Growing Up: A Tour of Peter Gabriel. Part 1 of ?

Yes, that’s the best I could do for a title.

Moribund the Burgermeister
Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel [1]
Atco : 1976
[Listen] [Buy]

Humdrum
Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel [1]
Atco : 1977
[Listen] [Buy]

Excuse Me
Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel [1]
Atco : 1977
[Listen] [Buy]

Waiting for the Big One
Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel [1]
Atco : 1977
[Listen] [Buy]

Indigo
Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel [2]
Atco : 1978
[Listen] [Buy]

D.I.Y.
Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel [2]
Atco : 1978
[Listen] [Buy]

Mother of Violence
Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel [2]
Atco : 1978
[Listen] [Buy]

A Wonderful Day in a One Way World
Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel [2]
Atco : 1978
[Listen] [Buy]

Music was different when I was a kid. Of course the sounds and styles were different, but so was the way we listened. Some families may have had expensive hi-fi setups or fancy Discmen to keep the kiddies entertained on their way to soccer, but not me. I lived on a hand-me-down Walkman and two deck boom box.

While it seems obvious, I feel I need to explain the difference between MP3s, CDs, and what that came before them. Today, the next track is queued and a button press away. Whole catalogs, genres, and collections can be played back on shuffle, as if you had your own personal radio station. With CDs you’re still limited to the material on the disc, but skipping the dull tracks is easy and natural. It becomes an afterthought. On my most played discs, my finger hovers over the button in unconscious anticipation of the track beyond the next.

Back in my days with tapes, all songs got an honest listen. Tapes, being inherently linear, presented a dilemma when it came to the real moaners: is the next song worse to listen to than pressing fast forward to hunt in silence for the start of the next one? Because of this, and because I was a kid (meaning dollar a week allowance) and a new tape was a treat that would have to last for months, I became very familiar with the tapes I was bought and was given.

Well, most of the tapes. The gift of Zamfir I received one fine Christmas morn got about half a play.

I think you can see where this story’s going. With my hard earned dollar bills, there were two artists’ catalogs I collected tape by tape with visits to the mall’s Wall to Wall Sound and Video. Two artists who were odd, quirky, and very different from one another. One of these artists was Peter Gabriel.

In copping JT’s style, I’m going to pass on the in depth bio and pass the savings onto you.

Though I didn’t (and couldn’t – I was born a decade and some change too late) discover his albums in the order they were released, I thought it’d be easier to go through them chronologically, starting with his first of four self-titled releases. Kicking the album off is the kick-ass Moribund the Burgermeister.

I had no idea what moribund meant or what a burgermeister was, but I pictured (quite vividly years later after seeing Outbreak) a town slowly going mad with sickness. Highlighting the creepy imagery all the while was the operatic highs and unsettling lows of this strangely dynamic song. It was then and still is my favorite from the album.

Between Humdrum, which is ever easy on the ears, the fun and bouncy Excuse Me, and the bluesy Waiting for the Big One, you get a sense of the feel this album has as a whole, which is to say, jumbled. To be critical, both of his first two albums suffered from a lack of cohesion as his tracks each wandered off in their own directions, sometimes ending up in great places, sometimes not. To be honest, my nine year old ears hadn’t a clue.

There’s no standout favorite for me on his second album like Moribund is on the first, but lines from Indigo and D.I.Y. have always stuck in my head and Mother of Violence will be with me ‘till I die. Have a Wonderful Day in a One Way World, though I’ve never taken time to parse out the meaning, has come to me with its skipping bass and cheerful gait at the oddest times: at drive-throughs, in airports, at the dentist, during sex.

(sorry babe)

Undoubtedly his first two solo albums aren’t his finest, but I gave them an honest shake and every now and again, another dedicated listen. If nothing else, they’ve got some great tracks which are a pleasure when they come up on shuffle.

FmGTeam Racho Presents: Soundtrack to Schredd

Posterboy Macho man Racho

Team Racho Podcast # 1
Various Artists
Racho Recordings : 2006
[Listen]

So we're in Lake Tahoe right now. We had an intense day riding at Heavenly and plan to hit up Kirkwood. I wanted to post this from the airport on Thursday night but JetBlue's Wifi at JFK was bollocks horrid. Right now I'm jacking someone's wifi at 30% - so without further ado - FmGT presents the Team Racho Podcast # 1 - Soundtrack to Schredd. Enjoy the slopes, I know I will.

Stay Tuned,
--Silent K

NEXT UP from Silent K - Review of the Yoshida Brothers performance at Joe's Pub in NYC this past week.

The FZ Primers, Part One: 20 to 17

"It would be easier to pay off the national debt
overnight than to neutralize the long-range
effects of OUR NATIONAL STUPIDITY."

"A composer is a guy who goes around forcing his will on unsuspecting air molecules, often with the assistance of unsuspecting musicians."
- FZ

This has been coming for months. I think i first mentioned it towards the end of 2005, when I was sick, tired, fighting a deadly disease and battling the slow, painful attrition, and the one song that made sense was one of Zappa's, a long, rapturous guitar solo called "Watermelon in Easter Hay." Taken out of context from its surroundings, FZ's concept double-LP Joe's Garage [a play about a man against the oppressive government, fighting to maintain his individual rights of expression], it is a perfect piece of music; his solo builds and builds, reaching several glorious peaks, each note echoing and rising into the heavens. It says everything a voice could not - against the gentle repetitive rhythm, you can hear the lone man's battle cry in each riff, each wild lick and climb up the fretboard. The man is lost, but he is not without hope. It was perfectly aligned with my own struggles, and I'll be damned if it didn't bring a tear to my eye each time.

And so, from this one event, I vowed to somehow make sense of his catalog for FmGT. A personal quest: would I merely chart his life? No, there are two glorious biographies that do a superb job [and both of which I've read]. Would I try and pick out his different phases of expression, the way a curator might identify a painter's oeuvre? No, too trite. And then, the simple answer dawned: what FZ compositions mean most to me, and why?

There are thousands of Zappa songs. His official catalog reaches over 50; it boggles the mind to comprehend just how many bootleg recordings are out in the ether.

Therefore, this countdown will not just be a personal journey, but should hopefully double as a useful primer of his work, for those a touch too timid to tackle the legend himself. That is, if you trust my judgment, and I'd like to think that a. I know his work well enough, and b. that I'm picking pure gold.

It will run in 5 parts: each part counting down 4 more songs on the list until we hit paydirt.

So put on your hardhats and enter my construction zone, and explore the weird scaffolding that is Frank Zappa.

===

20.
Night School
FZ
Jazz from Hell
Barking Pumpkin Records : 1986
[Listen] [Buy]

To kick off the countdown, something extremely weird. FZ covered virtually every genre in the book over nearly three decades of recording, and this represents the outer reaches of his influence. Released in 1986, when electronic instruments were running wild over the pop landscape, Zappa recorded an entire album [except for one electric guitar solo on the track St. Etienne"] using only a synclavier, one of the earliest digital synthesizers and samplers. His compositions were densely-layered and strange, yet sounded so perfect for the medium.

As one of the first to use the instrument [others included Peter Gabriel and Pete Townsend], he enjoyed the fact that he could control every single element and dimension of his sound. His thick compositions, normally strictly and rigorously taught to his various bands, were able to come through as precisely as ever, thanks to his new computerized plaything.

The LP itself won FZ his first Grammy, for Best Rock Instrumental Performance, and despite the initial dated sensation when you press play, there's no turning back.

This is the opening song, allegedly named after a late-night show FZ pitched to ABC [which they passed on], and it is worth repeated listens. Every sound, every note, every bizarre percussion effect is mesmerizing; optimistic, warm, and bright synth tones fuse and shine over a steady, aggressive beat.

As for trying to figure out why I love it so much, that might be like asking which colour M&M is my favourite. Every time I listen, I break out in a smile, even laughter at some of the more outrageous piano flourishes deeper into the piece. It reminds me of FZ's drive and insatiable desire to innovate, experiment, and find new ways to communicate his music to the world.

On the whole, Jazz from Hell is a solid album, albeit a little avant-garde the deeper you dive. This track is undoubtedly the cream for me, and fully deserves a place on the list.

===

19.
Cheepnis
FZ & the Mothers
Roxy & Elsewhere
Discreet : 1975
[Listen] [Buy]

Another fantastic song. For all his wizardry in the studio, it is indisputable that FZ's true nature came out in full on stage. This LP is neck-and-neck for my favourite FZ album, and after a few listens, it becomes obvious as to why.

Modern-day bands recognized for their live performances, like Phish, owe everything to FZ's charisma. Aside from technically-difficult music to play, he put on a show, appealing to every sense and every emotion of his audience. Quirky conversation, intricate changes, extravagant instrumentation and personnel on stage; going to a concert was more than just the sounds flooding out through the speakers.

In recent years, supergroups like U2 and the Rolling Stones have pushed the envelope to truly embarrassing heights, and although FZ came close, he maintained his sense of humour.

After a brief story, the band launches into a fantastic, hyperactive song lampooning low-budget sci-fi and horror movies and their primitive, laughable special effects. As is customary, FZ's backed by a superb live group: the indefatigable Chester Thompson on drums, George Duke on keys and vocals, and Napoleon Murphy Brock on flutes and sax. His backing groups rotated steadily since the beginning of the Mothers [or the Mothers of Invention, if you prefer], but they all held a respect and passion for FZ's music. Not only that, but they had the energy to keep up with it and play it!

Originally written by FZ for his never-produced musical Hunchentoot, a tribute to b-movies, it's classic FZ through and through - enthralling music, vivid storytelling, and magnetic energy.

===

18.
Crew Slut
FZ
Joe's Garage, Act I
CBS : 1979
[Listen] [Buy]

Next, a cut from FZ's triple LP rock opera, Joe's Garage. With Ike Willis playing the part of Joe, the story follows him through the unsavoury side of the music business. Along the way, he encounters McCarthy-esque censorship attempts on his art [a weird preview of the PMRC, started by Tipper Gore in 1985], STDs, scientology-esque delusion, Catholic schoolgirls, and eventually, insanity.
It foreshadows his own run-ins with the government on censorship in art and music [watch these YouTube videos to see him at work], and is a tough piece of FZ to get into.

This cut, however, is extremely simple.

Coming at a point where Joe loses his Catholic girlfriend to the sleazy influence of a touring rock group, it's raunchy fun. That chorus will keep you singing along well after the echo of the final note.

===
17.
Ride my Face to Chicago
FZ
Big Mother is Watching You - 1984 [Unofficial Release]
Ministry of Information Records : ????
[Listen]

The last track from Part One is another slab of raunchy weirdness. Nothing profound about it; there is only one lyric, the title of the song, which derives from some graffiti seen on a mens' bathroom wall at the Whiskey A-Go-Go, circa 1965. It appeared on this bootleg in this shorter version, and also a longer recording made it onto You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol. III. It was played for a couple of months in 1982, a couple of months in 1984, and then used during soundchecks in 1988, but that's about it. Nothing more to say about its genesis.

It's a funny sample of FZ's lighter side. The three-part harmonies will get you joining in before long, along with a dirty, quick guitar solo from the man himself and his pedal FX. Simple, dirty, fast-paced, and definitely deserving of a place on my list.

===
So that's Part One. This series will run every Friday through the month of March, without fail. It's finally here, so let me know of some of yr favourite FZ songs, along with any agreements/disagreements with me so far.

The Roy has Sunday covered, so stand up straight. Enjoy the nightlife, and spend the twilight hours with someone who loves you back.

Are You Thick? Stop Pushing That Button

Major List MCs
Virus Syndicate
The Work Related Illness
Planet Mu : 2005
[listen] | [buy]

Slow Down
Virus Syndicate
The Work Related Illness
Planet Mu : 2005
[listen] | [buy]

Karma
Virus Syndicate
The Work Related Illness
Planet Mu : 2005
[listen] | [buy]

Taxman
Virus Syndicate
The Work Related Illness
Planet Mu : 2005
[listen] | [buy]

Dead Man Walking (VIP)
Milanese Vs. Virus Syndicate
Dead Man Walking (VIP) (12")
Planet Mu : 2006
[listen] | [buy]

You Can't (Remix)
Milanese Vs. Virus Syndicate
Dead Man Walking (VIP) (12")
Planet Mu : 2006
[listen] | [buy]

By way of a slow, creeping evolution - like protozoa from the tar pits - Dubstep and Grime have taken root in the UK rap/electronic circuit. I'd put my discovery of Virus Syndicate somewhere in the movement's late Cretaceous. At first listen [of The Work Related Illness], I thought I was onto some new and underground shit, the first guy to walk upright across its subsonic wastes. And then it starts to grip you: all of that dirt is merely the top level of a rich, iron-veined stratum, decades-long in the accretion, the conductor car of a process that was in motion long before you arrived on the scene.

(This always happens; we can at least grab a seat.)

Virus Syndicate are 4 blokes from Manchester + acclaimed grime producer MRK1. If you've never heard a Briton spit fire, you're in for at least a smirk - there aren't many crews out there that can successfully rhyme "apart" and "can't", "mine" and "bang". Half the fun of The Work Related Illness is in understanding what the fuck is going on, catching every word through accents as thick as peat and flows that fire like a sentry rifle tracking hostiles.

The rest of it is in MRK1's production. Deep, deliberate bass notes impact like dinosaur footprints on the spectrum - please, play this through the monitor - and it's all the Syndicate's other four can do to dart in between them and hit you with as many lines as they can between the half-notes. 8-bit synths, scraping metal, and gunshots punch with treble intensity enough to tip the EQ back into balance. These beats stand alone - especially when [MRK1] decides to support them with samples stolen from his catalogue of film soundtracks. "Slow Down" paints a rain-soaked cemetary with church bells and choir ripped from the ending credits of The Matrix: Revolutions (Juno Reactor's "Navras"); "Taxman" - far and away the most standalone track on the album - holds Danny Elfman's "Batman" theme at gunpoint.

You've got to remember that you didn't really love Guinness at your first sip, either.

Milanese brings a different vision to the Dead Man Walking (VIP) 12" - the LP's namesake track is cast against a sonic background both hard-edged and haunted; it feels like nightfall on a playground stripped clean in a nuclear blast. And the vocal processing follows suit: gone are the lush and drunken flows of The Work Related Illness, drawn through layers of digital deconstruction and brought out as something much less human. It's The Matrix's quicksilver symbiote, spilling over our hero's vocal cords, rewriting every inch of flesh in upside-down katakana. It's like an Andross guest spot.

"You Can't" gets a nod for its castanets and flamenco guitar - and the way that the beat just Will. Not. Drop. Three-and-a-half minutes of perfect unfulfilment will leave you desperately in need of a cigarette.

Watch, watch, watch

Hello to all. Admittedly, I've been dragging arse lately, thanks to my crappy internet connection for the past week or so. I will return with guns blazing, but right here, right now, some delicious videos from all over the map. Delicious.

Kool and the Gang, performing "Summer Madness" on Soul Train

Danger Doom - The Mask [feat. Ghostface Killah]

"Coffee and Cigarettes"

The NYC Breakers on Soul Train [1984]

Brian Blade [one of my all-time favourite drummers] - solo on Jazz Crimes [live]

I believe some Codec goodness tomorrow?

A toothless hound dog choking on a feather

Only Skin
Joanna Newsom
Ys
Drag City : 2006
[Listen] [Buy]


Dear Joanna Newsom,

I would marry you.

Now that doesn’t sound like much, but believe me, that’s the closest I’ve been to any commitment of that sort. I don’t really believe the institution. The whole promising the families and the state a thing you can’t uphold with abstract notions alone while agreeing to play the roles handed down by father’s and mother’s father and mother turns me out. I know, it doesn’t have to be that way, and when I meet a woman who’s down with that, I’ll be open to setting the terms as we see fit.

But what I’m saying here is, if you happened to ask, I’d say yes.

This isn’t one of those creepy “I swoon over every little thing about you because I made you into an impossibly perfect yet one dimensional spectre that haunts me in my loneliness” declarations. For one, you’ve got plenty of those to deal with as is. Secondly, I’ve learned that extrapolating an artist’s personality from their work is rarely a rewarding experience. So I don’t pretend to know you.

This isn’t about thinking you’re achingly beautiful, restlessly pouring over your every public manifestation, pinning you up on my wall, daydreaming about you, writing your name in my notebook, and idolizing you as something you could never actually be. I’ve done of those things. It’s about respect. Respect and inspiration.

I first discovered your latest album electronically. I didn’t know what to expect, and I’d never heard mention of you before. Since then, I’ve listened to Ys in its entirety at least once per day. On average that is. Sometimes the ears need a rest.

I even bought your CD, which is a rare act these days. It’s like how every time I’m in Best Buy they’ve got OK Computer on the $9.99 rack facing a main isle, so I always see it and I’ll instinctively jerk towards it. Wanting to hold it. Wanting to have it, again. I sought your CD because I had already experienced its content, but I wanted more. Perversely, I wanted to own it. Really own it. As if in lacking the physical embodiment of your work, I did not have purchase over my experiences with it. Disturbed as I am about the implications of all this, I was calmed by the stiff touch of the liner’s gilded edges, the ornate and bookish layout, and the sound of a physical disc spinning upon play. A proper home for the code that holds the beauty of your song.

My spirit was lulled, culled, and strummed on my first listen. For more than a week I was led along the melodic paths taken by your songs, occasionally catching and latching onto one of your many amazing couplets. But it wasn’t until one day, driving to work, that a section of lyrics gained traction in my ear. I found myself watching a young woman carry a wounded bird up to a tree house to give it a last chance for the lofty peace it lost. As the bird flew away, I began to cry. Sitting at the end of an exit ramp, I cried, knowing, but not knowing how to say what for.

At a moment’s notice, I can get lost and wander through the dense and rewarding world you’ve skillfully made with music and verse. You have an ear for the sweetest of slant rhymes, an mind for the most vivid of images, and a soul for resonating the must human of tensions. I’m not saying your work is without flaw, but your failures dare to be as grand as any I’ve seen, heard, or read. You inspire by example.

And it is because of that and that alone I would be willing to declare such intentions. I can only hope to meet someone who at can both humble and lift me the way your work has. When I meet such person, I hope I have the sense about me to endear myself to them to the greatest extent I am able. If it takes something as silly as marriage to do so, than so be it.

Anyhow, if by some chance you read this, thank you for sharing your talent with the public. Also, while the above was heartfelt, it was also fiction, so please don’t get creeped out or sue. I’m harmless, and I think I'd be rather frightened if you actually asked me to marry you based on an blog entry. That'd be way strange, lady!

Oh, and if you read this, don't tell anyone I cried, okay? I've got a manly image to uphold.

Just Like That

Title Screen
XOC
SMW
N/A : 2005
[Listen] [Buy]

Theme
XOC
SMW
N/A : 2005
[Listen] [Buy]

Ghost House Secret Exit
XOC
SMW
N/A : 2005
[Listen] [Buy]

P-Block / Special Zone
XOC
SMW
N/A : 2005
[Listen] [Buy]

Bowser Medley
XOC
SMW
N/A : 2005
[Listen] [Buy]

(Full Album is here.)

Seven years ago: back before everyone I used to read moved to San Francisco and went all professional, in a time when people still burned brainpower on Tom Green and Lars Ulrich, I discovered a band called Generic. They were a couple of college kids with a Geocities web site and a Xing encoder, tools they used to host the songs they played: live instrumental interpretations of the 8-bit anthem. They were a minority alone in a culture that didn't really have a place for them; and they broke up, they probably got day jobs, they left this idea of taking game music to the level of live performance to someone else.

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who thought they were a really good idea.

Today: Amon Tobin gets contracted to compose for Splinter Cell, Tommy Tallarico and the blindfolded piano kid tour the continental US, Beck's albums are roughly 53% Game Boy by volume - what happened? And what's it take to stand apart from all the noise?

"xoc is jason cox from orangevale california" - that's about as much as I ever knew about Generic, too, but I never wanted to give them a hug. SMW is a smile on your face and a Super Scope under the holiday tree. Cox's fond, frenetic interpretation of Koji Kondo's classic (and instantly re-memorable) soundtrack to 1991's Super Mario World - a first introduction to RCA cables, yours and mine - washes through your memory like warm fingerpaint, leaving behind it that residue that remains long after the gameplay itself has ceased to matter. For me, it's the soundtrack to fishing crabs out of the surf, the feel of a worn-grip walkie talkie, the taste of grilled cheese. I guess this is why I can't stop listening to it.

Apart from playing, like, 28 instruments on this album, [Cox] moves from genre to genre with an unfailing, Ritalin precision. Within the tracks highlighted above, there's a good chance you'll find 16 or 17 things you like (out of a possible 41) - so be curious and destroy our bandwidth. The FmGT bunker is stocked with Crunchabungas enough to keep us going if the distress signal gets jammed along the way.

To Bluff [True Love]

Image by Anthony Cintron.

Girl Boy
Aphex Twin
Girl Boy [EP]
Warp Records : 1996
[Listen] [Buy]

Stop 4 Love
Basement Jaxx
Remedy
Astralwerks : 1999
[Listen] [Buy]

Girl [Octet remix]
Beck
Guero
Interscope : 2005
[Listen] [Buy]

Hyper-Ballad [Morale's edit]
Björk
Hyper-Ballad [EP]
Elektra : 1996
[Listen] [Buy]

Dive For You
Boom Boom Satellites
Full of Elevating Pleasures
Tofu Records : 2005
[Listen] [Buy]

Circles
BT
Emotional Technology
Nettwerk : 2003
[Listen] [Buy]

Love You Madly
Cake
Comfort Eagle
Sony : 2001
[Listen] [Buy]

Romantic Adventure
Fila Brazillia
The Life and Times of Phoebus Brumal
23 Records : 2005
[Listen] [Buy]

Mad About You
Hooverphonic
The Magnificent Tree
Sony : 2000
[Listen] [Buy]

Love Foolosophy
Jamiroquai
A Funk Odyssey
Sony : 2001
[Listen] [Buy]

The Thin Line
Jurassic 5
Power In Numbers
Interscope : 2002
[Listen] [Buy]

Hold Me Closer
Linus Loves
Stage Invader
Breast Fed : 2006
[Listen] [Buy]

I Can't Wait For Your Love
Lyrics Born
Same Shit Different Day
Quannum Projects : 2005
[Listen] [Buy]

In My Arms
Mylo
Destroy Rock & Roll
Red Ink : 2005
[Listen] [Buy]

Passion
Nightmares on Wax
In A Space Outa Sound
Warp Records : 2006
[Listen] [Buy]

Lady Brown
Nujabes
Metaphorical Music
Dimid : 2003
[Listen] [Buy]

You Don't Know What Love Is
Sonny Rollins
Saxophone Colossus
OJC : 1991
[Listen] [Buy]

Lovers of Loving Love
The Aquabats!
Vs. The Floating Eye of Death!
Time Bomb : 1999
[Listen] [Buy]

Next To You
The Police
Outlandos d'Amour
Interscope : 1978
[Listen] [Buy]

Together
William Shatner
Has Been
Shout! Factory : 2004
[Listen] [Buy]

My Heart Holds
Yoshida Brothers
III
Domo : 2006
[Listen] [Buy]

Valentines day is straight up ridiculous. Sure, it's a nice reminder for us to be [extra] nice to those that we love and a nice reminder for those that we love to be [extra] nice* to us [*crotchless panties]. But this day can seriously mess with your head. There's the way that you want the day to go, and then there's reality - If you're lucky, these might be one in the same. But, there are always those surprises in between.

So, for this big V, maybe you want to celebrate the harmony that [the two of] you have with Aphex Twin, Fila Brazillia, Mylo, the Aquabats and William Shatner. You might want to join in the serenade or profess your secret love with Beck, Björk, The Boom Boom Satellites, Cake, Jamiroquai, Nujabes and The Police. It might be better to simply appreciate the melancholy with BT, Hooverphonic, Linus Loves and the Yoshida Brothers. Or, maybe it's just time to cut the chit chat and find somewhere private with Basement Jaxx, Lyrics Born, Nightmares on Wax or Sonny Rollins. Or is it actually under your skin that much that you're considering that forbidden fruit with Jurassic 5?

Romantic advice is surely not within the FmGT jurisdiction - But you can bet your sweet ass that the soundtrack to your experiences is. So get in touch with your V disposition, not via your heart, but with those sexy little ears.

Happy Valentines Day.

Love,
Silent K

Look to the Left, silly goose

Herbie H.

Fat Mama
Herbie Hancock
Fat Albert Rotunda
Warner Bros. : 1969
[Listen] [Buy]

Home is Where the Hatred Is
Esther Phillips
From a Whisper to a Scream
Kudu : 1971
[Listen] [Buy]

Nature Springs
The Good, The Bad and The Queen
The Good, The Bad and The Queen
EMI/Parlophone : 2007
[Listen] [Buy]

An Oak Tree
Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly
The Chronicles of a Bohemian Teenager
WEA International : 2006
[Listen] [Buy]

In the true spirit of this music shack, four tracks, two old, two new. Worlds colliding yet again. It just seems more fun this way. When I was younger, making absurd volumes of mix tapes for anyone and everyone, the major complaint was their schizophrenic track listings. It's something I could never get around - from one song to the next, the progression was all over the place. Hard rock segues harshly into intergalactic funk. Heart-tugging jazz evolves into the newest Sonic Youth noise. And so it went.

I guess that's because unless I am in specific circumstances [aka writing], that's how I like to listen to music. Give me some of everything, and all at once. I like the buffet, I like pick n' mix candy, I like those skee-ball games on the boardwalk where you win tickets, and then spend them on as many small items as possible. I enjoy combo platters that fuck with your pallet.

This site is no different. I like to constantly keep changing, and with posts like this, where there is no discernible theme or message, I succeed. So what do we have?

---
Herbie Hancock needs no introduction. The king of the keys. Hands-down. Recorded in 1969, it comes off Hancock's first album after he left Blue Note Records and signed with Warner Brothers, and is full of his signature R&B/jazz style. Heavy horn arrangement, driving rhythm, lots of action and energy.

Listen to it on this headphones to catch all the layers.

It began the sea change for Hancock; after recording some of the most influential jazz of the '60s [Maiden Voyage in 1965, Empyrean Isles in 1964] with Blue Note, '69 saw the beginning of his electric phase, exploring the blend of electronic instruments with those traditionally associated with jazz. In my opinion, it began the trend of perhaps his best work -- Mwandishi, his group the Headhunters, through to the release of Secrets in 1976, and it's an excellent opening flourish to this quartet of tracks.

---
Up next, Esther Phillips. This has been in rotation for a long fucking time, so of course I was happy to see that it made the cut for Oliver Wang's forthcoming Soul Sides Volume 2: The Covers, because it is a supremely goddamn good song [Buy Volume 1 too, because he is excellent at what he does]. It's a superb cover of the already-great Gil Scott-Heron track [yep, posted some of him a couple of weeks ago], and it gives the music a completely different spin.

From the LP that deserved the Grammy in 1972 [she lost to Aretha Franklin, who presented her with the award anyway], her version retains the moodiness of the original but gives it the silk-covered treatment. Phillips' voice soars above the smoky horns, and her voice infuses the lyrics with fresh meaning, having been a heroin junky herself. Instead of a cautionary tale about a separate character, it becomes a personal declaration of sorrow, guilt, and atonement.

Her voice is a pleasure to listen to, distinctive in every way. This song is absolute gold.

---
Now on to the present day. I've always been a fan of Damon Albarn, because the man knows how to make music. Forgive his transgressions and fall-out with Graham Coxon that led to the end of Blur [I mean, come on, they might get back together!], and focus instead on this gorgeous album that comes kitted with the all-star band. I've posted about them before, so I'll cut the preamble there, but honestly, having listened to this LP endlessly since I was given a copy, this is undoubtedly going to end up on my best-of lists at the end of the year.

Dreamy, ethereal music, with lyrics that rival Thom Yorke for obtuse imagery. It sounds like the music that plays in your mind when you're asleep; you're not sure where you are, things look unfamiliar and yet the people look like old friends, and while you drift, there are voices and sounds in the distance.

You will love this as much as I do. Surely. Naturally I fear that this beautiful track ends up in a car commercial, but what can you do?

---
Finally, more British poppish rock in the form of Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. It's the shot of adrenaline after the Albarn-induced lullabye. More cymbals, anyone? All joking aside, it's a solid album, although I'm still getting into it.

The brainchild of Sam Duckworth, a half-Burmese half-Vietnamese man who grew up in Southend-on-Sea, it's uplifting indie music. I hear it referred to as "emo", and if that becomes the general consensus, I might shed a tear. His influences include Billy Bragg and Blur [who knew? The connections always reveal themselves], and his music expresses that well. This track will bounce you around the room for two-and-a-half minutes, like a ferret on a sugar rush. Can't think of much more to say, other than you won't be disappointed.

---
And so my time in the playground for today comes to an end. Must get out of this sandbox and hurry home for lunch. Tomorrow, however, comes the slow-roasted short ribs to today's fast-food offering.

Silent K's been musing on the Day of Love as it creeps up on us tomorrow, and the results are shocking. "There'll be something for everyone", he promises, although I bet he doesn't have a perfect track for that late-night, coke-fuelled S&M session I'm planning. [I kid, I kid] However, if he does, it wouldn't surprise me.

So do whatever you need to do to get ready; extra sheets for the bed, a gallon of body chocolate, a magnum of champagne, towels, oysters, and that adult videotape you can only get halfway through each time.

It will not disappoint.

You can't cha-cha in space

Ladies and Gentlemen We are Floating in Space
Spiritualized
Ladies and Gentlemen we are Floating in Space
Arista : 1997
[Listen] [Buy]

Change
Travis Morrison
Travistan
Barsuk: 2004
[Listen] [Buy]

Geppetto
Optiganally Yours
Optiganally Yours Presents: Exclusively Talentmaker
Absolutely Kosher : 2000
[Listen] [Buy]

Let's Go Down to the Town Oasis
Papas Fritas
Pop Has Freed Us
Minty Fresh : 2000
[Listen] [Buy]

I had big plans on what I was going to post today. But you know what they say about that: plans is just one letter away from planes, and planes sometimes crash. Not to mention they also cost a lot of money.

So maybe next week you’ll get to enjoy part one of my multi part series on Peter Gabriel. Or maybe by then I’ll have my marriage proposal to a certain lucky someone ready to post. But this week I took Saturday off and spent some much needed time away from all things with keyboards.

Consequently, I don’t have much to say about today’s selections. Ladies and Gentlemen we are Floating in Space was one of those right song a the right time sort of deals. My first philosophy class as a philosophy major was pretty cool, and the teacher liked to have students bring music in to listen to during our discussions. This really cool girl brought in this CD, and Ladies and Gentlemen…, being the first track won me over immediately. She’s one of my best friends today, so in a way, I guess this song kicked it off.

Change is just good cheap fun from the former voice of the Dismemberment Plan. Geppetto is chill as hell and speaks for itself. Just don’t get caught, if you’re into projecting yourself as masculine, walking around and singing “and I can cha-cha all day, and I can cha-cha all day.” Trust me.

Finally, the reason I was busy this weekend was friends. What better reason can there be? Let’s Go Down to the Town Oasis is a theme song of sorts for the kinds of things that I love. It’s like the Sesame Street theme for the cheap barhopping scene.

See you next week. You bring yours and I’ll bring mine.

Identity Theft > The Evil Twin

$$legs
Machine Drum
Bidnezz
Merck : 2004
[Listen] [Buy]

Piano Phase (DNote's Phased & Konfused Mix)
Steve Reich
Reich Remixed
Import : 2006
[Listen] [Buy]

What's the Use of Feet if You Haven't Got Legs?
Telefon Tel Aviv
Fahrenheit Fair Enough
Hefty Records : 2001
[Listen] [Buy]

Commissioner Castration
The Dust Brothers
Fight Club: Original Motion Picture Score
Restless Records : 1999
[Listen] [Buy]

When everything comes to a point and your soul's about to break under the duress, one popular home remedy is to tune it all the fuck out. Music can re-center, de-fragment, make meetings disappear, scatter stress. Tonight's tracks are here to hold your head in.

Find your nicest pair of headphones. Dial them up until the white noise comes through, and then quickly back to safety. Close your eyes - this is important - and let your brain go.

Imagine each neuron laying quiet, the electricity burning off as raindrops on a neon sign. Think of your CAT Scan, the colors fading from hot to cool, lovely, ocean-deep blues and greens of total cerebral silence. Your EKG shimmers like a kite string in the sun until a gentle tug draws it straight. Draw a final breath and free-fall.

When you wake up, we can go get a cup of coffee at that little shop and think about the things that still seem important.

Don't Pac it in Yet...

Via Kotaku via Aeropause via YouTube via The Go! Team, here's a great music video featuring Ms. Pac-Man with Blinky, Inky, Pinky - but strangely, no Sue - running around the streets of New York City to The Go! Team's track, "Junior Kickstart."



Junior Kickstart
The Go! Team
Thunder, Lightning, Strike
Sony : 2005
[Listen] [Buy]

I'm a big fan of The Go! Team's fun sound, but the gamer in me can never get enough of Ms. Pac-Man's hot legs.

Stay Tuned. -- Silent K

Airports

I am in Heathrow Airport waiting for my flight back to the US. Traveling is good. At some point, I'm sure I will release further details, but for now, a couple of quick videos just to keep the fires burning. The rest of the week is looking good.

Paul Pena

Donny Hathaway

Tunes tomorrow! In the meantime, I have free drinks to imbibe, and things to look at.

- JT

Meet Podington, the musical mystery bear

Releasing The Sculpture
Podington Bear
2007
[Listen] [Subscribe]

Airliner
Podington Bear
2007
[Listen] [Subscribe]

Elephants On Parade
Podington Bear
2007
[Listen] [Subscribe]

Two Boys And A Girl
Podington Bear
2007
[Listen] [Subscribe]

Pives And Flarinet
Podington Bear
2007
[Listen] [Subscribe]

Fantasy And Denouement
Podington Bear
2007
[Listen] [Subscribe]

Part of the duty that comes with donning the lab coat is receiving e-mail from bands who want you to check out their latest EP and sing its praise in your next post. While I don’t mind, I rarely have the time to get into new music fast enough to turn around and give it the publicity they want. What happens is I download the tunes, throw them in a playlist on shuffle, and listen for any that stick. Falling in love is an organic process, and falling in love with music is no exception. I’m not here to be a critic, so I don’t post music I don’t like, and I’m not about to fake the funk.

I tell you all this because the other day I received one of these e-mails that was quirky as hell. It read:

Bonjour Roy,

I like the name of your blog, and the little owl that says "ad free"

Please allow me to introduce myself:

I'm just a regular bear. My name is Podington. I make instrumental songs and share them (with humans, like you) in a podcast every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

I'm at your fingertips.

Yours truly,

-P. Bear

This was odd on two levels. For one, he took the effort to mention something specific to our blog. An old trick to be sure, but it’s a simple one that’s rare these days. Second, Mr. P. Bear never breaks character. Take note kids. This is how you get someone’s attention: a little bit of courtesy, a slight touch of mystery.

So at the end of the day I mosey on over to Podington’s cave to see what the deal is. Once there, the mysteries only grow deeper: this cat writes instrumental electronic music and posts it on the internet to share, for free, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I thought to myself okay, cute graphics, cute persona, cute premise, but surely, it must suck.

To my amazement, this music does not suck. 15 tracks posted since January 1st and not a one is cause for wincing, or worse, boredom. At their absolute weakest, these tunes are easy on the ears, slipping seamlessly into the backing track of your day. At their best they are evocative and moving, showing care and skill in their crafting.

I was sold at the 1:28 mark in Elephants on Parade, where a well placed organ line made me chuckle out loud. Well played Bear. Well played.

Who is the man behind the Bear? Is he an unknown, or a veteran shedding expectations to reinvent himself for a side project? How long can he maintain this quality in this impressive quantity? What new wonders await our ears every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday? I don’t know the answer to any of these questions, but I love myself a good mystery.

Speaking of bears, I do believe it’s time to watch myself a Superbowl. Go… whoever. I’m just glad it’s not the Pats. (Sorry Boston)

Three Hundred

Jealous Guy
Donny Hathaway
Live
ATCO Records : 1972
[Listen] [Buy]

Dance Girl
Rimshots
Dance Girl/Who's Got the Monster 12"
Astroscope : 1974
[Listen]

Som Sangue E Raca
Dom Salvador e Aboliçao
Som Sangue E Raca
CBS : 1971
[Listen] [Buy]

Playing the Game
Gentle Giant
The Power and the Glory
Capitol : 1974
[Listen] [Buy]


Well, we've made it to 300. There were 300 Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae. The US population has reached 300 million [as of late October, 2006]. In the year 300, lions became extinct from Europe, the last ones perishing in Armenia [I think we all agree that Europe is dearly missing lions]. This year is the 300th Anniversary of Scotland taking the Act of Union. Cy Young, pitching for the Boston Somersets, won his 300th game on July 12, 1901 against the Philadelphia Athletics.

Sometimes, it amazes me that we've made it this far, and other times, I wonder just how far this can go. And so, a simple trio of tracks that will touch you in all the right places.

---
Donny Hathaway had one of the best voices you could ever hope to hear. His range was fair, but the emotion he sang with stepped him a level or two above the competition. When he climbed within himself for the top end of his register, you might swear you could hear perfection. His catalog was short, but sweet -- highlights include his cover of Nina Simone's "Young, Black and Gifted" on his debut LP Everything is Everything [ATCO, 1970], the utterly superb "Someday we'll all be Free" from Extensions of a Man [Rhino, 1973], and his duet with Roberta Flack "Where is the Love?" -- and despite only recording three solo albums, his position as one of the most influential soul musicians was secure. Depression clouded the tail end of his life, and he committed suicide on January 13, 1979.

Here, he covers the John Lennon track in his remarkable style. A simple instrumentation playing heavy on the downbeats, Hathaway's voice grips the words and makes them his own. It's mesmerizing to listen to, and I feel like it's an improvement over the original, especially with the shuddering breakdowns as he sings the title lyric. An absolutely beautiful song.

---
The Rimshots [not to be confused with the rockabilly act trading under the same name] were a solid little R&B outfit that put out some quality tracks in the 70s. As the house band for the All-Platinum/Stang record label [run by Joe and Sylvia Robinson], they recorded several albums and a few non-album singles that got them a little more recognition. This track, recorded between '72 and '75, is perhaps the pick in my eyes. After '75, they moved into smoother disco territory, but this track had it all -- rolling drum beat and bass line [check out The Roots track "Web" from The Tipping Point, which employs an almost identical beat and simpler bassline] hold court over scratchy, sassy vocals. This cover of a Fatback Band tune fizzes along; highly-danceable, yet another vast improvement over the original version.

---
Something less obscure next up! The legendary Dom Salvador, the Brazilian jazz pianist. He's recorded with the best Brazil has to offer, and his music never fails to get you in the mood. This LP is my favourite by him, mixing his bossa nova and jazz sensibilities with the R&B aggression of his bandmates, and the title track is especially scorching. Listen long enough to get back the dirge-like singing, when Salvador's piano explodes out of nowhere. Funky, a little weird, and unforgettable.

---
Of course, I'll finish with something off the radar again. I cannot remember if I've posted this before, and if I have, many apologies, but the fact of the matter is that it's too damn good to keep down, like a prize fighter with years left on the clock, or a mahjongg master. The British prog rock band, Gentle Giant, formed in 1970, kept things interesting throughout the decade. There's not much of their material that really talks to me, but this cut is funky enough to make you forget it runs to almost 7 minutes. I'm pretty sure this song crept into a Madlib compilation somewhere along the way, although I do remember that the GG track "Funny Ways" ended up getting sampled on Madvillainy, so I guess the circle of cognitive recognition is complete.

---
I hope I've done our three hundredth justice, although I invite the rest of the McClan McFmGT to have an equal shot. It only seems fair. Either way, the real winner is you. Download these before they become ghosts in a fortnight. Dance a little, laugh a lot, drink somewhere in-between. I'm off for the weekend, so take a hearty bite and I'm sure someone will stoke the fires on sunday.

Welcome to February

The Chills
Peter Bjorn and John
Writer's Block
Wichita : 2006
[Listen] [Buy]

Amsterdam
Peter Bjorn and John
Writer's Block
Wichita : 2006
[Listen] [Buy]

Young Folks
Peter Bjorn and John
Writer's Block
Wichita : 2006
[Listen] [Buy]

I don’t know about you, but in my book, February’s always been a strong candidate for the most depressing month of the year. Part of it is the post holiday comedown, and part of it is (for those in the northern temperate zone anyway) the continuation of the short, bitter days of winter. Maybe it’s being bundled up, hiding under all those layers. Maybe it’s the snow and cinders that painted everything gray. Maybe it’s the silent R.

Either way, times like this call for comfort: a well worn afghan, a large bowl of oatmeal, a good window to look out of, and some happy tunes. In particular, check out Young Folks. I stumbled across it on YouTube a while back, and while I wasn’t into the video itself, the song was cause for multiple plays. It’s just the thing for days like these.