Image courtesy of www.cuteoverload.com
New York
Kerrier District
Kerrier District [2004]
[Listen] [Buy] [Information Site]
My Favorite Things
Andre 3000
The Love Below [2003]
[Listen] [Buy] [Official Site]
Staff Credits
Sega Sound Team
Sonic The Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles Original Game Soundtrack [Sega Genesis] [1994]
[Listen] [Buy] [Official Site]
American Girls
Homie
Meet The Deedles Original Motion Picture Soundtrack [1998]
[Listen] [Buy]
You Can Find The Feeling
Master Musicians of Jajouka
Master Musicians of Jajouka Featuring Bachir Attar & Talvin Singh [2000]
[Listen] [Buy] [Official Site]
*Aaaaaah* - Nothing like a steaming cup of kohee o nimimasu to shake off the sleeps. Sometimes I get out of bed yearning for some Miles Davis, other times I'll head straight for a main line of Jungle beats. The following tracks are currently on my a.m. rotation - may they migrate to yours.
The world of electronic music, acid jazz & trip hop would surely be a little different sans Luke Vibert. Luke is the producing master mind behind earlier FmGT featured tracks such as Wagon Christ's 'Shadows' [an excellent song - it's in the FmGT archives here] - In fact, Luke IS Wagon Christ. The Cornish fellow is also known to record/perform under the monikers of Plug, Amen Andrews and Kerrier District. Though Plug leans quite a bit toward Drum'n'Bass - the majority of Vibert's catalogue features a sound fusion of progressive electronic and funk, which makes his work similar to another one of my favorites - Fila Brazillia. He lacks repetition and replaces it with soul. 'New York' has a funky sound found on the dark side of the tracks. It's very synth rooted, and features a great beat that uses samples of hand clapping and snapping to an almost amusing effect. I'm a big fan, Luke, keep it up.
With Stankonia, Dre & Big Boi continued to pump out hip-hop from the dirty souf while setting themselves apart - simply - concentrating on solid beats and high production values rather than attitude and cheddar. 2003, however, saw a different kind of Outkast, with the release of the double album Speakerboxxx // The Love Below. It seemed as if they boys took their individual mindsets in their own direction and really stayed true to their personal goals. Big Boi, following a sort of mainstream formula and Dre [Andre 3000] really got creative when compared to the general borderlines of hip hop at the time. Not only was this double album a creative success, but from a marketing standpoint it was pure genius - rather than releasing efforts on their own, they packaged their individual efforts together and thus expose two seemingly polar opposites of Outkast to unsuspecting chicken legs. Andre's version of 'My Favorite Things' [as well known for being one of John Coltrane's signature songs] is easily my favorite track on the album because it sticks out like a sore thumb.
Before The Crystal Method was commissioned to provide the soundtrack to the Playstation game Nitris Oxide and pre-dating Amon Tobin's original soundtrack to Playstation 2's popular game Splinter Cell, there were other music industry-to-game industry efforts, though slightly hidden, or perhaps disguised for a reason - but later discovered by those with astute ears. Recent information has been uncovered that suggests that Sega, makers of the Sonic the Hedgehog series, had originally commissioned Michael Jackson to write the score for what was, at the time, the yet to be released Sonic the Hedgehog 3 for the Sega Genesis [released 1994]. After the Jackson scandals began to appear it would seem that Yuji Naka and the Sonic Sound Team scrapped the idea to work with Jackson. But, some of the tracks featured on the final soundtrack of Sonic 3 [original console version] feature striking similarities to Jackson's music. The 'Staff Credits' theme for example is almost identical to a triple speed version of MJ's 'Stranger in Moscow.' It's very interesting. Take a listen and you'll hear that it's almost the same song. [I learned about this from the following movie, which was made known by the solid videogame news site 4 Color Rebellion].
'American Girls' are such a tease! That is to say, the Homie's song by this name is a tease - it's Homie's only song! That is, if you look at it from a release standpoint and exclude tracks that have not seen official album release. Homie is/was the side project of Weezer's Rivers Cuomo along with members of the Cake, The Rentals & Soul Coughing. The guitar in this track is such a trademark Cake element, which might be why I like it so much [being a very big Cake fan myself]. Apparently, Homie has in fact recorded other material, which has only been performed live. Rivers has said that he may release this material some day - maybe as an extra disk in a Weezer discography when they finally break up [again] and don't get back together again just to make money [^_^]. I keeed, I keed. So for now, we have to settle for the sole song released by Homie: 'American Girls.'
"The ancient founding family of trance" -says www.crittersbuggin.com. "A 4,000 year old Rock & Roll band" - says William Burroughs. The Master Musicians of Jajouka have been at it for quite some time. The Morocco based group can trace it's lineage back farther than I can trace my own, and membership is commonly determined by heredity. Currently lead by Bachir Attar who inherited the band's direction from his father before him, The Master Musicians of Jajouka have a traditional worldbeat sound that I prefer best when fused with the production skills of future-tablas master & one of my favorite musicians, Talvin Singh, who holds the production seat for this album. Here, we are treated to a fusion of what was and what will be as Morocco tradition meets Asian Underground. 'You Can Find The Feeling' is a dark track with an upbeat bounce that will make you feel like you're on camel-back in a middle-of-nowhere-sun-drenched-dessert, riding hills of silk, enjoying every minute of it.
Enjoy the tunes. Enjoy your day.
