Archive for the ESSENTIAL RECORDINGS Category
Two key recordings which serve as bookends to Elliott Smith’s catalogue of solo recordings, Roman Candle (his first) and From A Basement on the Hill (ostensibly, his last), are being reissued by Kill Rock Stars on 6 April 2010. Roman Candle, Elliott’s first album, was issued by Portland’s Cavity Search Records in 1994. For the Kill Rock Stars reissue, Roman Candle been remastered by Smith family archivist Larry Crane. Crane, the respected long-time editor of Tape Op Magazine, served in several engineering capacities on Elliott’s work over the course of his career, predominantly as owner and operator of Jackpot! Recordings where Elliott recorded many of his earliest works. MORE »
WARNING: THIS VIDEO CONTAINS EXPLICIT PORNOGRAPHIC MATERIAL WHICH MAY BE CONSIDERED OFFENSIVE. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED – PLAY THIS VIDEO AT YOUR OWN RISK.
A new video has been released from Massive Attack’s forthcoming Heligoland, a video which is likely to raise some eyebrows. The video for “Paradise Circus” features an interview with ’70’s porn icon Georgina Spelvin, providing color commentary over portions of her banned pornographic film classic, The Devil in Miss Jones. I found it tough to watch, but I post it in the hopes you’ll find it enjoyable and interesting.
The standard-bearers for trip-hop, Bristol natives Massive Attack, have announced complete details on their soon-to-be released new album. Entitled Heligoland, the album will see release on 8 February 2010. Their first studio album in seven years, Heligoland is seen as one of the most hotly anticipated releases of 2010.
Ranked among the most influential bands to come out of British music in the 1990’s, Massive Attack had long been believed to reach their creative peak with 1998’s seminal release, Mezzanine. Creative fallout and personnel changes within the band left founding members Robert Del Naja (3D) and Grant Marshall (Daddy G) to trudge forward. The band’s 2003 release, 100th Window, though critically well-received, has long been speculated to be, in reality, the first solo work of now-accomplished soundtrack producer 3D. Regardless, one constant remains: Massive Attack’s popularity as live artists has never waned to any serious degree. They have remained a successful touring and performing act the world over.
The litany of guest appearances on Heligoland is impressive: there are substantial contributions on Heligoland from vocalists Martina Topley-Bird and Hope Sandoval, Gorillaz and Blur frontman Damon Albarn, Guy Garvey (from the band Elbow), Tunde Adebimpe and the return of legendary Reggae vocalist Horace Andy.
In addition to production from the band themselves, Tim Goldsworthy of DFA lends his help with production duties on the album. The tracks which appeared on their recently-released EP Splitting the Atom will also appear on the album, songs which give strong indication that Massive Attack have entered yet another phase of depth and creativity worth listening to and noticing.
Tracklisting for Heligloland:
01) Pray For Rain – featuring Tunde Adebimpe
02) Babel – featuring Martina Topley-Bird
03) Splitting The Atom – featuring Robert del Naja/Grant Marshall/Horace Andy
04) Girl I Love You – featuring Horace Andy
05) Psyche – featuring Martina Topley-Bird
06) Flat Of The Blade – featuring Guy Garvey
07) Paradise Circus – featuring Hope Sandoval
08) Rush Minute – featuring Robert del Naja
09) Saturday Come Slow – featuring Damon Albarn
10) Atlas Air – featuring Robert del Naja
(Big ups to DISCO ATTACK via Gorilla vs. Bear)
Prince Klassen is one of my favorite DJ / Producer / Remixers in the world at the moment. Roxy Music is one of my favorite bands of all time, a master act of the 1970’s and 80’s who straddled the lines of rock, dance and pop music, led by the inscrutable Bryan Ferry. This re-edit of “Love is the Drug”, nearly a perfect song by our standards, just popped fresh into our inbox. And it’s impressive — another in a series of outstanding edits that Prince Klassen has given us of classic tracks. Like a damn Reeses Peanut Butter Cup, this is two great tastes that taste great together
(From Prince Klassen about this track):
I first heard this tune on Depeche Mode’s 101 tour video in the earlier 90s. I never knew who it was until way later. While ripping vinyl the other day, I thought I would give it a go. The groove and feel of this record is uneffwittable.
Roxy Music – Love is the Drug (Prince Klassen Edit) (124 BPM)
Prince Klassen on Tumblr
Prince Klassen on Twitter
Prince Klassen on MySpace
Well how are you doing, my brethren? Some of you already know I’ve been battling a series of health problems the last few months which have kept me from updating regularly. What can I say, I got a bit unlucky on the health front.
But enough about me, let’s talk about a major day in the world of funk freakitude: today marks the reissue of Betty Davis’s oft-bootlegged 1975 funk gem Nasty Gal alongside her previously-unreleased phantasm of funk, Is It Love or Desire?. Nasty Gal is an essential funk recording, once only traded as an 8th or 9th-generation copy (complete with tape hiss and fuzz) amongst hard-core diggers, while Is It Love or Desire? was never released, shelved by her label due to creative differences. Thanks to the hard-work of Light in the Attic Records, both are now officially out and ready to add to your collection. More information, an MP3, and details on how you can win the above limited-edition poster after the jump.
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Through time and circumstance, a lot of what record fans consider to be “classic” falls by the wayside. Such is the fate of the critically-acclaimed and oft-sampled solo album by soul master, funk pioneer and session mastermind Don Blackman. This 1982 record is still available as an import for a whopping $39.99 in the U.S. However, it’s worth every cent of that and more. Flawless keyboard arrangements and vocals, tight funky-basslines, synth and Moog progressions that are unlike anything you’re likely to hear anywhere else, the album transcends its out-of-print status on repeated listenings.
Funk fans, take note of this one.
I’m glad people are rediscovering the funky side of 80’s electro, even if it’s just an accident. I mean, truly there was a load of absolute crap that came out back then; however there remains a select handful of artists who created uniquely identifiable electronic funk music in the 1980’s. Among them, I have to account for the accomplishments of Heaven 17. The song “Penthouse and Pavement” remains one of my favorite so-called ‘throwbacks’ to drop into a set. The dirty nasty funk signatures in the electronic configurations of this track remain unlike any I’ve heard since.
This video was a staple of MTV back in the day and you might even recognize it. Dig on this, enjoy the track and definitely get your hands on the fully-remastered edition of their crowning achievement, Penthouse and Pavement.
Last year, I procrastinated heavily. I think there were a lot of good records that came out the last couple of years, but I started to think that for every record that came out, there was an equal number of these “best-of” lists being bandied about. At first I thought, “Wow, it’s finally happened. Everyone’s a music critic.” Then, with this pervasive thought entrenched in my gourd, I started reading these other lists before making my own.
I suddenly felt small.
So deadlines for the “best of 2007″ rolled around, and I was in a tailspin, dogged by the massive amount of music I had encountered. I kept reflecting on these words of Billy Corgan that I’d read years ago. Billy had once quipped to, I think, Rolling Stone, that, “Not every year can be a great, or even good, year in music.” This thought just stirred in my head and fed into some neurosis. The thought actually fucked with me; maybe 2007 wasn’t that great? Or was it? So I slacked until it was way too late to really do it with any fervor.
Newsflash: Shit aint happening like that this year. I’m past all that, and this year’s going to be different.
Once again, at long last, its time to re-evaluate the songs of The Smiths. Rhino Records is releasing a compilation entitled The Sound Of The Smiths: The Very Best o the Smiths(2 CD Deluxe Edition)
