Congratulations to our music guru, Jeffrey Marshek.
He will continue to expand his ear and develop his writing over the fall as he takes an intern position in the editorial department of Rolling Stone!
It has been one freaking hot summer, pardon my French. I couldn’t get enough air conditioning. Hot, hot hot! It became my mission to find air conditioning. Industrial strength air conditioning. Anywhere and everywhere I could. So, I crept into various retail stores, nearly every supermarket, movie theatre and drugstore insight, slowly (painstakingly slow if it was a scorcher that day) perusing the merchandise and enjoying the cool, cool chill of what one could only equate with that of a meatlocker. I just chill out, take my time, enjoy the feeling of the air blowing the sweat off my face and listen to the ultimate mix: my summer cool-ada…
MY-POD: The Sound-track: ULTIMATE SUMMER COOL-ADA MIX
(1)MARK RONSON/Q-TIP/THE BUISNESS INTERNATIONAL
Bang Bang Bang!
Hot. Hip. Boppy! On behalf of your ears and feet, you may just want to, ahead of time, thank god for Mark Ronson. It seems everything he touches turns to sonic gold . Here, he turned out another rollicking groove fueled with a lickety split rhyme by no other than Q-Tip (and featuring The Business International) get ready to jump up and down!!!
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
Spoiler alert: Heed QW-tip’s warning: “Un Deux Tois, turn it up”!!!!
(2)LET’S GET LOST- Bat For Lashes and Beck
On paper, it is a collaboration of the sublime. But once the song comes on, you are instantly entranced by this love struck Romeo and Juliet pairing. Both take turns inviting the other to succumb to 1 night of ecstasy. Turn it on, tune in, give in and get ‘lost’ with this tween soundtrack standout.
(3)CHEMICAL BROTHERS Swoon
This is the perfect time for a breathtaking, fresh update on the whole, ‘all you need is love’ message that the Beatles started 40 some years ago. Here is an energizing reminder from the Chemical Brothers that in this life, as you venture out into the world, “just remember to fall in love, if nothing else.” (Consider it advice from your nagging, rave-club mother.)
(4)DEPARTMENT OF EAGLES Brightest Minds
This melodious, haunting ditty about an improvised battle of the wits face-off, creeps up slowly. And just as you start to tap your toes, it is already too late: you’ve fallen victim to the clever seduction that is this unassuming spellbinder. Even if it happens to you again, on repeat listen, (and it WILL) Department of Eagles are there to encourage you not to worry your pretty little head.- That this happens to some of the best, some of the ‘BRIGHTEST minds’….
(5)BASEMENT JAXX/ SANTIGOLD Saga
Basment Jaxx places Santigold in front of a mirror to face her demons , invoking a new wave voodoo vocal snake dance. Confronting her inner cynic, ‘Saga’, Santi calls out her trouble making critic, with a fun shame and blame game. “Your just limiting all the possibilities!” she warns. Tisk, tisk. Mama puts drama to task! Oh, snap! This one is a literal exercising of the demons…
(6)Portishead- Chase the tear
The artists formerly known as the soundtrack to your sex life in the mid 1990’s just got spicier. And dicier. Imagine Giorgio Moroder of Donna summer fame giving Beth Gibbons a make-over. Oh yeah, baby. It is risky and frisky and…wait. Where is the air conditioner? It is hot in here. (Get ready for a whole new soundtrack…)
(7) Dan Black CIGARETTE PACK
He mashed up Notorious B.I.G and Rhianna to create a great, harmonious symphony. Here, Dan Black paints a picture of a youthful day-dreaming tenor whose vengeful ambitions are chronicled on said cigarette dispenser. Detailing his big picture plans, he maps out the rest of his life and plots the perfect strategy to leave home and take over the world. It’s a heartbreaking exit plan. One that you somehow know will never take place. Oh, the possibilities…
(8) AU REVOIR SIMONE The Last One (Mack Winston dub)
A whimsical but sultry tango takes place in a smoke filled Brooklyn bar, where saying and doing don’t really seem to correspond. The whole, ‘you don’t really know me’ thing has never been sexier as the girls coyly plead to be released from your un-accountable clutches. Au Revoir Simone slowly reject you, passing it off as their defeat, all the while entrancing you, giving new meaning to “no means yes’, (yes, yes, YES please!!)
BZZZZZ:
M.I.A Queen of mesh, mish and mosh
WARNING: On her latest album, M.I.A clearly indicates once and for all that she is not gunning for some sort of Joni Mitchell Lyrical Laureate Prize. If this is not a bone of contention for you, the listener, (or you the b.s police) , if you can begrudge her this one relatively small oversight, if you can sign on for her so called subversive style(i.e. rhyming ‘free country’ with ‘chicken factory’), if you are willing to make these concessions, than READ ON: you may discover that she (a) actually has an interesting point of view, contrary as it may be. (b) you might even enjoy her clever lyrical content, though the social/ politcal aspects may be contradictory….Hell..at the very least, depending on how discerning your ear actually is, you might enjoy the sonic pleasures of ‘Maya”, M.I.A’s third album. After all, what “Maya” does provide is a unique (in the context of what is popular music today) composition of vocals paired with an array of sounds.
Her style has always been a blend of hip-hop, rap, auto tune and sound effects. This process, seemingly built from the ground up, is almost rare for an artist these days.(Especially a solo female artist.) And, though she doesn’t play an instrument, her unique methods of music making haven’t really been practiced recently, certainly outside of Bjork.
(Translation: Sorry, Lady Gaga. You may be more skilled as a musician, able to sit at your piano, crafting radio gems, but M.I.A ‘s music making process proves far more progressive.) And she certainly would like you to think they are far more progressive than Gaga. M.I.A’s knack, not totally unlike Lady Gaga(Sorry, M.I.A-Don’t go ballistic and Tweet my cell number for the world to see!) lies in the art of wordplay, phrasing and catchy sing-song repetition games. One could even say that she likes to mesh.
Even point of view is meshed up with sound effects and distortions, though it doesn’t fare as well as, you get the impression, she would like it to. Then again, the impression she makes is enough to start a dialogue: Is it good? Is it crap? Is it pop? Is it art? Is it pop-art?
It is mesh. (Not pastiche, mesh!)
“It Takes a Muscle” may be a cover of an 8o’s Dutch pop ditty, but is a delight, where an artful use of auto-tune meets her reggae, Rastafarian sunshine, summer groove.
“Xxxo” is her best claim to pop radio stake, (Including a Jay-Z remix to boot ) with Maya all up in da club and a top 40 jingle hook that could be double as her bling-tone. She ‘tweets’ on the ‘iphone’, casts herself as a Tarrantino-esque muse and shrewdly plays a cat and mouse game: ‘Xxxo xxxo You want me be somebody who I’m really not’.
“Lovealot” is the kinda stuff Eminem would have been praised for: Calling out Ghandi and Obama, all the while claiming to be a real softie, with a lot of love to give, yet a lot of people to fight.
“Born Free”, fueled by a sample of suicide’s “Ghost Rider”, has the thrash- rock dance abandon that recalls the days of Violent Femmes and The Ramones. She even has a message to give, though, again, it is intentionally distorted
Though many songs here play with her as M.I.A The social critic, disenchanted with the culture of modern connectivity( the tweeting on twitter, google-ing Facebook-ing, iphones and itunes), it is her escape from that conceit where her meshing works to best effect.
“It iz what it iz” almost has Maya, along with an electro-Bollywood score, bouncing her voice around the room as if it were a super ball. And “Space” has her disconnect from her agenda completely: She can’t answer the phone, retaliate or even politicize. She even states that she wants to introduce her point of view, but gets distracted and fails to. This is some of the best work on the album and the least complicated, not rife with conflicting messages/lyrical content.
By albums end, if you can accept the contrarian that is M.I.A and permit yourself to float along with her, disconnect, dance and sing along with utter, shameless abandon, “Maya” just might be your summer jam.
YOUTUBE: Under The Covers
Sneaker Pimps Cover David Bowie’s “Ashes to Ashes”
Here is a random and rare cover from one hit wunderkind Sneaker Pimps. They channel the Ziggy Stardust vibe of glitter and glam rock and even manage to sound like young Bowie himself.
Arcade Fire cover Violent Femmes “Kiss Off”
Wyn Butler and company take on the anthem of your teenage years with verve and gusto. Who gets this physically close to the audience AND conducts a sing along?
Sia covers Madonna’s ‘Oh Father’
Digging into Madonna’s archives doesn’t sound like something to expect from Sia’s set list.
But don’t doubt this talent-she channels her daddy issues and the heart Madonna displayed when singing this, re-creating a classic father/daughter tale. She is simple, raw, pure and soulful.
Vampire Weekend covers Fleetwood Mac ‘Everywhere’
Those boys known as the inventors of upper west side afro-pop bring their graceland feel to a forgotten Fleetwood Mac song and give Christine Mcvie a little run for her money.
Fanfarlo cover Smashing Pumpkins ‘We only come out At Night’
This brit Indie/rock import proves what a great song Smashing Pumpkins created back in the day (and doesn’t make you miss Billy Corgan’s rarely displayed falsetto.) Lush, sweet and dreamy. Night-night.
Sting covers Human League “Don’t You Want Me”
It feels like 80’s karaoke night at sting’s house. The yoga aficionado himself turns in a ham-tastic rendition / Interesting choice of cover tune, if not just for the mere novelty.
(Wonder if he ever would have covered this bubble gum classic back in the day when the Police ruled stadium rock…)
