Blog: Oh, Sweet Nothing

Saw this link and thought it should be shared. Given the nuclear disaster in Japan, a list of all the songs about the threat posed by Nukes (mostly from the 80s and mostly about Nuclear War). Very intense .

Apparently a split collaboration single b/w Burial , Four Tet , and Thom Yorke is set to be released on Four Tet's Text label. Unfortunately, it already sold out (in the pre-order stage!!), so good luck trying to get your hands on it at a reasonable price. Fortunately, the always great Fact Mag has provided both of the sides of the single for streaming (via YouTube)....so there's that. Check it out HERE .

Suze Rotolo has died. For fans of early Bob Dylan, she is the very cute young woman on the cover of The Freewheeling Bob Dylan , pictured above. This is the girl Bob Dylan was dating before Joan Baez, and the inspiration behind some of his earlier, more aching love and loss songs, including "Don't Think Twice It's Alright" and "Boots of Spanish Leather." While many attribute Dylan's political awakening to Joan Baez's influence, they are often mistakenly transposing the influence of Ms. Rotolo, the daughter of Communists [...]

...because my gut reaction was to fume about that awful awful Super Bowl. It was bad enough the Packers were in it/won it/beat Chicago to get there, but then...the halftime show. I'm pretty sure I'll be having flashbacks of it anytime I hear or see anything Appetite For Destruction related for the rest of my life...and that's all I'll say about that. On a more positive note, the first single to the new Strokes (reunion?) album is out. Right here in fact. See? So what do you think? My first reaction is that it's [...]

Because I guarantee that this is the absolute last post concerning music from last year...heh. Apologies for the many delays, but I finally got around to posting my summary of the past year. As always, I admit that objectivity has a smaller role to play in the creation of this list than I'd like to believe. I also openly admit that I haven't heard everything I wanted to give a chance this year, blog life without access is cruel like that. If you think I missed out on something, I'd love to hear about it! In [...]

Rest assured, the Oh, Sweet Nothing (very much delayed) favorites of 2010 list is on it's way...but unfortunately 2011 seems to be continuing the same tragic trend of great musicians passing that was especially brutal in 2010. This time it's an extra sad one for me, as Trish Keenan, the singer of one of my absolute favorite groups, Broadcast, has passed away after several weeks of struggling with complications from both H1N1 and pneumonia. Condolences to her loved ones and may she rest in peace. More details and obituary here and here . [...]

It looks as though 2010 is going to go down as one of the saddest years for the R & B stars of the early 80s. Robert Wilson, and now, Teena Marie, age 54. The New York Times has a good obit . This probably caught them off guard, too. Sing 'em off, Teena.

So it's been a nice Jewish Christmas here for me, and a real Christmas for Rob. New posts to follow from both of us shortly. In the interim, enjoy these links about the origin of the pop song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight/ Wimoweh," popularized first by Pete Seeger and later, the Tokens, but originally recorded by South African folk musician Solomon Linda in 1939. First, an article by Rian Malan published in Rolling Stone in 2001, reprinted in The Best American Magazine Writing - 2001. This covers the origin story and makes the persuasive [...]

Robert Wilson, one third of blacktro funk group, The Gap Band, died yesterday. Not the voice of the group (that was Charlie Wilson his brother), Robert was the bassist and man are those basslines amazing. H/t to BlackAmericaWeb with the info .

So I go the AVClub this morning and almost spit out my coffee. In their weekly inventory, the AVClub had stolen my idea for a list of most-dated sounding songs, albeit limited to technology. http://www.avclub.com/articles /my-pagers-still-blowin-up-25- songs-about-outdated,43916/ Although this list omits two awesome tracks I included, Jim Croce's "Operator" and Destiny's Child's "Bug-A-Boo," it's pretty comprehensive. My posts - 1990s dated songs: http://www.ohsweetnothing.com/ 2010/03/time-capsule-bugaboos- past-and-present.html 1970s dated songs: http://www.ohsweetnothing.com/ 2010/04/time-capsule-dropping- dime.html

Norman Whitfield, one of Motown's best in-house composers and producers, has died. Whitfield's name graces every third page of my Motown's Greatest Piano Book. He wrote most of the Temptations' songs after 1968 including "I'm Losing You," "Ball of Confusion," "Just My Imagination" and one of my personal favorites, "Message from a Black Man" and will probably go down in history for penning "I Heard It Through the Grapevine." Good coverage at pitchfork, here .

In light of my two recent French punk/post-punk posts, I couldn't resist linking to this story . The most famous faux-punk French punk musician Plastic Bertrand now admits that he did not actually sing on "Ca Plane Pour Moi," the famously popularized re-done cover of "Jet Boy, Jet Girl." Apparently, this was proven by way of French lingual expert as Plastic Bertrand is Belgian and the accent of the singer is Picardese French. For those unfamiliar with the song and who haven't seen National Lampoon's European Vacation , here it is in FULL glory:

As promised, Part II of this French punk sampleur - Post-Punk/New Wave Francais. Although I can't say that I entirely buy the distinction made by Simon Reynolds in Rip It Up and Start Again between New Wave and Post-Punk, I will say that the bands here at least thought of themselves as a continuation of the Punk spirit of '77. But where to begin? Well, how about here. Catchy, n'est pas? Although I'm always tempted to say that song sounds like a rip-off of "Melt With You" by English post-punk [...]

• Ici Paris - Allo Monde » 01 - allo le monde.mp3

While most of the readers of this blog are probably familiar with American and British punk music, as well as the weird amalgam of bands from 1979 on, once known as "new wave" but now called "post-punk," I suspect fewer are familiar with how these genres developed in France. If this mid-90s French documentary (posted in four parts here on YouTube - sorry, en francais) is to be believed, French Punk's origins can be traced to 1974 in the form of stripped down retro-blues and rock-a-billy bands reacting to the wanking that had become mainstream rock. [...]

• Asphalt Jungle - Polly Magoo » Asphalt Jungle - Polly Magoo.mp3
• Bijou - Betty Jane Rose » _bijou_ - 09 - betty jane rose.mp3

Apologies for the lack of posting lately, and a big hats off to Zig for picking up the slack in my absence. And man did he do a hell of a job, even getting the attention of one shit hot DJ/producer who may or may not be a dinosaur enthusiast. As a result, Zig suggested this would be a prime opportunity for me to get back on track with the posts...I concur. I'll be posting some pretty cool videos I've been into lately soon as well as my favorite albums of the first half of [...]

• killer new single » 01 Power.mp3

For Part I of this series, From Bauxite to Brixton , Click Here . As I discussed in the last post on this subject, the discovery of mineral Bauxite in Jamaica in the wake of World War II had a definite effect on the everyday lives of Jamaicans, contributing to an inward migration to the capital, Kingston, and then, in the wake of poverty and unemployment, to an outward migration from Kingston to the UK and the U.S. It is this latter story that I will address here. While Bauxite production actually increased in [...]

This really saddens and surprises me. Had I been a better Dio fan, I would have probably known of the cancer afflicting Ronnie James Dio that took his life at the age of 67. Hopefully heavens looks like the video for "Holy Diver." Decent Obit here .

A couple of news stories and some assorted fun facts I've always thought merited some publicity: Ain't Not Stoppin' Us Now - Gamble and Huff receive honorary doctorates from Berklee College of Music. Minnesota Public Radio's Indie Music Station (Yes, there is a terrestrial FM indie music station that is commercial-free and available streaming!) is doing a show on Sunday night on the history and future of sampling in music. The blog site promoting the show, has a Youtube clip of Hank Shocklee (of Public Enemy's Bomb Squad [...]

It happened that in 1942, a wealthy landowner, attorney and businessman from the parish of St. Ann, Jamaica, Sir Alfred D'Costa, grew concerned by the failure of the corn growing on his farm as part of a wartime food production campaign. D'Costa took his concerns to the local authorities, sending them a sample from the red soil where the crops were planted. The results of these soil tests changed Jamaica, and as I will suggest here, Western music as we know it. Consider this post my entry into the world of Freakanomics. [...]

Came across this while listening to lots of new (to me) electronic music today. I know it's gonna be everywhere, but I'm posting it here anyway. It should be everywhere, the song and corresponding video are that good. Enjoy. Side Note: Clearly The xx love Chicago...I say this not using any real shred of evidence, but judging solely on the amount of times they've been in the city this year as well as their future planned appearances here. Good enough for me!