3/14/2006 - Exercise in Swing

Song: Exercise in Swing
Artist: Lester Young
Why this song is the current jam: Ok time for a little change of pace. A little jazz for the fans out there. Going back to my man Lester Young again - I fucking LOVE the way he plays. This song has such a pushing frenetic beat, and he just chills all over it, and the other guys playing with him on this one are hanging in that pocket the same way. I think that a lot of great musicians now have no access to that sorta pocket that dudes would get into back in the day. I mean, for me, there isnt enough focus on the rhythm and letting that carry you and not rushing and overdoing everything. Lester knew how to lay back in that pocket, and it makes his music breathe.

3/13/2005 - The Ballad of Dorothy Parker

Song: The Ballad of Dorothy Parker
Artist: Prince
Why this song is the current jam: Ok so this is the song I mentioned in my last post about Andre. It is a Prince classic. Another one of his complete mishaps that turned into something beautiful. During the recording of this song, all of the levels got stripped except for the midrange, which is what gives this song its weird, haunted, muted but cool and intimate feel. Its just a little story song, ala the Princester, relationship troubles, resovled in a sexy way, but of course with a twist. Anyways, the song is cool, great music and well delivered vocals. I'm feeling spendy so here is a little treat, a live version of the song, different (because like so many of his best creations, it cant really be recaptured in live performance - see "Kiss," for example) but cool in its own way.

Oh yeah, I think he is sort of alluding to this Dorothy Parker just to color in his female character here a little bit. I think she was a really interesting chick if you are interested.

3/12/2006 - She Lives in My Lap

Song: She Lives in My Lap
Artist: Andre 3000
Why this song is the current jam: OK so who is #1 fav rapper and #1 rapper to try and do the whole grow-as-an-artist thing? That would be Dre aka Andre 3000 of the seminal hip hop group Outkast, you know them. This fella is my favorite rapper of all time. (as evidenced previously in this post) What I really love about Andre is that he has changed so much. It is awesome to see how he grows and how so many times when I have been trying to get down with some new thing he is doing, I realize that he isnt ahead of the curve, he IS the fucking curve. Serious. Anyways, he has taken a serious nod from my favorite of favorites, the purple one on this jam. This one sounds like if "She's Always In My Hair" and "The Ballad of Dorothy Parker" had a love child. Interesting production, cool vocals, trying new shit, you have to love it. As a little bonus for this post, I am including a slightly older track off of Outkast's Stankonia album called Slum Beautiful where Andre sorta raps/sorta sings and as always provides the hook. You look at all the Outkast hits, and those super catchy super simple-but-musical hooks, that is 100% Andre my friends.

3/11/2006 - Mr. Intentional

Song: Mr. Intentional
Artist: Lauryn Hill
Why this song is the current jam: Let it not be said that I left Lauryn Hill out of the picture of hip hop artists who have progressed and grown and changed. Her Unplugged Album was just she and a guitar, sitting, talking and singing. It is pretty heavy, but really worth listening to, if only to hear a real portrait of someone struggling to stay true to who they are in front of more than just the mirror. It can be a bit pedantic and maybe almost pretentious at times, but I respect the shit out of her for stepping up and saying how she felt anyways, singing songs that are like baby butterflies with wings too wet too fly, putting her fragile, changing feelings out there. That takes guts, and that particular type of honesty can be hard to come by in hip hop circles. This song in particular is biting and powerful. It feels to me like an indictment of all of the worst aspects of men in relationships, many of which I find in myself. She is new to the guitar here I think, but her voice is beautiful and expressive and her emotion is so present in its pain and even anger. My bonus track for Lauryn is off of her first solo album and you have certainly already heard it, but here it is again cuz it is the bomb, Ex-Factor. There is something so poignant and I think honest in both of these songs about what it can be to be a woman in a relationship with a man. This of course from my completely external and essentially uninformed perspective. But I feel like if I can get past the parts of these songs that cut, I feel like I learn so much about my own past. Lauryn's music is pretty deep and there are a bunch of lessons in it, not the least of which is "Don't break up with Lauryn Hill."

3/10/2006 - Bedstuy Parade & Funeral March

Song: Bedstuy Parade & Funeral March
Artist: Mos Def
Why this song is the current jam: OK here's another MC turned whatever. (in this case singer/movie & broadway actor) Mos Def is one of my favorite rappers and it isnt really fair. He just has the coolest voice ever. Anyways, here is a track off of his newest album, which is really just a barely held together bunch of jams and stuff. But I like to see people stretching for something new. I like the groove he gets going in this song, and when he is just sing-songing, I think it works just cuz I like his voice and his musical sense so much. The bonus for Mos Def is a clip of him performing Fear Not of Man live in Detroit with his band, Black Jack Johnson (you can hear Bernie Worrell on the keyboards) My friend said that Mos Def in concert with the band was amazing. See how you like.

3/9/2006 - Even If It Is So

Song: Even If It Is So
Artist: Q-Tip
Why this song is the current jam: This song is from Q-Tip's as-yet-unreleased album, Kamaal the Abstract from 2000. I can't figure out exactly why this hasn't been released, but I guess the record company probably thinks it wont sell well. For me personally, I just love that someone is trying (or tried in 2000) to do something different and to grow as an artist(e). This song has a nice groove and his little raps about the girl he is into are poignant. Once again I am including a bonus here, the track Do You Dig You from the same album. This has just the tightest beat, and he kinda sinks into the background letting a long instrumental jammy thing go on. It is cool, but I have to admit, that he had me at hello on this beat, I love the way it starts out.

Check out what I found! You can listen to the whole unreleased album online at this dude's blog! Check it!

3/8/2006 - Gettin' Grown

Song: Gettin' Grown
Artist: Cee-Lo
Why this song is the current jam: I thought I would do a few posts here in honor of some of my favorite rappers, several of which have moved in a different direction recently, one that has taken them a little bit away from rapping. The first here is Cee-Lo from Goodie Mob. I posted a song of theirs earlier, highlighting his verse. This song is from his 1st solo album, which is an interesting mix of stuff. It is imperfect but there is so much good stuff on there I highly recommend it. I like the gentle contemplative vibe of this song, and as always, Cee-Lo's lyrics are good and worth listening to. He has a great voice that takes a little getting used to and a perspective that may or may not click with you upon first listen, but I encourage you to listen more than once. As a little bonus, I am gonna include Young Man (Sierra's Song), a track with 3 great verses where Cee-Lo speaks to young black men from his experience. There is such a warmth and depth of understanding to his words, they dont come off as particularly preachy, even though he is straight up giving advice.

3/8/2006 - You're a Big Girl Now

Song: You're a Big Girl Now
Artist: Bob Dylan
Why this song is the current jam: I think I love everything about this song. I don't feel like saying much about it. Its words convey a lot without being explicit and boring, and the music is so beautifully rhythmic and nuanced - but shit, see, there I go, pontificating on some shit that you should really just listen to. I hope you love this half as much as I do. Go Bobby D.

3/7/2006 - She's Always in My Hair

Song: She's Always in My Hair
Artist: D'Angelo
Why this song is the current jam: Yet another contribution to the bloggy blog by the illustrious D'Angelo. And yet another cover of a fabulous Prince song. Here is a simple formula for you:

Good Prince song + cover by good artist = good song.

It works folks. And here it is at work again. This track is from the Scream 2 soundtrack - it was found during some random downloading searching for D'Angelo. I really like the way he attacks this song. It has that same tight-but-loose, perfectly-imperfect, right-in-the-pocket feeling of the Voodoo album, but with a little Prince vibe thrown in there. I love it. See what you think.

Oh yeah, and here is the original as well - a bad ass b-side classic from the man.

3/6/2006 - Wishing Well

Song: Wishing Well
Artist: Terence Trent D'Arby
Why this song is the current jam: If you are gonna haterate on my musical tastes, now would be the time. I am posting this gem from the late 80's as a testament to my lack of shame when it comes to a cheesy jam that I enjoy. Plus TTD was always trying to hard for the Prince thing, so I have to give him some credit for having good taste at least. Seriously though I like this song, nice beat, and the hook is catchy as shit. On a side note, I think it would be a really hilarious thing if TTD opened a fast food chain. Terence Trent D'Arby's folks? C'mon! That is almost as good as my imaginary restauraunt for fat people, "the Obistro."

3/5/2006 - Starman

Song: Starman
Artist: Seu Jorge
Why this song is the current jam: Have you seen The Life Aquatic of Steve Zissou?. Well you may love it or hate it, I dont know, but the soundtrack kicks some ass. This guy sings a few songs during the movie, Bowie covers actually, in Portugese. Novel yes, but more than that, good, well-done covers. Here is one for your perusal. And of course, I wouldn't jack you and leave you without the original for comparison. Enjoy.

3/4/2006 - Fuck and Run

Song: Fuck and Run
Artist: Liz Phair
Why this song is the current jam: OK so the Femmes song reminded me. I first heard this song on a Peer Plus retreat. (Peer Plus being this organization at my high school arranged by this guy who was like quasi-guidance counselor/hall-monitor with the basic mission of creating opportunities for kids to learn to be better friends. It sounds like such a nice thing now at my ripe old age of 28, but I tell ya, I always thought it was so weird back in the day, this group where you just hung out and did things to be friends, not a sport or anything like that.) I was such a petrified little teenager that I had avoided most Peer Plus activities if at all possible for the first 2 years of my high school career, even when I was explicitly invited several times. So finally, I had no excuse and had been cajoled/convinced that I should go to the junior retreat, where all the juniors in Peer Plus head to some camp for a weekend and hang out and bond, and pass the candle telling secrets to the group and stuff like that. It was THE GREATEST FUCKING THING IN MY LIFE EVER. I had never had so much connection to different people, even girls mind you, and the whole thing kinda blew my mind. So it was there, that I heard this song, played by several of the girls, most of whom I would not really have considered myself friends with outside of the borders of the magic world of the campgrounds that weekend. We shared things and spent time on "one on one's" where you just walked around talking with one person for an hour (a powerful thing in comparison to group/cult-run high school interactions) That weekend was the first time in my life that I felt a soul-crushing nostalgia for the things that I had passed up or been too afraid to try. Nostalgia for things that used to be is bad enough, but nostalgia for a time that never was, that can be a killer. In hearing this song, I realized how much life some of the girls had been living, how they could relate to something that was so beyond me. It was part posture to be sure (nearly everything is when you are that age I think) but they were drawn to the pain in the song, and I think they felt a solidarity with the disaffected voice of it.


There was a review for this song on AMG and I checked it out and what do you know, it does not completely suck. In fact, unlike so many reviews (akin the ones I shit on recently on the bloggy blog) this one just describes the song, and what makes it work. I like the way she describes some of it, so I'll post it here:

Anyone who's harbored the secret, guilty thought that sexual freedom isn't all it's cracked up to be is likely to identify with "Fuck and Run," the song that became Liz Phair's calling card as the voice of young, disillusioned womanhood. As is often the case with Phair's work, casual listeners seized on the song's four-letter words and sexual frankness, missing the loneliness at its heart. The story of an awkward morning after, "Fuck and Run" is positively old-fashioned in its way -- witness the "What ever happened to a boyfriend?" refrain and the narrator's longing for things like "letters and sodas." What makes it new is Phair's self-consciousness about those yearnings; even as she wishes for the trappings of romance, she deflates them as "stupid old shit." In fact, the dominant tone of "Fuck and Run" is its diffidence, from the low-key jangle of the melody to the unstudied, can't-be-bothered quality of Phair's singing. This is not Joan Osborne raving gleefully about sex with her "Right Hand Man" or Alanis Morrisette lashing out at an ex, to cite two of Phair's contemporaries. This is just a vaguely disappointed woman who slept with someone and knows he won't be sending flowers. Whether the encounter was even enjoyable in and of itself is left unclear -- even at her most graphic, Phair keeps something in reserve. Only a slight uptick of urgency in her voice as she sings "I can feel it in my bones/I'm gonna spend my whole life alone" betrays the sadness behind the shrug. For obvious marketing reasons, "Fuck and Run" was not the Exile in Guyville single, but it was the track that got people talking about Liz Phair, and it's the perfect embodiment of her tug of war between freedom and safety.

- by Kristi Coulter, AMG

"The sadness behind the shrug." Man I wish I had written that about this song. That is what I think makes it powerful, even beyond any parallels that you may be able to draw to your own life. That sad shrug I think encapsulates the adolescence of so many people I have known, and I hope I never ever forget that if I have kids. This whole album is good by the way, so check it out. This song makes me think of how I learn the important things I learn in life. The ones that you can say to other people as clearly as you want and it will make no difference because it is not about hearing the words, but experiencing the idea. I think it always works best for me to learn something from something smaller than my own life. Lately it has been dancing all the time, since that is what I do. But lots of times, it has been music, or a book. And then of course there is good old fashioned stumbling-through-it life experience but that usually takes me a few tries to get the point.

3/3/2006 - Kiss Off

Song: Kiss Off
Artist: Violent Femmes
Why this song is the current jam: Dorks unite! This song is for all of the angst I felt when I was too afraid to just be normal when I was younger. It reminds me how much of our youths are spent in fear and pain, even people with pretty sweet childhoods like mine own. I love the way the lyrics and the music mesh to create the same completely addled, jittery feeling, and I love how the song builds only to drop off into a detatched I-dont-really-care vibe on the refrain. This song makes me think of all the times when I felt out and not in. I never really had this music to connect to when I was that painful, embarassing, adolescent age. I really wonder if I would have turned out differently had I heard this stuff back then. But, I missed the boat, and only caught it a few years ago. But I can remember clearly the feeling, and however you may think of me personally, I can assure you that there is a part of me that can relate 100% to the feelings expressed with such a beautiful angst-ridden ambivalence in this song

3/2/2006 - The Greatest

Song: The Greatest
Artist: Cat Power
Why this song is the current jam: First off, have to give props to Angie for telling me to check out Cat Power. I have just started listening to her, but so far, daddy likey. I think this song is really really beautiful so I thought I would post it for the few white people who havent already heard of Cat Power and who dont own this album already. Sometimes I get the sense that there is a massive culture of primarily white indie-type music that all of my friends get this big newsletter on, and I just dont have a subscription. Anyways, I am trying to catch up. So back to the song.

I love the gentle pace of this song, just striding forward, rolling ahead like a slow waves or succession of waves. Powerful, but not like a big crashing tidal waves, but like water is powerful over thousands of years, bending solid rock to its shape. The production is huge and sweeping, yet still intimate and they keep her voice the centerpiece of it all, and I love that. She has a beautiful voice. It makes it almost hard for me to listen to the words, just because I like hearing the sound of it so much. But the lyrics themselves are pretty cool. They point to some meaning, and I guess the song is ostensibly about a boxer, or so it says on AMG, but I dont particularly get that out it so much. It makes sense and all, but I find myself focusing more on the lines themselves like "No wind or waterfall could stop me, And then came the rush of the flood, The stars at night turned you to dust, Melt me down" The way the lyrics fit together and lead from one to the next draw me in, even though I dont maybe know exactly where they go. Anyways, I like em, and I like the song overall. Good musicians, good singing. I hope you enjoy too. I just read this review on this album and was reminded why I kind of hate reviews. They always sound so right, and make so much sense, but maybe you may feel differently about the music, but you may never know, because you may take the reviewers word for it that it is not so great. Or perhaps more insidiously, the reviewer's take could just color your vision of the music, and you'll find yourself half-quoting the reviewer when you talk about the album so that you sound smart, all without ever having really listened closely and with an openness to the music yourself. When this reviewer says

"Still, it's impossible to ignore the pull of the Beautifully Tortured stereotype, no matter what reality lies behind it. But if we didn't want Beautifully Tortured, we'd be obsessing over Norah Jones."

I kinda just want to tell her to go fuck herself. Just a little bit. I mean, of course I understand the allure of an artist who shares their pain through their music and who feels honest in this expression. But dont pretend to be above the lust for the "Beautifully Tortured" and looking down from on high at it and then proceed to talk shit about the album on the grounds that it is not that. Even if I agree with her review, what a fuckin intellectual hypocrite. It's like reading City Pages. So often self-important

In any case, I suppose I should just include this little caviat to my whole music blog enterprise. While I HOPE that other people like this stuff, I do keep in mind that at all times, these are just my opinions, and I really just invite you to check this music out and give it a listen. I am not reviewing this stuff, I only post stuff that I would give a good review, were that what this was about. I am just trying to show you where I am coming from on each song and what I see about it that makes me like it.

3/1/2006 - Something in the Water

Song: Something in the Water
Artist: Prince
Why this song is the current jam: Ok this is off of the SEMINAL, CRUCIAL, ESSENTIAL album, 1999. Prince has so many damn hits that they are hard to avoid, but I am gonna try to share a few of my favs that you may not have heard a million times. Basically most of this album is pretty fuckin sweet, but I wanted to highlight this song in particular. It captures a lot of what I really love about the man back in the day. The music itself is 100% hyper-artificial. He has this programmed drumloop, with the crazy high hat and the weird computer noises. He has a pretty trite set of lyrics for the most part, "does not compute" and "something in the water" etc. But here is the magic part, he manages, through the combination of these disparate elements, to create something with real human energy and emotion. If there is one thing that Prince does well, it is longing (usually sexual longing although here it is less specific). Prince as the scorned lover, hanging on to that which causes him pain, it works for me, I dont know why. I can believe his pain, his yearning. I love the atmospheric, pained quality of this song. This man can sing a song. This is one that you maybe have to listen to from the right perspective to appreciate, but I entreat you to give a listen from a few different angles, and see if you can find the beauty herein.