Damn, Luther can never get too much of this girl. he wakes up and looks at a picture of her when he gets up in the morning, he calls her house but shes not home (pre cell phone days) and then hes about to leave for work and his girl is right there when he opens the door to leave! He displays himself to be completely fiscally irresponsible by deciding to hang out with his lady friend instead of going to work, even though his boss is really on his ass about being on time. Anyways this is the song that made Luther a star; he'd sang on other peoples tracks, including David Bowie's Young Americans album, but this was the first track that broke him, and you can see why. The warmth and cadence of his delivery is easily accessible to an Fm radio audience, and besides that those disco guitars really really kick. The song hit #4 on the Billboard dance charts in 1981.
Minnie Ripperton had one of the most incredible voices to ever be recorded, and this song showcases its intensity and range, which you can feel when she's able to drown out an entire orchestra with her insanely high upper register. It's criminal that Minnie never was able to achieve the stardom which she deserved before she died of breast cancer. Les Fleurs is an absolutely beautiful pop song, that could be categorized as existing in a genre somewhere between opera and R&B. It could hardly be described as innacesable or weird, but this song was clearly too experimental to make it up the charts. Not many songs are written from the perspective of a flower, and when Minnie sings that "Inside every man lays the seed of a flower" You know that shes got it right.
Elvis Perkins is the son of actor Anthony Perkins whose most notable role was in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. Elvis's father was an expert in everything Elvis Presley and named his boy after him. Anthony lost his battle with Aids in 1992. Elvis’s mother was Berry Beneson a famous photographer; she died in the attacks on 9/11 aboard American Airlines 11 flight returning home from her vacation in Cape Cod. Elvis has lived a life with experiences of great loss and this is heard in his songs. His sound is sophisticated and there exists moments of hopefulness that shine through with elegance and grace. These songs are off his new album Elvis in Dearland which was released in March of this year.
Elvis Perkin in Dearland - Shampoo
i dont really know who Cole Medina is, but this is disco on drugs. It slinks it stops it just keeps going and when the Bee Gees go in on top and start singing towards the stars you know you're flying. The song structure is loose but something holds it all together, and maybe it the beat even though it sounds like the music is getting sucked in and out of the speakers. It may be almost 9 minutes long, but can you really tell? What is time anyways? When music is this blissed out and the Bee Gees are mixed up and slowed to crawl, who cares.
I wish that this song would be playing in the Duane Reede when I walk in there late night for smokes and beer, sadly, I'd never heard this song until today. I guess back in 1983 that crazy weird synthesizer sound was all the rage. Kashif's eponymous debut (which contains this song) made it up to #29 on the R&B charts when it came out. I'm guessing that the Ghostbusters soundtrack. Michael Jackson, Cameo, Gapp Band and others was hogging up the top spots. Anyways I love this joint's synthetic baseline and freaky synths, this is the sound that Chromeo is aiming for, super sexy synth funk. This guy must've got all the honies soaked up back in the day with this sound and that stache he's wearing.
The Silent Barn: Kurt Vile // Part One from Ray Concepcioñ on Vimeo.
Songs like “Freak Train” which are big major chord fuzzy rock were an exciting part of the show. He does some screaming during certain songs including this one and his voice is raw and does not fit into any real category of typical singer songwriter and it is definitely rough around the edges. The other guitarist picked up a saxophone and a harmonica during the set. I felt as if Vile has the obscure type of imagination of someone like Daniel Johnston especially in his lyrical ability that was hard to hear on some of the more rocking songs. His hair covers his face and you cannot really see him and at one point in the show someone yelled from the crowd “let us see your face” and he for a brief moment brushed his hair back for us to see. He ranges from fuzzy guitars to bluesy finger picking, speaking softly and yelling lyrics. The rhythms that drive through the songs seemed like they moved to Vile's beat, sort of jumpy and unpredictable. The show didn't end with any rock mantra wailing on into the night, it was him alone on an acoustic. There was no encore. Kurt Vile's live show... no pop sensibilities here.
Some songs stand the test of time. Even if you dont know what a Ronnette is, you've heard this song. Its beautiful. The Ronnettes are two sisters and a cousin from New York City who kicked off their career as dancers in a Times Square club back in 1961, by 1963 they'd come to the attention of infamous producer/creepy murderer Phil Spector (above foreground) who signed them to his label and initially used them to back up his other acts. For their time, they had a bad ass image with heavy eyeliner, beehive hairdos, and tight skirts. Their first single "Be My Baby" was a huge hit, hitting the #2 spot on the U.S. pop chart and capturing the heart of Brian Wilson, who wrote the track "Don't Worry Baby" in response.
"Be My Baby" not only features fantastic singing from the ladies, but also benefits from Spector's superb "Wall of Sound" production skills. The track kicks of with a thump and a clap from the rhythm section before the piano, horns and strings kick in. The highlight of the track though is the chorus, the girls harmonize together like very few can, and the melody carries it home.
We love us some mashup video (but you know that). Well, this one is a gem. We got Cam'ron's extremely tasteful ode to blow jobs "Suck it Or Not" over a new beat (the old one kind of sucked) that was constructed from a snippet of a song by Spanish flamenco master Camarón de la Isla. The video is pretty sweet and exactly what you would expect it to be: sort of awesome.
What a Fool Believes was co-written by Michael McDonald (second from right, above) and Kenny Loggins, a pairing which proved fruitful enough to produce one of the most touching love songs of 1978. The song raced up the charts that year to hit no.1 on the Billboard hot 100; and won two Grammy awards that year as well. The lyrics are written in a third person narrative about a man (the fool) who comes to sadly discover that the woman with whom he once had a relationship with, was never really all that into him. Even though she politely tries to break things off with our noble protagonist, nothing seems possible to disuade this 'fool' from continuing to fantasize that he can still gain a relationship with the object of his desire. Its a delicious slice of blue eyed soul which has stood the test of time on light FM stations throughout the years. The pleasant atmospheres of many a supermarket and drugstores are a result of McDonald's contributions to popular music with The Doobie Bros., Steely Dan and his celebrated solo career. Below I have embedded the disco remix of the track which has an added kick to the song's rhythm section, enjoy!
Every pop artist has a few gems in their closet that were missed attempts to hit the chart and didnt quite make it, be it that they were bad, or just plain weird. This track is one of the latter; produced by Chic, this mellow electro reggae track just doesn't have the Carly Simon sound, and thus you wont find this on any or her greatest hits albums. Released as a single for a terrible movie called Soup For One back in 1982, the track didnt strike a chord with Simon's fans but somehow it made strides over time in the burgeoning hip hop scene of the mid eighties.
The sound of Royal Bangs is cacophonous and loud while retaining a just enough poppiness to create a killer melody, these guys know guitar hooks.. which they play loud and fast. If you mix in a littl bit of the pop sensibilities of of a band such as Passion Pit with the speed and ferocity of Death From Above 1979, you come somewhere close to whats happening. Listen for the drums, this band knows how to flesh out a song with alot of fills.
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner: Mountain Man [Part 2 of 14] from Ray Concepcioñ on Vimeo.
Fanfarlo a band from Britain who released their debut album Reservoir last year has just hit my ears. There is an array of different instruments including trumpet, violin, and mandolin. They will be playing the Iota in Arlington VA on December 11th. Be sure to come back for a review of the show or you could just go and see it. Check the myspace page soon as they will be releasing a new video featuring one of Europe's top escape artist Roslyn Walker do the old classic Harry Houdini "Hanging Straight Jacket Escape".
As you sit and pick the tootsie rolls out of your teeth and polish off the rest of the sour patch kids at the bottom of the pillow case full of candy watch this video. It is Jookabox's high energy, visually stimulating, animation video for one of the songs off their highly anticipated album Dead Zone Boys.
I never wondered what happened to Black Rob after his Bad Boy hey-day...k fine, I mean after he put out the song "Whoa"...which I gotta say...is pretty damn awesome. Guess what? Rob is in prison for stealing a purse from a hotel which had 6gs worth of jewelry in it. He's getting out in 90 days and hes been working on a new album while he was in the pen, and its called Bet On Black (nice Passenger 57 reference). All this is just to say that, this gives me a great excuse to post the Whoa video, here it is...
Oh man....there it is. Come check me out tomorrow night as play reggaeton and pop-punk all night long.
Where do old punks go after their prime? Well besides reuniting the Stooges, cutting an album Sum-41, and most recently making a jazz album, Iggy then completely redeems himself by creeping out this song by Jemina Pearl the ex singer for Be Your Own Pet. Her track has got a cute girl group sound to it, with a sick drum lick, but then she invited Iggy to do some leering in the background and what was once sexy is now sleazy. I couldn't have asked for more. Perfect.
It doesn't sound any more authentic then a bluegrass band that started in a barn surrounded by cornfields. But banjoist Sam Guthridge and guitarist/singer Ben Armiger met at a bar and began playing together in the back of Ben's farm; and soon after Marc Dykeman came into the picture on bass and Nate Grower also joined in and picked up fiddle duties to form the latest incarnation of Chester River Runoff.
Together they've played roofs, porches, isolated islands off the coast of Maine, and the streets of Nashville; now theyre coming to the Jalopy Theatre in Brooklyn this sunday at 9:30. Hit up our friends Chester River Runoff on their myspace for more details, more music, more everything...
Check out the boys as the hit the heart of the Lower East Side on Sunday.
Elliot Smith first garnered national attention in 1998 when his song Miss Misery was featured in the Oscar winning film Good Will Hunting. Despite his success, he never found happiness in his life and six years ago today he was found by girlfriend with a knife in his chest. He died with what the police believe were self inflicted stab wounds (although their official initial incident report does shed some doubt on this theory). In the eyes of many of his fans, as well as his family, Smith's death (at age 34) remains a cold case.
His music speaks for itself, however what is of interests on this anniversary of his death, is the controversy behind it. Although the cause of his death makes suicide seem unlikely (very few people commit suicide by stabbing themselves); there has been documentation that Elliot had tried suicide by other creative and painful means in the past. In 1998 while drunk and drugged up he ran off of a cliff in North Carolina, but his fall was broken by a tree, and he survived. He threatened record execs at Dreamworks to release him from his contract or he would kill himself; and many friends of his claim that he had also made suicidal threats to them. He had also become a heroin junkie and crack addict for a few years and was rumored to have smoked almost $1500 of drugs a day at the height of his addiction. In short, these facts paint a picture of a person deeply unhappy with themselves despite their success.
Details of his death are scant and only one witness was there, his girlfriend of a year Jennifer Chiba. Jennifer was in a punk band called The Happy Endings, and at the time Elliot was producing their first single, but apparently he was difficult to work with, and the two of them had become infamous for fighting. Yet they were living together at the time of his death. He had been sober for six months, and toxicology reports found only "prescription level" amounts of anti-depressants and ADD medications in his body. According to Chiba, they'd just had a fight that morning, and she went in to take a shower when she heard a scream. She came out to find Elliot in the kitchen with a knife sticking out of his chest. She pulled out the knife and attempted to perform CPR while on the phone with 911, however she was not able to revive him. He died in surgery at a nearby hospital at the age of 34, he died at 1:34pm. Apparently a suicide note was found written on a post-it on the kitchen counter which read " I'm so sorry—love, Elliott. God forgive me"
Despite Elliot's previous attempts at suicide, doubt has been cast on his death being a suicide. For one, Chiba's claims of what happened, place her prints on the knife and thus absolve her from guilt, and the suicide on the post-it that was found by detectives was vague. The Los Angeles coroner's office, has yet to officially confirm that the fatal knife wound which killed Elliot Smith was self-inflicted. The Los Angeles Police Department has listed his death as a suicide. The only one who can truly say what happened to Elliot Smith is Jennifer Chiba. Whether it was an argument that resurrected his suicidal tendancies, or an argument that ended in domestic violence; is not mine to determine. All that is known is that the music world lost one of its most deeply introspective voices today, six years ago. What may make one think twice is that a bootleg exist of the last song Elliot recorded before his death, which has not made either of his posthumus releases. Whether this gives closure to his death is up to you.
Adams Morgan in DC is where people in this city go to party to hard, talk to loud and eat a jumbo slice of pizza. It is the area of the city on a Friday night you have trouble getting up and down the sidewalks and the bars are flooded with intoxicated twenty somethings who are looking for a scene. But leave it up to DC's own Kev Brown (De La Soul, Low Budget) to create a hip hop video that gives the neighborhood a laid back soulful vibe. Enjoy.Another Random Joint - Kev Brown from Humble Monarch on Vimeo.
Miguel Calderon is a Mexican artist that expresses life though crass and sometimes disturbing images and ideas. His art gives gritty realism a mystical quality and Calderon's approach is very innovative. He has been in the spotlight for about ten years now with exhibits in the Guggenheim in NYC and San Francisco’s Art Institute the Diego Rivera Gallery. He is most famous actually for a series of pieces titled “Aggressively Mediocre” as they were shown in the Wes Anderson movie Royal Tenebaums, the piece that you may remember from this is at the top of this article. Here is a video of him discussing the various projects he has been involved with.
His most recent work is the most political charged piece yet and delves into the sad realties of the violence that exists in Mexico because of the Drug War. He is collaborating with George Kuchar, well known bay area independent filmmaker. It will be featured at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco and is called "Tropical Vulture". There is a film that utilizes " lo fi aesthetic" and some photographs and drawings.
When I first saw this band live, it was at Bowery Ballroom and Vampire Weekend opened for them. Goes to show how unpredictable the music business is, I know this band is rated, but they're still under-rated and should be playing Terminal Five like Passion Peet instead of still playing Bowery Ballroom (which they do sell out but still). I mean they were on Letterman (twice!), their new album was produced by Spoon...they have two fucking drummers...why aren't they bigger then Vampire Weekend. The world is cruel and unjust.
Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses played the Rams Head in Annapolis last night and it was a little bit country, a little bit rock and roll, and surprisingly a little bit mariachi. Ryan Bingham the ex bull rider from New Mexico started out the show alone and with just his acoustic guitar. Although he is a true rocker and roller his slowed down acoustic stuff is heartfelt and really good. The Dead Horses took the stage and tore the place down with ageless country tunes that make you want to get up and scream along. His guitarist Cory Schuab, seasoned country rock guitarist, gives Bingham’s driving rhythms the perfect melodies. On songs such as “ The Day is Done” Schaub’s slide guitar riff is what makes the song and his guitar talent was a highlight last night.
This has been floating around the internets for a while, but in case you missed it, here's Cudi's last mixtape; which is just as good if not better then his album. Kid Cudi rhyming over LCD Soundsystem? Thank you very much.
Ballad of Sir Freddie Crisp (Let It Roll)-George Harrison
It's hard to track down good reggae songs from the 70s, beyond the obvious artists (Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Toots and the Maytals, etc) but there there is a treasure trove of singles out there that are golden yet obscure, its just takes a little bit of time before you end up with a collection of gems no one knows. This is due to the fact that Jamaica's musical culture is single based, and compilations are relatively rare. Having been to the island, I understand why, reggae is music meant to be played at parties on the beach at night from huge towers of speakers. There is little time for album filler at these moments, the music is meant for parties, not headphones. Albums are rare and producers of the beat are the king, not the singer.
The Rural Alberta Advantage is a group of emoting, rocking, and wholeheartedly genuine people that brought good tunes and good times to the Rock and Roll Hotel on Sunday night in DC. The Canadian influence is a very heavy one and many of their songs reference certain things about Canada. Niels Edenloff told a brief story about the song Frank AB which is about Frank Alberta a mining town where the Frank Slide happened. The Frank slide was a natural landslide that killed 70 people and is a significant moment for some Canadian historians. The lyrics of the song
“And the cold depths of the rocky clutch
Won't take away our love
.... save you from this life
and I'll hold ..... I'll hold on to your touch
'til there's nothing left of us
.... save you from this life
I'll hold ..... I'll hold on to your touch
'til they find the bones of us
.... save you from this life”
Is a chilling reminder of what happened in Frank. Edenloff loves Canada and it interweaves itself into the essence of the band. Amy Cole the amazing little sweetheart that jams away on keys, xylophone and occasionally banging on a kick drum that stands alone, mentioned how they started playing at open mic nights in Toronto that no one came to. Edenloff reminded us of this when he did a solo version of “Eye of the tiger” saying that this went all the back to the days of said open mic nights.
The three of them came across as some of the most authentically nice people you may ever meet and added a level of comfort to their show that I wasn’t expecting. The band is very percussive and songs such as “Drain the blood” highlights Paul Banwatts drumming ability on his tiny set. For the last song they walked right out into the crowd and Edenloff explained that this song never sounded right onstage, a slowed down tune bidding everyone good night called “The good night song”. This had the crowd completely quiet, a nice ending moment.
This Philly quintet is lighting up the circuit with their fun loving brand of rock music. Guitarist Scott Wells and singer Paul Sprangers formerly of Minneapolis outfit Hockey Night are playing happy retro music. The song in the video below is the sort of song that you put on on a Friday night and blast with lyrics "this is all we got tonight we are young and still alive." will get your blood pumping a little bit. They will be at Pianos in NYC on 10/22 and in DC at DC9 on 11/25. Although I have not seen it yet I bet these guys would rock a live show.
This is a video of a artist from Portugal by the name of Alexandre Farto aka Vhils. He is doing some large scale portraits on walls that are stunning. He is a graffiti artist that has now gained recognition when one of his pieces showed up alongside street artist Banksy at the Cans Festival in London in 2008. A photograph of him creating the work appeared on the front page of the London Times.
This is the second or third single off of the Dead Man's Bones. There's something about children's choirs that is both creepy and cute at the same time, kind of like contestants in the worlds ugliest dog competition.
