Two more items following up on yesterday's post:

1. The Hollertronix website. omg. Just look at their nav bar and tell me it doesn't have all the good things in life - Lil Jon, booty, Megaman and a big-ass sandwhich.

2. Another thought provoked by Vybz Kartel's "Sweet to the Belly":

Being R Kelly - not so great. You have one fantastic song, a few ok ones, a good deal of mediocre material and those nasty legal charges.

Mentioning R Kelly in a song for no particular reason - awesome. Kartel does this, as does Killer Mike in "A.D.I.D.A.S." in more of a direct dis.  ¶ 9:44 PM |

  A few thoughts on Diplodocus & Low Budget’s “Hollertronix…”

I felt they went a bit heavy on tracks from the last year or two, and a few more esoteric choices might have strengthened the mix. That said, it’s great to see some constructive mashups that develop the song concepts rather than leaning on the hooks tying X hooks to Y beats to Z verses. The Missy Elliot / Clash mashup is choice, although it would have perhaps been good to drop the Clash lyrics completely out of the chorus. Timbaland’s famous beat for “Get Yr Freak On” also sounds great underneath some rapping by, well, I want to say it's Pusha T, but I’m not sure.

Another thought: Truth is stranger than fiction… Hollertronix has the best mashup of all – but it’s not really a mashup: Panjabi MC ft. Jay-Z on “Beware of the Boys.” What mashup has really approached the mashed genius of this track?

“Sweet to the Belly” and “I Will Love the Girls” – how awesome? “Sweet to the Belly” has that wonderful female hook – that half-bored humming, like it was recorded while she was paying the bills.

…and every time I think that $$ rap has run out of fly ways to say “I’m rich as hell” the genre slaps me in the face with a jewel-encrusted hand:

“I eat so much shrimp I get iodine poisin’”

Sincerely – that is a fantastic line.  ¶ 9:53 PM |

  Bob Dylan - "Like A Rolling Stone"
The Beatles - "Twist and Shout"
Roy Orbison - "Dream Baby"
Chumbawumba - "Amnesia"
Dire Straits - "Money For Nothing"
Dire Straits - "Love Over Gold"
Edgar Winter - "Frankenstein"
Willie Nelson - "Always On My Mind"
David Lee Roth - "Just a Gigolo"
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Great Balls of Fire"
Bruce Springsteen - "Dancing in the Dark"
Hank Williams - "Tears In My Beer"

My jukebox selection at the townie bar in Wood Dale we went to... I did the best I could with what was available, people.  ¶ 2:38 AM |

  I was driving home from work the other day and a guy turned left from a stop sign while I had the right of way and stopped a foot or two short of slamming right into my driver's side door. The strange thing - I was listening to the Pet Shop Boys' "I Want A Lover" and the guy would have hit me at right about the point where the car crash noise comes into the song. Think if I was killed but the stereo kept playing, "Later Tonight" and "Why Don't We Live Together" would have run through while the firefighters tried to pull me from the wreckage. "We don't know what happened, sir, but we presume he was on his way to the discoteque to meet his boyfriend and lost control of his car after being overcome by his fey lusty passions."

"I Want A Lover" - What a depressing ending note that song would be for my life (and not (just) because of the title, the rest of the lyrics are a downer as well). I feel like "Please" is just a grim album, but that might be my mood.

Near-accidents have happened more and more recently. I wouldn't be surprised if I was killed in a car accident within the next three months. The name of the song playing when I kicked it should be carved on my tombstone.  ¶ 12:41 AM |

  Three songs for my new year:

Roxy Music - Dance Away
Scissor Sisters - Comfortably Numb (dl)
The Dismemberment Plan - The Ice of Boston

Happy whatever  ¶ 8:59 AM |