Thanks for the tip Steenbeck:
SO here is what was my first RR Social Cd. The idea was to choose songs that we thought were underrated, the definition of which was pretty open. O just went for songs that I really liked and that people might not know.
Inspiration Information by Shuggie Otis from Inspiration Information - This album/semi-compilation released on David Byrne's Luaka Bop is almost flawless. This is the opener, but I hesitated until the last minute between this one and Aht Uh Mi Hed, but since I think it's slightly more famous I went for the funky/reggae-ish Inspiration... I think his main feature is his guitar playing, which is amazing (I always wondered what a collaboration between him and Jimi Hendrix (or a calm John McLaughlin) might sound like, but he plays all the instruments on the record Stevie/Prince style. Another brilliant song from him in Freedom Flight, but it was too long to put in.
Do You Dig You by Q-Tip from Kamaal The Abstract - This is from his yet unreleased album by the former member of A Tribe Called Quest, it was stupidly tanked for being not commercial enough.
Partir (Feat Diam's) by DJ Mehdi from (The Story Of) Espion - Starts off very quietly so don't adjust your stereo. The rapper is not a boy but a woman, (who is now the best-selling artist in the French charts, which is pretty impressive given the usually depressing state of of them) and it was before DJ Mehdi went fully elctro and had amore acoustic/organic side
Construçao by Chico Buarque from Construção - I've recommended this before (many times). It tells a good story, and it tells it well, but that's of no use to you all, so luckily, Chico took the time of accompanying it with a glorious orchestral track that suddenly calls your attention to the drama that's going on. Watch out for those horns.
Back In Bahia by Gilberto Gil from Novo Millennium - Here's the 2 brazilians in a row, now this one is just rocking and groovy and was probably written during his London exile, and here he is in full anthropophagous mode, eating psychedelia, rock'n'roll and a bit o'Beatles and spewing this out
Young Girls by Dan Sartain from Join Dan Sartain - I discovered this not too long and I love his rockabilly (I might be wrong about the term) mixed with the nerd-y, bitter lyrics and contempt of Young Republicans
Hora Do Espanto by Bonde Do Tigrão from Balas Do Funk - 2003 - This is probably love-or-hate-it stuff. Baile Funk is a musical style that mixes the sound and subject matter (sex, sex, more sex, inuendoi about sex, sex, sex) of Miami bass, and the same sound-system m.o. as dancehall. I love how in every song, there's likely to be a sample of a horrible pop song or a famous house track, but it always works. Now I wonder if this was the best introduction to this genre but I think it's my favourite. At the moment there's a band called Bonde Do Role that's getting some press and I would say they're to Baile Funk what the Beastie boys were to hip-hop.
Luchini (A.K.A. This Is It) by Camp Lo from Uptown Saturday Night - I have no idea what they're on about but it sounds great! this came out just before or around the death of Notorious B.I.G., which coincided with the emergence of Puff Daddy and all the Versace shirts and bling that entails. But their album sounds like it was made in the blaxploitation era. It's also good visually:
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4 comments:
This is taking a lot of space, could we maybe create a section where this can be found, or make the post expandable?
Ejaydee!! first of all, I wouldn't worry about taking up space, I think this post is what this blog is all about. Second of all...I'm terrible at talking about music, but here goes.. I've only listened to the ones you posted clips for (So Far) and it takes me a while to really react to things, but...I liked Esther Phillips Try Me a whole lot. I was obsessed with the James Brown song of the same title for quite a while, many years ago, and this has many of the same appealing qualities. You know I like Os Argonautes. Boys of Melody is indeed beautiful. I remember thinking there was a good soundtrack to shortbus, but the visuals were slightly distracting. Very joyful and tuneful. The Q-tip song I have listened to as many times today as time would allow. I like it A LOT. I know Q tip from ATCQ and from his work on Ill Communication. But this is really different--whenever a hiphopster does something that sounds vaguely different they describe it as "eclectic" and I guess that fits here, but, personally, I found it strange at first and then strangely addictive. I want to listen to it overandover. Construcao, love the song and really love the video. I was thinking of making a mix of songs that start out with only a few instruments and build from there, and this would certainly fit, but it goes beyond that, too. I'd be curious to know what story it tells. And Luchini I want to listen to again, I only heard it once in a distracted state, but it's very appealing. I love how they have these smiles on their faces the whole time like the whole thing is a lark. Well, that's it so far. Thanks for posting these. I'll have to listen again to all to let everything sink in, and search out links for the others. I wish I was better at talking about music,
goneforeign said...
Ejay: I just checked all the music that would play, several won't, urbana, kamaal, luchini, I liked it all, especially 'construction' and Caetano; Shuggy lives somewhere close by, his father has a house about a mile away. I've been watching/hearing him since he was a kid, he grew up in LA and was at the annual Watts festival quite often. That 'autograph' in Cataeno reminded me that when I was a photographer I always carried a few 4 by 5 cards in my case and asked musician subjects to give me an aotograph on one, I intended to incorporate them into the photos. I've got quite a few and a friend who collects such things bugs to sell 'em to him, they're apparently worth quite a bit.
You must be familiar with 6 degrees records? they're at http://www.sixdegreesrecords.com
Check their catalog, I've got quite a few, used to feature them on air a lot. They do a lot of Brazilian. Your mention of Trio Mocoto made me go in the other room and pull them, I have their 'Samba Rock' on that label. Do you know Issa Bagayogo, he's from Mali and has two CD's, I like 'em both, check Sya, plus there's some interesting stuff on their two Frikywa discs, west African dub mixes.
I just moved this, I'd put it in the wrong place.
January 15, 2008 7:45 PM
steenbeck, I too can sometimes find it hard to talk abot music, but I'm glad you liked what you heard. In rare cases, I might find myself being relatively eloquent on RR about songs, but mostly, I'll describe a song as "great", "brilliant", "a cracker" or "really good".
Also there's a youtube URL for Trio Mocoto, which you might also like, but it wouldn't embed.
Goneforeign, the Caetano autograph is the cover form his first album, or at least his first eponymous album. Cool fact about Shuggie, if you ever see him, maybe you can ask him why he hasn't done more music. Thanks to that song, I turned Darceysdad onto him, who then recommended him to AlexaK, so RR serves a purpose at least.
I'll check 6 degrees now.
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