Slumberlord
Saturday, April 24, 2004
 
Saying it's Gundam, but really it's giant robot anime


This has nothing to do with Flip's current hit. I just felt like posting it.

Hot chart-on-chart action: "Doomage" contains the line "skinny grizzly bear alcoholic on the loose" which justifies a chart slot on its own. Brother Ali opens up on critics, and rightly so - which review from last year didn't include some "OMG muslim albino rapper" gimmick insinuation?

The Prince song is quite nice. The "Neva Eva" Remix just won't stop.

On the Billboard charts, everything keeps dropping except Lil' Flip, as "Game Over" goes to #16. FLIP! FLIP! FLIP! FLIP! GAME OVAH~. Petey Pablo goes to #11. The south will rise again...

"Red Blooded Woman" will never chart in the U.S., but there is a song called "Redneck Woman" at #41! Go America!
 
Thursday, April 22, 2004
 
Thursday Evening Blog Report: All blogs, no live journals. Because blogs are strong and brave and live journals are weak and sad. There, I said it.


Brunk: it works on so many levels (www.catchdubs.com)

Crank Crunk brings peeps up to speed on the new Method Man single. It's actually pretty good despite the inclusion of the ubiquitous Busta Rhymes. The video (also via DD) includes a second where everything drops out and everybody stops. It's cool.

Basement Galaxy says that on his new Streets album "A Grand Don't Come For Free" garage sensation Mike Skinner "takes an ordinary little working-class plotline, and makes it a powerful, poetic little tale of love, hate, and redemption." Flyboy at the New Hip-Hop, Political Correctness Trend calls lead single "Fit But You Know It" the "worst piece of recorded music I have ever heard in my life." So long consensus!

The poster above is for this guy Nick Catchdubs who has some connection to the Hollertronix crew whose fantastic graphix arts I shamelessly linked like all hell a few months ago. The croissant, yes? Brilliant, yes? Looks like a cornucopia. I imagine Lil' Jon wouldn't settle for a normal one. It's a pimp croissant.
 
Saturday, April 17, 2004
 
You can download it/ burn it, MP3 it


BLEEPBLEEP...ROBOTBEYONCE...RUN/PROG/R&B=?FILE...HOMAGE/DONNASUMMER

"Italian Fireflies" jumps aggressively on to the chart (right column), provided by Black Strobe, the same producer whose remix of Playgroup's "Number One" has been in the MP3 playlist for some time now. "Italian Fireflies" is just a simple riff, a shifty beat, one part where everything drops out - nothing to particularly not like about it... particularly.

GM Grimm's "Dancing" from his spotty "Digital Tears" album is also excellent, and just packed with great verses. Over a skittering centipede piano line, Grimm uses MP3 as a verb, which has to be one of my favorite hip-hop noun to verb conversions since "wife."

On the Billboard Charts, Lil' Flip moves up four slots to 21; "The Way You Move" is still in the top 20 after 31 weeks on the chart; and indestructible robot Beyonce continues to climb toward the number one slot again with "Naughty Girl."
 
 
You prefer cocaine? Dance like a machine!


Ukraine is a totally awesome former Soviet republic

Vitalic, AKA Pascal Arbez, AKA Dima, AKA Onurb has absolutely blown up on the interweb (chortle) community over the last year. His story is mysterious at best – according to Discogs he emigrated from the Ukraine to East Germany with his dog Mini Robot to record an EP addressing the suffering of ponies in fairs.
The antithesis of the faceless techno producer, his music is equally striking – a hard-riffed collection of jagged, flowing progressions punctuated with popping, hiccuping noises and stretched, distorted vocal samples.
“La Rock” is hot joint #1, the blueprint from which all else is derived, but the “Poney EP” is essential as well. “Poney Part 2” contains what could be considered his trademark vocal sample – a man either asking or stating “You prefer cocaine” in a dignified tone, followed by the deadpanned, but strangely desperate cry of “dance like a machine!” “Absolut” with collaborator/alter-ego (?) Al Ferox is another strong effort, with a throbbing low-end bassline and unrelenting cymbal hits.
Like many techno producers, Vitalic's work beyond extends into countless remixes, many of which are quite remarkable. His live sets are particularly astonishing – a set currently available on peer-to-peer networks titled “Live at Shockers” from April 28, 2002 sums up his relentless style.
 
Saturday, April 10, 2004
 
Fwd: Is your past a chronic problem


I don't write my stuff anymore, I just kick it from my head, you know what I'm sayin'? I can do that. No disrespect, but that's how I am

Ratatat's "17 Years" has been on the personal chart (right) for a while now, but only recently did it seem to click and bump itself up to the number five slot. Gabba described this as "giga-rock" and that is a perfect title: this is giant robot invasion music; moon retrograde music. Nothing recent in post-rock sounds quite like it and all the bands doing watery Tortoise impressions should take note.

"Yeah" has dropped down the personal charts again, due largely to its ubiquity. From the El in Chicago to the bars in D.C., one cannot escape the hordes of frat boys screaming "YEEEAH! OOOH-KAY!" The sad thing is that they're not even doing Lil' Jon impressions; they're doing impressions of Dave Chappelle's Lil' Jon impression.
 
Thursday, April 08, 2004
 
Spit so many verses, sometimes my jaw twitches/ One thing this party could use is more... booze.


I make microphone fiends OD off me

Ah, yes, my quarterly mix, which can include anything that was released on an album, as a single, or that leaked or blew up on the Internet from January to the end of March. Insiders will be receiving copies soon. Anyone else who is interested can talk trade.

Quarterly Report 2004: 1-3
Side I
Fiery Furnaces – Tropical Ice-Land (Single Version)
Alan Braxe & Fred Falke – Rubicon
Ferry Corsten – Rock Your Body Rock
Destra – Bonnie and Clyde
Animal Collective – We Tigers
Stereolab – Bop Scotch
Vive Le Fete – Nuit Blanche
Richard X ft. Javine – You Used To
Britney Spear – Toxic
Kelis ft. The Clipse – Milkshake (Remix)
Juvenile ft. Mannie Fresh – In My Life
Big Tymers – No Love
Madvillain – All Caps
GM Grimm – Dancing
Sage Francis ft. Brother Ali and Slug – Doomage
Lil’ Flip – Game Over
Trillville ft. Twista – Neva Eva (Remix)
Bubba Sparxxx – Back In the Mud

Side II
Blazin’ Squad – Here For One
Maximus Dan – Gun Town (Cello Riddim)
Pitch Black – It’s All Real
Obie Trice ft. Nate Dogg – The Set Up
Ratatat – 17 Years
Modest Mouse – Float On
The Walkmen – The Rat
Franz Ferdinand – Take Me Out (Morgan Geist Remix)
Nas – Star Wars
Jay-Z – Dirt Off Your Shoulder
Twista ft. Memphis Bleek, Young Chris and Freeway – Art and Life
G-Unit – Wanna Get to Know You
Sugababes – Someone In My Bed
Emma Bunton – I’ll Be There
Air – Cherry Blossom Girl
Junior Boys – High Come Down
DJ Spooky – Matik
Scissor Sisters – Comfortably Numb
 
Wednesday, April 07, 2004
 
I want to climb mountains, and sing the songs I want to sing


Fantomas, the storm upstairs




Geoff Farina, safe and warm downstairs

I returned today from D.C., where I had a great time with Brendog learning about the easy life of entourages (from a former NY fashion photographer at a bar), how coins are made (from fancy displays at the Smithsonian) and why haters want Lyndon LaRouche dead (from propaganda on the Mall, ‘natch).
The most distinct musical moment was the show at the Black Cat, where we saw Geoff Farina of famed jazzish castaways Karate. After an opening artist who played a nice cover of Arthur Russell’s “A Little Lost,” Farina flexed his thoughtful guitar skills as surgical noise terrorists Fantomas prepared to annihilate the larger performance space upstairs. Fortunately he finished just as they were heating up.

My tourist experience was completed at the Black Cat when I saw none other than the punk rock xgodfatherx himself:


OMG BRITNEY ITS HIM!!1! QUIK HIDE OUR BEERZ
 
 
Ugh! Unexpected company... must tidy up...


I forgot Derrick May. I apologize, everyone

Speaking of Detroit, I made a mix CD for 8 Mile's newest thug, who just relocated to the Motor City. I wanted to seal off about six hours of music for her drive. She linked this humble home in a mass email so in case anyone clicks over here expecting something substantive I thought I would post the mix track listing:

Disc #1: Burning Up the Motorway
El Mannion – Unlive in Manchester DJ Mix, Pt. 4
Machine – There But For the Grace of God Go I
Sylvester – I Need You
Dinosaur L – #5/Go Bang!
Hi-Tension – British Hustle
Kylie Minogue – Burning Up
Dylan Rhymes – Naked and Ashamed (Remix)
Satin Storm – I Think I’m Going Out of My Head
Saint Etienne – Like a Motorway
Curve – Perish
Stereolab – Captain Easychord
Orbital – Halycon and On and On

Disc #2: Friday Nite at the Prussian Embassy
The KLF – Last Train to Transcentral
Alexander Robotnick – Problemes D’Amour
Jurgen Paape – Mit Dir
Luomo – What Good
Michael Mayer – Amanda
Borneo & Sporenburg – Boys in Shorts
Outhud – Dad, There’s A Little Phrase Called Too Much Information
Kojima Mayumi – Hatsukoi
Alice Coltrane – Oh Allah
Miles Davis – It Never Entered My Mind
String Quartet – All Mixed Up
Cymande – Willy’s Headache
Les Baxter – Havana
Irakere – Encuentro
Beny More – Babarabatiri

Disc #3: The Towers of London are Burning
Lio – Banana Split
Annie – The Greatest Hit
White Trash – I Don’t Love You
Ulrich Schnauss – On My Own
Primal Scream – Some Velvet Morning (Kevin Shields/Jagz Kooner Remix)
Fleetwood Mac – Come
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Straight to You
Led Zeppelin – Dancing Days
Lifter Puller – Solid Gold Sole
Comet Gain – Why I Try To Look So Bad
M.O.T.O. – I Hate My Fucking Job (Live)
Mekons – Memphis, Egypt
Mink De Ville – Cadillac Walk
The Modern Folk Quartet – This Could Be the Night
Bobby Womack – I’m Looking For A Love
The Trammps – Hold Back the Night
The Detroit Emeralds – Baby Let Me Take You
Frank Wilson – Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)
The Delfonics – Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time)
Sanford Clark – The Fool
Sue Wilkinson – You Gotta Be A Hustler If You Wanna Get On

Disc #4: Bombs Over Cloverland
Marianne Nowottny – Fountain of Youth
Dwight Twilley – Out of My Hands
Felt – How Spook Got Her Man
Red House Painters – Grace Cathedral Park
Marc Almond & Gene Pitney – Something’s Gotten Hold of My Heart
Paul Young – Come Back and Stay
Ennio Morricone – Danger Diabolik Main Theme
Pop Will Eat Itself – Touched By the Hand of Cicciolina (Edited Highlights)
El Mannion – Unlive in Manchester DJ Mix, Pt. 2
Barrington Levy – Here I Come
Vybz Kartel – Sweet to the Belly
Dr. Ring-Ding – Bombs Over Baghdad
Ce’Cile – Rude Boy Thug Life
DJ Screw – Cloverland
Scarface ft. Jay-Z and Beanie Sigel – Guess Who’s Back
Famlay – Rock N Roll
Son of Bazerk – Change the Style
DJ Cash Money and Marvelous Marvin – Ugly People Be Quiet

Disc #5: Weekend in Trinidad
Avalanches – Radio 1 Breezeblock DJ Mix, 2/26/01

Disc #6: Goodnight, Communist Bloc
Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares – Pipppero – Elio E Le Store Tese (English Version)
M 83 – Run Into Flowers (Abstrackt Keal Agram Remix)
Little Trees – Help! I’m a Fish!
Britney Spears – Autumn Goodbye
ABBA – Should I Laugh Or Should I Cry?
David Bowie – Let’s Dance
The Knife – Heartbeats
Sunset Valley – Skylab Love Scene
Kitchens of Distinction – Quick As Rainbows
XTC – We’re All Light
Squeeze – What the Butler Saw
Orange Juice – Blue Boy
The Yachts – Suffice to Stay
The Records – Starry Eyes
AR Kane – A Love From Outer Space
Chris and Cosey – October Love Song
Kaito – Saturday and Sunday

All in all I'm pretty proud of it. If I did it again, I would probably drop some of the electronic music in favor of a bit more hip-hop. It does reveal that I'm still a bit of a soul/jazz/folk tourist, as if that was a secret, and borrows a bit heavily from a few musical collectives (the beginning of Disc #3 in particular is a pretty obvious Flux/Gabba lift). But I enjoyed making it and it flows surprisingly well, so, ok!
 
Thursday, April 01, 2004
 
The fat comic relief rapper: bass player of the hip-hop world


The popularist guy in the group: Bizarre

I’m leaving for D.C. tomorrow so I’m going to do my weekend updates now. I know, yr thrilled.
I’ve decided to try a Top 40 singles list in place of the Top 20 – we’ll see if it works or if it's a pain.
The big gainer for this week – D12’s “My Band.” The song is good but it is the video that is really fantastic. For those who haven’t seen it, it’s a very funny riff on the, ur, rift between the star (Eminem) and “the rest” (Kon Artis, Proof, etc.) in a group. It has loads of hilarious sequences from the dirty dozen dancing with fans in their dressing room (a janitor’s closet) to Slim announcing his next single will be “My Salsa” (don’t ask). It’s all very self-depreciating for the (sometimes) pompous rap world and is a nice break from dour rappers who take themselves a bit too seriously.
The highlights are Bizarre’s verses:

“Anyway I’m the popularest guy in the group
Big ass stomach, bitches think I'm cute (hey sexy)
50 told me to do sit-ups to get buff
I did two and a half and couldn't get up”

This is part of a very funny “In Da Club” parody in which Bizarre descends from the ceiling and then is unable to pull himself up. He also lists all the times he took a backseat to Mathers (“‘Lose Yourself’ video I was in the back / ‘Superman’ video I was in the back”).

You can watch it here (just push through the ad).

NEXT WEEK: Some real solid thoughts on Banner screwed and chopped, the longwinded Lil’ Flip, and other albums.
 
Stylus Magazine

blogheads
Crank Crunk - he's so sincerr
Post Graduation Haze - minnesombulist
Some Disco - more rapping blogs please
DJ Martian - you think this is easy, realism
Pale Wire - like a bomb-sniffing dog, but for books
Pop Licks - everybody needs a thrill
We Eat So Many Shrimp - the premiere league of HH blogz
KAATN - not interested in diamonds, conflict or otherwise
The Children of Marx and Coca-Cola - movies or something


throwbacks
08/01/2003 - 09/01/2003 / 09/01/2003 - 10/01/2003 / 10/01/2003 - 11/01/2003 / 11/01/2003 - 12/01/2003 / 12/01/2003 - 01/01/2004 / 01/01/2004 - 02/01/2004 / 02/01/2004 - 03/01/2004 / 03/01/2004 - 04/01/2004 / 04/01/2004 - 05/01/2004 / 05/01/2004 - 06/01/2004 / 06/01/2004 - 07/01/2004 / 07/01/2004 - 08/01/2004 / 08/01/2004 - 09/01/2004 / 09/01/2004 - 10/01/2004 / 10/01/2004 - 11/01/2004 / 11/01/2004 - 12/01/2004 / 12/01/2004 - 01/01/2005 / 01/01/2005 - 02/01/2005 / 02/01/2005 - 03/01/2005 / 03/01/2005 - 04/01/2005 / 04/01/2005 - 05/01/2005 / 06/01/2005 - 07/01/2005 / 07/01/2005 - 08/01/2005 / 08/01/2005 - 09/01/2005 / 12/01/2005 - 01/01/2006 / 01/01/2006 - 02/01/2006 / 02/01/2006 - 03/01/2006 / 03/01/2006 - 04/01/2006 / 04/01/2006 - 05/01/2006 / 05/01/2006 - 06/01/2006 / 06/01/2006 - 07/01/2006 / 07/01/2006 - 08/01/2006 / 08/01/2006 - 09/01/2006 / 09/01/2006 - 10/01/2006 / 10/01/2006 - 11/01/2006 / 11/01/2006 - 12/01/2006 / 12/01/2006 - 01/01/2007 / 01/01/2007 - 02/01/2007 / 02/01/2007 - 03/01/2007 / 03/01/2007 - 04/01/2007 /


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