Tune of the Week: ISP

The mid 90s saw Hiphop taking a very commercial turn. What was once an expression of inner city turmoil and struggle had become a haven for big money deals and materialism. While the majority of the attention paid to the genre was focused on the feud between New York City and Los Angeles, a new take on an original form of Hiphop expression was evolving in the Bay Area of California. This turned out to be the genesis of what would come to be referred to as Turntablism.

While Hiphop had come to evolve from Bronx DJs who found breaks in songs and looped them utilizing two copies of the same record, Bay Area DJs extended this practice to creating whole songs by manipulating tiny portions of songs into something new. Breaks would be dissected into individual drum sounds to create new beats. Sound effects would be replayed to create patterns on top, often creating new meanings for words and phrases.

The Invisible Skratch Piklz became the umbrella name for the group of Turntablists that would come together and pioneer this new artform. Separately and together their members won so many DJing titles that they were banned from subsequent competitions worldwide. Members such as DJ Disk, Q-Bert and Mixmaster Mike have all gone onto play in much larger contexts, playing concert venues around the world billed as musicians and playing to large audiences.

Bay Area hiphop impresario Billy Jam recognized the innovations happening behind the decks in his own back yard early and began documenting jam sessions. Here is a bit of one of those jams in which you can here aural chaos being shaped into something more musical before your very ears.

Tune of the Week: Siouxsie and the Banshees

Siouxsie and the Banshees is quite possibly the quintessential post-punk band. Mulitple members were actively onhand in the Sex Pistols scene which took the UK by storm in the mid to late 70s. Over the years they acquired and lost many band members who helped shape their sound. Perhaps most notably was the inclusion of The Cure’s Robert Smith during his hiatus from his own band. Smith came onboard to take on guitar dutes for one album and tour. The marriage of songwriting styles helped to create uncommon tunes that simultaneously sound very Cure-ish and Siouxsie-ish. “Take Me Back” sounds as if it could exist on any subsequent Cure album, but Siouxsie’s lyrics and delivery are uniquely her own. As talented a tunesmith as Smith is, here is proof of his worthinness as a collaborator. Hopefully, he will explore this kind of creative space again later in his career!

Tune of the Week: Sensational

Sensational is a Brooklyn, NY based one man hip hop powerhouse. First discovered by The Jungle Brothers, who brought him onboard for the original version of their third full length “J Beez Wit The Remedy”. This version was scrapped after Warner Bros. rejected it as being too experimental. Sensational went his own way afterwards. His productions feature off-kilter rhythms that both recall early hip hop in their simplicity of arrangement but also, as he is wont to say, “match his flow”. The lo-fi, sometimes recorded through headphones, vocals feature a lot of hip hop tropes: weed consumption, money and gear accumulation, sex and general bravado. However, Sensational’s pride in the uniqueness of his style in the face of corniness shines over all. The uniformity of his style and presentation creates something not so weird as something more true to one of the genre’s original ideals: originality above all.

Tune of the Week: Funkadelic

Under George Clinton’s leadership Funkadelic has been a great number of things. Their debut album, recorded in 1968 and 69, displays a firm psychedelic funk-rock sound. In this, the opening track, the rhythm section rumbles on their groove and the guitars do their thing as Clinton gives a treatise on just what “Funkadelic” means. The recording has a very live feel to it with the inclusion of applause and what sounds to be the voice of the recording engineer in the very few last seconds. A truly groovy start to what would be a forty year plus legacy. Fly on, my people. Fly on!

Tune of the Week: Bogdan Raczynski

Bogdan Raczynksi is a US based electronic musician whose hyperactive and silly personality resounds in his creations. Raczynski is one of the first electronic producers to create music entirely within a computer environment. While ultilzing low bit-rate sample and tracking software, in which one must write code for the music to be played, he creates incredibly intricate compositions. Perhaps to intentionally underscore the very heavy and intense sonic proceedings, Raczynski adds his own vocals which sound as if they were recorded by a child upon its first discovery of the “Record” button on a tape recorder. This goes a long way to making such spastic music more palpable and, perhaps most important of all, FUN.

Tune of the Week: James Blake

James Blake is London based musician who creates electronic, r’n’b and hiphop music. Blake represents, along with friends Mountie Kimbie and Airhead, the best of the “post dubstep” school of music. While in college he attended seminal dubstep parties such as FWD>> and DMZ, as well as throwing his own dubstep parties. He has been quoted as saying that “everything dubstep comes from Mala and Coki”. While his later work shows a more delicate and traditional method to songwriting, his early instrumental works show his appreciation of those “eyes down” nights spent meditating on “bass weight”. While it’s nice that he’s garnered the success he has, would someone please remind Mr. Blake to make some weird beats again, please?

Tune of the Week: Dilla and DOOM

MF Doom was an independent hiphop force. He gained world wide fame and influence while staying on small labels. He helped popularize the marriage of comic book and hiphop cultures. While a great producer in his own right, DOOM’s most popular works came from rhyming on other’s beats. They were, in large part, made by some of the best of the best, including Dangermouse and Madlib. Here is a fantastic example of what DOOM could bring to an expertly crafted beat, this one by the late, great J Dilla. DOOM’s flow, timing and wit are all on shining display and his attention to what’s happening within the beat is something a lot of emcees never do. RIP the Madvillian!

EXTRA CREDIT ASSIGNMENT:

MF Doom was infamous for sending imposters to play at his shows. They would don the brand related mask and lip sync to a recording. How could someone get away with this time and time again, you ask? Here’s some documentation of just how energetic an actual DOOM show could be. Armed only with a self-prepared CD-R, DOOM rocks the show with a breakneck pace. The energy transfer between performer and audience is palpable. Seems worth the gamble to have a show like that!

Tune of the Week: George Winston

George Winston is an American pianist often associated with the 80’s New Age movement. In fact his record “December” is the greatest selling title in the catalog of the New Age poster-child label Windham Hill. Here Winston interprets a Bach piece. Winston’s technique is truly a marvel. At times it sounds as if he has more than two hands on the keyboard. The recording itself is amazing, sounding as if you are within the piano. The piece captures the vastness and intricateness of the winter season: delicate falling snow and unfettered landscapes.

Thanks to any and all of you checking out the blog. See you in 2021!

Tune of the Week: Sharon Jones Christmas

If you are feeling Christmas song burnout this time of year, here’s a meta Christmas song by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings to put some funk in your holiday trunk!

Tune(s) of the Week: The Residents

The Residents are an avant garde arts group from Louisiana that specialize in conceptual musical recordings and performances. In the 1979 the group came up with the concept of making very short, jingle-like songs. They decided to strip back their compositions to about a minute apiece, following these four points:

Point one: Pop music is mostly a repetition of two types of musical and lyrical phrases, the verse and the chorus.

Point two: These elements usually repeat three times in a three minute song, the type usually found on top-40 radio.

Point three: Cut out the fat and a pop song is only one minute long. Then record albums can hold their own top-40, twenty minutes per side.

Point four: One minute is also the length of most commercials, and therefore their corresponding jingles.

Point five: Jingles are the music of America.

The result was “The Commercial Album”, a collection of 40 one minute songs. Featuring secret guest appearances by likes of David Byrne and Brian Eno, The Residents showed how that they could tackle traditional song writing as well as they could long-form conceptual pieces.

To promote the album the group paid for 40 advertisement slots on the most popular rock radio station in their native San Francisco. The station ended up playing the entire album over the course of three days. This ended up getting them additional promotion through an editorial in “Billboard” magazine in which the campaign was questioned as being art or advertising. I think it is easy to see it as both.

Here are three pieces, making up the equivalent of one pop song:

Tune of the Week: Reload

Mark Pritchard is an absolute electronic music chameleon. He has created tunes in a multitude of styles under a myriad of aliases. He has commandeered techno, house, trip hop, footwurk, electro and, as can be heard here, IDM. This song from the early 90s still shines due to its structrual and sonic accomplishments. On display are distinct movements and dynamics amongst the various layers of sounds to come in and out of the mix. A breathtaking accomplishment, regardless of vintage!

Tune of the Week: Push Button Objects

Push Button Objects was a part of a Miami based movement in electronic music at the turn of the 21st century. Suddenly, Europe was not the only hotbed of cutting edge beats and soundscapes. Drawing comparisons to RJD2 and Prefuse 73, PBO created skittering rhythms and interesting synth tones on top boom bap hiphop beats. Perhaps due to some contractual BS typical of the Chocolate Industries label, Push Button Objects ceased to release anything shortly after gaining positive momentum. Hopefully we’ll get some of these funky robotic beats sometime in the future!

Tune of the Week: Squarepusher

Squarepusher, aka Tom Jenkinson, is a bass player and electronic music producer from Chelmsford, UK. He is a beat programming virtuoso, if ever there was one. Here he creates what sounds like an alien jazz combo. He manages to make drum break editing sound like a jazz drummer taking a solo. All of this is created on a minimal home studio set-up. Incredible!

Tune of the Week: Hal Wilner

Hal Wilner was a unique record producer who specialized in tribute albums and concerts. He amassed an amazing list of musicians to perform at times irreverent renditions of tunes from songbooks from Thelonious Monk, Kurt Veil, Nino Rota and even Disney films. One of his most unique creations was “Weird Nightmare": Meditations on Mingus”, a tribute to both Charles Mingus and Harry Partch. Wilner combined compositions as well as prose Mingus had written and combined it with the instruments and tonalities of Partch to create an unsettling sonic landscape that crystallized the off-kilter mentalities of these two musical geniuses. Here is a piece featuring two of Partch’s instrument creations alongside Robbie Robertson reading a story from Mingus’ autobiography, “Beneath the Underdog”. The line about how “last year seems like ten years ago” really rings true in 2020.

Tune of the Week: Tones on Tails

Tones on Tail was a band created out of the ashes of the goth unit Bauhaus. Operating without members Peter Murphy and David J, they created music that was every bit as weird and varied as their preceding band. Perhaps less sinister, their music still had that unsettling feeling that also made you want to dance. “Lions” was the fourth of their six singles and displays an ample reggae influence. With its spare arrangement, one could argue an even more dub emphasis. Like a lot of Bauhaus songs, the lyrics are fairly opaque and not worthy of much investigation. However, the haunting and catchy quality of the tune brings to mind a similarly stripped back approach Depeche Mode utilized on their super-popular release Violator. Put on some black clothes, eye liner and skank to the rhythm!

Tune of the Week: Eric B. & Rakim

Eric B & Rakim are a Long Island, NY based hiphop duo. Forming in 1986, they considered a part of the genre’s golden age. Rakim is often referred to as the greatest MC of all time. Eric B’s beats and scratches are true to the original New York style of doubling up breaks and sample stabs. Rakim’s closing line “You thought I was a doughnut/You tried to glaze me” is still classic. Just some fun, old school vibes to try to calm the pre-election jitters. VOTE!

Tune of the Week: Bauhaus

“Paranoia, Paranoia” is as good a Halloween tune as we can think of. It was a b-side to Bauhaus’ equally unsettling single “Lagartija Nick”, an upbeat ditty about Satan. Here the band take disparate sections of what appears to be their song “Silent Hedges” and mixes it with a field recording of them messing about, perhaps before getting onstage somewhere. The disjointed nature of the mix lends itself to an uneasy listen. Perfect listening for a dark day!

Tune of the Week: The Cure

From their first single, “Killing an Arab”, The Cure always had a dark, nihilistic side to them. Four years later the sinister depressing vibes came to a head with their fourth album, “Pornography”. The tone is set immediately in this, the first song from the album. Drum machines rarely sound this menacing. Guitars wail and wobble, seemingly on the brink of losing all control. This sentiment is crystallized by the opening lyrics: “It doesn’t matter if we all die”. Perfect stuff for this time of year (in the Northern Hemisphere)!

Tune of the Week: VU

“The Gift” is a musical piece of storytelling by The Velvet Underground. It’s a Stephen King-esque tale written by Lou Reed in his college days and recited by bandmate John Cale. The driving background music adds to the macabre mood. Nice stuff for this time of the year in the northern hemisphere!

Tune of the Week: Rockit & Turntablism

Since his early 20s, Herbie Hancock had a hand in the shaping of the sound of modern jazz. By the mid 1980s his career needed a boost. He connected with genre blender extraordinaire Bill Laswell to help bring his sound into the present. Laswell took him to a HipHop party in New York City where Hancock could see firsthand how DJs would manipulate music with records and their hands, creating new works. Incorporating this new art form resulted in one of his biggest hits: “Rockit”. At the next Grammy awards ceremony Hancock performed the song, featuring Grandmaster D. ST on the turntables. The television broadcast of this performance is one of the cornerstones of genre of Turntablism. Many of the innovators of the art form to come later in the 1990s site this performance as a main motivator to get into scratching. Nearly 40 years later this stuff is reeeeally freshhh!