Song: BabyLetsHaveABabyBeforeBushDoSomethingCrazy
Album: Pick a Bigger Weapon
Artist: The Coup
Selected by: Sam Chennault
Date: November 28, 2008
As we wade through the final days of the Bush administration, it seems appropriate to revisit this beautiful and strange Coup cut from 2006's Pick a Bigger Weapon. You can certainly argue whether or not the possibility of an apocalypse is justification for procreation, but you have to credit guest vocalist Silk E’s smoky, beautiful vocals as well as her ability to find romance in abject despair and political paranoia.
November 2008 Archives
Song: Thanksgiving Day
Album: Other People's Lives
Artist: Ray Davies
Selected by: Nick Dedina
Date: November 27, 2008
The British have never been shy about reminding Americans about the ugly truths behind our Thanksgiving myths. But England's Ray Davies pays homage to the real joys and sorrows of the holiday. Families and friends come together in tattered triumph -- or sit alone remembering happier times.
Joy of Cooking – two rootsy singing-and-songwriting feminist musicians from Berkeley, California, plus a few male fellow travelers providing rhythmic accompaniment, all of whom apparently took their band name from Irma Rombauer’s eternal Depression-era cookbook classic – might have the distinction of being the most critically acclaimed ‘70s rock band that almost no rock critic who graduated high school in the past 35 years has an opinion about. Their self-titled Capitol debut album finished in sixth place in the Village Voice Pazz & Jop Critics poll in 1971; Robert Christgau called it “exciting and amazingly durable” and gave it an “A” grade, praising its rolling piano-and-percussion grooves and lyrics about wives victimized at both ends of the economic spectrum.
Chris Ryan: I am ... underwhelmed. Usually doubles are so conceptually robust that they demand the extra acreage; or they come at a time in an artist's career where the fever pitch of creativity demands a big canvas. This joint is about as long as Thriller and despite all the talking-points memos going around about B's beguiling "split personality," the two poles of Beyoncé seem to be "slow jams" and "club bangers."
Angela Bruno: I am ... going to ignore 85 percent of this album. Or, I'm gonna wind up saying something I'll regret. Like, oh, her artistic bipolarity only reminds me of that commercial for a product-which-shall-remain-nameless where a woman sees her totally-slummed-out-on-the-inside reflection in the mirror due to a lack of "freshness." Which, actually, is quite applicable here. (Forgive me Sasha, for I know not what I say!) I feel like I'm betraying a good friend, like LC and Audrina or vice versa (depending on whose side you're on). What happened to that brickhouse-ness that only B'Day can invoke?!?! Sigh. I may have to disagree with you on the acreage, though. B covers a whole lotta ground: Buzz Lightyear ("Single Ladies": "Here's a man that makes me then takes me/and delivers me to a destiny/ to infinity and beyond"), Dave Matthews ("Smash Into You," ummm "Crash Into Me"), Renée Zelweger (in Jerry McGuire, "Hello"), Pavarotti ("Ave Maria," WTF?), career criminal ("Diva": "this is a stick up, stick up"), you know. Shall we dissect (further)?
FREE DOWNLOAD: School of Seven Bells, "Connjur"
Rhythm and harmony! They’re the first things you hear on “Iamundernodisguise,” the opening track on School of Seven Bells’ debut, Alpinisms: a rolling drumbeat marshals a hint of rhumba in the bassline, while sisters Alejandra and Claudia Deheza speak-sing the word-sounds like a two-part Eastern Orthodox choir. Soon enough, the chorus brings the hook and the result is left-field electronic pop; but it’s the confident mix of beats and voices that defines the song.
[Click the "Continue Reading..." link to listen to a playlist featuring the music discussed in this post.]
Song: Slow Motion
Album: Juve the Great
Artist: Juvenile
Selected by: Toshi Kondo
Date: November 26, 2008
Soulja Slim's first and only number one single was a bittersweet accomplishment; it was released after he was murdered on November 26, 2003. Nonetheless, the rest of the nation finally had a chance to see what those in Slim's hometown of New Orleans had known for years, that he was one of the realest and most talented rappers ever to come out of the Big Easy.
Play It Now
All I'm gonna say is that the band from Germany pictured above definitely has a sexier singer than the band from Rhode Island. Though both bands do have bald guys. And who said metal was a fashion show, anyway? Not anybody in Iron Maiden, you can be darn sure of that!
FREE MP3 DOWNLOAD: San Quinn, "Devotion"
The Bay Area hip-hop scene is among the most compartmentalized in the nation. There are hundreds if not thousands of young producers, rappers and promoters who manage to make a decent living without ever having to leave Northern California. In this vast, thriving and largely underground scene, San Quinn is a legend. He started out in the early '90s with fellow SF emcee JT the Bigga Figga and has continued to be a major player ever since -- first as a young rapper on the Priority label and then independently under his Done Deal label. Over those 16 years, Quinn has had his hand in nearly every major hip-hop movement to come out of the Bay. He terse flow and gruff voice are instantly recognizable, and his finely detailed vignettes on life in San Francisco’s Fillmore district are among the most compelling narrative raps to emerge from the West Coast. His most recent album, From a Boy to a Man, continues in this fine tradition. Quinn has also been fortunate to score one of the biggest hits of his career this fall with “SF Anthem.” We recently sat down with the legend to discuss life, art and Bay Area pride.
Song: The Truth Will Set You Free
Album: Back to Now
Artist: LaBelle
Selected by: Sarah Bardeen
Date: November 25, 2008
Patti Labelle and the ladies (circa "Lady Marmalade") returned to the recording studio this year for the first time in three decades and released an album of pure '70s soul-funk in October. This song pounces like an avenging angel, slaying soul music Janes-come-lately in one hard-rocking swoop.
F*ck*d Up w/ Ezra Koenig, "Someone's Gonna Die Tonight" and "Parents"
We've got more video from the 12-hour F*ck*d Up show from this past October. In the above video, Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig performs "Someone's Gonna Die Tonight" by the legendary Oi band Blitz, as well as "Parents" by the Descendants. After the jump, check out F*ck*d Up's take on Black Flag classic "Nervous Breakdown."
Although he never reached the heights of stardom like other Midwest rappers such as Kanye West, Common and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Eric “MC Breed” Breed, who passed away from kidney failure this past Saturday at the age of 37, was a pioneer in his own right.
In the latest installment of John Norris Interviews... our intrepid reporter ventures to the far off lands of Brooklyn to talk to the reverb-punk gals in Vivian Girls. John talks to the trio about the scarce availability of their early recordings, the facts and fictions of being in an all-gal band and much more.
Further Viewing:
Previous installments of John Norris Interviews...
Rolling Stone recently ranked its 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. The list is packed with legendary artists, plus features a handful of celebrity columnists gushing over their fave crooners (Billy Joel on Ray Charles: “He was the minister and I was the congregation”). As with any all-time-greatest list, it’s also riddled with questionable choices and glaring omissions – at least that’s how I see it. With help from Rhapsody Pop Editor Rachel Devitt, I’ve compiled 10 artists who could and should be included in any serious conversation about great singers. Some are obvious, many obscure and a few will have you muttering, “What the … ?”
Have a read as we stoke further controversy!
Six albums in, Ludacris wants to be considered one of hip-hop's best lyricists. Which seems a little odd since the Atlanta native has already racked up five platinum albums, sold almost 13 million records, and won the Best Rap Album Grammy for 2007’s Release Therapy. Then again, maybe some people think Luda’s gone Hollywood, having landed roles in Crash, Hustle & Flow and Max Payne. Ready to prove that he still lives and breathes rap, Cris is back with Theater of the Mind, which aims to be a sonic blockbuster, and features Jay-Z, Nas, Chris Brown, T-Pain, T.I., Rick Ross, Chris Rock and Spike Lee. Rhapsody recently got Ludacris on the phone to discuss recording with DJ Premier, dropping Theater ... on the same day as Kanye West and the Killers released their new albums, and collaborating with his one-time adversary T.I.
Song: Who Wants to Live Forever
Album: A Kind of Magic
Artist: Queen
Selected by: Jen Guyre
Date: November 24, 2008
Scribed by Queen guitarist Brian May for the 1986 movie Highlander, this poignant power ballad fittingly commemorates the untimely death of Freddie Mercury, one of rock 'n' roll’s most prolific and influential frontmen. He left this world on November 24, 1991 -- just one day after announcing to the world that he had AIDS. The memory and unparalleled work of this extraordinary vocalist/pianist indeed still lives on.
For Gojira’s vocalist/guitarist Joe Duplantier, it’s been an exciting year. As the French quintet expand on their progressive death/doom sound on The Way of All Flesh, their fourth full-length, and tackle a world tour supporting In Flames, Duplantier has displayed another side of his musicality by playing bass for Cavalera Conspiracy. But with his primary focus being his own band, Duplantier and Gojira continue pushing metal's blackened boundaries with groove-oriented techniques, odd time signatures, sawing guitars and slow-burning, overcast tracks that discuss the inevitably of death. “Since the beginning, I write the lyrics and it’s always about questions I have about life," explains Duplantier. The more Rhapsody spoke to this progressive metal visionary, the more we learned about the spirituality behind the album’s concept, the band’s fascination with nature, and what it was like working with some special guests.
Concentric Pleasures is a blog column dedicated to the best in electronic dance music: house, techno, their cousins and offspring. Named in honor of vinyl's grooves, it's a weekly roundup of new releases and back-catalog finds.
Ever since U.K. garage began splintering in the late '90s, its followers have spun off subgenre after subgenre. Dubstep and grime were the first to peel off from UKG, along with short-lived variants like nu dark swing, sub-low and Eski-beat. In the past year and a half, more names have blossomed and spread like Morning Glory vines: bassline house, niche, even the confusingly named "funky." Short for "funky house," it's a post-garage brand of 4/4 dance music that, nevertheless, has little to do with the American dance-music strain widely known as funky house. (In U.K. house music, meanwhile, you also get fidget house and "donk," another head-scratcher of a name that, likewise, refers neither to Soulja Boy's "Donk" nor to minimal house duo Donk Boys.)
FREE MP3 DOWNLOAD: Curumin, "Compacto"
Curumin is the Quannum artist who shouldn't be. On a Bay Area label of underground rappers, the young man born Luciano Nakata Albuquerque is a Brazilian multi-instrumentalist who doesn't rap and is, in many ways, an old-fashioned songwriter. But when Quannum co-founders Blackalicious toured Brazil in 2004, Curumin's manager slipped his first album, Achados e Perdidos, into their hands, and the group listened. What they heard seriously impressed them: a young man who had Stevie Wonder on the brain, James Brown in the beats and Jorge Ben in the melodies. Shortly after, they signed him.
Two things drive Curumin: a powerful nostalgia for the simplicity of childhood and a voracious appetite for new sounds. JapanPopShow, his second album, is a vintage-era masterpiece. But, for all its diverse influences -- Brazilian pop, soul, funk and reggae -- it's also a complete musical universe. There are no loose threads. And given how beautifully textured the album is, perhaps it's not surprising he's a Quannum artist -- any hip-hop producer would want to sample these songs. (In fact, several rappers guest on the album.) We caught up with Rhapsody's Dig This! artist in early November, and asked him about all the usual stuff -- the album's name, his inspirations -- but we got a lot more: meditations on youth, our modern world, and what tradition means in the age of globalization.
[Click the "Continue Reading..." link to listen to a playlist featuring the music discussed in this post.]
Song: ABC (Salaam Remi Krunk-a-delic Party Mix)
Album: Motown Remixed Extras
Artist: The Jackson 5
Selected by: Sarah Bardeen
Date: November 21, 2008
November 21 holds an infamous place in pop history: this is the day Phil Spector was charged with murder and Michael Jackson was booked on suspicion of molestation (both in 2003); in 1980, Don Henley was arrested after a naked 16-year-old girl was found OD'ing in his house. "ABC" made love sound so simple, but Salaam Remi's creepy-clown remix illustrates the dark turns relations between two people can take.
About halfway down the half page of scrawl I took home from last night’s performance of the McCoy Tyner trio with Marc Ribot is a note that made perfect sense at the time. It says, “This is the difference between what is and what should be.” In the clear light of the morning, the stoner epiphany of that sentence seems exactly like the kind of thing you write down during a drug experience -- something so urgent, that life’s needle comes scratching off the record and you have to write it down immediately, fearing that your square, sober self will let the newly discovered answer to life’s mystery slip away. When you wake up the next day, head pounding and tongue thick, it’s happened again: the sagacious wisdom has melted into a bit of nonsense like “this is the difference between what is and what should be.”
Welcome to Country Beef, a regular peek into what’s going on in Nashville and beyond .
On a recent trip to Nashville, I heard a lot of gossip about some of our favorite stars. Most of it wasn't true (or so I'd like to believe), but it occurred to me that country fans have an insatiable appetite when it comes to the latest goings on in the lives of their favorite country performers. Gossip aside, here's a look into what's going on with some of the biggest names in country -- Tim, Faith, Taylor. Get the idea?
More 2008 singles that other people of wealth and taste think are great, and maybe I'll agree or maybe or I won't (see also these two previous posts). This time, from the running best-of-the-year list on New Yorker critic Sasha Frere-Jones' blog. Here goes:
Song: Jaula De Oro
Album: Jaula De Oro
Artist: Los Tigres Del Norte
Selected by: Justin Farrar
Date: November 20, 2008
Commemorating Mexico's Revolution (1910-1920), Día de la Revolución might feel foreign to many Americans, but this song by Mexican-American norteño legends Los Tigres Del Norte suggests the relevance of Mexican history north of the border. A clever, touching tribute to expatriates the world over.
Play It Now
Earlier this year, when Dr. Dre told USA Today that his long-awaited third solo album Detox could be coming by the end of 2008, the hip-hop community breathed a collective sigh of relief. After all, it has been nine years since he dropped the seven-times-platinum 2001. Since then, details have slowly trickled out: DJ Quik said that Dre was taking piano lessons from great pianist and composer Burt Bacharach, and had already recorded 400 tracks; and 50 Cent spoke about recording material for it. But, Dr. Dre protégé Bishop Lamont, who will be featured heavily on Detox, recently told HipHopDX that Dre is currently recording in Detroit with no release date in sight. It's almost certain that another year will pass without any new Dr. Dre material. I guess there's always 2009.
UN Goodwill Ambassador, bellydancer extraordinaire, bicultural and multilingual -- Natacha Atlas is a bit like Shakira and Angelina Jolie wrapped up into one. The English/Belgian/Egyptian singer was a longtime member of global dance gurus TransGlobal Underground, and when she went solo in 1995, she continued with that group's fusion of Arabic music and dance beats. But this year, Atlas tried a very different kind of fusion -- she returned to the classical Arabic music of her youth, and sang it with a small, string-heavy ensemble. The resulting album, Ana Hina, has won her accolades around the world.
Atlas gave us some insight into why she made the album and what it's like growing up belonging to two cultures. She also confesses she once sang and bellydanced with a salsa group, which proves she actually beat Shakira to the punch. More after the jump.
Song: I'm Your Puppet
Album: The Letter/Neon Rainbow
Artist: The Box Tops
Selected by: Linda Ryan
Date: November 19, 2008
On November 19, 1990, Milli Vanilli were stripped of their Best New Artist Grammy when it was revealed that the lip-synching duo didn't actually sing on any of "their" songs, and were simply hired because they looked good. That reminds us of a line from a song: "Pull a string and I'll wink at you/I'm your puppet."
Taylor Swift recently sat down with MTV News to discuss her new album, as well as various other matters of the heart and mind. Taylor-Tay, bringing the juxtaposition hard with a black turtleneck cropping her insane and intimidating blond locks, takes some veiled shots at her Prince-Charming-who-wasn't (aka Joe Jonas Put on Blast Chapter XXIII), and talks about her love of writing songs ... a love seemingly equaled only by dating and getting dumped by sleepy-eyed virgin pop icons and then blowing up their spot on MySpace.
Swift says that she would love for one of her songs to be used as the hook to a hip-hop song. According to the twang prodigy, "something people would not be expecting at all." Thus ruining the surprise factor of a blitzkrieg Plies/Tay Swift collabo, seeing as how we actually are expecting it now. Which makes this dreamer a little sad. "Love Story (A Gal & A Goon Remix)" sounded promising.
Further Viewing:
Taylor Swift Interview [MTV.com]
Lady GaGa is a whole lotta diva, a fountain of X-rated pop goodies with a couture edge, a blend of "glitter mixed with rock 'n' roll," as she says it best on the bubblegummy-bad-girl number "Boys, Boys, Boys." Born and raised in the Big Apple, GaGa, whose name was inspired by the Queen hit "Radio Ga-Ga," groomed herself for success from the ground up, fine-tuning her in-your-face performance glam-art since her early teens at open mics. She left NYU's Tisch School of the Arts to pave her own way, gigging around New York's Lower East Side. "I just started to bring my music from club to club," says GaGa. "I'd lie and say I was Lady Gaga's manager and say, 'Uh, yeah, she's been really booked up for this month, but we could squeeze you in on Friday.' I'd make myself sound bigger than I was." She was eventually discovered, signed-and-dropped, then signed again, having since penned songs for the Pussycat Dolls. Her debut album, The Fame, is 100-percent disco debauchery, taking on the standard themes of the night -- partying, intoxication, sexual provocation -- or so it seems. Lady GaGa is a mistress of illusion. Here, Rhapsody's November Ones to Watch artist explains how.
[Click the "Continue Reading..." link to listen to a playlist featuring the music discussed in this post.]
Song: Gotta Be Somebody
Album: Gotta Be Somebody
Artist: Nickelback
Selected by: Nate Cavalieri
Date: November 18, 2008
When Chad Kroeger's gutteral, testosterone-soaked man-yowl rips through the opening moments of the new Nickelback single, it's the aural equivalent of that split second when the Hulk gets all pissed, tears his clothes to ribbons and starts throwing Crown Victorias through department store windows. And if you think this is huge, trust us: it's merely just a glimpse of the steaming heap of meaty rock the full LP has to offer.
Now that the election's all settled and there's some dead time between now and your dysfunctional family's Thanksgiving dinner, I bet you're sitting there thinking, "What am I going to argue and fight about for the next 10 days!" Well, leave it to Rolling Stone to answer your prayers. They've got a new list out, enumerating the 100 Greatest Singers of All-Time, and it's sure to cause some Lincoln vs. Douglas-/Coke vs. Pepsi-level debate.
Song: Oh, Lonesome Me
Album: After the Gold Rush
Artist: Neil Young
Selected by: Justin Farrar
Date: November 17, 2008
Don Gibson, who passed away five years ago today, was one of Music City USA’s great songwriters. Everybody from Patsy Cline to Ronnie Milsap recorded his tales of woe and despair. But it’s Neil Young’s mournful reworking of the Gibson classic “Oh, Lonesome Me” that serves as the ideal tribute.
Check out this live interview and performance footage from the 12-hour F*ck*d Up show last month, featuring appearances from Moby, Vivian Girls, Ezra Koenig (Vampire Weekend), Tim Harrington (Les Savy Fav) and John Joseph (Cro-Mags) and, of course, F*ck*d Up. The above video is a mini-documentary about the day-and-night-long event. Check out more performances after the jump.
Just put my feet back on terra firma after a hectic plane trip back from Nashville. But the hassles of missing luggage, serious turbulence in and out of Houston (where I changed planes) and over-packed carriers have done nothing to dull the glow of my trip to the CMA Awards. And you know, I miss Nashville already!
Not all four of the fine bands below come from Europe, but the one that doesn't still comes from a place where people talk French a lot -- and you can tell. I'm not gonna say metal is only any fun these days outside the United States. But it sure does seem that way sometimes.
Concentric Pleasures is a blog column dedicated to the best in electronic dance music: house, techno, their cousins and offspring. Named in honor of vinyl's grooves, it's a weekly roundup of new releases and back-catalog finds.
Despite my many obsessive-compulsive tendencies, my fandom has never been particularly fanatical. If I were going to become unhealthily fixated on a single band, though, New Order probably would have been the one, which makes the arrival of double-disc collectors' editions of their five classic '80s albums—Movement, Power, Corruption & Lies, Low-Life, Brotherhood and Technique—particularly welcome. (More obsessive fans than I have complained about audio fidelity problems with the set, but I haven't noticed anything amiss, even playing through what, on my budget, is a rather obscenely expensive pair of Genelec monitors.) Each album is presented in its entirety, subtly remastered, along with rare sides and alternate versions. Some of these, granted, aren't as rare as you might wish; 1987's double-disc Substance did a good job of collecting singles and B-sides like "Shellshock" and "Everything's Gone Green." Still, there's plenty to sink your teeth into, even for semi-completists like myself. And listeners who didn't spend the latter half of the '80s converting their allowance to black wax may find even more surprises. Here's a look at some of the best bits.
SoundTreks: A regular feature on the music the other 97 percent of the globe is listening to.
One of my favorite albums of 2008 (so far) has been En Este Camino by Pistolera. I've described this New York band's sound as Mexican regional, Latin alternative and American indie stitched together in a sonic tapestry that is at once comfortably familiar and chicly cutting edge. Rhapsody's Latin editor Sarah Bardeen was a bit pithier: "previously at-odds elements like accordion and indie rock drink a Corona and lime together." The band itself, which has made nice with the likes of Lila Downs, Ozomatli and the Mexican Institute of Sound, gets even more succinct, referring to themselves as simply "alt-folklorico."
[Click the "Continue Reading..." link to listen to a playlist featuring the music discussed in this post.]
Song: III. Times Square: 1944
Album: Bernstein: Candide Overture; Symphonic Dances from West Side Story; Symphonic Suite from the film On the Waterfront; Fancy Free Ballet
Artist: Leonard Bernstein
Selected by: Nate Cavalieri
Date: November 14, 2008
I'd love for some other classical obsessives to prove me wrong, but in searching for a selection most befitting the anniversary of Leonard Bernstein's debut with the New York Philharmonic -- a fairly ambitious program that included Schumann’s "Manfred Overture," Strauss’ Don Quixote, Wagner’s Prelude to Die Meistersinger and a debut by Miklos Rozsa -- it's impossible to find a perfect recording. It seems that Bernstein, who led the New York Philharmonic for many years, never recorded anything from his debut program with them. In place of those works, we present the conductor leading his home orchestra through one of his own compositions, a buoyant, breezy dedication to Times Square, every bit as explosive and expressive as the man himself.
Ximena Sariñana has gone from precocious -- acting in films and novelas since childhood -- to prolific -- contributing to movie soundtracks, jamming out with her old jazz band Feliz No Cumpleaños, and surrendering to her emotions like a young Fiona Apple en español on her debut album Mediocre, for which she has received multiple Latin Grammy nods: Artist of the Year, Best Alternative Song ("Normal") and Producer of the Year (along with Soda Stereo collaborator, producer Tweety Gonzalez). The songs on Mediocre (irony noted) have a smokey cabaret feel -- sharp, jazzy, cynical, with a bourbon sting -- but can be equally appreciated crying your heart out over a heap of dirty dishes -- speaking to everyday heartbreak, tapping into the most common of love-related insecurities, and the need to escape from it all. Basically, the heart's inner monologue.
"The album is 100 percent real," says Ximena. "The thing that I wanted the most was to be as honest as I could and not to stop myself from talking about things -- about how I felt. At some point, I felt like I wanted to run away from something, and I was gonna talk about it. And at some point, I felt that I was afraid of being forgotten, and I was gonna talk about it. It's kind of like an experiment. It wasn't all something that I was going through at the time, but it was something that had struck me as interesting. Or something I wanted to put it out in the open. I thought that, the more honest you are, the stronger you are, because there's nothing hiding, there's nothing in the background that people don't know. The more you show, the stronger you are. At least, that's what I thought at the time." Here, Ximena speaks on becoming an accidental producer, finding her voice, shooting in Iceland and much more.
[Click the "Continue Reading..." link to listen to a playlist featuring the music discussed in this post.]
Song: I'll Be Lovin U Long Time
Album: E=MC2
Artist: Mariah Carey
Selected by: Rachel Devitt
Date: November 13, 2008
Today marks the end of a pop culture era as MTV's Total Request Live airs its final show. And while many, many stars can attest to the significant role the show has played in the industry (not to mention their careers), perhaps no artist better knows TRL's make-it-or-break-it power than Mariah Carey, who took advantage of its live format and direct fan contact to stage her impending breakdown with a surprise 2002 appearance (complete with popsicles and a "striptease"!). Here, Mimi best expresses our feelings about TRL's retirement.
More than perhaps any other modern R&B performer, T-Pain understands that today’s artist is best viewed as a spectacle -- and that the spectacle is art. Witness his entrance to this year’s MTV Video Music Awards on elephants; or his Rhapsody pre-VMA party where the man born Faheem Rasheed Najm was flanked by mimes that looked like rejects from an Insane Clown Posse casting call. Even his singing voice is a novelty that borders on gimmick. The stringy robotic affections of auto-tune at once set the singer apart from the R&B flock, and also grant him a mechanic’s anonymity, giving the effect of a musical mask. It is singular and universal, and it also sounds pretty damn dope when you’re lost somewhere on the Sunset Strip at 3 a.m.
We caught up with the Tallahassee singer one late Saturday night in September as he was preparing to take the stage. As his wont, T-Pain was worried that the audience didn’t really want T-Pain since the opening DJ was rocking electronic beats. “If I had Daft Punk DJ in front of me, I’d feel a little less nervous right now,” he admitted, before adding, “Daft Punk holla at your boy T-Pain. If you did it with Kanye, you can do it with me.” In our brief but revealing conversation, he explained the concept for his new album, exclaimed his love for neo-soul and Roger Troutman, and spoke on upcoming projects such as T-Pain Is Dead and T-Wayne.
Rachel: So, MTV's Total Request Live is set to end its 10-year run, airing its final episode this Friday and a good-bye bash on November 16. In honor of the long-running request show, Rhapsody's Rock editor, Nate Cavalieri, and our Pop editor (that would be yours truly, Rachel Devitt) decided to have a little conversation about its legacy, which I, poptimist that I am, think is fairly significant. Nate is a bit more cynical, however. And off we go.
OK, yes, one of TRL's most significant "gifts" to the world has been Carson Daly (seriously, can we regift that one?), but I also think the show has carved out -- and deserves -- a special place in music history. It's been host to lots of important pop cultural events: the beginnings of the boy band phenomenon; Mariah's popsicle-laden meltdown/striptease; the first official report of Britney Spears's split from K-Fed. For a good chunk of its run, TRL was an important barometer of popular culture. Not to mention it's been one of the only places you can actually see, uh, music videos on the music video network (even if they aren't full clips).
Nate: Rachel, if I wake up on Christmas morning to find a wobbling refrigerator box that stinks of Axe body spray, I'm re-regifting Carson right back to you. I'll go along for the ride that TRL deserves a special place in the annals of pop culture, but, at the risk of coming off like a curmudgeonly fishing buddy of Walter Matthau, the cancellation of the show was a mercy killing after so many years of TRL hobbling along like a crippled old nag. Sure, it made waves during its short and juicy peak, but, like the cast of twits that dominated its charts – the thrill was quickly gone. Its place in the pop-culture scrap heap is somewhere near the Star Trek franchise – enormously popular, increasingly wretched and ultimately unwatchable. As for it being the only place on MTV to see actual music videos, sure, maybe if the video was number one. But if it wasn't number one, they only played part of it! I know but slogging through an entire three-minute video is rough, but, sigh, I want the M back in MTV!
Welcome to the November 2008 version of Dig This! Every month, Rhapsody’s editorial staff will introduce you to a few artists you may not know, give you a chance to check out their music, and present them in their own words -- watch this space for upcoming features on the individual artists. Oh, and we’ll throw you some free downloads from them, too.
This month in Dig This!:
Curumin, a Brazilian of Spanish-Japanese descent who fell in love with American hip-hop and Jorge Ben at the same time.
San Quinn, an underground rap legend in the Bay Area, prolific and celebrated locally, but only now starting to break out on the national stage.
School of Seven Bells, a Brooklyn trio that combines gorgeous harmonies, a world of rhythms and some ecstatic studio sense to create beautiful psychedelic pop jams.
[Click the "Continue Reading..." link to listen to a playlist featuring the music discussed in this post.]
Song: ...Baby One More Time
Album: ...Baby One More Time
Artist: Britney Spears
Selected by: Piotr Orlov
Date: November 12, 2008
Kiddie-pop countdown show TRL was barely six months old in March of '99 when a young escapee from the Mickey Mouse Club, decked out in pigtails and a Catholic school uniform, gave us a glimpse into the future. Naysayers said the indisputably great song about getting a beeper hit from your significant crush was nothing more than a pop-gun blast; instead, it was the preemptive nuclear attack of a pop-culture revolution, and Total Request Live became that insurgency’s first media platform of choice. This never stopped. Through the snake, the breakup, the kiss, the K-Fed, Brit-pop ruled the TRL universe. God save the queen.
[Click the "Continue Reading..." link to listen to a playlist featuring the music discussed in this post.]
So maybe this is what Blue Öyster Cult meant by the red and the black. Mississippi Mudsharks’ Train Rolls On and Black Diamond Heavies' A Touch of Someone Else’s Class are both beat-your-face-in albums of the belligerent he-man blues-rock persuasion, and they also both sort of look alike! Red lettering on a black background -- especially on the album back covers, each of which is a top-to-bottom list of 11 songs. The Mudsharks’ front has a locomotive and the Heavies’ a drum set, but hey, let’s not quibble, folks.
Mississippi Mudsharks are three hefty dudes from, well, San Diego, actually; their frontman Scottie Blinn calls himself “Mad Dog.” Guests help out on pedal steel (two songs) and “chain” (one). Their album-opening title track ain’t quite the “Train Kept a Rollin’” it wishes it was, and neither is the bleh ballad called “Slow Rollin’” they close with. But in between, they’ve got shuffles evolving into badass boogie (“30 Weight Shuffle”), bike-leather rockabilly (“Crimson Sky” and “Devil’s Road”), and some gratifying Black Oak Arkansas and ZZ Top tendencies, the latter most notably in “Throw It in the Hole.” Best song titles: “Lakeside Redneck Shindig,” “Zombie Whip,” “Can’t Put Down the Drink.”
What's new? What's good? What will you find here that you won't hear
anywhere else this week? Sit back, relax and click through to the
premieres, the originals and the exclusives available only on Rhapsody!
This week:
Song: Don't Blink
Album: Just Who I Am
Artist: Kenny Chesney
Selected by: Linda Ryan
Date: November 11, 2008
November 12 marks the 42nd annual CMA Awards, and country superstar Kenny Chesney leads the pack with seven nominations! "Don't Blink" is just one heartwarming example of the songs fans love to hear Chesney sing. Tune into ABC tomorrow night to see who wins.
After listening to fraternal duo the Knux’s Remind Me in 3 Days…, the last place you'd guess Kintrell “Krispy Kream” Lindsey and Alvin “Rah Amillio” Lindsey are from is New Orleans East, part of the city’s rugged Ninth Ward neighborhood. Their self-produced debut, which was recorded in a mini-mansion in the Hollywood Hills, paints a hilarious portrait of young Hollywood, reflected in songs like “Daddy’s Little Girl,” an amusing ditty about rich, spoiled socialites, and the self-explanatory “Powder Room.” The Knux also play a bunch of instruments including the keys, horns, guitars, bass and drums. Along the way, they have managed to do what that whole rap-rock subgenre could never quite do: combine credible, spitfire lyrics with hard, rock-influenced beats. Rhapsody got the two brothers on the phone to talk about the insignificance of MySpace friends, working with Jay Electronica, and their feelings on Lil Wayne’s elementary guitar solos.
[Click the "Continue Reading..." link to listen to a playlist featuring the music discussed in this post.]
Miriam Makeba led quite a life: she was the first African woman to win a Grammy. She performed before great political figures of her time, including John F. Kennedy and Nelson Mandela. When she gave an impassioned speech against apartheid before the United Nations in 1963, the South African government responded by banning her records -- and keeping her in exile from her home country for 31 long years.
Makeba never wanted to be at the center of the world's cultural storms; she simply wanted to sing. But what she chose to sing defined her life and career. She sang traditional songs from her Swazi and Xhosa backgrounds; she sang jazz and township music; she sang of joy and of struggle. Her own and her people's.
Song: Love Me or Hate Me
Album: Public Warning
Artist: Lady Sovereign
Selected by: Piotr Orlov
Date: November 10, 2008
Repping the one-hit wonders of TRL: remember when the “biggest midget in the game” went to #1 on TRL (October 2006), and critics thought it spelled grime’s American breakthrough? Two years later, the S.O.V.’s soundscans haven’t cracked 130K, and her rep has barely surpassed her height. Still, besides being a damn good mixtape jam (dig the pop genius of the “breastesses”/”bestesses” rhyme), the song that “made” her stands as an anthem for the show. If you love it, then thank you; if you hate it, then f*ck you! All opinions being equal.
Concentric Pleasures is a blog column dedicated to the best in electronic dance music: house, techno, their cousins and offspring. Named in honor of vinyl's grooves, it's a weekly roundup of new releases and back-catalog finds.
For many electronic music fans, the Obama win has raised a giddy possibility that, until recently, was all but unthinkable: the return of Ricardo Villalobos to American shores. The Chilean-German producer and DJ has long declared his refusal to visit the United States under the Bush administration, or indeed any subsequent administration continuing Bush's policies. As justification, Villalobos cites his alleged harassment at the hands of immigration officials when passing through U.S. airports shortly after 9/11; the musician, whose family fled Chile after Pinochet's 1973 coup d'etat, claims that the officials interviewing him knew of his family's history and pressed him to explain why they had fled the dictatorship, which in its early years had received CIA support and State Department blessings.
Given Villalobos' round-the-clock, round-the-world schedule, it's well possible he's not even available for inauguration-night raving. But what was once a don't-hold-your-breath scenario has become a bated-breath affair. Here are a few of the releases soundtracking minimal fans' campaign of hope. All serve as reminders that electronic music is only as apolitical as you want it to be.
Song: Come and Get Your Love
Album: The Essential Redbone
Artist: Redbone
Selected by: Nick Dedina
Date: November 7, 2008
Though Redbone sounds like a pun designed to make grannies blush, it's actually a term for mixed race Native Americans in Texas and Louisiana. And Redbone, here rocking their fantastic soft-rock hit, were an all Native American band who showed the breadth of our native population (Latin Americans included).
There's a certain symmetry to Los Campesinos' hyperactive, Ritalin riot music and the prolific nature with which they release records. On We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed (their second full-length release this year, following up, Hold On Now, Youngster), their unkempt guitars, shout-along choruses and jumble of violins and keyboards somehow combine to sound like music that needs a speedy delivery. They have lots of ideas and they get them down and out quickly. Miraculously, though, the caustic literacy of their songs never suffers.
[Click the "Continue Reading..." link to listen to a playlist featuring the music discussed in this post.]
In 1978, one of the first all-girl bands known to heavy music formed in London, and now, as Girlschool's original frontwoman Kim McAuliffe puts it, “After 30 years, we are the longest running female rock 'n' roll band in the world!” McAuliffe, along with original bassist/vocalist Enid Williams, original drummer Denise Dufort and newest member (with 10 years of service) guitarist Jackie Chambers are still kicking out the hard rocking jams with a new album. Legacy is a diverse offering commemorating their anniversary and the death of original guitarist Kelly Johnson, who passed just last year. And they did it with a little help from friends like Motörhead's Lemmy Kilmister, Phil Campbell and Fast Eddie Clark, Twisted Sister's JJ French and Eddie Ojeda, and Black Sabbath/Heaven and Hell's Tony Iommi and Ronnie James Dio. See what Kim and Enid had to say about Legacy, their career highlights (so far) and their new outlook on life and music.
[Click the "Continue Reading..." link to listen to a playlist featuring the music discussed in this post.]
Song: We'll Sweep Out the Ashes in the Morning
Album: The Complete Reprise Sessions
Artist: Gram Parsons
Selected by: Mike McGuirk
Date: November 6, 2008
Gram Parsons’ buddies Michael Martin and Phil Kaufman may have had the best of intentions when they drunkenly stole their poor dead friend’s casket from the Los Angeles International Airport, then drove out to Joshua Tree National Forest and set the thing on fire. Parsons had actually told them he wanted to be cremated in Joshua Tree, after all. But when the cops showed up and they split (leaving behind a mutilated, half-burned corpse), the pair put on the mantle of Cosmic American idiots. On this day in 1973, Kaufman and Martin were fined $300 for their botched attempt at carrying out Gram’s wishes.
Looking for a way to look back on CMJ? Well, why not electronically mosey on over to our CMJ '08 Flickr stream, and peep photos taken by our own Wendy Murray. Be sure to check out the pictures taken at our Rhapsody Rocks New York party, featuring shots of Mission of Burma, Jay Reatard and King Khan.
Further Viewing:
Rhapsody CMJ '08 Flickr Stream
Oh well, guess we don't get a metalhead for a Vice President after all. But hey, you can only break so many barriers at once, right? And it's not like Caribou Barbie named her kid after Voivod. So stop whining (unless you're dancing in the streets like me), and check these:
Song: A Change Is Gonna Come
Album: Portrait of a Legend: 1951-1964
Artist: Sam Cooke
Selected by: Rachel Devitt
Date: November 5, 2008
On this historic day, hearts and minds around the country (and the world) are aflutter with the anticipation of change, the audacity of hope. What better song to speak to the battles that have been fought to get here -- and the optimistic resilience necessary to face the many obstacles yet to come -- than Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come," its vision still so poignantly, powerfully evocative (not to mention relevant) nearly 40 years after its release? Regardless of your politics, we all knew a change had come when Barack Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States yesterday.
We've heard the arguments, endured the pundits, watched the debates, marveled at the winks and gaffes, and it all comes down to today. Election Day. We wouldn't dare wade into the murky waters of proselytizing for one candidate or another, and we won't add on to the already deafening din of people telling you how to vote. But we will try and add a bit of music to the narratives of the two main presidential candidates, Senators Barack Obama and John McCain. Go to the links below to take a musical journey that follows the road these two men have taken up to this historic day, from the Hawaiian music of Obama's youth to the protest songs surrounding McCain's time in the Vietnam War. Enjoy the tunes -- and don't forget to vote!
Further Listening:
John McCain Biographical Playlist [Rhapsody]
Barack Obama Biographical Playlist [Rhapsody]
Song: American Idiot
Album: American Idiot
Artist: Green Day
Selected by: Stephanie Benson
Date: November 4, 2008
Don't wanna be an "American Idiot?" Then, go! Cast your ballot! Or Billie Joe Armstrong might come after you.
One encouraging musical development in this often depressing decade, which I wouldn’t have much expected 10 or 15 years ago, is that it’s no longer so easy to pinpoint where exactly “pop” lets off and “rock” begins. Partly, this is probably just a byproduct of Radio Disney-boosted pop stars from Avril Lavigne to Kelly Clarkson to Miley Cyrus to Jonas Brothers incorporating guitar-rock elements, but outside of the U.S., distinctions seem even more murky. In fact, the two finest examples of the principle I’ve come across lately – new albums by the Veronicas, from Australia, and Dragonette, from Canada by way of the U.K. – both finally got their U.S. release this fall, a year after they’d appeared overseas. Which might just mean the industry here is still confused by them.
Detroit rapper Black Milk is one of the most promising young producers in hip-hop. He grew up with the generation that saw J Dilla as a model. Though it's unfair to call Black Milk a Dilla clone, there are several stylistic similarities between the two. So, since Dilla's passing in early 2006, hip-hop devotees have tried to anoint Milk the heir to his throne. He didn't disappoint. Popular Demand dropped in 2007 and was a revelation. Sparse, lo-fi and sublime, it cemented Black Milk's reputation as a master of hard drums and soulful hip-hop. 2008's Tronic further expanded on his palette, pulling from pop, neo-soul and revivalist boom bap. It also showcased Black’s skills as an emcee. Recently, Rhapsody caught up with the Detroit producer to talk about his acclaimed new album as well as some of his future projects.
[Click the "Continue Reading..." link to listen to a playlist featuring the music discussed in this post.]
Song: Ice Ice Baby
Album: To the Extreme!
Artist: Vanilla Ice
Selected by: Sam Chennault
Date: November 3, 2008
On this, the anniversary of "Ice Ice Baby" becoming the first rap single to top U.S. singles charts, we remember Vanilla Ice as the blond-streaked boy who wandered in from a Florida wilderness to set schoolgirls’ hearts aflutter. His controversial brand of musical miscegenation wedded David Bowie with Young M.C. Yeah, our hero ventured too close to the sun and was dangled from Suge Knight’s balcony before retreating into a painful exile of Republican suffrage and reality show self-parody. But, in our hearts, he’ll always “flow like a harpoon” as he cooks “emcees like bacon.”
- Portions of Album Content Provided by All Music Guide © 2008 All Media Guide, LLC.
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