Slumberlord
Saturday, February 28, 2004
I hear the plane is ready by the gateway to take my love away
Oh Damn.
I just listened to the Motors' "Airport: The Greatest Hits of the Motors," which I got for $12 on Amazon. The Motors first caught my attention on the recently released "No Thanks! The Rhino Punk Compilation." It includes “Dancing the Night Away,” which famed British DJ John Peel picked as his favorite song of 1977. It’s a single that, simply put, just keeps peaking and peaking and peaking in a way that should be sonically impossible for a guitar anthem. “No Thanks!” is an excellent punk primer with some great tracks, but there’s nothing punk about the Motors except their years of operation.
This is pure, shameless power pop, rocketing out of the dreary mid-’70s with reckless abandon. Like “Dancing the Night Away” itself, this record just keeps peaking and peaking – from the equally astonishing singles “Airport” and “Forget About You” to later songs like “Tenement Steps.” They don’t descend into melancholy, like Big Star, or dilute their catalogue with too many ballads, like the Raspberries – if anything they blast straight into the clouds like only Cheap Trick knew how, and even “Surrender” never quite scrapes the stars like “Dancing the Night Away.” This record is a hurtling freight train of passion laden with a cargo of youthful joy.
Well… sure, that sounds a bit silly, so laugh if you will. But this is the sort of record for which critics unabashedly dust off adjectives like “sanguine” and “exuberant,” and rightfully so. A great deal of power pop aspires to this and fails. But the Motors do it perfectly, and on a beautiful day like yesterday, on the way home from work, it’s what I need – it’s all I need – for every traffic light to turn green.
Oh Damn.
I just listened to the Motors' "Airport: The Greatest Hits of the Motors," which I got for $12 on Amazon. The Motors first caught my attention on the recently released "No Thanks! The Rhino Punk Compilation." It includes “Dancing the Night Away,” which famed British DJ John Peel picked as his favorite song of 1977. It’s a single that, simply put, just keeps peaking and peaking and peaking in a way that should be sonically impossible for a guitar anthem. “No Thanks!” is an excellent punk primer with some great tracks, but there’s nothing punk about the Motors except their years of operation.
This is pure, shameless power pop, rocketing out of the dreary mid-’70s with reckless abandon. Like “Dancing the Night Away” itself, this record just keeps peaking and peaking – from the equally astonishing singles “Airport” and “Forget About You” to later songs like “Tenement Steps.” They don’t descend into melancholy, like Big Star, or dilute their catalogue with too many ballads, like the Raspberries – if anything they blast straight into the clouds like only Cheap Trick knew how, and even “Surrender” never quite scrapes the stars like “Dancing the Night Away.” This record is a hurtling freight train of passion laden with a cargo of youthful joy.
Well… sure, that sounds a bit silly, so laugh if you will. But this is the sort of record for which critics unabashedly dust off adjectives like “sanguine” and “exuberant,” and rightfully so. A great deal of power pop aspires to this and fails. But the Motors do it perfectly, and on a beautiful day like yesterday, on the way home from work, it’s what I need – it’s all I need – for every traffic light to turn green.
Tuesday, February 24, 2004
My remix brings all the boys to the yard
Kelis ft. The Clipse – “Milkshake (Remix)”
Those who picked up on the original “Milkshake” when it leaked about six months ago were thoroughly sick of it by the time it went into heavy video rotation with the album’s release in December. The remix jettisons almost the entire original song, keeping only the chorus, which is reflected through a house of mirrors and rides out on a weird carnival organ riff. Kelis inverts the demure temptress of the original into a brash ‘n’ crass middle finger directed at various haters nosing into her personal life. The Clipse comes in for good measure to drop some odd phrases and say “Hm” a lot, Busta Rhymes style. Like a good remix, it reflects the original while offering the listener something completely different – if sex brought business to the diner in the original, the remix is the episode in which Kelis burns the building down for the insurance money.
Lil Jon and the Eastside Boyz – “Get Low (Merengue Remix)”
The Merengue remix of Lil Jon and the Eastside Boyz’ “Get Low” is much simpler: it just goes faster. It’s something that rarely works outside of dance music but sounds brilliant here. The verses are compacted, not chipmunked, and it is the beat that really benefits. While Jon’s lesser party jams sometimes fall into a dirge-like shuffle when filtered through his crunk-speed production style, the Merengue remix liberally multiplies the pace, turning the Deep South grumble into a Deep South-of-the-Border barnstormer. Hopefully, this is only the tip of the ice burg for Central and Southern American styles in hip-hop, which continues to benefit from its role as the most international contemporary American music.
Alicia Keys – “You Don’t Know My Name (Reggae Remix)”
If the Merengue mix is a continental shift, the reggae remix of Alicia Keys’ “You Don’t Know My Name” is a seasonal one. The original is a pleasant enough performance and the video includes thugs knocking over a cabinet of china, which I always find amusing, but the song’s wistful winter tone makes it sound inconclusive and dithering. The simple reggae vamp of the remix feels like summer;* Keys no longer sounds apprehensive but is instead eager to finally meet the object of her affections in this mix. This could drop as a single on that first really warm day in April…
*Does reggae ever not sound like summer? Dancehall and rocksteady, too. Dub is probably the only Jamaican style that ever gets cold.
Kelis ft. The Clipse – “Milkshake (Remix)”
Those who picked up on the original “Milkshake” when it leaked about six months ago were thoroughly sick of it by the time it went into heavy video rotation with the album’s release in December. The remix jettisons almost the entire original song, keeping only the chorus, which is reflected through a house of mirrors and rides out on a weird carnival organ riff. Kelis inverts the demure temptress of the original into a brash ‘n’ crass middle finger directed at various haters nosing into her personal life. The Clipse comes in for good measure to drop some odd phrases and say “Hm” a lot, Busta Rhymes style. Like a good remix, it reflects the original while offering the listener something completely different – if sex brought business to the diner in the original, the remix is the episode in which Kelis burns the building down for the insurance money.
Lil Jon and the Eastside Boyz – “Get Low (Merengue Remix)”
The Merengue remix of Lil Jon and the Eastside Boyz’ “Get Low” is much simpler: it just goes faster. It’s something that rarely works outside of dance music but sounds brilliant here. The verses are compacted, not chipmunked, and it is the beat that really benefits. While Jon’s lesser party jams sometimes fall into a dirge-like shuffle when filtered through his crunk-speed production style, the Merengue remix liberally multiplies the pace, turning the Deep South grumble into a Deep South-of-the-Border barnstormer. Hopefully, this is only the tip of the ice burg for Central and Southern American styles in hip-hop, which continues to benefit from its role as the most international contemporary American music.
Alicia Keys – “You Don’t Know My Name (Reggae Remix)”
If the Merengue mix is a continental shift, the reggae remix of Alicia Keys’ “You Don’t Know My Name” is a seasonal one. The original is a pleasant enough performance and the video includes thugs knocking over a cabinet of china, which I always find amusing, but the song’s wistful winter tone makes it sound inconclusive and dithering. The simple reggae vamp of the remix feels like summer;* Keys no longer sounds apprehensive but is instead eager to finally meet the object of her affections in this mix. This could drop as a single on that first really warm day in April…
*Does reggae ever not sound like summer? Dancehall and rocksteady, too. Dub is probably the only Jamaican style that ever gets cold.
Saturday, February 21, 2004
Singles going steady
2004 so far...
01. Scissor Sisters – Comfortably Numb
02. Alan Braxe & Fred Falke – Rubicon
03. Bubba Sparxxx – Back In the Mud
04. Usher ft. Ludacris and Lil Jon – Yeah
05. David Banner ft. Static – Crank It Up
06. Obie Trice ft. Nate Dogg – The Set Up
07. Britney Spears – Toxic
08. Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz ft. Pastor Troy – Throw It Up
09. Ferry Corsten – Rock Your Body Rock
10. Twista ft. Kanye West and Jamie Foxx – Slow Jamz
11. Richard X ft. Javine – You Used To
12. Air – Cherry Blossom Girl
13. Junior Senior – Shake Your Coconuts
14. Emma Bunton – I’ll Be There
15. Missy Elliott – Ragtime Interlude (I’m Really Hot)
16. Pitch Black – It’s All Real
17. Juvenile ft. Mannie Fresh – In My Life
18. Memphis Bleek ft. Jay-Z & Beanie Sigel – Murda Murda
19. Ying Yang Twins – Shake It Like A Salt Shaker
20. Ludacris – Splash Waterfalls
21. LCD Soundsystem – Yeah (Stupid Mix)
22. Sean Paul ft. Sasha – I’m Still In Love With You
23. Basement Jaxx ft. JC Chasez – Plug It In
24. Viva Le Fete – Nuit Blanche
25. T.I. – Rubber Band Man
It's been a hot couple of months. "Comfortably Numb" is still the unstoppable juggernaut that blew the year open for me. I had been enjoying "Rubicon" as part of one of the Base 58 mixes and just recently learned the track's name. "Back In the Mud" is the absolutely killer final track from last year's "Deliverance" and not only blows Outkast's "Ghettomusick" out of the water but also comes close to the breakneck greatness of "Bombs Over Baghdad."
2004 so far...
01. Scissor Sisters – Comfortably Numb
02. Alan Braxe & Fred Falke – Rubicon
03. Bubba Sparxxx – Back In the Mud
04. Usher ft. Ludacris and Lil Jon – Yeah
05. David Banner ft. Static – Crank It Up
06. Obie Trice ft. Nate Dogg – The Set Up
07. Britney Spears – Toxic
08. Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz ft. Pastor Troy – Throw It Up
09. Ferry Corsten – Rock Your Body Rock
10. Twista ft. Kanye West and Jamie Foxx – Slow Jamz
11. Richard X ft. Javine – You Used To
12. Air – Cherry Blossom Girl
13. Junior Senior – Shake Your Coconuts
14. Emma Bunton – I’ll Be There
15. Missy Elliott – Ragtime Interlude (I’m Really Hot)
16. Pitch Black – It’s All Real
17. Juvenile ft. Mannie Fresh – In My Life
18. Memphis Bleek ft. Jay-Z & Beanie Sigel – Murda Murda
19. Ying Yang Twins – Shake It Like A Salt Shaker
20. Ludacris – Splash Waterfalls
21. LCD Soundsystem – Yeah (Stupid Mix)
22. Sean Paul ft. Sasha – I’m Still In Love With You
23. Basement Jaxx ft. JC Chasez – Plug It In
24. Viva Le Fete – Nuit Blanche
25. T.I. – Rubber Band Man
It's been a hot couple of months. "Comfortably Numb" is still the unstoppable juggernaut that blew the year open for me. I had been enjoying "Rubicon" as part of one of the Base 58 mixes and just recently learned the track's name. "Back In the Mud" is the absolutely killer final track from last year's "Deliverance" and not only blows Outkast's "Ghettomusick" out of the water but also comes close to the breakneck greatness of "Bombs Over Baghdad."
Wednesday, February 18, 2004
LET'S ROCK - I WANNA ROCK YOUR BODY ROCK
I sought out Ferry Corsten's "Rock Your Body Rock" which is on the British charts now. In most respects it is pretty ordinary club music, but it has what I like to call a "crumbling vocal hook." It's difficult to describe, but in html it would be something like < vocorder>LET'S ROCK - I WANNA < quiver>ROCK YOUR BODY< /quiver> ROCK< /vocorder>. It descends or "crumbles" so as to sound as if the robot / DJ / ?* loses his composure halfway through issuing his prime directive. I believe he was overtaken by the need to rock.
*(I have no idea who/what Corsten is, by the way.)
**(After further research, I have learned he is a popular trance DJ from the Netherlands.)
I sought out Ferry Corsten's "Rock Your Body Rock" which is on the British charts now. In most respects it is pretty ordinary club music, but it has what I like to call a "crumbling vocal hook." It's difficult to describe, but in html it would be something like < vocorder>LET'S ROCK - I WANNA < quiver>ROCK YOUR BODY< /quiver> ROCK< /vocorder>. It descends or "crumbles" so as to sound as if the robot / DJ / ?* loses his composure halfway through issuing his prime directive. I believe he was overtaken by the need to rock.
*(I have no idea who/what Corsten is, by the way.)
**(After further research, I have learned he is a popular trance DJ from the Netherlands.)
Monday, February 16, 2004
"Hm, handsome American boy, you like the ambient music, yes?"
I've been thinking recently that the music listener who explores new genres of music - the music explorer, if you will - goes through a series of phases in discovering a new genre. This is a draft. I'd be curious to know what you think.
1. Foreigness: This is the most extreme - the Innuit person who hears salsa music and for all he knows, it came from Mars. In America in 2004 its less and less likely to actively experience this, but it could still happen with some obscure musics. With most listeners and most genres, this leads to...
2. Disinterest: I chose this particular word for this step because I think most people have a generally dismissive attitude toward the genres they only have a passing familiarity with. This phase describes the attitude where most casual music fans stop with every genre except for the one or two that they've always listened to and feel at home with. People who make broad generalizations about other genres are usually stalled in this category. There's nothing wrong with that; in many cases this is were someone stops if a genre just doesn't fit for them. But for the music explorer, it's a place where she or he rests only briefly to test the water before venturing on to...
3. Equilibrium: At this stage the listener comes to terms with the basic values of the style. A broad-based, reasonable listener will probably meet this stage for most of the genres they hear before choosing a select few genres to move into...
4. Infatuation: This is the phase were the listener falls in love with the whole genre and can't get enough of it. This is also the phase where the listener is omnivorous; they know they like it, but they don't yet have the knowledge or experience yet to separate the Nirvana from the Foo Fighters or the Ludacris from the Chingy. With enough listening, this leads into...
5. Familiarity: At this stage the listener understands some of the history, the environment and perhaps the future of the genre. They are familiar with most of the artists and probably spend a fair amount of time reading about the genre, listening to recorded music and going to live music events. Most enthusiastic listeners come to a stop here, but for those who don't, there is...
6. Dominance: Relatively few people reach this stage, but they're easy to spot - they can name every Sub Pop Singles Club 7", they have every live Louis Prima performance neatly catalogued, they can identify a DJ Screw remix from the first few bars. They walk among music junkies like brilliant gods, looking down at the mendicants who, sniveling, beg for a recommendation on the best Moving Shadow release from 1996. Like golden birds they soar ever closer to the sun, but, inevitably, they reach...
7. Exhaustion: Eventually dominance, in most cases, leads to boredom with the style. When there is nothing left under the sun, the listener grows weary of the genre they spent so much time with. If it is evolving into something else, or making way for a new scene, the fortunate listener may be able to slide directly from here back to step 2 or 3. If it isn't, they may jump ship entirely and begin again with an unrelated genre. Or, if other factors in their life (job, family, knitting circle) have begun to take up more of their time, they may withdraw from the cycle for good.
Of course, these aren't hard and fast rules - as with any such "system" there are plenty of exceptions, skips, bypasses, and so forth. Most people are also involved at different steps in different genres at the same time. Also the welfare of a particular genre can dramatically affect the process - if someone begins the process with, say, punk rock in 1975 and follows through the steps, hitting 3, 4 and possibly 5 while the genre is at its 1977-1979 peak, the phases could all be particularly pronounced. I'm sure I'm not saying anything new, but I thought it was an interesting idea to toss around.
I've been thinking recently that the music listener who explores new genres of music - the music explorer, if you will - goes through a series of phases in discovering a new genre. This is a draft. I'd be curious to know what you think.
1. Foreigness: This is the most extreme - the Innuit person who hears salsa music and for all he knows, it came from Mars. In America in 2004 its less and less likely to actively experience this, but it could still happen with some obscure musics. With most listeners and most genres, this leads to...
2. Disinterest: I chose this particular word for this step because I think most people have a generally dismissive attitude toward the genres they only have a passing familiarity with. This phase describes the attitude where most casual music fans stop with every genre except for the one or two that they've always listened to and feel at home with. People who make broad generalizations about other genres are usually stalled in this category. There's nothing wrong with that; in many cases this is were someone stops if a genre just doesn't fit for them. But for the music explorer, it's a place where she or he rests only briefly to test the water before venturing on to...
3. Equilibrium: At this stage the listener comes to terms with the basic values of the style. A broad-based, reasonable listener will probably meet this stage for most of the genres they hear before choosing a select few genres to move into...
4. Infatuation: This is the phase were the listener falls in love with the whole genre and can't get enough of it. This is also the phase where the listener is omnivorous; they know they like it, but they don't yet have the knowledge or experience yet to separate the Nirvana from the Foo Fighters or the Ludacris from the Chingy. With enough listening, this leads into...
5. Familiarity: At this stage the listener understands some of the history, the environment and perhaps the future of the genre. They are familiar with most of the artists and probably spend a fair amount of time reading about the genre, listening to recorded music and going to live music events. Most enthusiastic listeners come to a stop here, but for those who don't, there is...
6. Dominance: Relatively few people reach this stage, but they're easy to spot - they can name every Sub Pop Singles Club 7", they have every live Louis Prima performance neatly catalogued, they can identify a DJ Screw remix from the first few bars. They walk among music junkies like brilliant gods, looking down at the mendicants who, sniveling, beg for a recommendation on the best Moving Shadow release from 1996. Like golden birds they soar ever closer to the sun, but, inevitably, they reach...
7. Exhaustion: Eventually dominance, in most cases, leads to boredom with the style. When there is nothing left under the sun, the listener grows weary of the genre they spent so much time with. If it is evolving into something else, or making way for a new scene, the fortunate listener may be able to slide directly from here back to step 2 or 3. If it isn't, they may jump ship entirely and begin again with an unrelated genre. Or, if other factors in their life (job, family, knitting circle) have begun to take up more of their time, they may withdraw from the cycle for good.
Of course, these aren't hard and fast rules - as with any such "system" there are plenty of exceptions, skips, bypasses, and so forth. Most people are also involved at different steps in different genres at the same time. Also the welfare of a particular genre can dramatically affect the process - if someone begins the process with, say, punk rock in 1975 and follows through the steps, hitting 3, 4 and possibly 5 while the genre is at its 1977-1979 peak, the phases could all be particularly pronounced. I'm sure I'm not saying anything new, but I thought it was an interesting idea to toss around.
Saturday, February 14, 2004
Country Top 20
Toby Keith – “American Soldier”
This sounds more like a jingle than a song (I mean, he even drops “be all that I can be”). And I think it’s kind of unrealistic to say “I don’t do it for the money” when most people in the army are doing it for money or for college tuition (and quite rightly so).
The arrangement is rather affecting in a U2 style, but the build up to the soaring eagle guitar solo is Predictable. Very.
“I’ll bear that cross with honor, because freedom don’t come free.”
This song fails to examine the role of the soldier in anything but the most superficial manner. Where’s Steve Earle when we need him?
Toby Keith – “American Soldier”
This sounds more like a jingle than a song (I mean, he even drops “be all that I can be”). And I think it’s kind of unrealistic to say “I don’t do it for the money” when most people in the army are doing it for money or for college tuition (and quite rightly so).
The arrangement is rather affecting in a U2 style, but the build up to the soaring eagle guitar solo is Predictable. Very.
“I’ll bear that cross with honor, because freedom don’t come free.”
This song fails to examine the role of the soldier in anything but the most superficial manner. Where’s Steve Earle when we need him?
Postscript
Sure sign of the apocalypse - Ashanti and Nate Dogg sing on the same song. THE WORLD COMES UNDONE!!1!
Sure sign of the apocalypse - Ashanti and Nate Dogg sing on the same song. THE WORLD COMES UNDONE!!1!
The "hip-hop awaits the Apocalypse" theory, continued
Obie Trice and Nate Dogg have produced one of the most apocalyptic singles in recent memory - "The Set Up." Obie raps about an untrustworthy woman and Nate Dogg (naturally) adds an icy hook. There's an underlying vein of betrayal and the subdued threat of violence but it is all frozen 1,000 feet inside a glacier, discovered hundreds of years from now in the depths of an endless nuclear winter.
Obie Trice and Nate Dogg have produced one of the most apocalyptic singles in recent memory - "The Set Up." Obie raps about an untrustworthy woman and Nate Dogg (naturally) adds an icy hook. There's an underlying vein of betrayal and the subdued threat of violence but it is all frozen 1,000 feet inside a glacier, discovered hundreds of years from now in the depths of an endless nuclear winter.
"I would say... bon voyage."
There are a lot of opportunities during the day to hear incidental, ambient and accidental forms of music, but one of my favorites is when someone accidentally dials my cell phone and then leaves a six minute "message." I think this usually happens when someone's phone is in their pocket and accidentally bumps up against the right numbers. They don't realize their phone is on as it records (from their pocket or briefcase or wherever) whatever they happen to be doing or saying.
Usually this comes in the form of static-filled snippets of conversations and odd, echoing noises that make it sound like the caller is in some sort of vast underground mall (which I fervently hope is the case). The message I received yesterday at work was a bit different, however, because it was all in Spanish. The first few minutes were filled with a choppy conversation - it was all too muffled to even make out words (it sounded like the speaker was in his car). The middle section was the radio, a mid-tempo song in Spanish that was all chorus played at a high volume. The last part was another conversation (with only one discernable voice) that became increasingly static-filled and watery until it finally faded out entirely.
As I listened to the message in the bathroom stall at work (the accepted place for listening to cell messages when its cold out) I had to smile.
There are a lot of opportunities during the day to hear incidental, ambient and accidental forms of music, but one of my favorites is when someone accidentally dials my cell phone and then leaves a six minute "message." I think this usually happens when someone's phone is in their pocket and accidentally bumps up against the right numbers. They don't realize their phone is on as it records (from their pocket or briefcase or wherever) whatever they happen to be doing or saying.
Usually this comes in the form of static-filled snippets of conversations and odd, echoing noises that make it sound like the caller is in some sort of vast underground mall (which I fervently hope is the case). The message I received yesterday at work was a bit different, however, because it was all in Spanish. The first few minutes were filled with a choppy conversation - it was all too muffled to even make out words (it sounded like the speaker was in his car). The middle section was the radio, a mid-tempo song in Spanish that was all chorus played at a high volume. The last part was another conversation (with only one discernable voice) that became increasingly static-filled and watery until it finally faded out entirely.
As I listened to the message in the bathroom stall at work (the accepted place for listening to cell messages when its cold out) I had to smile.
Friday, February 06, 2004
Twista - "Kamikaze"
Twista follows up a whole slew of songs about spinnin' rims and bitches with a heartfelt tribute to victims of crime, 9-11, and "superhomie" Christopher Reeves. Needless to say, it is awesome.
It doesn't compare to "Art and Life," however, in which Twista hosts Rockafella's utility rappers Memphis Bleek, Young Chris and Freeway on an excellent track in which the beat periodically doubles up an itself in an insane mannter.
Thursday, February 05, 2004
Afrika Bambaataa and James Brown - "Unity"
So necessary for the requisite vocal breakdown in which James shouts out "Punk rock! New wave! Uh! Turn me loose!"
So necessary for the requisite vocal breakdown in which James shouts out "Punk rock! New wave! Uh! Turn me loose!"
Sunday, February 01, 2004
