Better Living Through Explosives

Last night was good, for two primary reasons.
First, St. Patty's Month was not as horrible as you might think. I was in Old City (oof), which should have been real real yucky. There were hardly any green hats, hardly any beads, etc. Negatively good: the absence of obnoxiousness. Phew.

Second, more positively good: Neil had some Irish friends in town; these friends have a band; this band has good songs (at Rhapsody) . They're called Butterfly Explosion (Myspace).
We went to the Khyber, which I love but hadn't been to in a minute. You know that High Lifes (High Lives?) are only $2.50 there? Downstairs even (upstairs beers are always crazy cheap). I'll be darned.


Butterfly Explosion on YouTube
Butterfly Explosion sound like M83 with less synthesized business (as Neil accurately stated). They do have a keyboard, but it's more for an extra layer of sound, not for beeps and bloops.
Or like Mogwai, but less often loud. 2 or 3 songs got 'Mogwai loud'...
...this would be an explosion, in Mogwai mode:

...

but the bulk built and waned without ever making a huge crashing. So mellower than Mogwai, but not crybaby-mellow. Just more restrained, like so...


Most of the songs didn't have words, which is a strong merit. Songs don't need words! If you require your music to have words- a non-musical element, of course- I think there may be something wrong with you.
There is probably something wrong with you regardless.

Jose Feliciano- Zorba the Greek Geek

I recently happened upon a few records by Jose Feliciano. He's blind, and plays a mean guitar. Like, for real mean. He plays a number of covers (that's what crack instrumentalists do: think about old jazz heads), like the one above. He also used to live near S'Noble in Connecticut.

CONNEXIONS, right?!?!

Oh shit! It's 2:30, and I still haven't finished my syllabus. Lordy! You guys write the rest of this, will you? Thanks. I owe a blog entry dedication to anyone who adds anything to the comments section. Well, anything except for spam comments about hookahs (see here and here).

Pirate Radio- "Lost" and Found Sounds

I have put together two mixes based on the TV series, "Lost."
DOWNLOAD "Lost- Pirate Radio One.zip"
Now, I've never seen this show. I just want to cash in on its popularity while I still can (before everyone realizes that it just is not that good).



My favorite character (again, haven't seen it: this is all overheard hearsay) is one John Locke. Why my favorite?
He uses a machete,
He has been in a wheelchair,
He has no hair.

I would do all these things: I would roll around viciously swording all those who dared not step out of the way of my wheeled chariot (and my head is shaved already!).

He also will defend his property, which I guess means something to those of you who read philosophy.
But as (philosopher) Locke tells us, the natural right to property, in civil society, may come with contractual limits. For instance, a DVD I bought at the dollar store informed me that my right of ownership, granted to me by my purchase, in fact "excludes the use of this DVD at locations such as clubs, coaches, hospitals, hotels, oil rigs, prisons, and schools."
Okay!

On to the mix: since I never saw the show, only two things are guiding the selection:
1) that something about the title/band name/ evokes something "Lost"-y to me: islands, water, fighting, Weird Science, etc.
2) that the songs would be fun enough that, even if you didn't know them, if you heard them in the background at a party, you would like them. So they must be 'party' songs, like funtime partytime, not like dancing partytime. Some you can dance to, though; it is not contractually forbidden.

Whereby a wonderful radio-like mix is made.
(This is the actual contract that I and my computer signed. Computer being digital, it signed it electronically, with a PIN.)

!TRACK LISTING!
for "Lost- Pirate Radio One.zip"


1) Hey There, Little Insect ?? ? ?? Modern Lovers
Funky little ditty. 'Monologue on Bermuda' coming up on a near-future blog (it's by Jonathan Richman, lead guy for ModLovers).
(because islands have insects?)

2) Jailbreak ?? ? ?? Thin Lizzy
Lyrics: "sirens wail, tonight all systems fail; hey you good-lookin' female: c'mere"
(because trapped on an island is roughly jail?)

3) No Fun ?? ? ?? The Stooges
Clapping- pretty much the most fun Stooges song, oddly enough.
(because would being on an island, even if there are polar bears and limbo contests and you get a really good tan base, really be that fun, after a few weeks?)

(download mix here)

4) In The Mouth A Desert ?? ? ?? Pavement
(sand=desert; islands have sand, right?)

5) Perfidia ?? ? ?? The Ventures
Off the sensational follow-up to "Vol 1. Original Hits". Off the 'present' side of the vinyl, not the 'past' side. Apparently, the 'present' is about '62. Surf rock classic. The Ventures covered "Apache"; a later cover by The Incredible Bongo Band is one of the most sampled songs ever. RESPEK!
(because surfing is what islanders do? Also, because this song sounds like sun?)

6) Eisbär ?? ? ?? Grauzone
punk-funk, new wave, whatever you need to call it. Sorta awesome. I got this actually in Germany: how about that?
(because 'Eisbär' in German means 'polar bear', and wasn't there a polar bear one time?)

7) This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) ?? ? ?? Talking Heads
I got this song off a free promo CD that Gary gave me; ehm, it was "She's just not that into you", I'm afraid to say. But this and 5 other really good songs on it. So I took it.
(because the island must be 'the place', whether 'the place' is purgatory, the future, or whatever? Have they even told you what the island actually is yet?)

(download mix here)

8) You Can't Hide From Yourself ?? ? ?? Teddy Pendergrass
Classic Philly soul. RESPEK!
(Cos where are you gonna hide on an island, huh? Riddle me that!)

9) I Think We're Alone Now ?? ? ?? Tommy James and The Shondells
By the band that brought you the ultrafamous "Crimson and Clover" (over and over...). This song, you will remember from your misspent youth- Tiffany covered it!
(cuz, 'cept for the other people there, you are abandoned by all humanity? Except maybe DARPANET or whatever it's called?)

10) Cocoanut Water, Rum, and Gin ?? ? ?? George Symonette
Calypso, which is about the most fun music ever. This songs claims that this drink will cure diseases, make you rich and attractive, and also get you drunk. I partially believe him.

11) Tide Is High ?? ? ?? The Paragons
Another song covered when you were just knee-high, by Blondie this time. This is the old-style reggae, uprock sweetness. Just a delight, a delightful delight.

(download mix here)

12) Sailor Man ?? ? ?? Turbonegro
I gave you a little fireside chat about this song already, here.
(b/c Sailors go to, and get you to, islands? and PIRATES!)

13) Survival of the Fittest ?? ? ?? Mobb Deep
This is an absolute classic hip-hop track; quoted sampled homaged etc in many many tracks. A few classic lines:
"You scared to look, you shook, cuz ain't no such thing as halfway crooks" (EPIC)
"worse come to worse, my people come first"
and, mais oui, the chorus lines: "Survival of the Fittest - Only the Strong Survive"
(Because, there are no welfare programs in the State of Nature, and you cannot get voted immunity on the "Lost" island?

I Made it Good to Myself (but Michael Jackson did not, b/c he's dead)

Got back from Portland, where the weather was about as good as it has been lately in Philadelphia. Surprisingly, I only got two (2) (!) CDs while I was there. I meant to go by Everyday Music, still my favorite ever CD shop, but didn't really have time. (Didn't get to Prineville's Neat Repeat either).
That's okay, for two reasons- 1) saved $40-80; 2) I can go in a few weeks if I go back for the Beer Festival: odds are about even on that.

Make It Good To Yourself - James Brown

BREAKING NEWS: James Butler has reported that E! has reported that Michael Jackson is reportedly dead! Reports are reporting that it was cardiac arrest (aka a BROKEN HEART!).
(not to be selfish, but does this mean that I can finally claim the title of King of Pop?!?!? ALL HAIL the NEW King of Pop!!! Three Cheers for meMeME!!! YEA ME!!!)
Related reports report that Farrah Fawcett also finally succumbed to her long bout of cancer... ANAL cancer!
NJK! Look it up!

(related connection: a famous beer expert is also named Michael Jackson, and is also dead. It's a F A C T ! Also, James Brown is dead- sad but true!)


Got them (them: James Brown "Black Caesar" sdtk.; Jesus & Mary Chain hits/best) at some resale shop near Alberta, or near Mississippi (ask Emily which it was).

You know that James Brown is called "the Godfather of Soul", of course. What you DID NOT KNOW is that he gave himself this nickname via the score/soundtrack he did for "Black Caesar". "Whuh?", you say. Cos' "The Godfather" came out around the same time, and since both movies deal with godfathers/Caesars/gangsters, he piggybacked on the other, already successful, movie. So sayeth the liner notes. IT BE FACTUAL!

While I was there, these things happened:
I almost hit a bear with my parents' car. On a mountain, obviously: my parents don't live (quite) that far out.
Talked firearms etc. with Jeffrey et al ("reasonable people", the lot of them).
I mass-texted a rape joke. It met with laughter (text laughter) (in most cases).
I got a flat on another person's bike. (For consistency's sake, yet retaining a certain air of variety via a clever inversion, I got two flats when I returned, on my own bike while going to a house which is not my own.)
I received a subpoena* for James Brown.**


it says: 'my heart tells me that you will not listen to my words and this is the cause of my tears and my cries'. This sums up my blog.

*subpoena, like Caesar, is hard for me to spell. I'll never get to be the new King of Latinists if I can't get them right!
**this DID IN FACT HAPPEN, although when I lived in Portland before. One of the children who mugged Adriel when I was with her was, evidently, named James Brown. "Godfather of Soulful Muggings"? "Hardest Working Boy in tha Game"? Maybe even "New King of Robbery"?

Sidenote: I am listening to some of the mixes posted earlier on this blog, and man, THEY ARE GOOD! Find the list of blogs with full mixes HERE.

AMX To The Max - Still Ill

The other day, I told you of a plan I had: make a mixtape inspired by some of Quentin Tarantino's movies.

Download ZIP file: 'Still Ill' mixtape

I got this idea because my Dad recently got a really rare muscle car (an AMX), which is talked about in Quentin's "DEATHPROOF". That was the impetus- just random inspiration; it's not like I am some QT fanboy, or that I am so very dearly devoted to his soundtracks. I don't even own one anymore...
There is a pretty distinctive sound to each of his films' musical accompaniment, though, so I figured this idea had the necessary specificity to generate a mix. (Mixes that are just 'songs that I like/that I thought you might like' are not worth my time to produce; I could just put my ITunes on shuffle for that, right?).
All taste requires discrimination; discrimination by definition is specific:
("I like all kinds of music" is general, and shows its speaker to lack taste entirely; or at least to be a "mollycoddle with shaky legs")
there you have it.


My directorial debut is "AMX : Still Ill." ( <--- clicky makey downloady)
Obviously, based off of the RZA-fashioned "Kill Bill" soundtracks.



TRACKLISTING:
#1 Il Ritorno Di Ringo /// Ennio Morricone
4th Chamber /// GZA
#3 Champion Sound /// Jaylib
Poison Dart /// The Bug ft. Warrior Queen
#5 Backyard Betty /// Spank Rock
Bullet /// Ellen Allien
#7 Don't Smile, It's Post-Modern /// Ghislain Poirier
Hide Ya Face (ft El-P and Ghostface Killah) /// Prefuse 73
#9 Wanderlove /// Claudine
Nagasaki Nights /// ...unknown artist...
#11 Slow Grind Italian (interlude) /// The RZA (as Bobby Digital)
Mantis (ft Masta Killa & Tekitha) /// The RZA (Bobby Digital)
#13 Bila El Mambo /// Hell's Gate Band
Heart It Races /// Architecture In Helsinki
#15 Still Got It 4 Cheap /// Clinton Sparks f/Clipse & Pharrell
Bells /// Vitalic
#17 I Lost My Shit in Tel Aviv (live) /// Apparat
1980 /// Pierre Rapsat

(" /// "?: 'oh, that? those are SWORD SLICES !')
"AMX : Still Ill"

Here's a track from the mix; listen to it while you download said mix...

Ennio Morricone is a must for this. This guy composed all those Western movie themes that you know: A Few Dollars More, GoodBadUgly, etc.

"Choose the ball, or the sword": GZA's Wu-Tang Kung-Fu thang. Starts out with a kungfu flick sample: precisely why QT picked a Wu to head the soundtrack project.

You know Wu will be all over this mix; but there's room for other rappers too:
We get J Dilla rapping on a Madlib production. Later, we get the Clipse, SpankRock, El-P -aka El Producto- (with Ghostface), and from the Caribbean, Warrior Queen.


"AMX : Still Ill"
Most of the rap beats employed here lean to the tech-y side ("Glitch-Hop"?). That was the sound of Kill Bill, so that's our sound here.
What that means is that the hip-hop turns naturally and smoothly over into the smart techno of Berliner Ellen Allien and her label-mate Apparat. This isn't daffy club beat or euro(trash)pop -- closer to the Knife, okay? -- so nuh be afeared, even if you are 'not that kind of girl'.
Vitalic & Apparat supply us with sounds that absolutely must play when The Bride is riding on her all-yellow motorcycle through Tokyo, sword slung over one shoulder; faceless in her helmet. She's on her grind: her only love is the game of revenge (she'll win).
"AMX : Still Ill"

Also, we need some of the more strictly computerized beats, not only to keep this from being purely " mixtape-hustlin' ", but to ensure that it sounds like a movie soundtrack. To work with the arc of drama, we have to use some songs which build and intensity and then destroy it. Hiphop can have tension, but it doesn't often 'climax' : it doesn't resolve that tension.



"AMX : Still Ill"
There are mellow moments in Kill Bill, especially in the second volume. So, there is a passage around the middle of the mix when we move to some tropical climes and pop open a ginger beer. Steel drums, and an international feel. Kill Bill involved some serious jetsetting, and after REVENGE gets had, calm settles over the film.
After the international/downtime slice, though, The Clipse set us back on our feet, and the blades start swinging again:



(...it's still not too late to download "AMX : Still Ill", you know...)