two blogs to check out

Hi folks! While you're waiting for my next post, check out the blogroll.

Two new additions:

First, there's Digital Meltdown. A wide variety of posts here - some great garage and funk comps, (Ok - LOTS of great garage comps) and a great post on the new Ladytron record.

Second, we have LOUD.ROBOT, a blog that focuses on well informed reviews, covering quite a bit of genre ground already, though it only started up this week.

Check 'em out!

I'm busy with end of the semester business, but I will have a year-in-review post soon, as well as some other tricks that are up my sleeve.

In the meantime, Snoop and Nate Dogg reinterpret a James Brown holiday favorite:

Xmess

Every year they seem to cart out the Christmas decorations a bit earlier. It used to be that Christmas in July was a novel joke, but we're coming ever closer to extending the holiday hubbub that far in advance. Most respectable members of consumer culture hold off until after Thanksgiving. Me? I wait until December 1st. It seems fair. Let November have it's own holiday, let's not get caught up in the madness just as soon as we've loosened our belt buckles. Sure, I've done some shopping (online) in recent weeks, but that's the extent of it.

Part of my reason for waiting is the music. There is a seemingly infinite amount of Christmas music out there. And I enjoy roughly 7% of it. So it's also important for me to not wear out the novelty of those songs by listening to them for a month straight. In college I compiled a Christmas mix, and last year I went for a second round. For you, dear readers, I present the best of those volumes. Tracklist in comments. Enjoy!

Gonzo's Xmas Mix

livin' swell.

I like that LL apparently keeps his Kangol on in the bedroom.

Jackson Five to Reunite

So the story has been picked up pretty widely in the music press - according to Jermaine Jackson in a recent BBC interview, the Jackson Five, including Michael, are planning to tour in 2008.

Who knows if this will actually happen. They've been talking about it for the last twenty years. The rumor seems to surface every 5-7 years, most recently in 2001. Now, 20 years ago, this would have been a pop cultural dream come true. But in 2007, the question is 'Does anybody really care?'

I've already lost faith in MJ's performance abilities. Yes, I love Motown, yes I love the Jackson Five, and yes I love MJ (to a point). But I have little desire to pay through the nose for tickets to see what I imagine will be a caricature of J5. I could be wrong. It could be the tour of the decade. But I think that's pretty much a long shot.

Of course, this clip from a few years ago is decent, but I'm putting my money on lip synching here:



At any rate, here's an interesting moment: J5 covering Sly on Sullivan:

The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony

I liked this song when it came out, but it's one that I've grown to love as the years pass. I like a lot of different music for a lot of different reasons, but rarely will I come out and proclaim that a song is 'perfect.' This is one of them.

Friday Funk

A couple of years ago I was record shopping with a funk afficianado I knew from college. Amongst other things, he suggested that I give this 1979 disc from Ohio-based Slave a spin. I'd never heard of Slave before, but I do like the funk. The title track, "Just a Touch of Love" was enough to sell me on the album. The whole album is great, and has become one of my favorite funk albums in my collection. I was pleased as punch to be able to put "Just as Touch of Love" on a dance mix for a party recently.

I subsequently explored Slave's catalog a bit deeper. I'm pleased to report that their first two discs (Slave and The Hardness of the World are also excellent. The only other one I've heard was 1980's Stone Jam, which I was not very taken by. Still, here's a great funk outfit that perhaps doesn't get the amount of credibility that it truly deserves. So give this one some play, and enjoy the weekend.

(link expired)

And here's a lip-synched TV performance of the title song. Love those threads!

"Shock the Monkey"

A song that I never get tired of. Today's discman (yes, still holding on to that) accompaniment was PG's third and fourth albums, a perfect pairing. While the third (aka 'melting') is my favorite of his ouvre, I ended up listening to "Shock the Monkey" 3 or 4 times in a row when I had the security album spinning. I've always wanted to play this at a dance party. An odd choice, but I think it would work under the right circumstances.

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Exams are over (although I'm waiting on the results) - blogging should be back to a more regular schedule now. I'll try, anyway. I have at least one more post in my head for the very near future.