Life in the Valley

OK, so the actual song doesn't start until 28 seconds in, just a heads up.

Be Your Own Pet has a tendency towards chaotic self-indulgent noise (hate to put it down to the fact they're pretty young but...they are pretty young...) I saw them back in San Francisco (when they were even younger) at a small place called Bottom of the Hill - nice place to see a show, small venue with an established record of finding good up-and-coming bands.

Since that time it looks like BYOP has learned to put together a tight, solid riff with an accompanying surf/go-go/60's inspired chorus. The rest of Get Awkward tends towards exuberant messiness, but IMHO this short, sweet and slightly suggestive little number would be an ideal track for a burlesque performance.

Be Your Own Pet
"The Kelly Affair"
Get Awkward



Next: Azuuuuucaaaaaaa!

Bam Bam Two Times

Simply one of the greatest reggae cuts. Ever. What's that you say? There's no actual video in this video? The awesomeness of this track surpasses the need for video!

Listen to it - you've no doubt heard it sampled here and there, might have heard a DJ drop it in a mix more than once. Maybe it's the would-be-haunting-if-it-wasn't-so-badass horn line. Maybe it's the echo. Maybe it's the minimal 80's dub production value. Maybe it's just Sister Nancy's offhand, amused-yet-no-nonsense attitude at her critics.

Maybe it's all of the above. And then some.

Sister Nancy - "Bam Bam"



(Bonus video in case I'm too hung over to do this tomorrow - the original version, complete with images of lions, weed & Haile Selassie. Though unfortunately not all three at the same time.)

Toots & The Maytals - "Bam Bam"



Next: A nurse! A mime! Cross dressing!

Fela Kuti: The Revolution Will Have a Badass Groove

Before the concept of "world music" existed, Fela Kuti created the new genre of afrobeat through elements of jazz, latin music and the sounds of his native Nigeria. The music was revolutionary in both senses of the word: the songs were usually over 10 minutes (over 25 minutes is not uncommon), played by a band of as many as 80 people. They also often focused on matters that were politically (ahem) "sensitive" - and under the authoritarian Nigerian government of the day, these were not few. His son Femi serves as the standard bearer for afrobeat these days - think all the Marley children rolled into one - but there are other excellent bands doing afrobeat things. Of particular note is Antibalas, out of NY, featuring African, Latin American and North American members.

This is a 5 minute edit done by somebody who was trying to get him out of jail in 1985; he died in 1997.

Fela Kuti - "Army Arrangement"



Tomorrow: Sister Nancy is a lady, not a man!

One at a time

So I think what I might start doing is changing this to a "daily youtube video I think is pretty awesome" kind of thing, which would be most in keeping with the less-but-more-frequently thing I was trying to do before. That really didn't work out so good. But one video and a quick comment? Yeah, I think I can manage that.

The Kills
"Tape Song"
Midnight Boom



I've been a fan of the The Kills ever since I saw them open for Bloc Party back in the day, at The Warfield in SF in what must have been '05 or '06. They kind of sound like a White Stripes with Megan White actually, you know, contributed to the music, on a desert island with nobody to pose for. That is, The Kills understand that any dislike of their music on your part is really not their problem.

Tomorrow: Afrobeat!

Podcasts!

Here are a few of my favorite music-related podcasts. I was trying to reverse-engineer the little "embed" coding from youtube in order to embed these players, but couldn't figure it out. You can also find all of these through searching iTunes - it's what I do.

In alphabetical order:

Black Market Funk. They say: "We stream dj mixes of jazz, nu-jazz, future funk, funk 45's, broken beats, and anything that's deep and has a groove." I'd say that's about right - very beat heavy, and usually with a little soul and latin thrown into the hip hop and funk. You can go here for the streaming radio or search iTunes for the podcast.

Cokemachineglow.com. Yes, the somewhat-well-known Canadian music site features reviews, commentary and...podcasts. Good podcasts, featuring the annual "Fantasy Covers" series, wherein not-so-well-known indie bands do versions of other (usually better known) indie-appropriate tunes (ie, Pale Young Gentlemen doing M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes"). Not a bad way to see what's out there in indieland.

Donkey Wrangler to the Stars. He says, ""mashups, remixes, bootlegs, etc...."and that's just about it - there are hour-long mixes with little bits from old movies, with varying degrees of amusement value. Check it here.

Ebony Cuts. "Disco Soul Funk Old School" out of Sweden. Sometimes they can be a tad too disco-cheesy for my tastes but good stuff despite the ultra-super cheesy intro to each one - one of the few reasons I have to change the "begin at" option on iTunes. The mp3 for my personal favorite - a very nicely done Latin-afrobeat-sould mix - is here.

XLR8R. Not surprisingly, their podcasts feature the same sort of people as the magazine - hip hop and electronic music, usually with a bit more of a less-clean edge to it.

Bon appetit!