Chris at gorillavsbear.net has me all geeked out about Digable after reading his review of Lollapallooza in Chicago this weekend. I was gonna save these gems for a future date, but I couldn’t hold out any longer. These are from the vinyl stash: A 9th Wonder (Slicker this Year) Mad Slicker Remixes promo 12″ and a Dial 7 12″.
Digable Planets: 9th Wonder (Amina remix)
Digable Planets: 9th Wonder (Dania remix)
Digable Planets: 9th Wonder (Accapella)
Digable Planets: Dedication
It’s almost August, which means NFL teams are reporting to training camp, which means it’s never too early to start thinking about the Super Bowl. It’s like spring training, when every team thinks they have a shot. Only I’m a Bears fan and I KNOW they don’t stand a chance.
Ah, but memories. We can always milk the 1985 domination. Payton, McMahon, the Fridge. What about those linebackers? Singletary, Wilson, Marshall. Then there’s Super Bowl MVP Richard Dent. That team should have turned into a dynasty. Alas …
Yes, I’ve digitized my 12-inch vinyl of the Super Bowl Shuffle, which was in vogue long before the Ickey Shuffle. I could never decide whose verse I liked the most, but what I really could never figure out is how backup QB Steve Fuller ever got on the song.
Anyway, be sure to check out the pure cheesiness of the “Extended Vocal Mix.”
Well, without further ado, we present the Chicago Bears Shufflin’ Crew:
It’s possible (no, likely) I’m way behind on this, but I was stunned out of my nap-induced stupor today by an M&M’s commercial that featured Iron and Wine’s cover of Postal Service’s Such Great Heights. First, Shins on a McDonald’s ad, then Modest Mouse on a Nissan ad and now this? I’m not crying sellout or anything; it’s just … weird. …
More on the INXS “Rock Star” front. Billboard story reports that ratings are — shock! — low; I think only Dodge watches it (for his loyalty, he may be nominated the band’s next singer). But: “The week of the show’s premiere, sales of “The Best of INXS” nearly tripled to more than 5,000, according to Nielsen SoundScan.” Yes, of course. Then guitarist Tim Farriss, defending the band’s decision to find a singer via reality TV says: “In all seriousness, what were we supposed to do? Put an ad in the paper?” Is that a rhetorical question? Clay Aiken is available.
Tomorrow (nay, late tonight) I have an NFL/Chicago Bears-inspired post. You won’t be sorry. Check back.
Also, I’ll be getting all alt-country on you in preparation for the Richard Buckner/Anders Parker show in Tucson, which will include a required trip to PDQ Records, literally a warehouse full of vinyl in no particular order. It’s maddening and marvelous.
Seven Storey Mountain is, by far, one of my favorite bands from Arizona. The best compliment I can pay is that they don’t sound like a local band, if that makes sense.
The band has undergone plenty of turnover, but the one constant is singer/songwriter/guitarist Lance Lammers, the brains of the operation. Seven Storey Mountain (which, for a short time, truncated its name to Seven Storey) has made several appearances on Deep Elm’s Emo Diaries collections. But I’m hesitant to label it “emo.” If emo is about baring your soul and getting in touch with feelings, Lammers is more about relieving the burdens of emotions in sonic thrusts. It’s relationships and reality gone awry, then examining the wreckage. Catharsis defined.
The band’s first LP, Leper Ethics, released on Art Monk Construction, is engaging and introspective. Deep Elm released the follow-ups, “Based on a True Story” (an EP) and “Dividing By Zero.” (All available through Stinkweeds.)
A new LP is due for release this year, and Lammers has posted four demos at the band’s spot on My Space. There are MP3s at the band’s Web site, and I have a few of my favorites to add (all recommended, including the scathing “Politician.”)
Seven Storey Mountain: Last Time (from Leper Ethics)
Seven Storey Mountain: Politician (from Based on a True Story)
Seven Storey Mountain: Halfway (from Dividing By Zero)
Upcoming shows I plan on attending (or at least hope I will):
In this wonderfully oppressive hot state of Arizona, temperatures have reached 115 recently. Our annual monsoons — thunder and lightning storms galore — have arrived (sort of) to “cool down” things to a mild 104. It sprinkled a bit tonight, and so rain is the theme of these two songs, plucked from my 45 collection.
As I’ve said before, my dad passed on to me a beautiful Wurlitzer jukebox to me, along with about 250 45s. We lugged this thing from Chicago to Phoenix when we moved when I was about 8. For the better part of our time in Phoenix, though, the jukebox was nothing more than a household decoration: “Oh, cool, a jukebox. Does it work?” “Uh, no.” Well, I paid a pro to get it working and I cleaned and covered all the 45s and I’m working on cataloging them into the computer.
Shopping for records is fun, but sorting through all these 45s and playing them and pulling out some 40-year-old pop gem is the best. The catalog is loaded with some Beatles, Beach Boys, Rolling Stones, Kinks, Sly and the Family Stone (I’ve added from my own collection, including a stash of James Brown singles and more modern indie/hip-hop tunes).
What’s interesting about the records is the generation gap they present. That’s why I want to mix it up: Righteous Brothers with Whodini in the same jukebox. That said, I’ve come to gain a valuable appreciation for the music my parents enjoyed.
Anyway, let’s get to the differing opinions on rain: Eddie Rabbitt loved it; the Carpenters were saddened by it (maybe they were my parents’ version of emo?: “What I’ve got they used to call the blues / Nothing is really wrong / Feeling like I don’t belong.”) I used to really love this Eddie Rabbitt song as a kid and I was thrilled to find it on 45.
I won’t let a little root canal this morning keep me from posting today. I’ll spare you all the details, but it wasn’t as bad as I was fearing. A few shots of novocaine go a long way. I will say, I had some perverse attraction to keeping my eyes open during the whole procedure. My mouth was kept open by this rubber wedge — something akin to a doorstop — and I could see each instrument, and I had an idea what the endodontist was doing with it, but I really couldn’t feel much. The tooth is a little sore now, but I have prescription pain killer to keep it at bay.
Alas, I’m thinking an easy post here. I’ve been on a Mike Doughty kick (see a few posts below) of late, and that’s made me pull out the Soul Coughing, which has made me pull out this excellent cover of Blue-Eyed Devil by Low. It’s on a box set called A Lifetime of Temporary Relief, (a three-CD+DVD compliation which I gave to my brother for Christmas and have since borrowed and haven’t returned. Sorry, B); buy it for $33 at Stinkweeds (as opposed to $56 at Amazon). I’ve been listening to Low quite a bit lately, especially after a poignant NPR interview and then singer Alan Sparhawk’s announcement on the band’s message board that the group canceled touring because “I have not been very mentally stable for the last while.”
In the future, I’m sure I’ll put up some original Low stuff. But I’ve been loving these covers (and the originals, too).
Soul Coughing: Blue-Eyed Devil
Low: Blue-Eyed Devil
Bob Dylan: Blowin’ in the Wind
Low: Blowin’ in the Wind
Went record shopping Wednesday night at Zia, a splendid used CD/record chain in Arizona where I spend much time and money. Digging through the vinyl, my ever-observant wife spotted Bloc Party’s Silent Alarm used for $8.99. (That was almost as great as finding Neil Young’s Decade — six sides! — for $1.99.) Anyway, the Bloc Party 12″ contained three records, including one — The Dim Mak “Dimmakified” 12″ — with two remixes apiece of Positive Tension and Price of Gas.
Not sure if I’m behind the curve on these, but I thought I’d share all the same. I especially enjoy the Jason Clark mix of Positive Tension and the Jus Ske mix of Price of Gas (that bassline … dang).
Bloc Party: Positive Tension — Jason Clark remix
Bloc Party: Positive Tension — Johnny Whitney remix
Bloc Party: Price of Gas — Automato remix
Bloc Party: Price of Gas — Jus Ske remix
I’m off to the endodontist tomorrow for my first (and hopefully my last) root canal. Let this be a lesson: Don’t put off going to the dentist. And brush. And floss. And you’ll be happy, like Little Toothy over there.
The good news is I can listen to my iPod. The bad news is I doubt I’ll be able to hear anything with whatever god-awful drilling instruments they’ll be inserting into my teeth. But the worst part about the whole ordeal is I don’t even get to go under with gas. Only novocaine.
Oh, well. Enough about the torture. Here are some dental-inspired tracks. The Poison track, recorded from vinyl, comes from the album Open Up and Say … Ahhh. Naturally.
Poison — Every Rose Has its Thorn
Roots with Roy Ayers — Proceed
Beastie Boys — Root Down
Digging into the crates of Arizona’s hip-hop past, Supermarket is bound to turn up. I can’t believe this album (1996) is almost 10 years old. To me, these guys represented all that was right in hip-hop: fun flows, creative beats, and they never took themselves too seriously.
The group — emcees Fluid, Ruckus and Type O and DJ Jimi the Mantis Claw — formed in 1994. That was about the time I was in college, knee-deep in all things hip-hop: A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Digable Planets … they were all at their peak. And their influence is pretty evident in Dump Koch, named in honor of former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, whose vehement crackdown on graffiti ran contrary to hip-hop culture’s street-art ethos.
Supermarket also takes shots at the bluster of gangsta rap via skits (a la De La Soul) and “covergirl emcees” using all those “verbal cosmetics.” DJ Z-Trip, whose name you’ll see plenty on this site, worked production on the album. This album was great because they repped Arizona to the fullest, with mentions of the 6-0-2 — Phoenix area code, y’all — and, on True Feelings, they name-check “6th and Mill,” the main drag in downtown Tempe. On the same track, Fluid drops the perhaps the album’s best line: “I’m a hypochondriac, all my styles are sick.”
The group quietly dissolved, but last I read the guys reunited for a show in May. Be sure to peep my personal fave Frontal Lobe Piercing, which includes a guest spot from local emcee Puma.
