If God is a DJ, then life is a radio station. I've been getting lots of static lately. Transition is a strange thing, isn't it? Zora Neale Hurston said 'there are years that ask questions and years that answer.' Oi.
Ike and Tina Turner - I Want To Take You Higher
Ike and Tina Turner - Come Together
My mantra has been simple: just breathe and watch the Ike and Tina bootleg you got for free. Tina Turner was the hardest working woman in show business and Ike, despite his misdirected anger and inferiority complex, was a really good guitarist. How she let that wig on a broomstick beat her, I'll never know. But, R.I.P.
Ike really ran a tight ship. Besides a couple of issues with the mics of the background singers/dancers, everything else went more than smoothly. Well-rehearsed isn't the word, either. Precise is the word. They're still humans so it was a little rough around the edges but I was impressed. Tina and her background singers/dancers are dressed in bright, bold colored dresses and backed by Ike and his band in mostly reds and oranges. It makes for an interestingly retro-looking stage.
They play a lot of easily recognizable songs from their catalog but in a faster tempo and with more of a rock 'n roll nuance to it. I won't say it makes them more likeable because that isn't it. What it does is make you appreciate the range of the song they constructed and/or the capability of the people playing it [given that some of the songs are not original compositions].
Maybe I've seen What's Love Got To Do With It? too many times, but if Hollywood wasn't exaggerating about Ike's abusive dominance and the fact that he had almost complete control over Tina Turner's career then there is something that that stands out most about this show based on the quality and its structure: Ike was a businessman first and a husband second who put this woman to work.
I've been watching it for, like, four days, though. I really like it. Must find more old concert footage!
Posted at 11:17AM May 31, 2008 by Etta Strange in Music | Comments[0]
I have a dear friend who loves to dance and I can always tell when he likes what he's hearing because a wave starts up his body. He's from the south so more of his movement is initiated from the lower half of his body. I guess it's a regional thing. His legs start moving, then his hips, then his arms. And then it's over. He's a good dancer who loves house music. Maybe I can get that thief to write a Book Worm review for The Rough Guide To House Music after he returns my book [:)]. Berlin's Boys Noize reminds me of him.
& Down - Boys Noize
Lava Lava - Boys Noize
Boyz Noize is Alexander Ridha, an electro-tech DJ and producer. He released "Oi Oi Oi" last year in September on his own label appropriately named Boysnoize Records established way back in 2005. Before that he was releasing albums on French labels like Kitsuné Music, DJ Hell's International Deejay Gigolo Records and Tiga's Turbo Records under the names 909d1sco and Kid Alex. Lately, he's done remixes for Feist, Justice and German electronic musician Apparat who also ows Shitkatapult Records.
This music is heavy and crunchy. The amount of distortion used reaches disastrously delicious heights. It's gaudy glamour that makes your speakers crackle with its persistance. It's pure machine sound with none of that space pop sass or appropriation of intergalactic regions and planets as true birth locations that's been exciting people since Funkedelic sang to ride on the chariot. It's not aliens invading earth or sound waves reverberating through dimensions. It's the space ship cruising without needless inhabitants trying to navigate it.
This is Daft Punk's evil twin.
Posted at 08:34PM May 29, 2008 by Etta Strange in Music | Comments[0]
Fried My Little Brains - The Kills
Brainfeeder - Flying Lotus
Stretch your brains out some and head over to Free Documentaries.org , Filmtalks.net or Moviesfoundonline.com to watch as many free documentaries as you can stand. I suggest either Jesus Camp or The Mayan Doomsday Prophecy to start. Cheers!
Posted at 08:31PM May 29, 2008 by Etta Strange in Music | Comments[0]
Perhaps one of the very best things about living in a place like Berkeley is all of the free stuff you find literally everywhere. When I first moved here a couple years ago, I went for a walk in my neighborhood to familiarize myself with my area and happened upon a “Wish Box”; some kind of community donation box with all kinds of random things you need and don’t need. There’s a thrift store down the block that has a free day every month where they just give everything away. Aside from those organized efforts, there are the frequent boxes of free things on the side of the street and outside of stores including outside of my newest job - Rasputin Music.
Last week, I lucked out so intensely that I will have to post my findings in parts. In short: hallelujah.
Posted at 02:00PM May 24, 2008 by Etta Strange in Music | Comments[0]
I don’t intend to get married. It’s something I can only narrowly see myself doing. However, that hasn’t stopped me from daydreaming and drooling about a wedding reception playlist. A few days someone told me about their “painful” experience at metal wedding reception where the first dance was some cookie monster growl-fest. My rudeboy joked about having Tim McGraw’s “I’m Amazed By You” as the first dance at his reception. My response? Barry White’s “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe.” Clearly, I intend to jam.
Last night I had to sit down and sew a shirt. What that mean to me was that I was going be stuck sitting in the one place using my hands which meant I needed to pick an album to sit down and listen to. It’s been awhile since I’ve given a Barry White album a spin even though I’d vote the man for president even in the grave based on his musical expertise alone [exhibit a, exhibit b].
Let the Music Play - Barry White
Baby, We Better Get It Together - Barry White
Oh, What A Nice For Dancing - Barry White
About 3/4 through the album, I started flirting with the idea of a “Barry White Only” reception. Besides having a pretty central theme of love, sex and passion, I cannot say enough about the composition of his tracks. The instrumentation really showcases his fundamental grasp on the mechanics of music theory and also what has probably always been an innate of what makes sounds feel good going into people’s ears.
I could go on and on, but I won’t. I already have a couple times. I love this man for his use of strings.
Posted at 01:57PM May 22, 2008 by Etta Strange in Music | Comments[0]
I usually wouldn’t waste my time complaining about the quality of an album, but I opened my wallet up for this one so the truth shall prevail.
I went into this completely, totally and wholly bias. I didn’t know what I was going to hear, but I knew I was going to love it. I had no stringent expectations that would narrow my field of listening enough that I wouldn’t like what I heard if it was unlike what I thought it would be. In theory, she’s my cup of tea: a seemingly peculiar gal with the mind to venture outside of social, cultural and gender norms to quench some ineffable thirst for life. And Timobe Lockhart may in fact be one of these women but her music is forgettable and mediocre. This album is a slow-paced occasion with drab ballads, lazy melodies and middle-school-diary lyrics being used for college-aged emotions.
The first listen of her 8-track effort took less than two minutes. When my mind isn’t engaged, I go into radio review mode from when I used to screen music to be put on the jukebox. I’m generous with the first few moments and I’ll even let a person start singing but if their melody is weak and remains weak even after I skip 90 seconds in, chances are it was a terrible song. I let it sit for a week and then came back to it, remembering times in the past where I hated something only to later realize I just didn’t know how to appreciate it at first listen [see: Dismemberment Plan]. The second listen yielded worse results.
So, in short: save your money and just listen on myspace or let someone burn it for you if you are curious.
Posted at 12:18AM May 22, 2008 by Etta Strange in Music | Comments[0]
Yesterday I found myself in a flurry of scenes and sounds. Over at Mighty they were giving out free BBQ and drinks in honor of the ridiculous [read: anything over 75 is too hot around these parts, but it's true that it's been, like, 100 degrees] heat the Bay Area's been having the last few days. The DJ there was a glistening Ken doll equipped with muscles and highlights bouncing around behind turntables spinning what I later explained to a good friend as some kind of techno or house or something or the other. What I forgot is that I was talking to a house head and he gave me a brief interrogation as to whether it was techno or house because there is a big difference. I still say it was both.
At Zeitgeist the patio was packed and the punk they had blaring was barely audible over the throngs of people outside sipping on their drink of choice. I remember hearing a Damned song and maybe even an Anti-Animal League jam while I was out there.
Over at El Rio the music was mixed. Inside of the bar was some kind of brassy, instrumental latin soul but in the back and out on the patio was definitely techno and mostly ignored by those out there drinking.
Lastly, it was Free Funk Friday over in the Mission at the Elbo Room. I wasn't too impressed with the music selections of the DJ there but only because I was hugely misinformed about what type of funk was going to be spun that night. It was more of a latin funk night. Great music to stand around and drink to, but not very good music to dance to. There were moments where hints of Afrobeat starting creeping in, but me and my people ended up leaving instead of waiting around to find out if it would get better
Posted at 04:25PM May 17, 2008 by Etta Strange in Music | Comments[0]
Under the Radar: Marcus Roberts.
The sun does not dictate my slumber, my body does. My unintentional affinity for the early morning hours has brought me great gifts. Sometimes it’s like waiting for the dust and din of the day to settle so I can see what’s really there once everything folds into silence.
On one of those nights I was flipping through channels aimlessly when I ran into Marcus Roberts. Actually, it was what I had heard that stopped me. It sounded like someone had done a mash-up not of a few tracks but a mash-up of separate genres. There was a live orchestra spread out before your typical white-haired, bespectacled, almost Einsteinian conductor jerking around mechanically with his baton. But, even further towards the front of the stage sat a little trio: a percussionist, a bassist and a pianist.
They had taken a classicial song that I did not recognize and were alternating between each genres interpretations of it before playing simultaneously together with surprisingly melodice results. The most remarkable part of the performance, though, was the pianist. He was given a solo near the last fourth of the piece and spent a few moments calmly and humbly showing everyone what a virtuoso sounds like. The best part, however, was the end of the performance when Marcus Roberts stood up and gave a modest bow before being escorted him off of the stage. The man was blind.
From what I gather, his story kind of plays out in the same way as Jesus’: His birth was noted and not much else between that was recorded until he was a young man. By the age of five Roberts had completely lost all of his vision. Skip to his college career where he studied at Florida State University and was hand-picked by famed trumpeter Wynton Marsalis as his pianist when Roberts was only 22. After studying under Marsalis, Roberts began releasing his own records.
With a little research, I was able to recover the video which shows plenty of footage I missed by jumping in the middle. With more research I found out that this was an entirely improvised performance by the Marcus Roberts Trio. You might be able to see or hear traces of that. There’s one part where he’s playing and you can see his drummer and bassist watching and listening intensely to go back into a tune they recognize so that they can join him.
CLICK TO WATCH VIDEO ON YOUTUBE.
Posted at 02:24PM May 14, 2008 by Etta Strange in Music | Comments[0]
Had the Godfather of Soul been alive, he would have celebrated his birthday 80th birthday earlier this month on the 3rd. I don't know if this re-issue was timed to coincide with that overlooked holiday but it was certainly released suspiciously close. If you look at the album below, you can see it was released by Brown's very own label, People Records.
World of Soul - James Brown [SAMPLE]
I Feel Good - James Brown [SAMPLE]
Posted at 03:07PM May 12, 2008 by Etta Strange in Music | Comments[2]
Walking up to the cash register to leave the record store is usually a painful process where I have to try to forget all the great music I had to put back. I haven’t been able to get three albums off of my mind since yesterday.
I got to hear a track from this by Akira S & As Garotas Que Erraram [which my friend told me translates to Akira S and The GIrls Who Made Mistakes -- awesome] and I was really intrigued. It sounded like a Brazillian Joy Division. Kind of a dark wave band with cold-as-steel synths and droning vocals. Of course, I only heard one song but I was definitely impressed and want to hear more.
I had the hardest time putting this album back. The smaller print beneath the big title reads: “A Celebration of rare and unreleased Afro-Beat quarried from across the continent.” I got the chance to listen to the song on there called “Yuda” and it stopped me in my tracks. I’m sure to most it sounds like your average polyrhythmic occasion but my brain catches on cymbal-centric percussion. Definitely a gem/jam.
It’s A Vanity - Gabo Brown & Orchestre Poly-Rythmo [SAMPLE]
First stumbled upon this gem/jam on Analog Africa and my mouth started watering. After some asking around, some rotten liar told me alllllll about this album and then told me I wouldn’t be able to find it very easily. Why the lies?! I had resigned to this false truth and then while flipping through the Africa section this album appeared. I bet most of my fellow shoppers must have thought I was schizophrenic because I started cursing the liar under my breath; I had hung my heart on this album as a lost cause and then it showed up waaaay out of my budget. Expensive find but it’s the jam. So, I urge you: find it, buy it and be redeemed.
Posted at 02:35PM May 06, 2008 by Etta Strange in Music | Comments[0]
Free Mixtape Download & New Santogold Track
myspace | click here to download mixtape
Recommended to me via Myspace from the man who mixed it himself, Machinedrum [myspace]. Who you're looking at up there is Theophilus London, an MC from Brooklyn who I don't know a damn thing about except this mixtape playful and imaginative. Kind of like a Kanye you'd want to be around except he might be smart instead of just clever. Definitely worth listening to.
TRACKLIST:
1.] Jam!
2.] Blindfolded
3.] Future Times
4.] Die 4 You
5.] Late Night Operation
6.] One For Me Freestyle
7.] Epitome
8.] Night Ridin'
9.] Star Scream
10.] Leader Of the New School
11.] Invisible Man
12.] superbad
13.] Rest Of 'Em
14.] Call Tyrone
15.] The Blues
16. Forever Begins
17.] Ber Ber Der Dant
18.] Ultra Violet
19.] DVRC
20.] Stranger In Moscow
Posted at 08:06PM May 04, 2008 by Etta Strange in Music | Comments[0]
Blessed By The Free Music Gods.
Quickly and unrelated to much else: I really, really like the international news broadcasts that come on the public access channels in my area [5 Day News and India's CNN are great]. A few years ago I found DW-TV, a German program and earlier today they played some European R&B that was kind of good. Too bad it was just background music to a feature about interior design.
Today I happened upon a few free records and a bunch cassette tape singles outside of my local Rasputin. Two of the records have blank labels on them. Who knows what could be on them? One of them is a Romey Rome, 8 Ball and MJG single and the other one has "UNKNOWN BUT SICK!!" written onto one of the blank labels. I couldn't pass them up.
The list of cassette singles is as follows:
"Make Your Move For Love" - The Rainbow Girls
Mary Jane's Last Dance" - Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
"Love Like This" - Grover Washington, Jr.
"Skin I'm In" - Cameo
"Scream/Childhood" - Michael Jackson
"Strawberry 23" - Tevin Campbell
"Slyde" - Cameo
"Everytime My Heart Beats" - Riff
"What You Don't Know" - Expose
"Too Much Information" - Duran Duran
"Go For Yours" - Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam Full Force
"Wonderwall" - Oasis
Compilations:
Sweet Sound '88
Amazing Greats
Misc:
Scary Sound Effects - Kid Rhino
Posted at 06:50PM May 03, 2008 by Etta Strange in Music | Comments[0]
FREE MIXTAPE DOWNLOAD! - TANYA MORGAN.
DJ SOUL PRESENTS TANYA MORGAN IS A RAP GROUP
myspace | click here to download | official site
TRACKLIST:
1. Dirt Weed (Intro)
2. Waiting For You (produced by suburb)
3. You Should Know feat. Naledge of Kidz In The Hall
4. Shake It Off feat Kam Moye & Torae (produced by brizzo)
5. Got Fans (produced by Eric Lau)
6. So Sweet
7. Walk My Way (produced by aeon)
8. Killa Tape Interlude
9. Stay Tuned
10. She Moved Outta Cincy (08 Mix)
11. Four Men feat. Kay (produced by Dj Cozmos & King Midas)
12. Golden feat. Elucid
13. Hello Brooklyn feat. Jay-Z & Lil Wayne (Von Pea Remix)
14. Go To Get It feat. Median
15. Che Tanya (produced by cj)
16. Brazilian Wax
17. Bathtub (Interlude)
18. Come Here Shawty feat. Ink Floyd (produced by h/r)
19. Kim & Cookie Interlude
20. Take The W (produced by 88 keys)
21. Bout To Be Some (produced by khrysis)
22. You May Die Now Interlude
23. Tanya Morgan Is A Rap Group
24. And You Say feat. Che Grand
I realize this is dated in internet time, but there are still people who missed it. Cheers to you few.
Posted at 06:30PM Apr 30, 2008 by Etta Strange in Music | Comments[0]
I was misinformed. I knew Santogold was good, but I didn't realize how good she was. I sat down with a friend yesterday and listened to the entire album the whole way through. It was a satisfying geek session to a degree I haven't had the delight in engaging in for far too long. It's so cheesy to say, but I think a lot of people who view music as sustenance not just entertainment, distraction or pleasure have needed Santogold to make this album. I did, anyway.
At first listen, it transcends the suffocation of direct classification by being a cohesive compilation of her musical capabilities. She offers eleven fully-actualized songs that really display her ability as a craftsman and her loyalty as a music lover. The key is subtlety and precision. She writes songs that have texture and range that combine key elements that betray her as a songwriter with the passion to mold a niche into an expertise full of technique.
For people who are only [or mostly] familiar with Santogold from the tracks on her myspace and the few Stiffed tracks floating around here and there [refer back to "I Believe. I Do."], her album falls somewhere between the two extremes and everywhere in the outlying areas as well. She hyperspeeds through eras and genres with grace and respect, giving notable nods to classic acts, beloved tones and timeless approaches to melding melody by bending them all to her likeness.
It's reminiscent of what I originally understood it to mean to be called "indie." When I was first introduced to the genre, it was classified as such based on its difficulty to classify it as much else. Because rock 'n' roll borrowed it's basic structure from rhythm and blues and a lot of indie music was deviating from the structure of rock 'n' roll it became this huge gray area for a lot of musicians to play in.
Some tracks like "Lights Out" remind me of The Breeders. "My Superman" reminded my friend of Siouxsie and the Banshees. "Unstoppable" is a grimy dubfest with sparce percussion and thinly stacked vocals. There's even a track that's almost a mix of Bow Wow Wow, The B-52s and another era-specific sound I can't identify after rifling through my sonic rolodex.
The bottom line is that this woman knows what she's doing and does it well. Besides The Roots, I think Santo's album is the first that I'd genuinely be interested in hearing the songs that didn't make it on the final pressing. Her album is an occasion, a reason to sit down, listen and appreciate one of the few music makers who deserves to be the melody floating around in your brain.
Posted at 07:15PM Apr 28, 2008 by Etta Strange in Music | Comments[0]
Orlando Julius - SUPERAFROSOUL
Jagua Nana - Orlando Julius & His Modern Aces
Ise Owo - Orlando Julius and His Modern Aces
I dropped some bucks on this album quite some time ago and went into the whole listening experience with some extremely narrow expectations based solely on the album's title, the cover and a picture of Orlando Julius sitting with James Brown on the inside. Upon first listen, I found myself disappointed due to my perceived the lack of "soul" in the music. The James Brown threw me off.
At first listen this album immediately registers more as Afrobeat than any form of soul. I have to confess that my World Music cache is quite unimpressive. To be perfect honest, besides the random gems/jams in my catalogue, the only African musician that I am really familiar with is Fela Kuti. With that in mind I thought it might be helpful for me to use Kuti as a comparison specimen until I began to deconstruct with I was actually listening to and realized that I was being too literal for my own enjoyment.
My ear looks to recognize genre from an American perspective and the traditional, polyrhythmic percussion whose roots are traced back to West Africa. This album was released in 1966 in Lagos, Nigeria five years after both Nigeria and Ghana were granted their independence from Britain. Literally, what you're hearing is liberation music but technically what you are hearing is the lovechild of two different influences.
The first is a branch of Nigerian music called Highlife, supposedly West Africa's first popular music genre. This genre is most identifiable by it's guitar-based sound that Africanizes the European-influenced society bands and military marching bands. The next influence comes from the traditional worship music which incorporated 'kokoma' beats. An anecdote about Orlando Julius paints him following priests and worshippers around to their performances to observe and later mimic their music.
In 1964, Julius formed the Modern Aces and released their first single "Jagua Nana" the following year. When the soul from the States began invading the airwaves acts like Smokey Robinson, Otis Redding and the rosters of influential labels like Motown, Atlantic and Stax began being incorporated into Julius' sound.
Overall, it's an interesting listen with mild echoes of recognizable elements of American soul music but is obviously more closely linked with more traditional West African sounds. Definitely worth a listen.
Posted at 12:30AM Apr 28, 2008 by Etta Strange in Music | Comments[34]