" Ball of Confusion , That's what the world is today, hey hey." Truer words never prophesied as The Temptations backdrop song of the Vietnam era seems to get dragged out every ten years or so to illustrate how much things blow at the here and now. I first got exposed to the song via Love & Rockets and probably like a lot of Bauhaus fans hearing them rap was akin to sacrilege, though soon dropped the ' tude after repeated listens. I'm including it here for nostalgia reasons and saluting the fact [...]
Achh more muppets ! During the latter half of the 1990's, I used to wonder if it would be at all possible to have 90's retro, or nostalgia for the 90's. Iconically , the decade seemed so blah , compared to 70's, and 80's. The 70's had bellbottoms , disco, fros etc. The 80's had video games, Rubik's Cubes, new wave haircuts etc. But what was there to get worked up over for the 90's? Sure you had grunge , but what else? Dockers? Reality Bites ? ZZZZZzzzz. In [...]
I'm baaaaack. Was glad to be the hell out of dodge, but now excited to be home. Not just like, excited-excited, but, like, sooooooo excited. But I'm not the only one. Evidently, so is the 1/3 mustachioed, all girl dance-punk trio known as Le Tigre with their like totally 80's-riffic version (complete with campy 80's faux-reggae breakdown) of The Pointer Sisters ' I'm So Excited . I wouldn't try to hide it either. Le Tigre - I'm So Excited [...]
***VACATION ALERT*** As the bold type speaketh above, I'm going to be outta of town, so no updates for the next few days, sorry :-( . I won't leave you hanging though. Fittingly I thought I'd make today's entry John Denver 's sadly ironic Leaving on a Jet Plane , by reggae stalwarts David Isaacs (a Lee 'Scratch' Perry affair) and Glen Adams & The Reggae Boys (a rare single on [...]
Pretty much every big musician in the 70's fell for disco's charms in some shape or another. The Rolling Stones , no strangers to R&B of any form, also felt the pull of the funky four on the floor tractor beam and recorded the lofty #1 hit, Miss You . Needless to say, Miss You makes great bedfellows with any dance beat and bossa n' house go-to cover band, Groove da Praia churn out a rather breezy affair; a perfect soundtrack for knocking back $14 drinks [...]
I truly believe that The Strokes ' Last Nite ,and it's accompanying video, did for 'grunge' what Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit did to the last vestiges of heavy metal; pounded that last nail in the coffin. For better or for worse, it was all skinny ties and distressed L evis from then on, but hey at least it paved the way for Interpol, The Walkmen, The Harlem Shakes, et al. With all that in mind it seems that I'm not the only one who wants to pay tribute. [...]
Here is The Dynamics alter ego Taggy Matcher with their A M A Z I N G dubbed out ska rendtion of Herbie Hancock 's pioneering electro classic Rockit ( also my all time favorite video I might add ). After hearing this for the first time, many a family record was ruined by my feeble adolescent attempts at scratching on the all-in-one tv/stereo combo. But hey, that's one less Streisand album. Taggy Matcher - Rockit [...]
Y'know this post was originally going to be a kind of soul versus reggae clash of Hank Williams ' Your Cheatin' Heart , with James Brown representing all that's funky and Winston Groovy representing the reggae, but poor little Pairote from Thailand sounds like he (and his chipmunk apparently) really had his broken, so we'll include his little Tee Makhuea Pok too. James Brown - Your Cheating Heart Winston Groovy - [...]
I don't know about you but at this point my lips are severely chapped from whistling along to Young Folks by Stockholm indie monsters Peter Bjorn and John with Victoria Bergsman (Especially, I might add, the Erol Alkan /Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve Mix). This is one of those songs that is so infectious, so instantaneously classic, that it makes it ripe for a cover version of any sort. Well, being careful what you wish for gets you this [...]
As I'm sure you've gathered from my earlier posts, I'm not to big on goth. Well that's not entirely too accurate, I'm not really a big fan of the new stuff; Dark Wave, Cyber-Dance, Ethereal, Cyber Punk (or whatever they're calling the the boo-hoo black lipstick set these days). Having gone through that phase briefly when I was a tadpole, I still can't believe it's still alive (dead?) and kicking. Well, putting on the chapeau marked 'objectivity' , I turn to today's cover, Fun Boy Three 's The Lunatics Have Taken Over The [...]
Broken beat conglomerate Bugz In The Attic (along with a likkle vocal help from Wunmi ), remake Fela Kuti 's venerable dig at Nigerian soldiers, Zombie . Bugz in the Attic - Zombie Bugz in the Attic - Zombie 2003 Enjoy! LS
So I heard when the first Mission Impossible movie was being made the director had initially pegged Japanese/French acid jazz outfit United Future Organization to score the theme. When he played it for Tom Cruise, Mr. Katie Holmes predictably went and pulled a star fit and told the director 'I don't know who they are, and don't care. 86 'em and replace with U2, thanks'. DAMN YOU XENU ! Well Mr. Hunt, perhaps next time you'll choose from our wonderful selection today. Besides the aforementioned [...]
Even though I was somewhat into house at an oddly young age, I wound up getting into acid house purely based on this early photo 808 State in the NME . I remember taking one look at A Guy Called Gerald's freaky hair and thought 'Whoever they are, whatever they are, they've got to sound fucking awesome. I'm buying whatever they got". And somehow, out in the surburbs of California in 1988, magically finding a white label copy of Let Yourself Go at a local record [...]
I remember reading this interview with Boy George some years back with him talking about this multi-band "80's reunion" tour with him, Psychedelic Furs, a few other bands I can't remember, and Howard Jones . While the other bands were all playing their big crowd pleasers from the 80's, only Jones played primarily new stuff. According to George, poor Howard Jones thought everyone was there because they wanted to hear his new album and that they have been following his music all along. He was totally confused as to why no one knew or [...]
Yes it may be a tad passe at this point to cover Justin Timberlake 's Sexyback and for those negative Nancys that say 'Do we really need another cover of Sexyback?', on some level I couldnt agree more . That said today features the cream of Timberlake's crop top. The standout of today's pack hands down goes to Korean trio iM , who amazingly beatbox their way through the entire song, no instruments (unless you count the megaphone). Can't front, love Corinne Bailey Rae 's jazz lounge version. [...]
Woke up this morning and realized I haven't done bupkiss on The Cure yet. So today's feature is The Lovecats , Robert Smith's big wag of a middle finger to his gothic past, making 1983 year zero for The Cure's new pop path. As you can imagine this song makes for easy bedfellows with jazz, so first up is future Jazz/Broken Beat renaissance man Nik Weston and his side project West/Rock/Woods who rewires Lovecats into a Cal TJader-ish number. Won't lie to you, really dig the Paul Anka version as well, [...]
Today's treat is The Bee Gees ' Emotion served up reggae style. Short lived girl trio 15-16-17 , so named after their ages at the time, cut a sweet sounding 'lovers rock' version all under the watchful production eye of Dennis 'Blackbeard' Bovell . Somehow surprised that this one hasn't ended up on a Soul Jazz compilation yet and is a must for fans of Althea & Donna, Dawn Penn, Blood Sisters, Billy Boyo, Musical Youth, etc. Also included the sublime dub version too. 15-16-17 - [...]
It seems patently unfair that, for the good handful or two of indie artists covering rap tunes, that there's been no return favor. Where's Ice Cube's I'm Losing My Edge ? 50 Cent's Let's Make Love (And Listen to Death From Above) , Kanye's Cape Cod Kwanza ? Perhaps in an alternate galaxy somewhere, like Bizarro World . That's the kind of universe I'd like to inhabit. As for today's entry, Nina Gordon 's cover of NWA oeuvre [...]
Thankfully there's not a whole lot artists who play Radiohead 's Everything in it's Right Place straight. Perhaps it's the minimal lyric content and the slowly building crescendo that makes it attractive for both jazz musicians, like today's Brad Mehldau and Robert Glasper and classical musicians, like Christopher O'Riley and Vitamin C's The String Quartet Tribute . Downtempo/House/Future Jazz artist Osunlade (with Erro) comes close to giving Tom & Co. a run for their money with his version. What starts out as big drums blazing UNKLE track blossoms [...]
Nik Kershaw and his video for Wouldn't It Be Good used to haunt me as a child . I even seem to recall wearing my oh-so-80's white blazer and wandering the suburbs of Redwood Shores like a tormented soul. That is until our WW II vet neighbor, Mr Fight (yes his real name) saw me and said 'NOW what are you doing? Sigh. Get the hell off my lawn.' Belgian indie-electro rockers Soulwax (AKA 2 Many DJ's) leave the drum machine at home for their semi-unplugged cover [...]
Versions Galore
Azealia Banks - '1991' [Listen]
Metric Debuts Album via Synthetica Hide+Seek, Tickets On Sale Now For Fall Tour
THE MASTERSONS — BIRDS FLY SOUTH
