Mary J. Blige, "Going Down" to the "Car Wash" (soundtrack)

Today is Mary J. Blige’s birthday. Let’s celebrate!

I was already thinking just yesterday about posting this song, so now my hand has been forced by fate.
Like a dog tied to a rolling cart: “fate leads the willing, and drags the unwilling”. So let’s roll to the Car Wash together (you don't really have a choice).

 
Above is the original of “I’m Going Down”, covered to great effect (to say the least) by Queen Mary.

It is on the soundtrack to “Car Wash”, which is excellent, all the way through.

Not only does it have those mood-setting 2:00 long bits, for playing in the background of movie scenes, it has more standard songs with lyrics too. Pointer Sisters on “You Gotta to Believe” (“in something/ why don’t you believe in me?”)

The songs are all credited to Rose Royce and Norman Whitfield; ‘Rose Royce’ sounds like Rolls Royce, a funny little pun, which I just realized. “RR” is actually a group, not a stage name for a single person; this helps explain the wide variety of songs here, because it is not just a single writer plus one female singer, but a whole group plus the guy who wrote “Papa Was a Rolling Stone”.

--I just realized, there is way too much good stuff on this album, and way too many songs that I am thinking of to pair with each song... I gotta split this into more than one post!--

So just one little bit more, of related news… I own the movie “The Wash”, starring Dr. Dre and Snoop Lion.

It even has Eminem in it, as a crazy person… really flexing his acting chops there… I think I bought this when TLA closed up its Center City shop. Still haven’t watched it yet. I’m pretty sure it is a rubbish movie, but, some things, you just have to own.

"After Sex" is actually on the soundtrack of another movie I own/haven't seen yet... music on that film done by none other than Curtis Mayfield.

Halloween- HalloNew Order Edition

Download "SkullCrusher" (BOO!) by New Order

New Order created the theme to a movie, called Salvation! (the exclamation mark is not mine), and the songs are all real gems.
The movie, is "maybe not" a real gem.
(although it does have Viggo and Exene Cervenka in it... wait, now I am thinking "maybe so" )
It seems to involve blackmailing a sham preacher... pretty Halloweenesque.

"Sputnik" is airy, atmospheric, like fog drifting around a car, coasting through a deserted back stretch of highway... with no driver!!! (scary)

It's movie music, you know, so most of these songs have zero words. Only "Touched by the Hand of God" has any.
"Sputnik" is the most clearly from a movie- it's 'filmic';
the other ones are that subset of New Order style which reminds you forcefully of Joy Division.

(pic from "100 Great Film Deaths"

"Skullcrusher" is the one that sounds the very most like Joy Division; "Let's Go" is a close second.
Now, I like New Order when they don't sound like Joy Division, absolutely (we all do, right?!?! ),
but when developing a Halloween theme, by God, it had better sound like Joy Division.

Skuffled Mammajamma

Went digging through CDs to find something to listen to the other day. Felt in a particular kind of mood, so grabbed some Drum and Bass CDs I hadn't listened to recently, including....
the classic...



Metalheadz two-disc of golden-era Junglist anthems.


(if you are impatient, go to about 1:30 for the big drop...)


This is the kind of CD that nobody sells used. You don't just accidentally end up buying this- so nobody is selling it used, because they happened into it with no idea what it was.



(although the tracklisting for it on amazon.com is incorrect, so maybe 'no idea' is true, in a wholly different sense. The right tracks are listed on Discogs.com.)

You also don't get tired of it, unless you just get tired of whole genres of music. All the reviews of this state accurately: peak tunes; never tire of these; "don't make 'em like this no more"; sick wicked dope; etc. For this genre of music (drum 'n' bass, aka jungle), this would be like a Led Zeppelin greatest-hits package: if you ever like it, you always will, and never any less.
So nobody ever bought this and liked it, and then eventually soured on it, bored of it, overplayed and so played-out it.



But how did I get it used then?
Well, Everyday Music in Portland sells used CDs, and they will sell you scratched CDs.
Sounds bad: is good.
They mark out the scratched ones; they sell them for less; and they even will take them back if they skip. You know how almost all of your CDs are scratched, somewhat at least, and how many of those never ever skip.
SKUFFS, they call them.
Well, this mamajamma was skuffed pretty bad. Two whole tracks just ain't played right, ever. Or at least, ever for me, since I bought it scratched.
One that never got all the way through, was Dillinja's "Angels Fell", above. Obviously, the YouTube version no skuff.

But what you can do, see, is copy a scratched CD. Because while the CD player has to deal with scratches in real time, your computer's CD-ROM does not- it will keep patiently scanning, scanning, re-scanning-- until it can find out just what 0s and 1s made up that track, in its prediluvian state. So usually, the copy will be a like-new, scratchless, unskuffled version. That beats a lossless copy- it actually improves your version.

So now, for the first time ever, I can listen to this track all the way through-
And so can you.

Danzig's Mother is a suggested video,
so is Halo Benders (the laziest band in rock and roll!).
What is funny, is that my dad has something to say about both lazy bands, and drum n bass. He said (says) that Pavement et al. "aren't even trying" when they sing.
It's true!
He also once said a drum and bass song was "Ferris Bueller music", which I took to mean: sounds like that Ferrari music in the movie.
Which is false;
But what he meant was, it sounded like another drum and bass song
Which in fact!
Sampled a line from the movie.

I must have got my "right all the damn time" gene from my pops.

Slave's Slide

Here is a quick blast for the weekend:



The band Slave on Youtube, performing their classic laidback funk "Slide"

Man, I'm sitting down, but that can't stop me from twisting around in my seat-
that's how good this song is. Little blasts of horns, guitars all slinking around. They keep the words few, so you can just ride the beat. Words like "I ain't gonna bite ya, I just want you to hang on [or out?]."

This album is really great. I think it is also called "Slave", which makes this hard stuff to search for on the internet.
Much of it isn't on Youtube (only this song, as far as I can see); I know, I know, that seems impossible. But trust me, looking around for Youtube clips to post, for some of this stuff, just doesn't do nuthin'.
This is not even some way-out-there obscure stuff.

(See explanation below...)

I mean, look at where this song is from, at least for this particular clip: from a "pure funk classics" mix, right? So not underground like moles or anything. But still, the other songs I love off this record, like "Screw Your Wig On Tite", "Son of Slide", "Separated"- not to be found.
In fact, YouTube has a clip about slaves being separated, but not "Separated" by Slave. Not real slaves- it is some contest to edit Prince of Persia, King of Pharaoh type stuff. ??!??

I don't get it; maybe one of you 4chan types can explain this. Also, could someone explain why "4chan" does not get spell-checked, but "Youtube" (and even "YouTube") does?

WHAT KIND OF CRZEE WORLD IS THIS?
And Crazy Continues: here is the explaino-convo about "bersenberber" above--> 4Chan-esque funny-esque fud mzspillin, aka internet food misspellings.



ha huh huh !

Suicide, By Machete- I Are The One

Oh, some art things are coming up that are total musts.


Klute- We R The Ones (Remix). Relased on the stellar Commercial Suicide label. You'll see why I chose this in a sec.

Slought Foundation is doing this project where they are displaying all these mysterious objects. At one time, they were part of a sort of foreign travel/foreign commerce edutainment thing at this old 'Commercial Museum'. The Commercial Museum, for various reasons, got phased out.... committed suicide, you might say....
but they were in possession of all these random artifacts. So Slought is displaying them.

They're foreign.
Old.
and WTF-y.
Somewhat like this:

Or like the book I have of Chinese paintings of the Life of Christ.

Read more about the exhibit at Slought; there is much more to it then I am saying here.

Did I mention that you can borrow some of the pieces?
Do you realize how much more awesome inexplicable artifacts I could add to my house with this deal?

So let's go to that soon, yeah? We only have until June 12th.

Also, we are already going to Marginal Utility's First Friday. Marginal Utility also puts out the Machete zine/periodical/provocation.


And, Vox Populi is in the same building as Marginal Utility, so we all slip from one floor to the other throughout the eve. Always a good time; I'll see you there.

This Is Not A Joke

I've been watching some more movies lately, a few of them Westerns.
Also been listening to almost only old records. A few of them old country.
A nice fit, that.


YouTube video of a fun and funny old tune, "Evil on Your Mind" by Jane Morgan
Download an even better version here: "Evil On Your Mind", Judy Lynn

Most Westerns that I've seen awfully serious, though, and a lot of classic country is joshing, joking around. Not too surprising: why would ('western') film have anything to do with ('country and western') music?
I mean, a silly case in point: old western movies are in black and white; old C'n'W music is neither black'n'white nor in color.
Because music is invisible.
(However, music is not immaterial, or non-physical: sound is nothing but moving air and the vibrations that air causes in your body.)
My point is, the arts don't really have that much in common; they are more distinct than similar.
Which is part of the reason that music doesn't need words, as I boldly and clearly stated in the last post.
Words are poetry, or literature. Music is not poetry, or literature. You don't demand that all your paintings have words in them, do you?



"Keep your Apollonian Narrative off My Dionsysian Body!" That's what I say!

But, that said, if you are going to have words, you might as well tell a story. Country does that: old or new, perennially telling stories. If you must use words, I implore you: instead of mouthing vacuous truisms (which are so vague as to become false), create a character, have interactions that make something happen (but please, don't try to 'make a point', pffff), or at least, crack a joke.

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.