I see the sun creeping out

THURSDAY THE 12TH
Charlie Hunter
Ready...Set...Shango! 1996
[Download It] [Buy It]


I've been addicted to this song of late. It reminds me of this time of yr when spring is beginning to emerge, and the melodies here reflect the playfulness of the weather, the mood, the general feeling spring injects into yr frame of mind.

I don't really like much else of Hunter from this period - the rest of this album was a little langorous for me, and I don't feel he really began to hit his stride until 2001 when he began to open up and collaborate with the likes of Mos Def and Norah Jones, not to mention his transition from Blue Note to Ropeadope and the connections with drumnut Bobby Previte.

Nevertheless, this track bumps and rolls. Hunter's signature guitar style supplants the rhythm nicely, a typical jazz shuffle with the kinks and shuffles on the snare. A solid double horn head floats above Hunter's rolling, stuttering bassline, and the whole thing has a flighty sound to it, like if the feeling of human confidence and assurance were transformed into music.

It has a swagger and a cool about it that brings spring into my mind, and looking out my Brooklyn window at the park trees beginning to show signs of life, dogs and small children running ahead of their parents, and old ladies on repainted benches catching sun flooding over the top of my building, this song really brings it all to a head.

thursday sciences

CHEMICAL CALESTENICS
Blackalicious
Blazing Arrow 2002
[Download It]

Some interesting wordplay and rhythms are to be expected from Blackalicious. They're extremely versatile in terms of hip-hop; with regard to other innovative MCs (Felix/Muad'dib from Heiruspecs, MF Doom, Busdriver), these guys are skilled at sculpting their words and their beats into a coherent, playful form.

This album is full of excellent tracks, but this one is the most inventive and willing to switch things up. Discussions of science and chemical compounds rattle above an intense, dark straight beat. The entire thing is peppered with breakbeat and word/beat matching that breaks the groove down into a robotic style. MCs Gift of Gab and Chief Xcel turn rapping on its head, providing the listener with a funky and technically striking little track.

back on track 4

BRA
Cymande
Cymande 1974
[Download It]


A great, simple song by a vastly-underrated 70s outfit. Cymande, comprised of 8 self-taught musicians from the Caribbean, effortlessly fuse multiple funky genres, one atop the other. Their versatility is only surpassed by their tight grooves and extremely infectious riffs.

This song, used on Spike Lee's Crooklyn soundtrack and then reprised (albeit in a remixed form) in 25th Hour (the club scene - Ed Norton and Barry Pepper looking over the balcony, watching people dance, Anna Paquin and Philip Seymour Hoffman walking slo-mo through the crowds), makes good use of a funky horns hook fused with a great R&B/soul-driven, conga-infused beat.

It should keep the rain at bay for a little while longer.

Tuesday doesn't rhyme with pop: A two-pack

MIRACLE DRUG
A.C. Newman
The Slow Wonder 2004
[Download It] [Buy It]


Canadian people make pretty music, for the most part. Joni Mitchell, Diana Krall, the Arcade Fire, Ron Sexsmith, Tal Bachmann, and AC Newman is no different. This album, one of my favourites from last year, is pure pop. It's infectious - influences like Ben Folds and Ray Davies seep through every track. Piano-laden, sweetened guitar riffs, and obtuse lyrics that confuse the sh*t out of me. Every song comes in the same time signature, putting you in a trance despite the mood shifts between.

This track kicks the album off in the way an album should kick off - loud, electric, pounding, energetic (best track to open an album, as pointed out correctly by my brother, The Beta Band's "Assessment" off their final album, Heroes to Zeroes)

His songwriting is one of the best things about his other bands, The New Pornographers and Zumpano, but his solo album is where he really shines. Not one to underestimate the power of the singalong, his songs touch on the vast range of human emotions (if you ever suffer a rough breakup much like Beck did, and you end up locking yrself in a room for months on end making mix tapes, put "Drink to me, Then" on there somewhere, front and centre), and before long you'll know all the lyrics despite not understanding half of them ("On the Table", for example).

A.C. Newman, part 1 of today's 2.





EARTHQUAKE WEATHER
Beck
Guero 2005
[Download It] [Buy It]


It's a gorgeous day in New York, and Beck's new album is out (more or less, right?). This makes the day even better.

I was concerned about Beck - I couldn't stand Midnite Vultures (too indulgent, not to mention crap also), and Sea Change was so undeniably bleak that it was tough to listen to. The world's most depressed man ever, it seemed, who had come across a full complement of orchestral strings to help soothe his pain and make sense of his heartache. (Had the man never been dumped before?)

But this album, on the whole a little rough around the edges, reminds me again of Odelay. The overall blend of genre and style, wrapped up with his skinny white man-swagger, worked extremely well. Each song was a departure from the last, a far cry from its predecessor. Guero, to me, is no different. He's back to his old ways - splicing as much together as is humanly possible.

This song is one of the gentler songs on the album. Nylon-stringed guitars pluck and twang above a simple beat, choruses punctuated with a playful organ line and his clear, crisp voice soaring over the whole mix. It maintains that idiosyncrasy that has followed Beck through his mottled discography, and yet, it's charming. Handclapping, background voices happily chattering away, upbeat melodies - it beats being miserable, of that much I'm certain.

On the whole I'm still getting used to this album. It's so reminiscent of his former glory that it almost fails to build off that platform, sinking back into that familiar rut instead of reinterpreting itself.

But who cares? This song is fine. Welcome back, Beck.

rain can't stop you

OBE
Fela Ransome Kuti and the Nigeria 70
Koola Lobitos 1964-1968/The '69 Los Angeles Sessions 1994
[Download It] [Buy It]

Simplicity is important to today. It's a monday, and there's already enough floating around in yr heads to cause you trouble. Keep things easy, bright, breezy and clear, and in celebration of that, as well as the rest of the grand plan - be upbeat, let problems roll off your back, be positive, and have a little dance to yrself on the train home.

Fela can do that for you. This track, singing the delights of a Nigerian stew, is raspy, passionate, and fast. Enjoy, more tunes tomorrow, perhaps even a miniature Tuesday mix. We shall see.

Getaway Driver

So you say that you are planning on robbing a bank, corner shop or family member's trust fund? Here's your soundtrack. Go nuts, just don't get caught.

BATTLE OF BONGO HILL
The Herbaliser
Something Wicked This Way Comes [2002]
[Download It]

chase down yr weekend

HOT WHEELS (THE CHASE)
Badder than Evil
Gordon's War OST 1973
[Download It]


Now by no means am I going to claim that I have seen this film, but I sure as hell want to given that I worship its soundtrack. This particular song, by the superbly-monikered Badder Than Evil, has all the hallmarks of that classic 70s chase music. Pick a movie, pick a tv show, pick a scenario where the cops are barrelling around San Francisco or LA or New York, hot on the tails of the bad guys - this is the song that you'd want to propell you round each corner. The problem for me is, as with almost all my favourite songs from this week's posts, is there is little in the way of background info on these cats. They didn't record anything else, they're not credited as individuals - yet another example of the depth and quality of the genre, as there's so much out there collecting dust, and it's up to us to find it.

The film is a loose "Blacksploitation", although according to imdb, that's a rough description. Written by the late, great Ossie Davis, the film tracks a successful Vietnam War vet returning home to Harlem to find his wife dead at the hands of a heroin addiction (yes, this is not a light film). Angered by what has happened, he rounds up 3 of his GI buddies, and the 4 of them set out to rid Harlem of the drug dealers and street scum of Harlem.

Now, this theme of revenge is somehow tied into funk stars, which is a little odd; the swagger of the main characters requires a soundtrack with similar balls. When Charles Bronson's big vengeance movie, "Death Wish" hit the streets, his music was provided by the wonderfully versatile Herbie Hancock.

Regardless, back to Badder Than Evil.... this track has been sampled from here to kingdom come by a whole gamut of quality disc spinners - DJ Food ("The Chase"), Bomb the Bass ("You see me in 3D"), Coldcut ("Theme from Evil Eddy"), Deadly Avenger ("We Took Pelham"), Public Enemy ("Burn Hollywood Burn") and many more. I love it in its original form. It's high-paced, funky, aggressive, in-the-pocket - everything you want from a good funk track. Wah-Wah pedals, buckets full of hi-hat, just the right amount of distorted keys, and a deep, fuzzed-up bass.

It's vivid, it's soulful, it's hyperactive and it's dramatic. It's a good way to kick off the weekend.

a little attitude in yr latte

(PRELUDE TO) SAY BROTHER
Stark Reality
Now 2003 (master tapes: 1969-1970)
[Download It] [Buy It]


Monty Stark, ladies and gentlemen. I picked up this via some scouring through Ropeadope which eventually led me to the venerable Californian funk-reissue/innovative hip-hop label Stones Throw Records. Run by Egon and DJ Peanut Butter Wolf, the pair do a damn fine job of bringing the greats back to life. The L.A. Carnival, the Connecticut Hip-Hop scene of the late-1980s, and then.... Stark Reality.

To quote Egon himself from the liner notes:

"The sounds on their 1970 LP - from Monty Stark's fuzz-toned vibraphone solos to John Abercrombie's wah-wah fluctuations to Phil Morrison's slipping and sliding up and down the neck of his bass guitar to Vinnie Johnson's marching funk - all depart from the sound one might expect to emerge from a late 60s jazz quartet."

The album this track is taken from contains a lot of SR reissues - from their Say Brother work to the more intriguing (though I'm not posting it yet) reworkings and reinterpretations of childrens's songs penned by the late Hoagy Carmichael. That album, "The Stark Reality discovers Hoagy Carmichael's Music Shop", contains some of the nastiest and darkest jazz-funk. Innocent and uplifting ditties are wrung out and turned into grooving, persistent, distorted jazz. Frantic, frenetic, driving; in short, a far cry from the original.

This track is taken from the 70s show Say Brother, an extended theme song of sorts. It's hip, it's happening, it's full of swagger. A great, thumping horn arrangement punctures through sloppy upright bass lines and the gentle, tinkering of Stark on the vibes. The groove slides through tight heads into a relaxed, swung-out groove heavy with percussion and attitude. The lyrics, including some awesome lines like,

Yr looking out of sight
yr natural looks are tight
'cuz black is beautiful, you know....
.. say brother

and really promote the general feel of the song - confidence, self-assurance, and the ability to roll on.


It's a great track, and should keep you boppin' through to the weekend (although one more on the way tomorrow to round things out).

bring me the head of Magnum P.I., Kojak, and Captain Kangaroo too

AQUARIUS/LET THE SUNSHINE IN
The Moog Machine
Switched-on Rock 1969
[Download It]


This is a fun little hump day track. This band, about whom I could find very little bio information, made one album of funk/rock cover songs in the late-1960s, and then off they went. Regardless, the album has many bright spots, this being perhaps the brightest.

Originally written by the 5th Dimension and later sampled by the Beastie Boys (check out the song "Finger Lickin' Good" off their 1992 release Check your Head - this is back when they were still being relatively inventive and sampling as many as 18 songs on one single track), it's bouncy and engaging, warm and happy. There's something about a Moog being used as a feature instrument that kinda gets me excited; it adds that futuristic sound but from their perspective and looking back on it now, it has that perfect frozen-in-time aura that we can distinguish from the time period.

Not normally going to be one to post covers, but this one rocks and rolls with a little funkyness to it. I could dance to this, I think. The quick change in the middle of the song comes as a breath of fresh air; the two songs combined works nicely together, and whoever their drummer is knows how to keep the hips wiggle-wagglin'.

More Moog please, enjoy this with yr breakfast.

to strut requires a catwalk, a sidewalk, and yr own two feet

INNER CITY BLUES
Reuben Wilson
[Download It]


This is a kickin' interpretation of the Marvin Gaye classic (Makes me Wanna Holler) by one of the legends of the Hammond B-3. Wilson has played with some jazz-funk greats - drummers Idris Muhammad (Sam Cooke, Pharaoh Sanders, notably backed Roberta Flack) and Bernard Purdie ("The World's Most Recorded Drummer": BB King, Aretha Frankin, Joe Cocker, Larry Coryell, Miles Davis, and many many more), guitarist Grant Green, and horns players like Lee Morgan (Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers) - and his music is a joy. Soulful, jazz-inflected organs percolating over tight rhythms.

This version of the song takes an instrumental path, and he really extracts a lot from the music. The wails of his B-3 mimic a gospel-type voice, giving the song a little bit of happiness.

From his 1974 release "The Sweet Life" on Groove Merchant. The band keeps it snug and Wilson lets loose from his stool.

A song with an attitude for an odd day of the week.

if monday morning required an injection of movie food

(find more of these cartoons @ Toothpaste for Dinner, a funny site)



BUTTER THAT POPCORN
The RDM Band
[Download It]


Alright, alright, I know this song has been featured just about everywhere from SoulGeneration to Keb Darge/DJ Shadow's Funk Spectrum series, but who cares? It's such an addictive track that writhes its way underneath yr fingernails and encourages movement in every part of yr body (and yes, I mean every part).

Nothing about this is not enjoyable. Dance the night away with this bumpin' song from a band about whom it's nigh-on impossible to find anything else about. The RDM Band, known to vinyl lovers and funkhounds, lay it on heavy here, and despite yr current disposition, perhaps sitting in a cubicle or worse in front of yr screen, waiting for the clock to tick around to five pm, this is about the best celebration song you could have for strutting out the door.

Horns springing from every pore of the sound, bringing to mind that classic funk-era with the likes of Mr. Clean, the JBs, the Backyard Heavies. Funk guitar strumming away, infectious groove and intensely erratic heads, charisma and joy; these are the hallmarks of the Funk sound.

'Nuff said. Look out for a week of hot drippin' jazz-funk to keep those late-winter chills at bay and echo in the nu-Spring.

Fade In, Fade Out, Indeed (take 2)

Tunes rarely get the justice they deserve, and when they do it's even more rare that this justice came from words. But if the words are willing and I happen to be conscious, then more power to me - and more music to YOU.

THIEVERY CORPORATION
Resolution (Rewound by Thievery Corporation)
Babylon Rewound 2004

[Download It]

a long morning's into night

BANQUET
Bloc Party
Silent Alarm 2005
[Download It]

Something energetic for friday. Get off yr arse, leave yr cubicle for dust.

These feisty Brits, yet to be officially released in the US (March 22, 2005, in fact), have a great sound. Anyone remember Kenna? The Senegalese (I think) singer with a sound reminiscent of the Cars, a kinda-melodic voice soaring over ruptured electronic beats? His album, New Sacred Cow, has been a sleeper favourite of mine over the last 18 months or so since a friend who interned for Interscope managed to get me an advance copy.... well, Bloc Party carry that same exuberance and penchant for that electronic era, although they also display the kind of enthusiasm and energy found in, say, Gang of Four or any uptempo ska-punk. The beats here are driving and pulsing, and singer-guitarist Kele Okereke sounds possessed by an early Damon Albarn: howling, screaming, loud and proud and yet oddly fragile.

This is a great weekend song. Today is Friday, and we'll all go on to do outrageous things and cause trouble for our local establishments (I'm in Boston until monday, so I'm playing away from home in that respect). Download it and bounce around yr living room thinking of poppy Limey predecessors - Madness, Gary Numan, early-Manic Street Preachers, the Police, XTC - until it's time to head to the pub or club for a few vodka tonics.

"I'm on fire, so stub me out."

rifling through the self-doubt and finding gold nuggets

UNICORN
Dizzy Gillespie and Lalo Schiffrin
Classic Jazz-Funk Mastercuts Vol. 1 2000
[Download It] [Buy It]


This is a classic, classic track from a slightly cheesy yet fondly-observed Mastercuts series. Off the MC label, there have been at least 5 volumes of original vinyl cut tracks from some of music's finest in the jazz-funk world - Spyro Gyra, Gil Scott-Heron, Winston Felder - that at least give you something to dance about, if very little else.

The track is upbeat and mischievous - little jazz guitar licks over a jolly, kinda-Chic reminiscent rolling bass line gobbling over the frets. Simple beats, and then that signature Dizzy mute in tandem with the whining synths. Who could ask for more? It's the sort of thing yr mum might request at her 50th birthday party, maybe even the grandparents could wriggle their wrinkled rumps, keepin' time the whole time.

Dizzy and Lalo, friends and collaborators from at least 1960-9162 (check out Gillespiana on the Verve label - latin-drenched be-bop live from Carnegie Hall), brought an edge to each other's sound. Gillespie, intent on bringing be-bop out of the clubs and into a more artistic vein, found great inspiration from Schiffrin and his sweeping compositions. Two suites ensured, penned by Lalo for Dizzy, before Lalo took his talents to Quincy Jones and, amongst all other scores, the Mission Impossible Theme. Lalo, on the other hand, bringing the feel of Count Basie to Latin America, met Gillespie in 1956, and found room within Dizzy's vast talents to develop his own sound and song-writing skills.

The two work well here, and I think this kind of ump-hop track demonstrates that their time together was more than fruitful.

(It goes without saying, the songs will be back-hosted soon. But look, I've escaped my nostalgia phase, so 1 out of 2 ain't at all bad.)

if rain made itself into wine

A.M. 180
Grandaddy
Under the Western Freeway 2001
[Download It]

(Another nostalgia pick)

There are instances when you need a little, well, pepping up. The weather is miserable, the commute is dull and dreary. Rows upon rows of glum expressions, seats filled with soaking wet laissez-faire people all trudging about their decidedly un-merry way.

You need a boost. You need a little jam on yr butter. You crave a little nudge in the ribs to get you on yr feet. Regardless of any wayward interpretations of the lyrics which, in the case of Jason Lytle, add a twinge of sadness and disappointment to the otherwise happy song, despite the thrashing, droning guitars, the joy comes bundled in that bouncing NES Mario riff that percolates and permeates throughout.

It gives you what you need. Energy, a reason to bomp and stomp with the best of them. The lyrics give you the urge to get off yr rear-end - no matter what yr situation, there's the opportunity to accomplish anything.

"We'll diffuse bombs, walk marathons, and take home whatever together..."


I think that's the sort of thing we need on days like these.

(Like we have both said, songs will be hosted soon. Honest. I will also get off my nostalgia kick and dig into things with more of a theme to them. Again, honest.)

for all the fat cats in washington

AURORA BOREALIS
Meat Puppets
II - 1983
[Download It] [Buy It]


Most of the initial posting here by me is somewhat on impulse. Unlike most other sites of similar fame, there is a theme or a method, but i've been feeling pretty nostalgic of late and it has seeped all the way through to this. Especially with this band, one that I've been carrying around for many years and that still manages to get me going every now and then.

With this band, and more specifically this track, there is a image frozen in my mind, one quite distinct and yet quite recognizable.

Coming over to the US, I met some folks in Philadelphia who lumbered with them that same devil-may-care-and-yet-I-don't-care-either attitude, one common for the period in time (late-90s), and this found its way into me too. Driving around the suburbs each night, drinking and causing minor troubles, there inevitably came a soundtrack to the madness, a theme song for the mayhem. The Meat Puppets were that flag flying high, telling the world that we were on our way and not afraid to let everyone know of our imminent arrival. Swimming pools, Yuengling, flannel, outgrown hair cut badly by ones peers, KFC, Richard Linklater, Nirvana: the whole gamut.

The MPs were a by-product of this way of life, and despite their existence throughout from 1980-1996 (I believe their last major radio airplay, not something they ever found much of, came from the track "Backwater" off 1994's "Too High to Die", their last studio release), the driving power from the whole SST label explosion of grunge and speed metal/rockabilly (Soundgarden's first releases cut on here - now there's a blast from the past), they were just as relevant.

Acid-soaked, agitated, at times dissonant and harmonic, psychedelic, high-octane shifts between awestruck surf guitar and bouncing bass - the Pups were a force to be reckoned with. Tex-Mex meets bluegrass, punk meets the Beach Boys. The sounds of the Southwest ooze from its every pore as they take you on a journey that has no clear destination in mind, no rest stops along the way. Despite the sometimes unlistenable vocals, aside from their wishy-washy discography that has you in heaven one minute and the back of an ambulance the next, they filled a large part of my adolescence. The beauty of having an mp3 player is that I can cram it full of anything and everything I ever listened to, in tribute of the cyclical nature of my music tastes and itches, brought them back around to me this morning while neck-deep in editing.

Take a moment with this track, and enjoy where it takes you. Close yr eyes and put the music to a place, the notes to a location. The streaky, almost noodling lines of Curt Kirkwood float over the persistent rhythm, bringing to mind the kind of dream-like visuals of men teetering on the edge of a cliff, amps turned up high and then turned up more, letting the music flood out into a dry canyon.

Cris Kirkwood's bass trickles up and down around the playful melody like treacle over warm tar. It carries with it that hint of mischief behind the facade of indifference of my youth: show the world an uninterested face and then glass them with a whisky bottle when their back is turned. Shove yr high-school principal into the mud after a rainstorm. Hit golf balls into Macy's during the Christmas rush. Leave unpaid tabs at the local Chinese suburban banquet house. The MPs took this youthfulness and pushed it up; this would be our getaway song, our chance to beat the hood of the car with our fists in time with Derrek Bostrom's pacing snare, happy in our escape, thankful for our weekend time well spent. The repetitions of the riff egg you along, push you to do more; these are the teenage years seen in movies where actions have no consequence, no lessons are ultimately learned, and everyone goes about their business despite what's gone before, blissfully unaware while sucking down Molson, Pilsner Urquell, PBR, Evan Williams Kentucky Bourbon, Ten High and coke with two rocks of ice.

I haven't seen those guys in at least 4 years, but hearing these songs bring them right back to where they once were, right by my side, ready to do whatever might present itself as an opportunity, a chance, potential. Music is supposed to do that to you, and for the Meat Puppets, that rule holds true.

welcome, and feed we shall.

BROKE
The Beta Band
Hot Shots II 2001
[Download It] [Buy It]

Kicking it off in fine style, I bring you..... the Beta Band. Fine electronic Brits no longer doing the rounds, having disassembled sometime in the summer of last year, they put out some quality albums during their day. Labeled by amazon.com as " folksy, futuristic, dubbed-out atmospherics and off-kilter pop. Think Beck meets Lee Perry meets Pink Floyd meets RZA meets Beatles", they are highly worthy of extended rotations on all fronts. Their output, while a little light, runs the whole gamut; they evolve nicely from a more organic and pensive sound into full-on drama; synthetic rhythms layered with graceful vocal melodies and sparse fulfillments of synths. The particular song, 'Broke', from Hot Shots II, has a reasonably assertive message enveloped in an infectious beat. The song grows around you like yr favourite bar, like a well-used recipe: the results are always to par, never letting you down, never failing to live up to the identity they already have in yr mind.

They will be missed. Briefly recognized within that god-awful film adaptation of Hornby's "High Fidelity", in which they used perhaps my least favourite BB song, they contributed a thoughtfulness to their particular niche of music, that breath between the forlorn limey acoustica of Badly Drawn Boy and the acquired choral and spatial sounds of Spiritualized.

Download this song. Let it add a spring to yr step.