#what a great use of musicianship

[theoriginallittledarling]

This did not disappoint I think my favorite was definitely Breasts Are Great

GUYS WHAT THE FUCK ARE THE BOOBLES HOW AM I JUST FINDING OUT ABOUT THIS😭😭😭

THEY HAVE A WHOLE ALBUM WITH BEATLES SONGS BUT…BOOB VERSION?

[wordsinhaled]

i started writing this post ages ago and it’s been languishing in my drafts, sorry @teejaystumbles ! i mentioned bard!hob like EONS ago so i’m throwing this post out in the wild finally

what about, like... (no, i promise this isn't a witcher au) bard!hob canon divergent dreamling??? like. everything is the same except when dream and death enter the white horse in 1389 hob is performing a song about evading death, for a small crowd. dream is intrigued not because hob is particularly good but because as we all know, dream's a sucker for art and music. he buys hob a drink after his performance and invites him to sit together and by the end of their conversation, he's betting with his sister that hob will run out of things to sing about in 100 years

dream isn’t hob’s inspiration in the same way that he inspires shaxberd. hob isn’t a great talent vocally or musically. but there’s a light and warmth in his eyes and a deftness to his fingers on lutestrings, an earnest relatability in his tone, and a contagious enthusiasm when he talks to dream about his hopes, his dreams. and dream is intrigued

thinking about how their centennial meetings would be almost the same, but slightly different. hob reserves rooms for them when dream comes to the white horse so he can perform for dream privately. he still thinks dream is a lord, and deserving of special attention (and even if he weren’t a lord, he’s ethereal and gorgeous and the subject of more than a few of hob’s bawdier verses, which hob writes only for himself)

and the Tension??? the tension would be unreal???

thinking about 1689 hob, bedraggled and penniless, and maybe dream finding him busking on the street outside the white horse for coin, because the inns won’t let him in. he brings hob inside with him where it’s warm and dry and buys him a meal, and hob lays his instrument on the table between them and says, “it’s all i have left. i’m sorry, old stranger, i’ve no rooms for us this evening—” dream gets their room, and for the first time he says when they’re upstairs, “there is no need to sing for me tonight, hob gadling,” and he helps hob bathe and makes sure he is dressed in fine clothes again. hob looks lost and grateful and not a little in love and maybe he tries to kiss dream - after all he’s been pining for 300 years. but dream lays a hand on his cheek and says, “if you still feel the same in one hundred years, let us revisit this, hm?”

so of course 1789 is… 1789. the tension is there a thousandfold. by this time hob’s writing poetry and plays and he’s part owner of a bookshop. he’s been writing letters to dream as well. he hands them to dream, tied up in a red ribbon. “i still feel the same,” he says. “do you?” dream thinks he does. but then for the first time they have a conversation, outside of a performance; a real conversation. when it comes out what hob’s been doing, the kind of material hob’s bookshop sells and where he invests his money, dream turns on his heel and leaves

thinking about 1889, hob earnest and rueful, wondering if dream will attend their meeting this year. he’s taken a chance and hasn’t written anything. he wants to talk, to fix things. “old stranger,” he says when they’re seated by the fire in the rooms hob has rented for them. “i have changed. i hope that as you learn more of what i have done this past century i might raise myself in your estimation. but my feelings for you have only grown.” and maybe this is the year of their first real kiss, the year they go to bed together, and hob wakes up the next morning alone, fine sand under his fingernails and the taste of dream still on his tongue

and perhaps soon after dream goes missing hob hears whispers of it from some of the more eccentric patrons of his bookshop, and he goes and rescues dream. he dusts off his musicianship and gets himself in as an entertainer at one of burgess’ lavish parties as a cover

and then dream is free and they live happily ever after, the end, right?

cue modern day hob, teaching a course on the history of story and ballad, looking at old lyrics from the 15th century, asking dream, “remember when i sang this for you? god, i was bloody awful, don’t know what you saw in me…”

[purplespacekitty]

Fake Ad: Galactic Melodies

A couple weeks ago, I reached out to @thecitybee to ask if I could use her work in a magazine project about transnationalism in Muslim music that I'd been working on with two other people for a class on Islamic pop music. Bee agreed to let me use her work so long as I gave her credit in my bibliography and included one of her socials in the finished product. So...voila! Above is the fake ad I created for a concert featuring Spock and Uhura and below is @thecitybee's original artwork, which was commissioned by the author of the fic that inspired it, @jolaosongoni:

When I saw this piece and recognized the kora in Uhura's lap, I flipped out. I love every chance we get to see Spock and Uhura play or listen to music together in TOS and SNW and this immediately sparked a lot of joy.

What I love most about this piece is that it places Uhura in a very specific cultural, familial and musical context, something that the Star Trek franchise itself hasn't ever really done. The kora is a West African string instrument widely played by griot families. Griots are musicians, storytellers and poets who preserve genealogies, oral histories and traditions of their peoples. The kora allows some griots to preserve these cultural histories through music and praise singing. While the practice of playing the kora has historically been passed down through patrilineal lines, there are women who play kora like Gambian griot musician Sona Jobarteh, who was featured on the cover of my group's magazine (she's a really cool musician, I highly recommend checking out her work). Star Trek doesn't have a great track record of giving their characters of color distinct cultural backgrounds beyond having them be played by actors of color (and sometimes, they don't even do that). Having Uhura be a kora player makes her an active participant in and carrier of West African history and culture, a living legacy of a particular and greatly honored line of musicianship. It intentionally creates her as a West African woman, or at least as a direct descendant of West African kora players and solidifies the cultural importance of kora playing beyond the past, present and into the 23rd century, celebrating Uhura's Blackness and African identity as things that are inextricable from her character.

Thank you so much to @thecitybee for agreeing to let me include your work in my own! You made a fellow trekkie and huge music nerd very happy :)

For anyone who's curious, here is a link to Sona Jobarteh's website:

[dollarbin]

Kristofferson:

A Dollar Bin Primer

I saw an obligatory "ten essential songs" list alongside the very nice NYTimes Kris obituary following his passing yesterday. Suffice it to say that the assembler of that list doesn't dwell with you and me in the Dollar Bin. Rather they live in Obvious Town, otherwise known as Spodify.

But Kris is a true lord of the bin: he sold tons of records in the 70's that no one listens to any more except me and my famous brother.

And now you! Here are nine deep tracks (plus a tenth from Willie!) in chronological order, one from each of Kristofferson's fairly-easy-to-track-down-for-a-square-buck-each 70's albums...

(Yes: incredibly, Kris put out nine separate solo albums in the 70's, plus three more with his wife-for-a-decade Rita Coolidge, not to mention starring in a half dozen films. Nine plus three is twelve. I doubt Radiohead have issued that many albums in their nearly 40 years of existence...)

Casey's Last Ride from Kristofferson

Kris's self-titled first record is a downright mothercuddler: every song is titanic, funny and terrifying. Casey's Last Ride gives him room to swing from violent to sensitive; this perfectly miniaturized epic sounds like a blueprint for the film Peckinpah should have made with Kris instead of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid...

Jodie and the Kid from The Silver Tongued Devil and I

Kris could write a weeper alright. I don't know if he ever really got over his first failed marriage and the ways it affected his children. Every time I was around Kris - he was a distant cousin - I'd see that he was most interested in the children at our gathering; the first time I ever met him he seemed literally covered in diapered offspring from his third marriage and he looked downright thrilled about it.

Jodie and the Kid was one of my grandmother's favorites of his songs - he loved her dearly and she loved the sensitive, ah shucks side of him on display in this perfect short story of a song.

Little Girl Lost from Border Lord

Kris always took a lot of pride in his band: guys stuck with him for decades and he made room for their songs and their voices on all of his records. Little Girl Lost is really three different songs artfully shuffled together: there's brooding Doors-like intro followed by a honky tonk stomp that fades into a prayer. Kris and the boys ride the changes with concise poise.

Jesus Was A Capricorn

He was just so good with words. Sure, this title track from his fourth solo record is a tossed off hoot. But there are poetic depths here, especially for a guy who was busy drinking himself to death. Just check out the verse work: he rhymes food and shoes and makes it work; he boils down an eight page paragraph from Dostoevsky about the return of Christ into about 6 words and then he lays this little nugget on us, all with a chuckle:

Some folks hate the whites who hate the blacks who hate the klan; most of us hate anything that we don't understand...

Lights of Magdala from Spooky Lady's Sideshow

Kris was also an occasionally brilliant interpreter of other people's songs. The drunkest of his records, 1974's Spooky Lady Sideshow, verges on unlistenable at moments but it also contains the fitting closure of what I consider his great Freedom Trilogy.

Buried in the mix is also one of the bleakest pleas for salvation ever issued by a white male on record. For me, Drake's Black Eyed Dog, Young's Borrowed Tune and Kris's Lights of Magdala work together to chart out the depths of hell. They also make us want to reach out and help everyone we see.

Stallion from Who's To Bless and Who's To Blame

Kris was always the first to put down his own singing and musicianship. Yeah, so he was no Mickey Newbury - but he knew his range and he knew enough chords to work with and there was never a truly dull moment in songs like Stallion. Indeed, it's hard to imagine a world where white dudes with oddball voices - think everyone from Michael Stipe to David Berman to Ira Kaplan - ever turn into rock and roll icons without the benefit of Kris's rickety but oh-so-cool foundation.

You Show Me Yours (And I'll Show You Mine) from Surreal Thing

Occasionally, however, he'd write something he really couldn't sing. The ridiculous, tequila soaked chorus for You Show Me Yours (And I'll Show You Mine) is a good example.

But Kris had an ace up his sleeve: his version features a heavenly choir led by his wife Rita Coolidge; and alternatively, he could always just let Willie sing it...

The Saber and the Rose from Easter Island

You can probably note a decrease in quality going on. As an old man, poor Kris couldn't remember too much about his life from this period. The guy had boxed too much, flown too many helicopters, surely blown out his hearing and drank way, way, too much - and none of that helps in the memory department - which is why I don't fly helicopters.

But in 1978 he made a concerted effort with Easter Island to reclaim some kind of high ground artistically. I have no idea what's really happening in this song but the piano pounds nicely and the storytelling is beginning to reemerge.

Come Sundown from Shake Hands with the Devil

Happily, he survived it all: he sobered up, met a rather perfect human being and talked them into being his wife for the next 45 years. Did he ever write a song again that matched the glorious initial tracks on this list and on everyone else's? Heck no!

But Come Sundown is sure lovely...

[cherrylng]

Muse History Interview #02 [CROSSBEAT Special Edition - Muse (July 2010)]

"The limit of pushing your body to the limit using your emotions - some people may see it as "pain", but to me it's like "the ultimate sex"."

Interview in 2000, just after the completion of their second album "Origin of Symmetry", which showed "Muse's unique sound world" in many ways.

Interview by Akiko Mima

I wonder how deep this band is. Listening to the just-completed "Origin of Symmetry", I felt a sense of dread. They have stood out with their outstanding technique and sense since their debut album "Showbiz", but this album already has a "spirit" that can be called a style.

Hot, intense and dramatic. Just when you think they've hit you with a bold and aggressive guitar sound, the next moment a beautiful, heart-wrenching, sad melody is played. I'm confused as the two extreme emotions inside me rush in at the same time. But it's a pleasure to be at the mercy of this overwhelming sound! The band's sound has broadened even further, as they have cleverly incorporated the dynamism they have developed in their live shows, while also taking on more sedate blues numbers and progressive epics. This album is sure to be Muse's breakthrough, far surpassing the first album. Apparently all shows on this UK tour before the album's release were sold out (!), which shows how much people expect from Muse and want their sound, and I feel the same way. Undeterred, I flew to Manchester.

On April 6th, with a cold drizzling rain, the 2,000-seat venue was packed with a full audience, and the atmosphere was filled with heat. The front was so dense that it was disgusting. The large number of male fans is unique to Muse.

The band opens with "Micro Cuts", a song from their new album, which starts off with a roaring guitar performance. The dynamic sound pressure was so strong that it was hard to believe that it was just the three of them, and the venue was instantly filled with excitement. There was a chorus of familiar numbers, including "Unintended," stage dives at various points, and Matthew played the keyboard to huge applause, and the excitement rose to the sky.

The chorus of "Plug in Baby" was a chorus that the whole audience sang along to. It was the best. In the end, half of the entire set that day was from the new album, but the audience's enthusiasm was great on average. This was also a result of the band's solid musicianship and the gravitational pull of the performance. Good live, good album, a great band after all. Add to that the momentum of the "season" and Muse now seem almost invincible. How does frontman Matthew Bellamy view such a situation?

The show was great! I heard the whole tour is sold out. 「I'm just so happy. Especially in the early days, there were hardly any people coming. The audience was all students of our generation or older. But recently we've had a lot of younger people come, and the audience has expanded, so it's been fun.」

Your new album ‘Origin of Symmetry’ is also amazingly polished, isn't it? The quality and scale of the songs have improved dramatically. The songwriting process seems to have gone rather smoothly, but what was the most difficult part of the process? 「It was hard to decide on the equipment and how to record the songs. There were so many options. We ended up mostly with a simple three-piece band format, because we got confused with too many instruments and equipment. "Megalomania" and "Space Dementia" are big, heartfelt compositions, and we struggled to find a good way to recreate them with just three people. Especially as we did most of it on piano and the harmonies were quite complex.」

Yeah, yeah. This time around, you've tried something new in terms of sound-making, actively incorporating synths, piano, and strings. Is this because you don't want to stick to being a three-piece rock band, but want to broaden your sound? 「We want to break the limits of a three-piece band. Especially when I write songs, I'm half piano, half guitar, so I'm trying to incorporate that into the album somehow. Of course, I love bands like Ben Folds Five, but I want to show that a three-piece doesn't necessarily have to be guitar-oriented.」

The combination of the intense guitar sound on "Bliss," "Space Dementia," and "Plug in Baby" and your emotional vocals is impressive, but what is it that drives you to feel such intense emotions? 「Maybe it's that…… Uh, what's that? (laughs)…… Ah, yes. I think modern people have a stronger vague anxiety that "something is wrong with humanity" than people in the past. They have a premonition that fatal environmental destruction or disasters will occur in the next 100 or 200 years, right? In such a situation, young people are using various things as a medium to connect with others. I also have the feeling that I need to be more connected to the world, and I think I'm driven by that. I'm not very good at conveying messages, but one thing I can say is that using too many words can be intimidating. So I'd rather stimulate people with music than with words. I want to make people realise the connection between people through sound.」

But usually artists want to express themselves first. Is that a bit different from what you want to express? 「I don't think I can answer this clearly, but the name of the band "Muse" was also given with the intention of inspiring people in the world to do creative things…… Maybe (laughs). For me, music is a way of expressing what I can't communicate in my everyday life.」

What did you hope to achieve with this album? 「Well, it wasn't a very difficult idea. I just wanted to make life a bit better (laughs). Well, I just wanted to make a better album than the last one, that kind of thing. There's no big concept, it's just about constantly expanding our knowledge of what's going on around us. Especially making this album, I learnt a lot about music and myself. Touring and meeting new people has also been beneficial. Anyway, I just want to keep absorbing information.」

"I'm not very good at conveying messages, but one thing I can say is that too many words can be intimidating, so I'd rather stimulate people with music than with words, to remind them of the connections between people through music."

I think the vibrant and dynamic sound is the result of having performed live shows many times. Muse is a band that places great importance on live shows, but what is the stage like for you? 「It's a place where you can feel who I am. I'm also happy to be able to show that side of myself to so many people. Especially when you live in a city surrounded by a lot of people, you tend to become closed off, don't you? So it's fun to be able to expose myself freely on stage. Especially when you have friends close to the stage, you can be more honest with yourself. I think everyone does something similar in their own way.」

Yeah. And I think Muse's music is characterised by a ‘strangeness of contrast’. Movement and stillness, hope and despair, light and shadow, heat and cold all coexist in one song. When you write songs, are you always conscious of the duality or multifaceted nature of things? 「Maybe I am. I don't know if it's completely conscious or not. At least not intentionally. But I do think life is always about how to compromise between two extremes. In any case, for example, if I've been playing mellow songs for a while, I can't help but explode and do something heavy. Sometimes I mix mellow and heavy in the same song. If you keep doing the same thing, you get bored of it.」

I see. And one more thing. I think there is always pain behind the intensity of Muse's sound. 「It's not 'pain', it's me in an extreme state. It's the result of pushing my body to the limit with my emotions. Some people might see that as ‘pain’, but for me it's the greatest pleasure. Well, it's not so much pleasure as it is a great emotional experience. I can't say it well. No, I can say it, but I'm embarrassed. For example, let's say I'm having the ultimate sex (laughs). It's the greatest pleasure, but if a child who doesn't understand sex saw it, it would just appear as pain. For me, what is expressed in music is an extreme state that I can enjoy.」

Thinking back to when you first started playing music, how do you think you've changed as a songwriter? 「Hmmm. I think I've gradually become more open than before. I'm no longer ashamed of being honest. In the beginning, I was worried about whether what I was sending out was reaching listeners in a meaningful way, but now I'm more content with who I am.」

With the saturation of various technologies and methodologies, the concept of ‘rock’ is also changing, isn't it? Radiohead, for example, is a band that has found a new path for rock by dismantling the conventions of rock, what do you think of their kind of methodology? 「In the end, we're all human beings in the same way. Some of them use music as a tool to communicate their thoughts. But it doesn't matter what technology, equipment or style you use to communicate. What is important is the emotion in the music. People create different styles. Not only music, but also religions are very diverse. But the reality is that the world is now integrating so many different cultures that categorisation is becoming less and less meaningful. Whether you are a Christian or a Hindu, you are looking for the same thing. It's the same with music. Even if a band's style of music suddenly changes, you have to understand that it's still the same people who are making it.」

As for Muse, are you aiming to create a sound that will be ahead of its time? 「I'm still too afraid to talk about that. Hehehe. But if you say something as exaggerated as "I want to create a sound that will break new ground," any band will get ridiculed (laughs).」

But artists are obsessed with being ‘new’, aren't they? Rather than being bound by tradition, you want to keep evolving. 「I think that ‘newness’ is just a collection of old things, recreated in the modern age. Tomorrow, a new pianist might emerge and people might say that his style is innovative, but in fact it's a style that's been used for hundreds of years. Of course, it's important to keep learning new things and use them as fertiliser for yourself. But I don't think there can be anything genuinely new. I think we're always mixing things from the past, inheriting things from thousands of years ago somewhere. If you try to trace back to the source, though, that's when it gets chaotic.」

Translator’s Note: I struggled with this interview for some time, mainly because I’ve started to see that Crossbeat magazine has a strong tendency to edit the manuscript of their interview pieces. So I couldn’t use a previous version that I’ve already translated before, and given that this interview piece is put into a special issue covering Muse itself as part of the history section, then this meant that even this selected article was heavily edited too.

The extent of how much material was edited out of the manuscript is unknown. Even if I do find the original interview from the original issue release, there’s no doubt that the manuscript will look completely different to this. In short, it made for a frustrating effort to translate this.

In comparison, the interview articles that I translated from Rockin’On are more or less unchanged as a whole. So translating stuff from Rockin’On is relatively painless and smoother to handle with.

Please do support me with my ko-fi! ☕

[mythserene]

From my Lewisohn post:

THE STORIES KEEP GETTING BIGGER: "And all those people had to die"

There is a story Lewisohn tells in “Tune In” about Ringo going home after the flood in Hamburg. His grandmother who raised him died on February 7, the flood was February 15th and 17th, and maybe most importantly, his contract was up.

“

"Ringo might have stayed, extending his two-month contract, but he took the opportunity to go home, because his beloved grandmother had died."

- Lewisohn, “Tune In” p. 577, (emphasis mine)

”

So he did not extend his contract. And when he got four different offers, one of them being to play at a US Army base in France, the pickiest eater on earth who has been dreaming of America his whole life chose the US Army base over going all the way back to ratty Hamburg to be in a band that was tanking and be yelled at in German.

“

"As it was, he’d gone home and picked up other offers, new adventures to explore, not old ones to repeat. While he’d had a great time in Hamburg and was very tempted to return, he said no. As Sheridan and Young stayed in St. Pauli more or less continuously from this point, year after year until later in the decade, Ringo’s instinctive decision was crucial to his future. Sheridan’s was just one of four offers Ringo received in the space of about three weeks. The second was to join Howie Casey and the Seniors on the road, and the third was the one he accepted—to rejoin the Hurricanes. It wasn’t so much that he craved their company or musicianship, though they were all still mates, it was what they were doing that interested him: they were off to France for a month or more, to play to the soldiers at a United States Army base.

“Only four months after Ringo reluctantly ended his Houston emigration plans, he’d be inside the little American enclaves that dotted the postwar European landscape, enjoying access to PX shops full of amazing American goods. And as it also happened that the Hurricanes’ return from France would lead into a third straight Butlin’s summer season, running from the start of June to early September, Ringo would be back with Rory another six months before considering his next move.

- Tune In, Ch. 26, “Us Against Them” p. 293

”

He hated it. His contract was up. So he left. Why does he need a flood to leave after his contract ended?

While in Liverpool he was offered another contract in Germany for one whole year, though April 1963. He turned it down and went to a US Army base in France.

You do not need an act of God to explain this decision.

But in the years since “Tune In” was published the way Lewisohn tells the story, if not the story itself, has grown to make it another example of the magic of fate. It’s big. It’s dramatic.

🪄 the new, improved, Magic Beatles Version 🪄

There was this moment in history where an act of God that killed more than 300 people might have proved a turning point on which the entire existence of The Beatles hung. But they were meant to be and “all those people had to die” for The Beatles to live.

(Since he’s probably going to sue my ass, this is an artist’s interpretation. He does say, “All those people had to die,” and in some places he sneaks in a hedge, but all-in-all my “for The Beatles to live” editorialization is wholly reasonable.)

The entirety as well as many of his direct statements are kind of shocking. Also kind of funny, but then also not. Because this is exactly why “Tune In” is so damn good. It’s dramatic and it is magical. It’s a magical story anyway, but the way he tells it is immersive and addictive. He tells it great, he really does. But my great-grandmother was the best storyteller I ever heard, and that’s because the woman would say things like, “I once cussed a man’s gun out of his hand” in her “true” stories. They were definitely true stories mythologized into genius tall tales–(a gift I rarely see today)–but sometimes when she finished we’d make a game of trying to guess which parts were stretched. And usually it was obvious, at least in some places. Because we knew she didn’t cuss a man’s gun out of his hand, but there was a well-known story about her facing down a rival moonshiner with a gun and walking away not only alive, but with more territory. And her family craved and cried for stories where the truth and the myth were brilliantly woven together. We wanted the element of folklore that made it magical. The wanted the repeatable lines. That’s what bonded us together as a family. What made us feel special.

And that is exactly what Lewisohn’s narratives of Beatles’ history do. The magic helps to bond us to The Beatles and to each other the way my grandmother’s stories bonded our family together. But the way my grandmother told the stories there was no mistaking the sparks and the crackle for verifiable facts.

It wasn’t dressed up in “historian” packaging.

THE FLOOD: LEWISOHN EVOLVED VERSION

The story now is this fate-interfering near-miss of The Beatles Not Happening. If not for this flood Ringo would not have left Hamburg after his contract ended and might have just stayed there and waited around for no reason until two months later in April when this new contract came up with the enticing offer of shackling himself to Hamburg for another year… instead of leaving Germany after his contract ended LIKE LITERALLY EVERY ONE ELSE DID. If not for the flood Ringo would have just hung around in Germany. We came so close to not having him in The Beatles because obvs, he would have hung around in Germany and not gone back home if not for that flood.

When you listen to this clip imagine the preeminent Civil War historian telling it. Or a serious WWI historian telling it with a few changes to make it about a crucial battle. Imagine if a historian told a story like this to say that a war would not have been won but for this act of God, and the facts supporting that sweeping statement were as thin, contradictory, and tangential as these. That “historian” would be a joke within 24 hours. A laughingstock. I’m sorry, but it is just so evidently true. This is tabloidish and unserious.

--

ML: …Arguably, had the flood not happened, he wouldn’t have been available for The Beatles.

CS: Yeah.

ML: So he would’ve still been there in the Top Ten Club. But, uh– or maybe moved to the Star Club by then.* But– He– It was because of the flood that he was available for The Beatles again.

[crosstalk]

CS: That’s another one of those Beatles stories, isn’t it?

ML: Yeah. And all those people had to die for that- for that to happen. It was over three-hundred.

*Why? Why would he have still been there if his contract was up? Why would he have stayed in Germany?

[ourshadowstallerthanoursoul]

Beyond Led Zeppelin - interview to JPJ

(by Guitar.com - Jan. 1, 2010 - x)

Zooma is very experimental and takes your musicianship to a different level. How did you develop the chops to do something so free-flowing? Were you listening to lots of jazz?

No, it’s always been there. I’ve always listened to lots of jazz. At the time when Zeppelin started, I was always listening to jazz and rhythm and blues and classical music. The only rock I listened to was Jimi Hendrix. So, I actually came to rock late. I listen to everything constantly — everything from rhythm and blues, drum and bass techno, Latin music, salsa, meringue, and some rock n roll. Bass-wise I keep listening.

Does that allow you to constantly grow as a player?

In composition and playing, everything at a basic level is about questions and answers. You have musical questions and you have to get the answers, which is basically what composition is about. How does the piece start and then what happens? You’ll get a musical idea, then you have to realize it. And in the realization it’s just about those questions and answers. How does it finish? What will make it interesting after we’ve done one thing for a while? All music has the same questions and answers. It doesn’t matter what kind of music it is, whether its pigmy music or Mongolian stuff. It’s still, how do you make a musical idea, how do you make a tension release? And everything you listen to can come in use as reference material for your own questions, for your own music. Listen to as much as you can because there’s something absolutely everywhere to be found.

A lot of people listen to blues, jazz, country, world music, whatever, but they can’t combine the different techniques.

Most people gravitate towards music they like. If youre a blues player, you only play the blues. So listen to everything else and then play the blues. You’ll find that you start playing the blues in a different way.

How do you feel about what your former bandmates have done with their respective careers? Page and Plant did Zeppelin songs together for a while, and now Page is doing Zep stuff with the Black Crowes. Do you think maybe they’re not expanding their vocabulary and reaching out the way you have?

No, they’re not reaching out the way I have, because I’m me and they’re them. I haven’t heard Page and the Black Crowes. He could be playing a whole load of blues for all I know. I heard Page and Plant’s 'Walking into Clarksdale', and was disappointed that there wasn’t more Page on it. I like to hear lots of Page. But they’re doing what they’re doing. They ain’t bothering me.

Do you keep in touch with them?

Sure. There’s lots of Zeppelin things we attend to. We attend releases.

Atlantic released 'The Best of Led Zeppelin, Volume 2' earlier. Did that concern you?

Well of course it concerned me. I wasn’t very happy about that, but it was a democratic process, just two to one and I was the one. But the BBC Sessions I was very happy with. To me that was very valuable. It was great to hear the band in a well recorded situation, because normally when I heard the live stuff I was either standing right next to Page or it’s a horrible bootleg. So, to be able to sit back and not do anything and be able to hear all that he’s playing, that was a treat for me.

Why didn’t you want the 'Best of Vol. 2' to be released?

It’s been done before. I couldn’t see why, you know? I mean, the first remaster, the box set, was good because Atlantic went through the original Zeppelin release campaign kind of quick and didn’t really spend too much time with it. In fact, when we were collecting stuff for the box set, we found that some of the masters they used were actually second and third generation, and they put them on CD. They sounded really dull. They didn’t seem to have any life. So, the chance to remaster them, to bring them to life again was valid. But I couldn’t really see the point of the Greatest Hits records that came out last year. We were always against Greatest Hits album traditionally from the word go. It may have been a hang back to the fact that in the days when we started, you had singles bands, you had pop bands, and then you had albums bands. They were completely different things. So, I just didn’t see the point and I said so. But as I said, it was democratic and they thought differently.

How and why did you put 'Zooma' together?

Basically, I wanted to play live again. And of course, I needed something to play. I tend to need motivation to do a project. I’m not somebody who would just write things for no reason at all. I’ll work on a project and I’ll commit myself to it. But if I’m not actually working on it, then I’m just as happy to sit down and play instruments and not write anything. So, I need motivation but I didn’t want to join a band. If you’ve been in the best band in the world, what do you do? I knew that if I did an album, I’d be obligated to promote it. So, I knew I couldn’t just go, "Oh well, I’ve done the album. That’s it." I knew that it would force me on the road, which was what I wanted to do originally. So, I trapped myself into it. But it was really a positive experience.

So, what possessed you to say, "Man, it’s time to get out there live again"?

It’s funny, Diamanda Galas [who I recorded the album 'Sporting Life' with in 1994] said to me that she’d done collaborations with composers and various people. And she just said, "I realized one day that if I’m going to put this much effort into my music then I think it should be my own." And I took those words to heart. I figured I’d worked on everybody else’s records since 1963. It’s about time. And I’m fortunate to be in the position I’m in. I had my own studio. I don’t have to work to eat. Maybe it’s a mid-life crisis, who knows?

So, playing with Diamanda was what inspired it?

Yeah, I think so. And writing material for Diamanda. She got me playing steel guitar, so I could have a voice on stage. Cause I always used to play steel guitar in hotels and she saw it in the studio and had never heard one before. So I started playing, and she immediately wrote a song. And we put it on the album. People were like, "Wow, this is new, different."

How did that collaboration come together? How did you know her? Did you know her from years back?

I knew her from her work. I had one record by her at that time, 'Wild Women with Steak Knives', wonderfully titled. And the voice was just like, Whoa! A mutual friend said she’d be interested in doing a rock record and he thought that I’d work well together with her. I like the idea because I wasn’t into normal songs. She called them homicidal love songs. It was a case not so much of, "My baby’s left me, I’m going to throw myself out the window." It was, "My baby’s left me, I’m going to throw him out the window." I found her whole approach quite refreshing. And we hit it off immediately. We’ve both done lounge gigs, believe it or not, in our time. We used to do The Lady is a Tramp in soundcheck, which worried a few people. Nobody knew what to make of that. And we also found that we knew the entire Motown songbook. And we’d sit sown and play Stop In The Name Of Love. We had respect for each other as musicians.

Why was it a one time thing?

Well, she has a serious career. She follows what seems to be good at the time. And it was, because it led me to this.

[superfallingstars]

Hey, for the playlist ask thingy, what about:

What Peter would listen to

Remus trying to find a job

What you think the weird sisters would sound like if they existed

send me a playlist prompt!

Omg sorry it took me a billion years to get to this. The problem with making playlists is that there is basically an infinite number of songs in the world and I'm always like, well maybe there's a better song out there that I haven't heard yet and I should listen to just one more song/album/artist/etc. But that's the devil speaking. Anyway these prompts were so fun and I really really enjoyed them :-) also I wrote SO much

First up is Peter! I already have a Peter playlist (it's kinda on the silly side, aka it's rat-themed), but for this, I tried to focus more on what he would listen to, rather than songs that describe him (or rats). Since Peter is evidently very impressed by showy, tasteless displays of masculinity (aka James and Sirius), I imagined he would listen to – PROGRESSIVE ROCK! Prog rock at its best is like, really incredible musicianship and composition, and if you can buy into the drama it can be really good. But at its worst, it's just tasteless and pretentious and you're like, wow these musicians are so far up their own asses that they can't even tell that their extremely technically impressive guitar solo sounds like garbage, and also did they even listen to these lyrics, cuz they suck. And I went for specifically, like, late-70s-early-80s prog rock, when it started to get really overproduced and bad. Sorry I just kind of reamed prog rock in this paragraph I swear I legitimately like it… You can only hate something this much if you're intimately familiar with it. I should also note that I chose some of these songs for their lyrics ("The Logical Song" and "The Very Last Time" both are REALLY great songs for Peter's personality and friendship with James, respectively) and some of them are even good. They're not all bad. But they're mostly bad. Anyway! Please enjoy my garbage! 

Track list:

Supertramp - The Logical Song: "The questions run too deep / For such a simple man / Won't you please, please tell me what we've learned / I know it sounds absurd / Please tell me who I aaaam!!!"

Utopia - The Very Last Time: I love you Todd Rundgren. "Nobody sees how you treat me like dirt / Nobody knows just how badly a man can hurt [....] It's the very last time you will get on my case / It's the very last time 'cause I won't be a fool no more!"

Yes - Roundabout: this song is literally good

Rush - New World Man: man I hate Rush. But this is rather tolerable. "He's old enough to know what's right / But young enough not to choose it / He's noble enough to win the world / But weak enough to lose it / He's a new world man"

Yes - Parallels: sucks

Kansas - Point of Know Return: sucks

Asia - Heat of the Moment: sucks but it's a classic

Yes - Leave It: sucks even more than the last Yes song, which is really saying something

Electric Light Orchestra - The Way Life's Meant to Be: We're ending on a good note imo. They don't make concept albums about time travel like they used to! But really I put this on here because it made me giggle. "...I wish I was back in 1981 / Just to see your face instead of this place / Now I know what you mean to me / Ooh, and I wonder, yes I wonder / Is this the way life's meant to be?" lol. lmao even

Ok onto music that is good!

Next prompt was Remus trying to find a job! Gah I adored this prompt! That being said I kind of just made the saddest playlist ever LOL. I'm really fascinated by the time in Remus's life between the Potters' deaths and his employment at Hogwarts. Wtf did he do all those years? How did he get by? Since this playlist is about that time in his life, it's full of songs about the meaninglessness of life and just generally feeling lonely and empty and disconnected. And also working. FUN. Again I admittedly poached a lot of songs on here from my (very bloated and unfinished) Remus playlist. As far as genre goes, I like the idea of Remus having a pretty eclectic taste. But I tend to lean towards things that are lo-fi, scrappy, and less polished, as well as things that are a little jangly or jazzy (basically what I'm saying is that The Cleaners from Venus are theeee Remus band of all time). I'm going to try to restrain myself with the commentary this time

Track list:

Yo La Tengo - Everyday: One of the most depressing songs of all time imo. "Looking to forget tomorrow, looking everyday." Yeowch!

The Cleaners from Venus - Wivenhoe Bells (II): Like I said the Remus band of all time to me. Jangly, jazzy, lo-fi, + incredibly catchy songs about everyday English life

Even As We Speak - Nothing Ever Happens

Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues

Pavement - Here: "I was dressed for success / But success, it never comes" 👍

The Smiths - Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now: obviously

Nick Drake - Been Smoking Too Long

Galaxie 500 - Cold Night

The Dismemberment Plan - Come Home: The more I listen to these guys, the more I'm convinced that they're one of the best bands ever, as well as being the rare math rock band with good lyrics. Very literary.

Mount Eerie - Moon, I Already Know: I can recite this whole thing like some devastating prayer. Remus song of all time. Moon, I already know I'm small on the ground I roll around and feel menacing mountains And all depths of sorrow dwarf me All towering terrors are mine to cower below I know, I know, I know already So don't look at me like that and then Duck behind clouds I know I'm small and that I have no idea I know, I know, I know Let me be dumb again Let food drip off my chin Let me think you're a light Please please let me sleep through the night unknowing Let me close eyes. Ok I'm gonna throw up and die

Ok this was probably the most difficult prompt for me – I really had no idea what The Weird Sisters would sound like. But if there's any area of music that I'm familiar with, it's mediocre 90s alternative rock, so let's get to it. In the movie, The Weird Sisters are made up of members of Pulp (hi, Jarvis Cocker) and Radiohead, so I decided to start there. And I think Britpop is a natural place to start for a UK band that was big in the 90s. But I wasn't really feeling it with the usual culprits – Pulp was too sweeping and dramatic... I thought Oasis would be more "rock," but frankly, they were just too annoying. I wanted something a little more power pop (a genre that I can only describe as sounding like Disney TV show theme songs. Or, like, Stacy's Mom). And while tapping through related artists for small Britpop bands I've never heard of, I came across the song "1 Time, 2 Times Devastated," and I was like – THIS IS IT. Exactly the kind of mediocre 90s rock/power pop that I was looking for. (Also sorry that I keep saying mediocre I just can't imagine that The Weird Sisters are very good LMFAO! Idk wizards have not convinced me that they have a cool youth culture! Sorry bout it!) Other than that, I thought "Girl From Mars" by Ash was also a good fit. The rest of the playlist is mostly early Radiohead songs (they've got that Britpop feel, but they're a little messier and unpolished. And solidly mediocre) and the more up-tempo Supergrass songs (there's this sort of bouncy piano + drum thing they do that I quite like).

Track list:

DM3 - 1 Time, 2 Times Devastated

Ash - Girl from Mars

Radiohead - Just

Cud - Robinson Crusoe

Supergrass - Tonight

Radiohead - Anyone Can Play Guitar

Supergrass - Moving

The Stems - At First Sight

Radiohead - Thinking About You

Supergrass - Richard III

Anyway this was probably more specific than anyone would ever want but idk man. What I lack in media taste (what with my enjoyment of Harry Potter and other mediocre children's media) I make up for in, um, media taste (pretentious music nerd).

Thank you so much for the ask. Please send me more music asks I beg. There's like a 20 business day turnaround but like, I love making playlists, and getting to infodump about music is literally my dream. I hope you enjoy the playlists :-)

[iballou]

Famous People Who Love Radiohead

Danielle Radcliffe: I was mainly listening to Radiohead for Harry in this film. Somebody did ask me yesterday if there was one album that could be Harry’s soundtrack during this movie. I think it would be Ok Computer by Radiohead, which I think tells you all you need to know about his character

Matt Smith: That’s it. That’s what I want when I go to the theatre, when I’m in a play, is them, and that experience that I get from them. I admire the musicianship, I admire the soul that goes into it, and the execution and the work, the preparation. Everything is done right, I think, and done with good intention and soul and heart and good spirit. They are a lesson to us all.

Brad Pitt: What was Brad Pitt talking about all the time? You won’t believe me, but no matter what the question was about, he always ended up talking about Radiohead. He seemed to be obsessed with the band and told that during the filming of “The Fight Club” he spent all his time listening to Radiohead, particularly Ok Computer, which is his favorite album. He argued that his movie wasn’t art, that contemporary art was about Thom Yorke because, according to him, the Radiohead´s singer was so important for his generation as Kafka and Beckett... He was completely captured by his devotion for Thom Yorke.

Christopher Nolan: I spent an afternoon talking about movies, memory and fragmented narrative with the 30-year old director at his apartment near the LACMA while he played Radiohead's Kid A on a boom box...Nolan wanted Paranoid Android to play over the credits of Memento, but the rights were too much so instead he uses Treefingers in the film.

Aaron Paul: When I was in London I followed Radiohead around - I went to both their concerts at the O2. Then I took the train to Paris, met up with my friend Vida and saw them at there as well. Seeing Radiohead in Paris is pretty magical.

Edward Norton: I'm friends with the guys in Radiohead, And Johnny Greenwood...And he and Thom (Yorke) had been playing a lot of weird ambient stuff at the time and so, amazingly,

Ellen Page: They became my first sincere love in music. Before that, I was jumping on my bed and listening to Aqua.

Elijah Wood: Elijah Wood was starstruck when he met Thom Yorke. The 'Lord of the Rings' star - who owns his own record label - says the most overwhelming moment of his life was he met the Radiohead singer, because he has been such a huge influence on him.

Stephen Colbert: He can’t be influenced by the agendas of politicians and public officials, but if you’re [Radiohead] he will gladly roll over for you.

Woody Harrelson: I’ve really become obsessed with Radiohead. In fact, the other day, there was a concert with Thom Yorke and Flea. So, I went — Flea’s a good buddy of mine. Great show! Phenomenal music. Just incredible, of course!

Tobey Maguire: I really respect them. I've been to a couple of their shows and it's pretty great. They've been really consistent in making great music and I really feel like they are true artists and put all of themselves in their music, so it will be interesting to hang out with them.

[thebramblewood]

📩 Simblr question of the day: Shuffle your favorite playlist, whats your oc/sims' reaction to the first song that plays?

answer in whatever way is most comfortable for you and feel free to share this SQOTD around, make sure to use the hashtag SQOTD and tag me in separate posts ~ 💛

Hi, Squatty! Thank you for thinking of me for today's question. I've sent it around to a few other inboxes too. ❤️

I think Helena would definitely like this song, and she would probably add it to her own playlist if it wasn't already in her library. I've always imagined her being mostly into singer-songwriter and indie folk type music (not that she has much time to enjoy it between first convincing herself she was the number one fan of Ulrike's synth-punk band and then being preoccupied with a little thing called vampire transformation).

To Lilith, it would just be background static or elevator music basically, definitely nothing to get her pumped up for a night out on the prowl. Caleb is a great music lover, and I don't necessarily see him keeping up with all the latest releases, but as a musician himself he's open-minded and can find something to appreciate in most things as long as they have a strong melody and solid musicianship.

[i-listen-to-music-sometimes]

Genre: big band(?) jazz

Bassline funness: 8/10

Crazy strings: yes

Overall rating: 9/10

Bit of a long one, I won't apoligise

I was going to do Come On, Come Over for this but I couldn't resist doing this piece instead because it is probably my favourite off this whole, amazing album.

It starts with a very cool conjunct rising quaver line on the strings, which ends abruptly. The rhythm section takes over with some fun percussion and, obviously, a very funky bassline from Jaco. This section continues with a very disjunct and rhythmically interesting piano solo and an impressive conga? bongo? solo, punctuated by lines on the strings, which is occasionally joined by Jaco. The piano solos again, this time with less silences.

The second section is in half time, transitioned to with a unison line and crescendo, which drops down to just strings, minimal percussion, and features some great bass playing (read: cool bends). The string part feels reminiscent of Willy Wonka to me, and has some lovely uses of chromaticism and chord building throughout the parts. The texture of this part is really cool.

What could be called a third section continues the pianists very talented soloing, adds Jaco's too, but with the strings on the background playing a stripped down version of what was being played before. There's some really interesting rhythmic moments with the percussion and very fun melodic moments when the bass, piano, and strings all together form some weird chords. There is a moment of unison, the strings swell again and the piano drops out, leading to...

The first section again!! The original tempo is back, funky bassline is back, the piano is back, that cool string line is back... but wait...

It's in half time again!! There's another unison part to lead into a more chilled piano/bass solo. No strings this time, but a more solid drum beat/percussion than the last time we were in half time. Jaco's soloing as always is on point, including very well placed and weird bends, harmonics and a incredible use of rhythm to build and realise tension with the pianist. (we are now a little over half way, the length of this piece is why I wasn't going to do it originally)

And just like that we're in the original tempo again, with what is essentially the head. After the string line the drums do something weird but cool, it feels like two triplets or maybe a quintuplet?? I can't tell.

Another, different unison line leads us back into half time, where the strings are a part once again and Jaco plays a harmonic for the sake of it. It's the Willy Wonka part again (yessssssss). The drummer continues to play some more crazy interesting -tuplets (or something, honestly it just sounds like they're doing whatever they want, and doing it very well).

Aaaaaaand back to the head!!! No strings though, just a very intense piano solo. I love how this piece gets more and more frantic everytime it returns to the head, it really shows the contrast between the slow and fast parts. The piano continues to solo, Jaco and the percussionists continue to play whatever they want pretty fast as the quaver line on the violin is played over and over, slowly crescendoing until it is the only part. It plays a once more and then ends abruptly, ending as it started.

I love this piece because of the incredible musicianship on display, and how well-composed it is on Jaco's part. The contrast between the tempos and the instruments is really interesting choice, and executed very well. Jaco is well-beloved for a reason!

[rock-and-roll-hell]

January 13, 1978

Alive II Tour

Civic Arena - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,

📸 Mike Wilks

Peter was noted passing out midway through the show: “After a 15-minute intermission, Criss was revived, and continued without problem during the rest of the show. Perhaps what best sums up KISS is what Stanley told the crowd after Criss’s unfortunate swoon: ‘Peter may have passed out on you, but he’s revived now and is ready to give his all. And if there’s one thing about us you’ve known from the beginning, we always give it all we got, and will never let you down!’… KISS knows what its fan wants and never ceases to give it to them” (The Pitt News, 1/16/78).

At this show someone in the audience threw a lighter and hit Peter under the eye. (Though there is a debate that this actually happened at the January 20th show in Detroit) This photo was taken at a later date:

From a local review: "Four New York boys -- in drag and wearing whiteface makeup such as Marcel Marceau might devise on LSD -- lured 17,000 cheerful fanatics into the Civic Arena Friday night for a mixed media performance featuring fireworks, 10-foot flames, lasers, exploding guitars, instant fog, the throwing-up of artificial blood and allegedly 'more amplifiers than have ever been assembled on one stage in Pittsburgh... Their canny combination of hard-rock music plays Barnum-&-Bailey-meets-Dracula has propelled them in just four years to the top of the rock 'n' roll heap, thanks to a massive public relations campaign which modestly bills them as the embodiment of the new rock and the Symbol of the Seventies here to fulfill all our fantasies once and for all... KIϟϟ -- public relations aside -- is a talented and professional rock group which specializes in entertainment as opposed to plain old-fashioned music. Or even new-fashioned music. The group's dazzling road show operates on a magic formula in which music is but one of several equally vital elements: costumes, makeup, sets, lights, choreography, dialogue and -- most of all -- special effects" (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 1/16/78).

A local resident described the review above in amusing terms: "I was horrified and shocked to find the horrendous Jan. 16 article about KIϟϟ on the front page of your paper. The page, usually reserved for more urgent, important news items, was marred somewhat by the editorialized critique of the group's performance. Mr. Paris, it seems, retained more from the erotic display of the 'phallic imagery' than he did from the 'good, but not great' musicianship of the rock group. It is both disgraceful and appalling that the music field has regressed to the point of annihilation of human dignity... It is a frightening thought that 17,000 of tomorrow's citizens are exposed to this violent mockery of the arts which dwells more on the morose and the macabre than the aesthetic... Excuse me while I vomit" (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 1/24/78).

[dustedmagazine]

Mint Mile — Roughrider (Comedy Minus One)

Photo by Patrick Masterson

Mint Mile has been an active concern for going on a decade now, but the build has been slow: Three promising EPs were finally followed by a sweeping full-length that dropped the week after the bottom dropped out on reality and the pandemic began. Ambertron was a grand triumph in a year that did its best to stifle such art, but its casual, communal air felt out of sync in a year where easy connection was impossible. Like time and those of us that survived, however, the band has moved on. Those changes are well processed and documented on the appropriately titled Roughrider.

The best place to start with Roughrider might be right at the end with “I Hope It’s Different.” The alt-country ensemble SIlkworm’s Tim Midyett has been writing for and helming with the steady assistance of bassist Matthew Barnhart, guitarist Justin Brown and drummer Jeff Panall is here led by Nina Nastasia on vocals instead — an acclaimed songwriter in her own right whose “That’s All There Is” Silkworm covered way back in 2003. Nastasia looks optimistically to what comes next as she sings “I hope it’s different / Not just another good time / Insulated by uncomfortable lies” set to the band’s twangy slow dance and given added flourish by Poi Dog Pondering’s Susan Voelz organization of the strings. It’s like opening a window and walking outside, the promise of fresh air and a new environment before you after Midyett’s scrawling shifts and meandering moods.

That doesn’t mean “I Hope It’s Different” is the best song here, exactly. Mint Mile has taken up the mantle of the kind of unspooling Americana Jason Molina used to excel at so well, which is a funny thing to say given Roughrider’s brevity relative to Ambertron. Even so, the band is firing on all cylinders here regardless of track length; “Interpretive Outlook” does every bit as much with its sub-three-minute runtime as “Brigadier” does pushing eight. The breadth of musicianship is on full display and Midyett’s songwriting expands or contracts to fit the music as needed; his roughened, unsparing delivery had me recalling early Jets to Brazil and Lucero.

But perhaps even more so than Ambertron, this is a record about community. To wit: The band shines brightest when the core four are accompanied, which is almost always. The fluid grace of Brown’s pedal steel guitar and Barnhart and Panall’s anchoring rhythm section never sounds better than when there’s just a little something extra — Susan Voelz’s violin, say, or Alison Chesley’s cello. I was disappointed to discover frequent associate Howard Draper did not bring back the “magic spackling thing” as a credit from Ambertron, but nevertheless, his piano, organ and lap steel guitar frequently add a magic touch where an otherwise strong song could’ve settled. There’s Corvair’s Heather Larimer lending vocal assistance on “Empty Island.” And for Silkworm fans, “Halocline” and “S c ent” each feature Joel R.L. Phelps on saxophone. You could write out the whole list of credits for how many contributors are worth noting and for how much they add to make such a satisfying record.

As with Ambertron, though, the best songs on Roughrider happen when Mint Mile piles on the people in a gradually growing jam that stretches the band’s legs. Mirroring “The Great Combine” and “Amberline,” “S c ent” and “Brigadier” probably started as simple singer-songwriter sketches but grew into enormous, swooning spins. MIdyett appropriately struggles on “Brigadier” to hit an attempt at his highest registers as he sings “Can’t overcome the life we made” while the strings skitter and Panall’s percussion finally brings the band to a crashing finish, where Draper’s pulsing, spirit-cleansing organ takes you out. It’s a real thing of beauty.

The whole album and band — really, we should be more generous and call them a collective — is a thing of beauty. Once again, Mint Mile has delivered music with weathered emotional complexity that retains an open-ended sense of optimism that, maybe from now on, the ride won’t be so rough. How easy it is to fall for that kind of burdened but unbeaten perspective.

Patrick Masterson

[omegaplus]

# 4,406

Bo$$: “Deeper” (1993)

One of two hits from Bo$$ that scored the top of the charts, the other “Recipe Of A Ho”, but “Deeper” would always stand out as her most well-known. Her career happened when she moved from Detroit to the West coast and was discovered by DJ Quik for a verse before being signed by Def Jam and released her only record Born Gangstaz. Well, that one’s an overstatement. Despite being accomplished in dance, musicianship, and completing two years of business in college, her gangsta’ life didn’t kick in until her and DJ Dee moved to Los Angeles to experience being homeless, slinging drugs, violence and gang warfare. That’s what they ran with and took it from there. Whether you care or not about Bo$$’ legitimacy, “Deeper” is a great single which a vexed Lichelle Marie Laws lets it all out on being harassed, bothered, and taken advantage of, as a female gangsta’. It helped that there’s lots of sampling gold to be found here with “90% Of Me Is You” by Gwen McCrae (’74), "Under the Bridge” by Red Hot Chili Peppers ('91), “I'm Gonna Love You Just A Little More Baby” by Barry White (’73), “Promised Land” by Dennis Brown (’79) and even a soundbyte from Axel Foley from Beverly Hills Cop. 

New York’s Hot 97 used this instrumental for Mega Banton’s “Soundboy Killing” (’93), meaning no physical version of that exists.

[mickgaydolenz]

i was tagged by @birdie-hop (thank you birdie <3!!!) to do a fun new tag game where you list your favourite musicians and (if you want) explain why you like them so much!

so i feel kind of like a bit of an outsider when it comes to music because i tend to be super particular and i don't actually like a lot of musical artists beyond a song or two. there are a lot of little things that tend to put me off of songs or artists, so when i find one i like i tend to latch on to them with everything i've got. this is going to get really long winded because i have a lot to say about one of these artists in particular (Bowie duh), so fucking feel free to just ignore this!

The Beatles -> let me start with my biggest cringefail flop moment of my whole life. i had sworn to never like this group, i used to make fun of my friends who enjoyed them, and then like the biggest hypocritical asshole of all time i watched the stupid fucking get back documentary and have not recovered since. other than being bewitched by their faggotry and crazy internal dynamics, i genuinely really love their music (that was so painful to type...). i think what i appreciate most is something about their music feels both timeless and yet beyond its time??? and the sheer level of musicianship in their works is mind boggling (like holy fuck not to jerk off paul or anything, but watching him pull that song out of his head in -3 seconds in get back rocked my world). they also just genuinely seem to be having fun (until they weren't) and it comes across in their music. as people they fucking suck ngl, but also that's part of the charm (not john lennon though he has issues i can't see beyond so sorry dude dni on sight buddy) because it just shows that they aren't these giga brain geniuses that are beyond mortal comprehension.

Ryuichi Sakamoto -> not going to lie i got into him by way of watching Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, so that will always add a level of endearment to him as an artist for me. vocally, he isn't the strongest performer, but there is something charming about the sincerity in which he delivers his lines that i appreciate. i love how sakamoto sculps sound, he's so insanely good at cultivating atmosphere especially in his instrumental pieces. the mcml soundtrack is a great example of what he's capable of, and considering he'd never scored a movie prior to that is just insane. his dedication to experimentation and genre hoping is also super admirable, i love that he has experimental sound work but also classical pieces but also 80's poppy numbers. i really appreciate how he incorporates cultural instruments and melodies into his work, modifying them in a way that both retains their significance while allowing room for change. actually here is one of my favourite pieces by him if you want to check it out -> compute, compute, compute

Micky Dolenz -> and like i suppose this also includes the monkees in general, but specifically she is EVERYTHING TO ME!!!! vocally i'm slain every time he opens his mouth, like what a fucking voice and it just keeps going strong. i know every one says this, but micky is truly one of the most underrated vocalists, he deserves so much more recognition for his talent than he has received. also, as a songwriter??? FUCKING WOW!!!! i WISH to GOD he had written more songs, because man oh man the ones he wrote for the monkees are just banger after banger. i think micky's intelligence as a song writer is super insane, his ability to spin a narrative while also handling intense topics all wrapped up in a soft voice that belays the seriousness of the song???? uhm yeah give me more bitch, love that shit. also micky just seems so chill and so kind. not to mention modest; the guy is too modest for his own good, babygirl please you deserve so much more okay??? all in all he seems like the friend that would take you out and get you fucked up beyond belief, but then he'd make you some coffee in the morning, y'know?

David Bowie -> okay, okay, okay, fuck, um he literally means too much to me to even begin to put into coherent words. i've never connected more with a body of work than i have with his music. every facet of his songs -the style, the lyrics, the themes, the sound- speak to me on a visceral level. i still get literal goosebumps listening to certain songs, it's insane how much emotion they inspire in me. he is also the only musical artist where i've listen to his complete discography AND enjoyed most all of it (you don't even understand how HUGE this is for me). As an artist, Bowie is simply unmatched to me; he pushed himself constantly, reinvented himself constantly, tried constantly for his art. that mindset, the desire to push and try new things and not stagnate in the preciousness of your own ego, is something i've tried so hard to incorporate into my own practices. beyond just the music and his art, as a person i've never related more to someone (the good and the bad). so much of my personality has been ripped from and formed by him (that should be embarrassing, and it kind of is, but his mask of confidence and poise has served me soooooo fucking well). Bowie always saw himself as an observer, removed from people, living on the outside looking in on the world and its workings. whether it was a perceived alienation, or a real alienation, or a combination of both, he always felt other. and man oh man if that isn't just the most persistent feeling in my life. anyways to make a long gay story short this dude rules my world and just writing this has me tearing the fuck up <3

okay now that that is done i tag @reignoerme, @sunny-lie-melody, @squeesbysophie, @vintagecocacolainthesun, and @jathis (but only if you want to man!)

[dollarbin]

Nickel Bin #1:

I'd Be Talking All the Time by Ringo Starr

We're starting all kinds of new nonsense this week here in the Dollar Bin. My famous brother publishes five days a week on Doom and Gloom From the Tomb. He's out of control. He's also concise, a word I clearly don't have much of a relationship with.

But there are certain moments going forward when I will declare that it's time for me, and you, to dive in and consider a single song, rather than an entire album. In such moments, we'll be reveling in the Nickel Bin rather than the Dollar Bin: you'll have less reading to do and therefore more time to spend on push ups and protest.

Sounds pretty sweet to me, but if you're unimpressed, please direct all complaints to Stephen Stills; most of the bad things in life are his fault, yes?

This inaugural edition of the Nickel Bin is a follow up to my recent post on Ringo Starr. I sought out his Nashville record after surviving Goodnight Vienna and I'm here to tell you people that Beaucoups of Blues is Ringo's masterpiece. The whole of Side A contains all the best things in life when it comes to Nashville and Ringo: throwaway lyrics, humble musicianship, even humbler song lengths, slick baton passing between the fiddler and Ben Keith's impeccable steel guitar, and Ringo's ridiculous - but also quite earnest - vocals.

The whole thing is a ton of fun; just look at the crew behind it all. Looks like a boy's school's marching band's 20th high school reunion when only one guy is still handsome (Ben Keith, first row flush right) and only one guy became rich and famous (Ringo, obviously).

Because I've never created a rule I didn't immediately break on this blog I'll play you two songs today. The first is the most inappropriately joyful and upbeat song about prostitution I've ever heard. Only Starr could make sex work sound like a wholesome, back slapping good time.

This will be a great campfire song for the new summer camp I've got in development. Campers will come together at the end of each evening for swaying, smiling sing-a-longs: Reed's Heroin, Young's Borrowed Tune, and Cohen's Chelsea Hotel will feature prominently in the songbook and at the end of each evening the counselors will lead a stirring, sweet dreams version of Waits' What's He Building in There? We'll call it Trauma Camp; sign your kids up!

Anyway, what I really wanted you all to hear this evening is the last song on Side 1, I'd Be Taking All the Time. The song is fine, but it's the last 20 seconds that are worth your time all the time. Just listen to Ringo refer to himself in the 3rd person! I say that only Jonathan Richman, Rafi and Ringo can get away with such audacity.

And be sure to hang out for Ringo's last note: I dare you to listen to Ringo's voice crack without smiling. He sounds like he's the newest member of Jerry Jeff Walker's Lost Gonzo Band and is heading down to Marble Arch Station, or like he's jumping off Bob Pollard's roof.

I don't know why Ringo looks so bummed on his album cover when he's so good at making us laugh.

Cheers, Everyone.