All posts by Kevin

general, hip-hop, samples

Incredible Bongo Band: “Apache”

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I’ve been enthralled by the recent writing on the revival of the Incredible Bongo Band’s 1972 LP, Bongo Rock, which contains the cover track Apache, a heavily sampled song in hip-hop for its wicked bongo/percussion breakbeat.

The New York Times wrote a piece about the album, which is being properly reissued after decades of bootlegging. Soul Sides followed with a little more detail about Apache. (An aside: If you’re not reading Soul Sides, you’re really missing out.) As a fan of hip-hop, I’d probably heard Apache copped thousands of times with no idea about the rich, and somewhat sordid, history of the song.

The short version is that the legendary Kool Herc got his hands on a copy of Bongo Rock, which was all but forgotten, and introduced it to his weekly DJ night in New York. Extra copies of the same record “allowed him [Herc] to extend percussion-driven sections of songs indefinitely through hand manipulation of the turntables, creating hypnotic percussive loops” (Times story). That gave rise to the use of the breakbeat, an especially vital part of a track for the B-boys and B-girls (or breakdancers).

Another post by Soul Sides from last year gives you mp3s of the various versions of Apache and just a few of the hip-hop songs (The Roots’ Thought @ Work, Nas’ Made You Look) that sampled it. DJ Z-Trip blended the break in Apache with Madonna’s Like a Prayer on the never-cleared but popular Uneasy Listening Vol. I with DJ P. The-breaks.com gives a list of songs that use the sample, though I’m guessing it’s only partial.

Needless to say, I defer to Soul Sides, the New York Times article and music writer Michaelangelo Matos for historical context of Apache. It’s quite an amazing piece of hip-hop history. (Meanwhile, the reissue of Bongo Rock is available at eMusic, which includes the 7-plus-minute Grandmaster Flash remix.)

I’ll add to Oliver’s extensive post of mp3s with L.L. Cool J’s You Can’t Dance. From Matos: “I believe the first major rapper to utilize “Apache” is—and I’m happy to be proven wrong about this—L.L. Cool J, with “You Can’t Dance” from his 1985 debut, Radio.”

Listen for the bongo break right at the chorus after L.L. spits, “You can’t dance.” On the raw and beat-heavy Radio, it seems like a natural spot for Apache’s introduction to the sampling world.

L.L. Cool J | You Can’t Dance

IN A BIZARRE COINCIDENCE, I swung by Z-Trip’s Web site. He’s made Uneasy Listening available for download in four parts on a new downloads page. I strongly suggest you grab that; it was a mash-up before the term was ever popular.The album never got a proper release, likely because attempting to clear the hundreds of songs used would be a lawyer’s nightmare. I believe about 1,000 copies were pressed; I’ve seen numbered vinyl at Amoeba.(If you’re looking for the use of Apache/Like a Prayer, it comes early in the mix.)

live

Starlight Mints/Bishop Allen, Rhythm Room, 11/5/06

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Thursday’s show was the second time in the past year I’d seen Starlight Mints, and if there’s one thing I learned, it’s this: Starlight Mints make people dance. In weird, inspired ways. In that-person-has-no-rhythm sort of ways. We’re talking Elaine Dance material, with no regard to self-consciousness.

I suppose it stands to reason, all this dancing/contorting, given Starlight Mints’ big, even-tempoed numbers. Even the opener, the instrumental Rhino Stomp, has a name that seems to aptly describe the sound, like a menacing march of drums. The whole procession is complemented by visual mayhem: two standing light sticks on either side of the stage that glow and flash intermittently and a running projection show that mostly streams abstract images of lines and shapes, kind of like the album art on Drowaton. The entire stage set-up looks elaborate: keyboards, laptops, projector, megaphones, etc. In the live setting, you can really see how much the group relies on keyboard- and MIDI-produced sounds for horns and orchestral-type instruments.

It’s indicative of the band’s somewhat oddball leanings. But I appreciate that singer/guitarist Allan Vest keeps the weirdness somewhat reined in, making the music approachable and totally likable. A little too much quirkiness can be exhausting and off-putting. Starlight Mints make it work to their advantage.

[mp3] Starlight Mints | Inside of Me

I have a minor confession to make: I’ve been included on Bishop Allen’s monthly e-mails to bloggers but never had posted on the New York quartet. If you haven’t kept up, Bishop Allen is nearing the end of its EP-a-month project, in which the group is releasing 12 EPs this year and titling them by the month of their releases. My gut reaction was to write it off as a gimmick, albeit a damn creative one. Twelve EPs at $5 per; you do the math. My guess is, though, the publicity is worth far more. (For starters, you might find a post or 20 over at You Ain’t No Picasso.)

For all my cynicism (justified or not), Bishop Allen won me over on Thursday. (And, for the record, I purchased the July EP afterward.) A friend commented afterward that Bishop Allen stole the show. I don’t know if I’d agree totally, but the group certainly held sway, and I caught a few people in the crowd singing along, which suggests the buzz is out there – even in the desert.

Because of a narrow stage front to back, the group lined up nearly in a single-file line left to right. It was a very egalitarian arrangement – drummer in the front! – and added a different visual aesthetic. (The group’s singer, Justin Rice, told me afterward the set-up was out of necessity, but the guys all seemed to like it, which could lead to future experiments with it.) It certainly didn’t hurt. The band’s chemistry was readily apparent – lots of knowing nods and glances to each other as they played, all gestures that seemed to say they were locked in.

More important for me is I finally have some concrete notion of who/what Bishop Allen is. If you read enough blogs and see a band’s name out there so much, you tend to regard it as just some abstract idea or notion. A live show, especially one as good as this, gives me tangible evidence that this band is as talented as everyone said. And damn if closing with Things Are What You Make of Them is about the wisest move the group can make. That song will stick with you; hell, it will stick to you … oh, dear: I’m drinking the Bishop Allen Kool-Aid.

[mp3] Bishop Allen | Click Click Click Click
[mp3] Bishop Allen | Things Are What You Make of Them

hip-hop

2Mex and Life Rexall: “Are $martyr”

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I’m just gonna continue along this hip-hop singles flow. I really need to make a mixtape of the great tracks that have come out this year. So many good albums. Seriously, anyone want a homemade mixtape? I could be inspired to do this.

Today’s track is Green Grass, off 2Mex and Life Rexall’s album Are $martyr (available at eMusic), which came out earlier this year. I’d had it laying around and put off listening to it until recently. What was I thinking? 2Mex is from the Visionaries crew and Life Rexall is part of the Shape Shifters, all out of Los Angeles. I shoulda known it’d be good.

Apparently, Green Grass contains a sample of Green Grass-Shade Trees by the Stylistics, but I was unable to track down the original song (anyone?). Whatever the case, Life Rexall’s production holds onto the original soul of the sample, with the horns laying a prominent hook for the beat.

2Mex and Life Rexall | Green Grass

Related:
The Shape Shifters (8/2/2005)

hip-hop

Nicolay feat. Black Spade: “I Am the Man”

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I’m on a bit of a singles kick of late, and, thanks to HBO, my wife has been a bit of a Singles kick. Big difference. Anyway, in Arizona, when the weather cools down and you can drive with windows down without scorching your skin, I want to listen to hip-hop. Cool breeze, heavy beats. It’s the best.

This track, by Dutch producer Nicolay, is exactly the kind of song I want, with its mesmerizing keyboard loop that rides lovely on that steady beat. It comes off his full-length debut, Here, which you can stream, um, here. His production feels textured and far from exclusionary, as Here jumps between hip-hop and R&B without being offensive to either.

Nicolay feat. Black Spade | I Am the Man (via World’s Fair)

Thanks to Gorilla vs. Bear for stalking RJD2’s MySpace page and letting us know that RJ is streaming his new single, You Never Had it So Good, from his forthcoming album, The Third Hand (due out March 6 on XL).

hip-hop

DJ Shadow “The Outsider” extras

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I haven’t listened to DJ Shadow’s The Outsider enough to form any sort of opinion on it. It’s not that I don’t own it, because I do. It’s sitting here, kinda staring at me. If I’m honest with myself, I’d say some of the lukewarm reviews have me a little tentative to dig in. There seem to be two distinct camps of Shadow fans: those pining for another Endtroducing and those embracing his exploration of the Bay’s hyphy scene. I’m somewhere in the middle. For now.

Regardless, the ever-resourceful Sole Sides let us know recently that a few different versions of The Outsider exist, and there are some tracks that aren’t on every album. Not to worry, because they’ve provided three of ’em for download. I especially like Triplicate Part 3, a cut soaked in classic Shadow style, meandering in piano and horn loops. It’s easy to picture this track as part of a score to a motion picture.

DJ Shadow | Triplicate Part 3
DJ Shadow feat. The Team | Purple Grapes
DJ Shadow feat. The Heliocentrics | Skullfuckery

hip-hop, i used to love h.e.r.

I Used to Love H.E.R.: The Gray Kid

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The fifth installment of I Used to Love H.E.R., a series in which artists/bloggers/writers discuss their most essential hip-hop albums (read intro), is a thought-provoking and entertaining piece from The Gray Kid, who released what’s shaping up to be one of my favorite albums this year, … 5, 6, 7, 8. He dissects Black Moon’s bangin’ debut Enta Da Stage with his typical gusto and well of knowledge that goes deep beyond the surface.

[mp3] The Gray Kid | Lonely Love (see also, The Gray Kid’s PaxilBack spoof.)

Black Moon
Enta Da Stage (Nervous Records, 1993)

“Mount Up: Enta Da Stage = Enter the Posse”

“I bought my first cassette copy of Black Moon’s Enta Da Stage in 1993 on the strength of a song that wasn’t even on the album, the irreplaceable “I Got Cha Opin (Remix).” The song had exploded at radio following the first proper single from EDS, 1992’s “Who Got the Props?,” and had immediate appeal to a 13-year-old boy who was still hiding the bulk of his RapLove from his parents. I wore out the unmistakable horn sample from Barry White’s “Playing Your Game Baby.” The defenseless cardboard sleeve where Buckshot donned a bright yellow poncho and trademark Timz didn’t stand a chance either, its black ink ceding from soon-rounded corners. It only took a few complete listens, though, for Enta Da Stage to enter my Top 5 for good, hit remix or not.

“In an era that was made up of more rap groups than we’ll ever see again (*Star* culture can’t afford to spread the love like that), Black Moon was wedged in between A Tribe Called Quest and Onyx: a veritable rock – ATCQ was on top, releasing Midnight Marauders in ’93 to critical acclaim – and a hard place – Onyx was set to redefine what a fear-instilling rap squadron was supposed to look like. Good thing “Who Got the Props” was, without question, a party song at the same time as being the tune which established Buckshot as the hard-ass Brooklyn MC not to be fucked with. EDS, on the whole, was a violent record. It was unforgiving in its content, from the song titles (“Buck em Down,” “Niguz Talk Shit,” “Black Smif-n-Wessun”) to the Beatminerz filthy and often-mangled sonics (particularly on “Slave,” my favorite track). Yet, EDS succeeded largely because it was intensely groovy, comprised of clear and memorable samples (“How Many MCs…”) that let Buckshot shine for the lyric-obsessed just the same.

“What was so fresh and visceral about Black Moon, though, and what really had such a broad impact on the surging New York hip-hop scene, was their relentless posse nature. Remember, this is the group that ushered in the Boot Camp Click, the crew that, for my money, was the most accomplished in the ’90s, releasing multiple records from their sprawling team to consistent musical and cultural acclaim (“Lefleur Leflah Eshkoshka” was FUCKING WEIRD – these guys had their own ideas).

“The way the posse functioned for Black Moon, however, was even more psychologically disarming. Buckshot was not afraid to remind you of his physical stature (“yo who’s the shortie?”) with the same breath he used to remind you of the physical harm you’d subject yourself to if you crossed his path (“I’m bustin’ niguz with my six-shooter“). He was the littlest guy you didn’t want to fuck with the most. His occasional partner-in-rhyme was another 5-footer, and the rest of the squad at the time (Smif-N-Wessun and the young Mobb Deep) were hardly Ruck and Rock (who came a couple years later).

“In retrospect this seems anomalous, but upon re-listening to Enta Da Stage everything makes perfect sense. Of the album’s 14 cuts, 10 contain legit posse choruses made up of emphatic multi-dude overdubbing, one (“Powerful Impak”) contains a sample of 4 screaming Busta Rhymeses, one (“Shit iz Real”) contains loosely recorded chilling 10-deep in the studio, and the rest (the KRS-One sampled “How Many MCs” and the ahead-of-its-time for being psycho-maniacal “Slave”) are just plain fire. This shit is terrifying if you think about it in musical terms: the hooks as close to horror as you’d want them to come whilst remaining musical, engaging, and ultimately hip-hop. Mad dudes are yelling at you. The MC is threatening you 80 percent of the time. He knew he could truly spit with anybody, and he knew his click could throw down just as well. It was more like enta da stage, at your own risk.”

[mp3] Black Moon | Who Got Da Props?

Previously on I Used to Love H.E.R.:
Sarah Daly of Scanners (Run-DMC – Tougher Than Leather)
Pigeon John (De La Soul – De La Soul is Dead)
Joel Hatstat of Cinemechanica (Digital Underground – Sex Packets)
G. Love (Eric B. & Rakim – Paid In Full)
An introduction

contests

Death Cab concert ticket giveaway (via Barsuk)

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Barsuk Records is giving away a pair of tickets for each show on Death Cab for Cutie’s upcoming tour, which includes a Dec. 2 stop in Arizona at Mesa Amphitheatre with Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins.

According to Barsuk, winners will be randomly chosen from among entries made at the label’s Web site. Entries will be cut off a few days prior to the date of each show. (No purchase necessary to win, but you do have to be at least 18 years to enter. Hey, I didn’t make the rules.)

If you don’t feel like risking it, tickets to the Arizona show (brought to you by Stateside Presents) are $29 and available at that giant ticket corporation that probably will make your ticket cost a lot more than $29. So enter that contest.

Death Cab for Cutie | A Movie Script Ending
(An oldie, but a goodie.)

Also, EZarchive, file host du jour, is in the process of upgrading and migrating files. So there’s a chance some older mp3s won’t work for now.That said, I’m toying with the idea of fully hosting this site on an external host or moving to Word Press or something. Anyone smarter than me have thoughts about this?

vinyl

The National: “Warm Singing Whores”

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No matter what my favorite album of this year ends up being – and I’ve got a couple in mind (isn’t the suspense killing you?) – it probably won’t hold a candle to last year’s top pick: Alligator by the National. It’s an album I’m still absorbing and poking around, checking out its nooks and crannies and trying to make sense of the lyrics. Coming back to it so often is justification to myself that it wasn’t just a cheap affair I had with Alligator.

Yet it makes me eager for the follow-up, which, I’ve heard, the group is diligently recording. The evolution of the hype may be most interesting to follow – build-up, leaks, response, backlash? Maybe the next album will be the one to launch the National into major-label territory (knowing nothing of its contract with Beggars, of course).

Ah, too much to speculate. That’s why I was thrilled to get my greasy fingerprints all over this Abel 7″ with its glossy cover and previously unreleased B-side, Warm Singing Whores, which, although short at about two-and-a-half minutes, would have fit comfortably on Alligator. If a track like this was left for life as a B-side, it seems to suggest the National reached a pretty healthy creative streak during the recording of Alligator.

The National | Warm Singing Whores

Alligator is available at eMusic, along with the rest of the National catalog.

general

Catfish Haven: “Tell Me”

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I’m a little late to the Catfish Haven bandwagon, and my introduction (literally) to the Chicago three-piece is a pretty funny story.

After the Cold War Kids show a couple weeks ago, we ended up at Casey Moore’s, a great (and rumored to be haunted) bar in Tempe where hipsters, frat boys and co-eds collide. I’d had a bit to drink but still was able to recognize the mutton chops of Catfish Haven’s Miguel Castillo. So on the way out, I played the “Hey, you’re in a band” card. “Catfish Haven, right?” He seemed genuinely excited to have been recognized (or maybe he was just drunk, too). So I chatted with the band about Chicago, the Bears and Palatine, my old home town in Illinois. They were playing Modified the next night, which I wasn’t gonna be able to attend. So I bought their latest CD, Tell Me, instead, right there in the parking lot, where their tour van was located. Besides, drummer Ryan Farnham was wearing a Chicago Bulls sweatshirt. Gotta love that.

I really had no idea what to expect from Tell Me because I’d never listened to Catfish Haven before. Was this gonna be another run-of-the-mill indie flyby? After my first listen, I was happy to know Catfish Haven is nothing of the sort. The retro-soul and commingling of blues and folk makes for a refreshing change of pace. This is the best type of album: full of hooks and grooves and, more important, concise. I love a band that can get to the point in four minutes or less.

Though I can’t quite pinpoint a comparison, Catfish Haven’s style recalls soul from a different generation, tunes better heard out of a jukebox than an iPod.

Catfish Haven | Crazy for Leaving

general

Trail of Dead: “Wasted State of Mind”

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So, everyone’s favorite modern prog/art-rock group with the cumbersome band name (we’re not talking about Rush here) has a new single available for download on its MySpace from the forthcoming So Divided (out Nov. 14; pre-order from Insound and get a free 7″).

The guys in the group may or may not have leaked the albums themselves. Seems like a hoax, but who the hell knows anymore?

Anyway, Trail of Dead is scheduled to perform at Marquee Theatre in Tempe on Nov. 27 (same night as Mates of State/Asobi Seksu at Rhythm Room). Also, they’ll be making an in-store performance the same day at Hoodlum’s at Arizona State.

Wasted State of Mind seems like a great successor to the work on Worlds Apart, an album I enjoyed and seem to be in the minority with that opinion. Frantic bongo and piano lines open the track, giving way to Conrad Keely’s always epic/overwrought/pompous-sounding lyrics. And I love it. For reasons unknown, I make the helpless mental transition from this song to Dave Brubeck’s Take Five.

… Trail of Dead | Wasted State of Mind

DON’T FORGET: Enter the Calexico contest if you live in Arizona. Or if you don’t live in Arizona … um, move to Arizona because it’s like 85 degrees here right now. The Arizona Fall League is in full effect. And then you can enter the contest.