#BEAT HAPPENING 1985 Debut Album

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

"THIS IS THE ALBUM THAT SENT A SHOCKWAVE OF EMPOWERMENT THROUGH THE NATION'S CULTURAL UNDERGROUND."

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on the 2001 CD repress of "Beat Happening," the debut album by American indie rock band BEAT HAPPENING, self-released in November 1985 by the band's own K Records. The album was released as a compilation of material originally released on the first Beat Happening album, their first 45, their "Three Tea Breakfast" cassette, the "Let's Together", "Let's Kiss" and "Let's Sea" compilation cassettes, combined with a few previously unavailable recordings.

MINI-OVERVIEW: "This is the album that sent a shockwave of empowerment through the nation's cultural underground. In 1985, Olympia, Washington band BEAT HAPPENING released their eponymous debut of lo-fi pop songs on K Records and challenged every conception held about music. At the center of the group was the enigmatic Calvin Johnson and his revolutionary vision of artistic creation. His foresight and industriousness allowed him to recruit to the K Records roster other free-spirited artists like BECK, MODEST MOUSE, and BUILT TO SPILL long before they gained widespread acclaim."

-- BRYAN C. PARKER (author), "33 1/3 -- Beat Happening" by BEAT HAPPENING

Sources: www.discogs.com/release/3547757 & https://shop.theheartworm.com/products/beat-happening-beat-happening-33-1-3.

[hollywoodroses]

Sharing is Caring (a steven adler fan fiction)

steven watches you have sex with axl while recording rocket queen. read what steven was possibly thinking at the time.

Based on the song rocket queen by guns n’ roses. written in steven’s pov.

Warnings: smut including voyerism and exhibitionism. Minors please DO NOT INTERACT.

Steven’s pov:

I walked my girlfriend, Y/N to the studio. My band and I were in the middle of recording our debut album. We were all waiting for today to come as we were going to record our song, rocket queen. The song was popular in our club scene back in 1985. Axl, my best friend and frontman of our band had the greatest idea (in his opinion) to record my girlfriend moaning during a sex act.

“Are you sure you are okay with this.” My girlfriend asked me as I smiled.

“Yes, and remember what I told you. I’ll be in the room with you, I trust Axl. You don’t have to worry.

She sighed as we both entered the recording room. My bandmates ready to get the party started.

I started to panic as i realized what was going to happen. When Axl and the boys described was they wanted from my girlfriend it seems amazing at the time. I started to get second thoughts but I brushed them aside as I kissed her lovingly.

My hand started to unbutton the trench coat she was wearing, it was covering her nakedness which made me blush for her.

She seems unfazed, I’ll bet excited to have a sexual encounter with my front-man. I guess I didn’t know how wild she could be until today.

Once my girlfriend was comfortable in all her naked glory, I decided to sit in the corner of the room where I wouldn’t be a distraction for her.

I watched as Axl smiled as she looked at him with innocent eyes. I was not expecting this. He slowly walked up to her like a cat ready to play with a mouse. When he finally got close enough to her, he grabbed her shoulder and kissed her. It was just a peck as she stopped to look over at me in the shadows, all I did was nod my approval.

When Y/N got the okay from me, she taped a small microphone to her thigh as she sat on a table ready for Axel to have his fun.

Axl kneeled on the floor as he got close to her clit, he takes a small kitten lick to, I guess, see how she feels. I could hear a small whimper come from her which made my heart skip a beat. He looked over to me but I was silent. My silence was all he needed.

Axl started to lick and kiss her clit as her moans became louder. I felt my hand go to the uncomfortable area of my jeans but I stopped myself. I can’t believe I am getting off on my girlfriend being with another man. I just let them have their fun. I knew there will be a time for me.

When I notice her enjoying herself, it had been awhile since we started the recording. I slowly got up from my seat and walked over to the table where she was sitting. Once I got to my girlfriend, I pushed Axl away from her and took his place.

I put on hand on her stomach to convince her to lay down on the table. I softly kissed her as she moaned into my mouth, as I kissed with more heat I started to lightly tap her leg and went low until reaching her clit.

When I started to finger her, she stopped the kiss and started moaning. I smiled as I knew I was the only one to make her feel good. I felt her clit get tight and I knew she would burst as I felt her wetness on my fingers.

It only took seconds for her to explode and her cum to squirt on the floor. She gasped for air as I removed the microphone from her bare thigh and carried her to the coach to finish our business.

Axl chuckled as the rest of the band were too shocked to say anything.

end

[freddiemercurydaily]

I was born to love you

“I'm caught in a dream And my dream's come true So hard to believe This is happening to me An amazing feeling Comin' through I was born to love you With every single beat of my heart

 Freddie Mercury on the set of his video “I Was Born To love You” taken from his 1985 debut solo album “Mr. Bad Guy” The video was directed by David Mallet and filmed at the now demolished Limehouse Studios, London.

[brokenbuttonsmusic]

Eleni Mandell: L.A. Singer-Songwriter with Smoky Chrissie Hynde Vocals and a flair for Tom Waits’ Influenced Experimentation

This post is a near- transcript of the Broken Buttons: Buried Treasure Music podcast (episode 5, side A). Here you’ll find the narration from the segment featuring the L.A. singer-songwriter, Eleni Mandell, along with links, videos, photos and references for the episode.

Listen to the full episode on Spotify, Apple, Anchor or Mixcloud.

Have you ever bought the wrong record? Like, you intended to buy something that sounded like one thing and you accidentally grab something that sounds very different. 

I don’t know if this happens anymore, but I believe it was quite common years ago. Imagine hearing an artist on the radio and being blown away. You go to the record store, find the plastic divider with the name of whom you’re looking for, but you can’t remember the name of the album, or even the song. Remember, you don’t have a tiny computer in your pocket. You’re too nervous to ask the store clerk for fear of looking stupid. So you roll the dice. 

“I know it was someone called Neil Young, but there are a thousand Neil Young records here.”

“Hey, this pink one looks cool.”

That exact scenario didn’t happen to me, but that album, Neil Young’s Everybody’s Rockin’, happened to be the most played Neil Young album in my house growing up, so for years I thought Neil Young was a rockabilly revival act. In reality, that was one of several oddball records Young released during a tumultuous period with his record label to fulfill his contract demands. I still love that record. 

Eleni Mandell did live out the scenario of buying the wrong record though. She shared the story during a segment of the show Bullseye with Jessie Thorn, where she describes seeing Tom Waits on MTV late at night—back when MTV still cared about music. It was either 120 minutes or IRS’ The Cutting Edge. This would have been around 1984 or 1985, so right around the time of Wait’s masterpiece Rain Dogs. When she went to the record store though, she picked up the 1976 Tom Waits’ Asylum release, Small Change instead. Now Small Change is still a great Tom Waits album, but it sounds nothing like the drastically reimagined sound and musical approach he had begun to employ starting with 1983’s Swordfishtrombones. Something Tom Waits called his “junkyard orchestral deviation.” The spare, off-kilter percussion. Moaning trombones and muted trumpets. Marimba. Plenty of marimba. Experimental instruments mixed in everywhere. Megaphones and CB radios. Trash can lids. 

This is the sound Eleni was looking for. 

Instead she got lush strings. Delicate piano. Cinematic swells and a melancholy wail. 

She got this.

Still awesome, but not the same. She credits the experience with changing her life. She grew to love both sides of the Tom Waits coin. The jazzy piano man in the smoky, whiskey-drenched nightclub and the eclectic, experimental carnival barker that she had her first encounter with on late night MTV. 

You can hear that deep appreciation and influence for the full Tom Waits spectrum injected and swirling through Eleni Mandell’s own spectacular catalog that spans more than 20 years now. 

She’s got plenty of experimental Waits, especially in her early catalog. 

And quite a bit of the jazzy nightclub vibe.

There’s also plenty of folk-y Eleni mixed in, and even some country.

You’ll notice that Eleni’s voice doesn’t sound like Tom Waits though. Did you notice that? It’s less of a deep, gravelly howl and more of rich Chrissie Hynde croon. Spin compared her to Chrissie Hynde and PJ Harvey. Rolling Stone compared her captivating melodies and witty lyricism to early Elvis Costello. 

While she doesn’t have the Tom Waits’ wail, she does specialize in his particular brand of character song-study. Like this first song we’re going to hear. The first track off of Eleni Mandell’s second album Thrill. Released in the year 2000. This is Pauline. 

Pauline, from Eleni Mandell’s second record, Thrill. So how did this remarkably unique singer-songwriter get her start and pull together so many interesting influences to create the sound we just heard.

Eleni grew up in the Sherman Oaks region of the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles. She started playing music when she was just 5, beginning with the violin and then piano. Eleni didn’t love playing either, but continued to take lessons until she was thirteen. She remembers wanting to learn to write songs early on, but didn’t have the first idea of how to approach it, especially on violin. She jumped from violin and piano to guitar as a teenager. Her parents exposed her to a variety of musical styles. Her mom would take her to musicals and her dad, a serious record collector, played her Hoagy Carmichael and plenty of jazz standards. She loved the Beatles and remembers Diana Ross making an early impression. 

Another early life changing moment came when she discovered the Los Angeles punk band X.

X were huge in LA, and their first album (called Los Angeles) was the first record Eleni ever owned. Or maybe the first she asked to own. The first record she was ever given was Shaun Cassidy’s greatest hits for her 4th birthday. The first she ever purchased with her own money was X’s third release, Under the Big Black Sun. She tells a story of when she was out record shopping at a place called Aron’s Records, located on Melrose, and to her utter befuddlement came face to face with John Doe, lead singer of X. He was shopping for records too. She quickly snapped up a copy of the band’s third album and asked John to sign it. He did. She still has the signed album, which reads “Yours” complete with a big X “-John Doe.” That was the last autograph she ever asked for. It was not, however, the last time her path would cross with that of the band X. 

When she was a little bit older, she met Chuck E. Weiss, songwriter, rock n’ roller, beat poet and peculiar Tom Waits associate. Also the subject of the song, Chuck E.’s in Love.

Yes, that Chuck E. Weiss. Waits was in a relationship with Rickie Lee Jones. Waits, Jones and Weiss all lived at the seedy Tropicana Motel in Los Angeles. One day Weiss up and left out of nowhere. Some time later Chuck E. called the apartment where Jones and Waits were living. He explained to Waits that he had moved to Denver because he had fallen in love with a cousin there. Waits hung up the phone and announced to Jones, “Check E.’s in love. Rickie Lee Jones liked that so much that she it turned it into the song we just heard. 

Who is this episode about again? Oh, right. Eleni Mandell. Anyway, Eleni Mandell met THAT Chuck E. Weiss when she was not yet 21. Still, she had a friend who was able to get her into The Central, a Sunset Strip club that would later become The Viper Room. This would’ve been around 1990. Weiss was playing there every Monday. 

Here’s how the write up on Eleni’s original website describes her first encounter with Weiss.

“The first time she ever saw Chuck E. Weiss perform, he walked right up to her and smiled like a cross between The Cheshire Cat and an escaped mental patient. She met him a month later at Musso and Frank’s.”

Eleni says she was at the famous Hollywood restaurant and recognized Weiss. She worked up the courage to approach him and told him how much she loved his show. He asked if she wanted to accompany him to meet up with a friend at Canter’s Deli. She agreed. When they settled into one of the landmark eaterys iconic red, vinyl booths in walked her hero. Tom Waits. What a night. Tom asked Chuck how he and Eleni had met. 

“Hebrew school,” he declared. 

Here’s a tune from Eleni’s debut album, Wishbone, released in 1999. This is Sylvia. 

From Eleni Mandell’s first album, Wishbone, that was Sylvia. 

Under Chuck E. Weiss’ mentorship, produced by Jon Brion and self-financed by Mandell, Wishbone, as well as her next several records, received strong reviews and drew comparisons to Waits and PJ Harvey in style. 

Before Weiss mentored Mandell, he hired her as a door person at his club. She said he would test her to see how tough a door person she was by trying to grab money out of her hand. Weiss would continue to mentor Eleni over the years and they’re still friends to this day. 

For her fourth album, Mandell shook things up by diving into traditional country. A mix of covers and originals, 2003’s Country For True Lovers is an exciting update to her sound. And one of her life changing moments came full circle. Weiss introduced her to former X guitarist Tony Gilkyson, who produced the project. She also stacked the sessions with all star players, including Nels Cline from Wilco, and another X hero, drummer D.J. Bonebreak. 

Eleni continued to mix and mesh genres on her next release, 2004’s Afternoon. 

From the No Depression review of that album:

“Last years Country For True Lovers found Los Angeles chanteuse Eleni Mandell turning her sights on twang rather than her previous more PJ Harvey-oriented material, and she received plenty of critical acclaim in the process, sharing the LA Weekly 2003 songwriter of the year award with the late Elliot Smith.”

“On Afternoon, her fifth album, Mandell combines her love of various genres, including country, pop, jazz and rock, to stunning effect. Produced by Joshua Grange, who also lends his considerable talents on guitar, pedal steel, Hammond organ and piano, Afternoon mostly takes the slow and sexy approach. I’ve Been Fooled and Can’t You See Im Soulful give Mandell the chance to show off her breathy but passionate alto, which can devastate in a heartbeat.”

“Mandell does rock out from time to time, as on Easy On Your Way Out, which has a grungy Elvis Costello-gets-on-with-Liz Phair feel to it. I wanna be your afternoon/I want you coming back for more, Mandell sings on the sorta fun/sorta sad title song.”

She can also write catchy singles. Like this song from Afternoon, “Let’s Drive Away.”

That was Let’s Drive Away from Eleni Mandell’s fifth album, Afternoon, released in 2004. That song was also featured on the TV show, Weeds.

And here comes the challenging part of covering an artist like Eleni Mandell, who’s put out consistently solid albums for over two decades. There’s not enough time to feature all the good stuff she’s produced, but trust me, over her eleven albums, she always delivers. From the diverse shifting sounds of Artificial Fire [play clip] to the smooth and breezy Dark Lights Up [play clip], Eleni whirls a magical combination of jazz, folk, pop, country and rock, with just enough experimental twists to keep everything fresh. 

She’s also branched out from her solo artist gig to release two albums with her band The Grabs. The Grabs allows her to exercise more of her pop side and features Eleni on vocals, Blondie bassist Nigel Harrison, and Silversun Pickups’ drummer Elvira Gonzalez. 

And, she’s also released records with the Andrews Sisters inspired supergroup, The Living Sisters, with Inara George, Alex Lilly and Becky Stark.

I’d recommend checking out all of this. 

So now that we’ve established that the Eleni Mandell road is paved with the goods, let’s skip ahead to focus on her most recent album: 2019’s Wake Up Again.

Here’s what Eleni and her website have to say about the latest release: 

“For two years or thereabouts,” Mandell says, “I taught songwriting at two colleges and a women’s prison.”

The prison gig came about via Jail Guitar Doors, the organization founded by Wayne Kramer, guitarist of the vaunted Detroit band MC5, in partnership with English musician Billy Bragg. “I don’t know why exactly I was drawn to that work,” Mandell says. “But I had a family member who had been in prison in the 1940s. He wasn’t around when I was growing up, but that sort of fascinated me and I was always curious about what kind of person disappears and what kind of person commits crimes — what are they thinking?”

Working with the inmates also provided many epiphanies for her as a person, and proved fertile for her as an artist, as captured in the 11 songs on this album, her 11th studio release. In many ways it’s the culmination and fulfillment of all the strengths as a writer and performer going back to her start under the tutelage of Chuck E. Weiss, Tom Waits and other top chroniclers of people in the shadows.

“I really enjoyed it,” she says. “I was inspired by the stories, and surprised by the laughter I heard there. And I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was, by how many different kinds of people were there: teachers, lawyers, nurses, and also people who grew up in poverty.”

Here’s a song about one of the woman she met during those songwriting classes she taught. This is Evelyn.

Evelyn from Eleni Mandell’s most recent album, Wake Up Again. Another great addition to her expansive, impressive catalog. The album is filled with rich character studies and deeply personal self-examinations.

Her early Tom Waits inspiration continues to ignite and propel her, even after 11 albums. Only now she can call Tom a longtime friend. 

And she went from obsessive punk rock X fan to counting a member of X as a member of her own band. What a cool, thrilling ride she’s had so far. Eleni Mandell. 

References and other stuff:

Eleni interview with Luxury Wagers

Eleni interview with Mr. Bonzai

Eleni interview with Tyler Pollard on Timeline

The bio from Eleni’s current website has a great write up on her most recent album and I quote from it in the episode.

No Depression review of Afternoon that I quote in the episode

Here is the original bio from Eleni’s old website that is now archived. I also quote from this

Eleni has been featured on NPR segments over the years. I did not use anything directly from these, but they are good and informative

Pop Matter review of Dark Lights Up

Good L.A. Times article about Eleni teaching songwriting to female inmates and her latest album

[1985music]

Assembly of the Gods

Twon, If you're reading this it's too late my G. 

I'm never sure where to begin with these stories. Y'all remember when Nas spit a whole story backwards? Nevermind forget it. 

The year is 2013, I believe, and it's a rainy night in the fall. My boy Robbie Maxx drags my wife and I to a Meek Mill show in Teaneck NJ, just to peep the scene. The parking lot is a mad house of course. We had to wait in line and shit, which wasn't the vibe. We finally get in the spot, it's already packed and the opening acts are doing their thing. This one performer caught my attention. This short, energetic kid with his squad on stage with him screaming, "UPPERCLASS!". The young boy with the name "TWON" gleaming off his hat was spitting some fire with no fear or nervousness to a sold-out crowd in his hometown. Pretty dope performance overall. Soon after his exit from the stage Meek would come out and make is presence known. I knew that wasn't the last time I'd see or hear from that Twon guy. 

Some months later Maxx would headline a show at this spot called Mexicali Live (Debonair Lounge) and guess who he throws on the bill? You guessed it, TWONDON. It had been a while since I last saw the kid and this go-around the music was a bit different. He performed and did his thing much like the first time I saw him. He was chopping it up with his fans/supporters after his performance, so I had to wait to talk to him. I hate that sh*t. I was able to properly introduce myself and extend the invitation to collab. I'll admit our first encounter wasn't the greatest. It's always weird when a ni**a that doesn't know you tries to strike a conversation. He'll tell you. Although he knew of me as being Maxx's producer/engineer up until this point we hadn't had any extensive interaction. We exchanged info and that was that. He wasn't trying to hear anything I had to say that night though.

 Now it's 2014, I was floating around to different events in NYC. One in particular was a private album release party for Mobb Deep (RIP Prodigy). I want to say it was their last album, "The Infamous Mobb Deep." I'm coolin' in the spot for a little bit and guess who I bump in to? Of course, Twondon. The first thing he says to me is, "Damn B, you get around". At this point this ni**a finally realizes he can't escape the God. This time we got a chance to really chop it up. He mentioned to me he was looking for a new spot to record and a good engineer. I had to get my boy right. The first track we recorded together was, "Life's a Bitch" featuring AZ. I remember Twon asking me, "Yo B, can you somehow scratch in the Acapella of AZ from Nas' "Life's a Bitch"?” and explained how he wanted it to cut in and out of the hook. I remember thinking to myself, "This ni**a has no clue this my f**king BAG." To make a long story short my execution of what he requested was flawless. In past interviews Twon has mentioned that "Life's a Bitch" was when he found "His sound."

 Soon after Twon would make 1985 Sound Studio in Belleville, NJ his new home for recording. By this time I had already mixed a few singles for him including "4th and Inches" and "Run It" featuring Bizzy Crook and slew of others. There's this on-going thing where he'll say some sh*t like "Yo B, make me sound icy" and somehow I know what he means everytime. He also connected me with a few artists he knew including a young lyricist by the name of Dolla $ign Dunn who I continue to help with developing his sound as well. In the early stages of creating with Twon he had already had a lot of his beats picked out so he didn't really need me for production. I was just helping to cultivate that Upperclass sound through my mixing and mastering techniques. It wasn't until mid 2015 that discussions of his debut EP "Stay Golden" began to take shape. 

After a session one day Twon asked me about a beat I was creating on my ipad that I previewed on Instagram I think. No stories back then this was all timeline action. He said "That beat sound like me." 

I didn't think anything of it, I looped up the beat, added a few more elements to it and gave it up. No charge. That was the birth of the first single "Too Committed". He sat on the beat for a short time and came back to the studio and laid the 1st verse and the hook. Later on he told me that Smoke DZA would be blessing the record and executive producing the album "Stay Golden." 

"TWON!!? Antwon!! Wake your black ass up it's 1 in the afternoon..."   -Gloria's Intro (Mama Twondon) 

Twondon's “Stay Golden” album was released December 8, 2015, a day after my 30th Birthday. I was in Vegas my ni**a. The project was well received. The song "Million Dollar Babies" off that project racked up 600,000+ streams on Spotify alone. The whole roll-out for that project was dope. I go back and listen to that project sometimes and I love the way it sounds. It sounds just like the title, "Golden." So much work went into it and I enjoyed every minute of it. There are 10 mixes on "Too Committed" alone. Occasionally I will hear my wife bumping "All the Above." She's also partially responsible for placing "Too Committed" in the Indie film "King of Newark" (2016) 

After the success of that project we continued to create and build. The last few years I've watched Twondon evolve from rapper/lyricist to clothing designer to all-around entrepreneur. Yeah man, my boy was making clothes. I had to support him because the Upperclass Intl. collections were dope, simple as that. Every collection is limited pieces, so if you miss it for the week it's available it's over. His system is untouchable to say the least. He'll give you some dope music and then turn around and give you some fresh clothes. Young Nipsey traits for sure. The one piece I missed out on was this navy blue Upperclass hoodie he dropped. Still salty about that. He know. 

The inception of "God Complex" 

Summer of 2016 I locked in with my brother Josh. He would come to the crib on random days and cook up. Lay hooks, make beats etc. One of the hooks he laid was on "F**k What They Tryna Say," we both knew it was special. He laid it down and we never revisted it. Typical Josh sh*t. He's just a legendary soul. He's different. 

2017 I relocated to Atlanta. Twondon and I would maintain our working relationship and brother-hood from a far. We would send sessions back and forth, long ass facetime calls and sh*t. I would send beats sometimes and I stumbled across that joint "F**k What They Tryna Say" again, so I sent it to him. He didn't have anything in his catalog like it at the time. He wrote to it in about 45 minutes maybe less and sent me voice notes of the verses he had. Just undeniable flame. Since he didn't have a studio to record in at the time, I arranged to shoot back to Jersey to handle some business and record his verses. We linked up at a Sheraton I was staying at in Weehawken NJ overlooking New York City. I set up my laptop and microphone, we had some "God-Talk" and we got to work. Needless to say this record "Fuck What They Tryna Say" is about to be 4 years old by the time you guys hear it. Timeless vibes. Around the time we recorded that song I was still dealing with the indelible aftermath of my own personal police misconduct situation. It's documented that US Police had already shot and killed 72+ unarmed black males from 2015-2017. The numbers continue to rise. The message in that song is powerful, heavy and very clear, Fuck what they tryna say. We're not naive to what's happening in our communities, but as you can see we still thrive anyway. So we dont give a f**k what yall talking about. Plain and simple. 

"The skeletons in the closet is rising, the truth is louder than ever they kill us and televise it..." "FWTTS" - Twondon (feat Josh.GLPA) 

These last few years have made me realize how important the artist-engineer and artist-producer relationship really is. We've gotten so good at separating our business and personal lives that when this guy hits my line and simply says, "Mr. Ross," my response is normaly "Mr. Gibbs?”, I know something is coming. Would you believe we've spent the last 7 years developing his sound to what you hear today? I've mixed and mastered over 30 songs, 3 albums and 3 EPs for Twondon thus far. So many email threads, text messages, phone calls and overtime to bring to life that Upperclass sound you know him for. “God Complex” is just a cornerstone of what we've been able to build together on this journey of ours. Songs like “199$” and “Trips Up North,” are the creative by-product of our extensive conversations about life, man-hood, spirituality and how we are limitless in our thinking and resilient in what we pursue. We are Gods in our own right. Like Ye said, "I just told you who I thought I was, a God". Just respect it. Hope you enjoy this masterpiece. More music on the way. It's Upperclass ̡ 

Written by Brandon "Plan B '85" Ross 1985 Music 

Stream/Buy God Complex NOW

http://smarturl.it/GODCOMPLEXPACK

[music2liveby]

DAY 209: I’m Your Baby Tonight by Whitney Houston

Album: I’m Your Baby Tonight Release: November 6th, 1990 Genre: R&B

Women in music still don’t seem to get the respect they deserve for the dominant history that female musicians in the industry possessed over time. That’s an unfortunate truth all too familiar for many women across several mediums. The reality is that female musicians are among some of the highest selling and most decorated acts in all of music, and no one woman was more successful at what she did than Whitney Houston. Technically speaking, she’s certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the winningest female artist of all time, totaling 415 personal achievement awards over her career. Not only was she celebrated for her work, Whitney Houston also opened the door for a massive amount of African-American women to break into the music industry. Whitney herself was inspired by African-American women like Roberta Flack and Gladys Knight as a young girl singing in her church choir. Like many legendary R&B artists, church was where Whitney began fostering her voice into something remarkable by soloing in her junior gospel choir at age 11. Her mother Cissy only encouraged her talent to further flourish by giving vocal lessons on top of Whitney’s school work. In fact, Cissy deserves a lot of credit for helping Whitney succeed in the period before her career took off. The pair began singing around New York at venues that included Carnegie Hall, where a photographer employed Whitney to her first big time job as a fashion model. Whitney broke down barriers as one of the first women of color to grace the cover of Seventeen magazine, while also making appearances in media powerhouses like Cosmopolitan and Glamour. She even appeared in an advertisement for Canada Dry ginger ale in 1983. It would be shortly after this period of time that an A&R rep from Arista Records would discover Whitney and Cissy in a New York nightclub and sign Whitney to a contract well tailored to the young starlet. Her self-titled debut was released in 1985, and almost immediately Whitney saw success roll in with a Grammy win for the album. Although Whitney did not write the songs herself, her label made sure that she had only the best in the business on the production end of things. Critics were skeptical to come out in praise of the budding singer even after the international success and follow-up to her debut album Whitney, citing a lack of maturity in her vocals that appeal more to the teenage crowd with anthems like I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me). Despite the criticism, the accolades continued to pour in, but I have to admit that I somewhat agree with this piece of advice. There’s nothing wrong with being a pop artist, but the soul in Whitney’s voice was far too golden to limit to pop. By the release of her third album, Whitney and her producers had the chemistry developed to create something a little more musically adventurous. Thus, we have the title track to her third album, I’m Your Baby Tonight. This track had a much heavier, bluesier cadence that flows right along with a 12/8 time signature. There is complex emotion conveyed behind the voice of Whitney Houston; that of lust and angst which matches the tone of I’m Your Baby Tonight. The bouncier composition allows for Whitney to break down the beat through various approaches, including all-out freestyles layered over the chorus. The synthesized instrumentation suits the song’s style well in what I consider a hesitance to ditch their 80′s aesthetic and sticking to what the producers know best. I’m Your Baby Tonight marked the eighth number one hit for Whitney Houston, and was the last studio album before her acting debut in a little film called The Bodyguard that just happens to have an album composed by Houston that remains the fifth best selling album of all time. Whitney’s career was full of lofty highs and crushing lows all the way up until her sudden death in 2012, but despite her flaws, she will be cherished as one of the greatest voices (male or female) ever to make music. Her contributions to both music and the African-American community are insurmountable even posthumously, although her presence is greatly missed. 

[khaizarlim]

My 3 chosen influencers on their respective field of expertise

What is Social Media?

Social media refers to websites and applications that are designed to allow people to share content quickly, efficiently, and in real-time. Many people define social media as apps on their smartphone or tablet, but the truth is, this communication tool started with computers according to  Matthew Hudson. In today's time, many people would see social media as a community in the internet world where you can share, learn and express yourself as an individual. On what goals and objective or content you wish to show the internet world.

However, people have always been looking for ways to connect and network with each other. And, in this age of digitization, people have found ways to be socially active on the internet, which is possible with the advent of the numerous social networking platforms and apps. Now, even relationships begin, grow and end on social media. People no longer need a personal handshake or face-to-face meeting. Social Media had grown and still is in today's time.

Jeffrey Lynn Steininger Jr was born on November 15, 1985, is an American Internet celebrity, beauty YouTuber, makeup artist, model, entrepreneur, and singer-songwriter. He is the founder and owner of Jeffree Star Cosmetics. he is known as Jefree Star in the beauty community.

He is one of the of the most watch beauty guru in YouTube and is now the number one beauty influencer in the beauty community with 16.7 million followers in his YouTube channel beating James Charles with 16.3 million followers, Tati Westbrook with 9.72 million followers and other other artist.    

His makeup review gain millions of views with his famous trademark “ Jefree star Approved”. He is straight forward in his review which he is known for, and that causes him to face a lot of drama and tea with other makeup artist and brands such as  Kylie Cosmetics and Two face.

His brand  Jeffree Star Cosmetics was a total win for he sold out his product in a short period of time with a good review and is  His first cosmetics release was a collection of velour liquid lipsticks, which were followed by highlighter palettes, lip scrubs, eyeshadow palettes, clothing, and accessories, such as mirrors and make up bags. 

I was inspired by him in taking a career in the online world by starting low on what I want and passion which is singing. In could say that he was a booster of my will and self-esteem to express my talent and make use of it, not just by living as well as a daily hobby. 

Mariah Carey was on born March 27, 1970 is an American singer, songwriter, actress, record producer, and entrepreneur. Referred to as the "Songbird Supreme" by the Guinness World Records, she is noted for her five-octave vocal range, melismatic singing style, and signature use of the whistle register. 

She rose to fame in 1990 after signing to Columbia Records and releasing her eponymous debut album, which topped the U.S. Billboard 200 for eleven consecutive weeks became the only artist ever to have their first five singles reach number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, from "Vision of Love" to "Emotions".

She actually helps me in finding my self in singing where she becomes an inspiration to me to be better each day and to learn and accept self imperfections. Where her career was not as smooth as a silk for she also encountered a lot of challenges, and she also has a singing difficulties. But her work was a master piece and is still relevant in today's time.

Raffy Tulfo is a Filipino broadcast journalist whose work focuses on government and private sector issues . Some of his achievements are Asian Best Broadcasters Award (2015)Most Trusted Media Personalities for Radio and Television Award (2016).

He is known for his undeniable bravery and straight forward personality. He also has a YouTube channel with millions of subscriber where some contents are explicit and rated 18. He also helps in charities and in resolving cases. Controversies surrounds him as he sometimes goes against some politicians and etc.

I was inspired by his work and his personality on how good he is in his work as an individual. the content in his show are very relatable. Where moral lessons can be learn and more than just entertainment, it is more about awareness on what is happening in our surrounding.

They are the one who inspire me to be a better successful man someday. despite their flaws as a human being, and on how they are portrayed in the online world. Their story was worth admiring for, and for that they have thought me the value of handwork and truthfulness. And I am thankful for that!

[trevorbarre]

“Oceanic Wooziness” and the Wire Top 50

Joseph Stannard coined this neat summation, in his review of a live performance at Cafe Oto, in this month’s Wire magazine, by the winner of it’s ‘Releases of the Year’ annual list, Fatigue, by the Brooklyn songwriter L’Rain. And I’m afraid that ‘fatigued’ is exactly how I felt when going through their Top 50 of 2021. I was reminded, with Stannard’s description, of so many of the bands valorised by Simon Reynolds in his very first book Blissed Out (1990), with ‘oceanic rock’ being a ‘thing�� that he continued to describe in his next book, Sex Revolts, co-authored with his missus, Joy Press. Is this now the ‘happening’ sound of 30 years later?

2021 is the first year that, since first reading (The) Wire in 1985, that I have absolutely NONE of the albums that the magazine’s writers have put forward as being the year’s best. Always a questionable proposition, Wire ‘best of’ lists have always generally resonated with my own listening habits until now. It must be my age, but I don’t find much of the current list to be of especial interest or of a genuinely challenging nature. L’Rain seems to be singing ‘electronic torch songs for the Cafe Oto crowd auditioning for a David Lynch movie’, and current Wire fave, Moor Mother, is also described as “woozy” in John Morrison’s review of her number two album, Black Encyclopedia of the Air. Is this a sign of our Covid times, I wonder?. L’Rain’s album curiously reminds me of a former Wire number one, Lauren Halo’s (an appropriate surname?) debut from 2012, Quarantine (a prescient title). Hip syncretism seems the order of the day.  For example, Promises, at number 3 in the chart, combines good old Pharoah Sanders with the even more venerable London Symphony Orchestra (memories of it’s 1969 work with Deep Purple, Concerto for Group & Orchestra, unfortunately raise their ugly heads at this point), and with an electonica ‘name’ Floating Points, to produce an underwhelming piece of Hip Easy Listening.

It’s the same old, same old, really: another Low album at number 4, with the duo’s very 90s combination of “vulnerable and intimate vocal harmonies with overdriven guitar roar...”, straight out of MBV and Flying Saucer Attack; a 12-hour Anthony Braxton exhaust-athon (his prolixity is becoming more and more jaw-dropping), similarly, William Parker drops in his 10 CD box set, with its equally weighty title,  Migration of Silence Into and Out of the Tone World , for our consideration; a four-CD John Cage set: more retro-futurism from the Sons of Kemet (tuba-driven, and with Shabaka’s stuttering staccato sax on top, they always give value for money) and bleak contemporary analyses of our woes and weals from Moor Mother (a couple of releases) and The Bug (Kevin Martin’s lack of a sense of humour is becoming increasingly deadening).. 

I know this must sound miserabilist, and it’s almost certainly my mood (we’re in lockdown with Covid for 10 days), but, more positively, the album that has bought me the most joy recently is Can’s Live in Stuttgart 1975. It’s ironic that Miles Davis retired from public performance in this very year because I can hear his contemporary group(s) all over this album, a stew of extended electro-funkified rock. (Furthermore, in terms of “oceanic wooziness”, can any act ever beat In a Silent Way?) For a year that is generally considered a pre-punk nadir, 1975 can still unearth material that ultimately put the more lionised 1977 in the shade. Consisting mostly of improvised material using themes from Future Days and Soon Over Babaluma (whatever Julian Cope says, these are surely their most timeless albums?), these 90 minutes still excite and keep one guessing. (”Jaki’s good tonight, innee?”, to paraphrase Jagger).

BEST WISHES FOR A GOOD XMAS TO YOU ALL.

[blogsmith57]

Movies Ansd Tv With Pina Colada Song

Movies And Tv With Pina Colada Song Rupert Holmes

Pina Colada Song Wikipedia

Escape The Pina Colada Song Video

Two Pina Coladas Song

Pina Colada Song Video

Janet learns the lyrics to the Pina Colada song. Janet learns the lyrics to the Pina Colada song. On the movie the sweetest thing who sings the pina colada song its a womens group?

In The Number Ones, I’m reviewing every single #1 single in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, starting with the chart’s beginning, in 1958, and working my way up into the present.

***

At least in retrospect, the ’70s must have been the wildest, most motley, most all-over-the-place decade in the history of popular music. Some genuine musical revolutions either started in the ’70s or matured during the decade: Hip-hop, punk, disco, funk, prog. But if you look at the ’70s through the lens of the pop charts, as this column does, you see excitement and tedium locked in a constant struggle for dominance throughout the decade, with novelty sneaking around the outside and getting some jabs in.

So really, the ’70s ended the only way they possibly could’ve done: With a badly-sung, infernally catchy soft-rock ditty, an infidelity-themed story-song that ends in an O. Henry twist. Rupert Holmes’ “Escape (The Piña Colada Song)” has popped up on movie and TV-show soundtracks countless times in the past four decades; it has earned its place within our shared consciousness. And yet I can’t imagine ever being in a situation where I would actively seek the song out, where I would want to hear it. But then, I was three months old when the thing hit #1. Maybe I’m not supposed to know what motherfuckers were thinking.

Rupert Holmes, the man who wrote and produced “Escape” and who thus owns the chart transition from ’70s to ’80s, had been part of the pop-music dream factory for a decade when he got to #1. Holmes was born in the UK, the son of an American Army officer and an English woman. He spent the early years of his childhood in the English village of Northwich and the later years in the New York suburb of Nanuet. Holmes’ parents were both musicians, and Holmes went to the Manhattan School Of Music on a clarinet scholarship. Pretty soon after he finished school, he went to work as a pop-music professional.

Holmes was working as an arranger in the late ’60s when he joined the Cuff Links, an anonymous bubblegum group that also featured Ron Dante, the lead singer of the Archies’ “Sugar, Sugar.” When the Cuff Links broke up, Holmes recorded a song called “Jennifer Tomkins.” The single, released under the name Street People, peaked at #36. In 1971, Holmes wrote a cannibalism-themed joint called “Timothy” for the Pennsylvania band the Buoys, and that one peaked at #17. Holmes also wrote ad jingles and scored a little-seen 1970 Western called Five Savage Men. He was in the game.

Holmes released Widescreen, his solo debut, in 1974. Before 1979’s Partners In Crime, the breakout album that gave us “Escape,” Holmes knocked out four solo LPs. None of them sold, but those records helped Holmes build a name for himself as a writer of funny, irony-infused story-songs. Barbra Streisand was a fan, and Holmes wrote songs for her and for the absurdly popular soundtrack for the 1976 film A Star Is Born. Holmes didn’t score a charting single of his own until 1978’s “Let’s Get Crazy Tonight,” which peaked at #72. Private Stock, the label that released “Let’s Get Crazy Tonight,” went out of business when the song was still on the charts.

Holmes got the idea for “Escape (The Piña Colada Song)” one night when he was flipping through The Village Voice, the newspaper that once employed me. (“Escape” is the second #1 hit built around classified ads; it arrived eight years after the Honey Cone’s “Want Ads.”) Inspired, Holmes hatched the narrative of a bored couple who, while attempting to cheat on each other, accidentally go out on a blind date with each other. As originally written, the chorus started with the line “if you like Humphrey Bogart.” While he was getting ready to record it, though, Holmes decided that his own songs had too many references to older movies, and to Bogart in particular. He changed “Humphrey Bogart” to “piña coladas” at the last possible minute simply because he didn’t want to let down any of the real Rupert Holmes heads out there.

If you stop to think about “Escape (The Piña Colada Song)” for even a second, it’s a pretty nasty little song. The very first line is this: “I was tired of my lady/ We’d been together too long.” The song’s narrator is unhappy with relationship, but he doesn’t do anything to end it. Instead, he sneaks around behind his girlfriend’s back, falling for a sentence in a classified ad. The person described in that ad seems hopelessly basic. Likes: Fruity mixed drinks, rain, champagne, beach fucking. Dislikes: Yoga, health food. But apparently the guy is basic, too, since a few lines of small-print newsprint text are all he needs to ditch his relationship. He takes out his own ad, responding to the first, and he includes grandiose verbiage about planning an “escape.”

He does not successfully execute that escape. It turns out that the girl who took out that classified ad is his own girlfriend, who is just as bored with the relationship as he is. They meet up at an Irish pub and instantly figure out exactly what just happened. The song presents this ending as a happy surprise. In interviews years later, Holmes says that the guy was supposed to be an asshole, and a passive one. The girl, who is also attempting to cheat, was at least the one with the wherewithal to instigate the whole episode. Holmes was hoping that they’d both realize how much they had in common, that they’d recommit themselves to each other. This seems unlikely.

Movies And Tv With Pina Colada Song Rupert Holmes

I have questions. For instance: Where does this couple go from here? They both know that they can’t trust each other. They also know that they don’t really know each other. They’ve got all these completely elementary preferences that they haven’t communicated. After that initial rush of recognition, how does the rest of this relationship look? How long do they stay together? How are they not incredibly pissed off at one another from the moment they spy each other across the bar? How are they not, at the same time, both consumed with guilt upon getting caught? I don’t like this couple’s chances.

I don’t know if this is a good story, but it’s good storytelling. I don’t much like the characters or where they end up, but Holmes sketches out the whole narrative in a few quick words, never losing sight of his own melody. This doesn’t change the reality that the actual music behind this story is exactly the kind of wack-ass soft-rock pablum that I cannot stand. It’s got an awkward, clumpy beat that Holmes recorded with two drummers. (Holmes co-produced it, and he says that the studio band played sloppily that day, so he used the 16 bars he liked the best and looped them.) There’s watery piano. There’s a processed-to-death guitar lead. There’s a groove that can’t stop tripping over itself. And then there are those vocals.

Holmes isn’t a bad vocalist, exactly. He a classic ’70s singer-songwriter guy, a conversational speak-singer. But man, I do not like what happens when he cranks that voice up and hits the hook on “Escape.” The hook is, to be fair, instantly memorable. But this is not always a good thing. Holmes hits that upper register, and I just wish I was someplace else. I don’t even know how people functioned when this thing was all over the radio.

Holmes managed one more big hit after “Escape (The Piña Colada Song).” “Him,” the single’s follow-up, was another story-song. This time, Holmes sang from the perspective of a guy who figures out that his girlfriend is cheating. “Him” peaked at #6. (It’s a 4.) Holmes kept putting out albums into the ’90s, but none of them hit. He also went back to writing songs for other people. “You Got It All,” a ballad that Holmes wrote for the teenage Tongan-American Minneapolis-based Mormon family band the Jets, peaked at #3 in 1986. (It’s a 6.) Britney Spears, an artist who will eventually appear in this column, covered it on her debut album. Get ready to be incredibly depressed: Holmes wrote the song for his 10-year-old daughter. Before the song took off, she died of an undetected brain tumor.

I don’t know how you bounce back from something like that, but Holmes did. After “Escape (The Piña Colada Song),” Holmes has had more success as a storyteller than as a musician. In 1985, Holmes wrote The Mystery Of Edwin Drood, a Broadway musical based on an unfinished Charles Dickens novel. It won five Tonys, including two for Holmes. Since then, Holmes has written more than a dozen plays, many of them hits. He also created Remember WENN, a drama that ran for three season on AMC in the late ’90s, and he wrote all 56 of its episodes. He’s published a few books, too. The man can write, and the best thing about “Escape” is that you can tell that right away.

But Holmes is a whole lot more famous for “Escape” than for anything else he’s ever done in his life. He’s pretty funny when he talks about it, too. In a 2003 Songfacts interview, Holmes said this:

I have a feeling that if I saved an entire orphanage from a fire and carried the last child out on my shoulders, as I stood there charred and smoking, they’d say, “Aren’t you the guy who wrote ‘The Piña Colada Song?'”

Perhaps Rupert Holmes would like to escape “The Piña Colada Song.” So would I.

Pina Colada Song Wikipedia

BONUS BEATS: Here’s the scene from a 1999 episode of The Simpsons — the same storied episode that predicted the Trump presidency — where the not-aging-well future version of Bart sings a parody of “Escape (The Piña Colada Song)” during his sister’s presidential addresss:

BONUS BONUS BEATS: Here’s the weirdly extremely memorable “Escape (The Piña Colada Song)” needle-drop from the 2001 film Shrek:

BONUS BONUS BONUS BEATS: Here’s Kanye West, noted fan of the aforementioned Shrek scene, quoting “Escape (The Piña Colada Song)” on “White Dress,” a song that he contributed to the soundtrack of the 2012 RZA-directed kung fu movie The Man With The Iron Fists:

(Kanye West will eventually appear in this column.)

BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BEATS: Here’s the scene from 2014’s Guardians Of The Galaxy — which, like The Man With The Iron Fists, stars Dave Bautista — where Chris Pratt steals his Walkman back from the space-prison guard who is enjoying “Escape (The Piña Colada Song)”:

BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BEATS: Here’s the great scene from a 2016 Better Call Saul episode where Bob Odenkirk sings a few bars of “Escape (The Piña Colada Song)” and spouts some fake biographical facts about Rupert Holmes:

more from The Number Ones

Raised in Hawaii Jack Johnson was the son of a famed surfer and even tried to have a go of his own on the waves. Unfortunately an accident that involved teeth being knocked out and stitches being required kind of halted that dream as he was sidelined from surfing for a while. It wasn’t too long after that however that his musical talents started to become his thing and picked up a guitar and started strumming out a few songs that he’d thought up. He did this throughout college, joining a band and jamming as they performed here and there during their time together. Johnson’s big break came in 2000 however when he not only produced the soundtracks for a couple of films but he tried his hand at making them as well. You could easily say this man is quite talented but it might still be an understatement.

Here are a few of his songs as used in TV and movies.

5. Glee – Bubbletoes

Glee is one of those shows you either liked or didn’t think about. It wasn’t even a matter of not liking if it you didn’t watch it, as the energy and verve of the show was enough to make it interesting. But if you weren’t into the whole song and dance routine then chances are you wouldn’t dislike it but just wouldn’t watch it since the whole idea of not liking the show seemed kind of petty since it was so upbeat a lot of the time, or at least seemed like it. In many way Glee kind of took a lot of people back to their experiences in high school since there are quite a few people that can remember being in similar clubs.

Escape The Pina Colada Song Video

4. Sense8 – The Sharing Song

This show is something else and it was one of Netflix’s top prospects when it first came out. The ability to connect with people miles away due to a special quality that links them all, and the knowledge and skills that can be shared via that link is pretty cool, but it could cause some serious problems as well. You can’t help but think that some of the people that are connected would embrace this after a period of confusion, but others would seek to block it out since this is the kind of thing that humans would rarely ever be able to get used to since it’s not considered natural or normal.

3. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty – Escape (The Pina Colada Song)

Two Pina Coladas Song

Walter Mitty is a man that no one seems to take seriously since he’s kind of a nobody when the film starts, though he’s far more important than many people would care to realize. Working at Time magazine where he’s been for so long he’s been taken for granted and treated like a shadow on the wall since he’s a very quiet and unassuming person. But when an important negative for the last issue of Time goes missing he has to go and track it down by tracking down the photographer. In the end however he finds that it was with him the whole time, he just didn’t know where to look. The adventure he takes though is what was truly important as it finally got him to open up to the world.

2. Curious George – Upside Down

Several generations have grown up with Curious George since in truth he’s been around for a very long time. As a children’s story he’s one of the most classic tales out there and is the kind of story that you’d want your kid to watch since it’s a very touching and educational show that offers a lot of fun and engaging activity that kids will want to emulate. Sure George gets himself into trouble now and again, but that’s the beauty of the design. Kids can learn how they can get themselves out of trouble as well since George is all about having fun but he’s also about problem-solving. This is just a great show for kids and a bit of nostalgia for adults.

1. Jack Johnson – Middle Man

For all his talent and all his skill at music Jack Johnson is still a very diverse man since he’s not only a musician, but a father, a husband, and an environmentalist that spends a lot of his time balancing his life out between the different roles he’s given himself to play. So far in life it seems like he’s done just fine and has kept everything as it should be. He’s a very open person about his life in music, but keeps a lid on the private lives of his kids and family, which seems like one of the best ideas since quite honestly it’s no one else’s business. He’s definitely a family man and someone that cares a lot about what he does.

Pina Colada Song Video

Usually that’s the kind of person that knows just what they want and how to make it happen.

[norepetitivebeats]

Power Jam Featuring Chill Rob G - The Power (Vocal) (1990)

Another reviewer wrote about the Power Jam Featuring Chill Rob G release of “The Power” on Wild Pitch: "The Original that Snap Ripped-off”. That’s a rather short and misleading history of this record. The Wild Pitch release features the tag line: “A Wild Pitch reconstruction of a Logic reconstruction of a Wild Pitch production by DJ Mark, The 45 King.” So, here’s the extended version of the story: Logic refers to the German label that at the beginning of January 1990 released the 1989 production “The Power” of Frankfurt-based producers Michael Münzing (AKA Benito Benites) and Luca Anzilotti (AKA John Virgo Garrett III). Münzing had been an owner of clubs such as El Cid in Tel Aviv (1977), Eisbär in Frankfurt (1980) and, together with Sven Väth and Matthias Martinsohn the Omen in Frankfurt (1988) which was arguably the birthplace of the German Techno/Rave movement of the 1990s. Working as a DJ,
Münzing incorporated electronic musical instruments in his sets at the legendary Dorian Gray in Frankfurt during the 1980s and used elaborate extended edits of songs which he created by splicing 1/4″ tape.
 Anzilotti started DJing in London but when he moved to Frankfurt in 1982, he was immediately inspired by Michael to buy a Korg MS10 and a Roland TR606. Münzing and Anzilotti start producing their first records together with Väth under the name “OFF” (Organisation For Fun) in 1985 and later (without Väth) under the name “16 Bit”. In 1989, they embark on a Studio project which combines their previous electronic productions, the budding house genre and elements of hip hop, which until then had no place on German radio nor charts and was an underground sound as far as clubs is concerned. Concerned about negative preconceptions of Germans making such music they chose new aliases for the Production credits of the project: Münzing calls himself Benito Benites and Anzilotti becomes John Virgo Garrett III. As an artist name they chose “Snap!” – inspired by a function in their sequencer. The first result of their work was an enormously successful track called “The Power” which trail-blazed a string of successful Euro-Dance releases by cleverly combining mainly pre-existing material with a few added touches: For the beats they sampled a part of Mantronix' 1988 record "King Of The Beats" which in itself is a collage of samples from Rufus Thomas
’ “Do the Funky Penguin”, The Winstons “Amen, Brother”, The Meters’ "Same Old Thing", Kool & The Gang’s “Jungle Jazz”, Pleasure’s “
Celebrate the Good Things”, The Magic Disco Machine’s "Scratchin’", Bob James’ Take Me To The Mardi Gras” and Original Concept
’s “Pump That Bass”. The Mantronix beat used for “The Power” is the section based on the Meters’ tune. There have been no reports about copyright litigation over this, possibly because Mantronix’ own work is sample based. The famous female chorus "I've got the power" is of course Jocelyn Brown sampled from the accapella of her 1985 single “Love's Gonna Get You". Many years later, Jocelyn was still awaiting financial compensation of this unauthorised use of her vocals: In 2009 it was reported that she (together with Warner Brothers) was planning a lawsuit valued at 11.5 million Euro (at the time: $16 million, £10 million) to gain 50% of the global earnings of the Snap track, which has reportedly appeared in more than 500 adverts and films (think Jim Carey’s “Bruce Almighty”, for example). (Search Youtube for "Jocelyn Brown discusses her voice behind SNAP's record "The Power" on BBC1 TV Interview" for an interview with her.) In their defense, the producers of “The Power” have reportedly claimed that the hook is actually not a sample, but a re-recording by a studio singer. In the video for “The Power” a woman called Jackie Harris (Pittsburgh born Jacqeline Arlissa Harris) lip-syncs to the chorus and any other parts of the female vocals. Harris was just a visual stand-in for the studio singer they had used for various tracks on the Snap album that featured “The Power”: Penny Ford (sister of Sharon Redd). Münzing and Anzilotti had tried to hire Chaka Khan for their Snap! Project. At that time (1989) Chaka shared an apartment in London with Penny and told her: "I don't do rap. You know how to do that stuff, you go do it." Penny continues: “And the rest is history. I went to Germany to sing on some stuff I thought I'd never hear again. I sang for three days, collected a fee, and thought I would never hear of it again […] [I]t was more or less [Münzing and Anzilotti ] picking me up by the scruff of my neck like a pit bull and throwing me in the [recording] booth with a pack of cigarettes and a bottle of champagne and turning the mike on. That's how it happened. (laughing) And I'd just create. I just sang the first thing that came off the top of my head, because I didn't understand that music, and I didn't think I'd ever have to hear it again. […] I was just making [lyrics] up as I go along.” Some of Penny’s ad libs on “The Power” are for example a rerecording of “Some Love” by Chaka Khan. (Check Youtube for Penny’s original interview with songfacts by searching “Why the real Snap! singer wasn't in the video for The Power”.) The judicial progress of Jocelyn Brown’s and Warner Brother’s claims is unknown, indicating that Brown might have settled out of court. More likely she probably had to accept that, being “simply” the singer of the words “I’ve got the power” she had no enforceable copyright to the songwriting credits of Love's Gonna Get You". That credit goes to Toni Colandreo… It is not known whether anyone apart from those involved in the production of the Snap! recording received any royalty payments. As Penny Ford explains: “Meanwhile, the Germans [Münzing, Anzilotti and Logic] signed with Ariola Munich, who were a sub-company of Arista, which was parented by BMG, Bertelsmann, which is a German company. This was before BMG got to America and it was still RCA in America. […] [The songwriter credits are] still being maneuvered. Basically, what happens is you have people who are published by Sony, you have people who are published by Warner, you have people who are published by BMG or Jive, as I was, and then BMG buys Jive, and then BMG and Sony partner, so where are all these people and where is all the paperwork? So then you have to hire what they call a forensics guy. The have to do CSI: The Musical Version. Which costs money. And if you didn't get your money to begin with, how do you hire a forensics guy? So it's kind of a vicious circle, isn't it?” So, on to the rap then: Session singer Penny Ford, who later became a member of Snap! and toured with the group, explains that Münzing and Anzilotti’s production with the Rob G. vocals “…was the first take of it. They had recorded it and nobody knew it was going to be a hit, and it was long before it was released on any major level. It was a work in progress, and basically what they [later] did was just took him [Rob G.] off of it and put another rapper [Turbo B] on it.” She actually does not refer to Rob G.’s vocals as a sample and explicitly states: “Well, there was a rapper named Chill Rob G, and he had recorded it with them. And I guess he [later] decided that he didn't want to make an alliance with them.” This account seems inaccurate and unreliable, which is understandable, considering that she had just gone to Germany and “sang for three days, collected a fee, and thought I would never hear of it again”. She does not mention ever meeting or witnessing Rob G. recording it for Münzing and Anzilotti. So, here is the more believable and widely documented version: US rapper Chill Rob G, born Robert Frazier, was part of the Flavor Unit collective, which included DJ Mark The 45 King, Lakim Shabazz, and Queen Latifah, among others and received lots of airplay support by DJ Chuck Chillout (98.7 Kiss FM and 107.5 WBLS, in New York City) and especially DJ Red Alert (98.7 Kiss FM, NYC). Before he was signed to any record label he recorded two demo tracks with Mark The 45 King which they passed to Red Alert for airplay. At that time the owner of the newly created Wild Pitch record label, Stu Fine, was looking for artists to sign to his label. He heard the show, called Red Alert and got in touch with Rob G. who agreed to sign his first record deal in 1987. After his solo debut “Dope Rhymes / Chillin’” in 1988 Wild Pitch released Chill Rob G’s second 12” record in 1989 called “The Court Is Now In Session / Let The Words Flow”. The record was produced by Mark The 45 King and features Vocal, Dub and Acapella versions of both tracks. In an interview in 2006, Rob G says: “…see, I told Mark we shouldn’t keep putting accapellas! I said it, and it happened! ‘If we keep putting accapellas on these records, somebody’s gonna snatch the accapella and make a whole ‘nother record of it’. That’s exactly what they did!” Münzing and Anzilotti sampled four verses of Chill Rob G’s vocals from the Acapella of “Let The Words Flow” and used them as the rap for their Snap! production (as well as two saxophone / horn riffs for good measure…). Rumour has it that Wild Pitch’s Stu Fine had consented to the sample being used in Germany. Rob G. speculates: “I think Stu Fine probably had a deal under the table with Arista records out in Germany, and he actually licensed the record to them – but they didn’t have a deal for the US. So since the record was doing so big out there, Stu came to me as if he had no idea what was going on and he said ‘Yo Rob, let’s put the song out. I mean it’s doing really well in Germany, we might as well make some money out [of] this’. I mean it was me, it was my stuff, so I said ‘Cool, let’s do it’. So we put the song out” on a Wild Pitch12inch credited to Power Jam Featuring Chill Rob G. and on Rob G.’s debut album “Ride the Rhythm”. Chill Rob G.’s own 12” of “The Power” on Wild Pitch features no background vocals to replace Penny Ford part on the Snap! release. The only female voice heard on the Mark The 45 King production is the Jocelyn Brown sample though the Wild Pitch cassette from 1990 (which I haven’t heard myself) credits “additional vocals” to a certain “Kim Davis”. The notion that Power Jam was another moniker for Münzing and Anzilotti is discredited by the remarks that can be found on the Wild Pitch vinyl and cassette releases: “A Wild Pitch reconstruction of a Logic reconstruction of a Wild Pitch production by DJ Mark, The 45 King.” and “a Wild Pitch reconstruction mixed by Nephie Centeno / original production by DJ Mark, the 45 King”, respectively. Meanwhile, Snap’s “The Power” started to blow up in more and more countries outside Germany. Rob G. recalls: “…and then the next thing you know Arista Records decided that they wanted to put it out over here [in the US] too, but since they couldn’t use me – they couldn’t just put out the same record [Münzing and Anzilotti’s production with the Rob G. sample] – that’s when they got Turbo B to go in the studio […] Turbo B, born Maurice Durron Butler on 30 April 1967, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA used to be a drummer in a heavy-metal band. He enlisted with the US Army in July 1985 and eventually was sent to Friedberg, Germany to join the 60th Ordnance Company in Ray Barracks. After completing his service in the Army he returned to the USA but went back to Germany shortly thereafter to tour with The Fat Boys doing Human Beatboxing. He eventually stayed in Germany and in the late 80s joined the “We wear the Crown“ crew in Frankfurt, another member of which was a certain Moses Pelham. Pelham adopts the stage name “Moses P.” under which he records his solo debut “Twilight Zone” as well as Ay - Ay - Ay (What We Do For Love)” with Rico Sparx, both for Münzing and Anzilotti . When the need arises to release and promote “The Power” internationally Münzing and Anzilotti have to address the problem that Wild Pitch is releasing the Mark The 45 King reconstruction of their song in the USA with Chill Rob G adding newly recorded verses and that they themselves are missing a face for the rapper in the Snap! video needed to promote “The Power” adequately. Looking at their roster and wider circle of potential contributors they identify Turbo B as a suitable replacement just as they find a replacement for Penny Ford in Jackie Harris, Turbo B.’s cousin. The commercial success of their Arista backed single is enormous around the world while the Wild Pitch single in comparison remains an ill promoted independent release. As Rob G. says: “it was Arista records versus Wild Pitch Records, you know what I’m sayin’? So Wild Pitch lost – big time. ‘Cause Arista was global and Wild Pitch was like “Who’s Wild Pitch?” I was still running around, doing what I could do to help our cause, but we just couldn’t beat that money, man.” Over the years this changes in certain circles: Being on a highly regarded label from Hip Hop’s “Golden Age” and being one of a handful of releases by Chill Rob G. some hip hop aficionados hold his version in higher regards. Due to the popularity of Rob’s flow and Mark’s raw(er) production amongst Hip Hop cognoscenti the Power Jam version has been put on a pedestal by some commentators who are concerned about preserving “the true art form”. They dismiss Turbo B.’s rap as a failed attempt to sound similar Rob G. while adding some dubious rhymes of his own lines, like “Maniac brainiac winning the game / I'm the lyrical Jesse James” as well as “so please, stay off my back / Or I will attack and you don't want that” and ironically "copywritten lyrics so they can't be stolen". Turbo B’s commercial success under Münzing’s and Anzilotti’s production is unquestionable. It is interesting though that on what is supposedly the “Official Snap!/Turbo B. Website” his accolades reach the climax in this story from The Universal Zulu Nations 30th Anniversary (October 2003 in Harlem): “Turbo B. was pleasantly surprised when after [the] announcement of him and his accomplishments, he received a standing ovation to the strands of "The Power" by Hip Hop's elite, and AFRIKA BAMBAATAA (in full view of MELLE MEL, one of Turbo's chief inspirations) personally inducted him into The Universal Zulu Nation...” Source for Penny Ford quotes: http://m.songfacts.com/blog/interviews/penny_ford_of_snap_/ Source for Chill Rob G. quotes: http://www.unkut.com/2006/12/chill-rob-g-interview-part-1/ Source for Turbo B quote: http://www.angelfire.com/tn3/universalgroupnj/snapbio.html 

- Yemsky via discogs.com January 19, 2012

[afreviews]

January Releases - II

As we begin February, let’s look back at all the new music released in January. Serving as a follow up to part one, here’s a recap of the last two weeks.

Beginning the year with new music is a tough job. You need to set the tone, you need to set the bar high for yourself and your peers, and some of these artists have. Check it out. 

16 - Dave East, Paranoia 2

Apple | TIDAL | Spotify

The growth is real! Each project this man drops, he just keeps gets better and better. Dave East is constantly setting the bar high for himself, leading up to the release of his debut album - any day now, let’s hope. I do have a feeling we may get one more project before the release of that but we shall see. Serving as a sequel to Paranoia, P2 dives deeper into East’s life. It’s as if his conscience wrote these bars. Lawd, the bars!

He indeed flexes his storytelling ability throughout the album. “Cory” stuck out to me the most. Here’s this guy, Cory, who grew up with “Homie.” They were tight but had many differences. Cory had a 9-5, where his homie was “trappin for studio time,” broke and hustling to chase his dreams. Then “Homie” got signed by a “legend” and got distant. Homie turns out to be Dave East, of course. It’s a story that many of us relate to. Friends we make when we’re younger may not always stick around. We go our separate ways when going down different roads in life. Because, well life happens. He ends the track with voicemails from Cory, to show there are always two sides. Cory felt as if East thought he was too good since he left the hood, and East felt Cory was intimated by the fame so he started to act “phony.” 

Paranoia’s theme was prevalent throughout the project. It’s that paranoia that someone will come after him. The paranoia of everyone smiling in his face and hating behind his back. The paranoia that he’ll lose his place in Hip Hop, something he’s put his blood, sweat, and tears into. It’s that paranoia that drives his grind. Now, with Paranoia 2 the paranoia is still there but it’s different somehow. We hear more of East’s past, and it’s his past that haunts him fueling the paranoia. It’s his past that makes him so introspective as he shows a twinge of vulnerability. Masked with tough bars, of course. The 15-track project features the likes of Matt Patterson, Marsha Ambrosius, Lloyd Banks, T.I., and more. A must listen, so do yourself the favor.

18 - Domo Genesis, Aren’t U Glad You’re U

SoundCloud

“The uncelebrated greatest”

Why, yes you are. Domo Genesis is definitely one of a kind and severely slept on. Although he doesn’t receive as much attention as other members of Odd Future, Domo is consistently progressing and proving himself a solid lyricist. At the start of Aren’t U Glad You’re U, I was transported back to high school when OFWGKTA emerged with all their brilliant fuckery. It’s nice to hear Domo, especially going solo. He does recruit a couple features from Phonte and Evidence. Oh, and Evidence is credited as the executive producer of the project - he also dropped a new project, scroll down. 

Aren’t U Glad You’re U is a solid effort from Domo Genesis. From the beginning to the end, he's clearly been honing in on his craft. He’s lyrically on another level now compared to previous projects. He is focused. He is hungry. At only eight tracks, the tape is short but worth a listen.

18 - SiR, November

Apple | TIDAL | Spotify

Instantly transported to a dimly lit cafe, or maybe a bar. Candles on the table highlight each table, only fueling the hypnotic atmosphere. On stage is a band, mellow and smooth, but they aren’t the highlight. Simply background, aiding to crooner in the spotlight - SiR. All eyes, and ears, are on him. That’s where November takes you.

And with only two features, ScHoolboy Q and Etta Bond, all ears are really on him. Brilliantly put together, SiR dropped his first LP exactly a year after signing to TDE.  Comparing to his EPs, he’s stepped into own and the progression is real. The album is as smooth as silk, jazzy tones put you in a trance. The Inglewood singer-songwriter-producer offers his listeners his heart and soul with his old-school sounds while still being modern. Take a listen, you will not be disappointed. I wasn’t, he’s definitely made it to my “Barefoot” playlist.

19 - Justine Skye, ULTRAVIOLET

Apple | TIDAL | Spotify

Justine Skye makes her official debut with ULTRAVIOLET. Her first studio album features the likes of Jeremih, PND, and Wizkid.

"The title came about from, obviously, my hair's purple. It's like, the theme of my whole life. There's no crazy reason why, but it makes me comfortable. Throughout the different shades of purple ultraviolet is the most vibrant and I feel it exudes a level of confidence I've discovered since recording this album, which is me becoming aware of my relationships. ... I'm understanding it's not always going to be perfect. I feel like this album is a rollercoaster of that situation.” Billboard

Justine takes complete control on her debut project. From the beginning, her voice commands your attention. In her own pop-R&B style, she sings on about modern love.

"I hope...for women to be more confident and take more control in their relationships. That's something I never used to do. I was that girl that would stop everything for someone. This is focusing on myself right now. Obviously, I still need some love and affection, but I'm young. I don't need to be that invested in a relationship."

Whether it be crushing on a guy, indulging in a fling, or simply moving on from a relationship, Justine Skye is straightforward and breathes confidence on ULTRAVIOLET. She has put her all into her debut, so check it out. You won’t be disappointed.

22 - Spider Loc, The Lost Tapes

Apple | TIDAL | Spotify

Former G-Unit member, Spider Loc reemerged this past week with The Lost Tapes. The 15-track album features the likes of Jay Rock, E-Note, Mack 10 and of course 50 Cent. Reminiscent of that old G-Unit sound from the early 2000s, and with some West Coast vibes, and I’m here for it. It’s definitely worth a listen, so pick your poison above.

26 - Evidence, Weather or Not

Apple | TIDAL | Spotify 

“And I refuse to be referred as less than a creative”

Returning with his first project in four years, Evidence dropped his third solo LP. Weather or Not is a 16-track project that features the likes of Styles P, Rapsody, Alchemist and more. He’s back with the old school flow, deep bars waxed over the boom-bap beats we’ve been missing. The album is raw. This is what you call “pain music.” The content is so real, you can’t help but nod in agreement or cringe. Well, you won’t help but nod while the beats take control over your body. This is the essence of Underground Hip Hop, praise to the most high. Weather or Not is a project you do not want to bypass, so pick your poison above.

26 - Lil Wayne, Dedication 6: Reloaded

DatPiff

While we waited 4 years for the next tape, Lil Wayne released Dedication 6 this past Christmas. Now, Weezy wasted no time unloading the tape’s sequel, Dedication 6: Reloaded. Back in 2016, when Wayne first teased the release of the sixth installment, he spoke about how the series has helped me grow artistically.

“It became a different approach to the music. I started approaching mixtapes as they’re actually getting a little more recognition than the albums. That’s why when you ask me what’s my favorite Dedication, I’m always going to say the last one… You’re only better than your last shit.”

The 20-track tape features the likes of Juelz Santana, Gudda Gudda, Drake, Lil Twist and more. While hosted again by DJ Drama, this time he served remixes of Kendrick Lamar and Rihanna’s “LOYALTY.,” A$AP Ferg’s “Plain Jane,” and Lil Pump’s “Gucci Gang.” Check out the latest installment of the Dedication series, it’s a must listen.

Stay Plugged

We also saw releases from:

Young Lito, In Due Time 2 Apple | TIDAL | Spotify | SoundCloud

Berner, The Big Pescado: Apple | TIDAL | Spotify

D. Lynch, 1985 Apple | TIDAL | Spotify

Fetty Wap, For My Fans 3: The Final Chapter

Migos, CULTURE II

Ghostface & Apollo Brown, The Brown Tape: Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple. 

And as always, stay plugged for more new music with #OverloadMonday until next month when I sum up February.

[dealgemeneverwarring]

The twenty-fifth episode of De Algemene Verwarring was broadcast on Tuesday June the 2nd, 2020 and you can listen to it by clicking on the Mixcloud link above. Not sure why you can’t see the radio show logo, but you can click and it brings you to the right episode. Ahh Tumblr, you pain. Just to be sure I’ll post the link right underneath this text. So yes, exceptionally on a Tuesday, because we just had the Sinksen-weekend here in Kortrijk and in these strange times it was, as almost everything is, an online event streaming on different platforms, and also Quindo, my kind hosts for this radio show, made non-stop live radio for 60 hours. So yeah I had to move to Tuesday but no worries, I think I have made quiet a nice episode with lost of music to dance to. Pictured below are US garage noise rockers Chrome Cranks, who were an essential band in my own personal music history. I admit that I might have a whimsical music taste. I have periods that I am totally into noise and other periods that I’m more into loud guitars or poppy guitars, and usually I’m into new wave and postpunk. And somehow Chrome Cranks are all of that: they’re loud and noisy, and dark and repetitive, and sometimes even poppy. When I first heard Chrome Cranks and even more when I first saw them play live, I was blown away. I played the opening track from their self titled debut full length, the song is called “Dark Room” and it’s still an unbelievable banger. I have played more happy dance music in this episode from the likes of Oblivians, Ramones, Billy Childish, Magazine and Beat Happening, and also some sad dance music from Chromatics, Pure Ground and Molchat Doma. We’re ending this episode with a dreamy Suicide cover by Black Tambourine. And below the photo you can find the playlist for this show. Enjoy!

https://www.mixcloud.com/MedialabKortrijk/de-algemene-verwarring-25-2-juni-2020/

Playlist:

Cows: Heave Ho (CD “Cunning Stunts” on Amphetamine Reptile, 1992)

Chrome Cranks: Dark Room (CD “Chrome Cranks” on PCP Entertainment, 1994)

Oblivians & Mr. Quintron: Mary Lou (CD “Play 9 Songs With Mr. Quintron” on Crypt Records, 1997)

Ramones: Judy Is A Punk (2CD “Anthology” on Rhino Records, 1999)

Trampoline Team: C.I.A. (LP “Trampoline Team” on Hozac Records, 2019)

Wild Billy Childish & The Blackhands: Mr. Hitler (3LP “Punk Rock Ist Nicht Tot” on Damaged Good Records, 2019 - originally released on a 7” on Twist Records in 1993)

Puritan Guitars: 100 Pounds in 15 Minutes (7” on Riverside Records, 1980)

The Scientists: That Girl (LP “The Scientists”, reissue on Numero Group, 2015 - originally released in 1981 on EMI Custom Records)

Magazine: Sweetheart Contract (LP V/A “Street Level (20 New Wave Hits)” on Ronco Records, originally released on a 7” in 1980 on Virgin Records & LP “The Correct Use Of Soap”, 1980 on Virgin)

Beat Happening: Foggy Eyes (2LP “Look Around” on Domino, 2015 - originally released on “Beat Happening”, debut album on K Records, 1985)

Eierkop: Coronacrisis (CD “Corona Compilation” on Ronny Rex, 2020 - download on http://eierkop.bandcamp.com)

Ixna: Mi Ne Parolas (LP V/A “Subnormal Girls - D.I.Y. - Post Punk - 1979-1984 Volume 3” on Waiting Room Records - originally released on 7” in 1991 on Dumb Records)

Chromatics: Healer (CDr “The Unreleased TMU Sessions”, not on label, 2005)

Belgrado: Sombra De La Cruz (LP “SigloXXI” on La Vida Es Un Mus Discos, 2013)

Molchat Doma: Lyudi Nadyoeli (LP “С Крыш Наших Домов = S Krysh Nashikh Domov” on Sacred Bones Records, 2020 - originally self-released in 2017)

Red Zebra: Polar Club (LP “Maquis” on Parsley Records, 1983)

Pure Ground: Poison (LP “Standard Of Living” on Chrondritic Sound, 2015)

Cosey Fanni Tutti: Tutti (LP “Tutti” on Conspiracy International, 2019)

Black Tambourine: Dream Baby Dream (LP “Black Tambourine” on Slumberland Records, 2010)

[jonathanbogart]

Tubulaire: French Socialist Pop and New Wave

I went and did it again. Twenty-one songs, 1981-1987, from France and nearby Francophone territories. Here it is as a YouTube playlist. No Spotify playlist -- again, too many gaps -- but you can figure it out. Tracklisting below, “liner notes” below the cut.

Étienne Daho, “Week-end à Rome”

Les Calamités, “Toutes les nuits”

Jo Lemaire + Flouze, “Je suis venue te dire que je m’en vais”

Taxi Girl, “Paris”

Indochine, “Kao Bang”

Mikado, “Naufrage en hiver”

2 Belgen, “Quand le film est triste”

Mader, “Disparue”

Dougherty, “Moi je doute”

Sapho, “Train de Paris”

Stephan Eicher, “Les filles du Limmatquai”

Baroque Bordello, “L’autre”

Les Rita Mitsouko, “Marcia Baïla”

Marc Seberg, “L’éclaircie”

Lio, “Mona Lisa”

Axel Bauer, “Cargo”

Buzy, “Dyslexique”

Chagrin D’amour, “Monte-Carlo”

TC Matic, “Elle adore le noir pour sortir le soir”

Mylène Farmer, “Libertine”

Carte de Séjour, “Ramsa”

Tubulaire: french socialist pop and new wave

Trying to pattern this mix off the Spanish and Portuguese one I did last year, I found myself running afoul of the many ways in which the French scene was very different from the Spanish and Portuguese — and also from the British, which I know better. French popular music has been a continuum running from the era of the music hall to the present: rock, like jazz before it, was taken on board as an amusing novelty, but it did not transform the cultural landscape to the extent it did in the US and UK. Meanwhile, Spain and Portugal, controlled by fascists at midcentury, largely ignored the initial rock waves; for them, the real cultural transformation didn’t happen until democratization, and punk. France also absorbed punk as an amusing novelty, but the top level of pop did not change: chanson, varieté, and melancholic singer-songwriters saw their production shift with the times, but the attitudes did not: in France, teenage dreams were always openly conjured by dirty old men.

Speaking of which, there is one Serge Gainsbourg song here, but not sung by Gainsbourg or a member of his family; I have mostly avoided the canonical (in English-language circles) sixties French pop singers: France Gall, François Hardy, Jacques Dutronc, and Johnny Hallyday were all still making more or less relevant music in the 1980s, but in order to make a coherent mix, I was primarily interested in the younger generation, those energized by punk and disco (and their offspring, new wave and synthpop).

In the 1980s, France was led by its first Socialist President, the long-serving François Mitterrand, providing a sort of left-wing European bulwark against the devouring conservatism of Reagan’s America and Thatcher’s Britain. (From a strict left-wing view, Mitterrand was more of a centrist, defanging the Communists and dithering about nationalization of services; but in global terms, his socialism was remarkable.) Because France is a democracy, that of course doesn’t mean the entire nation was socialist, any more than everyone in the UK was a Tory, but socialist and left-wing ideals were more deeply entrenched in France than almost anywhere else in Western Europe.

Which itself doesn’t necessarily say anything about popular music, always a capitalist endeavor. Despite the famous, and famously evanescent, wealth of some high-profile laborers in music, those who own the means of production remain those who really profit from that labor. So there’s inevitably a tension between my declared subtitle for this mix and what’s really in it: a heterogenous grab-bag of ideology, mostly (like pop everywhere) about romantic love.

One other major difference to my Spanish/Portuguese mix: minority languages have been officially discouraged in France since the Revolution, and even the baby steps taken in the last few decades toward acknowledging Occitan, etc., are nothing compared to the autonomy of Catalan, Basque, and other Spanish minority languages. Which is to say: with one exception, everything in this mix is in standard French (with the occasional phrase in English or another language thrown in as the song requires). The bulk of it was made in France itself, with four songs from Belgium and one from Switzerland.

Finally, many of songs here were released in 1984. Which is a direct result of one of the reasons I started diving back into 1980s European pop music: my friend Michaelangelo Matos is working on a book about the US music industry in 1984, and as always I started thinking about expanding parameters.

I’m certainly no expert in French pop, mainstream or underground, of the period. This is what has struck me as beautiful and fun and maybe even soul-nourishing after rooting around in streaming services and online discographies and filesharing programs for a few weeks, plus some stuff I already knew and loved. I hope you like (at least some of) it too.

Oh, the title. “Tube” is French slang for a hit record, and I thought it would be slightly amusing to mix that up with period SoCal slang.

1. Étienne Daho Week-end à Rome Virgin | Paris, 1984

Perhaps better known to British pop fans as Saint Etienne’s “He’s on the Phone” (the band was named after Daho, the most sublime aesthetician in French pop), this gorgeous synthpop reverie of no-strings travel and romance in the 80s sounds doubly nostalgic these days, as the dream of a united Europe falters. The woman’s voice pronouncing Italian quite poorly on the bridge belongs to Belgian pop star Lio; she also appears in the video.

2. Les Calamités Toutes les nuits New Rose Records | Paris, 1984

Sometimes called “the French Go-Gos,” the all-girl Calamités were rather less polished than the L.A. band, I think to their advantage. This urgent power-pop (perhaps even pop-punk) song takes as a theme that universal complaint about having to share a bed with a sleepwalker who goes out on the rooftops every night; its rush and clatter mirrors the heart-pounding fear of falling in the lyrics.

3. Jo Lemaire + Flouze Je suis venue te dire que je m'en vais Vertigo | Brussels, 1981

Originally written and sung by Serge Gainsbourg on his 1973 concept album Vu de l’extérieur, this spare cover by Belgian synthpop pioneers Flouze was their biggest hit and one of their few songs in French. (Most pop acts in the multilingual Low Countries sing in English to widen their potential audience.) Lemaire, the voice of the band, would go solo for most of the 80s, and has a catalog worth digging into.

4. Taxi Girl Paris Virgin | Paris, 1984

One of the foundational Parisian synth-punk bands circa 1980, Taxi Girl’s lifespan was drawing to a natural close by 1984, when this thrumming, evocative ode to/sneer at their hometown became one of their biggest hits. The casual, slangy lyrics are entirely spoken by singer Viviane Vog (Daniel Darc), slowly building to a punchline in which he spells Paris in an unusual way. And the descending guitar riff pulses on into the night.

5. Indochine Kao Bang Clemence Melody | Paris, 1983

We now encounter the somewhat cringey orientalisme that was de rigeur for the pop scene of every twentieth-century imperial power in the early 80s as the Eastern markets boomed. Indochine are usually thumbnailed as the French Cure, but “Kao Bang” is dancier and sweeter than Robert Smith would be for years yet. The lyrics are dodgy orientalist heroic fantasy, but possibly feminist too?

6. Mikado Naufrage en hiver Vogue | Paris, 1985

Named for a brand of pick-up sticks rather than the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, Mikado were a French orientalist band that actually interacted with Pacific Rim culture: Yellow Magic Orchestra founder and video-game composer Haruomi Hosono produced this single, written by singer Pascale Borel, whose breathy soprano is in both French and Japanese pop traditions.

7. 2 Belgen Quand le film est triste Antler | Brussels, 1982

Not a cover of the 1962 Sylvie Vartan hit, but a herky-jerky new wave interrogation of it, after the deconstructive manner of Devo or the Residents. The debut single of Belgian duo 2 Belgen (or “two Belgians”), it’s rather more instrumentally eccentric than the music that would win them later popularity, but as a spiky, springy introduction, it’s fantastic.

8. Mader Disparue Flarenasch | Paris, 1984

A pop chancer who became famous for unabashedly cheesy dance-pop using Latin rhythms, Jean-Pierre Mader is perhaps the clearest representative of the music hall-derived “varieté” tradition in this mix. Here, a tango bandoneon swirls against a squelchy four-on-the-floor beat as Mader warbles about a lover who has disappeared: it’s Gallo-Latin music at its most stereotypical, and it always brings a smile to my face.

9. Dougherty Moi je doute Réflexes | Toulouse, 1984

There have historically been very few regional pop scenes in France — at least not the way there were in the UK — thanks to the culture of centralization enforced by the state and media. One exception was the Toulouse scene (’82-’86) based around Studio Deltour, featuring retro garage-rock sounds that echoed into the early 2000s: this, from quiffed rocker Gilles Dougherty, is the Raveonettes undreamt.

10. Sapho Train de Paris Celluloid | Paris, 1984

The Morocco-born Danielle Ebguy named herself after the Greek poet as a member of the 70s Parisian punk scene, spent time in New York in the early 80s, and really found her sound in the mid-80s, when she blended industrial beats with pan-Mediterranean melodies and let her strong, witchy voice give it all authority. “Train de Paris” picks up where Grace Jones’ “Warm Leatherette” left off.

11. Stephan Eicher Les filles du Limmatquai Off Course | Zurich, 1983

The guiding force behind the influential Neue Deutsche Welle cold synth band Grauzone, the Swiss Eicher’s solo career would be carried out in German, French and English with equal facility. This folk-melody rave about girls shopping on a fashionable Zurich boulevard splits the difference between his early austere work and the melodic chanson which would give him hits later in the decade.

12. Baroque Bordello L’autre Garage | Paris, 1984

I haven’t included much representation from the so-called coldwave (icy synthpop in post-punk monochrome) scene which has taken up much of the retrospective space for the French 80s in the Anglosphere, because much of it was sung in English, and I’m snobby enough to prefer first languages. But this lovely bit of psychological alienation, in singer Weena’s whispery soprano, deserves to be remembered.

13. Les Rita Mitsouko Marcia Baïla Virgin | Paris, 1984

Undoubtedly the outstanding French rock act of the decade, Les Rita Mitsouko might be familiar to English-language music fans for being frequently namechecked by Kurt Cobain. Their neo-primitivist pound-and-yowl cabaret was deeply influential on the “alternative” 90s, but this early marionette-funk song commemorating singer Catherine Ringer’s late dance teacher Marcia Moretto remains a career highlight.

14. Marc Seberg L’éclaircie Virgin | Longueville, 1984

The band Marquis de Sade was a foundational coldwave act, but after they broke up in 1981, founder Philippe Pascal formed a new band, Marc Seberg, more in the line of British post-punk: “L’éclaircie” sounds rather like Ian Curtis fronting Modern English, although its melodic sense is typically French: even when Pascal breaks into English in the bridge, he doesn’t sound like an English singer.

15. Lio Mona Lisa Ariola | Brussels, 1982

Perhaps the song most thoroughly indebted to the French pop of the 1960s in this mix, “Mona Lisa” was written and produced by the two members of Telex, the Belgian synthpop duo whose “Moskow Discow” was one of the foundational new wave singles. But this is pure chamber pop, heavily, even saccharinely, orchestrated, while Lio’s cutesy gamine voice makes even a relatively tame lyric about Leonardo’s masterpiece sound squirmily Gainsbourgian.

16. Axel Bauer Cargo Vogue | Paris, 1983

I haven’t seen the comparison “the French Thomas Dolby” made anywhere, but I’ll go ahead and make it. Rather than an eccentric quasi-novelty reputation, though, Bauer’s is thoroughly French: the video for “Cargo” (the first shown on French MTV) is highly erotic, both homo- and hetero-. But his music, inventive synthpop fascinated by obsolete industrial technology, is just as melodic and as intermittently released as Dolby’s.

17. Buzy Dyslexique Arabella | Paris, 1981

The kind of irreverent, high-concept single that I associate with Stiff Records in the Anglosphere, “Dyslexique” was the first single from singer Buzy (Marie-Claire Girod), better known later in the decade for more Benataresque work. The second verse, in which she mixes up all the words, is a minor triumph of new wave weirdness for its own sake.

18. Chagrin D’amour Monte-Carlo Virgin | Paris, 1984

Perhaps the song I’ve fallen most deeply in love with over the past weeks. Apart from the beat, there’s nothing particularly 80s about it: it’s a disco-flecked variety-show duet (with a race-announcing middle eight) from an act whose real claim to fame was a novelty rap single three years earlier. As masterminded by Grégory Ken, who had been knocking about the French music industry since the sixties beat groups (he’s one of the alternate paths David Bowie could have taken), Chagrin D’amour has a feather-light touch, but the ache as his falsetto reaches for the high note in the homonymic phrase is real.

19. TC Matic Elle adore le noir pour sortir le soir EMI | Brussels, 1985

TC Matic frontman Arno, having matured from his flamboyant yelping in early hit single “Oh la la,” strikes the exact midpoint between Jacques Brel and Joe Strummer here, with a song half in French and half in heavily-accented English, using the tricks of repetition and crescendo to give dramatic texture to a piece of classic pop-song slutshaming.

20. Mylène Farmer Libertine Polydor | Paris, 1986

If you’re not as entirely disgusted with the “the French x” construction as I am yet, take a moment to consider Mylène Farmer as the French Madonna: a generation gap-exploiting dance-pop artist expanding pop’s sexual vocabulary with provocation and high-art aesthetics, at least until the mid-90s when things get iffy. I encourage you to watch the video for “Libertine” — it packs more historical accuracy, dramatic tension, and Continental philosophy into its nine minutes than in the whole of Johnny Depp’s movie of the same name.

21. Carte de Séjour Ramsa Barclay | Paris, 1987

We close with a twelve-inch remix of the last single by Franco-Algerian rock ’n’ raï star Rachid Taha’s first band. It’s not strictly in French, but according to Taha, in Sabir, the ancient lingua franca of the Mediterranean which fused Arabic, Spanish, French, Italian, Turkish, and Berber. (Sure. To my ears it’s in French and Arabic, with English James Brown-style interjections.) But of course, it’s the groove which really matters, and it’s a good one: Taha’s work would rarely be so danceable again.

This is the second installment in a projected series of 80s pop mixes: four more to cover the rest of Europe, and nineteen for the rest of the world. I make no promises that I will get to any of the rest with any particular haste, although I am thinking about Italy next.

[shadychildgentlemen-blog]

Book of Love by Book of Love, a review (1986)

What better way to start reviewing albums than to review a debut album? Yes, welcome to my Tumblr page, where I review albums! The debut album that I will be reviewing is Book of Love’s self-titled album, released in 1986. First, let me tell you about the band. THE BAND Book of Love was a synthpop group that was very active from the mid-1980s, until the early 1990s. The band comprised of Lead Vocalist Susan Ottaviano, keyboardists Ted Ottaviano (not at all related to Susan), Jade Lee and Lauren Roselli, in which they formed the group in 1983. They aren’t really a synthpop group that is reminisced a lot in today’s pop culture like The Human League or Eurythmics. Of course, this may be a misguided viewpoint since I myself wasn’t around in the 80s to know who was hot at the time (I was born in the late 90s) and Book of Love had a noticeable following in the dance club scene of the time. To be honest, you would hear a lot of nostalgia for A-ha or Tears for Fears before you would hear the same sort of nostalgia for this band. To be fair, the group did put some singles on the charts, such as 1985’s “Boy” which referred to the East Village’s exclusive gay bar and 1988’s “Pretty Boys and Pretty Girls,” which talked about the AIDS epidemic of the time. Book of love was a successful band in my opinion. They churned out four albums; two in the 80s, and two in the early 90s when synthpop was losing its grip as the dominant genre and grunge were taking over. The reason that I think that the band is sort of obscure in today’s world of nostalgia is due to the lack of consistent hits. Their music hit the charts every once in a while instead of very often compared to other groups. This doesn’t mean that they weren’t good; in fact, a lot of good music happens to not be on the top 40, in addition to good music being objective. THE ALBUM As I said before, this was their debut album, recorded in 1985, released 1986, produced by Ivan Ivan, also the producer for Devo and Velveteen. The album gives this group a good freaking foundation of who they are. Even the album cover, four black and white photos of every one give an introductory vibe to the LP. Throughout the collection of songs (17 to be exact, if you include the remixes to “Boy”, “Modigliani”, “You Make Me Feel So Good,” and “I Touch Roses.”) there are constant themes of love, relationship, and even lies. A softer more feminine vibe is evident in the tracks, possibly the product of the group being majority women, makes this album stand out from other synth albums of the day. Tracks such as “Modigliani (Lost In Your Eyes)” uses a lot of sensory detail and romantic language, sounding like a love letter from the Rennaisance Era being read aloud. “You Make Me Feel So Good” is basically if an appreciation post on Instagram was turned into a love song from the 80s. The lyrical aspect was not the only part that made the group stand out in my opinion. The use of peppy, bright synths, airy background vocals, and the use of non-electronic instruments such as tubular bells, gives the band a harmless sound. SONG IMPRESSIONS

Modigliani (Lost in Your Eyes)- Featured in the 1987 film Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, this track features the typical 80s synths, airy vibes, and empty drums that is gives a romantic feeling to match the romantic language of the lyrics. It is a perfect, textbook example of a standard Book of Love song if you have never heard their music.

Lost Souls- Different from most of the songs on this album, the use of more fulfilling, heavier synth drums, deep square leads and synths makes the track more intense. The song looks at relationships in a different, more negative view. The singer mentions about “lies” and how “They all lead back to you” giving a hint that her lover is a liar and that she is upset about this. They seem to be breaking up or losing one another, hence the name

White Lies- A melancholy, but rather upbeat track. The whole entire song sounds like a demo song from an old keyboard you bought at a yard sale. I get it, the song is old, but it sounds cheaply made, wasn’t one of the best tracks, to be honest with you.

Boy- 1985 single that catapulted the group to the charts for a time. It’s one of their most popular singles and more bittersweet sounding. “Boy” still uses the same lighter drum kits but uses deeper synths hidden in the background behind Ottaviano’s vocals and the Tubular bells, which kind of gave me a Motown feel (it may just be me tho), but by listening to the lyrics, you learn about how the singer wants to go to Boy Bar but faces the reality of being a girl and not being allowed and how sad or angsty it makes her feel. The melody and composition is a great companion to it.

Still Angry (Least Favorite Track)- The track contains, heavier drums, a faster beat and deeper vocals on Ottaviano’s part. I got a really quirky or cheesy vibe from this song in terms of the composition of the song. It was made out to be a more agitated tune, but what I imagined, listening to this was a pink teddy bear, coming to life and running around the room, screaming and pissed off. Sure, it may catch you off guard but do you sense any danger with a small stuffed animal? You’re probably not going to take it seriously. It also sounds more repetitive and drawn out the more and more you listen to it. The first song on the LP to get old if you listen to it a lot.

Late Show (Favorite Track of the album!!!!!)- This track is rather different from the rest of the others in terms that it doesn’t have any vocals or lyrics whatsoever. It is pure instrumental! To be honest, it is kind of a refreshing track, not to say that the other tracks were not good because of vocals, but you get to pay attention to just the sound Book of Love; light electric guitar riffs, smooth synth drum beats, some bongos, in the background… The song builds up to a climax using these instruments, including guitar solos, concentrations on each of the instruments used. As the listener hits the climax, the intensity plateaus for a bit, until it is brought down slowly until a black fade out, decorated by three square lead notes that play every couple. It is intense, but a harmless aesthetic that screams the 80s! But also screams Book of Love! You listen to it and felt satisfied by the ending, which is a good sign in itself.

SOME DRAWBACKS…

The two drawbacks I see with this album is one, instrument choice, and two, staleness. First with instrument choice. Some of the instruments, such as an instrument that sounded like an electric harmonica? Made the song “Book of Love” cheesy near the end of the song. It sounded like a karaoke rendition of a song, which is a bit ironic because it is an original song. A lot of the cheesiness makes the tracks sound a bit cheap in a way. In some other ways, it makes the album stand out more from more famous albums of that era, but overall, it can sometimes sound cheaply made. Another drawback is the staleness of the songs. There are a few songs that I still listen to after listening to this album from cover to cover six months ago. The other majority of songs get old quickly. Perhaps I just overplayed them but good music never gets old, right?

BUT IN THE END…The changing sounds of the songs, with a consistent theme (go from a dainty vibe to a more straightforward and striking vibe), can either correspond with or foil against the messages of love and relationship which makes for an interesting album. Just don’t OVERPLAY IT!

RATING…………….8

[gojiro]

The Vinyl of the Day is ‘Fine Young Cannibals’ by Fine Young Cannibals, 1985.

- Quick background;  After the 1983 break-up of ‘The Beat’ (known as The English Beat in North America), Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger decided to continue working together in a new venture. They joined up with keyboardist Mickey Bllingham (Dexy’s Midnight Runners), guitarist Mick Jones (The Clash), bassist Horace Panter (The Specials) and drummer Stoker (Dexy’s Midnight Runners/The Bureau) to form a supergroup of the UK punk/ska/mod scene, ‘General Public’. The OTHER members of ‘The Beat’, bassist David Steele and  guitarist Andy Cox went on to form the group ‘Fine Young Cannibals’ with singer Roland Gift (formerly of the Akrylykz). Whew!

ANYWAY after ‘General Public’ released their debut album ‘All The Rage’ in 1984, ‘Fine Young Cannibals’ followed in 1985 - and it’s very unusual in rock that when a band breaks up, the members split and form two other very fine and successful bands, but that’s what happened with ‘The Beat’. Leaving the ska/mod sound to their former compatriots over in General Public, Cannibals deliver a fluid blend of soul, reggae, punk and pop, the group is best known for the unique voice of lead singer Roland Gift, whose crystal-clear falsetto, not to mention photogenic good looks during "the music video era", gave the band its identity. The group's melodic sense and love of a great pop hook fuels this material. As a result, it all holds up rather well, and this formula would reach full fruition on the their second album The Raw and The Cooked, which would bring the band even greater success with singles such as "She Drives Me Crazy" and "Good Thing." ‘Fine Young Cannibals’ is a super-fun debut, cool as the bottom side of the pillow. 

AllMusic Review by Stewart Mason

When Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger split from the rest of the English Beat to form General Public, Andy Cox and Dave Steele originally advertised on MTV for a new lead singer for the Beat. When that didn't pan out (although it did work for Wall of Voodoo), Cox and Steele hooked up with the unique and soulful singer Roland Gift and formed the Fine Young Cannibals. Though the trio first hit the mass U.S. consciousness with 1989's electronic dance-pop The Raw and the Cooked, their 1985 debut was a soul-jazz pop charmer that's more low key but every bit as entertaining. Along the lines of early Everything But the Girl (the two groups share a producer, Robin Millar) with a heavier Motown influence, the songs on Fine Young Cannibals are uniformly strong. The singles "Johnny Come Home" (a plea to a runaway that sounds like the Beat's ska stripped down to its tense and obsessive essentials) and "Blue" (one of the more oblique and successful anti-Margaret Thatcher tracks of its era) are terrific, but album tracks like the casually devastating "Funny How Love Is" and the manic "Like a Stranger" (which incongruously ends with a female chorus shrieking "You've been too long in an institution!" repeatedly while Gift tries out his Otis Redding impression) are even better. The album's highlight, though, is a reworking of "Suspicious Minds" (with scarifying backing vocals by Jimmy Somerville) that, while it doesn't replace Elvis' version, certainly takes the song into an interesting new direction. Although often overlooked, especially in the U.S., in the wake of their massively successful follow-up, Fine Young Cannibals is a powerful and satisfying debut. The U.S. CD adds two extended remixes of "Johnny Come Home" and "Suspicious Minds."

[buttermybooks]

HI HELLO IT’S ME AND I AM BACK WITH ANOTHER AWESOME POST! I am so excited to have the opportunity to share a playlist from the amazing Emily Barr; inspired by her upcoming book THE ONE MEMORY OF FLORA BANKS. 

This book first hit my radar when an arc showed up in my grab bag from YallFest in November. Immediately after we got the book, @thebookblr started reading it, and LOVED it. Taking her word for it, I dove right in and also LOVEDDDD it. I absolutely flew through this book, finishing in 4 hours, and then cursing myself for not savoring it more!!! 

I will leave a link to a playlist inspired by her time writing this book, as well as a little background from Emily on each song that was included. Buy links and Synopsis below the cut!!

(To listen to the playlist on spotify, click here)

Flora Playlist

I listen to a lot of music when I write: it’s best when played loud. Music helps me block out the sound of the outside world: it’s too easy to be distracted by letters dropping on the doormat, the slamming of a car door, a conversation in the street.

When I need to blast out words to beat a deadline, I blast out opera. It helps that I don’t speak Italian or German so no stories impinge on the one I’m writing. The operatic voices become beautiful instruments. If I need to sink into a deep and meditative period of concentration - to iron out troublesome plot wrinkles - I drift over to sweeping classical music: Brahms, Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich or Chopin. I played the cello for year, and cello music is my comfort blanket.

However, early on in the process, when a book is beginning to take real shape, when ideas are bubbling faster than I can type them, when my characters can be anything or do anything, and I simply have to follow the threads and see what happens; this is when certain songs and certain albums become addictive. They start to soundtrack the novel. I played the songs on this playlist throughout the process of writing Flora Banks. I played them when I stopped writing, closed the laptop and had to get on with the day to day domestic chores. I can never quite switch off from thinking about the book I am writing, so all the while these songs were playing, a little bit of my brain was thinking about Flora Banks.

1: Glacier / John Grant / John Grant and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra: Live in Concert

This whole album is sublime. Witty, tender, hugely melodic songs and a full orchestra. Some songs are dark and some are romantic. John Grant is a wonder. He writes songs from the heart and sings them beautifully. He has had his demons and been close to the brink. He is also a huge lover of Scandinavia. In fact, I used him as the inspiration for the character of Toby in Flora Banks. Glacier is actually a song about the conflict between the church and gay rights, but the message is clear: be brave and find your own answers.

“Don't listen to anyone; get answers on your own 

Even if it means that sometimes you feel quite alone

No one on this planet can tell you what to believe

People like to talk a lot, and they like to deceive”

And when one is brave in the face of adversity, wonderful things can happen:

“This pain

It is a glacier moving through you

And carving out deep valleys

And creating spectacular landscapes

And nourishing the ground”

2: Looped / Kiasmos / Kiasmos

I played this album endlessly while writing this book. Every note of it matches Flora’s adventure. It is subtle and it reveals more with each listen. I love the pulses and the swooping strings and the periods of calm and the bursts of danger. The album is full of looped musical phrases that build and fall away and build again. There are some structural similarities to Flora in this respect. This particular song soundtracks Flora’s boat trip, away from the town and out in to the Arctic wilds.

Kiasmos is a duo and features the legendary Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds. Which leads us on to…

3: 3055 / Ólafur Arnalds / Arnalds: Eulogy for Evolution

I first listened to this album just before I first travelled to Svalbard in 2013. It’s by turns elegiac and joyous. This song in particular hits the spot. You can hear those Scandinavian winds and the piano is so delicate. Then in come the drums when you’re least expecting it.

4: Everybody’s Talkin’ / Iggy Pop / Après

I love Iggy Pop: seventy this year and as charming and as charismatic as ever. Thankfully he managed to survive the 2016 (Cohen! Bowie! Prince!) In 2012 he put out this album of covers. Most of the songs are French and Iggy croons throughout in his deep and croaky tremolo. Nobody could have predicted an album of such melodic easy listening. In it’s own way, it’s a pretty punk thing to do. I play this album a lot while cooking and it always made me smile. This song feels Flora like, especially when she is leaving Penzance.

“Everybody’s talking at me

I don't hear a word they're saying

Only the echoes of my mind

People stopping, staring

I can't see their faces

Only the shadows of their eyes

I'm going where the sun keeps shining.”

5: Where is my mind? / The Pixies / Surfer Rosa

I love this song. This song is playing in the opening scene, in which Flora is feeling out of place at a house party. The title is apt but completely unintentional - I just love the song. A dose of Pixies is good for the soul. Frank Black’s voice blows away the cobwebs.

6: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) / The Beatles / Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

I adore The Beatles. How did they do so much in so little time? Aside from their massive cultural impact, they simply knew how to construct a song and perform it perfectly. When The Beatles hit Spotify for the first time, I binge listened. It soundtracked the whole of Christmas. Flora listens to this album when she’s left home alone. The album also contains the song ‘She’s leaving home’ - something I only noticed while compiling this playlist.

7: Atmos VIII / A Winged Victory for the Sullen / Atmos

This album is hypnotic. It’s sort of ambient, droning, glacial, electronic classical. It hums and purrs and scrapes and whooshes. It’s meditative and clever. This song sounds like it’s echoing in a cathedral. Play it as loud as you can and let it hit you in the chest. To me this is what Svalbard sounds like.

8: The Beigeness / Kate Tempest / Everybody Down

I am in awe of Kate Tempest! She was born in 1985 and has already achieved more than most do in a lifetime. She is an award winning poet, an insightful novelist and a gifted rapper. She writes about real issues and is a fearless role model for young women. I love this song. And I like the message: stand up for yourself and don’t fade into the beigeness. Be heard and be seen. I think Flora has some of that spirit. Tempest’s follow up album ‘Let them eat chaos’ is a masterpiece. I am following her career with interest: I can’t wait to see what she’ll do next.

9: How Long? / Julia Holter / Have You in my Wilderness

Again - an album I played over and over. Julia Holter is brilliant and this is such a polished album, simultaneously complicated and accessible. It feels like looking into somebody’s mind and not quite understanding the thoughts and feelings that are there. This song gives me goosebumps. It is woozy and intimate and her voice is spellbinding.

10: Northern Lights / Ola Gjeilo - Voces8 / Ola Gjeilo

Gjeilo is a young Norwegian composer and his work is gorgeous. Last summer my partner Craig and I spent a week in Tromsø, which is in the Arctic Circle in Northern Norway. There’s a cathedral in Tromsø, and it’s s a magical place beside the water with spectacular acoustics. Through the summer they run midnight concerts: we went to one and heard a mixture of Bach, Mozart and traditional Norwegian music. It was still light when we got there, and just a little bit dusky as we walked back over the bridge to our hotel. This piece - although it’s called Northern Lights and so is from the opposite end of the year - takes me straight back to that evening.

About The Author: 

Emily Barr (www.emilybarr.com) began her career as a journalist at the Guardian before realizing that she was drawn more toward books. After taking a year to go backpacking for a column assignment, she returned home with the idea for her first book, the New York Times bestseller Backpack, and never looked back. She has since written 11 additional books for adults. The One Memory of Flora Banks is her young adult debut. Emily lives in Cornwall with her partner and their children. You can follow her on Twitter @emily_barr. 

Synopsis:

Seventeen-year-old Flora Banks has no short-term memory. She lives under the careful watch of her parents, in a town she is familiar with, among people who are equally familiar with her story. She has not been able to recall any part of her past since she was ten, when the tumor that was removed from her brain took with it her ability to make new memories. That is, until she kisses Drake, her best friend's boyfriend, the night before he leaves town. Miraculously, this singular memory breaks through Flora's fractured mind, and sticks. Flora is convinced that Drake and their shared kiss are responsible for restoring her memory and making her whole again. So when an encouraging email from Drake suggests she meet him on the other side of the world, Flora knows with certainty that this is the first step in reclaiming her life. With little more than the tattoo "be brave" inked into her skin, and written reminders of who she is, how old, where she lives, and why her memory is so limited, Flora sets off on an impossible journey to the land of the midnight sun--Svalbard, Norway. There she is determined to find Drake, and to explore the romantic possibilities and hopeful future that their reunion promises her. But from the moment she arrives in the arctic, nothing is quite as it seems, and Flora must "be brave" if she is ever to learn the truth about herself, and to make it safely home. Rich with psychological twists, powerful moments of hope, despair, and confusion, and a landscape very much a character unto itself, FLORA BANKS is an emotionally compelling and immersive read that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit, the depths of the human heart, and the power of the human mind.

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Enter for a chance to win one (1) of five (5) copies of The One Memory of Flora Banks by Emily Barr (ARV: $17.99 each). NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Enter between 12:00 AM Eastern Time on May 1, 2017 and 12:00 AM on May 22, 2017.  Open to residents of the fifty United States and the District of Columbia who are 13 and older. Winners will be selected at random on or about May 24, 2017. Odds of winning depend on number of eligible entries received. Void where prohibited or restricted by law.