disgust. No truth to the rumor that Keys---er, Diva Sellout---was heard trilling, in heavy vibrato, "Ohhhh, noooo, she didn't!"
Nellie McKay on NPR
MP3s of live, demo & new trax
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Boom Box
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Ghetto Tech
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Glide magazine
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Piers Plowman archives
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This song is paste (natch), but you can't hate on Sarah McLaughlin's heart.
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Benn Loxo du Taccu brings it West African stylee
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Gutterbreakz kills it daily (Mantronix megamixes!)
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Dub linkz via Swen:
Reggae Mix
Versionist
Dub Room
Posted by CP | Link |
Friday, October 01, 2004
Cocaine Blunts
The broke-ass computer that Noz uses to drop knowledge.
My profile of Noz & Cocaine Blunts,
in the Washington City Paper, Oct. 1-7, 2004
As Nasty as They Wanna Be
Andrew Nosnitsky, half of the Cocaine Blunts and Hip-Hop Tapes DJ team, thinks "it'd be a pretty shitty show if we couldn't play swear words." So it's no surprise when Nosnitsky and George Washington University student Jordan Gaines decide to treat their listeners to Odd Squad's fellatio anthem "Put Cha Lips." "Can I say dick on the radio?" Nosnitsky asks. "I suppose I can."
The pair doesn't get a single protest call. In fact, as Nosnitsky notes, "We don't ever get calls, dude."
Cocaine Blunts can be heard only in GW's Marvin Center, on campus-cable channel 22, or online at GWRadio.com---and there are far better things to do on a Friday night between 8 and 10 than huddle in the student center, listen to radio on TV, or stay glued to a computer as two likable knuckleheads call each other "fool" and spin underground and old-school hip-hop.
But while the radio program broadcasts into virtual nothingness, the show's companion Web site and blog, CocaineBlunts.com, is starting to get some buzz: It's received shine from Rolling Stone, Spin, and the New York Times, and it averages more than 500 unique hits a day. Nosnitsky does the dot-com alone because, Gaines admits, "I don't like to write---or read."
Nosnitsky's MP3 postings and witty write-ups of ultrarare hip-hop songs are the main draw. Recent tunes include a 1980 cut by Disco Dave & the Force of the Five MCs and new, unreleased battle tracks by the little-known rappers the Game and Yukmouth. Though he says a new computer is on the way, Nosnitsky currently manages the site using an iBook that's missing its B, N, period, and +/- keys.
With him and Gaines, both 21, looking to graduate soon, the radio show will likely die with their degrees. But CocaineBlunts.com will continue much as it does now. "I have difficulty writing about something if I'm not passionate about it, which is why the Web site is always going to be a hobby," Nosnitsky says. "I would love to be able to write about really obscure hip-hop all the time, but there's no market for it."
That passion for arcana is evident even in Cocaine Blunts and Hip-Hop Tapes' name, which doesn't reference fetishes for blow-dusted weed and C-90s. It comes, rather, from "Smoke Dope and Rap" by independent San Francisco MC Andre Nickatina. The Bay Area gets repped a lot on the show and site due to the influence of California native Gaines, but Nosnitsky is an East Coaster, hailing from Pennington, N.J. "It's near Princeton---or if you want to help me with my street cred, say Trenton," he kids.
Despite his vast knowledge of hip-hop history, being a white kid from the 'burbs who loves "the sexist stuff---the gangsta stuff" and drinks Mickey's 40s might get him called a poseur by some. Yet the unassuming DJ says his background has only been called into question once---by a white former GW student, no less---when he busted on critical darling Talib Kweli.
"She wrote this diatribe about me on her blog," he recalls. "She said, 'I saw his picture---he's just a stupid white boy.' It was mad funny. She was calling me out on my street cred, which in real-world terms isn't that great. But as far as hip-hop goes, it's pretty damn good. I may be a white boy, but I'm a well-versed white boy."
Posted by CP | Link |
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Who cork the dance?
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