America The Playlist

So I started this blog in part kind of intending it to be an off shoot of a project on Folk music I have been working on for my honors thesis. Semantics and discourse aside, I have been listening to a lot of different types of music native to this here great land and would like to share with you a sweet playlist that I think is representative of the general quality and diversity of music connected to (and some part of) that old American sound that to many sounds just archaic and weird. Those people are clearly wrong. Well, not really, but I do feel that considering the deep impact a lot of those recordings (like the Anthology of American Folk Music) have had on the modern musical landscape, that point is a little moot or so they say. Plus I think it is time to fully admit, these days a lot of new music is just sounds tired to me, too many synthesizers and too impersonal. Like, I get it, your in a band, am I supposed be impressed or something or just accept you playing your instrument like a cold fish? JK JK... As per-usual this playlist is a little of the familiar and a little of the unfamiliar, anyway I hope you enjoy it.

The Playlist

Beams of Heaven 2:43 Rosetta Tharpe

Come Back to Us Barbara Lewis Hare Krishna Beauregard John Prine Prime Prine

The Fugitive 2:58 Merle Haggard The Definitive Collection

this land is your land 4:31 Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings Naturally

Cold Rain & Snow 6:44 Grateful Dead Dick's Picks Volume 5 (Disc 1)

Lonesome and a Long Way From Home 3:56 Delaney & Bonnie & Friends Motel Shot

Sugar Man 3:48 Sixto Rodriguez Cold Fact

You Ain't Goin' Nowhere 2:43 Bob Dylan The Basement Tapes (CD 2) 1

Spike Driver Blues 3:17 Mississippi John Hurt Anthology Of American Folk Music, Vol. 3B:

When You Got A Good Friend 2:40 Robert Johnson King of the Delta Blues Singers Blues

Little Martha 2:07 The Allman Brothers Band Eat A Peach

Drifting Too Far From The Shore 4:54 Jerry Garcia, David Grisman & Tony Rice The Pizza Tapes

The Unwelcome Guest 5:06 Billy Bragg & Wilco Mermaid Avenue

House of the rising sun 5:45 Dave Van Ronk Just Dave Van Ronk

It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry 4:09 Bob Dylan Highway 61 Revisited

Is This Enough 4:48 Roadbirds Live in the Wilde

Georgia Stomp 2:48 Andrew & Jim Baxter Anthology Of American Folk Music, Vol. 2A:

Have you ever wondered where you could listen to whale noises on the internet?

http://www.iserenity.com/environments.htm

Amadou and Mariam

Amadou and Mariam are musicians from Mali, who also happen to be blind which I think is kinda interesting(they met at some school for the blind in Mali and are now married, says wikipedia). They are getting bigger these days, as a result of their 2008 release "Welcome to Mali" which has been received with wide critical acclaim. Also west african music is pretty hip in general these days (see fela kuti post, also the new Animal Collective album which also has wide critical acclaim I feel harkens to this trend with similar rhythms and song structures) so naturally their combination of African and elctro sounds are a good introduction to this trend. Anyways, I think this music is really cool music, despite the fact that pitchfork likes it too.

PEACE

MC J-Sauce

La Realite - Amadou and Mariam

Djuru - Amadou and Mariam

p.s. This is my 30th post... WOOOO!!! Don't you love arbitrary reference points.

Chocolate Chip Cookies by Jaques Torres

I am reprinting the recipe for supposedly the "best" chocolate chip cookie around (according to renowned pastry chef Jacques Torres) . Really there are two things that make these cookies special, one is that the dough is refrigerated for 24 hours to promote some kind of chemical reaction in the dough that I don't know about. The second is that this recipe calls for a special expensive french style of chocolate chip (its really more of a disk) that you can only find at specialty stores, Whole Foods, or the like. I'm not sure what difference it makes but these cookies are undoubtedly the shit, and taste like they came straight from a professional bakery.

Time: 45 minutes (for 1 6-cookie batch), plus at least 24 hours’ chilling

2 cups minus 2 tablespoons

(8 1/2 ounces) cake flour

1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt

2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract

1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate disks or fèves, at least 60 percent cacao content (see note)

Sea salt.

1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.

3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.

4. Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day. Eat warm, with a big napkin.

Yield: 1 1/2 dozen 5-inch cookies.

Note: Disks are sold at Jacques Torres Chocolate; Valrhona fèves, oval-shaped chocolate pieces, are at Whole Foods.

Taj Mahal: A "Monumental" Musician

I have been a fan of Taj Mahal ever since hearing him in my dads record collection sometime in highschool.  He is a great guitarist which I always appreciate, but generally a great musician all around.  Over spring break I saw him perform at The Belly Up in Aspen Colorado where he played the banjo, piano and guitar all very proficiently, as well as put on one hell of a show.  He has some great tunes and this first two are tunes I heard for the  at The Belly Up and just rediscovered it today, also I included another tune just to show how much of a bad ass he is... enjoy.

Not So Guilty Pleasures Part 1: Phish

This is a selection from Phish's first night of their recent March reunion at Hampton Colosseum.  This song is off of their 1990 album "Lawn Boy".  Just for reference I, personally, am partial to their earlier stuff though this is not why I chose this song.  I chose to share this song because I think Paige McConnell's piano solo at the end I think sounds really sweet.

If you didn't know this already I used to kinda be a big Phish fan, and with their reunion and the reunion of Led Zeppelin (the other band with a very large and special place in my heart) all in the same year of an economic meltdown and the election of Barack Obama the world feels like it is coming together in a weird way. Compounded with this is the fact that while listening to the new shows Trey's improvisation I get the impression his soloing has changed a little bit to allow in general to for a more reflective and pensive tone due to an increase in the minor character of his phrases.

  Trey's solo in this song (at around 4:45) is representative of this fact, in the original their wasn't even a guitar solo and now as a result the song is gaining a new character 18 years later.  But Trey's solo is not the highlight for me.  For me it is the feeling I get when I listen to Paige McConnell's solo following Trey.  This solo is in the original version, but I think that this one is particularly powerful (speaking partly from the perspective of a Phish fan) in part because of Trey's solo and the character of the recording.  Listening to the clarity of the sound and the palpable awe and excitement of the crowd just makes me realize that now more than ever, Phish is back and probably really never left.

The Squirming Coil - Phish 3-6-09

Broccoli with Butter and Lemon

With food, I tend to get the most pleasure out of making and eating simple, delicious dishes. Now, I know what you are saying, "Simple, well thats easy. Delicious, how do you even define delicious? Is there such a thing? And does acknowledgment of the previous question in fact disqualify me from discussing such a definition? And plus wouldn't deliciousness by definition be of the exotic or complex?... or have I just contradicted myself." So let me clarify, something that is delicious does not need to be complex or even interesting. In fact it is not acknowledging this notion that allows us on a daily basis to ignore and abuse the great flavors present in everyday food. Deliciousness can be the simplest of flavors paired in just the right way, or in the case of this recipe three simple ingredients that just go well together no matter what you do.

Broccoli, butter, and lemon. If you were not a broccoli fan before, or one of those "only with cheese" people, I suggest you try this at least once. Not only is broccoli a cheap vegetable easy to always have on hand, it is also filling and highly nutritious, making it among the more practical options for a side or main dish on any given night.

The simple flavors here (broccoli, butter, lemon) represent a fundamental flavor combination that evokes nothing but the basest acknowledgment of nourishment. It is hard to forget you are eating something healthy while eating broccoli, but it is also hard to deny the pleasures of eating anything with a tablespoon of butter melted over it. I think it is the brightness of lemon that puts this combination in context reminding us that this preparation its a little indulgent, probably good for you, but overall it just tastes simply sublime and straight from home. Perfectly pastoral in every bite.

Langston Hughes & Charles Mingus: Weary Blues

This is an album I picked up from my good friend DJ Joe-sephus, mad mad respect . It is a great recording, and needless to say because of the brilliance and high regard of its collaborators, is an important and interesting American cultural artifact.

Recorded in 1958 this album takes the groundbreaking 1926 work of Langston Hughes' Weary Blues (which includes the famous "A Dream Deffered") and pairs it with compositions written in collaboration by Charles Mingus, Leonard Feather, and Horace Parlan. Mingus has a knack, I feel, for making music that is sometimes rousing, sometimes chilling, always original, and always eloquent music. This combined with Hughes "cool" prose that itself is written with rhythms straight out of harlem makes a perfect pairing. I feel that this album, because of its stirring poetry and pristine music, can be enjoyed by jazz and non-jazz enthusiasts alike.

The effect of this recording I feel exemplifies a lot of what I look for in music; something that is both interesting and moving which in my opinion (as was previously stated) is duly accomplished both on a musical and literary level. Overall though I just love the music and the poetry. Hughes voice is unparalleled in his delivery, and the words have never meant more as a result. This album is hard to find a copy of, I saw it on Amazon with new copy's going for as much as 40 dollars. Luckily DJ Joe-sephus l was so generous, and luckily you read this blog.

Personnel

Langston Hughes -	poetry
Shafi Hadi (Curtis Porter) -	tenor sax
Jimmy Knepper -	trombone
Horace Parlan -	piano, leader
Charles Mingus -	bass
Kenny Dennis -	drums

"I'm a Bad Man"- Langston Hughes & Charles Mingus

A Dream Deffered - Langston Hughes & Charles Mingus

"Democracy Will Not Come Today" - Langston Hughes & Charles Mingus

The Whole Thing:

http://www.zshare.net/download/5838186662489c46/#

Resurrection of a 90's Classic: Boombastic

So you may know Shaggy for his 2001 hit "It Wasn't Me" or "Angel" but how many of you are familiar with his first break out hit from 1995 "Boombastic"? (Though for some reason I have a feeling my Flossmoor people remember this track more than others) I picked this album up a while ago, pretty excitedly for 2 dollars at a Ukrainian church rummage sale on 2nd street and I don't regret a thing.  Why should I? I remember my older sister playing this song all the time when I was seven years old and thinking it was the shit.  Now 13 years later I think the same thing and wonder why this song isn't in our collective faux-retro consciousness like other classic 90's bangers such as Tootsie Roll or Jump Around.  Maybe its just because it doesn't tell us how we should dance (in my opinion jukeing/grinding is clearly the implicit instruction), or maybe it is just too down beat for these fast paced times.  Either way this track deserves a little revisiting and I hope next time you find yourself the unsuspecting DJ somewhere that is in desperate need of just a little more fun music, think of Soundout-Loud, then think of Boombastic... and put it on.

Boombastic - Shaggy (1994)

House Fire: Roy Ayers

So the other day while meandering around St. Marks I was deciding between an eight dollar copy of Sonny Rollin's Saxophone Colossus or a set of self/co-produced remixes from vibraphonist and funk/soul/jazz composer Roy Ayers.  So instead of Rollin's timeless classic I decided to go with the more adventurous purchase and happened upon one pretty interesting album.   "Virgin Ubiquity, Remixed" off Rapsterr records (2006), is an exotic mix of house, drum and bass, chopped up funk, and eerie 90's throwback that leads to a deep cutting sound that has a slippery nature overall (if that makes any sense).  I get that feeling about a lot of downbeat house music, the slippery part, but I feel that this music manages to parse the questionable impression that I get from that sound- and that I would only really expect to hear in a Spanish jean store.  Overall Ayers, I find, stays close to his roots and doesn't let this musics ambitious modern sound loose sight of the type of person to be buying Roy Ayers remixes.  This is the type of downbeat easy to feel music that is so synonymous with hip-hop, with beats tastefully unbridled by too much instrumentation or vocals,  which allows for a more sophisticated effect. I am not that educated on the issue of dance music but I know that there is some I like and some I don't, I think I like this.

Funk in The Hole - Roy Ayers (Platinum Pied Pipers Remix)

Touch of Class - Roy Ayers (Matthew Herbert's Touch of Ass Mix)

Musical 80's Brat Pack Homage:

So to counter all the april fools bullshit I see going online today (myself included) here is something I think is pretty cool, it is a song "Lisztomania" (Unofficial Brat Pack Version) by the french band Phoenix, set to dance scenes from our favorite 80's movies. If you like this see Sat. Night Live this weekend, as well as Phoenix making an appearance teen heartthrob (well maybe only my heart is throbbing) Seth Rogen will be hosting.

another taste:

If I Ever Feel Better - Phoenix

a cool link to extract the mp3:

http://www.listentoyoutube.com/

Unhappy March intelligentsia Day... April Fools!

Fool Like Me - King Kahn and the Shrines

Fool on the Hill - Brazilian Tropical Orchestra (cheesy Beatles cover)

April Fool - Eric Dolphy Quintette 

April's Rain - Nick Lache

 

also Soundout-Loud March 09 radio right here:

>>>PRTY<>MZK<<<<

So last night we held a party at the east river mansion (aka my apt.) in honor for the birthday of DJ Mend-Madness. It was a gathering filled with good food, good people, plenty of booze and good music.  I would like to thank all those of you who stopped on over last night. And as a show of my gratitude I am providing an absolutely killer mix from last nights festivities. It is a collection of the old and the new, the obscure to the ever so familiar, and in general a celebration of all good things groove. Hope you enjoy.

The Whole Thing:

PRTYMZK.zip

                                        

                                            ****Hot Track Highlights!!!****

Guru - Le Bein Le Mal (feat. MC Solaar)

Erma Franklin - Piece of my Hearts

Uptown Top Ranking - Althea & Donna

Track List:

Could It Be I'm Falling in Love 4:10 The Spinners Smash Hits (Atlantic LP)

Sono Bugiarda 2:48 Benn LOXO DU TACCU BLOG (italian covers)

The Twist 2:38 Hank Ballard & the Midnighters Sexy Ways: The Best of Hank Ballard & the Midnighters

Mas O Menos 3:41 The Budos Band The Budos Band II

Sparkle City 5:56 Shuggie Otis Inspiration Information

Le Bein, Le Mal 3:20 Guru Jazzmatazz Volume 1

If You Want Me To Stay 2:56 Sly & The Family Stone http://greekmp3s.blogspot.com

Respect (Stereo) 2:29 Aretha Franklin I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You

Rome (Wasn't Built In A Day) 2:34 Sam Cooke Ain't That Good News (Remastered)

Nobody's Baby 2:28 Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings 100 Days, 100 Nights

Gimme Gimme Good Lovin' 2:04 Crazy Elephant

September (Radio Edit) 3:38 Earth Wind & Fire The Great Earth, Wind & Fire

Piece Of My Heart 2:43 Erma Franklin Soul Sides: Volume One R&B

Bang Bang 2:47 I Corvi

Hook and Sling 2:37 Eddie Bo 7"

Uptown Top Ranking 3:52 Althea & Donna Trojan Box Set - UK Hits (Disc 3)

Africa Unite 2:54 Bob Marley Natural Mystic- The Legend Liv Reggae

Hwehwe Mu Na Yi Wo Mpena 7:51 K. Frimpong and His Cubano Fiestas Ghana Soundz: Afro Beat, Funk and Fusion in 70's Ghana

Peg  5:29 DJ Ransom

Fela Kuti: The Man, The Myth, The Father of Afro-Beat

This Nigerian artist has been gaining renewed attention in the last few years. With bands like the Antibalas and the Budos Band copying the funky, layered, horn heavy Afro-Beat sound, as well as a recent musical on his life and an upcoming biopic by one of America's premier production companies (Focus Features), the so called father of afro-beat is finally getting the recognition he deserves for influencing a modern music worldwide. Though I have little empirical evidence of this fact, his sound and his personality (He was also a prominent political activist figure, and at one point was husband to twelve wives) make him, in my opinion, one of the most influential and global musicians to have perhaps ever been. Here is an example of his cross genre influence with a track from rapper Wale (pronounced:Wah-Lay, who also happens to be of Nigerian descent), shown to me by DJ Cal Tek that is heavily influenced by afro-beat. Also I am including one of my favorite Fela songs "Lady" and an older Fela tune (before he fully developed his style) as soon as I get the link to work.

Wale - Freestyle (roc boys) (this track is courtesy of DJ Cal Tek)

Fela Kuti - Lady

Fela Kuti & Koola Lobitos - Ololufe Mi

Snapshot of an American Folk Artist: Dan Bern

The catalog of Dan Bern is not very widely received.  His name, as far as my circle of experience goes, is largely preserved through sparse publicity (most recently, this is actually bigger news, he was contracted to write the soundtrack to dewy cox) and the remanence of a single song. "The Jerusalem Song" is curiously well known among Jewish summer camp attendees for just any song by an obscure jewish folk artist.  In fact this is how I myself know Dan Bern, from a counselor named Ben Dreyfus when I was in the fourth grade.  I suppose the song is played because it is fun, and is kept because of its name as opposed to its subject matter.  The song is supposed to be about Dan Bern's (formerly Dan Bernstein) trip to Jerusalem to visit his sister.  But little is said about Jerusalem,  and still for the aforementioned reasons the song is played throughout jewish establishments.  Bern's status among fans  is something between obscure jewish folk musician and respected industry type (he does have a professional/artistic associations with Ani DiFranco)  but I am not sure he is either. This fact or confusion is compounded by Bern's curious personality.  He is also a painter and a writer.  He is the type of artist where you begin to realize that he doesn't attempt to focus on writing impressive songs, and rather focuses on the process of writing songs themselves.  In short he is a songwriter by trade.  Not surprisingly his sound is often compared to that of Bob Dylan, though usually in a derisive manner, but who can honestly pass judgement.  I remember a scene from No Direction Home where Joan Baez tells a story about Bob Dylan just sitting down at a type writer typing out words then being at a loss as to how to explain them or just saying something along the lines of  "you decide".  Bob Dylan gains his strength (along with his catchy tunes) from his musicality, the time from which he came (which was culturally very attentive) and the eloquence with which he portrayed the feeling of a time (both musically and lyrically).  Dan Bern, I feel, gains his strength from a much less tangible source that I mentioned  earlier but only briefly, his honesty and consistency.  His sound can be described as derivative but I feel that would be missing the point.  The fact is that Bern has a style that has comes about from pursuing a craft and being prolific.  An intangible quality that has something mystical to do with the Edisonian ratio of ten percent inspiration ninety percent perspiration.  Bob Dylan was surely a brilliant musician and I love his music but I feel the ethos of his work to be a little scattered, this may be a vague criticism or not even a criticism at all.  The recent movie on Bob Dylan, Im Not There , seemed to find fascination in this fact, and I guess so do I.  But personally speaking its less erratic nature lends  Bern's music to be something more easily relatable, and isn't that one of the many reasons we listen to "folk" music? The fact is that, while Bob Dylan can span generations and genres, Bern is one of the rare artists who finds his niche in a highly stylized form  with an honesty and fluency that just sounds refreshing.  Im not saying one is better than the other, in fact I want to take this opportunity to make explicitly clear that in not what I mean.  I am merely trying to distinguish my appreciation of Bern's approach to his craft that I hold in high regard.  Either way its good stuff, enjoy.

Jerusalem Song - Dan Bern

Trudy - Dan Bern

Visit My Dreams - Dan Bern