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.
Listen to a track from ze mix: "Spirit In The Sky", by Norm Greenbaum.
(if you want a higher quality sound, listen to the YouTuber below; below has weird, weird religious stuff in it though- creepy, but we want summery, not creepy. Above is literally a guy recording him playing it on his den's jukebox: it has a certain je ne sais quoi, oui?)
Summer Madness ~O~ Kool & the Gang chilled out, nice way to start the mix. Sampled by Fresh Prince and DJ Jazzy Jeff, for "Summertime"; Jazzy will be at the Roots Picnic...
Reunion ~O~ Bobbie Gentry Whoa now, an odd-ball, to get you intrigued about what your genius musical guide will pull next. A handclapped, bottle-smackin' little rhythm, a bit like 'Iko Iko'. First words, no joke: "Momma can I huh, Momma can I huh huh, can I Momma won't ya please let me Momma can I huh". About a family reunion: a little charmer, sweet funny little thing. Looks sumthin like this, but from deep down South
Summertime ~O~ Billy Stewart Cover of sorts of a song from Gershwin's "Porgy & Bess". Evidently, during that show, they sing at among other times, during a craps game. Upbeat, lots of little darting guitars. Horns, man, horns. Tongue rolls, like so: 'dddddddddah!'.
Spirit In The Sky ~O~ Norman Greenbaum aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh! If I were a DJ, like a pro who gets $, it would be an uncommon night out when I didn't play this. Right? My goodness, just listen to your ears! I'm killing you, just killing you, with this track right now. Big stomping drums. You could play this at 'A Flyers Hockey Game', and I bet they would win. A woman singing backup, in a falsetto. Can women even sing falsetto? This one can!
Party Lights ~O~ Claudine Clark Another Killer. Old rock/RnB. Girl is watching all her friends go to the party across the street, but Mom won't let her go! "There goes Jenny and Sue, and Bobby and Mary Lou, oh-oh-oh there goes my boyfriend too!" "Party lights, red and blue and green; everybody in the crowd is there, but you won't let me make the scene!" Real rapid fire snappy snare drums. Piano tinkling, and some peppy-ass horns make an appearance.
In the Summertime ~O~ Mungo Jerry A pic shall suffice:
If Not For You ~O~ Olivia Newton John A pic shall suffice:
Summer Breeze ~O~ Isley Brothers Told you about last time.
Two Tickets To Paradise ~O~ Eddie Money "Oh, what?!?! Hit me again with that Eddie Money, Son!" (That's you talking, after this song drops. You are driving, in a Camaro, f'real. Top off- on the car, you jokester... "I'm gonna take you on a trip so far from here, I've got two tickets in my pocket, now baby, we're gonna disappear. We've waited so long, waited so long.
I've got two tickets to paradise, Won't you pack your bags, we'll leave tonight, I've got two tickets to paradise [guitar solo- 32 bars]"
That's you singing it at karaoke, and really, it made our night.
I Fought The Law ~O~ Bobby Fuller Four A pretty jaunty guitar in this song; really jaunty when you consider that the first lines are about 'breaking rocks in the hot sun'. We'll just bracket the rocks, okay, and focus on the sun, you feel me? A million famous people covered this song for a reason; that is, a reason beyond its sassy 'F-the-P' attitude- it is a funtime summertime spectacular. I bet even cops like this song.
Summer ~O~ War Return to Mellow. Almost all of War's stuff is proper for a summer mix; guys rocked a Texan melting pot thing; soul, Texana, sunbaked, relaxed. More horns, lazzzzzyyyy ones. "Summer: my time of year". Well-said, War, well-said.
aaaaand here is the creepy-video-version of Norm Greenbaum's "Spirit in the Sky". I think someone kidnapped her daughter? And this someone may be the state of Missouri? And Jesus is angry about it? Or what?
Another selection offa that "Summer Showerz" mix. This one is the Isley Brothers, who I have been ultragillin' as of late. Charlie and I are a two-man fan-club.
Oh yes, now that you mention it, this is a cover of Seals and Croft's "summer breeze", but this version is much better. Better, I say, than that yacht-rot version. Who would you trust to tell you about summer, these guys
or these chumps
(that's called a 'rhetorical question', because I already know the answer. Since I know all answers, does that make all questions rhetorical, when posed by me? HA, tricked you: the above was also a rhetorical question BOOM)
The above is a representation of what this mix is like: all laid back 'vibez'. The Isely Brothers' song is a good li'l snapshot of the general feel of the mix as well. Just a reminder, here is the tracklisting for this really stellar, star-studded mix.
Summer Madness ~O~ Kool & the Gang Reunion ~O~ Bobbie Gentry Maggie May ~O~ Rod Stewart Summertime ~O~ Billy Stewart Spirit In The Sky ~O~ Norman Greenbaum Party Lights ~O~ Claudine Clark In the Summertime ~O~ Mungo Jerry If Not For You ~O~ Olivia Newton John Summer Breeze ~O~ Isley Brothers Two Tickets To Paradise ~O~ Eddie Money I Fought The Law ~O~ Bobby Fuller Four Summer ~O~ War
Now, I stand by my comments above (about the waybetterness of IBs over S&C), but I will let you in on a li'l secret that undermines that claim: Croft goes by the first name of DASH. Jus' sayin'. (although his real name is Darrell, so, you see, right???)
Another great song, just ripe for summering. Get ready, btw, for sum summer stooping. Unless I get some emergency transfusions of cash, this will be a very "can't afford to go out drinking" summer. So you'll have to join me at mine (...or yours...) for "free beer". I call beer bought from the distributors, "free beer". It's so cheap, relative to bars, that you practically make money drinking it!. That's right, my economic plan: "Drink yourself to prosperity; Spend yourself sober." (it's complicated) But where'd all the money go, oh, where? Well, recently, it went to late heating bills (boring), and mo' wax, aka more vinyl (exciting). Including this little gem....
Apache, by Sugar Hill Gang
Oh, this song. Oh, man oh me oh my. First, it uses a similar bong/drum break to The Incredible Bongo Band's Apache, which itself is sort of similar to The Shadows' Apache... Dude, you think my Summer Prosperity Plan is complex? Check out the involved history of this song. Interesting, but impossible to sum up. Really, you should always be going to that blog, Soul Sides, because it is just the jam. Old Soul, great rap, dropping knowledge without being boring or snooty or pedantic, and always giving you links to the cuts. It is as essential as this blog (well, more, actually, but still).
Right! Well, anyhow, in hip-hop and drum and bass (my deepest musical love- 'drum and bass' aka 'jungle' aka 'DnB'- which none of my friends ever like that much. No 'junglist crew' for me! Not enough of my friends are rude bwoys, turns out) many many songs have sampled drum breaks from various versions of Apache. Lots sampled the guitar line too. You'll see why- the bongos that this song opens with are solid all by themselves, let alone the other versions of that beat that are dropped throughout the track. Now, if you are one of these young pups, you will recognize the song not from (nearly infinite) DnB and H-H songs, but from Switch's track. This song was huge from a summer or two back. We still can hear it, on that rare occasion that we Make Time.
Here's the original Switch track... (you gotta wait til 2:02 for the guitar line to drop! It's a dance track after all). Called "A Bit Patchy", as in, APatchy=Apache.
Here is an M.I.A. remix of Switch, introduced by Diplo, who M.I.A. used to date, but doesn't now, and mixed into the end of Kitsune track..... I told you this sampling stuff gets complicated!
(jump to about 1:15 on this one if you want to hear "A Bit Patchy" coming in clearly)
Well, I've gone and done you another solid. Whipped up a precise blend of parts that together join up to make a Voltron-like colossus:
Summer 'Showerz': LoveLeigh Days
("showerz" refers the "singalong in the shower" nature of all the songs; "Leigh" refers to a friend who prompted me to finish this mix. THX!)
So, specifically summer, particularly shower jamz. Summer songs are feelgood, but perfect summer songs have to be melllllooooow too.
Not sure how feelgood mixes with ultramellow? Then listen to Kool & The Gang's "Summer Madness". You'll see.
Above is from the official Philadelphia Mural thingy, visible from the El tracks in West Philly. I see this on my way to work. More info, deets etc. (like how you could have gotten a tattoo designed by ESPO, the dude what did that mural).
Just like the summer. You are feeling nice in the summer, but you know, low-key like.
A perfect example of that perfect mellow feeling is perfectly evinced by the classically perfect first song, which is Youtubing above.
Summer Madness, by Kool & The Gang. This song was looped, 'slightly transformed' (like Voltron!), for Fresh Prince & DJ Jazzy Jeff's "Summertime".
So, now we've picked up on a recent theme, of great older songs outtfitted with a little rappin'-freshness. Oh yes, surely you recall my last post, on Biggie and his Other Brothers (The Isley Brothers), whom he sampled for "Big Poppa". I'll probably drop some more of those, about songs in different forms.
Note that The Isley Brothers are included on this mix too- a clear nod to Leigh, who praised them recently.
Summer Madness ~O~ Kool & the Gang
Reunion ~O~ Bobbie Gentry Maggie May ~O~ Rod Stewart
Summertime ~O~ Billy Stewart Spirit In The Sky ~O~ Norman Greenbaum
Party Lights ~O~ Claudine Clark In the Summertime ~O~ Mungo Jerry
If Not For You ~O~ Olivia Newton John Summer Breeze ~O~ Isley Brothers
Two Tickets To Paradise ~O~ Eddie Money I Fought The Law ~O~ Bobby Fuller Four
Summer ~O~ War
Please note that the symbol, lovingly crafted by myself, in betwixt track and band: looks like a sun, yeah?
ahahhahhahah I'm unstoppable hahahahahahahah
Speaking of samples (as I did last time), here is a gem of a song I've been sitting on for a minute. In a hot HOT batch of records I snatched up the other day, I procured a few Isley Brothers albums. Of which there are roughly a million, by the way. In fact, Wiki tells me they had 20 albums between 1969 and 2006: excuse me, that's 20 albums that reached the Top 10, in 35-ish years. I guess when you have like 7 guys in the band, there are more songs getting written? (7/35=5; 5x20=100; 100/10= 10; 10/10 = perfect: do the math, it adds up)
Who knows- the point is, that these Brothers From The Same Mother got sampled- and that produces another song, A Brother From ANOTHER Mother, as it were.
And here is the song built around the former- I'm pretty sure we all love this song.
Big Poppa, Notorious B.I.G.
Also, I was trying to find a good picture of sample-sized-spoons, and I found this instead. A marrow- that's bone marrow, you understand?- spoon. A Narrow Marrow Spoon, that.
Interesting. I bet Biggie would be crushing on some marrow if he weren't dead. Sigh.... His loss, and ours.
A stone-cold classic, just right for the summer/springtime madness, of which we are all now a part.
This song is such classic goodness, that Mary J. Blige, herself classic and classy and good, sampled it. Naughty By Nature nabbed a little "Sunshine" too. Tribe Called Quest sample another jam of his, on the famed "Bonita Applebaum".
Erykah Badu sampled another Ayers' track; even Junior Mafia gets props from Roy Himself for their sample of yet another song of his.
Speaking of samples, this song has the same general vibe as Kool and the Gang's "Summer Madness", sampled by DJ Jazzy Jeff for he and Will Smith's "Summertime". If you like that, I guarantee (money-back guarantee!) that you'll love this song too.
If you can't trust me, that this song is everything you need right now, then take the words of Erykah, Q-Tip, Diddy, and Treach. Treach married Pepa, of Salt'n'Pepa, btw, and then they got divorced. (in happier times:) It's sad, but you don't have to be all broken up. I have the solution to your sadness: Go plug a boombox in outside, after downloading Roy Ayers' "Everybody Loves the Sunshine", and everything will glow, positively G L O W , I say!
I'm pretty smart, so I figure stuff out mighty quick. I realized a while back, that although every brother and every sister (singletons too) in the universe loved my mixes, the sheer volume (oh!) of songs on a full mix was overwhelming to some.
I used to present you with a list of 9-18 songs, all of which present an enticing new world of musical innovation, but which may not be familiar names. Along with that was the link for the mix. But what happened was that most people would skim the list, and skip the link.
It makes sense, after all those words (signifying next to nothing), to forget the link. But folks, it's not good for you- these bands could be your life; last night a DJ could have saved your life... So, what I did, see, was to give you a single song off the mix- so you could hear the geniuses, instead of just reading the geniuses' names. Here, the geniuses are the Everly Brothers. Then a little later, I would drop another 'single' off the mix. Let you get an idea of what was on the mix, over time. Give it a listen, and if you like it, you can 'get loaded' with some similar songs, --here--
(((Here are the 'other brother' songs on the rest of the mix: When You're Alone: Jerry Butler. Someday : Ricky Nelson. Don't Make Me Over: Dionne Warwick; Cathy's Clown : The Everly Brothers. Sexy Mama : The Moments. Honky Tonk: Duane Eddy; I'll Guess I'll Have To Cry Cry Cry : James Brown. Play It Fair : DeeDee Sharp & Chubby Checker. If It Don't Turn You On (you oughta leave it alone): BT Express; Maybe More : The Carlisles. I'm Glad You're Mine : Al Green. My Heart is an Open Book : Carl Dobkins; Be Real : Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes. Be Honest With Me : Billy Brown. Oh, Pretty Woman : Al Green. Never Gonna Give You Up : Jerry Butler )))
This song is so great, that another great song talks about it. Elliot Smith's "Waltz #2" has a character sing the song at karaoke.
(note that the album above has "great songs for listening or dancing")
But instead of listening to Elliot's song, why don't you listen to a live version of "Cathy's Clown" by the Everly Brothers? It's on old TV, so it's got that old oddball flavor to it.
And you know, looking at this video, I am starting to suspect that the Everly Brothers might actually be brothers. The Righteous Brothers are not brothers, okay, so you know, you have to be careful about what lineages you assume.
Music; musing; must-haves.
The curatorial agenda. Sealing up a void whose vacuity was a source of distress to no one. The seed I am most likely to sow is a certain jargon. Built on tilt. The center of a new universe of counterfeit. Increasingly random and increasingly increasing.
NEW ‘ZINES!
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For those who still pay attention to this blog—despite how rare it is that
I update things now—I wanted to share a few things with you all first
before put...
Hotel Bar Sessions, Ep 31: Whose History?
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The HBS hosts sit down with Dr. Charles McKinney, Jr. to talk about whose
history is (and isn't) being taught.
Following on the heels of a recent and ...
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