What I did on my summer vacation

Yellow Dock
MF Doom
Special Herbs Vols. 9 & 0
Shaman Works : 2005
[Listen] [Buy]

Sour Times
Portishead
Dummy
Polygram Records : 1994
[Listen] [Buy]

Printmatic
Soul Position
8 Million Stories
Fatbeats : 2003
[Listen] [Buy]

Black Capricorn Day [J-Dilla Remix]
Jamiroquai
[Listen]

Anikana-O
Kongas
[Listen]


Holy f*ck, it's been forever and a day since I peeped my head around here. Not for lack of trying. You can thank the fine folks at Best Buy for my lengthy [and forced] hiatus, considering my laptop motherboard got fried on July 14th, I dropped it off for a gratis repair on July 15th, and finally on August 29th, I got the damn thing back.

Thankfully all my tunes are intact [yeah, I know this sob story has come along many times by now], but I've been kinda impotent without them. Been relying heavily on my mp3 player [which hadn't been restocked with new material in months], which has been alright I guess, and I have a ton of work I want to do with my newly-acquired bootleg beat-making programs [thanks Silent K, you ripper from the gods].

Regardless, all bullshit aside, man alive I am back. Enjoy these random tunes from my rediscovered manna-from-heaven music collection. More this weekend. Bet on it!

JT.

EDIT: Whoops. I initially forgot to post the mp3 links. Guess I'm a little rusty, eh? Also, apologies to anyone who has sent me email @ the FmGT address in the last 6 weeks... it'll take me a while to go back through them all, and I guarantee if I find any inbox goodies, they'll end up on here. Thanks for being patient.

Cinemaddict

This is how robots look when they send you to your room young man.

Sure, Miami Vice was solid; X-men 3 was chotto weak; A Scanner Darkly was totally bitchin; Clerks 2 was exactly what I needed; but I unfortunately missed An Inconvenient Truth [I need to see that one.] Other than that I have not been looking forward to very much in the cinematic department - until recently. I haven't been this interested in an upcoming release since the Cowboy Bebop movie.

The first Daft Punk DVD, D.A.F.T. [a story of dogs, androids, firemen and tomatoes] was a great little collection of music videos from their first album, Homework. After the release of their second album, Discovery, Guy & Thomas worked with the legendary Japanese animation artist Leiji Mastumoto to construct an entire animated feature set to the soundtrack of the aforementioned album. The film, entitled Interstella 5555 [5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem] was a masterpiece. Now, after the release of Daft Punk's third album, Human After All, they've announced another film project: Daft Punk's Electroma. The film is written and directed by Thomas Bangalter & Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and is the story of two robots who try to become human. Surprisingly, the film contains zero music by Daft Punk and Guy & Thomas do not act as the two robotic main characters. Music that does appear in the film is from the likes of Brian Eno, Cutis Mayfield and there are long periods of silence as well. It was screened at Cannes this year to very nice reviews. I can't wait for it to reach NYC. Check out the preview trailer below or the slightly better resolution version on their official site.



The next one that seems pretty cool is This Binary Universe, a project of sight and sound by DJ, producer, composer: Brian Transeau, also known as BT. BT's music was in heavy rotation with me for quite some time and though I have not been listening to him very much recently, I still like his work - the UK edition of Movement in Still Life, which I picked up in Israel, is still his best work. This Binary Universe moves on from the trance sound that BT is usually associated with in lieu of the cinematic soundscapes more in line with his work for the film Monster as well as Stealth. This time however we're seeing a much more orchestral side of BT as well as some jazz influence. Expect his technical proficiency brought to a level of minimalism that we have not seen very much in his earlier work - set over some of the best in today's graphic animation. The film is currently being shown on an extremely limited basis in Seattle, Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, Washington D.C. & Boston [Thanks for skipping NYC!] The product is being sold as a CD/DVD 2 pack and would be a great compliment to that new sound system or HDTV. Check out one track from the album as well as the preview trailer below.



See You On The Other Side
BT
This Binary Universe
Digital Sound : 2006
[Listen] [Pre-order]

Third we've got what most people are referring to as the Outkast movie. I saw the movie poster for this when JT and I went to see Miami Vice. Idlewild looks like it's going to be hot and if the preliminary net-jabba is any indication, this one might be recognized for accomplishment on a grand scale. The film is written and directed by Bryan Barber [who has done many of Outkast's videos but not very much else?]. Apparently the album of the same name is not the soundtrack, but rather songs that are inspired by the film. Either way, Big Boi & Andre never disappoint. The track that we've got from the album, Train, is easily my favorite of the play list so far. Also, scope the preview trailer below and get more deets at the official site for the flim.



Train [Feat. Sleepy Brown & Scar]
Outkast
Idlewild
La Face : 2006
[Listen] [Buy]

Stay Tuned.
-- Silent K

Assorted Beatsalad

Spidermen, obviously depressed about Pluto.

Come Clean / Channel Suite 1
Jeru The Damaja & Cinematic Orchestra [DJ Food & DK mix]
Solid Steel Presents DJ Food & DK - "Now Listen!"
Ninjatune : 2001
[Listen] [Buy]

African Pirates [JD73 remix]
Nightmares on Wax
African Pirates [EP]
Warp Records : 2006


Airbag
Easy Star All Stars
Radiodread
Easy Star Records : 2006
[Listen] [Buy]

Colours [Fred Falke remix]
Hot Chip
Colours [Vinyl EP]
EMI : 2006
[Listen] [Buy Hot Chip Stuff]

A-500
Klaus Badelt & Mark Batson
Miami Vice - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Atlantic Records : 2006
[Listen] [Buy]

Hello Meow
Squarepusher
Hello Everything
Warp Records : 2006
[Listen] [Buy it October 16th]

I'm a big fan of pre-dressed salads, you put on the dressing [preferably home made] and mix up the entire salad in a large bowl. This way, the dressing is evenly distributed and you don't get a puddle of dressing in the bottom of your bowl soaking through those radishes and beats. There's supposed to be some sort of analogy to music or digital distribution inserted here, but really I'm just a big fan of salads. Word.
-------

Starting it off with a really nice blended mix of Jeru the Damaja & the Cinematic Orchestra by DJ Food & DK - one could say that's a hunk of talent right there in one track. I am that one you silly! A little history - DJ Food has been comprised of Matt Black, Jonathan Moore, PC & Strictly Kev. PC & Strictly Kev have since taken over the moniker of DJ Food while Black & Moore are, and always have been, Coldcut]. DK, also known as Darren Knott, is a fellow Ninjatune co-conspirator and producer of the Solid Steel radio show. Take the aforementioned talent and apply it to Jeru the Damaja, circa '94, with the wholly different downtempo duo Cinematic Orchestra, circa '99, and you get a sick track. It's also pretty cool that they removed the part where Jeru says "faggit" in the original track. Down with hate, up with good beats.

My thirst for Warp Records artists will probably never be quenched. I tripped over this recent JD73 remix of Nightmares on Wax's 'African Pirates' last night. It's really chill and relaxing, but it's still got enough energy to be a party track. This is surely going into my roster for that party that I'm apparently 'music managing' next month. And fancy that, when I was doing my homework I found that the good people over at Bleep are smart enough to build mini-media players for mamajammas like you and me. This needs to happen more often, it's an excellent way for them to distribute tunes and save room on the FmGTdb - it's also much cooler than those piece of shit Myspace players.

Next is something that, at first, I thought was a little bit cheesy, but then I gave it a chance and found myself surprised and addicted. The Easy Star All Stars have created an incredible reggae and dub album that remakes all of the tracks from Radiohead's OK Computer [an album that was the theme to my senior year in High school.] Michael Goldwasser [a.k.a Michael G.], Victor Axelrod [a.k.a. Ticklah] with Smith & Lem Oppenheimer are the Easy Star All Stars. If you've heard of them, then it's surely for their previous effort Dub Side of the Moon. What really impresses me about this album is the timing, they've seriously nailed it down - and that's not easy to do especially since we're talking about Radiohead here. Michael G states "On one hand, OK Computer has elements that are perfect - strong melodies, intense dynamics and trippy soundscapes; on the other, it has complex time signatures, chord changes and things that typically aren't found in reggae." I'd really like to know what Thom Yorke personally thinks about this one

I first heard of Hot Chip via a mix CD packaged with XLR8R magazine that I grabbed when I went down to the Winter Music Conference in 2005. I thought they were decent, but FmGT correspondent Bess developed some sort of infatuation with them. Because of this I went digging around for some Hot Chip tunes recently and stumbled upon a remix by one of the great french acid-house producers, Fred Falke. Falke is known for various singles created with Alan Braxe, as well as collaborating with Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo & Thomas Banglater. This is exactly the kind of stuff that I'd expect to hear on Crydamoure 3 [wishful thinking]. Alexis Taylor's voice is the perfect compliment to Falke's reworking [or is it the other way around?] This one might take the cake for 'track most likley to get the ladies to stop by my desk at work to ask me what I'm listening to' - where as this title was previously held by DFA's remix of Le Tigre's 'Deceptacon.' It's a solid track, but I just listened to it about 10 times in a row, so It's time to put on some Klaus Badelt.

Ok, so I don't care what anyone says, I really liked the Miami Vice movie. It's probably got something to do with my coincidental sudden obsession with the television series right before the movie was announced. Sure it had it's flaws, but I still liked it for what it was. It's too bad that it didn't contain any of the original music - but really, how could it have? It would have completely bent the reality that the film existed in. That's not to say that I'm a fan of Lincoln Park though, because I'm not. The soundtrack was decent, and nothing really hit me very hard while I watched the film. Only after the fact did I noticed that one of the songs was done by Klaus Badelt & Mark Batson. I absolutely love the score that Klaus did for [another Farrell movie] The Recruit and so I picked this one up. It's got that Soundtrack sound that Badelt is known for and it's an excellent track to listen to while driving.

Squarepusher is an electronic Drum & Bass god. He's got a cult following and he's one of the biggest names in IDM next to his friend Aphex Twin. Needless to say, his efforts are anticipated by many- and I'm a particular fan of his philosophy regarding the relationship between humans and machines in the realm of music creation [check it out on Wikipedia]. Hello Meow is the first track off of Thomas Jenkinson's forthcoming album, Hello Everything. This track doesn't push the envelope, but it's exactly what I expected from the man - which isn't necessarily a bad thing as this album is sure to please his fans.

And with that I'd like to say that we're slowly getting back on track here. To be honest, we've just been distracted and quite busy - it happens. We're still gonna be freakin the beats, and hopefully a lot more than the last month has displayed. Schedules are just fucked up, ya know?

Brotha's & sista's - stay tuned.
-- Silent K

Update

Hey peoples,

yeah, so there are a couple more retrospectives still to come, and then the period is over. It's been phenomenal fun, and we'll be posting a conclusion-type post once we're done. Apologies that it's been dragging around FmGT lately -- my computer is still not fixed [some 4 weeks on], and I'm now in the UK for a week visiting some people, meaning the site will largely be cold until after that. I swear, we haven't forgotten. At all.

In the meantime, I will reach out to you all for a spot of help.

You all know my health situation over the last year, having followed along with it rather closely [you know, the cancer and all, but if ya aren't aware, read up here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here]. Well now that I've finally beaten it and put it behind me, I'm participating in a huge fundraising event on September 10 called the LiveStrong Challenge. Regardless of how ya feel about the man Lance Armstrong himself, this is a big step towards my recovery, and I will be biking 100 miles for the cause, in support of some good people I met and became friends with, only to watch them perish to this shitty disease.

So please, if you can spare anything whatsoever, your help would be greatly appreciated. Here is the link to my personal fundraising website, where you can donate to my fund through PayPal [or links to print out a donation form and where you can send that instead, if you'd rather]. It is going to be a huge day for me, and if you can help, I won't forget it. I'm gonna be busting my ass on this bike so people don't have to go through what I went through.

Much love, and thanks,

JT.

PS. I swear, we will be back very soon [we have a TON of music to foist upon you all]

[UPDATE: The link to my fundraising site is now fixed. Thanks again for any help.]

FmGT Retrospectives: Blue Scholars

[Blue Scholars -- mp3 files]

Deduct my 10% for turning this piece in late. Apologies to FMGT. My retro is on the Seattle hip hop duo of Sabzi aka Saba and Geologic aka Geo aka Prometheus Brown known as the Blue Scholars. This tandem takes the classic formula of one emcee and one DJ. It’s a equation that has been so effective, think Blackalicious, CL Smooth and Pete Rock, Guru and Premier [Gangstarr]. Blue Scholars excell at showing kids that there is more to Seattle than grunge and indie.

While Sir Mix-a-Lot remains the most known rapper and producer, the dude that you most readily think of when you think NW hip hop. Try to put Baby Got Back in the past and think of the future because that is where the Blue Scholars lie. This duo is making a name for themselves, emerging as one of the best Hip Hop acts ever to come out of the NW. The tandem is driven by their parent’s blue collar work ethic [Geo is the 2nd son of Filipino working-class immigrants]. Paired with a non-stop motor, expertly crafted beats and Geo’s ability to mingle between politics and personal themes Blue Scholars are ones to watch going forward.

Their political and intellectually minded lyrics first got me interested in the group. Once you give their magnetic self-titled debut a listen you realize just how this duo stands out among the pedestrian minded shallow thoughts of lucrative commercial rap. The Scholars put out their debut national release last year without the support of a big name label. One of my all time favorite hip hop tracks is the group’s “Blink.”

Perhaps my backpacker straps are showing through with this retrospective but these two bring the beats and are definitely an emerging sound to listen to in hip hop. I have also included some tracks from another Seattle hip hop crew called Common Market. Common Market is driven by Saba’s beats with RA Scion on the mic.

Keep your ear to the ground.

Peace at all costs.

~K.

[K runs the flawless web spot known as Analog Giant. Our house is his house. We're cool like that. Please, visit the good man at www.analoggiant.blogspot.com]

Be sure to support the music by buying the record from either eMusic or some other means.

Quick from the Library

I will say this -- RIP Arthur Lee. The man will be sorely missed. His band Love were incredible, and Forever Changes has to be one of my favourite LPs of all time.



JT.