Bridging the Gap

As you can see, I now have minions. Rodney and Chris are two goons who dig music that I like yet have more expertise in genres that I haven't gone into as far as they have (Rodney- Oldies and Jazz; Chris- Electronic musics of every flavor and metal). BUT! In the case of P-Funk and Electro I have a fair degree of dope tracks. 

First we address P-Funk because of Ramrod's Bootsy vid. P-Funk is short for Parliament-Funkadelic, of which Bootsy was a key member, yet one of many amazingly talented musicians that were a part of the group. George Clinton was the mastermind for developing the band and leading it as a sort of wacky drugged out troubadour. Bernie Worrell is one of the premiere keyboard rippers of all time and has played with some of the most talented of all the weirdo virtuoso musicians like Les Claypool and Buckethead. Eddie Hazel is one of the foremost psychedelic guitarists ever, because he actually played on drugs a lot of the time. As a result of constant frying his solos and leads take on a very emotional, spiritual quality, like on the title track of 1971's Maggot Brain LP and on Standing on the Verge of Getting it On's "I'll Stay," which is one of the most "gone" guitar leads ever, in my opinion. 

In the case of Electro, I'm especially fond of old school electro funk (which is the next logical progression from the P-Funk sound). Afrika Bambaataa is a god of early rap for three songs that will cement his legacy forever- "Renegades of Funk" (Covered By Rage Against The Machine on the album Renegades), "Looking For the Perfect Beat," and "Planet Rock." "Planet Rock" is the jam of all early hip hop jams, up there right next to Grandmaster Flash's "The Message" and Kurtis Blow's "The Breaks." 

Birthed from this new sound was Detroit Techno, which fused early hip hop and early electronic music. The pioneer of the sound was a DJ named Juan Atkins (also known as Cybotron, Future 500 or 3MB).  Detroit being a very industrial city, it tends to give off a post-apocalyptic, cyberpunk slum world atmosphere in it's techno. The squalor of urban Detroit in the early 80's served the sub-genre well, as massive parties were arranged to blast this music in abandoned warehouses, schools and tenements. Atkins was hugely influenced by Kraftwerk and went to further lengths than Bambaataa to make a new sound that fused fast rhythms with spacey synth programming for melody. Artists like Anthony Rather and Aux 88 keep the spirit of Juan's early music alive and modern hip hop producers like Timbaland keep the sound relevant in pop radio by sampling. 

There you have it, Bootsy Collins and Anthony Rather have been musically linked, thus justifying Rodney and Chris' involvement in this here blarg (but not guaranteeing them any cut off the google adshare fortune I'm making. Muahhahaha!)

Repeat is intentional.

The desire to discover new music can be intense, it's probably why you're here, unless you've decided to humor Ethan by adding one more visit to the page counter. I hope not. I hope you endeavor to visit this page daily. It is standard practice for folk like us to stay up all night searching for new music, or just expanding our own music tastes at 5-minute intervals.

I'm Chris and I'm here to ease you into Electro-Techno the best way I can, starting with the essentials and slowly phasing into the lesser known and often obscure.





I would like to introduce to you, if you don't already know, Anthony Rother. Hailing from Frankfurt, Rother has influences stretching from Detroit all the way back to Germany. His lyrics are based around machines and their relationships with humans in futuristic society, and while that may strike you as all too familiar, Rother brings complete originality and an unmistakeably distinct sound to the table. This is Electro.


10,000 Dancer from Popkiller (2004)





Father from Popkiller (2004)

What?! But wait, it's Friday!

Yeah, yeah, I know. It's Friday, I'm over my cold...I should be out and about. I'm working on it, I promise. But before I leave, I wanted to share a video from my hero, one of the funkiest funkers on this funky planet: Bootsy Collins.


Here he is, live in 1978 performing one of his biggest hits "I'd Rather Be With You". If you're not hip to the studio version of this song, you probably don't deserve to be breathing. I implore you to go out and purchase his greatest hits album...you won't be disappointed:





-Rodney

The dark soul with soul

So Ethan commissioned me to add some soul to this banal blog, and somehow breath much needed life into it.


Sure it's got a myriad of YouTube videos by artists no one gives a shit about but a blog, a young man's blog, needs more than that. It needs sex, drugs, alcohol, more drugs, more sex and a dash of attitude. And yes, that's where I come in.


I suppose it'd be appropriate for me to introduce myself. My name is Rodney Parker. Yes, I'm black. Yes, I do consider people who call me "Rodney King" when I tell them my first name is "Rodney" assholes. No, I can't play basketball. Yes, I do find fried chicken tasty. Yes, I do have a penchant for white chicks with big butts. Yes, I can read and write at a college level. And finally, no...no, I don't sell drugs...to children.


Ethan brought me aboard primarily out of guilt. He voted for the black guy who ran for president this past November but only has one (okay, maybe two) black friends. I'm the authority on every black question he has. Plus, I'm versed in a cornucopia of areas, among them the arts, music, dance, and sex. Who doesn't love sex, right? Okay, enough about sex.


For my first post, I'm going to skim over a genre of music that has long since been forgotten by my people: jazz. I'm a self proclaimed "jazzophile" and I'm probably one of a few African Americans under 50 that genuinely likes jazz. Jazz was usurped by White America from our community in the 1960s, a "fair" barter for our right to vote. Over the past 40 years, hacks like Kenny G and Michael Buble have destroyed what was once a gallant musical artform.


The artist that makes my blood boil is one of the greatest jazz trumpeters of all time. Most people go nuts for Miles Davis. Miles was a phenomenal player but, for the most part, was overrated. His low to mid register shenanigans got him an exorbiant amount of fame and fortune, but it never truly knocked my socks off. If anything, Miles was a brilliant talent scout, and was capable of surrounding himself with players that outshined him. Most people are unaware of who jazz great Lee Morgan was and his influence on jazz. Morgan came into the spotlight during his stint in drummer Art Blakey's group The Jazz Messengers in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Morgan, like a lot of jazz greats, had issues with drugs and sat out a few years during the early 60s. He came back with a vengence when he released his most renown effort. "The Sidewinder", and scored a hit with its title track (the tune was used in early 60s Chrysler commercials and during the Super Bowl of '64...whatever fucking Super Bowl number that was!)


Anyhow, here's Morgan playing trumpet with The Jazz Messengers:

And here's one of my favorite Lee Morgan renditions of an old tune (on one of my favorite albums of all time) entitled "You Go To My Head":

Well, if I've enriched your lives in any way shape or form, you're welcome. I would write more, but Ethan's not paying me...yet. 'Til next time.

-Rodney

Lykke Li

File under "better late than never," I'm just getting into Lykke Li, now, after her album has been floating around blogs for over a year. My skepticism for hyped-up artists has burned me this time because I am (a little bit) in LOVE with her. "A Little Bit" is strikingly romantic, for all of it's stark minimalism in sound. "For you I'll keep my legs apart/ and forget about my tainted heart" with lines like that and production as clean as this, she deserves to be HUGE. 

Her new video of "Tonight," recalls Andy Warhol's technique of sitting someone down in a chair, turning the camera on and just walking away. The result is fascinating because of the subtlety of how someone reacts in that situation. "Tonight" is a stark, striking variation on Warhol's idea, and lets her belt out this song in the best arena possible and it's minimalism draws out an amazing amount of emotion from her, as you can see her almost break down to the words she's singing. 

Her 2008 album, Youth Novels, is consistently excellent and popped up on almost every 2008 Year end critics list, with very good reason. 

MGMT Remixes

MGMT really dominated 2008. They didn't have quite the biggest year (Lil Wayne, for sure took that honor), but "Time To Pretend," "Kids," and "Electric Feel" were three of the biggest songs of the year and broke out of hipster circles onto the radio. Thing is though, that while the album versions of the songs are great and all, they're overplayed as fuck at parties and shit. In their original forms, that is......

Justice and Soulwax, take "Electric Feel," and "Kids," to new, dirtier heights. In the case of Justice's remix, they improved on the original. Soulwax remixed "Kids," which is pretty close to perfect as it is, yet they add enough touches to listen to it again even if you're sick to death of the original. 

MGMT- Electric Feel (Justice Remix)

http://pmatunes.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/mgmt-electric_feel_justice_remix.mp3

MGMT- Kids (Soulwax Remix)

http://pmatunes.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/mgmt-kids-soulwax-nite-version-remix.mp3

(YOU CAN SAVE THESE BY RIGHT CLICKING AND CHOOSING "Save Target As")

Animal Collective- Merriweather Post Pavillion

I find this album hard to review, because words just do not do it justice. Hyperbole is all I can choke out about how every song is great and this is the most original music I've heard come out in my lifetime, about how I watch Youtube clips of this band live and can't keep from making the "O" face. 

I could say that and more, but you know what? I'll focus on the aspect of Animal Collective's new album I think is the coolest and gives me hope for a better world- THIS ALBUM DEBUTED AT NUMBER 13 ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS!!!! In America! The land of Rock of Love and Larry the Cable Guy! It sold 25,000 copies, one of which was mine. Don't get me wrong, this band is polarizing as all hell, and in the past has been known to turn people off. But Merriweather Post Pavillion is a different beast than their other albums. They're very much the same band, but warmer and more focused as a cohesive whole. The members (Panda Bear, Avey Tare and Geologist), seem to have arrived at the perfect formula of working together. The production and arrangement is perfect on this album, unlike 2007's Strawberry Jam. The bass thumps and the soundscapes evoke as they should and the pacing is flawless- the songs all bleed together and heighten the trippy atmosphere of each other. The album is best listened to as a whole piece of music, something that is unheard of in this day and age- an album good all the way through- absolutely no filler. 

Every song on the album is amazing, as I said, but the best songs to ease an AC virgin into the album are "My Girls," "Summertime Clothes," "Lion In A Coma" and, after you've busted that cherry, "Brothersport". If the songs don't grab you at first, listen to them again. This is not you're normal pop band. These are people expressing themselves in a very new way, so give them time to grow on you. After reading all the positive reviews of this album, I feel like the collective unconsciousness of the music world is ready to like something that was previously abstract (though by Animal Collective standards, this is their "pop" album). 

Blah Blah Blah. Here's what you do. Step 1! Smoke some weed. No it's not necessary but it tends to take away a negative attitude towards new music. Step 2! Get it as quiet as possible wherever you are. Step 3! Deep breath. Step 4! Turn on the video below and listen close (turn it up! wear headphones! do what you gotta). Step 5! Download the album (legally!) or buy the CD and look into their other stuff (2005's Feels is pretty accessible and good too).

More Black Lips!

I couldn't leave well enough alone and had to hammer it home that this band is legit. If you want to (legally?) download their shit, start with 2007's Good Bad Not Evil, which is the SHIT. Their other albums like 2005's Let it Bloom are great and all but Lo-Fi as fuck. Good Bad Not Evil and Los Valientes Del Mondo Nuevo are the ones to get for sure. I'd put Mp3's up but I have no fucking idea how to do that yet. You'll have to do with these epic youtube clips. They make my point better than words can. 

Woo Hoo The Black Lips survived India!

The Black Lips are one of my favorite new bands these days for their drunken, sloppy, southern version of punk and their, at times, disarmingly personal songwriting. The real draw though is that they're a fucking mess and to take them out of America is asking for trouble if theyre not on their best behavior. For context's sake I'll give you the best case scenario, their infamous gig in Tijuana, Mexico (which is beautifully recorded on the album Los Valientes Del Mondo Nuevo). This is "Boomerang, the second song of the set.

Recently, however, they've been in a bit of trouble playing gigs in India. Pitchfork.com, reported that they were on the run from the law after two messy gigs, the first after following up something like 85 metal bands at a festival and being pelted with plastic bottles which only resulted in a restrained set and bad vibes, but the second was an attempt to win over the country with what makes them great in the first place: drunken hi-jinx! This was reported to be the guitarist getting naked and flailing into the audience and pissing in people's faces and gutting sacred cows and making out with other band members on stage, all much to the shock and dismay of the crowd, but the truth is less epic than all that. There was a bare ass and their was some kissing but it was really their tour manager booking them in bad gigs and getting nervous when they did anything risque (has he seen these guys before?). Anywho, they're safe and coming to Sacramento, Santa Cruz and San Francisco soon (April 28th, 29th and 30th, respectively), supporting a new album, 200 Million Thousand.  

Here's a link to the whole pitchfork.com story (http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/148746-update-the-black-lips-are-safe) and check out the band's Myspace for more of their music.

Intro: Beyond Thunderdome

I am Ethan (aka UBIK) and this is my music/film/art/politics/sports/whatever-the-fuck blog. Welcome. You should expect music posts and lots of them, but not in the usual music blog sense (i.e. assuming you're hip to everything cool already). I'm just going to post songs and videos that I like and want to share and wax poetically about them and review shit from time to time as well. 

First off, I should introduce myself- I'm a Capricorn, I am a straight male age 22, in college (mass communication major) to work in music or movies or wherever I can be most useful to help our collective consciousness evolve. I have no knowledge of html and that bullshit so this blog is gonna be rough in the beginning until I learn, blow your minds routinely and then sell out to google ads and alienate you all.