Music

359 posts

Music

MFTMA — 10 Years On

5 comments

To know me is to know that I’m a big fan of Pete Yorn.

While flipping through a music magazine, I discovered the then-new artist thanks to an advertisement for his album, musicforthemorningafter. I saw the album cover and said, “Hmm, that guy’s pretty hot,” and decided to buy the album.

After listening to the album, my shallowness was set aside because I fell in love with the music and lyrics. From start to finish, songs such as “Life on a Chain,” “Lose You, ” and “For Nancy (‘Cos It Already Is)” are so good that even my friends who aren’t huge PY fans will admit. To think this album was his debut effort is somewhat unreal when looking back.

Over the past 10 years, I’ve seen PY perform all over the U.S. in small bookstores to large venues. He started out with a small group of very loyal fans and that base has grown significantly over the years. Fortunately, he’s still a great friend to his fans via Facebook and Twitter. Plus, he’s a really nice guy and you have to root for the nice guys in the music industry. He also puts his albums out on vinyl for people like me who still own a turntable and actually use it.

In March, as part of the 10th anniversary of MFTMA, PY will be performing the album in its entirety as part of his setlist during his spring tour. Thankfully, the shows I’m attending are part of the stops where the album will be played.

Hearing the album in its entirety means I get to relive some of the fun live moments I’ve had over the years. There are some songs that aren’t regularly performed during his shows that will once again see the light of day.

Still, what I’m most excited about is the ability to return to that time 10 years ago when I was just listening to the album for the first time and slowly, but surely becoming a PY fan for life.

Get to know The Hood Internet

4 comments

With all the attention paid to Girl Talk lately, I feel like we should get to know another big name in the mashup game: The Hood Internet. The Hood Internet is made up two deejays from Chicago. (They actually released a mixtape of songs entirely by Chicago bands/rappers, which is pretty neat.) Their style is much different from Girl Talk’s, though. Whereas GT likes to skip from popular song to popular song, Hood Internet’s trademark is mixing indie rock and electro with hip-hop. And instead of quickly fading from one song to another, they tend to let the beat ride a bit more, which isn’t necessarily bad.
Continue reading →

Cheese Eating Dance Music Monkeys

2 comments

Time for another music post. Today I’m going to hit you with a bunch of stuff from two artists who may or may not wear striped shirts and berets and smoke Gauloises. Here’s a small taste of two dope French musicians, Sebastien Tellier and Martin Solveig.

Alors…. ecoutez a la musique!

First there’s Sebastien Tellier. He’s this skeevy-looking crazy man who kind of sounds like a lounge-singing version of Giorgio Moroder and Simon Le Bon.


“Kilometer”


“L’Amour et La Violence”


“Roche”


“Divine”


“Sexual Sportswear”

And here’s some stuff from Martin Solveig. He’s more of a producer god than a singer. At one point there was a Facebook petition calling on Solveing to produce Michael Jackson’s next album. Silly euros. Despite making REALLY pop-friendly music (in English, even!), Solveig is criminally overlooked over here. C’mon people! Pay attention!


“Everybody”


“Rejection”


“Linda”


“Something Better”


“Something About You”


“Madan”


“Jealousy” by Martin Solveig

Martin’s Funeral

2 comments

Editor’s Note: I’m reposting this today in celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Has there ever been a more talented human being than Bill Cosby? Yeah, he may have gone far off the deep end of get-off-my-lawn crankiness in recent years, but not only was he maybe the greatest standup comedian of all time and starred in and produced one of the greatest sitcoms of all time, but he actually is a pretty amazing composer and musician.

Here’s “Martin’s Funeral,” his requiem for Martin Luther King, Jr. (It was later sampled by A Tribe Called Quest).

Party Like It’s 1998

7 comments

OK, kids. Strap on your day-glo backpack and floppy Kangol hat because we’re going back to 1998. It was a simpler time back then. Justin Bieber hadn’t been invented yet and the ecstasy flowed like wine. Here are some tracks to take you back to that sketchy warehouse party that was probably thrown in a former asbestos factory. You’ll have fun, as long as you avoid the bathroom. It’s filled with ravers and is almost definitely disgusting.


“Re-introduction” by The Wiseguys
A billion different samples, a never-ending scratch. The 90s were not the most subtle time for music. We generally liked to go overnboard. This one turned into a classic b-boy jam, so I can’t hate it.


“Trip II the Moon” by Acen
Science-fiction. We loved it back then. Basically, if you needed an idea for a song in 1996 and couldn’t think of anything else, you knew you could ALWAYS make it about space robots and call it “Flight 2 Da Moon” or something.


“Fucking in Heaven” by Fatboy Slim
Ah yes. Fatboy Slim aka Norman Cook. Here he pounds a single naughty phrase into oblivion. People just wanted to hear what samplers could do back then. Leave us alone, it was the 90s.


“Loaded” by Primal Scream
A psychadelic Stones homage made with a drum machine and a bucket full of drugs. Somehow it all works.


“King of the Beats” by Aphrodite
Here’s our first jungle track of the night. Aphrodite was known for putting out a BILLION records that all sounded very much like this one. Eventually his name kinda became a punchline. Still, I can’t hate on “King of the Beats.” When it gets all dark at the 2:00 mark it takes me back to my younger days when everyone wore thugged-out puffy jackets and huge boots to the rave.


“Under Mi Sensi” (Jungle Spliff X-Project Remix) by Barrington Levy
For a few years there, the huge trend was to mix dancehall reggae with jungle and call it “ragga jungle.” For some stupid reason it eventually fell out of favor. I say stupid because… jesus, this music is awesome. It makes me want to light a car on fire.


“What Goes Up” by Blackwing vs. Headhunter
Here’s another dark drum ‘n bass track. I think the music was so foreboding back then because we had a sneaky feeling the aughts were really going to suck.


“Drop That Beat” by Richard Humpty Vission
Ok, that’s enough jungle. Here’s an acid house/hard house joint from RHV. This music is just stupid frenetic and sounds like it was made for someone who just ate about 10 pills of E. I fully admit that this music is basically annoying as shit. I left it in because well, those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. So cutting out this song would be like denying that genocide happened. Are you happy now, monster?


“The Funk Phenomena” by Armand Van Helden
This song was an absolute scorcher in the clubs with that weird little keyboard riff and cool vocal line. I think this is one of the tracks that truly has aged well.


“To the Three” by S.P.1200
I love how on this record’s label it thanks “all the djs who like to spin the hard tracks.” The airhorn sample, the sped up vocals, the huge cymbals and claps… so so 90s. I don’t know why we thought it was so cool when the producer sped the vocals up to make it sound like a four-year-old was rapping, but we ate that shit up.


“Infatuation” by Onionz & Master Dee
This record was made by hippies from the West Coast, so it’s all “musical” and doesn’t give you a splitting headache. Whatever, hippies.


“Freed From Desire” by Gala
EUROTRASH! It’s not just a recent phenomenon, kids.


“Release Me” by Industry


“Get Get Down” by Paul Johnson
Ok, there are only three words in this whole song, but dammit, the way Johnson keeps shifting the vocal pitch down was ahead of his time. (I have a feeling he was using an akai sampler instead of ProTools but I’ll defer to the experts on such questions.)


“On the Run” by DeBos
We all dressed exactly like this couple back then. And we’d ALWAYS smash our dinner table to bits. That was funny to us.


“King of my Castle” (Roy Malone Mix) by Wamdue Project
A few years ago here in Atlanta I happened to meet a guy named Chris Brann who I rode motorcycles with a few times. It turned out he was the producer behind Wamdue. Small world! I love this anecdote from his wikipedia page: “Wamdue Project famously appeared on the initial nominations list for ‘Best British Newcomer’ [3] at the 2000 Brit Awards, before embarrassed organisers were forced to withdraw the nomination on account of the fact that Brann is American.”


“Little Fluffy Clouds” by The Orb
This song contains maybe the weirdest sample of all time at the beginning when the trippy-sounding hippie farmgirl talks about the “little fluffy clouds” in the sky.


“King of the Death Posture” by Van Basten
Technically this is what trance sounded like before trance grew into something that made you want to stab yourself in the face.


“Pumpin” by Bad Boy Bill


“Didjital Vibrations” by Jamiroquai
Jamiroquai was sort of the house band of the 90s rave scene. This was the perfect track for the chill-out room. Do they even have chill-out rooms anymore? It was where you went when your body was simply too exhausted to continue dancing but the drugs weren’t going to let you pass out just yet. I don’t think that exists any more with the invention of Red Bull.

The best new songs that sound like old songs

11 comments

Ok so we’re stretching the definition of “new” to basically be anything made in the past five years. Here are a bunch of retro-ish songs I like. That’s all. Enjoy.


“Baby” by Phenomenal Handclap Band
Someone listened to a lot of: Donny Hathaway


“Your Magic is Working” by Of Montreal
Someone listened to a lot of: Donovan


“Mark of the Unnamed” by Budos Band
Someone listened to a lot of: Fela Kuti


“Do It” by Daddy’s Favorite
Someone listened to a lot of: Booker T & The MGs


“Attack of the 60 Foot Lesbian Octopus” by Does It Offend You, Yeah
Someone listened to a lot of: The Clash


“Bang Pop” by Free Energy
Someone listened to a lot of: Edgar Winter Group


“The Merkin Jerk” by Javelin
Someone listened to a lot of: Traffic


“I Been Born Again” by Phenomenal Handclap Band
Someone listened to a lot of: Eric Burdon and The Animals


“Who Fingered Rock ‘n Roll” by Cornershop
Someone listened to a lot of: Bachman Turner Overdrive


“Tomato in the Rain” by Kaiser Chiefs
Someone listened to a lot of: Cream


“Mushrooms and Roses” by Janelle Monae
Someone listened to a lot of: White Album-era Beatles


“Fool For You” by Cee-lo Green
Someone listened to a lot of: The Isley Brothers

LeftCoastLady’s Favorite Music from 2010

8 comments

(To see the original entry in all its non-modified glory, please visit Dimple and a Smirk (dot) com.)

In looking back on the music of 2010 that entered my ears, I listened to a lot of house/dance/electronic. Moving one’s ass is always a good thing. I also listened to a lot of comedy albums this year. In fact, this will be the first time my “best of” list will include comedy albums. If I had done this last year, Jim Gaffigan’s King Baby would have blown away most of my music selections. I’m almost embarrassed by the number of times I’ve played tracks from the album this year.

But enough of that, let’s get on to my favorites from 2010!

Favorite Albums:

The Lady Killer – Cee Lo Green
Before the album was released, everyone was abuzz about “F**k You” and rightfully so. It’s catchy, makes you smile, and includes a handful of f-bombs. The good news is the rest of the album is just as great and in some places, even better. If there is such a genre as alt-R&B, then Cee Lo is part of it. It may be cliché, but this album deserves all the praise it can get. Cee Lo’s take on Band of Horse’s “No One’s Gonna Love You” is so good, I may start listening to his version more than the original. And I love the original version to pieces.

Brothers – The Black Keys
Will the bluesy boys from Akron, Ohio, ever put out a less than awesome album? Highly doubtful. If your foot doesn’t start tapping beginning on the opening track, “Everlasting Light,” you may need to loosen up a bit. If your hips aren’t swaying on the second song, “Next Girl,” you may not have a pulse. When I first heard “Next Girl,” I knew I would be blasting it a lot. Oh goodness, what a great fucking song. There are a lot of contagious songs on this album — “Howlin’ for You,” “The Only One,” and well, all of them. Also, go see the Black Keys perform live. One of the best live bands around, that’s for sure.

Record Collection – Mark Ronson & The Business Intl.
What happens when a sought-after producer puts out an album that includes collaborations with artists such as Duran Duran, Boy George, D’angelo, Miike Snow, Q-Tip, among others? Awesome things happen, that’s what. The title of the album is appropriate because it feels like a carefully-crafted mix tape. “Bang Bang Bang” and “You Gave Me Nothing” will get you on the dancefloor while “Someone to Love Me” will make retreat to a seat on the side because you don’t have a dance partner.

Pete Yorn – Pete Yorn
See the review I wrote back in September. I’ll add this: I cannot wait to see PY perform live in support of this album in a few months. It will also be interesting to see whether or not married life affects his future musical output.

Let It Go – Bill Burr
Bill Burr is an angry man and that’s why I like him. I like to think his anger allows me to walk around and not rage at everyone and everything. You’ll laugh out loud at his observations on people because there’s a good chance you’ve encountered some of the same situations. Thanks to Bill Burr, you can hear what it sounds like if you were to act on what you’re really thinking.

I Learned the Hard Way– Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
When I first picked up this album back in April, I knew it would be on my year-end “best of” list. It’s as if by pushing “play” I was transported back in time to the era of Motown girl groups and bands who wore matching suits. Sharon’s voice just pours emotion into the lyrics. You feel her heartache on tracks like “The Game Gets Old” or on, my favorite track, “Window Shopping.” Likewise, the Dap-Kings work in tandem with Sharon’s voice to fully make the songs deliver their punch. On the instrumental track, “The Reason,” you really get to hear the Dap-Kings as they deliver a song that is just…groovy. No really, it has a great groove.

Crazy For You – Best Coast
The opening track “Boyfriend” sucked me in. If the rest of the album wasn’t great, “Boyfriend” would have been at the top of my favorite songs list. The album is full of catchy sugar pop music — check out “Our Deal” and “Honey” — that makes you want to sit on a beach blanket while writing in your diary about your new crush.

Timeless Pulse – Collioure
While listening to a Deep House Cat podcast, I fell in love with a song called “La Vague.” That sent me on a search to learn more about Collioure, a Japanese downtempo/lounge group. With limited vocals on the songs, the listener is left to fully appreciate the music, which is lush, exotic and perfect for a chillout session.

III/IV – Ryan Adams & The Cardinals
I’ve only had this double album — on beautiful, gorgeous, colorful vinyl — for about two weeks, but yes, it’s really that good. What’s essentially a collection of B-sides can put to shame a lot of A-side albums on the market these days. The album has some great little gems on it like “Typecast” and “Gracie.”

Transference – Spoon
When I received Transference, I wasn’t sure where to set my expectations. Could they really do another Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga? Yes and no. With songs like “Who Makes Your Money” and “Got Nuffin,” I found the album to be a closer relative to soulful grooves found on Gimme Fiction. One of my favorite tracks is the sleepy “Out Goes the Lights.”

Honorable Mentions:

As I Call You Down – Fistful of Mercy
Dhani Harrison, Ben Harper, and Joseph Arthur. That’s three kinds of awesome merged into one group. For a debut album, it’s fairly solid, however, where it falters is in trying to maintain some of the singular qualities of each musician’s individual artistry. When I listen to the album, I can hear each member’s contributions, but I also (selfishly) wanted to hear them push beyond that and deliver something unique to the album.

Interpol – Interpol
I really wanted to like this album more than I currently do. I wanted to love it, especially after the less-than-stellar Our Love to Admire. The couple of songs I heard prior to the album’s release — “Barricade” and “Lights” — gave me hope, but as a whole, the album left me longing for a band that put out Turn on the Bright Lights and Antics. Yes, I’ve become one of those types of fans, which is sad, because I’ve loved Interpol for a long time.

Winner Winner – Jessi Campbell
Because of my frequent comedy album purchases, Jessi Campbell’s album came up as a recommendation. I’d never heard of her before the recommendation. I listened to the album with tempered expectations, but oh my, she’s quite funny! I’m looking forward to hearing more from her in the future.

Favorite Songs (excludes songs from favorite albums):

“Blackbird and the Fox” – Twilight Singers feat. Ani DiFranco
“Rolling in the Deep” – Adele
“Not Giving Up On Love (Armin van Buuren Remix)” – Armin Van Buuren vs. Sophie Ellis Bextor
“O.N.E.” – Yeasayer
“Together Alright (MTV’s 2010 Club Mix)” – Martijn ten Velden & Red Carpet
“Vanity” – Christina Aguilera
“Our Summer” – Dragonette
“Back It Up (Melleefresh vs Jerome Robins Velvet Fog Mix)” – SpekrFreks vs. Billy Newton Davis
“Why Like This” – Teebs

Songs I rediscovered this year and now realize it may be some of the most perfect songs ever recorded (2010 edition):

“Home” – Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros (Yes, I know this song was only released a year ago, but it’s an earworm that finds its way into my head frequently.)

“So Close” – Hall & Oates

“Take Some…Leave Some” – James Brown

What I’m looking forward to music-wise in 2011: New Twilight Singers (Dynamite Steps), new PJ Harvey (Let England Shake), new Adele (21), hopefully more new Ryan Adams, attending live shows all over the place, including Pete Yorn and Twilight Singers, and, of course, discovering more new music that I can rave about to anyone who will listen.

Review: Music Hall USB-1 Turntable

When my wife told me she wanted a turntable for Christmas I knew this was going to be one of those gifts that I would enjoy just as much as she does.  When it came time to pick a turntable though I was confronted with a broad range of prices and products for what is a metal platter that spins a piece vinyl around in a circle. I immediately decided that  I had no use for a $2000 turntable.  Fortunately there were many in the $80 to $300 range from reputable companies that have made turntables for decades.

Another feature that  I didn’t need was the built in ability to transfer to a computer, though an astute reader will notice by the name of the review I ended up with that anyway.  I did want a built in phono pre-amp though since my receiver does not have a pre-amp and I didn’t want yet another component in the entertainment center.

It was Chris who suggested that I look at the Music Hall USB-1. The price was in the range I was looking at, it had a nice look to it and it included all of the features I wanted.  It also had positive reviews online so I decided to go for it.

It’s available on Amazon Prime (free 2 day shipping for Prime members) for $249.

We unboxed it immediately on Christmas day since I wasn’t about to have that thing sit unopened. Unfortunately we were at the mother-in-law’s so I had to improvise a hookup to her Sony soundbar setup. The turntable comes in a couple easy to assemble pieces and includes an Audio Technica AT3600L moving-magnet cartridge which locks easily into the tone arm.

The box includes a short RCA style stereo cable pair, USB cable and software for transferring music to a computer (which I haven’t used). The power cord is a standard 110V, two prong, polarized cord which is permanently affixed to the unit.

When we were able to get the unit home and I had time to hook it up I replaced the included RCA cables with longer gold tipped ones since I needed more reach and had an extra set in a drawer. The turntable is hooked up to a Pioneer VSX-9040THX receiver. The back of the turntable has a selector switch for sending the signal without modification or sending the signal through the built in pre-amp.

Aside from the receiver not having a pre-amp another bit of the past that is gone from the home entertainment center is the clearance necessary in a cabinet to lift the dust cover.  For this reason I had to install the turntable on a stand next to the main entertainment center. Fortunately the table was already there and being used for a phone and photo albums.  The photographs were replaced with the phonograph.

The first test album was Pet Sounds in mono.  My brain uses Sloop John B as a reference song for everything so this was handy.

The album is mono and goes to a stereo input so it plays only through the two main front speakers.  Setting a playback mode on the receiver will force it through the center channel as well, though this should be done with caution since it can add sound effects that are undesirable.  The turntable spins up quickly after the power switch is set to on and the start/stop button is pressed.

The sound quality is was great and the unit has a nice fluid operation to all of the functions. The second test album was Iron Maiden’s Number of the Beast. This album was used but in nice condition.  Additionally it was recorded in stereo and has a nice range. You really can’t go wrong with Bruce Dickinson either. The sound reproduction was outstanding. The output level is a little lower than some of my other components so the listening level is a bit higher than for the TiVo.  The other thing that becomes immediately apparent is that these albums were released before the Loudness War.

The third test album was Abbey Road which sounded the best of all three. The sound was quit rich and carried nicely throughout the house.

We have purchased a few more modern albums since and await their arrival.