What was previously sparse blogging has become practically non-existent. I shall try harder, friends.
One reason for inactivity is that I've been devoting my blogging energy to Popblerd, an excellent collaborative music/pop culture blog. Lots of content, kept up to date (which is a hell of a lot more than I can say for the Music-O-Rama as of late!). Check it out! For the time being, I'll continue to focus my blogging there, but will also try to revive this blog a bit.
I've also stopped posting my radio playlists, mostly out of pure laziness. On that note, dear readers I regret to inform you that my show on WIUP will cease at the end of July (exact date TBD). Time for a break, that's all. Keep on listening though, the station continues to improve - and I think this will continue in the coming academic year (we've already had some great show proposals).
So I've been bad about posting playlists lately. But I thought I'd share the set from hour 2 of this week's show, as it was devoted to MJ. I tried to steer away from too many obvious picks, which made it more fun. DAH.
J5-ABC J5-Feelin' Alright (live) J5-Stand! J5-Maybe Tomorrow J5-Dancing Machine Jacksons-Blame it on the Boogie MJ-Off the Wall Jacksons-Lovely One MJ-Baby Be Mine MJ-PYT MJ-Another Part of Me MJ-Who is It MJ-They Don't Care About Us MJ-Whatever Happens MJ-This is It
INXS-Guns in the Sky The Cure-Hot! Hot! Hot! Deerhoof-I did Crimes for You Alina Simone-Sun Kissed Slashes The Beatles-Rain Peter, Bjorn & John-Dig a Little Deeper Smith Westerns-Fallen in Love Kurt Vile-Smoke Ring for My Halo Big Star-Battle of El Goodo Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti-Can't Hear My Eyes Echo & The Bunnymen-Heaven Up Here Jesus & Mary Chain-Taste of Cindy The Vaselines-Son of a Gun Vivian Girls-Trying to Pretend Foo Fighters-Baker Street Faith No More-Falling to Pieces David Bowie-African Night Flight Blondie-X-Offender Thao & Mirah-How Dare You Tom Tom Club-The Man with the Four-Way Hips Rainbow Arabia-Blind Stereo MCs-Deep Down & Dirty Poly Styrene-I Luv Ur Sneakers Jamie Lidell-Little Bit of Feel Good Alan Wilkis-It's Been Great Raphael Saadiq-Stone Rollin' Stevie Wonder-Another Star
Caught this on VH1 Classic yesterday. I wasn't gaga over Saadiq's last disc, though I appreciated the retro soul vibe. His latest single hit the spot, however. Possible early contender for my summer jam.
Pixies-Bone Machine Arctic Monkeys-Don't sit Down 'Cause I Moved Your Chair British Sea Power-Mongk II Ted Leo & the Pharmacists-Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone? The Brutes-Last Man Left Hungry Hot Hot Heat-Middle of Nowhere Pains of Being Pure at Heaert-My Terrible Friend Yeasayer-I Remember (request) Bright Eyes-Shell Games (request) Laura Jansen-Wicked World The Cars-Since You're Gone The Kinks-Where Have All the Good Times Gone? Roxy Music-Editions of You (request) Phantogram-Bloody Hands Peter Gabriel-Shock the Monkey Bat for Lashes-Trophy Royksopp-Senior Living AnaRobik-Communicate (Aquazoo Project remix) Add N to X-Murmur One Duran Duran-Notorious UNKLE feat. Nick Cave-Money and Run Nikka Costa-Can'tneverdidnothin' Scissor Sisters-She's My Man
Queen-Play the Game Brother-Darling Buds of May Neon Legion-Wicker Men Jookabox-The Eyes of the Fly Florence + the Machine-Howl Band of Horses-The Funeral Explosions in the Sky-Last Known Surroundings Jenny Lewis-Godspeed (request) Iron & Wine-Tree By The River Taj Mahal-Queen Bee The Decemberists-Down by the Water Local Natives-Wide Eyes Puro Instinct-Slivers of You Wild Nothing-The Witching Hour The White Stripes-Death Letter Sonic Youth-Is it My Body? T. Rex-Solid Gold Easy Action The Stooges-1969 Rainbow Arabia-Nothin' Gonnna Be Undone New Order-Age of Consent Cut Copy-Need You Now Chromeo-Openin' Up Justice-D.A.N.C.E. (request) Errors-Julomo Kraak & Smack-Never Too Late
Foo Fighters-Band on the Run New York Dolls-I'm So Fabulous 13th Floor Elevators-Wait for My Love The Raveonettes-Recharge and Revolt Pains of Being Pure at Heart-Even in Dreams TV on the Radio-No Future Shock Tapes n Tapes-Badabing Pink Floyd-Arnold Lane Raw Milk-Itchy Nose Ladytron-I'm Not Scared UNKLE (feat. Nick Cave)-Money and Run Peter, Bjorn and John-Second Chance Adele-Rolling in the Deep Amy Winehouse-You Know I'm No Good The Noisettes-Never Forget You JR Walker and the All-Stars-Good Rockin' Ray Charles-Leave My Woman Alone Prince and the Revolution-Mountains (12" Mix) Joker & Ginz-Re-Up Justice-Civilization Kylie Minogue/New Order-Can't Get Blue Monday Out of My Head Dizzee Rascal-Bubbles Medeski, Martin and Wood-We Are Rolling
Among the many unreleased Prince projects is the High album from 2000. The disc was complete and ready for production, but Prince pulled the plug and opted to release it via his then-burgeoning (and now defunct) online music club.
As Uptown writers note in the exhaustive chronology The Vault, the album is accessible and straightforward, likely another attempt at a commercial comeback (1999's Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic had a similar intent, but ultimately failed.
By and large, the music on High is far more compelling than anything on Rave, and with smart marketing and single selection, I believe it could have had significant commercial impact. Alas. Many of the songs were later repackaged in the second incarnation of Prince's online music club, but spread across a few releases, losing any sense of consistency as to what the High album may have sounded like in its initial configuration. [Note: many of the tracks were also initially released via 2-track singles sold on the 2000Hit N Run tour.]
To that end, here is the original tracklist:
1. U Make My Sun Shine 2. My Medallion 3. Supercute 4. Golden Parachute 5. High 6. When Eye Lay My Hands on U 7. When Will We B Paid 8. Gamillah 9. Underneath the Cream 10. The Daisy Chain
Standout tracks here are "My Medallion," "Supercute," "The Daisy Chain" and "When Eye Lay My Hands on U." All are accessible yet interesting enough that they could have seen some success in the musical climate of 2000. But I digress.
The main motivation behind this post is a recent late night spin of volume 5 from the mind-bogglingly comprehensive The Work set of unreleased material. I haven't heard the High tracks in a while, and I was quickly reminiscing about bumping these tracks in my Cavalier (via Discman with cassette adapter, naturally) that summer. Suddenly, it's July 2000.
More importantly, "When Eye Lay My Hands on U" is a track that blows me away. There are so many layers here, not to mention the blistering guitar work. Take a listen:
And here's a great live take from the Montreaux Jazz Festival in 2009:
Kembrew McLeod and Ben Franzens' excellent documentary Copyright Criminals is now out on DVD. I made a brief post about it last year when it aired on PBS as part of the Independent Lens series. The doc is still getting some much deserved attention, most recently via a very cool performance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. In a one-off performance, we have ?uestlove, Black Thought, Chuck D,. Eclectic Method and Clyde Stubblefield, the man behind the kit for many of James Brown's best known jams. Ladies and gentlemen, the Copyright Criminals All-Star Band:
We Became Actors-Swimming Pools The Clash-Tommy Gun Sick of Sarah-Kick Back Vivian Girls-Dance (If You Wanna) Guards-I See it Coming The Greenhornes-Shelter of Your Arms Morphine-Whisper Wanda Jackson-Shakin' All Over The Black Keys-Tighten Up Jucifer-Amplifier Sonic Youth-Sugar Kane Commerce-Need Heart Rate The Byrds-My Back Pages John Lennon-Nobody Told Me Cut Copy-Take Me Over Jon Spencer Blues Explosion-Do You Wanna Get Heavy? French Soler-Demons (Alan Wilkis remix) Funkadelic-Cosmic Slop Holy Fuck-Red Lights Crystal Castles vs. HEATH-Crimewave Ikonika-Idiot Santogold-You'll Find a Way (remix) Kid Sister-54321 Goldfrapp-Ooh La La Stevie Wonder-He's Misstra Know-it-All
If I look that good in a skin-tight bodysuit when I'm 44, life will be grand.
It's been a while since I've done any sort of writeup for a show. In fact, it appears that the last show I blogged about was when I saw The Ravonettes in October of 2009. Rest assured, there have been shows in the interim - Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, Yeasayer, Beach House, Lady Gaga, Crystal Castles, Hall and Oates, and probably a few others that I can't recall at the moment. This is all to say that I've been a bad music blogger. So I'm here to remedy with a report on this weekend's Janet Jackson show at the Borgata in Atlantic City.
The Borgata Events Center is shockingly small. I expected an intimate venue, but we're talking about 2,000 seats, maybe less. That being the case, I imagine that there wasn't a bad seat in the house, but the 14th row was still a good place to be (albeit not in the center section). In reality, it could have been General Admission on the floor, but I digress.
At each show on this tour, Janet dedicates a song to that city. This seems to me a simple way of giving something distinctive to each performance, though I wonder what real value the gesture has. What this amounted to was being teased with the video for "The Pleasure Principle" just prior to Janet taking the stage.
Then the band launched into their live rendition of the track, one of my favorites from 1986's Control LP.
After that, it was pretty much hit after hit, which was to be expected given that the tour is promoting her Number Ones collection (I pointed out the punctuation error while we waited for the show to start). I can't find a full setlist but they were pretty much all there - "Control," "Miss You Much," "If," "That's the Way Love Goes," "What Have You Done for Me Lately," "Nasty," "Rhythm Nation," "Escapade," "Together Again," ""You Want This," "Alright," "Love Will Never Do (Without You)," and more that I can't remember. There was even a bit of "Scream." Good stuff. There was also a nice little segment of ballads including "Come Back to Me," "Let's Wait Awhile" and "Again," the latter of which never fails to remind me of eighth grade dances. The only jams I really wanted to hear but were absent were "Black Cat" and "Go Deep." Alas and alack (though they have popped up on other dates).
At these pop shows, I'm always critical of lip syncing. It was one of the things that most bothered me about the Lady Gaga show, though it was expected. I watched and listened closely to Miss Jackson ('cause I'm nasty), and had a difficult time distinguishing whether or not she was singing live. These leads me to believe that either a) she was singing live or b) is adept at masking the fact that she's lip syncing. My guess is that ultimately, it was a mix of both.
While some of her dancing duties were relegated to the troupe of backup dancers she had on stage, Janet really brought it at key moments with the iconic moves from her signature videos ("Miss You Much," "Rhythm Nation," "If," for example). I was a little saddened that "Miss You Much" was done sans chair routine, though.
In short, it was a great show, well worth the ticket and the trip.
New York Dolls-Fool For You Baby Phoenix-Lisztomania Quadron-Slippin' Iggy & The Stooges-Gimme Danger Gogol Bordello-Wanderlust King The Dead Kennedys-Let's Lynch the Landlord British Sea Power-Stunde Null Low Anthem-Smart Flesh Billy Bragg-A New England The Decembrists-Rox in the Box Camera Obscura-My Maudlin Career Sia-Clap Your Hands Lily Allen-LDN Dresden Dolls-Coin Operated Boy Roxy Music-If There is Something Rush-Spirit of Radio (request) The Soft Pack-Down on Lovin' Dirty Projectors-Stillness is the Move MGMT-Electric Feel (immuzikation remix) Groove Armada-Paper Romance Rainbow Arabia-Without You Fever Ray-If I Had a Heart New Young Pony Club-The Get Go Jamie Lidell-When I Come Back Around Four Tet-Angel Echoes
This weekend, my sis and I are heading to Atlantic City to see Janet Jackson. While I should have seen her on The Velvet Rope tour and recently drooled over the setlist for the Rhythm Nation tour, I'm still way excited. Doubly so, as she's playing smaller venues, which will be groovy.
Anyhow, after a few St. Patty's cocktails, my sister implored me to make a Janet mix for the drive. Never one to turn down the opportunity for a good mix, I got to work a few days later, and this is what I came up with.
It's 90 minutes. Maybe that's breaking some sort of commandment of mixmaking, but I couldn't get it down to 80. And you know what? Back in the day we always made 90 minute mixes, because that was the standard cassette length. So there.
It's a legit, continuous mix. Her early albums haven't been remastered (to my knowledge), and I wanted to include some of those iconic segues, which often meant mixing the album segues with the Design of a Decade remastered tracks.
Nothing from her last few records, simply because I'm not that familiar with them. The last album I bought was All for You, and the last album that knocked my socks off was The Velvet Rope. And while there are some more mid-tempo tracks, there are no slow jams. Not that Miss Jackson doesn't make some sexy slow jams, but I viewed this as a dance mix of sorts.
There are also a few mixing flourishes that I'm kind of proud of. Most importantly, I tried to vary it up a bit and include some alternate mixes.
Enough blathering. Here's what I came up with:
Control intro Control If Let's Dance (segue) Miss You Much (Mama Mix) All for You Say You Do What Have You Done for Me Lately Nasty Black Cat Go Deep That's the Way Love Goes Someone to Call My Lover Together Again Pleasure Principle (Ultimix) Rhythm Nation Runaway Escapade (Got it Made 7" mix) Alright (12" R+B Mix feat. Heavy D) When I Think of You (remix)
Arctic Monkeys-Brick by Brick Grinderman-Mickey Mouse and the Goodbye Man The Raconteurs-Broken Boy Soldiers New Shouts-Kiss 4 Fun The Easybeats-Friday on My Mind Clinic-I'm Aware Eric McKeown-Cinematic Jessie Lee Mayfield-Grown Man Koop-Koop Island Blues Bird and the Bee-Again and Again (request) The Brutes-yourspace Lightspeed Champion-Marlene XTC-Paper and Iron Blur-Parklife Beach House-Used to Be Pains of Being Pure at Heart-Heart in Your Heartbreak Fleet Foxes-Tiger Mountain Peasant Song Danielson-Grow Up Soul Coughing-Casiotone Nation Rufus Thomas-Do the Funky Chicken Dr. Octagon-Earth People El Michaels Affair-Bring the Ruckus The Roots-Walk Alone Anarobik-Is it Real? Client-Drive Annie-Hey Annie
I finally received Kool Keith: Global Enlightenment Part I from Netflix. It's too damn short (35 min), but it's a stellar trio of interviews with Kool Keith - a sort of "day in the life" kind of document. At any rate, I promptly ordered a copy of the dvd for $1 via Amazon Marketplace. It has gems and life advice such as the 98 Year Old Fridgerator:
Kool Keith had a great run of albums in the late '90s, both under the Kool Keith name and a series of other monikers that he wove into a complex and ongoing storyline (Dr. Octagon, Dr. Doom, Black Elvis, etc.). Matthew was the last Kool Keith record that I really enjoyed. He resurrected Drs. Doom and Octagon in the last decade, but it seemed a little desperate to be honest.
For the funk of it, here's one of my favorites from the Black Elvis LP:
