So this new Animal Collective album is pretty great, right? I finally listened to it all the way through on my headphones and, yes, I feel its groove. Some kind of post-BrianWilson slash synthsyrup mess. It's a mess. But it's fun. Also, there's already been some great remixes of that standout song "My Girls" which I've poached for us here...
— HATCHMATIK disco bootleg mix [mediafire via discobelle] [pic is a found fact from last weekend; sure to happen again tonite, only better dressed and more populated by pretty peoples]
UMYO at it again. After the pure dope "Hook It Up" remix, this one just keeps their smarts coming. It's funny how lil wayne there is in the song now, too. (Did you get my double move?) Also, is that "Gredos" name really a Star Wars joke? Are these guys really that cool? Somehow I doubt that's what they're after. Maybe I'm wrong. In any event, this one is so simple, but effective is leaves me one question: where you at, Huskies? --RWK Lil Wayne - Mrs. Officer (UMYO Gredos Remix) (zshare) [Pic is from an old trustworthy fave I recently rewatched. I'd forgotten this yummy splash.]
Doin fam things. Then moving things. Posting may hit a halt. Or, at the least, a pause. And it may be just plain goof city, as ever, once it starts up again. --RWK Nina Simone - My Sweet Lord (zshare) [Chloe's shirt is cute, her tongue is cuter; I had a comfy couch.]
I can't quite get over how terrible that one BZ's cover is and thus this. I know it's old news, like me, and that it's real big and maybe too big for its own good, but, hot damn, who wouldn't want a Duc D'Orleans to sing this at their wake? Wake? Yea, a wake for somebody as they leave town or as they get in bed or as they start a new job. It's a romantic idea, sure, but I think that's just the way I is... --RWK Tom Waits - Anywhere I Lay My Head (zshare) [Pic is from the best thing in theatres right now. Go see it yesterday and the day before, peoples.]
Although the haters of my home state, that odd paradise on the gold coast, seem nearly victorious pushing Prop 8 into legislation, we do, indeed, have our first black president in President-Elect Barack Obama. Yes: this is our first black first family. Yes: there are still hurdles--there's a ton. But: fuck that. This is awesome. This is big, like HUGE. And his speech was so well written it was hard not to smile and tear and laugh and raise my flute more than a few times. I went on a run at midnight last night, then I stayed up late reading all kinds of reactions and watching the Prop 8 results slowly reveal their terrible (as well as the sad loss of Al Franken, who I was pulling for for a variety of reasons). I didn't sleep much. I read the transcript of our man's speech and I brimmed again. I re-read some Cavell that stirs my soul, that I sent around the internet the past week in emails, and then I put on Happy-Go-Lucky and then I fell asleep smiling. This morning brings those realizations of defeat home a little harder, yes, but it equally reminds us of that trope everybody is loving right now: a new dawn. Yes: the idealist in me only wants to weep, to celebrate, to dance in the streets of Chicago and show the world love, to remind my friends that, well, it's just a law and while we must subscribe to that law if we live in this society we may also see some brave body say, "No," and appeal his and his and her and her rights to build a more perfect union along with the rest of America, this America that, for at least a speech's length, was, Yes, my head.
If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.
It’s the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen; by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the very first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different; that their voice could be that difference.
It’s the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled – Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America.
It’s the answer that led those who have been told for so long by so many to be cynical, and fearful, and doubtful of what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.
It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.
I just received a very gracious call from Senator McCain. He fought long and hard in this campaign, and he’s fought even longer and harder for the country he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine, and we are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader. I congratulate him and Governor Palin for all they have achieved, and I look forward to working with them to renew this nation’s promise in the months ahead.
I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton and rode with on that train home to Delaware, the Vice President-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.
I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last sixteen years, the rock of our family and the love of my life, our nation’s next First Lady, Michelle Obama. Sasha and Malia, I love you both so much, and you have earned the new puppy that’s coming with us to the White House. And while she’s no longer with us, I know my grandmother is watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight, and know that my debt to them is beyond measure.
To my campaign manager David Plouffe, my chief strategist David Axelrod, and the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics – you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what you’ve sacrificed to get it done.
But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to – it belongs to you.
I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn’t start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington – it began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston.
It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give five dollars and ten dollars and twenty dollars to this cause. It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation’s apathy; who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep; from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on the doors of perfect strangers; from the millions of Americans who volunteered, and organized, and proved that more than two centuries later, a government of the people, by the people and for the people has not perished from this Earth. This is your victory.
I know you didn’t do this just to win an election and I know you didn’t do it for me. You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime – two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century. Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us. There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after their children fall asleep and wonder how they’ll make the mortgage, or pay their doctor’s bills, or save enough for college. There is new energy to harness and new jobs to be created; new schools to build and threats to meet and alliances to repair.
The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America – I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you – we as a people will get there.
There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won’t agree with every decision or policy I make as President, and we know that government can’t solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And above all, I will ask you join in the work of remaking this nation the only way it’s been done in America for two-hundred and twenty-one years – block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.
What began twenty-one months ago in the depths of winter must not end on this autumn night. This victory alone is not the change we seek – it is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It cannot happen without you.
So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other. Let us remember that if this financial crisis taught us anything, it’s that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers – in this country, we rise or fall as one nation; as one people.
Let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long. Let us remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House – a party founded on the values of self-reliance, individual liberty, and national unity. Those are values we all share, and while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress. As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, "We are not enemies, but friends...though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection." And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn – I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President too.
And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of our world – our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand. To those who would tear this world down – we will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security – we support you. And to all those who have wondered if America’s beacon still burns as bright – tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from our the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope.
For that is the true genius of America – that America can change. Our union can be perfected. And what we have already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.
This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that’s on my mind tonight is about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She’s a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing – Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.
She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn’t vote for two reasons – because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.
And tonight, I think about all that she’s seen throughout her century in America – the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can’t, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.
At a time when women’s voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.
When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs and a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.
When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.
She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that "We Shall Overcome." Yes we can.
A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination. And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change. Yes we can.
America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves – if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?
This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time – to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth – that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:
Yes We Can. Thank you, God bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.
As Mark and Kate and I cleaned up a bit last night, before our free can of PBR downstairs and my joyful departure home, I put on this Dennis Ferrer song that Cam sent my way because, really, what else were we to listen to? Fuck. Yes. FUCK YES! Maybe, fuggit, I'll eat some bacon. Or, hell, I'll go get coffee and donuts. Whatever it is, I'm feelin it already. Dennis Ferrer ft Kenny Bobien - Grateful (Df's Raise Yo Hands Vox Mix) (zshare) [x-posted on VINYL IS HEAVY]
In these daze of waning interest in most things bloghouse, when I mostly want to listen to house -- or DEEP house -- the Valerie crew still kills me. I'm just a sucker for synths, I guess. Also, epic things. My Halloween was epic. But it was more epic in a let's fight this ass clown for his cab kind of way. Less of a dressed to kill kind of way. Still, we got our life on. We saw some sites. We saw some numbers, some neons and blacks and blondes and pavement up close. We saw a young man fight a mattress with his head hanging low and his shirt tattered by life; and we saw a mob of bums laughing, seeing us fall on the ground. We saw my hand a bloody mess. We saw no cabs for 30 minutes. We almost saw the sunrise. If we found some facts along the way I'd want their crazy to be scored by this song. Luckily, we did not find any facts. We only found fairly crazy crazy. And I lost some valuable thing. Some thing. Something like money, something like a name, something like knuckle skins. --RWK The Outrunners - These girls are dressed to kill (Russ Chimes rmx) (direct discodust link) [Pix: I found some facts in Carlton's room, with Pager Code goin nutty in between changes. We'll see if these gain public motion, but, for now, I gotta be real: doesn't look good, iNet mini-monde.]
Actually, it's just an old school remix of a Zapp song -- quick, cast your vote: this or Kraftwerk? -- with Ghostface throwin skillz over top with little (if nothing) changed from the first version. --RWK [via discobelle; the link is to them] Ghostface Killah - Computer Love (direct link) [Pic is pretty obvious. But, hell, I'm tired.]
Switchin it up a bit, and stealing the opportunity to share this zshare link while it's up. Plus, I watched this movie this morning when I could sleep and, while it may be a lesser work from this hilarious master, it's still pretty great--and sexy! Like, whoa. Victoria Abril is one hot lady. So much so that Antonio there tells her so right as she pulls a dress up over her ass. What I like so much about his early pictures is their energy. For all the greatness of his recent work, none can pop and sizzle like this or other from pre-Oscar sanctioning... Oh, and The Misfits. Yes, The Misfits. As I told Mark, the main association I have with Danzig is Aqua Teen Hunger Force. I didn't watch TV as a kid and I never had a Misfits phase, either, even for a second, until this past week. And, truth be told, my Misfits phase is limited to this song on repeat. --RWK The Misfits - Hybrid Moments (zshare) [Is getting beat up the ticket into her heart? You bet! Well, that and a touching anecdote about a solitary childhood memory that's flooding the mind.]
One of the best minutes in movies. Also, hang overs suck a lot of balls. But they're funny, too, like when you reach for the towel on the rack and you fall out of the tub onto your hands and face and you can't stop laughing. Too bad there's not a youtube of that. Next time, next time. --RWK
The M.I.A. sample (already?!) is actually pretty dope, altho they ride it too much, and everybody's coming pretty hard to match that bassline. But Kanye's on some new autotune tip that I can quite endorse (it's no surprise that Wayne's version works a lot better) but I get the whole syntheti-chic thing their going for. And, is it really that shocking that T.I. does the best? He rides these cinematic beats better than most current rappers; plus, his bluster is micro compared to his track mates, which is appreciated. Understated mugging? Is that possible? It's something about his voice, and how he actually sounds angry. By contrast: Kanye sounds like he phoned that verse in from the mansion of insularity that his life is, that you can see on full display on his blog; Jay's funny, at least, with his opener about skinny jeans, but his singing is, well, hilarious for a different reason; Wayne is pretty gorgeous on most tracks, and this breezy "just playin" style is typical, great, slight. It boils down to this, though, for me: T.I. talks about his dad! --RWK [via Discobelle]
T.I. feat Kanye, Jay, Wayne - Swagger Like Us (zshare) [Pix from a "hip-hop" movie that can probably stand in as some kind of "black all star" flick. But I probably shouldn't go and say things like that for obvious reasons, like, sweeping generalizations are dumb.]
What the fuck is this? I know Kanye just guested on an "Everybody Nose" remix but doesn't he know he can't beat The Neptunes (or Count and Sinden) at their own game? Doesn't he know he got bigger than big for sampling soul? I'm sick of this fad crap. Make something that might last. And this isn't even getting to the verses Jay offers. He was Mims before Mims popped up but, still, for somebody as respected as he is -- as a rapper with smarts and style -- this is flat, phoned-in, smug. You're cool cuz you hate the pleebs? It's devolved to that? Really? Fuck that mess. But it'll probably make money, just cuz it can. As he says, "It's too easy..." Feeling yourself is one thing but this kind of under-the-covers fooling is boring and dumb. And hateful. --RWK
[Pic is from a movie about paranoid solipsism, and consequent devolution. No spuds here. Just ugly. And, by the way, the movie is, like, a billion times better than this song.]
Inspired by MOMI's "Making The Wire" week, I thought I'd go ahead and post mp3s of the five different versions of "Way Down in the Hole" used for each of the five different seasons' opening credits. Unfortunately, I didn't find mp3s of all five. However: I did find my two favorites, from the first two seasons, by The Blind Boys of Alabama and Tom Waits. And, in lieu of mp3s, I found youtube clips of each season's credits, sans narration by Andrew Dignan (which you can check out every day this week at MOMI's website). I've said elsewhere that I thought the series picked up steam as it went along through its first four seasons, only to kinda-sorta falter under its own ambitions in its final, fifth season, so I don't need to dive into that again. But it's worth noting, I think, how each version constitutes my relationship to each season, beginning with Steve Earle's cover, for that fifth season, that plays the harshest (and whitest), although kinda groovy, which added to my distaste for that season's misfires (and occasional bits of brilliance). By contrast, Tom Waits' elegiac original fits the mood of the docks really well: all those years of toil for nothing. The Neville Brothers' jazzy third season opener makes a nice compliment to the Blind Boys, which makes me think of the dueling East and West sides of B'more starting to come together, or at the least how they interact, starting with Stringer's negotiations in that season. DoMaJe had the honor to grace the show's greatest chapter, the fourth, and their plaintive march through varying genres, with time for odd samples and a nasty guitar solo and a grimey in-the-round vamp, speaks to the corner boys' close-knit texture, riffing on one another, trading insults and love equally. But, lemme get out of the way already. I'll leave the comments from here on out to Mssrs Dignan, Seitz and Lee. --RWK
This is both more inside-baseball promotion (peep Claire's newest post) and a reminder that French Touch is relevant to everything, in every moment. Alan Braxe and Fred Falke should work together again. Or, I hope they do. They made some amazing stuff. Also, some really cheesy stuff. As Carlton said the other day, if the girl you're dating digs this song you know she's awesome. Because this is next level snobbery: embracing embarrassing sentimentality as pure sentiment, aka eating the cheese with a grin. Ultimately, though, this is what I sing in chorus with Claire to Tippi. --RWK
[Pix are dead giveaways in the link above. Melanie Daniels!] UPDATE: Seen on The Cinetrix's Pullquote, a Tippi Hedren Barbie doll. Claire just said in the "Murderous" comment thread: "Um, wow. If I were one to want things like that thing, I would want that thing. Instead, all I want is that 'Naomi Watts thang.'"
Inspired by the most recent post at Glenn Kenny's new blog, Some Came Running (love the blog name), I've uploaded another cover I dig. It may not be to everybody's liking as homeboy is rather nasal-y and can be quite irritating sometimes. But the thing I dig about him is how earnest he is; you can tell he really digs Kels as much as Thin Lizzy. Kels? Yeah, he takes this cover into a cover of "Ignition (remix)" at the end. I guess that's another reason I like this so much. --RWK [Big ups to Evan for giving me this song a while ago.]
Well now. This comes from Discobelle. It's a rock-ish cover of a Daft Punk anthem, which is a dancey cover, of sorts, of a soul song by George Duke. Talk about art in the age of mechanical reproducibility. This is sweet, if almost too sweet; catchy ditty for a few weeks of plays at best, novelty one-time listen at worst. Right now, I'm in the former camp. --RWK Daft Punk - Digital Love (Alphabeat, FrankMusik & Leon Jean-Marie cover) (zshare)
I'd forgotten how great this album is when you're in the right mood. And, surprisingly, how great it is to write to. As Pager Code said once, I thought Scott Herren here was going to determine my musical outlook for a long time when this album came out. Too bad it only lasted another EP. I mean, I was into Appropa't more than the rest of my friends but it's chilled out vibe was kind of the opposite of what I dig so much about how nervy and dense stuff like song folds into itself. And this is carried out over the whole album, which is amazing, Mr Lif appearance aside. (Mr Lif and Diverse are serious downgrades from Mikah 9 and Aesop Rock, but you take what you can get.) I may even like the follow-up EP more (Crazy!) because it doesn't have any featured rappers. --RWK Prefuse 73 - One Word Extinguisher (zshare)
[Pix: keeping with the Denzel theme from a much lesser (but I'd still argue interesting) movie than _He Got Game_ whose title makes a nice joke with the title of this song. Besides, everybody loves Christopher Walken these days.]
These 91 seconds are probably my favorite moment on cLOUDDEAD. This fugue of sorts, written and performed and recorded by Dose One, without partner Why?, end the six minute dirge that is the sixth track, "I promise to never get paint on my glasses again (pt.2)", which is really just the b-side of the third cLOUDDEAD 10-inch. See: the self-titled album is just a collection of six 10" records. But, magically, there's a cohesion. It remains a favorite despite my withering interest in most other anticon. releases (although that Alias remix of "Nude" is kinda dope). I thought about putting up the text of these lyrics-in-the-round but I like the idea that anything, like a song, can be a poem. Especially since this is a "song" very much about its lyrics, about language, in addition to being about a mood and a tone, to say an affect. It's hard not to think about that cover when you hear the final line. --RWK [Cross posted on VINYL]
I forgot to post this Sunday amidst my hangover's haze. This song killed the (grass) dance floor on Saturday nite. R and M and I sang and danced hard with Team America (aka Felix Trinadad; looking tough in a tank) during his one appearance from behind the decks. Play this loud. --RWK
With millions of engagement rings created every year, finding the perfect one for her can be tiresome. So, instead, customize your own, and make it personal.
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