I recently dug up this Shirley joint and was reminded of just how simple the recipe is for a timeless dancefloor banger.  Double-dutch rhymes, handclaps, and the obligatory pounded-by-caveman drums. Still works for plenty of artists today. First thought: this is screaming to be remixed and I will do it. While allowing the record to linger in my “to be remixed” crate, I finally gave a listen to the Kizzaland mixtape that people had been telling me about (sometimes I’m slow). First thought: that bastard Timbaland protege beat me to it! The rest of the mixtape is definitely worth a listen too, but this one made me smack the back of my head. Also check these Izza Kizza videos if you got a second. Continue reading…

What happens when you’re a singer who can’t sing your own praises? What happens when your talent doesn’t come genetically outfitted with the blueprints for an inner Hype Machine? When the process of creating and the act of performing do not demand mutual reciprocation? In other words, what happens when you’re not a Kanye West?

Well. You have a career like Margo Guryan. 

I stumbled on this album, Guryan’s only recorded LP, by chance, while sifting around for nuggets on Emusic–a guilty pleasure from time to time. Needless to say, it didn’t take much for me to be seduced. The uber-smooth vocals, soothing riffs… and FUZZ? DRUMS?! FUNKY TIME SIGNATURES?!

This is essentially a typical late 60’s easy-listening album tricked out by a true musical original with future beat heads and record dorks like us in mind. Listen to “Love” and you’re basically treated to a three part carnival of ill psychaedelic experimentation. “Sunday Morning” opens almost like Billy Garner’s super-funky “I Got Some”. And let’s not forget “Someone I Know” which incorporates those beautifully melodic french horns… directly borrowed from J.S. Bach!

Damn! Girl had it going on! But like I said, the lady didn’t like to toot her own horn.  She went about quietly penning a few more hits here and there, collaborating with a handful of other notable musicians of various schools: jazz, rock, pop. She started a family. But did she ever get her props? Hell no!  So I’ll do it for her, forty years too late. 

To the soft spoken Margo Guryan; to the longevity of good music.

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Man o man. A song like this will do it to me every time. A little simple Tuesday soul for y’all.

Your average R&B flunky is likely familiar with the Gwen McCrae original (Glades, 1972) which is, in its own right, an absolute jam. I wouldn’t say this really tops the OG version, per se. I mean, truth be told, it’s not terribly different. The instrumental track is virtually identical and the drums are actually harder behind Gwen… but… but…

It’s the voice. Whereas Gwen vamps heavy with her powerful phrasing, my girl Vanessa goes with understated sexy. A little softer. A little sadder somehow. And I’m just spinning… 

Vanessa Kendricks - 90% of Me Is You

taken from the re-issue 12″ on Jazzman; also on the Jazzman complilation Florida Funk 

Watch out for this group! I found out about them when Murphy and O-Dub put out their “Ritmo Del Camino” mixtape a couple months ago and included “Baby” as the second to last song. Handclap actually reached out to us since their name was spelled wrong on the mixtape tracklist (“Handclapping”- blame it on dufus, not me), and asked for a correction and a myspace link. It’s taken me way too long to catch up, but here’s their myspace and their blog, and more photos from their last show at the Williamsburg Music Hall– what was I doing that night and why did I miss this?

Daniel Collás and Sean Marquand make up Embassy Sound Productions (ESP) who are responsible for putting this latest project together. If their names sound familiar perhaps it’s because you have the albums they produced for Uniao Black and Joe Bataan in recent years (comeback albums rarely ever sound this nice). Sean also happens to be one half of the DJ Duo that has been holding down Brazil Beat Brooklyn at Black Betty for years now- still my favorite Sunday night party. Psychedelic, funky, retro-futuristic- I’m eagerly awaiting the full album.

Continue reading…

[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)