Music
« Older Entries | Newer Entries »Lady Sovereign May Be Short, But Not On Sass & Raw Talent
[ Comments Off ]Posted on August 2, 2010 by admin in Music
Monday, August 2nd, 2010Never mind all the “British teenage lesbian rapper picked up by Def Jam” spin, and ignore her non-existent PR skills. Just have some fun with her tightly-produced Garage Grime.
Even though she’s been releasing material since 2004, you may have overlooked UK MC Lady Sovereign. That would be easy, she’s only 5’1″, a fact that she apparently has no discomfort with; her label is an EMI subsidiary called Midget Records. And while we’re at it, let’s get all the white British teenage lesbian rapper crap out of the way first thing. And don’t worry about her opinions on life either. Lady Sov probably needs a publicist or should let herself remain mysterious. She doesn’t work so well in an interview setting, so do yourself a favor and don’t bother watching or reading any interviews. Just listen to the music. She sort of proved her chops in 2005 anyway, when Jay-Z asked her for one on-the-spot freestyle before offering her a contract with Def Jam. Her 2006 release Public Warning was mostly synth and Eminem-style speed rap driven, but was punctuated with the occasional treated guitar or MIA-like whoops. 2009′s Jigsaw showed some maturing in her presentation; she almost kind of sings here and there, and comes across a little less like some punk out to prove herself. There’s still plenty of naivete, but that’s part of what makes it work. Lady Sovereign fills in a strange space between Die Antwoord, Robyn, MIA, Lily Allen, and Eminem, and if she manages to keep it together – she’s apparently a bit of a party monster – could turn out to be someone to keep an eye on. Vids below. Read the rest of this entry »
The 80′s You Remember Never Existed
[ 4 Comments ]Posted on July 27, 2010 by admin in Music
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010When you think “80′s Music” you probably think of bands like Tears For Fears, Depeche Mode, New Order, or the Pixies. Think again.
 Luckily, your selective memory has protected you from things like this |
In a vintage fern bar somewhere in some small Florida beach town, there’s a forty-something couple in matching white polyester pants and Hawaiian shirts, bombed on Slippery Nipples and dancing to Olivia Newton John’s “Let’s Get Physical”. These two people are probably the only people alive who remember and enjoy the “real” music of the 80′s. I love it when people start reminiscing about all the great music of that decade, and proceed to name bands like Tears For Fears, Depeche Mode, New Order, the Pet Shop Boys, or the Pixies. Because that simply was not, in reality, the music of the 80′s. Although it may have been in some people’s reality, particularly those people whose reality was shaped by dark dance floors and copious quantities of alcohol and other drugs. But in the real reality, things were much different. A fact that is overlooked even in the erudite commentary of a piece like Justin Erik Halldór Smith’s Against Eighties Music, which features a picture of The Cure’s Robert Smith and references Stereo MCs
Prince: World’s Leading Social Media Expert
[ 2 Comments ]Posted on July 6, 2010 by admin in Music
Tuesday, July 6th, 2010Thousands of websites made fun of Prince today. You might want to take note of that “thousands of websites” bit.
In my book, Prince remains a marketing genius on par with Steve Jobs, James Cameron, or Seth Godin. The number of serious news and pop media sites that took the bait today and belittled him for saying things like “The internet’s completely over” in this exclusive UK Mirror interview was mind-boggling. It was a bit reminiscent of when he changed his name to 
, and the media took it as a sign of insanity rather than the perfectly rational symbolic protest against an oppressive contract with Warner that it was. Oh. And let’s just pause for a moment and realize that we’re still talking about that little trick almost twenty years later! Which is – aside from his obvious musical talent – probably Prince’s greatest gift: an understanding of the social object . In my opinion the only really crazy things that Prince has said or done would be partnering with Walmart for the exclusive release of his triple-album “Lotusflow3r”, or suing 18 month old babies for dancing to his music . I personally was a fan of prince beginning with “Dirty Mind” (amazingly still available on the Internet
Hick Hop Hos Throw Down At The Hoedown
[ 2 Comments ]Posted on June 30, 2010 by admin in Music
Wednesday, June 30th, 2010In some magical realm between Kid Rock, Cowboy Troy, and Eminem, a megastar is waiting to be born.
 Bubba Sparxxx Hoggin’ The Mic |
It may never have occurred to you before just how much gangsta rap and bluegrass have in common. Well, okay. They really don’t have much. Which is why – in spite of a lot of obvious talent and decent production – a project like Gangstagrass
Music As Torture
[ 1 Comment ]Posted on June 24, 2010 by admin in Music
Thursday, June 24th, 2010The sounds of the sixties brought people together. The sounds of the 21st century are not only annoying us, they’re causing lawsuits and lethal injuries.
 The US Government’s version of a “boom car” |
While I would still contend that the recent remake of We Are The World is the most effective use of music as torture ever devised, there are a multitude of ways to cause discomfort with sound. Which I’ll get to after I tell you a little story, and give you some background. I’ve always felt that music is literally sacred, and that it should never be used to make someone else unhappy. Meaning, for instance, that if my choice of music bothers someone, I’m glad to turn it off and look for common ground. I’m rethinking my values a bit lately though, thanks to boom cars, ignorant cops, and outdoor fundraisers with drum machine driven top forty bands. Let me explain. I live in town that has an abundance of musicians. Musicians that apparently aren’t allowed to play on the streets unless they suck in some way. Example 1: A few weeks ago I walked past a talented jazz guitarist playing at a very reasonable volume. I tossed a couple bucks in his case. A few minutes later I walked back past him to find that he had stopped playing, and that a cop was writing him a ticket. I asked the cop why he was ticketing the guy. The cop cited a 90 decibel limit specified by the city. I’ve done professional sound work, so I asked this cop how he decides how many decibels a musician is generating. As he tried to explain that they have a decibel meter at city hall for when a citizen questions a cop’s judgment, a bus drove by, completely drowning him out. I got in a fairly heated argument with this public servant who risks his life daily to protect us from all this lethal jazz, because he had NO IDEA what he was talking about. He ended up not writing a ticket. I guess it was cost-inefficient for him to make the trip to get the meter. A week later, a local organization was holding a fundraiser across the street from my apartment. Their “entertainment” committed two crimes at once. First, they played at well over 90 decibels until after 11pm. And second, they played songs like “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy” and “Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone”. WITH A DRUM MACHINE. And finished off their sound with nasal, midwest schoolteacher whitefolk vocals. Granted, there’s actually no law against sucking, but where was that cop NOW? I pondered the likely results of filing a noise complaint against a fundraiser for a major medical institution, and decided it would be futile. So I ended up doing one of the more childish things I’ve done in my life, which was to digitally create cleverly dissonant tones and aim them out my window during the most egregious offenses against decency that the top forty band committed. Like when they started playing “Play That Funky Music White Boy [Church Lady Remix]“. After this I was feeling like a bit of a git for an hour or so, until the universe reared its ugly karmic head and treated me to a series of boom cars parking below my window. Which instead of teaching me a lesson, got me fantasizing about building a HERF Gun that would be specially tuned to destroy car audio subwoofers. This fantasy sated my frustration until the next morning when the owners of the parking structure across the street decided that 7am was a great time to star with the jackhammers. Again, where was that noise-fighting cop now? So while you’d probably suggest that I should just move to the country and all my problems would be solved, the point I’m really getting at is that sound is more and more often being used recklessly, rudely, and in some cases violently. Below is a quick list of these evil uses of sound, and what you can do about them. Read the rest of this entry »