[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/815815[/vimeo]

Kent Lambert started Roommate in 2002 after his roommate dared him to write a song. The result was RP (Forget the Metaphors,) a song about River Phoenix, which became a big hit in Belgium. So, Lambert turned Roommate into a full group with a rotating cast and released a few albums including the Celeb EP, Songs the Animals Taught Us, We Were Enchanted, and a few vinyl only releases on various labels. Roommate is currently recording their next album, but I thought I’d share some exerts from We Were Enchanted.

Lambert writes dark, apocalyptic songs with stark atmospheres, both lyrically and musically. Roommate’s songs rarely stray from a pop realm, but they stretch the form by bringing in unlikely sounds or almost disfiguring melodies. At times, he repeats an unsettling sound or disconcerting vocal line against a brighter or more mellifluous counterpoint. Much of Roommate’s sound is accomplished by combining acoustic and electronic sources. I really think they do it better than almost anyone else: 8-bit, coarse digital beeps and banjos sound like natural partners, and bassoons with swelling synthesizers never feel anachronistic. Lambert primarily plays the keytar, but he has included flutes, violas, Theremins, saws, vibraphones and strange analog machines along with traditional rock instruments. He has even featured instruments he invented. And yet, the arrangements never seem contrived or flamboyant. Lambert focuses every sound and every word into a singular, linear composition.

I’m having a hard time picking out three songs to feature here, but I recommend you check out Roommate further.  This is definitely music that should be heard on something better than mp3’s.  The top link has a lot of content, here’s their myspace and here is a link to a review by Coke Machine Glow.  Kent Lambert is also an accomplished video maker, although the video here is Kenny Reed and shot by Ben Popp.

Roommate – Day After, New Steam, Tea Leaves

Here’s the problem with T-Pain — and believe me, this is coming from someone who absolutely adores the robot-voiced man and his music. The problem with T-Pain is that sometimes when I listen to his music alone in the private comfort of my living room (and I do, often), and am given a booze-free mind and club-free atmosphere to ponder what he is actually talking about — the words themselves, mind you — well, I feel a bit guilty. What comes out of his mouth is about 90% complete and utter, unadulterated nonsense. Or at very least, not very lyrically sophisticated. Which, sadly, is the case for most pop music and, in particular, most music that you’d care to hear when you go out to get your shake on.

For the most part, Club Rap has become a trite series of the same old rhymes.

I ain’t mad. I get it. It’s the way stuff works. You can’t have a bunch of crazy words interfering with your baseline. Drums are more important than metaphors when you’re grinding up on the girl of your dreams. But this is only a half-truth. There was a time when you could hit a dancefloor and step out your troubles listening to the same music that got you hype in your car, in your shower, in your headphones. Songs that had a certain, how shall we say, complexity. It doesn’t mean that the lyrics themselves have to be philosophical gems each and every one, but that there’s more to ’em than languidly rhyming “Lamborghini Gallardo” with “Toronto”. (And this from a guy who loves “Can’t Believe It” as much or more than my mother.)

I’m really not hating. Not trying to anyway. I just wanted to remind y’all that dancefloors need more Hip Hop like this:

–New Mighty Mos: so neccessary

—Q-Tip blessed us with a truly great album last year; this is a track that seemed to have slipped through the cracks

—Wale + Ayers = the future.

–And as for Suga Free… Shee-it. I’m from L.A. y’all. This is the closest thing we’ve got.

Enjoy dancing.

Mos Def - Quiet Dog
taken from the forthcoming album The Ecstatic on Downtown Records (2009)

Q-Tip – Manwomanboggie (feat Amanda Diva)
taken from The Renaissance on Jive (2008)

Wale – Roof (DJ Ayres Remix)
taken from the whitelable 12″ (2008)

Suga Free – Cool
taken from the 12″ on Laneway (2003)

So the homie Ballantino hit me up and let me know that my track Speakin Nuyorican was the MP3 of the day over at RCRDLBL.COM (one of the cooler, and most groundbreaking blogs out there in my opinion). I knew the song was going to be on the BKLYN compilation (alongside some of my FAVORITE funky artists) put together by my other good friend DJ DRM, but I don’t have a copy and didn’t even know it was released yet! This is the second time this year that I’ve discovered one of my unreleased tracks inadvertently on a compilation- O-Dub at Soul-Sides.com put me on to this Japanese comp that features a rough draft of my song “Fumando”. Both of these tunes will be on my upcoming (and still unfinished) EP on Bastard Jazz, with a remix from Sweden’s own Freddie Crugar/Red Astaire. Coming soon, I SWEAR!!!!

Also, heard through another homie that The Beatards “Big Bad Beat EP” is finally up on the iTunes store, so if you still have been sleeping, or are just opposed to having physical CDs in your life anymore, then cop yer copy now from Apple.

And yeah, The Slits are the SHIT.  Continue reading…

 

Churchill’s : Open Up Our Eyes, Debka, 
Sunshine Man, & Subsequent Final 
taken from their self-titled album on Hed-Arzi (1968)

Matti Caspi & The Group : Let’s Go Back & Felicidade 
taken from the album Pais Tropical on CBS (1977)

The Platina : Kishoof & 11;13
taken from the album Freedom on Israel (1976)

The Platina : D.J. Dori 
taken from the album Live At The “Bar Barim” on Israel (1973)

Here’s a few more things I discovered in Israel. From these crazy hard psych-out nuggets by the Churchill’s (supposedly one of the most in demand psych records), to the impeccably well borrowed Brazilian swag (sung in HEBREW no less!) of Matti Caspi & crew, to the heavy alternate time signature funky fusion jazz of The Platina– Israeli has heat. Back in the frigid NYC environs where it’s dificult to motivate myself to step outside without whiskey running through my veins, I’m in dire need of this warmth. 

Be forewarned as well- Murphy’s Law and I accrued an insane stack of mind melting Turkish pysch and funk records at the end of our trip while wylin’ in ole Istanbul.  Expect a new FUNK BROS mix soon, and a post with some particularly audacious tunes from the bunch. 

Niney the Observer, the Jamaican reggae singer and producer behind countless vintage dancehall hits, has never received quite as much shine as his contemporaries such as  Lee “Scratch” Perry. That is, until now. The good people over at 17 North Parade have put together a 2 disc compilation titled Roots with Quality spanning the past three decades of his output, with a strong focus on the classic tunes he cut at the height of his career in the mid-1970s. The artist roster reads like a who’s who of reggae royalty: Delroy Wilson, Ken Boothe, Slim Smith, Gregory Issacs and Jacob Miller are but a few of the stars included. 

Niney, nicknamed so after losing a thumb in a workshop accident,  got his start at age 14 working as a music engineer for KG Records and eventually producing and voicing his own tunes for them. Soon after, he began producing tunes for release on his own Destroyer imprint in partnership with Coxsone Dodd of Studio One. In 1968 he started producing for Joe Gibbs’ Amalgamated Records, taking the helm previously manned by none other than Lee “Scratch” Perry.  Perhaps Niney’s biggest hit as a singer, “Blood & Fire” was originally released on Destroyer with only 200 copies pressed. The tune was extremely well-recieved, and Niney re-released it on his new Observer label, selling over 30,000 copies internationally in the process. “Blood & Fire” reached cult status despite grumblings by Upsetters organist Glen Adams that Niney lifted the melody from a recently released Wailers tune, and was declared the Jamaican Record of the Year in 1971.

Throughout the rest of the 1970s Niney was a driving force behind the changing reggae sound of that decade. Dennis Brown, who himself was working towards becoming more of a producer at the time, recorded some of his best-known tunes with Niney, such as “Here I Come” which was originally released on Observer in 1977. Niney remained active in production through the early 80s, working with Freddie McGregor on tunes such as “Chant It Down” and Third World for this compilation’s title track “Roots with Quality.” Niney is still alive and well today and spends his time between Jamaica, where he recently completed work on a new studio facility, and New York City.

Continue reading…

Office has been the brainchild of Scott Mason since 2000, (which predates the more famous British TV show) and has featured dozens of musicians but only Mason’s songs. Mason writes subversive pop gems with sarcastic and prosaic lyrics. About four years ago, Office added Tom Smith on guitar and Erica on drums, and along with a few other musicians, Office achieved its highest success. The band independently sold over 20,000 copies of Q & A, signed to James Iha’s Scratchie Records, released A Night at the Ritz, toured nationally, didn’t quite break into the next level and left Scratchie. When Office began work on Mecca, the group was frustrated with the music industry and decided release the album independently.

Mecca is distinct from previous Office albums (there are at least five depending on what you count as an album) both in that there are no electronic or synthetic instruments save a few uses of an 1970’s keyoboard, and it features a second songwriter in Tom Smith. Smith’s songs are more straightforward and offer a good foil to Mason’s approach. It’s hard to argue that songwriting is better or worse than on any other Office album, because Scott Mason consistently writes brilliant songs. Every person has a different favorite Office song. What “Mecca” does better than previous Office endevours lies in production and execution. This Office lineup is the best ever and simply rocks. Some people even claim they were too tight, but I find them emotive and provocative. Furthermore, the production is warm, subtle and balanced; layered but not heavy. On first listen, I naively thought it was so good, no amount of bad luck in the industry could keep the band from broader success and personal satisfaction.

Instead, everyone except Mason quit. One issue, in addition to typical band breakup reasons, was Mason wanted to release the album only online for free, and the other members wanted physical copies that could be sold. Office canceled its New Year’s Eve show and Scott released the album for free without Smith’s songs at lastfm. Then the mudslinging began in Chicagoist.com and gapersblock.com in the form of interviews, reviews and comments on the sites. All very silly. And so, unfortunately, very few people will hear Mecca, especially with Tom Smith’s songs. It is an old and sure to be repeated story.

Office – Nobody Knows You, Enter Me Exit You, Double Penetrate the Market from the album Mecca

Download the full album on sendspace or last.fm