#dutch rendition of the original that I worked with to get to this version is in reblog if you want

[unicorn-shadownight]

In honor of van Helsing day, have a Dutchified version of his letter to Seward!

When I received your letter I was already to you underway.

By good fortune can I directly leave, without that I hurt one of them who have trusted me. If the fortune was different, then was it bad for the ones that had trusted me, because even then would I go to my friend when he calls me to his dear ones help.

Tell your friend that you in the moment that you so fast the poison of the Gangrene from the knife that our other, too nervous, friend, let slip, from my wound sucked, more for him did to get the help that he wanted from me by asking for that now then all his fortune him had could given.

But all I can do for him is simpleway more pleasure; you are the one where i to go. Care for rooms for me in the Great Eastern Hotel, so that I can be within handreach, and arrange it please so that we can the young lady not too late tomorrow view, because probably will I that night have to return here. But should it need be I will return with 3 days, and stay longer if it must. Until then good-bye, my friend John.

[ducktracy]

175. speaking of the weather (1937)

release date: september 4th, 1937

series: merrie melodies

director: frank tashlin

starring: mel blanc (leopold stokowski, cholly jam, walter snitchall, dog), billy bletcher (prisoner, judge)

a frank tashlin directed merrie melody? yes, you’ve got that right! tashlin finally joins friz freleng and tex avery in directing the more expensive, prioritized merrie melodies. considering tashlin was so outspoken with his disdain for porky, i’m sure this was a breath of fresh air for him, finally able to use his talents elsewhere.

inspired by the early days of hugh harman and rudolf ising (as he himself conceded), tashlin makes his merrie melodies debut by sticking to a genre tried and true: books coming to life. tashlin would direct three of these, the other two being have you got any castles? and you’re an education. ironically, the latter would be his final WB entry in the ‘30’s, getting fired from the studio after an argument and then making his return in 1943 with the tour de force porky pig’s feat. for now, we’re treated with a variety of “books coming to life” gags--including a plot with an escaped convict.

open to the cityscape in the dark, a yellow clock face illuminating the silhouettes against the deep, blue, sky. the camera trucks out and pans over to a drug store, complete with that streamlined, frank tashlin look--these opening backgrounds are nothing short of gorgeous. the backgrounds in the tashlin cartoons, both black and white and in color, have always been some of my favorites. i’m not so sure who does the backgrounds in tashlin’s unit here, though i do know a man by the name of art loomer was in charge of the background department in the ‘30′s. the background artists didn’t get credits until the mid ‘40′s, so sometimes trying to identify them can be a bit of a guessing game. but i digress!

inside the pharmacy, we pan across the seemingly interminable magazine shelves. everything is coated in a dark shadow, until the camera focuses on a spotlighted magazine--radio stars, with musical comedian bob burns--labeled as “bob boins” on the magazine cover--playing the bazooka (a trademark of his) to the tune of “with plenty of money and you”. certainly a frequent tune in the 1937 cartoons! a nice, simple choice to do a close up of him playing the instrument and gasping for air--the solid yellow background really brings out the animation and makes it the priority, so that the audience isn’t distracted by extraneous details. plus, saves paint, saves money! 

after more strenuous playing, the bazooka breaks into pieces. segue into another close-up, the skillful, dynamic animation belonging to none other than bob mckimson, who was one of the studio’s best animators (if not best!) and later a director. the animation is strikingly realistic, perhaps even offputting--it looks quite similar to his animation of uncle sam in the terminally boring chuck jones cartoon old glory a mere two years later. burns tells us “y’know folks, i can’t play this bazooka as good as uncle fudd back in van buren. we know him as uncle fudd, you know him as ted lewis!” the uncle fudd bit is lost on me, but the van buren reference is a nod to bob burns’ title: the arkansas traveler. burns would often reminisce about family stories back in van buren, arkansas. coincidentally, frank tashlin worked at van beuren studios before rejoining the warner bros. staff as a director.

a clarinet toting lewis gives his trademark catchphrase of “is everybody happy?”, prompting ned sparks (known for his deadpan demeanor) to grovel “no!” in response. nevertheless, lewis launches into a rendition of “with plenty of money on you” on his clarinet, sparking an entire dance party from the magizines: a beaver from the cover of outdoor life strums the bass with its tail, a pair of silhouettes dance together on the cover of “[the] dance” magazine (as well as a pair of boxers from “the ring”), and two dandelions from “house and garden”, with animation reused from friz freleng’s 1935 short flowers for madame.

lewis ends his song by doing a variety of very smoothly animated acrobatics, including some wonderfully fluid animation of him twisting through his own legs. toys (reused from toytown hall, among other cartoons... perhaps as far back as the shanty where santy claus lives? it’s hard to keep these cartoons straight!) from child life magazine cheer him on, as do a jovial, giggling hugh hubert reused from the coocoo nut grove, all underscored by a brief rendition of “the merry go round broke down”. the number is complete as lewis takes a bow, with some nice animation of his coattails shaking their anthropomorphic fists in the applause.

elsewhere, more magazine gags: a snake charmer on the cover of “asia” magazine woos a hose on the cover of “better homes and gardens”, prompting it to dance and spit out water. the water rains down upon famed conductor leopold stokowski (who collaborated with walt disney in the making of fantasia a few years later), who dons the cover of “the etude”. the underscore is, fittingly, “september in the rain”, also the title of a friz freleng merrie melody just a few months later. stokowski opens up his sheet music: william tell’s “the storm”. pressing a button, a mini windshield wiper wipes away the raindrops from the music sheets. the rain animation is very well done, especially pooling on top of the music. my guess would be that this is A.C. gamer at work, warner bros.’ effects animator.

the decision to have silence (save for the sound effects of stokowski tapping his music stand and the rain) prelude the oncoming rendition of “the storm” is a powerful one indeed. stokowki directs with all his might, pulling his hair and moving spastically, mirroring the intensity of his music... and then comedic timing swoops in wonderfully well as he bursts into a slightly off tune rendition of the title song, “speaking of the weather”, sparking the music portion of the short. this is probably my favorite song that has a merrie melody in its honor--it’s very catchy, both the original version and the cartoon’s rendition!

quite a bit of animation is reused from previous cartoons in this one, but the decision to reuse animation from a tom palmer cartoon took me by surprise. three women (the boswell sisters) seated at a piano sing the chorus, reused from 1933′s i’ve got to sing a torch song. for those who don’t know, tom palmer lasted a never-ending stint of 2 cartoons at warner bros before getting fired on account of how poor his shorts were. he also introduced the world to buddy, the blandest studio mascot of all time, who dominated shorts from 1933-1935. thanks, tom! 

elsewhere, a caricature of lydia pinkham sings affectionately to a caricature of clark gable (reused from the coocoo nut grove), who cleverly dons the cover of “woman’s home companion” magazine. elsewhere, tongue sandwiches stick out their human tongues and “la la lala” along to the rhythm, reused from buddy’s beer garden. the tongue sandwich gag would be reused even as recently as bob clampett’s 1941 goofy groceries--for all i know, he could have been responsible for the original gag in buddy’s beer garden in the first place. you often have to take some of his claims of what he made with a grain of salt, but he did mention that he pioneered the whole “___ come to life” sequences at warner’s, so it serves as some food for thought! 

more gags include a teapot (reused from little dutch plate) whistling along to the rhythm, a caricature of greta garbo reading a book and using her shoes as a rocking chair, a dancing lobster whose frequented many cartoons, debuting in how do i know it’s sunday?, and clams clacking to the rhythm. as the song winds to an end, topped off with the cheering toys from earlier (as well as oddly segmented animation of hugh hubert jamming his fingers together in applause), a shifty looking crook (animated by volney white) furtively sneaks out of his post from “the gang” magazine. i LOVE the choice to slow down the beat of the music at the appearance of the gangster--the rhythm becomes much more furtive and cautious. 

more volney white animation as the gangster uses a spare blowtorch to burn off the front of a safe plastered on “the magazine of wall street and business”. pan over to a caricature of fictional detective charlie chan, telling the convict that he’s under arrest. the fade to the next scene obscures the animation, but there’s a nice little bit of animation as chan twirls his gun in satisfaction. next scene, the criminal (whose bellows are provided by none other than billy bletcher) gives his confession, obscured by silhouettes--bright pink silhouettes, a jarring yet intriguing design choice. his interrogation takes place, of course, on true confessions magazine. 

the judge, also voiced by bletcher, sentences the criminal to life... magazine, a gag that would be reused 9 years later in book revue--my favorite of these book series. i didn’t notice this until the time of writing this review, but the animation of the judge is rather whimsical and fun: he has a tattoo of a pinup girl on his forearm (labeled mabel), and as he jabs his finger through his long beard in the midst of his sentencing, flies flutter out to indicate his age. 

struggling against the bars, the prisoner wipes his brow in defeat, until something out of his peripheral catches his eye. i think this may be bob bentley animation--the animation of the prisoner wiping his brow matches up rather well with the scene he did of porky wiping his brow in porky’s railroad. the criminal sneaks behind a wall of magazines, a pan across the scene being our only guide to his movement. with that, he stumbles upon another magazine with prison bars: liberty magazine, where he escapes with ease.

a caricature of columnist walter winchell lives up to his dubbed name of “walter snitchall” as he alerts the public about the prison break, peeking through a keyhole provided by look magazine for his evidence. thus sparks the infamous tashlin montage: overlays of various animated scenes all at once to convey a sense of heightened dramatics and urgency. cop cars, bugle horns, boy scouts on the run, even tarzan and a stampede of animals (reused from the coocoo nut grove and porky in the north woods respectively). as if this cartoon couldn’t date itself further, we’re also met with recycled animation (perhaps from buddy of the apes???) of blackface caricatured natives joining the fight. even animation is reused from as far back as 1931′s ride him, bosko! with a gang of cowboys riding their horses into battle. 

time for another caricature, this one being william powell, who lumbers out to a constipated rendition of “the boulevardier from the bronx”. powell starred in the movie “the thin man” three years earlier, and is caricatured as such from his side profile, which is practically non-existent. a dog from “dog world” brags “that’s my pop!” and jumps to join his side.

something you’ll notice throughout this cartoon is the magazine dates: they’re almost all dated october 1946. common speculation is, seeing that this cartoon got a blue-ribbon release in 1945 (which means it was re-released for theaters), that they went back in and changed the dates of the magazines to appeal to the more modern audience. i doubt this is true: this is the same studio who didn’t switch to having full color cartoons until late 1943 to save money--i doubt they’d do something so costly and meticulous as changing the dates on magazine covers. 

nevertheless--the convict is now disguised as a baby, donning the cover of better babies magazine. volney white does some nice hat takes as the convict realizes he’s being followed, his baby bonnet twisting up as it attempts to contain the prisoner’s cap from flying through the roof in shock. william powell’s dog sniffs the ground... and we pan back to reveal powell doing the exact same thing, crawling around on all fours. there’s also a GREAT little gag where powell spots something, which is evidently enough trouble to constitute him blindfolding his dog. they continue their search as normal, dog now blindfolded as they cleverly past a line of magazines: the saturday evening post (whose covers i LOVE, especially the ones by norman rockwell and j.c. leyendecker!), literally adorned with wooden posts. the joke being, of course, that powell doesn’t want his dog to stop by the post and pee on it.

some nice, sharp comedic timing as powell and his dog confront the baby carriage where the prisoner is hiding: there’s a pause, and suddenly the convict pops out from the carriage and whacks powell in the face with a baby bottle. cue the climax as the prisoner makes a break for it in a baby carriage, the music score a jaunty rendition of “country boy”. after getting pelted with eggs by a polo player, a cowboy on the front of “western story” magazine lasso’s the criminal, yanking him out of the carriage and dragging him (painfully) by his neck. you’ll notice that on the cover of the magazine, a “cal howd” is credited, referring to warner bros. storyman and short-lived director cal howard. 

all of the heroes in their little magazine worlds work together to put a halt to the criminal’s escape: ships fire cannonballs that break the makeshift noose around the convict’s neck, sending him pummeling, spears thrown by the (ugh) racist native caricatures from before cause the crook to face plant, good ol’ saint nick drops his back of toys that wrap around the convict and slow down his run (the animation complex but very well done, topped off by the sound effects of clanking and horns being crushed), greta garbo trips the crook and sends him into a pond on the cover of “country life” magazine, and so forth. i love that rendition of “country boy” as the music! it was also used in earlier 1937 high energy scenes in cartoons such as the fella with the fiddle and ain’t we got fun.

a reprisal of the title song serves as a jaunty underscore as the criminal is launched onto a giant pinball machine, where he’s sent springing around, animation reused from sunday go to meetin’ time. he hits the jackpot, his reward being a sentence to “twenty thousand years in sing sing” by “warden flaws” (a play on lewis e. lawes). hugh hubert taunts the criminal with his signature high pitched giggle that daffy would appropriate into his own signature laugh, aggravating the criminal enough to grab a globe off of the cover of the world almanac, used to sock hubert right over the head. iris out on the convict gleefully impersonating hubert, giggle and all.

this isn’t my favorite tashlin cartoon by a long shot, but it’s also not the worst entry in the book series. rewatching this one a few times certainly heightened my appreciation for the short. though it’s HEAVILY dated, it’s a very clever cartoon, especially if you put some time in to do some research on who these caricatures are or what the magazines are about. i always particularly enjoy analyzing these cartoons chock full of references--time consuming, sure, but you get to LEARN something from them and you get to actively discover and absorb new information you never knew before, and that’s what it’s all about for me.

this is a fun cartoon. the colors are nice and bright, but tastefully so, the music is jaunty and happy (again, i LOVE the original song!), and the animation has its merits. i particularly enjoy volney white’s scenes, as well as the scene of the ted lewis caricature literally bending over backwards to play his clarinet. with that said though, this isn’t a perfect cartoon: some parts feel more cobbled together than others (the scene where the toys and hugh hubert applaud ted lewis’ performance feels oddly out of place), and of course you have reused animation of blackface caricatures... but, in all, it’s an endearing cartoon. there are certainly more boring cartoons out there in this genre.

this is a cartoon i’m neutral on, but i’d say that if you’re curious to see it in action, go for it! if not, you can easily skip it. it’s not a make-or-break type of deal.

with that, here’s a link!

[emerald-studies]

The complex Nina Simone

“Born Eunice Kathleen Waymon in Tryon, North Carolina on February 21st, 1933, Nina’s prodigious talent as a musician was evident early on when she started playing piano by ear at the age of three. Her mother, a Methodist minister, and her father, a handyman and preacher himself, couldn’t ignore young Eunice’s God-given gift of music. Raised in the church on the straight and narrow, her parents taught her right from wrong, to carry herself with dignity, and to work hard. She played piano – but didn’t sing – in her mother’s church, displaying remarkable talent early in her life. Able to play virtually anything by ear, she was soon studying classical music with an Englishwoman named Muriel Mazzanovich, who had moved to the small southern town. It was from these humble roots that Eunice developed a lifelong love of Johann Sebastian Bach, Chopin, Brahms, Beethoven and Schubert.After graduating valedictorian of her high school class, the community raised money for a scholarship for Eunice to study at Julliard in New York City before applying to the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Her family had already moved to the City Of Brotherly Love, but Eunice’s hopes for a career as a pioneering African American classical pianist were dashed when the school denied her admission. To the end, she herself would claim that racism was the reason she did not attend. While her original dream was unfulfilled, Eunice ended up with an incredible worldwide career as Nina Simone – almost by default.

 One fateful day in 1954, looking to supplement her income, Eunice auditioned to sing at the Midtown Bar & Grill on Pacific Avenue in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Word spread about this new singer and pianist who was dipping into the songbooks of Gershwin, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, and the like, transforming popular tunes of the day into a unique synthesis of jazz, blues, and classical music. Her rich, deep velvet vocal tones, combined with her mastery of the keyboard, soon attracted club goers up and down the East Coast. In order to hide the fact that she was singing in bars, Eunice’s mother would refer to the practice as “working in the fires of hell”, overnight Eunice Waymon became Nina Simone by taking the nickname “Nina” meaning “little one” in Spanish and “Simone” after the actress Simone Signoret.At the age of twenty-four, Nina came to the attention of the record industry. After submitting a demo of songs she had recorded during a performance in New Hope, Pennsylvania, she was signed by Syd Nathan, owner of the Ohio-based King Records (home to James Brown), to his Jazz imprint, Bethlehem Records. The boisterous Nathan had insisted on choosing songs for her debut set, but eventually relented and allowed Nina to delve in the repertoire she had been performing at clubs up and down the eastern seaboard. One of Nina’s stated musical influences was Billie Holiday and her inspired reading of “Porgy” (from “Porgy & Bess”) heralded the arrival of a new talent on the national scene. At the same mammoth 13 hour session in 1957, recorded in New York City, Nina also cut “My Baby Just Cares For Me,” previously recorded by Nate King Cole, Count Basie, and Woody Herman. The song was used by Chanel in a perfume commercial in Europe in the 1980’s and it became a massive hit for Nina, a British chart topper at #5, and thus a staple of her repertoire for the rest of her career.

Nina Simone’s stay with Bethlehem Records was short lived and in 1959, after moving to New York City, she was signed by Joyce Selznik, the eastern talent scout for Colpix Records, a division of Columbia Pictures. Months after the release of her debut LP for the label (1959‘s The Amazing Nina Simone), Nina was performing at her first major New York City venue, the mid-Manhattan-located Town Hall. Sensing that her live performances would capture the essential spontaneity of her artistry, Colpix opted to record her September 12, 1959 show. “You Can Have Him,” a glorious torch song previously cut by Peggy Lee and Ella Fitzgerald, was one of the highlights of the evening. The song opened with a dazzling keyboard arpeggio that would become her signature for decades. So momentous was the Town Hall performance that it inspired some of the same musicians, featuring the vocals of Nina’s only daughter, Lisa Simone Kelly, to do a tribute to a sold out audience over forty five years later.As Nina’s reputation as an engaging live performer grew, it wasn’t long before she was asked to perform at the prestigious Newport Jazz Festival. Accompanied on the June 30th, 1960 show by Al Schackman, a guitarist who would go on to become Nina’s longest-running musical colleague, bassist Chris White, and drummer Bobby Hamilton, the dynamic show was recorded by the Colpix. The subsequent release in 1961 of the old blues tune “Trouble In Mind” as a single gave Nina her third charted record.Her stay with Colpix resulted in some wonderful albums – nine in all – included Nina’s version of Bessie Smith’s blues classic “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out.” Issued as a single in 1960, it became Nina’s second charted Pop and R&B hit and one of two Colpix tracks to achieve such a feat during her five year stint with the label. Other stand out tracks from that era were the soulful song “Cotton Eyed Joe,” the torch tune “The Other Women,” and the Norwegian folk rendition of “Black Is The Color Of My True Love’s Hair” – all beautiful examples of Nina Simone at her storytelling best, painting a vivid picture with her skill as a lyrical interpreter. During this time with the label, Nina recorded one civil rights song, Oscar Brown Jr.’s “Brown Baby,” which was included on her fifth album for the label, At The Village Gate.“Critics started to talk about what sort of music I was playing,” writes Nina in her 1991 autobiography I Put A Spell On You, “and tried to find a neat slot to file it away in. It was difficult for them because I was playing popular songs in a classical style with a classical piano technique influenced by cocktail jazz. On top of that I included spirituals and children’s song in my performances, and those sorts of songs were automatically identified with the folk movement. So, saying what sort of music I played gave the critics problems because there was something from everything in there, but it also meant I was appreciated across the board – by jazz, folk, pop and blues fans as well as admirers of classical music.” Clearly Nina Simone was not an artist who could be easily classified.

Nina’s Colpix recordings cemented her appeal to a nightclub based U.S. audience. Once she moved to Phillips, a division of Dutch-owned Mercury Records, she was ready to expand her following globally. Her first LP for the label, 1964’s In Concert, signaled Nina’s undaunted stand for freedom and justice for all, stamping her irrevocably as a pioneer and inspirational leader in the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. Her own original “Mississippi Goddam” was banned throughout the South but such a response made no difference in Nina’s unyielding commitment to liberty; subsequent groundbreaking recordings for Philips like “Four Women” (recorded September 1965) and “Strange Fruit” continued to keep Nina in the forefront of the few performers willing to use music as a vehicle for social commentary and change. Such risks were seldom taken by artists during that time of such dramatic civil upheaval.For years, Nina felt there was much about the way that she made her living that was less than appealing. One gets a sense of that in the following passage from I Put A Spell on You where she explains her initial reluctance to perform material that was tied to the Civil Rights Movement.“Nightclubs were dirty, making records was dirty, popular music was dirty and to mix all that with politics seemed senseless and demeaning. And until songs like ‘Mississippi Goddam’ just burst out of me, I had musical problems as well. How can you take the memory of a man like [Civil Rights activist] Medgar Evers and reduce all that he was to three and a half minutes and a simple tune? That was the musical side of it I shied away from; I didn’t like ‘protest music’ because a lot of it was so simple and unimaginative it stripped the dignity away from the people it was trying to celebrate. But the Alabama church bombing and the murder of Medgar Evers stopped that argument and with ‘Mississippi Goddam,’ I realized there was no turning back.”

Nina was deeply affected by these two events. In 1962, she had befriended noted playwright Lorraine Hansberry and spoke often with her about the Civil Rights Movement. While she was moved by her conversations with Hansberry, it took the killing of Medgar Evers and the four girls in Birmingham to act as catalysts for a transformation of Nina’s career.There were many sides to Nina Simone. Among her most amazing recordings were the original and so-soulful version “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” and “I Put A Spell On You” (which had reached to #23 in the U.S. charts), eerily moody, unrestrained, drama to the max; “Ne Me Quitte Pas” tender, poignant, filled with melancholy; and with gospel-like fervor, the hypnotic voodoo of “See-Line Woman.” In her own unrivaled way, Nina also loved to venture into the more earthy side of life. After she signed with RCA Records in 1967 (a deal her then husband/manager Andy Stroud had negotiated), her very first recordings for the label included the saucy “Do I Move You?” and the undeniably sexual “I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl” which were from the concept album entitled Nina Sings The Blues. Backed by a stellar cast of New York CIty session musicians, the album was far and away Nina’s most down-home recording session. By this time, Nina had become central to a circle of African American playwrights, poets, and writers all centered in Harlem along with the previously mentioned Lorraine Hansberry, James Baldwin and Langston Hughes. The outcome from one of the relationships became a highlight of the LP with the song “Backlash Blues,” a song that’s lyrics originated from the last poem Langston Hughes submitted for publication prior to his death in May, 1967 and gave to Nina.Nina’s seven years with RCA produced some remarkable recordings, ranging from two songs featured in the Broadway musical “Hair” (combined into a medley, “Ain’t Got No – I Got Life,” a #2 British hit in 1968) to a Simone-ified version of George Harrison’s “Here Comes The Sun,” which remained in Nina’s repertoire all the way through to her final performance in 2002. Along the way at RCA, songs penned by Bob Dylan (“Just Like A Woman”), the brothers Gibb (“To Love Somebody”), and Tina Turner (“Funkier Than A Mosquito’s Tweeter”) took pride of place alongside Nina’s own anthem of empowerment, the classic “To Be Young, Gifted, & Black,” a song written in memory of Nina’s good friend Lorraine Hansberry. The title of the song coming from a play Hansberry had been working on just prior to her death.After Nina left RCA, she spent a good deal of the 1970’s and early 1980’s living in Liberia, Barbados, England, Belgium, France, Switzerland and The Netherlands. In 1978, for the first time since she left RCA, Nina was convinced by U.S. jazz veteran Creed Taylor to make an album for his CTI label. This would be her first new studio album in six years and she recorded it in Belgium with strings and background vocals cut in New York City. With the kind of “clean” sound that was a hallmark of CTI recordings, the Nina Simone album that emerged was simply brilliant. Nina herself would later claimed that she ”hated” the record but many fans strongly disagreed. With an eighteen piece string section conducted by David Mathews (known for his arrangements on James Brown’s records), the results were spectacular. The title track, Randy Newman’s evocative “Baltimore,” was an inspired Nina Simone choice. It had a beautifully constructed reggae-like beat and used some of the finest musicians producer Creed Taylor could find including Nina’s guitarist and music director, Al Schackman.

Aside from 1982’s Fodder On My Wings that Nina recorded for Carrere Records, two albums she made of the independent VPI label in Hollywood (Nina’s Back and Live And Kickin’) in 1985, and a 1987 Live At Vine Street set recorded for Verve, Nina Simone did not make another full length album until Elektra A&R executive Michael Alago persuaded her to record again. After much wining and dining, Nina finally signed on the dotted line. Elektra tapped producer Andre Fischer, noted conductor Jeremy Lubbock, and a trio of respected musicians to provide the suitable environment for this highly personal reading of “A Single Woman,” which became the centerpiece and title track for Nina Simone’s final full length album.With two marriages behind her in 1993 she settled in Carry-le-Rout, near Aix-en-Provence in Southern France. She would continue to tour through the 1990’s and became very much ‘the single woman’ she sang about on her last label recording. She rarely traveled without an entourage, but if you were fortunate enough to get to know the woman behind the music you could glimpse the solitary soul that understood the pain of being misunderstood. It was one of Nina’s many abilities to comprehend the bittersweet qualities of life and then parlay them into a song that made her such an enduring and fascinating person.

In her autobiography, Nina Simone writes that her function as an artist is “…to make people feel on a deep level. It’s difficult to describe because it’s not something you can analyze; to get near what it’s about you have to play it. And when you’ve caught it, when you’ve got the audience hooked, you always know because it’s like electricity hanging in the air.” It was that very electricity that made her such an important artist to so many and it will be that electricity that continues to turn on new people all over the world for years to come.Nina Simone died in her sleep at her home in Carry-le-Rout, Bouches-du-Rhone on April 21, 2003. Her funeral service was attended by Miriam Makeba, Patti Labelle, poet Sonia Sanchez, actor Ossie Davis and hundreds of others. Elton John sent a floral tribute with the message, “You were the greatest and I love you”.” (source)

Watch “What Happened Miss Simone?”

[tillman]

what should i read 4 arthurian legend idk where to start

ok hold on lemme find one of my other answers to this ask for u :-) im too tired to write out the whole thing rn

yunder the cut . rip mobile users LOL

i think the best two starting options involve the same strategy of “pick a knight you like the most and consume all the content you can find on them until you get bored/think of another knight and repeat” and its as simple as “do you want to start with sir gawain or do you not know who you want to start with.”

sir gawain i think is the best starting knight if you wanna go the route of reading as much as u can about one and moving on, since theres a LOT of varied content and hes just in a lot. hes important! anyways the first recommendation i have to start with is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. its a wonderful piece of poetry about a homoerotic beheading game, getting a movie this summer! its fucking gorgeous and a really good introduction if youve never read this old of texts before. i have a few different links so you can take your pick of what you prefer :-)

heres it in the original middle english, its beautiful and if you get the beat down sounds fucking gorgeous but i understand how hard it is to get through if youve never read through it before.

lou recomends Raffels translation above all others which i kinda have to agree with. heres part one and heres part two of that.

and the other link i have directly on hand atm is tolkiens translation which ive skimmed before and it seems really solid.

if you dont want to start with a short and tender christmas party, consider another text most arthuriana fans will consider a must read. its a bit more intimidating than sgatgks poetry but like. hey. its Sir Malory’s Le Morte D’arthur.

this is more on the level of most of the story things youll find for arthuriana and a good starting point to get an overview of a lot of major plot points and characters that show up time and time again in the legends, all of the major knights are covered through malory’s own spin on them and he tries to cover a lot of older tales in his weird fanfiction.

the text can be weird ESPECIALLY if you arent used to middle english since he …. used some weird as fuck words? even for the time. but thats malory.

I highly recommend, if you can get a copy, Kieth Baines modern retelling of Le Morte, it rewords things to make more sense to those used to a more modern prose and while it takes out some of the nuance of some scenes, its way easier to pick up and read. were working on a full scan of it atm actually but the book of arthur is up in our shared drive :-) ill shove a link down here for u

heres the first bit of baines rendition. honestly if u can find a copy for cheap grab it is a fun time

heres the pdf i use for the full text, warning for how weird its structured? its long paragraphs with no quotes around text but if you have no problems with that go for it. heres book one and heres book two.

from there, theres a ton of different options you can follow, but again i think the least overwhelming way to go about it is pick a knight you like and read whatever seems fun that has them in it !

best choices include gawain again, the marriage of sir gawain and dame ragnelle is fun, l’atre perilleux is so fucking wild and just a fun time, the turke and sir gawain has gawain playing tennis? like what more do you need

lancelot has a decent collection of old stories including the entire vulgate cycle (my favorite piece of arthurian lit, im working on scanning the entire english translation ;-)), lancelot and the hart with the white foot, though i havent been able to find a FULL translation, is wonderful and with that the lancelot collection of old stories is a lot of fun the dutch loved him, if you have like 10 bucks to spare, Lancelot and the lord of the distant isles is on amazon for cheap and retells the book of galehaut section of the vulgate and its . so good. please care about galehaut.

tristan as wild as he is is also a really good choice for how popular the Tristan and Isolde legend was in europe. you can find a ton of versions of it, though i prefer the german one by gottfried von strassburg, another amazing one is the povest o’tryschane which is a slavic take on the legend that weirdly throws sections of the vulgate and some italian romances in? i adore it either way.

uhmmm some more off the cuff recommendations include Troyes four romances and also Perceval. as much as i bully troyes knight of the cart, knight of the lion, and knight of the grail are some of my favorite words. skip cliges if youre doing that though it sucks so bad. troyes hated his version of tristan and isolde so much he wrote cliges. that alone should keep you from it. eric and enide is ok but eric sucks SO HARD. i hate that bitch.

more modern but tennysons Idylls of the king? fucking stellar. i recently got a copy and its really gorgeous poetry. kinda like le morte in having a good overview of key events in the texts and some notable characters so this works as a good jumping off point

and finally one i cant really speak on much due to my preference of the romances, but i have many good friends who say the welsh sources are REALLY REALLY good and worth checking out :-) the mabinogion mainly, but a lot of the scattered poetry is really fun!

for finding pdfs for some of the ones i just named, u can check out my doc of whatever sources i have on hand. im missing quiet a few but i got most of the ones i recommend at least io3hewt. heres the link to that. ill post a link to the vulgate when i can finish up scanning the prose merlin !

anyways mwah feel free to msg me if u have questions im insane and like researching this stuff for hours and am willing to find out any information 

[randomvarious]

Buck-O-Nine - “Pass the Dutchie” Emusic: The Extreme Collection Song released in 1995. Compilation released in 2000. Ska-Punk

Before getting into maybe San Diego’s best ska-punk band and the origins of the song “Pass the Dutchie,” let me provide you with an absurd sentence I read on Wikipedia about one of Buck-O-Nine’s albums, 1997′s Twenty-Eight Teeth:

Twenty-Eight Teeth sold over 200,000 copies, appearing in a top spot on the Billboard HeatSeekers chart at one point, and appearing in the Billboard Top 200 for one week, peaking at No. 190.

You get that? The album sold over two hundred thousand copies and peaked at #190 on the Billboard 200 and was only on the chart for one week. Wanna know how many album-equivalent units the current #1 album in the country, Big Sean’s Detroit 2, sold in the past week? One hundred three thousand. Now I know Twenty-Eight Teeth didn’t move those 200K-plus units in one week, but still, holy shit, dude. Album sales were BOOMING in those pre-p2p days of the late 90s.

Okay, now on to some of Buck-O-Nine’s history, with a few grafs from an archived copy of their website:

Buck-O-Nine formed in a small warehouse in the early part of 1991. Based in San Diego, the band was on the horizon of a change in the music industry. At the time the catch phrase was “Grunge.” The band was eager to take a different path. With their backgrounds in Punk/Metal bands, Reggae bands and 2nd wave Ska bands, Buck-O-Nine had the formula for what was to become a new mutation of sounds. Inspired by the early founders of this new sound, Buck-O-Nine admired the works of Fishbone, Operation Ivy, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and the Voodoo Glow Skulls.

By the end of 1992 the band had recorded a demo tape, entitled “Buck Naked.” This was sold at local shows around southern California. The songs on the tape were to become half of the songs recorded on their debut album, “Songs in Key of Bree,” released in 1994. While recording Key of Bree, which was to be self-released, the band caught the ear of their recording engineer, who also owned a small San Diego based label called Immune Records. The band licensed the album to Immune for 2 years. In the meantime they started what would become a relentless touring schedule and continued to write new songs.

After a show in San Diego sometime in the early part of 1995, Curtis Casella, the owner of the Boston based label, Taang Records (at the time home to the Mighty Mighty Bosstones) approached the band. Casella, having just moved his label to San Diego was taken by their choice of cover songs and was interested in releasing them on an EP. In the recording session of what was to become, “Barfly,” the band zipped through the 4 cover songs in an hour with plenty of time in the session for more. They quickly called Casella and agreed to record some new originals. This resulted in the 1995 release of “Barfly.”

Barfly ended up being a split of originals and covers and one of those covers was the made-for-live-gigging “Pass the Dutchie,” originally released in 1982 by Musical Youth, who were a reggae band of Jamaican kids. Musical Youth’s version of the song managed to break the top-ten in the U.S. and hit #1 in the UK as well.

The conception of Musical Youth’s “Pass the Dutchie” is actually pretty funny and bears explaining though. The song’s not an original, but is a mix of two other songs, “Gimme the Music” by U Brown, and “Pass the Kouchie” by Mighty Diamonds. Kouchie is a slang term for a marijuana pipe. When Musical Youth recorded “Pass the Dutchie,” they wanted to remove any reference to marijuana, so they replaced the line “how does it feel when you got no herb?” with “how does it feel when you got no food?” and exchanged the word “kouchie” for “dutchie”. Now, I know what you may be thinking: “Dummy, a dutchie is a reference to marijuana...” but it actually wasn’t back then. In keeping along with the “got no food” bit, Musical Youth used the term “dutchie” to refer literally to a Dutch oven or a cooking pot. Their song was about a group of guys passing around a pot of food rather than just...pot. However, since “Pass the Dutchie”’s release, the term “dutchie” has been used to refer to the Dutch Master cigar that one might use to pack a blunt. Funny how all of that worked out, huh?

Buck-O-Nine’s 1995 rendition of “Pass the Dutchie” sees the band taking that classic piece of reggae novelty and turning it into faster ska and then even faster ska-punk. Outside of the intro, this song is just your run-of-the-mill, fun, sort of tongue-in-cheek ska cover that’s just a bit more uptempo than the original. But as the band keeps performing the song, the punk guitar scratchiness enters the fray, and the speed raises considerably, transforming this track, which had been maintaining a nice and steady sway, to a suddenly turbulent jaunt.

This ska-punkified version of “Pass the Dutchie” proved to be so popular that in 1998, the song was re-recorded for an EP by the same name. That re-recording would then feature on the soundtrack for the total box office bomb, Homegrown, which starred John Lithgow, Billy Bob Thornton, and Hank Azaria. In 2000, the online mp3 retailer eMusic would include Buck-O-Nine’s first version of “Pass the Dutchie” on their Extreme Collection compilation, which was deemed the unofficial soundtrack of the 2000 Winter X Games. Coincidentally (or maybe not), some of Buck-O-Nine’s members were snowboard enthusiasts themselves.

Super fun late 90s ska-punk cover of an early 80s reggae classic.

[x--daughters-of-darkness--x]

EPICA To Release Next Studio Album In Late 2020

Dutch symphonic metallers EPICA are planning to release their next studio album in late 2020.

During an interview with Heavy TV at last month's Download festival, guitarist Isaac Delahaye revealed that he "already started writing some stuff" for the follow-up to 2016's "The Holographic Principle".

Speaking about the EPICA songwriting process, keyboardist Coen Janssen said (see video below): "We start out separately. Everybody gathers their ideas, records it at their own studio, and then we send it to each other. We eventually get together and try out how it sounds and how it actually feels when you play it, which is, I think, a really important thing. Because if you throw it out to an audience, they have to feel it. If you only just record it at your home studio, you don't know if it will work in a live environment. So that's basically how we do it."

EPICA will spend this fall playing a select number of exclusive shows in support of the 10th anniversary of its album "Design Your Universe". The disc holds a special place in the hearts of EPICA's fans and includes such fan favorites as "Kingdom Of Heaven" and "Design Your Universe".

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of "Design Your Universe", the band will return to a number of venues they played while touring on the album back in 2009-2010.

According to Delahaye, there will be a new version of "Design Your Universe" coming out, featuring "some extras," including a "bonus CD" with "five acoustic" renditions of songs from the original album. "And we're gonna do a re-release 'Design Your Universe' tour, or however it's called, so we're gonna play some shows in Europe and South America," he said. "It's just another tour to celebrate 10 years of that album… So that's something to look forward. I'm really looking forward to that. 'Cause it's also the first album I — when I joined the band, that was the album we worked on, so, for me, it's a special album as well."

November 2019 will see the release of "The Essence Of Epica", a lavishly designed and fully illustrated, high-quality hardback which tells the story of EPICA in bandmembers' own words. The book is available in two distinct editions: the Classic is a 208-page, hardback with foil detailing, filled with over 200 images; the Signature hardback is signed by the band and comes in a deluxe clamshell box with three exclusive, original art prints created by Stefan Heilemann.

[fabulizemag]

Ain't I a woman: The speech that never happened.

New Post has been published on https://fabulizemag.com/aint-i-a-woman-the-speech-that-never-happened/

Ain't I a woman: The speech that never happened.

I originally wrote this article for Huffpost a couple of years ago but it is worth sharing again for Women’s History Month. The fact remains that white feminism has never included Black women and when given a chance they will erase us from all visible movements and important progress in history.

We are all guilty of reciting this poem as we know it in its current form. But what most don’t know is France Gage exaggerated Truth’s speech for reasons unknown. We can only assume Gage’s exaggerations are based on racism and the need to box Black women in stereotypes to fit their own personal narrative.

“What Frances Gage did to Sojourner Truth’s speech — and later, her image — was so much more deliberately sinister.”

Reflecting on Black History Month and anticipating Women’s History Month allows me time to reflect on some of my favorite heroes. I was on Twitter when an interesting tweet was retweeted into my timeline. At first, I thought I was reading it wrong — my heart suddenly stopped. I was feeling betrayed, ignorant and most of all naïve. Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I Woman” is purposely exaggerated.

But why?

“I first learned of the lie of ‘Ain’t I A Woman’ as an undergrad. One of my instructors, a professor of African-American studies and a Black woman mentioned it, offhand, near the end of class. It was like she dropped a bomb! We had so many questions that class accidentally carried over; folks were queuing at the door waiting for us to get the hell out!” explains Shafiqah Hudson, a freelance author from Philadelphia who also has a B.A. in Africana Studies.

"Ain't I A Woman?" was a White protofeminist's WILLFUL MISINTERPRETATION and belittling of Sojourner Truth's charisma and oratory gifts.

— Fiqah (@sassycrass) February 6, 2016

Say what?

“This was back before Internet resources were that comprehensive and Wikipedia hadn’t really become a go-to thing, so I headed to my campus library and picked up a biography. I skimmed it — no time to read another whole book but I was able to confirm that Truth was born and raised in New York and spoke Dutch before she spoke English. She probably would not have sounded like a former slave from the South and there are multiple accounts of her transcribed speech that were presented for publication by Francis Gage over a decade after it was given,” Hudson explains to me as she recalls being just as shocked as I was when this information was revealed.

Truth was born and raised in New York and her native language was Dutch, so the implication she spoke with a slave dialect is completely false.

The version we all have embraced is exaggerated, but why? What is the purpose? Was it intentional?

“Oh, it was absolutely intentional. Abolitionist (and friend of Truth’s) Marcus Robinson transcribed her speech as faithfully as he was able to, with minimal editorializing. (At the time, Francis Gage, a convention organizer, was seriously preoccupied with event management.) Robinson and others present during Sojourner Truth’s speech reported that she was warmly received and sincerely applauded when she finished speaking, which varies hugely from Gage’s first published account 12 years after the event.

Here’s the original speech:

Marcus Robinson — One of the most unique and interesting speeches of the convention was made by Sojourner Truth. It is impossible to transfer it to paper or convey any adequate idea of the effect it produced upon the audience. Those only can appreciate it who saw her powerful form, her whole-souled, earnest gesture and listened to her strong and truthful tones. She came forward to the platform and addressing the President said with great simplicity: “May I say a few words?” Receiving an affirmative answer, she proceeded:

I want to say a few words about this matter. I am a woman’s rights. I have as much muscle as any man and can do as much work as any man. I have plowed and reaped and husked and chopped and mowed, and can any man do more than that? I have heard much about the sexes being equal. I can carry as much as any man and can eat as much too, if I can get it. I am as strong as any man that is now.

As for intellect, all I can say is, if a woman have a pint, and a man a quart — why can’t she have her little pint full? You need not be afraid to give us our rights for fear we will take too much, — for we can’t take more than our pint’ll hold. The poor men seems to be all in confusion, and don’t know what to do. Why children, if you have woman’s rights, give it to her and you will feel better. You will have your own rights, and they won’t be so much trouble. I can’t read, but I can hear. I have heard the bible and have learned that Eve caused man to sin. Well, if woman upset the world, do give her a chance to set it right siI want to say a few words about this matter.

I am for woman’s rights. I have as much muscle as any man, and can do as much work as any man. I have plowed and reaped and husked and chopped and mowed, and can any man do more than that? I have heard much about the sexes being equal. I can carry as much as any man, and can eat as much too, if I can get it. I am as strong as any man that is now. As for intellect, all I can say is, if a woman have a pint, and a man a quart — why can’t she have her little pint full? You need not be afraid to give us our rights for fear we will take too much, — for we can’t take more than our pint’ll hold.

The poor men seems to be all in confusion, and don’t know what to do. Why children, if you have woman’s rights, give it to her and you will feel better. de up again. The Lady has spoken about Jesus, how he never spurned woman from him, and she was right. When Lazarus died, Mary and Martha came to him with faith and love and besought him to raise their brother. And Jesus wept and Lazarus came forth. And how came Jesus into the world? Through God who created him and the woman who bore him.

Man, where was your part? But the women are coming up blessed be God and a few of the men are coming up with them. But man is in a tight place, the poor slave is on him, woman is coming on him, he is surely between a hawk and a buzzard.

However, Francis Gage is responsible for the rendition that we have all recited in school and quoted faithfully.

“In my tweets, I described Frances Gage as a White protofeminist. She was concerned primarily with suffragist issues, which Black women at the time, so many of us then enslaved, had very little to gain from directly. Gage’s offense wasn’t limited to her absolutely atrocious rendering of Truth’s speech in what she must have believed was credibly authentic Southern African American Vernacular English (AAVE). Truth, who prided herself on how well she spoke English, her second language — had 5 children; Gage declared that she had said she had 13!. (Ascribing exceptional fecundity to Black people was and is a strategy used by racists to dehumanize us; the roots of the “welfare queen” go right on back to slavery.) Truth didn’t speak in detail about never being treated in a chivalrous manner. Finally, she didn’t refer to other Blacks as “niggers.” That was all Gage”.

Why would Gage intentionally change who Truth really was?

I asked Hudson what she thought and she replied, “Gage, ironically, did not view Truth as a woman — her concept of womanhood, like those of her suffragette compatriots, was intimately bound to Whiteness. A woman was White. period. Gage could accept that Truth was an extraordinary person, but she could not view her as an equal, and a sister. That would have required a complete overturn of her socialization. Because, like her contemporaries, she had a lot of unexamined race bigotry. A lot. Gage’s account, tellingly, centers her, not Truth. In a very “Anyway… back to me!” It’s not that different in tone from that awful White woman yoga class on xoJane.”

The attempts to water-down historical black pioneers are not just alarming but it leaves even more room for confusion. If we can’t trust our history books, who can we turn to in attempts to discover who we are? If you think that’s disturbing, check out this Dick Gregory video as he recalls the day Malcolm X was murdered and his explanation on why Alex Haley didn’t write Roots or Malcolm X himself.

12

[deadcactuswalking]

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 19/12/2020

Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You” spends a second week at #1. It’s #1 in the States as well. We’ve got a week of Christmas music and a Taylor Swift album bomb so... God, let’s just get this over with. Welcome back to REVIEWING THE CHARTS.

Rundown

So let’s start as always with the drop-outs from the UK Top 75, which we have a few of but not as notable as the last few weeks, as the less interesting 2020 hits that just can’t leave the chart are slowly dropping off. We have some of the bigger hits like “Looking for Me” by Diplo, Paul Woodford and Kareen Lomax (Good song, by the way), “WAP” by Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion, as well as some more recent and more moderate successes like “Princess Cuts” by Headie One featuring Young T & Bugsey, “i miss u” by Jax Jones and Au/Ra and “SO DONE” by The Kid LAROI. I can see this all rebounding after Christmas though, especially those last few. What I can’t see rebounding are the three Christmas songs that ironically dropped off from last week, particularly “Santa’s Coming for Us” by Sia which I do not remember being a top 20 hit. We do, of course, have some more fallers as well, like “34+35” by Ariana Grande at #14 and “Santa Tell Me” also by Ariana at #17 – not a good week for her, I suppose. I also find it funny that we have a couple Christmas songs that actually dropped places this week, not many of which are notable, but to give an example, due to three separate songs entering the top 10 this week, “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” by Michael Bublé dropped five spots to #12. On the course of fallers, we also have “Midnight Sky” by Miley Cyrus at #22, “Therefore I Am” by Billie Eilish at #28, “Holly Jolly Christmas” by Michael Bublé at #36, “Monster” by Shawn Mendes and Justin Bieber at #44, “Head & Heart” by Joel Corry and MNEK at #48, “Blinding Lights” by the Weeknd at #50, “Lemonade” by Internet Money and Gunna featuring Don Toliver and NAV at #51, “you broke me first” by TateMcRae at #57 (the biggest fall this week), “Golden” by Harry Styles at #58, “Lonely” by Justin Bieber and benny blanco at #60, “Wonder” by Shawn Mendes at #63, “What You Know Bout Love” by the late Pop Smoke at #65, “See Nobody” by Wes Nelson and Hardy Caprio at #69, “Sunflower (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)” by Post Malone and Swae Lee at #70 and “A Little Love” by Celeste at #74. Of course, we also have some notable returning entries and gains, those returning entries being “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” by the Jackson 5 at #75 and “Baby it’s Cold Outside” by Adele Dazeem and Michael Bublé at #61. The most notable gains aren’t as plentiful this week because I feel like most songs, Christmas or not, are relatively stable if they’re not falling dramatically off the chart, so I’m not going to separate it into festive and non-festive tracks this time. We start off with “No Time for Tears” – the biggest climber this week – by Nathan Dawe and Little Mix up to #64, “Christmas Lights” by Coldplay at #43, “Get Out My Head” by Shane Codd at #32, and whilst that’s it for notably large gains, we do see “Whoopty” by CJ and “This Christmas” by Jess Glynne enter the top 10 at #10 and #9 respectively. Delightful. Well, we’re already done with the rundown – oddly quickly – so let’s get on with these new arrivals.

NEW ARRIVALS

#72 – “The Business” – Tiesto

Produced by Anton Rundberg and Tiesto

I have no time for umlauts. They’re simply not productive. Dutch DJ Tiesto has been at it for a while now and “The Business” is his new house-pop track with vocals from James Bell, probably propped up the chart by a remix with English DJ 220 KID. The original song charted though, so we’ll talk about that one and I do like the cold, bizarrely eerie strings for a song like this, even if the pitched-down vocals make it more comical than anything. The deep house groove here is cool but mostly cheap, especially whatever the hell those claps are. The bridge is aimless and James Bell gives a performance really not worthy of note. At least this has some essence of personality and artistic intent, unlike 220 KID’s usual output, who actually improves on the song by giving it more of a 90s Eurodance tinge, in my opinion at least. The 220 KID remix is a remix of a song that already felt like a remix though, so everything about this is unnatural and awkward, even for EDM.

#71 – “Cuddle Up, Cozy Down Christmas” – Dolly Parton and Michael Bublé

Produced by Kent Wells

The only time country music charts on the UK Singles Chart is when it’s barely country or Dolly Parton. Whilst a lot of country music is rarely appreciated out of the States, I feel like Dolly Parton is one of those singers that’s just universally loved. Michael Bublé on the other hand I have no patience for and I was dreading the time I’d have to review his songs again. The man made a career of off offensively inoffensive Christmas standards and his original music is painfully bad, so honestly, I’ll take it, but the man is clearly not interesting and whilst I understand why Dolly had him on her A Holly Dolly Christmas TV special in the vein of Mariah Carey’s this same year, I’m not excited to hear it. I’m not excited to talk about it either, because this is only vaguely country and is mostly just a jazz-adjacent traditional pop standard, except this is an original song. Neither Parton and Bublé have any chemistry, there’s a lot of empty space, and Bublé’s awkward attempts to add personality to what is and will always be a dull, painful slog of a track are just cringe worthy if anything. This song is barely about Christmas either or anything warm and intimate about cuddling up with family as I expected. It’s just the image of Dolly Parton banging Michael Bublé by the fireplace, and it goes on for about three minutes and 39 seconds too long. Next.

#66 – “Baby it’s Cold Outside” – Brett Eldredge featuring Meghan Trainor

Produced by Ron Mousey and Jay Newland

“Baby it’s Cold Outside” spews controversy nowadays, and whilst I never found a reason to be mad at what is clearly a dated but to me pretty innocuous and satirical Christmas standard, I never found a reason to like the song. Even the classic Dean Martin version is pretty much a slog, but that doesn’t mean I can stomach John Legend’s “politically correct” version either, which is probably the worst rendition I’ve heard, although Bublé’s is close. I don’t mind Tom Jones’ attempt, I guess. Regardless, this version from 2016 is by another country singer, but it did just chart because Meghan Trainor’s here. These two might have even less chemistry than Dolly and Bublé; at least they tried, whilst here despite the song being a back-and-forth, they seem to be on completely different ideas on how to tackle the song. Admittedly, I like this flat, jazzy rendition of the track fine but if anything Trainor is an inconvenience to my enjoyment of this lounge track. She shows off her vocal strength a bit too much for it to work until that awkward burst of energy at the end. Also, Brett Eldredge exists. How unfortunate. It may also be insensitive in retrospect, and maybe ironic, that the song ends with Eldredge warning her she might catch pneumonia if she went outside. Huh.

#55 – “Forever Young” – Becky Hill

Produced by Charlie Hugall

“Forever Young” by Alphaville is one of those classic 1980s synth-pop tracks that sounds so obviously 1980s but is far from dated, with the lyrics being a take on contemporaneous political issues covered in optimistic calls for action and gorgeous strings that undercut Marian Gold’s longing, belting delivery and of course, that horn section at the end that sadly fades out instead of coming to a genuine climax but would be brilliant either way. The song has a legacy indeed, and is continuously topical, being covered by One Direction, Kim Wilde and Imagine Dragons, and being sampled or interpolated by Dorian Electra, JAY-Z, Maroon 5 and even Tangerine Dream. The song has had so many reimaginings that it’s hard to imagine what new can be done with a classic track that didn’t really need much reworking in the first place... so naturally, Becky Hill made an acoustic cover for a McDonald’s commercial. It’s just her singing it vaguely competently over an unimaginative piano rendition of the original, but it does offend me in how it strips everything out of the original song to replace it with a vague orchestral swell and exhaustingly boring delivery from Becky Hill. Sure, the original song sounds cheaper now but if anything, this sounds even cheaper, with mixing drenched in reverb that makes everything sound a lot uglier than it’s supposed to. JAY-Z screwed “Forever Young” up to hell and back on his track with Mr Hudson but at least he rapped over it and had a bit of a sample flip, instead of just reciting the lyrics and chord structure without realising what made the song so biting and anthemic in the first place. This isn’t REVIEWING THE ADVERTS though, even though most of the time it ends up being, so I won’t bore you much longer with this.

#37 – “Show Out” – Kid Cudi, Skepta and Pop Smoke

Produced by Dot da Genius, Plain Pat, Heavy Mellow and Gravez

I knew this would be the highest-charting track from the Cudi album as soon as I saw the feature credit, but I didn’t expect it to be the only one charting. Regardless, I should probably talk about the album because I have listened to Man on the Moon III: The Chosen, Cudi’s highly-anticipated follow-up to his last two Man on the Moon records, both of which are pretty damn great, and this one isn’t far from it either. I liked it a fair bit and even if its derivative first few tracks means it gets off to a slow start, there are absolutely moments on this album where we see a classic Cudi matured and aged, and able to talk about mental health in shallow detail as always but from a perspective where we see a Scott Mescudi that has settled down and is happy with life. While it’s far from a perfect album, I won’t lie and say it wasn’t heart-warming to hear Cudi like this considering how much he’s struggled in his decade-long career, and it’s backed by great, psychedelic production as always. “Show Out” is a complete abandonment of all of that, acting as a shallow turn-up drill track with a massive posthumous hook from the late Pop Smoke’s booming voice, accompanied by an Auto-Tuned Cudi mumbling over gorgeous string samples, which don’t feel like they’re watered-down by the overwhelming drill beat and instead accentuated, which I think is missing from a lot of UK drill. It helps that Skepta is here to slide effortlessly in his verse. He’s selling out shows and shooting guns “the same size as Kevin Hart”, and whilst the verse feels a little short, he absolutely steals the show when he’s there. That’s not to say Cudi doesn’t spit endlessly on his verse, which is also fire, before an atmospheric bridge where, in the midst of the gang violence and hedonism, he calls out to God to ask what the cost of it is. It’s the one part of the song that makes it make any lick of sense in the context of the album, but it’s also the one part I’m never so sure on. It sounds pretty jarring between Cudi’s verse and the hook, and it’s not cathartic when Pop Smoke comes back in so I think it could have been better used as an outro if anything. Other than that, the song is still really hard-hitting and one of my favourites from Man on the Moon III. Songs like “The Void” and “Rockstar Knights” with Trippie Redd blow it out of the water though.

#19 – “no body, no crime” – Taylor Swift featuring HAIM

Produced by Taylor Swift and Aaron Dessner

As you probably know, Taylor Swift dropped a new album last week called Evermore, which is basically a much weaker collection of B-sides from the Folklore sessions. I’ll discuss my gripes with the album more as we get onto “willow”, so I’ll give some short individual reviews here. This is one of my favourite tracks on the record, mostly because of how it takes Taylor back to her country roots but in sharp contrast to the original bubblegum country-pop style she had on her first few albums, she and HAIM of all people perform a pretty convincing true crime story about a missing persons case that might just end up being a murder. With a catchy chorus, oddly eerie and menacing delivery from Taylor Swift that sounds determined and honestly kind of badass with those electric guitars in the post-chorus, as well as some descending melodies in the verses I admittedly love, this is one of the best tracks on the album without hesitation for me. It’s one of the few tracks on Evermore that feels like Swift’s storytelling, knacks for infectious choruses, and the more serious, rootsy acoustic guitar-based instrumentation, are in perfect harmony, even if it is a bit short and much like the rest of the album, it falls victim to the meandering nature of these songs and their aimless bridges or outros. Either way, it’s good. Check it out if you haven’t already. It’s cool to see HAIM back on the chart too, by the way.

#15 – “champagne problems” – Taylor Swift

Produced by Taylor Swift and Aaron Dessner

When I was listening to Kid Cudi, Avalanches and Taylor last Friday all in one session, I was constantly engaged even through the duller parts of the second half of We Will Always Love You or the most rote, derivative Travis Scott rip-offs present on Man on the Moon III. I was only awake for about three and a half hours when I first went through Evermore, but you know that feeling you get in your eyes when you start feeling tired or exhausted? Maybe that’s just a me thing, but “champagne problems” is that feeling when your eyes start to sore a bit and you start blinking a bit more. The storytelling isn’t as engaging as it usually is on this track, and although I do like the main narrative, it takes a detour and doesn’t decide whether it wants to focus on that or a vaguer metaphor about mental illness and how it’s affected Taylor as a celebrity. I care about that on Reputation but I do not give a damn when it’s presented with this uninteresting chasm of piano melodies and a really awkward, pointless outro, once again, that’s out-of-place if anything. I wish anything on Evermore was as good as “seven” but that’s wishful thinking. Anyway, let’s start rambling, because it’s the big-boy debut time now.

#3 – “willow” – Taylor Swift

Produced by Aaron Dessner

I have nothing to go off when judging Aaron Dessner’s production. He’s the frontman behind The National and he does contribute to the album vocally on one of the worst tracks but usually takes a backseat in production. On Folklore, although Dessner was still greatly involved, it felt a lot more varied and interesting from Taylor particularly, who went on unexpected songwriting angles and some melodies I genuinely love. I’m not a fan of the indie-folk direction for her – I think her style of writing and vocals actually fits better on pop tunes, which might be a hot take but I mean, my favourite album from her is Reputation so I’m full of those when it comes to Taylor. I can appreciate when it’s done well, though, and I like her storytelling abilities most of the time, unless of course the song itself is nothing to be interested in... and, I’m sorry, but half of Folklore was aggressively dull, particularly the back half, and I can barely make it through songs like “exile”. Maybe I just don’t “get” it, maybe I’m just not “listening hard enough”, or maybe, perhaps, I’m just not a fan of Taylor doing exactly what she usually doesn’t do on her albums, which is bore me. Say what you want about Red, 1989 or even Reputation, and ESPECIALLY Lover, but they take risks, intriguing ones at that and whether they’re successful or not is obviously up to listener’s interpretation, but regardless, it makes for a listen that is unpredictable and often fascinating. Lover is an absolute mess full of pretty mediocre attempts to do... well, anything, but it’s a better listen than Evermore out of sheer intrigue alone. It’s interesting to hear Taylor try all of these different musical ideas, whether it’s her trying obnoxious bubblegum-pop on “ME!”, ballads with the Dixie Chicks, 1980s-style synth-pop on “Getaway Car” and the majority of 1989, or even industrial-pop rapping on “...Ready for It?”. It’s not interesting to hear her make 16 quite similar songs and less than half of them have a unique flavour to them that makes the hour-long listen feel like you gained anything from it. It’s not just the album experience either that Folklore and Evermore lack, but it’s also the songs themselves, particularly in Evermore. Let’s look at “cardigan”, one of the best songs on Folklore, with Swift’s pretty low-key but emotive delivery, a noticeable and profound refrain, songwriting that evokes a pretty sweet metaphor and tells the start of a story that runs throughout the record in a way that can detach itself from the rest of the record, infectious choruses (even if they are cribbed somewhat from “Wildest Dreams”) and that subtle drum machine with pretty intricate percussion patterns covered by gorgeous string compositions, and a four-minute runtime that feels worth it, especially for that last chorus and verse, an effortless switch-up. Now let’s compare it to its equivalent lead single “willow”, a track with a checked-out Taylor singing pretty janky, awkward melodies over a cluttered mess of guitar strumming, with absolutely none of the very few ideas Taylor has musically actually succeeding. The song has to drop out entirely because Taylor and Dessner apparently can’t handle the three over-lapping ideas just in the first two verses and choruses, and whilst it still has that switch-up for the third verse/bridge, it does not feel worth it because there is another, over-long chorus with no lyrical adjustments to the hook that made the subtleties in “cardigan” so special. The song is 20 seconds or so shorter than “cardigan” but feels a lot longer because of how directionless the outro is, and none of it feels like anything other than a pretty folk-pop tune (which is barely qualifies as anyway because of how ugly these acoustics are, and how meandering Taylor’s cadence is throughout). She tries out the chorus with and without the falsetto for no reason other than to extend the song by the end and it makes effectively no change to how the chorus feels like it’s delivered. I’ll give “willow” credit that it’s listenable and a lot less boring than other tracks on Evermore but I can’t see this as anything more than a failed attempt that should be met with a “game over, try again” screen. I’d accept the musical chaos of misshapen ideas if I ever felt it was genuinely warranted. On Evermore, nothing Taylor does is what the audience deserves accompanying – or maybe even improving on – Folklore. Sorry.

Conclusion

Yeah, “no body, no crime” by Taylor Swift featuring HAIM takes the Best of the Week, but it was a toss-up between her and Kid Cudi, who gets the Honourable Mention for “Show Out” with Skepta and Pop Smoke. For the Worst of the Week, it’s really picking your poison between sickly Christmas duets, but I’ll ignore them and give it to Becky Hill for absolutely butchering “Forever Young”, with a Dishonourable Mention also going to Taylor Swift and “willow”. Here’s the top 10 for this week:

You can follow me on Twitter @cactusinthebank for more ramblings and Taylor Swift hot takes, if you’d want to see that. I won’t post another episode before the 25th so, if you’re reading this, merry Christmas, everyone, and I’ll see you on Boxing Day!

[dustedmagazine]

Listed: Quin Kirchner

A Chicago-born jazz musician who’s been working hard outside the spotlight finally gets their first album as a leader with the help of one of the best labels around … Sound familiar? No, we’re not talking about Jamie Branch, but Quin Kirchner. Learn the name. Released by Astral Spirits in the first weeks of 2018, the drummer’s The Other Side of Time may have the legs to prove this year’s most exciting debut. But like Branch, Kirchner and his playing have benefited from a history of collaboration with a range of folks, in his case not only just about any Chicago-scener you could think of but also more pop-oriented acts like Ryley Walker and Wild Belle. The track list of Kirchner’s double-LP debut betrays the equally broad influence of the deeper past, with tunes by Sun Ra, Andrew Hill and Arthur Verocai, as does the list below, spanning Jo Jones to Jonzun Crew. How does it all hang together? Let the drummer tell you in his own voice.

Tony Williams — Ego 

Tony Williams has been my favorite drummer since I was about 15. I first heard the music on this album when a friend gave me an anthology CD of his early Lifetime recordings including Emergency!, Turn It Over, The Old Bum's Rush and Ego. Ego has, over time, become one of my favorite records of his. It feels like a genuine statement from him, and listening to it you get the sense that he was making a record he wanted to make, full of explorations. Maybe that's where the title Ego comes from. There are tunes that sound like they're edits of long jams, percussion throw-downs, and it all has this really psychedelic vibe. “There Comes a Time” is one of my favorite tunes, I could listen to that vamp on repeat for hours.

Demon Fuzz — Afreaka!

Discovered this record just a couple years ago, and it has quickly become one of my all time favorites. The group creates a sound that's such an interesting blend of funk, rock and African music. The album opener, “Past Present and Future,” is a perfectly epic introduction to what these guys do, but the album is a winner all the way through.

Kelan Phil Cohran — African Skies

The world lost another master this past year when Kelan Phil Cohran passed away in June. Known as an original founder of the AACM and an early member of the Sun Ra Arkestra during the group's Chicago years, he became a patriarch of creative music, living to be 90. Famous for "creating world music before there was such a term," he built himself instruments based on African kalimbas and played zither and harp alongside his trumpet and French horn. All of his records are great and beautiful artifacts of Chicago creative music history. African Skies, recorded at the Adler Planetarium in 1993, is a favorite of mine, and my band plays a version of “Sahara” in our live sets.

Annette Peacock — I'm The One

Another classic record that I only discovered a few years ago. I knew her name but didn't understand the full depth of her artistry. She was married to the bassist Gary Peacock, and wrote music for many of the artists associated with the early ECM scene. She was also an early adopter of Moog synthesizers (she's been credited as the first person to synthesize her own voice) and her work with pianist Paul Bley, who she later married, and Dutch drummer hero of mine, Han Bennink, is pretty out there. This is her debut solo record from 1972, and it's got everything: hard funk, avant-garde jazz, tender ballads and electronics. The tune “Pony” is a standout but I think the opening title cut does a good job of illustrating the scope of her art. 

Black Merda — S/T

First heard this band on a mix CD that was given to me by a friend while I was passing through LA on a tour. At first I thought it was a long lost Jimi Hendrix record because the singer's voice sounded so much like him, but these guys are unsung rockers from Detroit. Special shout out to a recent compilation on Now-Again of African-American rock and rollers who haven't gotten their due, Function Underground. Check it out for more music like this.

Jonzun Crew — Lost In Space

 Debut album from these early electro-funk hip hop originators. These dudes led a scene out of the disco & funk of the 1970s into the synth-laden beats of the 1980s that informed a lot of early hip-hop including Afrika Bambaataa. Discovered this by accident in a record store in Seattle and it's never left my DJ crate since. 

Jo Jones — The Drums

This album, from one of the indisputable masters of the instruments, is part solo record, part instructional album. Recorded and released in France toward the end of his career, this double album starts with Jo stating "Ladies and gentleman, this is an experimental record." He goes on to describe the different aspects of the drum kit, including sound effects, and talk about the many drummers of history, demonstrating their styles. A wealth of knowledge and a great listen.

 (The one video I knew of this album has been taken down, but you can still find the LP here for a reasonable price.)

  African Head Charge

My Life In A Hole In The Ground by African Head Charge

I was first hipped to this band by friend and local bassist/DJ/luminary Wayne Montana (Trenchmouth, Eternals). Formed in the early 80's by drummer Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah and shaped by master producer Adrian Sherwood, these guys created psychedelic dub explorations that sound like they're from another planet in the future. Their first fourrecords on the famed On-U Sound label are essential. 

 John Corbett — Microgoove

John Corbett has been a vital force in the Chicago and global improvised music scene for a long time. His work with the Atavistic label and his gallery with collaborator Jim Dempsey shed light on art and music that often come from the fringes. His writings on music are essential for all listeners, whether you're a seasoned free-jazz head or someone who's coming to that world for the first time. Microgroove is a collection of essays, interviews, journal entries, and other writings on the subject of "little music" and how we listen.

 Alice Coltrane — Eternity 

Alice needs no introduction from me. This album is one of my favorites of hers, collecting songs that encompass many of the various settings her music can often occupy. There are small group performances, a solo harp piece and a couple large ensemble pieces, including a rendition of Spring Rounds from Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. I really love the album opener, “Spiritual Eternal,” the other large ensemble piece, with her undeniable electric organ piercing through the rich swells of a jazz orchestra. 

[blackkudos]

Bettye LaVette

Bettye LaVette (born Betty Jo Haskins, January 29, 1946) is an American soul singer-songwriter who made her first record at sixteen, but achieved only intermittent fame until 2005, with her album I've Got My Own Hell to Raise. Her eclectic musical style combines elements of soul, blues, rock and roll, funk, gospel, and country music.

Life and career

LaVette was born in Muskegon, Michigan, and raised in Detroit. Unlike many of her contemporaries, she did not begin singing in the church, but in her parents' living room, singing R&B and country and western music. She was signed by Johnnie Mae Matthews, a local record producer. In 1962, aged sixteen, she recorded a single, "My Man—He's a Lovin' Man", with Matthews, which became a Top Ten R&B hit after Atlantic Records bought distribution rights. This led to a tour with rhythm and blues musicians Clyde McPhatter, Ben E. King, Barbara Lynn, and then-newcomer Otis Redding. She next hit the charts with “Let Me Down Easy” on Calla Records in 1965. This led to a brief stint with The James Brown Revue. After recording several 45–rpm singles for local Detroit labels, in 1969 LaVette signed to the Silver Fox label. She cut a handful of tracks, including two Top 40 R&B hits: “He Made A Woman Out Of Me” and “Do Your Duty”. The Memphis studio musicians on these recordings have since become known as The Dixie Flyers. In 1972, she signed once again with Atlantic/Atco. She was sent to Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama to record what was to be her first full-length album. Titled Child of the Seventies, it was produced by Brad Shapiro and featured the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, now known as The Swampers, but Atco chose not to issue the album.

The mid 1970s saw a brief stint and two 45s with Epic, and in 1978 she released the disco smash on West End Records "Doin’ The Best That I Can". In 1982, she was signed by her hometown label, Motown, and sent to Nashville to record. The resulting LP (her first album actually issued), titled Tell Me A Lie, was produced by Steve Buckingham. The first single, “Right In The Middle (Of Falling In Love)” hit the R&B Top 40. She briefly gave up recording for a six-year run in the Broadway smash Bubbling Brown Sugar, appearing alongside Honi Coles and Cab Calloway.

After LaVette had played her own personal mono recordings of Child of the Seventies for Gilles Petard, a French soul music collector, he sought the master recordings at Atlantic, whose personnel had previously thought they had been lost in a fire some years back. In 1999, he finally discovered the masters and then licensed the album from Atlantic and released it in 2000 as Souvenirs on his Art and Soul label. At the same time, Let Me Down Easy — Live In Concert was issued by the Dutch Munich label. Both albums sparked a renewed interest in LaVette and in 2003, A Woman Like Me (produced by Dennis Walker) was released. The CD won the 2004 W. C. Handy Award for "Comeback Blues Album of the Year". In an interview, LaVette identified A Woman Like Me as the first album in the second phase of her career and said her 2012 autobiography was named after the album.

After being signed to The Rosebud Agency for live bookings, Rosebud president Mike Kappus brought her to the attention of Anti- Records president, Andy Kaulkin. Upon seeing LaVette perform, Kaulkin signed her to a three-record deal. For the first project, he paired her with Joe Henry, and suggested an album of songs written entirely by women. The resulting CD, I've Got My Own Hell to Raise, was on many critics’ “Best of 2005” lists. The title is taken from the lyrics of Fiona Apple's 1996 hit "Sleep to Dream", which is covered on the album. (Other notable songwriters on the album were Aimee Mann, Sinéad O'Connor, Lucinda Williams, Joan Armatrading, and Dolly Parton.) The album was released by ANTI- Records and produced by Joe Henry.

In 2006, capitalizing on the success of I've Got My Own Hell To Raise and the reviews of her live shows, Child of the Seventies was reissued by Rhino Handmade with some previously unreleased tracks. The album was met with critical acclaim. Varèse Sarabande then issued Take Another Little Piece Of My Heart, a CD containing all of the songs that she cut for Silver Fox and SSS International in 1969 and 1970. The CD included three unreleased tracks as well as two duets with Hank Ballard.

In 2006, she received a “Pioneer Award” from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation.

Her 2007 album, The Scene of the Crime, was mostly recorded at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, with alt-rockers Drive-By Truckers. The Scene of the Crime was nominated for a Grammy Award for "Best Contemporary Blues Album" and landed on numerous "Best of 2007" lists. LaVette talked about her experiences at Muscle Shoals Sound and FAME in an interview conducted by Edd Hurt in September 2007. Drive-By Truckers' frontman, Patterson Hood, produced the album together with LaVette. The album also features one song co-written by LaVette and Patterson Hood.

In 2008, she received a Blues Music Award for “Best Contemporary Female Blues Singer”. Also in 2008, Reel Music re-issued on CD her Motown LP, Tell Me A Lie. The album contained the original cover design that was not used when the LP was released.

In December 2008 at the Kennedy Center Honors, LaVette delivered a rendition of 1973's "Love, Reign o'er Me" in tribute to Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend of The Who, who were among the year's honorees. The performance was widely considered one of the event's highlights.

On January 18, 2009, she performed a duet at the We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial on Sam Cooke's 1964 song "A Change Is Gonna Come" with Jon Bon Jovi. In April 2009, she shared the stage with Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr at Radio City Music Hall for the David Lynch Foundation's "Change Begins Within" benefit concert promoting teaching Transcendental Meditation to children in inner city schools. In 2009 Sundazed released on CD the album Do Your Duty, which consisted of her eleven solo tracks cut for Silver Fox and SSS International. In June 2009 a six-song EP, Change Is Gonna Come Sessions, was released as a download only.

In 2010, LaVette released Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook, which included unique arrangements and performances of classic songs by artists including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Animals, and Pink Floyd. Included is the complete, un-edited version of her Kennedy Center Honors performance of The Who's "Love Reign O'er Me." The CD was critically acclaimed and nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album. She has appeared on National Public Radio's Mountain Stage, World Cafe, All Things Considered and Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!. She has appeared in a Mississippi Public Broadcasting series, Blues Divas, and is in a film of the same name, both produced by Robert Mugge. She has also appeared on Late Night with David Letterman, Conan, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Austin City Limits, The Today Show, Good Morning America, and The Artist's Den. LaVette also joined the 9th, 10th and 11th annual Independent Music Awards judging panel to assist independent musicians' careers.

LaVette contributed a cover of "Most of the Time" for the album Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International. On December 31, 2012, LaVette appeared in the UK on BBC Two's Jools Holland Annual Hootenanny. In 2013 and 2014, LaVette was nominated for a Blues Music Award in the 'Contemporary Blues Female Artist' category.

Worthy was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2016 for Best Blues Album.

In 2016, LaVette won a Blues Music Award as the 'Soul Blues Female Artist of the Year'.

Personal life

LaVette is married to Kevin Kiley, a recorded music and antiques dealer who is also a singer and musician. They live in West Orange, New Jersey.

Discography

Albums

Tell Me a Lie - Motown (1982) (LP only) (CD version released on Reel Music, May 2008)

Not Gonna Happen Twice - Motor City (1990) (Import CD)

A Woman Like Me - Blues Express (2003) (CD)

I've Got My Own Hell to Raise - ANTI- (2005) (CD), DBK Works (LP)

The Scene of the Crime - ANTI- (2007) (CD) (LP)

A Change is Gonna Come Sessions - Anti- (2009) (digital download only EP)

Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook - ANTI- (2010) (CD)

Thankful N' Thoughtful - ANTI- (2012) (CD) (LP)

Worthy (produced by Joe Henry) (2015)

Compilations

Nearer to You: The SSS Recordings - Charly (1990) (CD)

The Very Best of the Motor City Recordings - Motor City (1996) (CD) [reissued as Danger, Heartbreak, Dead Ahead - The Best Of)

Bluesoul Belles: The Complete Cala, Port and Roulette Recordings with Carol Fran West Side (1999) Stateside (2005)

Souvenirs - (Original previously unreleased Atco LP from 1973), Art & Soul (2000) (CD)

Let Me Down Easy In Concert - Munich (2000) (CD)

Take Another Little Piece Of My Heart: The Classic Late '60s Memphis Recordings with The Dixie Flyers - Varese Sarabande (2006) (CD) [duplicates tracks from Nearer to You]

Child of the Seventies: The Complete Atlantic/Atco Recordings - Rhino Handmade (2006) (CD)

Do Your Duty: The Complete Silver Fox/SSS Recordings - Sundazed (2006) (LP) (2009) (CD) [duplicates tracks from Nearer to You]

Compilation Appearances

Vanthology: A Tribute to Van Morrison (Various Artists) - Evidence (2003) (CD)

Get in the Groove - Live (Various Artists) - Norton (2005) (CD)

What's Going On - The Dirty Dozen Brass Band - Shoutfactory (2006) (CD)

Song of America - Various Artists - Thirty Tigers (2007) (CD)

Track: "Real Real Gone"

Tracks: "Night Time Is the Right Time", "Tailfeather Finale"

Track: "What's Happening Brother"

Track: "Streets of Philadelphia"

Singles

"My Man—He's a Lovin' Man"/"Shut Your Mouth" - Atlantic 2160 (1962) (No. 7 R&B)

"You'll Never Change"/"Here I Am" - Atlantic 2198 (1963)

"Witchcraft in the Air"/"You Killed the Love" - LuPine 123 (1963)

"(Happiness Will Cost You) One Thin Dime" - Scepter (1964) (unreleased)

"Let Me Down Easy"/"What I Don't Know (Won't Hurt Me)" Calla 102 (1965) (No. 20 R&B)

"I Feel Good All Over"/"Only Your Love Can Save Me" - Calla 104 (1965)

"Cry Me a River" - Calla (1965) (unreleased)

"She Don't Love You Like I Love You" - Calla (1965) (unreleased)

"I'm Just a Fool for You"/"Stand Up Like a Man" - Calla 106 (1966)

"I'm Holding On"/"Tears in Vain" - Big Wheel (1969, 1966)

"Almost"/"Love Makes the World Go Round" - Karen 1540 (1968)

"Get Away"/"What Condition My Condition Is In" - Karen 1544 (1968)

"A Little Help from My Friends"/"Hey Love" - Karen 1545 (1969)

"Let Me Down Easy"/"Ticket to the Moon" - Karen 1548 (1969)

"He Made a Woman Out of Me"/"Nearer to You" - Silver Fox 17 (1969) (No. 25 R&B)

"Do Your Duty"/Love's Made a Fool Out of Me" - Silver Fox 21 (1970) (No. 38 R&B)

"Games People Play"/"My Train's Comin' In" - Silver Fox 24 (1970)

"Piece of My Heart"/"At the Mercy of a Man" - SSS International 839 (1970)

"He Made a Woman Out of Me"/"My Train's Coming In" - SSS Int'l 933 (1970)

"Let's Go, Let's Go, Let's Go" (with Hank Ballard) - SSS International 946 (c. 1970)

"Hello, Sunshine" (with Hank Ballard) - SSS International (c. 1970) (unreleased)

"I'm in Love" - Silver Fox (1970) (unreleased)

"We Got to Slip Around" - SSS International (c. 1970) (unreleased)

"Easier to Say (Than Do)" - SSS International (c. 1970) (unreleased)

"Never My Love"/"Stormy" - TCA 001 (1971)

"Heart of Gold"/"You'll Wake Up Wiser" - Atco 6891 (1972)

"Your Turn to Cry"/"Soul Tambourine" - Atco 6913 (1973)

"Thank You for Loving Me"/"You Made a Believer Out of Me" - Epic 50143 (1975) (No. 94 R&B)

"Behind Closed Doors"/"You're a Man of Words, I'm a Woman of Action" - Epic 50177 (1975)

"Feelings" - (1978) (unreleased)

"Shoestring" - (1978) (unreleased)

"Doin' the Best I Can Pt. 1"/"Doin' the Best I Can Pt. 2" - West End 1213 (1978)

"Right in the Middle (Of Falling in Love)"/"You've Seen One You've Seen 'em All" - Motown 1532 (1982) (No. 35 R&B)

"I Can't Stop"/"Either Way We Lose" - Motown 1614 (1982)

"Trance Dance Pt. 1"/"Trance Dance Pt. 2" - Street King (1984)

"Not Gonna Happen Twice" - Motor City (1990) (UK only)

"Damn Your Eyes"/"Out Cold" - Bar None (1997) (Cassette only)

Wikipedia

[johnmkenney]

Game of the Year 2018

2018 was an interesting year for games.  While there wasn’t as much depth as previous years, the games that stood out were truly something special.  This was certainly a year where big franchises that had been dormant for a few years came roaring back, but more importantly some developers released some truly unique new IP that took the industry by storm.  All of this combined for some great experiences that won’t soon be forgotten.  There wasn’t a ton of games I thought were fantastic outside of the top 10, but this was one of the most difficult years to order the top 10 as the quality of each game was unbelievable.

As always, the rules for inclusion are as follows:    

The game must have its final retail release in 2018.  Thus, anything in an alpha/beta state or Steam Early Access does not qualify.  This rule is still being under consideration for removal.

In the case of episodic games, they must have their final episode delivered in 2018 to make the list.

While this list is comprehensive, I haven’t played everything.  Games like Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Dragon Quest XI, Hitman 2, Forza Horizon 4, Florence, and The Messenger all seem great but are unfortunately all still on my backlog.

Most importantly: the game has to be really good.  No-brainer there.

Honorable mentions:

While this year wasn’t as competitive past the Top 10, there were a few other games I played that deserved mentions as my final cuts:

Monster Hunter World - This was a causality of not having enough time to get deep enough in the game, but from what I played MHW does a great job making the series more accessible to a broader audience. Octopath Traveler - The game oozes style and has a great combat system, but unfortunately the late-game repetition and disjointed story keeps it from becoming something great. Yoku’s Island Express - It was truly a unique idea to mix pinball with Metroidvania, and it pays off with a fun game and a great soundtrack. 

Without further ado, here are my top 10 games of 2018:

10. Super Smash Bros Ultimate (Bandai Namco/Sora - Switch)

The follow up to Smash Bros for Wii U/3DS, this entry once again delivered.  Nintendo managed to bring back every character that has ever been in a Smash game, including characters that were cut from previous installments for various reasons.  The team managed to make enough subtle tweaks to most characters to keep the brawler as entertaining as usual.  However, the standout mode in this version has to be in the massive single-player Spirits system.  There are over 1,000 unique spirits to collect in this game, and to unlock most of them you need to complete a special battle that represents the character of the spirit you are trying to unlock.  These clever fights help pay homage to characters that don’t make the cut for Smash, and it is a nice touch to help add several dozens of hours of fun moments.  

9. Into the Breach (Subset Games - PC, Switch)

Following up to their 2012 indie hit FTL, Subset Games is back with another clever run-based adventure.  Into the Breach is something all its own though, as this turn-based strategy game tasks you with using a few mechs to defend various cities and structures from an invading alien menace.  Customization is key here, as you are able to unlock multiple squads and pilots that help completely modify your strategy to save the world.  One of the more brilliant parts of the game is that almost all the information is provided to you prior to each turn.  You know exactly where each enemy is going to attack the following turn, so the goal isn’t just to eliminate your foe, but also disrupt them.  If you see your opponent is poised to barrel ahead in a straight line towards a building, you can use a ranged attack to instead knock it of its path so that it instead rams into another adversary.  While it is incredibly challenging to have the perfect turn, everything is within your control so you know it was your fault if things go wrong.  Ben Prunty also delivers an incredible soundtrack yet again, as his melodies help really set the atmosphere for each tense battle. 

8. Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Studios - PS4/XBO)

Easily the most talked about game of 2018, Rockstar’s prologue to their 2010 western is an incredible technical achievement.  The amount of detail that goes into every aspect of this game seems mind-blowing, and it is quite easy to lose yourself in the world that has been created.  The story is also one of the biggest improvements in the game this time around, as seeing how Dutch’s gang fell leading to the events of the previous installment is a fascinating tale.  The protagonist, Arthur Morgan, has one of the more gripping character arcs seen in the past few years.  There is an absolute ton to accomplish in this game, as it is constantly introducing new side quests as well as presenting random stranger events that help make everything feel very alive.  Unfortunately, sometimes the gameplay gets in its own way, and some of the later missions can be a repetitive slog despite the gripping story being told.  This is one not to be missed, but there’s just enough keeping it from being a true classic.

7. Donut County (Ben Esposito - iOS, PC, PS4, Switch, XBO)

Donut County is easily the weirdest game on this list as this is a game where you play as a hole.  While in most games that have pits you are used to avoiding them, here you are actually trying to have as many characters and objects fall into a hole as possible.  The puzzles aren’t difficult at all, but every time you suck something up, the hole gets larger so that you are able to go after larger items until nothing is left on screen.  It is a unique concept that works, and it is something that anyone can play.  What ties everything together though is the tremendous cast of characters in the game, as BK the raccoon and everyone around him will keep you laughing the entire way through.  There is a journal in the game, the Trashopedia, which includes hilarious descriptions written by a raccoon describing real world items.  It is worth ready every single entry.  The soundtrack does a great job pulling everything together, and the game only being 2 to 3 hours makes it a great quick jaunt for everyone.

6. Tetris Effect (Monstars Inc/Resonair - PS4)

At this point, everyone knows what Tetris is.  So, there’s nothing new that can be done with Tetris, right?  Wrong.  Tetsuya Mizuguchi, the mind behind Lumines, helped gets the rights to Tetris so that his studio could help work on a version of Tetris that functioned similar to his music-based puzzler.  While he only served as a producer on the title, his influence is clearly seen.  The hallmark mode, Journey, has you making a specific number of lines as the speed changes based on the tempo of the song that is playing.  All the while this is happening, interactive backgrounds also animate to the rhythm.  Once you hit your line goal, you keep your blocks on screen, but you are then transported to another song and environment to continue on with its own tempo with a new count of lines to achieve.  While the game was initially built for VR, it plays just fine on a normal TV and will have you glued trying to get that classic four line namesake.  The presentation also extends to multiple other challenging modes, including trying to build the highest combo as well as using 3 or 4 blocks to clear every line on a puzzle.  The weekly events will keep you coming back, and overall this a great package to help revitalize one of the best games ever created. 

5. Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games - PS4)

While the previous generation saw great comic success with the Batman Arkham series, it was often wondered when some other classic heroes would get a resurgence in the gaming world.  It took a while, but Insomniac found a way to capture that lightning with their PS4-exclusive Spider-Man.  Skipping the origin story that has been told to death at this point, you are transported into the life of Peter Parker years after he has already become Spider-Man and several of his foes are already locked up in the Raft.  Certain characters have yet to become their iconic villainous forms yet, while others are already terrorizing New York City like the Shocker.  A unique Spider-Man story is told here, as with the change of canon you aren’t sure the twists and turns each character arc is going to take which always keeps you on your toes.  Most importantly, the gameplay here is a blast.  Previous Spider-Man games always have trouble making it feel fun to swing around the city, but Insomniac’s version has you darting around the city with ease.  Random events happen in the city in real time, and everything is so tightly packed that you can accomplish anything even if you only have small amounts of time to play.  There are great nods to Spider-Man and Marvel lore through with Peter’s costumes and collectibles.  The underrated gem of the entire experiences are the sequences where you play as Mary Jane and Miles, as their ventures help show that everyday people are just as important to Peter’s success as Spider-Man is.  

4. Return of the Obra Dinn (3909 LLC - PC)

Definitely the most unique game on the list this year, Return of the Obra Dinn casts you as an insurance claims collector that needs to catalog the deaths and disappearances of a few dozen people from an abandoned ship that has just returned.  Ok, that might not sound captivating at first, but stay with me.  Lucas Pope (creator of Papers Please) made one of the most novel puzzle games here, as you are given an empty journal and an artist’s rendition of everyone who was aboard the doomed vessel.  You are then able to walk up to any corpse on the boat and be instantly transported back to the exact moment of their demise.  Sometimes you hear brief dialogue, but mostly you are just able to walk around a still scene of the exact moment of their death.  Here, you walk around and try to figure out who the person is, how they died, and who else was there.  While you can typically figure out how the person died, the true puzzle solving comes with finding out the names of who each person is from their involvement in other scenes, and it creates a deep loop of investigation and revisiting moments.  There truly is nothing like this game, and the unique look helps it give it a style all its own.  

3. God of War (Sony Santa Monica - PS4)

While multiple franchises saw returns this year, none had more of an impact than the return of God of War.  Previous installments in the series saw Kratos as a bloodthirsty screaming god looking for revenge, but this time around he moved away from Ancient Greece to Midgard for a quieter life where he is taking care of his son Atreus.  His wife in this realm has recently passed, and your objective is to honor her last wish of spreading her ashes at the highest point in the realm.  Part of what makes this entry in the series so satisfying is that it slows down the adventure and gives more weight to the combat as well as more options to vanquish your foes.  The light-RPG system implemented helps you determine what skills Kratos can utilize and lets your specialize your character more than previous games.  While the combat is great, the world and its story is what takes center stage here.  Kratos’ relationship with his son makes for great moments throughout and does a lot more to humanize Kratos compared to previous games in the series.  The supporting cast does a great job of making the world feel alive as well, especially Mimir who will help give insight to the history of everything around you in real time as you travel.  Kratos’ return is a triumph, and it helped make me care about a franchise that I thought I had lost all interest in.  The ending was left very open, so its very exciting to see where Sony Santa Monica goes from here.

2. Dead Cells (Motion Twin - PC, PS4, Switch, XBO)

Early Access has been a system that has certainly had its ups and downs, but Dead Cells just may be the best thing to ever come out of the program.  There have been games in the past that have attempted to fuse Metroidvanias and rouge-lites, but none have succeeded like this.  It’s simple, at the beginning of every run you are given a melee weapon and a choice of one other weapon, all of which differ depending on what you have unlocked so far.  From here, you’re free to explore the first level of the game and keep any upgrade that you find.  Also along the way you occasionally pick up cells from enemies, which serve as your currency for upgrades.  However, if you die before the end of a level, you lose everything that you picked up so far in that area.  This helps build tension when you’ve gotten a rare blueprint for a new item or a large number of cells, as you want to make sure you can reach the collector who will essentially bank your cells and let you buy things to improve future runs.  Its a loop that works.

While the upgrade system, the unique weapons and skills, and branching paths help set this rogue-lite apart, the true glory in Dead Cells is the combat and how tight the controls are.  There are few 2D action games that feel this good to play, and it makes some of the more frantic levels an absolute blast.  You’ll certainly get to the first boss in an early run, but he’ll likely demolish you.  Improve yourself a little bit, and the next time you get back to him you see progress but still no victory.  Hone your skills more, and the next thing you know it you are trouncing the first boss every single time you get to him.  Then as the game ramps up in difficulty in the following levels, you learn to adapt in new ways to advance even more.  After tons of runs and hours, you’ll eventually find yourself at the final test: The Hand of the King.  He is without a doubt the hardest aspect of this game that will do everything to crush what you thought was a perfect run.  But when you finally have a run that allows you to land that final blow and defeat him, it is something special that encapsulates the beauty of perseverance in this game.  This just might be the best rogue-lite since Spelunky.

1. Celeste (Matt Makes Games - PC, PS4, Switch, XBO)

At the beginning of the game, you’re told that Celeste is a game about climbing a mountain.  While that is very true, it’s about much more than that.  Celeste is a precision platform that stars a young girl named Madeline who is setting out to climb Celeste Mountain to prove she can do it.  Her intentions aren’t crystal clear at first, but she’s told by one of the other NPCs that she’ll fail.  She has told by her mother in a dream sequence that she’ll fail.  She’s followed by a dark version of herself that tells her that she’ll fail.  It becomes evident quickly that this is a game about conquering your own anxiety and doing something outside of your comfort zone.

While Celeste draws inspiration from games like Super Meat Boy and I Wanna Be the Man, there is enough to give the game its own identity here.  This game is punishing, but at the same time it is incredibly fair.  Anytime you die, you are sent back immediately to the beginning of the screen.  This allows you to easily evaluate how you made a mistake adjust or fine tune your strategy from there.  Soon obstacles that seemed impossible are nothing to you, and you instead need to figure out how to get through the next roadblock.  You get better and learn something every time you die, and that helps you propel forwards better than other similar games in the genre. There are also collectibles hidden on most screens known as strawberries, and they serve as an extra challenge to help make each level even harder if you want to take the extra step.  But the true difficulty lies in the bonus B-side and C-side levels that unlock should you find the other collectibles in each level.  These are remixed levels that are shorter than the main game but present new twists on the mechanics of each world, leading to one of the most rewarding feelings should you be able to conquer these.  They are not for the faint of heart.

[theconservativebrief]

Welcome to Vox’s weekly book link roundup, a curated selection of the internet’s best writing on books and related subjects. Here’s the best the web has to offer for the week of October 7, 2018.

Authors change; the story stays the same. In the darkness a child is born. The child suffers, but he has mysterious power. Posthaste, destiny leads the child to the same place it herds all the courageous orphan-protagonists of speculative fiction: a storied and exclusive institution of magical learning, where he unnerves the faculty, demonstrates arrogance, and forms lasting friendships on his way to vanquishing evil.

At Metro News, Natalie Morris explains the new technology of “ambient literature.” Honestly, this sounds like a very unappealing, glorified version of those children’s books you used to be able to order where you’d insert your kid’s name as the main character’s so that they’d get invested in the story, but maybe it will surprise me and create some great art! Who can say?

The technology enables the narrative to sync to the reader’s surroundings. So if it’s raining in real life, it will start raining in the story, if you’re sitting in a cafe, the action will take place in a cafe. The creators say the aim is to put the reader at the very heart of the story, rather than having to imagine a fictional landscape.

While it may be easy to slip into a kind of dangerous daydream of the better days of yesteryear  —  “when people still bought books”  —  you shouldn’t do that. Because while buying books is important, that “call to action” distracts us from the real problem. Capitalism is not good for small, low return-on-investment businesses that we need in our community. So what are we going to do about that?

Well-established steps test for symmetry about an axis: replace x or y with -x or -y and then simplify the equation. How do we balance the tonic and witty warmth of a Philip Roth novel against its contempt for mah-jongg-playing heifers? How do we think about the fact that so many boldface names in publishing and literature are female, that feminist reworkings of ancient myths constitute an industry trend, that spiky, honest meditations on motherhood make for another trend — and, still, we live in a world that hates women?

Novels took the noble pleasure of reading and made it something quick and dirty. They told exciting stories in simple prose, not poetry. Their heroes were not kings or demigods, but maidservants and mariners, who instead of going on magical quests faced the inward challenges that readers knew from their own lives. Accordingly, the English novel of the 18th century is virtually all sex and social climbing, set in haunted castles later on. The reputation of the books was low, but circulating libraries kept their addict audience supplied.

I find the often clunky, contrived food references to be one of the series’ most endearing qualities. “Their bakery and coffee shop, the Cookie Jar, was as empty as one of Hannah’s cream puffs before it was filled with vanilla custard,” Fluke writes in Peach Cobbler Murder. How much more delightful would life be if we started speaking in pastry-centric similes? And that’s to say nothing of the quirky wordplay, which Fluke uses to comedic effect just in case the docile nature of the books wasn’t obvious enough. In fact, puns abound throughout the cozy mystery genre at large, as evidenced by titles like: Till Death Do Us Tart; Another One Bites The Crust; Butter Safe Than Sorry: A Pennsylvania Dutch Mystery; and one that speaks to recent trends called Purrder She Wrote: A Cat Cafe Mystery.

Alexander was the first person to translate Sartre’s novel Nausea and his collection The Wall and Other Stories into English. His version of Nausea, published by New Directions, was reviewed in 1949 in the New York Times — negatively, in reference both to Sartre’s work and the quality of its translation — by none other than Vladimir Nabokov. But despite Nabokov’s dismissal, Alexander’s translations are still in print. The dog-eared copy in the hands of a disaffected high schooler, the battered edition picked up in a used book store and displayed prominently on a table in a coffee shop — those are Alexander’s renditions. If you’ve read these books, you’ve most likely read his words.

Meanwhile, here’s a rundown of the week in books at Vox:

As always, you can keep up with Vox’s book coverage by visiting vox.com/books. Happy reading!

Original Source -> Buying books isn’t enough to keep community bookstores alive

via The Conservative Brief

[stormyrecords-blog]

live music on saturday evening!

stormy records13306 michigan avedearborn, mi 48126 313-581-9322 INSTORE PERFORMANCE!!saturday jan 27th the city of dearborn is hosting a whole slew of live music, and the Stormy Records performance is going to be ERIK MALUCHNIK 6pm free, all ages beautiful soundscape ambient music made with guitars and synthesizers erik has been working on a large body of new pieces lately, and has agreed to grace us with some advance listens into those compositions - we're really excited!! in on thursday and friday since the 2 copies we had were put on hold in late 2017 and no one ever came to buy them, we have 2 copies of the CHILD BITE STNNNG split lp on clear vinyl with hand silk screening. no holds this time - if you want one - come in and buy it. TY SEGALL Freedom's Goblin cd  $15.99lp  $24.99Freedom's Goblin flies us around the soundworld of Ty Segall in nineteen tracks, allowing him to do a bit everything for the free and the goblins of Freedom alike! Deep impact rock of all shapes and sizes and some of the most violent, passionate, funny and free pop songs of 2018. NO AGE Snares Like A Haircutcd  $15.99lp  $20.99Rock and roll for the black hole - reimagined rippers, for the misfits that 2017 couldn't kill to blast under the shadow of the big boot and beyond the glow of the chemical horizon. This is driving music, and you're the designated shotgun rider - get in! BONNIE PRINCE BILLY Wolf of the Cosmoscd  $15.99lp  $21.99Bonny sings Susanna, to simply try and save the world. Sonata Dwarf Mix Cosmos is an old companion of his, and with the Chijimi house band + 1, they bring it all back home again, this time to the space in Bonny's place. “As other practitioners are leaving the room in favor of novel forms of recording and distro and consumption, we are left with a virtual PALACE, fantastical and real structures and practices. Like we are allowed into the museum at night. We can make a great essentially live record with great songs and great players because nobody else is? Wolf of the Cosmos...is about, as much as anything, direct engagement with recorded music. So step right up to the replicant.” — Bonnie Prince Billy DIAMANDA GALAS lp All The Way $26.99All The Way features remarkable, radical takes on familiar tunes, including the seminal “The Thrill Is Gone” and a solo piano interpretation of Thelonious Monk’s “’Round Midnight.” The album’s centerpiece is the American traditional “O Death,” which has become a staple in live performances, and concludes with “Pardon Me I’ve got Someone To Kill” by country singer Johnny Paycheck. All The Way includes both electric live recordings (recorded in Paris, Copenhagen, and East Sussex) and studio recordings made in San Diego, CA. DIAMANDA GALAS double lp At St Thomas the Apostle Harlem $33.99Live at St. Thomas the Apostle documents Galás’ volcanic May 2016 performance at St. Thomas the Apostle church in Harlem NY. Cd released in winter 2017, first time on vinyl. CHUCK JOHNSON lp Balsams $18.99released in 2017, chuck's spectacular slide guitar will make you think of lanios and eno, and transport you to some other imaginary land. garnered an 8.1 on pitchfork. On this expressive and singular new album, Chuck Johnson gives his steel pedal guitar the starring role, and creates a kind of country post-rock. It feels like a universe unto itself. MICHEL BANABILA double lp Trespassing / Marilli $29.99Trespassing is a double LP compilation focussing on Dutch electronic artist Michel Banabila's incursions into otherworldly and imagined realms. LP1 is a compilation of works spanning over 20 years that acts as a bridge between his earliest work and his contemporary practice. LP2 is a reissue of his early masterpiece  Marilli, a highly sought-after album that acts as both an LSD inspired DIY tribute to Byrne and Eno's Ghosts and a youthful exploration of Banabila's personal background and his experience as a squatter in Amsterdam in the early 80s. SERGE BULOT lp Les Legendes De Broceliande $27.99Serge Bulot's multi-tracked masterpiece  Les Légendes de Brocélainde (1981), is composed equally with synthesizers, organic instruments and percussion, all played by Bulot himself. The inimitable album softly navigates between ambient, folk and electronic jazz.From the mesmerizing ''Euryale'' to the contemplative ''Échos'' each pieces of this album evokes different stories and legends of Britany. The result is a collection of captivating and ethereal tracks, the perfect soundscape for the mythical french forest of Brocéliande. KONONO #1 MEETS BATIDA lp $24.99kalimba fever - have you got it? then you need this lp by konono #1The Congolese ensemble pairs with the Angolan-born producer Batida, and their best moments resemble a Ferris wheel spinning off its moorings, letting grooves careen and rumble as they might. GODFLESH lp Post Self $21.99finally brought in the new godflesh lp. some of the vocals are too heavy and growly for me, but i really liked all the music. not sure why the cookie monster had to show up, but it's not overwhelming for the most part. 8.1 on pitchfork. Three decades, six albums, and one 13-year hiatus later, Godflesh remain revered—and what’s more, they keep getting better. Post Self, the duo’s eighth LP and third release since reconvening in 2014, is easily the group’s best effort in over 20 years, not to mention 2017’s best industrial-metal album. Whereas the preceding A World Lit Only By Fire functioned primarily as a reintroduction to Godflesh’s primordial rage, Post Self represents a sinister amalgam of its creators’ greater body of work, especially Broadrick’s ambient project Jesu. Mills, Jeff: And Then There Was Light  CD $15.99Poignant, aggressive, but serene sound track created by Jeff Mills for And Then There Was Light, a Japanese film directed by Tatsushi Omori based on the novel Hikari by Shion Miura. The music is an additional character in the scenes, showing the determination of the people and a great sense of loss, agony, and love. A synopsis of the film: On Mihama, an island off the coast of Tokyo, a middle school student, Nobuyuki, will do anything for his beautiful girlfriend and classmate, Mika. One night, he catches her in the arms of another man. Thinking quickly, Mika responds by pretending that she is being molested and calls for Nobuyuki's help. Nobuyuki naturally obliges and ends up killing the man. But someone witnessed the incident: a young neighbor named Tasuku, who looks up to Nobuyuki. That night, a devastating tsunami hits the island, wiping out most of its residents. All is quiet. Fast forward 25 years later, and Mika has become an actress leading a glamorous life. Nobuyuki, meanwhile, is married to another woman and has a five-year-old daughter. The past appears to have been buried for good, until one day the only witness to the crime, Tasuku, reappears with a vendetta on his mind. First, he seduces Nobuyuki's wife and begins an illicit affair with her. He then sends incriminating evidence of the long-lost crime to Mika. Once again, Nobuyuki finds himself needing to protect Mika. High Rise: ll LP $25.99Black Editions present a reissue of High Rise's II, originally released in 1986. High Rise exploded onto Tokyo's underground music scene with the roar and reckless abandon of a motorcycle accelerating headlong into a dead man's curve. Born from the explosive chemistry of bassist/vocalist Asahito Nanjo and frenetic guitarist Munehiro Narita, the band blazed a wild new stream of psychedelic guitar music. Their second album is a defining document of the band and unquestionably one of the greatest albums to emerge from 20th century underground Japan and beyond. With Nanjo's distorted thunder bass and Narita's wildly narrative lead guitar playing, II is a non-stop tour de force of improvised rock music. Combining elements of garage rock, punk, and no wave, the band pushed all levels fully in-the-red and transcended the limits of rock and psychedelia to create a raw, unique expansion of the music. Black Editions present High Rise's II, newly mixed and mastered by Asahito Nanjo in what the band states is the definitive version of their most quintessential recording. This new edition restores the original vinyl version's textured black and silver artwork. Housed in heavy Stoughton tip-on jacket. Pressed onto high quality vinyl by RTI. Mclean, Jackie: Capuchin Swing LP $17.992015 reissue from Blue Note Records' 75th Anniversary Vinyl Initiative series. "One of Jackie McLean's more underrated albums from a plethora of Blue Note releases, 1960's Capuchin Swing finds the bebop alto saxophonist in fine form on a mix of covers and originals. While his future fascination with Ornette Coleman's free-form innovations can be sensed in some of the solos here, the majority of the album is in a classic hard bop vein. Like contemporaries Hank Mobley, Sonny Clark, and Lee Morgan, though, McLean doesn't just churn out pat jam-session fare, but comes up with consistently provocative charts and solos. Eschewing ballads, McLean focuses on mid- to fast-tempo swingers and blues. Standouts include originals like 'Francisco' and 'Condition Blue' and choice renditions of 'Just for Now' and 'Don't Blame Me.' McLean enlists a sparkling lineup of hard bop stars, including trumpeter Blue Mitchell, pianist Walter Bishop, Jr., bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Art Taylor. Mitchell particularly impresses, matching many of McLean's own inspired flights with his supple and progressive playing. Along with other fine Blue Note titles like Jackie's Bag and Bluesnik, Capuchin Swing makes for a great introduction to McLean's extensive catalog." -- Stephen Cook, All Music Basho, Robbie: Live Italy '82 CD $13.99Robbie Basho (1940-86), who died young after a stroke, never got his due in the culture at large, but steel-string guitar enthusiasts have known for decades that he was one of the greats of "American Primitivism". Technically adept and compositionally imaginative, fusing the music of many cultures into a mesmerizing solo style, he has been an inspiration for many; his music has generated a surge of interest in recent years. This 1982 concert was part of a four-show Italian tour. It took place at the 18th-century Palazzo Gaddi that housed the local music high school and was mostly used for classical concerts, in an intimate space co-organizer Mario Calvitti (whose memories of the events surrounding this concert make up the bulk of the liner notes) says Basho called it "one lovely little room where I could play all night." Only previously released incompletely as a download, this show can now be heard in its full glory. This release is in cooperation with the Official Robbie Basho Archives. No. 2 in the RB-Archives-Live series. Produced by Buck Curran; Co-released with Obsolete Recordings. VA: B Music Of Jean Rollin LP $27.99Rising out of the smoky Parisian Mai 68 shrapnel and claiming his stake as the first French vampire movie director, the inimitable father of European horrortica, Jean Rollin (1938-2010) has smudged the painted face of surrealist cinema for over five decades. Dragging his roots from beneath the Letterist/Situationist movements, avant-garde theater, and Belgian fine art groups and entwining them around the minds of sexual revolutionaries, the European comic book cognoscenti and the Parisian free jazz and rock scenes, Rollin stopped at nothing to bring his macabre fantasies of zygotic vampyrism and backwoods blood cults to Gallic cinémathèques and beyond. Celebrating the immortal legacy of the late director, Finders Keepers compile a detailed and comprehensive music cabinet of some of the finest musical moments from his initial directorial decade between 1968-1979, which provided a much needed platform for the freak rock and free jazz that mirrored the distorted erotic visions in his own mind's eye. Imagine Gong-gone-wrong meeting the art ensembles of Châteauroux... Fantasy pop groups mutate and thrive within... Features tracks from Yvon Gerault, Acanthus, Pierre Raph, and François Tusques. Indian Ocean: School Bell 12" $16.99"Chances are if you are reading this, you are probably already familiar with Dinosaur L's 'Go Bang' and danced countless times to Loose Joints' 'It's All Over My Face'. A prolific musician, Arthur Russell produced an abundant amount of recordings over the course of his career. Although a classically trained cellist, he released a number of successful underground dance hits under various monikers and collaborations. As a solo artist however, his inability to complete projects resulted in a limited amount of official releases; World of Echo (1986) being his only full-length solo effort to see release in his lifetime. After releasing a number of Club singles on labels like West End & Sire, Russell went on to form Sleeping Bag Records with Will Socolov as an outlet for a sound not as restrictive as his 'disco' material. The initial concept was that Russell would provide the musical direction while Socolov handled the business side. The label had huge success early on with Class Action's 'Weekend' remixed by Larry Levan, and Russell's seminal 'Go Bang,' credited to Dinosaur L and remixed by Francois Kevorkian. Although Russell and Socolov shared a lot of musical common ground, the difference in vision began to show. Russell's avant-garde sensibilities and perfectionism were not compatible with an industry standard to release singles in quick succession, and his 'work in progress' approach began to be financially draining, ultimately resulting in the dissolution of their partnership around 1983. With Arthur's departure, Sleeping Bag moved away from the experimental and towards a successful hip-hop route with the growing involvement of Kurtis Mantronik and leading to propel the careers of artists like Todd Terry, Just-Ice and EPMD. By the mid-80s, Russell's health began to deteriorate after contracting HIV. Although the business partnership did not work out, Socolov and Russell maintained their friendship. Aware of the time he had left, Russell reached out to Socolov to record what was to become Indian Ocean, his last release on Sleeping Bag and the last great collaboration between Arthur and his old friend Walter Gibbons. Unlike the rest of Russell's Dance collaborations, 'School Bell/Treehouse' is very intimate composition, putting to the forefront all the elements that defined him musically; with his own voice and cello as the anchors to a piece that keeps growing in intensity, melding the tribal rhythms of Mustafa Ahmed's conga with percussions that sound like distorted drum machines. There is a lot of beauty in this piece, with Peter Zummo's melancholic trombone lines and Arthur's keyboard playing. Adequately 'mixed with love' by Walter Gibbons, 'School Bell/Treehouse' really synthesizes the energy and soundscapes of Arthur's dancefloor." Leimer, K: Imposed Order / Imposed Absence (Remastered + Expanded)  2CD $20.99"The first phase of K. Leimer's recorded work began in 1972 with the production of the Grey Cows cassette and culminated in 1983 with the release of Imposed Order. Though work seemingly stopped following the release of I/O, Leimer continued to record and experiment with sound during what proved to be a 15-year interregnum for his Palace of Lights label. That work, never before issued, is included in this expanded remaster. Imposed Absence features ten tracks recorded in the years between Imposed Order and his return to releasing music with The Listening Room. Imposed Absence features the addition of Mellotron and early digital synths, some excursions into lo-fi and, unusual in his catalog, a few improvised tracks. Combined with the VOD double album of his earliest tape recordings and RVNG's A Period Of Review double album, the release of Imposed Order / Imposed Absence brings the entirety of Leimer's early work into view. Remastered by Taylor Deupree at 12K Mastering. K. Leimer founded Palace of Lights in 1979. Leimer has been actively producing music since the mid-1970s -- his current catalog includes eighteen solo albums plus collaborative albums with Savant and Marc Barreca. His work is included in the collection of The British Library." Leimer, K: Imposed Order / Imposed Absence (Remastered + Expanded)   LP $20.99LP version. "The first phase of K. Leimer's recorded work began in 1972 with the production of the Grey Cows cassette and culminated in 1983 with the release of Imposed Order. Though work seemingly stopped following the release of I/O, Leimer continued to record and experiment with sound during what proved to be a 15-year interregnum for his Palace of Lights label. That work, never before issued, is included in this expanded remaster. Imposed Absence features ten tracks recorded in the years between Imposed Order and his return to releasing music with The Listening Room. Imposed Absence features the addition of Mellotron and early digital synths, some excursions into lo-fi and, unusual in his catalog, a few improvised tracks. Combined with the VOD double album of his earliest tape recordings and RVNG's A Period Of Review double album, the release of Imposed Order / Imposed Absence brings the entirety of Leimer's early work into view. Remastered by Taylor Deupree at 12K Mastering, the vinyl includes a four-page booklet and download card for all nineteen tracks. K. Leimer founded Palace of Lights in 1979. Leimer has been actively producing music since the mid-1970s -- his current catalog includes eighteen solo albums plus collaborative albums with Savant and Marc Barreca. His work is included in the collection of The British Library." TRINOSOPHES UPCOMING EVENTS AT TRINOSOPHES COMING SOON 2/25   Adam O' Farrill  and Marcus Elliot 3/4: Ethnic Heritage Ensemble 3/15 Desertion Trio,  Mars Williams (US), Tollef Østvang  (NO) 3/29: Ben Bennet/Michael Foster Duo, GRID 4/18: Rempis/Ochs RELATED Spectrum 2 (Shelton/Peterson) Winter Jaunt Skeeter Shelton- saxophone, winds+ Joel Peterson- double-bass, strings Tour Dates 1/23: Nashville, TN 1/24: Barking Legs Theater- Chattanooga TN 1/27: Vanderelli Room- Columbus, OH 1/28: Robinwood Concerthouse, Toledo, OH

[onestowatch]

EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE + Q&A: Young & Sick Strips Down “Ojai” & Dresses Up Ones To Watch Logo

Photo: Aaron Nathaniel Saltzman x Young & Sick

In a world where Instagram influence is gradually trumping tangible forms of expression, Young & Sick is a stark reminder of authentic artistry. The Dutch-born, Los Angeles-based artist truly lives and breathes his craft as a singer, producer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and visual artist. As each facet of his work provides creative impetus for the others, Young & Sick (Nick van Hofwegen) maintains a consistent flow of inspiration that clearly manifests itself in his very distinct works of art. 

Take the Ones To Watch logo for example – for most of us, the logo is a simple, sleek representation of the platform’s acronym. For Hofwegen, on the other hand, it presented an opportunity. We couldn’t be more thrilled when he offered to reimagine our logo, and are strongly considering a full site makeover to match the magnificent eye-spying, stereo-bumping, pizza-sliming beauty below.

He revealed on the delicate process behind this latest creation,

“When I sit at my table working, I get in the right mood by listening to new age music. Then I’ll likely smoke a potent relaxing herb out of a handcrafted glass cat. And after that I don’t think about it too much. I just let it flow. When I become a fan of something, or a music site in this case, it’s always really fun to reimagine something important to it (a logo for example).”

The OTW logo is not the only profound piece of art that Young & Sick is debuting today-- we’ve also got a stripped back, solo piano rendition of “Ojai” from his forthcoming Ojai EP. 

While the original “Ojai” sports retro synths and groovy basslines, the piano version dismantles all of the shimmery production to uncover the song’s true foundation: a slightly melancholic reflection of our tendency to resist the harsh realities of today’s world. Hofwegen sings of quite literally not wanting to get out of bed because “I feel everything / And it's all too much / And I feel everything / And it's all bad news.” 

As Young & Sick shared,

“When you strip back the production of a track, at the end of it all, is a song. I’ve always loved stripped back interpretations songs. It leaves everything bare. Just pure songwriting. There is something really beautiful in that. My good friend from the Netherlands Mike Roelofs edited the piano part and recorded them in his home studio.
“

"Ojai" (Solo Piano) and the full Ojai EP are set to release on January 26 via B3SCI Records, including a physical 7" vinyl release available for preorder here. Your exclusive first listen is below in the meantime, followed by a Q&A with the budding artist. 

Mr Sanka. That project is more of a collaborative project amongst great friends, where as Young & Sick is my personal project. We’ve put out some songs last year, and are looking forward to some more. Lastly, I’ve been writing and producing a lot of music with others for outside projects. It’s been a lot of fun, and really pushed my creative muscle outside the realm of my own projects. 


OTW: Tell us about your various music/art projects and how you balance/prioritize all of them?

Y&S: 
They are all a living organism really. Sometimes specific projects require more attention than others. I try to sit each week and look at all that needs to get done. Then I just sort of start. Of course there are deadlines for specific projects, but beyond that it always seems to sort itself out. Like the art/music balance, switching between projects keeps me inspired. 

OTW: If you had to label your sound, what would it be called? If you had to label your art style, what would that be called? How do they work together?

Y&S: 
I would call both of them a form of collaging. With both art forms, I take from a lot of things I love/admire in the world. I simply look at what’s around me, take my favorite bits, paste those together, then try to add my own voice to make it really feel like my own and fresh. 

OTW: What can we expect on the full EP? Any particular themes or changes we can expect?

Y&S: This EP will show a nice range of what the next phase of Young & Sick will be. Also If you play the vinyl backwards… you won’t understand a single word I’m singing. I’m really excited to share it with the world. 

OTW: Why the name, Young & Sick? Any particular advice for today’s millennial generation?

Y&S: Young & Sick were the names of my pet-axolotls that used to guard my apartment in North-London. It’s a sort of ode to them I guess. I miss them each day that passes.

As for advice, try to see the importance of an album in the age of media overconsumption. If you find an artist you love, really check out their body of work, rather than switching between artists non-stop. Really try to learn about those artists you love. You may get a lot more from it. At least I do.

OTW: What’s the plan for 2018 and beyond?

Y&S: Lots more art, music, and collaborations. I’m working hard toward a follow up album. Better and more obscure dance-moves. Lastly, I wanna learn to play Hydraulophone.

OTW: Who are 3-5 artist on your Ones To Watch list?

Y&S: 
Sarah Chernoff, Domenique Dumont, Lawrence Rothman

[tillman]

do u have any arthurian legend book recommendations? ive been wanting to get into it but have no idea where to start i just think knight sexy

LOL Yes of course i do. i love answering this ask.

people will tell u different ways to start but they r wrong. i am sexy and know a lot and thus am right (sarcasm ive seen a lot of starting positions in the legends this list is just from my personal experiences with whats easiest and most engaging :-))

also dear lord this got long so im throwing it under a read more sorry

i think the best two starting options involve the same strategy of “pick a knight you like the most and consume all the content you can find on them until you get bored/think of another knight and repeat” and its as simple as “do you want to start with sir gawain or do you not know who you want to start with.”

sir gawain i think is the best starting knight if you wanna go the route of reading as much as u can about one and moving on, since theres a LOT of varied content and hes just in a lot. hes important! anyways the first recommendation i have to start with is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. its a wonderful piece of poetry about a homoerotic beheading game, getting a movie this summer! its fucking gorgeous and a really good introduction if youve never read this old of texts before. i have a few different links so you can take your pick of what you prefer :-)

heres it in the original middle english, its beautiful and if you get the beat down sounds fucking gorgeous but i understand how hard it is to get through if youve never read through it before. 

lou recomends Raffels translation above all others which i kinda have to agree with. heres part one and heres part two of that. 

and the other link i have directly on hand atm is tolkiens translation which ive skimmed before and it seems really solid. 

if you dont want to start with a short and tender christmas party, consider another text most arthuriana fans will consider a must read. its a bit more intimidating than sgatgks poetry but like. hey. its Sir Malory’s Le Morte D’arthur. 

this is more on the level of most of the story things youll find for arthuriana and a good starting point to get an overview of a lot of major plot points and characters that show up time and time again in the legends, all of the major knights are covered through malory’s own spin on them and he tries to cover a lot of older tales in his weird fanfiction. 

the text can be weird ESPECIALLY if you arent used to middle english since he .... used some weird as fuck words? even for the time. but thats malory. 

I highly recommend, if you can get a copy, Kieth Baines modern retelling of Le Morte, it rewords things to make more sense to those used to a more modern prose and while it takes out some of the nuance of some scenes, its way easier to pick up and read. were working on a full scan of it atm actually but the book of arthur is up in our shared drive :-) ill shove a link down here for u

heres the first bit of baines rendition. honestly if u can find a copy for cheap grab it is a fun time

heres the pdf i use for the full text, warning for how weird its structured? its long paragraphs with no quotes around text but if you have no problems with that go for it. heres book one and heres book two.

from there, theres a ton of different options you can follow, but again i think the least overwhelming way to go about it is pick a knight you like and read whatever seems fun that has them in it !

best choices include gawain again, the marriage of sir gawain and dame ragnelle is fun, l’atre perilleux is so fucking wild and just a fun time, the turke and sir gawain has gawain playing tennis? like what more do you need

lancelot has a decent collection of old stories including the entire vulgate cycle (my favorite piece of arthurian lit, im working on scanning the entire english translation ;-)), lancelot and the hart with the white foot, though i havent been able to find a FULL translation, is wonderful and with that the lancelot collection of old stories is a lot of fun the dutch loved him, if you have like 10 bucks to spare, Lancelot and the lord of the distant isles is on amazon for cheap and retells the book of galehaut section of the vulgate and its . so good. please care about galehaut.

tristan as wild as he is is also a really good choice for how popular the Tristan and Isolde legend was in europe. you can find a ton of versions of it, though i prefer the german one by gottfried von strassburg, another amazing one is the povest o’tryschane which is a slavic take on the legend that weirdly throws sections of the vulgate and some italian romances in? i adore it either way. 

uhmmm some more off the cuff recommendations include Troyes four romances and also Perceval. as much as i bully troyes knight of the cart, knight of the lion, and knight of the grail are some of my favorite words. skip cliges if youre doing that though it sucks so bad. troyes hated his version of tristan and isolde so much he wrote cliges. that alone should keep you from it. eric and enide is ok but eric sucks SO HARD. i hate that bitch.

more modern but ive only heard good about lord tennyson’s Idylls of the king...

and finally one i cant really speak on much due to my preference of the romances, but i have many good friends who say the welsh sources are REALLY REALLY good and worth checking out :-) the mabinogion mainly, but a lot of the scattered poetry is really fun!

for finding pdfs for some of the ones i just named, u can check out my doc of whatever sources i have on hand. im missing quiet a few but i got most of the ones i recommend at least io3hewt. heres the link to that. ill post a link to the vulgate when i can finish up scanning the prose merlin ! 

[tillman]

hello 1nce again , valentine, tis i, gaywainn, but liek, i wuz jsut comin in again 2 ask, like, my friend wnts 2 strt reading Arthurian stuff but she specifically jsut wnts to focus on lancelot n stuff? do u hve recs or anything for her, im liek rly new to it n yanked book of galehaut retold so i dunno where itd b gud for her to start 😳😔

o345uyr hell yea :-) this is my evolutionary niche ........ 

uhmm i mean yea the book of galehaut was my real investment into arthuriana i really love that book... its good. if u need a scan dm me this goes for anyone !

uhhh i think the next best place to start would be Lancelot and the hart with the white foot. its a dutch text and short but its so good... i adore this text maybe just cus i spent months hunting it down but i do love it to bits. it takes one of the most commonly used root stories and makes it about lancelot <3 so like poggers (heres a link to my scan of that) 

from there ...... i bully him a lot but chretien de troyes Knight of the Cart is one of his good works and honestly really fun (tw for suicide tho like please be careful of this bit. i feel like trigger warnings arent talked about a lot in regards to arthuriana but they are needed here. no one actually dies but its good to know). 

i have a link to the doc with all of his works, but i personally have a version on google docs to fix the main issue i have with that pdf (very low visibility, SUPER long paragraphs with no spaces) also i changed a few words i think . dont remember exactly. (heres my easier to read version) (heres the source) 

its a bit longer and more dense but i also really like lanzelet :-) itsss the german version of some of the older lancelot tales and its just kinda funney. lancelot gets married a bunch and then at the end just lives out his life with sebile . wlw/mlm solidarity u think . dm me for that one i dont have the source of the pdf on hand whoops

uhhhm from there there are the longer two works that include him (the vulgate cycle+its additions which arent worth it, and le morte d’arthur) 

the vulgate is hard to get but pm me i have the first bit scanned if youre interested. its long and goes into more depth about lancelot as a person than any of these. 

le morte is le morte. its kinda the most well known text and while on one hand i love it, you shouldnt read the full text first. i say this as someone whos read both versions, but keith baines has a shorter and more succinct rendition and makes it way more fun. if you do wanna read the original text go for it but its like 900 pages and most of it is a slog to get to the fun bits. 

we have. half a scan of baines but honestly ill sit down and do that this week and get teh full thing up if anyones interested. u can aslo find the full text on project gutenberg here. 

uhmmm other than that lancelot just kinda appears in other shit mostly without much involvement. i like him in Morien which is a short and sweet dutch tale, i like him in most the dutch tales really. the dutch are sooo good ill grab reys post on how to read those too. uhmmmmm hes in some renditions of the prose tristan which i think is funny, and hes in my personal favorite of those(/the only one ive read) the povest in which he and tristan r dumb homos. wait threes also Lancelot of the Laik but im ashamed to admit i havent read that one. i do have it on hand tho so hmu.  

for something more modern uhm the only modern author i trust is Richard Hovey (modern is being used loosely here). his short verses and his longer verse project on arthuriana are both just so beautiful. The last love of sir gawain i think is especially killer (:-)) but also Lancelot and Guenevere, a poem in dramas is literally maybe one of my favorite works ever. its nice. ill hunt down a copy if anyone asks. if not hovey, robinson’s Lancelot from 1921 is so beautiful it made me cry a lot. its longer but so . SO good. ive made a comic of a bit of that one too OIET$PWGJYH. 

anwaysy uhh i hope this helped i missed a few cys im about to head right back to bed but uhhmmmmmm yeas <3 always feel free toa sk for specific links some i have on hand just dont want to share in public fr whatever reason