Modern Primitive Bedroom Music

Smegma - Beauty School (from Smell the Remains 1988)

In an effort to make sense of my love for all things bent, I can't go on without dropping a little knowledge on one of the most important bands that ever existed. Those that came to this page for booty jams might want to ignore this one, but if you like DJ Milton, Mannie Fresh, Gucci Mane, and slowed down Rap music you got to face the facts, you like weird music.

Smegma, along with the man that named this website pretty much decided my direction in life early on. Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy and the above album Smell the Remains basically destroyed music for me at age 15 and lead me on my search for the most fucked up music I could find throughout high school. It took a minute to realize that I could find much of what I was looking for in the Hip-Hop cassettes I had stolen from my art teacher prior to these discoveries, so for a good chunk of that time I was filling my head with a lot of for lack of a better word experimental and more notably improvised music, and still do today. iI might not show within the music I post about here, but I have spent a lot of time listening to mic feedback and tape loops, and I don't mean King Tubby.

Originally from Pasadena, relocated to Portland in the mid 70s, Smegma are both underground legend and another band the Wire was 30 years late to cover. Comprised of various members throughout their 36 year (!) span, the band has put out a huge discography, sometimes with gaps of over 10 years in between releases. For many, DIY means an impulse to release everything, for Smegma it means an impulse to play music with each other everyday for three decades. Contemporaries of the Butthole Surfers when they were good, and once lead by "the first rock critic"/the guy that wrote "Burnin for You" Richard Meltzer, the band members are in their 60's and still smoking tons of weed and playing shows with Portland kids 1/4th their age. They're like a Surf Rock band, if Duane Eddy had a love child with one of the Manson girls and recorded said offspring on a broken reel-to-reel. Not even Lee Perry could expell the Duppies from their tapes.

The above track is the B side 20 minute track from Smell the Remains that still sounds as fucked as it did when I first heard it.


Oh yeah did I mention one of the members plays the dental tape with almost an alto saxophone range of notes?

Throwback Detroit

Jeff Mills - The Wizard Radio DRQ Detroit Mix 1980

Pretty sick oldie but goodie mix from the Wizard with a lot of early Techno influences that I felt I'd throw up. Been on my computer forever.

Tivo Digging

DJ Quik puts an end to the dusty crates and a beginning to the DVDR days of sampling. Never leave your couch again.

(Starts at 2:13)

Crack Rap Game

Pill - Trap Goin Ham from Motion Family on Vimeo.

This video has been blogged the fuck out of within the last week since it came out, and rightfully so. It's one of the rawest Rap videos I've ever seen, all shot on location in an Atlanta hood probably schedualed to be bulldozed. The statement from the creators:

"We hope that this video shocks your conscience. If it does, we have succeeded in our goal. The fact that this video is nearly terrifying in its graphic nature means that it is doing exactly what it is supposed to do – terrify. These conditions that our people live in are terrifying, and we seek to expose what so many have forgotten.

We are essentially reporting live from neighborhoods and communities long forgotten, and, in Atlanta, recently torn down. It seems as though our city and our people place no importance on our community any longer. These are the places you never visit. These are the places that hip-hop claims to care about. These are the people that most of gangsta rap music fraudulently portrays. This video is one hundred percent real and unstaged.

You can try to chock this up as exploitation – it will not work. Nobody was put up to any scene in this video. As a matter of fact, everybody in the video volunteered themselves, for the sake of our mission.

The song has an upbeat and happy tone. When you’re in these situations, you do not feel as though what you are doing is wrong. When you are making money in the underground economy, it does not feel wrong. Our goal is to reflect the psychology of someone who turned to drug dealing as a means of survival, and got caught up with the addiction of making money in the underworld.

Pill still lives in this situation, and we will continue to kick, scream, and make music until we can provide a better way. Until then, we will continue to expose our truths.

Our mission is to bring REALITY back to street music. I hope this a first step towards accomplishing our goal".

Sincerely,
The Educated Villains

This is definitely a much needed manifesto for Hip-Hop in 2009. The track gives me goosebumps not unlike that of the "Never Made 20" kind.

Maurice Garland has provided a photo essay to compliment your thoughts as well.

Dios, Patria y Libertad

New Gangland episode last night, NYC and Jersey based Dominican gang Trinitarios. Lots of lime green bandannas wearing dudes welding machetes and screwdrivers. Lame of me that this is my first DR post and it has to be a violent one, promises of positive music posts very soon.

It's a pretty great episode though.

Goodbye

I think I can speak for most people born in the 80s, Michael Jackson was the first music I remember hearing. RIP buddy, and shame on all those that keep bringing up all the later drama. The man made some fucking music, and money does mean things to people.

No mp3s, putting up music by one of the best selling artists ever is not a smart way to keep a blog running. I am most fond of this album.

Recent Weird Hybrids

(Picture from Brooklyn homebody Linden's Remikks collection)

Genres are annoying. Making up genre names on the other hand, is a lot of fun. It turns out that one of the names I had made up in my head just came true, sort of. Mad Decent's Nick the V threw up a short little mix of Dubstep and Juke, appropriately titled Jukestep. While it isn't made up of hoe shout outs over rediculous amounts of bass, it's a pretty great meshing of two different worlds that together could produce some adorable babies. Some of the wubbliest Dub tracks are fuzed together by the always creepy DJ Nate's "Maybe Sum Day" stuck right in the middle. It makes sense to me because A) I couldn't footwork to save my life, and B) because I don't even understand how one is supposed to dance to Dubstep, not that I haven't tried. I usually just nod my head or something. Obviously people do it, but I'd be pretty impressed if someone tried to cut up a rug with Nick's mix, and I'd imagine it happening only if a Chicago dance crew and one weeks lineup at London's FWD club crash landed on Navy Island and had some crazy party at Errol Flynn's old estate.

In other Juke Hybrid news, Gavin over at Unfashionably Late provided a great little re-cap of the annual Chicago Puerto Rican Pride Festival up in Humboldt Park. I went too, but kind of just walked around in a daze and didn't do a good job of picking up any mixtapes and rather just scoped the park for fine PR girls. The park was so packed that I missed the Violator Juke Squad tent, but Gavin didn't and talked a little about the Ghetto House meshes with Reggaeton that are not out of the ordinary in a city filled with cars blasting both genres equally. He threw up an excellent remix of Jowel Y Randy by DJ Cholo that is a good example of both current Reggaeton trends, and these two forms meeting.

It's obvious enough that I listen to a lot of slow music, and the mixtapes of Screwed and Chopped Reggaeton and Cumbia by Houston's Choppaholix have been getting a lot of play around here. An interesting contrast to the Cumbia Rebajada from elsewhere, the batteries in their equipment are fine. Everything is slowed down in city of syrup fashion. Slow Cumbia is cool, slow Reggaeton is just kind of weird. Decide for yourself.

Tego Calderon -Punto y Aparte (screwed and chopped by Choppaholix from Choppaton)
Choppaholix - Track 17 from Choppacumbia vol 1)


Now I would like the following genres to be made or at least thought about: Crack House, Screwstep, Screwed and Chopped Merengue, Socastep, Dubtech, Mornana, Tsapika Funk, and Nyambingi Bounce.

Studio 54 Ounces

Anita Ward - Ring My Bell (from DJ Screw - On a Pint 1995)

10 minutes of chopped up and not slopped up drug Disco.

Race for the Weirdest Mixtape Art 2009 #3

Weezy is on some like, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes shit.

Fuck a Hater I Blow Acres of Jamaica in Decatur

Although I'm not really smart enough to add anything, I can't help but mimic the Gucci Mane talk. Gucciologists over at So Many Shrimp have provided some of the lyrics and great verbal delivery dissection to his recent string of adjectives that mean something is "good". These include "Gorgeous", "Wonderful", "Awesome", and I'm just waiting on "Brazen" to complete the series. Some of my favorite lines:

Lambourghini bright yella
ya know its awesome
police try to pull me over
ya know i lost em
just bought a flyin saucer*
ya never saw one
shineys on the flyin saucer
now aint it awful??
(From Awesome)

*Raps biggest fanboy keeps a Fabo poster on the wall?

red bezel on my jacob looking like a sliced tomato
fuck a hater i blow acres of jamaica in decatur
im so extraordinary while my bracelet so canary
choppers that my niggas carry probably scare the military
(From Wonderful)

Oh yeah, the Gucc is back in Antarctica.

More Accordion Music

Os Tubarões - Djonsinho Cabral (from Djonsinho Cabral 1979)

When Lldo Lobo, lead singer of Cape Verde's' most popular band died, everyone got the day off work. Os Tubarões' (the Sharks) music is sorta Morna, sorta old school Funana. This is a lot slower than what people on the islands in 2009 are doing. I'm not so big on the saxophone, but it's a nice tune overall that I figured I'd throw up due to the attention that island has been getting.

Radioclit's recent Fu Na Na mix is pretty good by the way, though absolutely not strictly Funana. Gant Man Puerto Rican Juke and stuff.

Gucci Mane, Hefner of the Trap

A lover not a hater, what a good guy. Not my favorite Gucci track but he still kind of kills it. Why is he playing a giant game of chess?! I guess if he can name drop Jeru the Damaja he's allowed to be influenced by other New Yorkers as well.

"I started playing chess early, probably at the age of 11. The girl who took my virginity taught me how to play chess, so it was a good hook up."

-The Rza in Michael Gonzales' interview in Stop Smiling issue 28

Damn, too many videos lately, sorry I've been lazy. Got some treats in the works.

Oh yeah I am now on Twitter for whatever reason.

DJ Michel

Some definite bentness to this

Ghettostalgia

"THE FIRST IN A SERIES CELEBRATING AND HONORING THE HOTTEST STYLE OF MUSIC THIS CITY HAS EVER HEARD!SAD TO SAY THE MOST HATED ON STYLE IN OUR OWN CITY....GHETTOHOUSE! TO THE PROMOTERS OF CHICAGO I PERSONALLY SAY FUCK YOU!SUCK MY DICK AN D ALL THAT!ALL YOU PHONY BITCHES WHO USED GHETTO AS A STEPPIN STONE TO GET IN THE GAME AND THEN TURN AROUND AND DIS IT YOURE A BITCH!

ONE THURSDAY EVERY MONTH I PRESENT TO YOU A COLLECTIVE OF THE HOTTEST DJS AND PRODUCERS TO EVER TO GRACE THE INFAMOUS DANCEMANIA RECORDS LABEL,TOGETHER ON THIS NITE,THEY ARE TRENDSETTERS AND PIONEERS,TO SAY THE LEAST.THE PARTIES UP NORTH ARE PRETTY MUCH ALL THE SAME,FUNNY ACTIN INDIVIDUALS IN A CLICK OF SORTS,WHO DONT FUCK WIT US,DONT BE SCARED BITCHES CUZ WE CLIKIN UP TOO! ITS A DANCE MANIA REUNION !DJ DEEON! DJFUNK! JAMMIN GERALD! DJSLUGO! GANTMAN WILSON! DJ LILTAL!WAXMASTER! DJ AMAR ROBERT ARMANI! JUST TO NAME A FEW WITH A SPECIAL BDAY TRIBUTE TO GANT MANT! AND SPECIAL DJ MILTON TRUBUTE COMIN IN AUGUST ! SO LETS GET IT!"

-DJ Deeon

I'm hitting this up every time. Time to party like its 1994 and everybody still put out vinyl!

"D.C. Stands for DON'T COME"

"I hate that Go-Go shit"
-Stringer Bell

Backyard Band - Keep it Thoro (from 501 Club Bootleg with Juvenile 1999)

While I have titled this (my version is untagged) after Prodigy's track of the same name, it's more like 5 different songs. The piano loop and trumpet hook from Keep it Thoro vibrate throughout the entire 15 minutes, during which the members cover some pretty Wu-Tang-like area as well as Mos Def and Pharaoh Monch's Oh No. The rapping from all members is brazen, just read the title of this post. No Juve on this one, but on the same bootleg they bring him out for another great version of Project Bitch. I'm gonna go ahead and name this my 3rd favorite BYB recording.

Did anyone know Datpiff has Go Go on it?!

Rose City Rudeboy

Cory O - Dubstep Mix 2009

Wandering through Jamaica above is Portland's own Cory O, longtime friend and king of the Crown Room in the cities mini Chinatown. You can catch the man spinning records pretty much every week if your in the Rose City, doing the House thing, the Rap thing, and in this case the Dubstep thing. He tried to teach me how to DJ once but I don't really get beat matching. We also got in this huge fight outside of the ridiculously stupid club the Tube one time, after some dude called me a douchebag for riding around in a shopping cart I found(?). Portland has a lot of shit going on, sometimes this involves breaking someone wearing a Keffiyah in the face (damn that sounds bad out of context!). Back to the mix; it's definitely devoid of any of the recent UK Funky/2 Step thing, definitely for the hard dudes who like BASS and smoke tons of weed. So like, Portlanders. This kid is moving on up, opening up for A-Trak in July! Go see him play, atleast show up and play a game of pool and bob your head.

No it Doesn't

Harari - Party (LeBaron Edit) (from the internet orig 1980)

There is this dumpster by my house that reads "Disco Sucks" next to "Joan Jett and the Blackhearts" both written with a paint pen. Fuck that noise, along all those record burning White Sox fans in July of 1979. I live on the Southside so I of course have no problem with the baseball team, but I think Harari would agree with me that partying to Disco>hating Disco. This group was from Johannesburg, and LeBaron I believe is the dude behind the great Beat Electric, the site I stole this great track from.

Maybe someday I'll actually put more effort to have more of a focus on this blog, but this summer has been full of Bounce, Go Go, Reggada and Disco so far, in no particular order.

Weird Dudes Jamming Triggermans

Untitled Mannie Fresh Beat #1 (from Baby - I Need a Bag of Dope EP 1993)
Untitled Mannie Fresh Beat #2 (from Baby - I Need a Bag of Dope EP 1993)

Two super weird Mannie in the studio alone after hours joints I pulled from the great Nola Bounce blog. These remind me a good deal of the B.G and 12 year old Lil Wayne track I posted a while back, produced by the same 808 nerd. Really out there samples tied together in a messy Triggerman collage. Also, a little Sissy love at the end of #2, "All the guys grab a girl and all the girls grab a guy and all the gays grab a gay". Definitely gets me thinking about Mannie explaining how early New Orleans parties consisted of the DJ rocking only an 808 and a Moog.

Make it Rain Dirhams

Suttle Thoughts - Arab Money (from Unknown 2009 Bootleg)
Backyard Band - Arab Money ( from Live at the Icon 2-11-2009 Bootleg)

Two Go Go covers of Busta's single that runs parallel with all the North African Auto-Tuned business. Something like this never really crossed my mind, but Anwan's troupe and new found (for me) Suttle Thoughts get it done in true Washington fashion. The emulation is really weird on both sides, both with samples and synths.

Now where is a conga funk Cumbia version of Rich Boy's Get to Poppin'?!

New Blood in Ether Rag Juke

DJ Clent's little boy showing proof that the MPC makes a great children's toy.

Baptised in Bape

Salem Mix for 20 Jazz Funk Greats 2009

A crunk industrial soundtrack for a basketball court footwork show-and-tell way past bedtime. DJ Nate in a sandwich between Salem's own white bread Juke side project Young Cream and other goth kids jamming synths alone. Wiggers with warpaint on listening to the Satanic Rituals book on tape in a fucked up Camry. Probably.

Tracklist:
1-PEARL - Pearl’s Dream
2-NEOPHYTE - I will have that power
3-DJ NATE - I’m a Burn
4-DJ NATE - Ghostmix
5-YOUNG CREAM - Angie Juke
6-AiDS 3D - Back Once Again (Forever)
7-THA POPE - Track 41
8-UNKNOWN - Track 20 Chicago Juke
9-NEOPHYTE - Catastrophe
10-THREAT MISSES - Juke that Girl *

*Pretty amazing

Some Reggada on Youtube

Pretty solid modern Reggada video from Cheb Kader that unfortunately cuts off at the end. No Auto Tune but some crazy synth are thrown down.

And this one is just out there. The video itself will give you a seizure, the music is bent. I think I hear some reggaeton.

Would love to be pointed in the direction to more of this stuff, will trade for Ghetto House.

Arctic Goofiness

Weddell Seal Yawning

Sorry to stray from all the serious content this site covers, but this is the funniest noise I have ever heard.

From the Australian Antarctic Division.

From Pot to Pots, and Back to Blunts

The Mighty Diamonds - Pass the Kouchie (from Pass the Kouchie 1982)

On paper, Musical Youth's infamous cover of the Mighty Diamonds' pipe passing song was actually about passing a dutch oven, a common cooking pot used by poor Jamaicans. Realistically dutchie, the word the 10 year olds swapped from the original can easily refer to weed filled cigars, namely those of the Dutch Masters brand. Pre-teens making stoner songs isn't so PC, even in Jamaica.

This isn't the cover to match the track, I threw it up due to its brazenness.

Also, expect tons of random reggae this summer.

Nguzuduro

Buraka Som Sistema - IC19 (Nguzunguzu Remix) 2009

Not 8-bit, but a super weird Nintendo in the bathtub remix of everyone's favorite Portuguese from my favorite Los Angelese. Their production has that vocal murmuring thing that makes me think their MPCs double as Ghostbuster traps. Hamsterdance-Ghetto House riddim.

Thanks to Mad Decent for the freebie, the EP with other remixes of the same Sistema track is out now on itunes.

Ghost Town USA's Finest

Freddie Gibbs - GI Pride (from The Miseducation of Freddie Gibbs 2009)

Good to have something else to look to when thinking about Gary, Indiana. This image of the 30 year old Jackson Five ad was getting old, and basically became a postcard for the poor city after 1000 people took the same picture. Don't be fooled though, this Freddie Gibbs mixtape is an equally depressing story of the Midwest ghost town. However, there are some good raps and even a guest appearance from Devin the Dude! I think his homie/Gary expat Finger Roll might be someone to look forward to in the future.

Download the whole thing over at The Smoking Section.

The Accordian Diaspora

Some folks out there have brought Funana, the accordion driven Soca-like sound of Cape Verde to my attention lately. Schlachthofbronx dig it, and the Ghetto Bassquake dudes were kind enough to throw up a short but great mix by DJ Velo the other day. Been looking at all the music videos on youtube, this one by Duda is pretty hot. Hopefully more of this stuff can be made available abroad.

Before They Were Trapstars Part 3

Tung Twista (Twista) - No Peace Sign (from Runnin' Off at da Mouth 1991)

I remember the first time I heard "Adrenaline Rush" back in probably 7th grade. I was visiting my cousins in Milwaukee, the same cousins who got me into things like Nirvana when I was a wee 7 years old. Car rides usually consisted of all of us with headphones on, and this particular car ride I think I forgot mine at home. I heard that bizarre flat line bass blaring from one pair of headphones with this dude rapping way faster than any coastal Hip-Hop I had been exposed to while in middle school. They had a CD burner before I did too, and when we got home I stole all the Twista and Do or Die they had on their computer. "Adrenaline Rush" is still one of the scariest Rap songs I know, and remains the Chicago west side Traxster anthem to me some 12 years later.

Tung Twista dropped the Tung after this first album from 91 and before Kayne came around was pretty far and above the biggest rapper from Chicago. Even so, dudes got a world record under his belt if that means anything. Twista comes from the same side of town as Do or Die, Crucial Conflict, and the Legendary Traxter, the group of artists responsible for the grimey west side sound. This neighborhood, know as North Lawndale or "K-Town" was also home to the founding of the imfamous Vice Lords gang. Most of the north-south streets (Karlov Ave., Kedvale Ave., Keeler Ave., Kenneth Ave., Keystone Ave., Kilbourn Ave., Kildare Ave., Knox Ave., Kolin Ave., Kolmar Ave., Komensky Ave. Kostner Ave., Kilpatrick Ave.) start with the letter "K", part of an early failed city plan to organize the streets by their distance in miles from the Illinois-Indiana border (K being the 11th letter). A grimey neighborhood that birthed the heart stopping bass in opposition to the No I.D. and Kayne side of Chicago Hip-Hop.

Here is Twista at age 18 speaking on "fake blackness", riding his Guiness Book of World Records speed that in later years proved to be more than just a novelty.

Radiated Mushrooms

My favorite so far from the much anticipated Blaqkout. Socal slap gone totally wrong, broken Rap that is precisely the kind of music this website is all about.

Duppies 101

So I think it's about time for me to elaborate on the mysterious Duppy, something I've been rambling about on this here blog. This is only the start of your education, a continuing guide to Duppy awareness so you too can warn off the restless spirits, or if needed hone them to do your own evil bidding.

Dennis Alcapone - Duppy Serenade 1971

"According to Lee "Scratch" Perry, Bob Marley wrote the song "My Cup," Marley was complaining to Lee that he was too "successful" and was being plagued by hangers-on and leeches, referring to them as duppies in the context of 'human vampires' (as in scroungers). Lee apparently consoled him by saying, "Look, we'll sort this out- we are duppy conquerors."
-from the Wikipedia entry for Duppy

From drinking the alcohol used to clean the tape machines, to both burning down and flooding the remains of the studio, tales of a young Lee Perry at the Black Art are always full of strange bouts of eclecticism. Not so out of the ordinary were the times when Perry would blow weed smoke on the reels to expel the demons from the recordings. Duppies are of great importance to Jamaican folklore, the original source steaming from the West African Bantu language. Duppies are thought to the the restless spirits of the dead, who remain unhappy and unnamed in the afterlife. These aren't the ghosts of relatives coming back to visit their living loved ones, just restless spirits capable of doing harm. An Obeah man or woman may summon a Duppy with bribes of food or drink, specifically rum, and some claim methods of expelling these spirits from peoples lives.



Ernie Smith - Duppy or Gunman 1974

Joseph (pictured above), an Obeah man of Manchester is one of those that claim to possess powers strong enough to expel a Duppy. "Well you know I will take out duppy and demon out anybody because I am also an exorcist. Well, one day dem tell me that a duppy was in a young boy up the road so I take up my crystal ball and go up there. Well, when I reach I see about 70 people gather around and tell them to move. I look at the boy with the demon and realise that is the duppy of a Indian stillborn baby was in him. Anyway, I chant it out of him and when the people who gather around see what I do dem nearly faint! Dem know dat anybody who conquer a coolie duppy must powerful!"



Yellowman - Duppy or a Gunman 1982

There are several kinds of Duppies, including the Ol' Higue (a witch of sorts) and the Rollin Calf, a demon in animal form...


Me deh pon has’e me kean tap now,

For Tahta John a-dead,

De oda nite one rolllin’-calf

Lick him eena him head.


It is a long story me chile,

Me really kean tap now.

Yuh musa hear sey Tahta los’

Him black an wite bull cow?


T’ree nite an day him sarch fe it,

Couldn’ fine it noan tall,

Soh tell nite-afore-las’ him sey

Him hear one cow a-bawl.


Him meck fe Figgins’ open-lan;

Doah him an dem noh gree,

An see de bull dah-lie dung under-

Neat’ one gwangu tree.


Him teck a rope an tie de bull,

An dem him bruck a stick

An him layba de po’ cow back, me


Tan a-yard an hear de lick.

Him start fe lead i home, but wen

Him tun roun fe goh call,

Him see de sinting two y’eye dem

A roll like tunda-ball


Him goh fe halla, but same time

Him feel a funny pain,

An wen him look eena him han,

De rope tun eena chain


Massa, him fling i wey an run,

Him hear de sinting laugh,

It wasn’ fe him cow at all,

It was a rollin’ calf!

Him jump Bra Caleb wire fence,

Him faint as him ketch home,

An since him come back to himself

Him dis a-twis an foam.


Mek kean tap, is a obeah man

Dem sen’ me fe goh ketch,

Me feel me y’eye a-jump him mighta

Dead long before me ketch.

-Louise Bennett "Rollin Calf"



Demarco - Duppy Know Who Fi Frighten 2008

There are warning signs to be aware of the presence of a Duppy. If your dog howls at night for no apparent reason, a spirit could be lurking. Getting a spiderweb across the face while walking though a forest is a general sign of Duppies, so be careful wandering around at night. Nailing a horseshoe to ones house is one way to warn them off, as is cursing "Jesus Christ!" when these signs occur.

Do not go wandering around the graveyard with a bottle of Captain Morgans looking for Duppies, leave that up to the professionals. It is very easy to be injured by a Duppy.


Go here for more info on Duppies and Jamaican folklore

Big as a Green Bay Packer

Killer Mike - Man Up (from Greg Street Presents Grand Hustle 2009)

More grown man raps from the westside favorite. Mike pulls his pants all the way up, but his jeans are not skinny.

Pussy Weed and Adderall

I've shown love to the mysterious footworkin' beast DJ Nate, but I've left out his partner in crime. DJ Elmoe is a bit more Juke in a K-Hole, less flaming crosses than Nate, but ether way your still gonna have a bad fucking time. This video has some pretty great moves from Elmoe and friends, but they cut out the part when mom came home and said "THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS". There will be more talk on the Footworking crowd to follow, that is if I can ever find these cats.

Titi

Titi - Music (from Facon 2008)

Matt over at Benn Loxo du Taccu started blogging again, which means good things will come to us all. The first good thing is the chunk of amazing Senegalese music he threw up, including Dakaroise superstar Titi. What a strange, disorienting rhythm going on here. Why do I think of Juke and its wiggiling pitch when I listen to this? Hard for me to talk about this one, so better to read the source than what I have to say about it.

The Rap Game's Trader of Exotic Goods

Gucci Mane, Busta Rhymes, and Shawty Lo - Hood Up (from ? 2009)

...Gucci Mane cool but his jewelry game arrogant

black stones African
red stones Indian
my pinky rings Jewish and it cost a lot of Benjamins

Probably my new favorite Guccetry as of late. I first though he said his "jewelry isn't Aryan" which might be better. The beat for this one reminds me of the Jeezy track I put up the other day, on some grave robbing in the hood thermin creep. Nevermind Busta though.

And man this picture weirds me out.

Where All Good People Go to Pray

The Orioles - Crying in the Chapel (from From Where I Stand recorded 1953)

Some dudes from Baltimore who are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in a silo singing a country gospel song. Really, I'm pretty sure they just brought a shitty guitar and some mics into a church and used some bells they found. About 90% just vocals with the reverb turned up to 11. Sometimes I think I hear a frog in the background, it's great.

This is probably one of my favorite songs ever.

Grape Tapes

Big Moe, Bird, Demo, Key-C, Yungstar, Pokey, Haircut Joe, and K-Luv - Da Streets Ain't Right Freestyle (from DJ Screw - June 27th 1996)

The infamous 37 minute screw track that made the world turn slow to go along with one of the best Rap ads I've ever seen. Many thank yous go out to Kid Slizzard over at the great Twankle and Glisten for these scans for those of us who are too cheap to risk the janky subscription to Murder Dog.

Contemporary Masters of Mixtape Art

Young Jeezy - Trap Flies (from Trappin' Ain't Dead 2009)

OK, so Gucci the Glacier has a rather grim contender for best mixtape cover of 2009. There is definitely some scary shit going on on this track, like Jeezy seeing ghosts in the pyrex smoke. Re-up on the 1st and again on 15th, and again on the 31st when it's October.

The Pack Samples Frank Ski

Sorta late to the table on this one but still kind of exciting that the Hyphy crowd has a retro Ghetto House appreciation

Life, Love, and the Pursuit

Parliament - My Automobile (from Osmium 1970)

The Cadillac car company gets it's name from Le Sieur Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, the French explorer responsible for giving Motor City it's name of Detroit. The Rolex is the Cadillac of wristwatches. This Parliament song is the Cadillac of Country Western Funk tunes.

What Do You Consider Screw?

Tom Tom Club - Genius of Love Screwed and Chopped (from DJ Screw - Dead End Representative 1998)

Of course I love my slowed down music, and I've explained before I'm interested in all aspects of pitch retardation. Cumbia Rebajada is the recent favorite, but I stay banging my screw on a pretty regular basis. I love Ron C's Fuck Action series like any other romantic, but not many of the post-Robert Davis DJs really do it for me. You could think of DJ Screw as the Lee Perry of Southern Hip Hop, and the mud of those old Screw tapes is an essential element not unlike the dirt on the reel to reels from the old Black Ark Studio. Those recordings of the Upsetters might have sounded better if Perry wasn't busy drinking the cleaning alcohol, but luckily atleast half his time was spent expelling duppies from them. I'm no lo-fi purist and I don't even own that many cassettes, but I'm a sucker for the sizzurp-caked goodness. When I find some weird not-so-Houston joint Screwed and Chopped, it's usually just some kind of Youtube Novelty (not to talk down on the Screwed Up Oldies mixtape, among others). When I find something as eyecatching as this Talking Heads spin-off classic on an actual Screw tape, I'm reminded of how much DJ Screw actually enjoyed music. He gives such a fucked up life to the non-rap tracks thoughout his discography, from the Reggae joints to the R&B so slow rendered nearly impossible to fuck to. Tom Tom Club's flirtations with Hip-Hop make it's context in this case very believeable, and proof of the south's alliance to the same roots of its northern neighbors.

Screwed Odditties mix vol 2 is on it's way, gimme about a week.

Gun Shot Music Part 1

Dan Bau Vietnam - Rider in the Sky (From Hó! - Roady Music from Vietnam 1998)

We all like gun shots, and my recent reach for this great collection of Hanoi street cowboys reminded me of that. These ones out-ghetto the stock rap glock noises and sound like firecrackers hitting sheet metal. For fans of easterners playing it like westerners a la Sublime Frequencies releases. We over here at It's After the End of the World don't support violence, but we do support the subtleties of Music Concret planting its seeds in pop music.

Oh My!

Combo Sampuesano - La Soberana (from VA - Cumbias Para Bailar ?)

In my new neighborhood of West Pilsen/Almost Little Village/mini Little Italy/Whatthefucksville, they play Cumbia inside the Dunkin Doughnuts all day everyday. It's open 24 hours too. It's always Mexican Sonidero stuff, though I have heard lots of Damas Gratis blasting out of cars. No complaints here. Don't even wear headphones when I'm walking anymore. I pulled this track from a big messy folder of mp3s and was reminded of the lack of Colombian stuff in the soundtrack to my daily wanderings. Mas acordeóns, menos teclados.

Can't claim to know much about this one, but I've seen Combo Sampuesano come up in some mixes by Rupture and Sonido Martines. The Disco Fuentes site turned up this awesome cover too, though I'm not sure it has anything to do with this band. It works I guess, the girl on the cover is rocking a Pollera dress at least. There is some weird little murmering going on in the background that seeps through the accordion takeover. Did the German ships filled with these funny looking boxes crash on the Colombian coast because of Duppies?! I'm looking into it right away.

Yellowmans

Major Lazer - Hold the Line (From Hold the Line 12" 2009)

Just a few quick words on the song that you have already heard and probably blogged about...

Been thinking and listening to Diplo and Switch's Jamaican project for a few weeks now and so far I'm pretty impressed, at least with this track. Everything else I've heard including the remixes have been dodgy, but they don't keep me from returning to the original. Hold the Line touches so much territory, and the other versions take that essential factor away (the Soca one is good though). It's a surf rock band lead by La Monte Young and some asshole in the audience forgot to turn off his cell phone. Forget the wubbly bass of dubstep for some Nokia vibrations, hey I think I just heard a horse say Nehhh. Oh hey Santigold, you can actually rap? Cool, I didn't forget about you, just forgot about your album. I saw Diplo, Mad Decent main man and label drunkard in Portland about 6 years ago when the Hollertronix mix came out, so I'd be wrong to claim his influence hasn't impacted me. I'd be so happy if dude spent more time doing this, less time listening to stupid bands (really dude?). Seriously, if I hear another Devandra Banhart or Animal Collective Cumbia remix I'm going to stop listening to music. That is really NOT COOL. I'm looking for weird Cumbia, not "New Weird Cumbia". Anyways, I'm excited to hear the rest of the Major Lazer album that I hope turns out like this heater, and not all silly like Zumbi (though "I'd rather eat your brains than your pussy" was pretty funny).

I'm on a Megabus heading from Milwaukee to Chicago right now, these things have wireless!

Someone is Friendless

New York Community Choir - I'll Keep a Light in My Window (from Soul Gospel vol 2 rec 1978)

A gospel group from Harlem probably not down with doing blow off silver spoons and riding white horses through Studio 54, but their music back in the 70s definitely had some cocaine sheen to it. I mean I'm not wanting to break out the dollar bill in the pews but damn, talk about Sunday morning fever. This is the Soul Glo of Christ, shed for you.

City of Chocolate

Backyard Band - Lemme See It (from 2-11-02 Bootleg 2002)

Funky-ass UGK Go Go cover. I told you I wasn't done talking about my favorite Washington D.C. band. This one is actually recorded pretty well too, which isn't usually stressed much with the ghetto jam band bootlegs. It's also really not something that I imagine translates well to record (though Creeping Through Da Hoodz sounds pretty correct). Still, I try to pretend like I love Go Go.

Check out Download Go Go for a bunch of 99 cent mp3s and whole albums for sale. So far I have only grabbed After Hours Band's cover of Thriller, which had all these zombies knocking on my door asking directions to Ben's Chili Bowl. It was crazy.

Carolyn Dezurik Interview

The Dezurik Sisters - The Arizona Yodeler (from The Cackle Sisters compilation 2002)

I wish.

I had been trying to get a hold of one of the remaining Cackle Sisters to try and get a few words for interview number 2 but I was unfortunately informed of her recent passing yesterday. Carolyn had lived with her husband Rusty in the Chicago suburbs since I'm guessing the 1960s and passed away this March at the age of 90. For those of you who don't know the music of the Dezurik sisters, they were yodelers who preformed on Chicago's National Barn Dance as well as the Grand Ole Opry and lots of TV shows. Their favorite music was the sounds of animals, which they would imitate (especially chickens) in their songs. Together they recorded some of my very favorite music, and probably some of the weirdest. I only wish I could have reached out sooner for meeting Carolyn would have been an honor. RIP, you surely will be missed.

Just discovered this motherload of radio show recordings thanks to WFMU that I was not aware of too, the more Cackle the better!

If you haven't don't forget to check out the DJ Slugo interview from a few weeks ago too!

Living the Life that We Sing in Our Song

Unesco Baka Pygmies Recordings 1990

The music of the Baka Pygmies is almost exclusively footed in vocal polyphonics with a technique called Jodel, strangely enough quite similar to European yodeling. The sounds themselves don't come out like Germans at all, but the overall method is very parrallel. The sounds are rapidly shot from the chest to the head based on sylables and sounds without meaning. Much of the use of instruments is due to influence and exchanges the Baka people had with the Bantu, a neighboring tribe in Cameroon. These recordings are from the French label Unesco, which I'm having trouble finding much information on. The music is absolutely gorgeous, Hut Song being one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard. Lots of children on here, which is a plus (no chimo). This is some powerful shit.

Pygmies really isn't so PC anymore so blame the French for my use of the word.

More info on the Bakas here.

Drug Abuse Loot

E 40 - On Oil Turned Up 2009

Droop E brings everyone up to speed with another rap meets rave on planet Pluto spaceship slap beat. Father E 40 seems busy ("Man I ain't had time to eat a sunflower seed") but came through with some pretty seasoned raps too. He also name drops my hometown Portland at the end, I guess Cool Nutz is in the new issue of the Source afterall. That subtle electric cello sounding thing is all out of tune and off key like it's from Droop's middle school band days prior to taking up the MPC and collecting Star Trek toys. Left field Hyphy at it's finest.

Thanks to the great Nation of Thizzlam for putting me up on this one. That is totally one of the best blog names in existence.

I Fear no Pestilence

Buju Banton - Murderer (from Wake Up Show Freestyles vol 1 2001)

Man, before the other day I hadn't heard this great Buju joint since like 8th grade. It wasn't till a few years later that I really got into Jamaican music but I heard this track in some skate video back then and loved it. I never actually had it in any form except on that VHS tape, and was reminded of it now almost 9 years later by a great mix by El Canyonazo of Gnawledge fame in which he dropped this sucker. Thanks a lot, I just finished college today and needed some middle school nostalgia or something. Really though, this version of the Banton classic is great and the lyrics are a favorite. The duppies have really been leaving me alone lately, that's good I think.

Damn look at Buju's shady ass in the Ferrari!

"Your Grandparents Suck"

DJ Assault - I Say Uuuah (from Everybody Fuck 12" 2003)

Craig Diamonds at his finest in my opinion. Probably my favorite use of a sample in the ghetto club world, though I might go with something from Chicago depending on the day of the week. This one came on out Assault's own Jefferson Ave records. The flash videos on the website have to be seen, especially the one for Yo Relatives.

I'm long overdue for a trip up to Detroit, but nobody in Chicago ever wants to go there with me.

Tink Tinks

Bowly - Mamiña 2009

Great little Funky House banger by Montreal's Bowly, complete with Chilean Carnivel band. I'm really into the hi-ends on this one, and that metallic Soca jingle had been ringing in my head all day. This kind of dying marching band sample makes me think of Big Tuck's Playing No Games and the batteries low trumpet sound. Much love to the man behind this track for sending me this my way. Canada, I always got your back.

Follow suit and send tracks my way people!

Wu-Note

Old Dirty Bastard - Return to the 36 Chambers Instrumentals 1995

Other People have already thrown these up but fuck it, I love them. A lot more productive than me in 7th grade with a stolen copy of Photoshop changing logos to make my friends giggle. More Wu-Tang meets Blue Note covers over at creator Logan Walters' own site. In celebration of these wonderful things I am throwing up all the instrumentals from my favorite clan record that I recently found a zip file of. The instrumental to Snakes is in there, a song so dear to my heart and the first track I ever threw up on this page. Already been working on a remix, if only more Freeloadin' Rusty a capellas existed.

Before They Were Trapstars Part 2

Lil Flip ft C Note - Diamonds in Yo Face (from DJ Screw - Southside Most Wanted 1999)

18 year old Flip pre-debut in his first Screw tape appearance that I know of. Possibly his first single? Your boy was eating Lucky Charms rather than wearing them back then. I recently watched Leprechaun 6: Back 2 the Hood so I found it totally appropriate to throw this up. It's FILLED WITH CLOVERS NINJA.

Amazigh Grace

Lounes Matoub - Tavrats I L'hekam (from Lettre Ouverte Aux... 1998)

Jace reminded me again of how important this man was to the Berber world and free speech within music. Not afraid to speak his mind unlike most in North Africa, Lounes sang of secularism in his music and cut his Arabic classes in school as protest. A brazenly irreligious, pro-Berber rights activist was about as unpopular as you could get during the civil war of 91-02, and as a result Matoub was assassinated in 1998, just a few days before this CD was released. This was a decade after he had been shot five times during a riot by a police man, resulting in him being hospitalized for two years. Both sides of the struggle blame someone different for his death, but he remains a hero to the Kabyle with the music he left behind. This is the longer 20 minute track on the album, a sort of collage of instrumentation and speeches that I wish I could understand.

RIP 1956-1998


P.S., hard to fuck with that cover.


P.P.S., I finally realized my lack of Northern African posts and will remedy that with some Rai soon I promise.

Killing Yourself to Cumbia

There is room for everyone in the Cumbia game, including metalheads and lesbians.

One, Two, Cumbitwee

Los Wendys - Amor Internacional (from Cumbia Vaquera 2009?)

An adorable bit of Distrito Federal pop that dude over at King of the Surf was kind enough to put up amoung tons of other super Cumbia futurista bands. What a silly cover. The girlies with love this stuff more than they will you. Nintey-five percent of the time I'm way more into the gutter stuff, but this is just too damn cute. Hard dudes beware, this shit is twee as fuck!

Robbin Hood, Robbin in Another Hood

Gucci Mane ft Project Pat - Time to Eat (from Gucci the Glacier 2009)

Finishing up my last week of my useless BFA degree and I have to see this. What have I been doing with my time at school? This definitely raised the bar as far as mixtape cover art goes. Watch out Antarctica, Wilt Chamberlain is about to stash white girl in some igloo traphouses.

Man those polar bears RULE.

Thanks to somanyshrimp, your everyday source for Gucci Mane for pointing this out.

Commie Trot and How I Got Blacklisted While on My Way to School

Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble - Reunification Rainbow (from No Motherland Without You 1993)

Ever wonder what the hell everyone walking by you with ipods lodged in their ears is listening to? Sometimes if I'm in the Chicago loop where every other person is paying no attention to anything other than the song on their playlist, I try and guess just what might be playing in those tiny white headphones. Is the suit jamming some Animal Collective? Why the hell is this woman jogging downtown, and is she getting her sweat on to some Ayler? My guess is boy with girl pants is onto something I've never heard of. Anyways, today I got a bit paranoid that others were playing the same game as me while I was blasting this new found bit of Communist Pop from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Really, a strange kid walking around digging some North Korean's praise their Eternal President of the Republic seems almost flag worthy. Maybe even more so that the next song on the CD was Gucci Mane, followed by the Knight Rider theme. The Pochonbo Ensemble is one of the few state-sactioned musical groups in the north side, and one of the most popular. This is only due to the fact that un-sactioned MUSIC IS ILLEGAL. Somehow, these guys even toured Japan a few years back, which is about as ridiculous as a Dancehall festival in Boystown. Definitely Got to hand it to them for one of the best track titles I've ever heard. I really don't mean to shed light on one of the most terrible situations on the planet, but it really did kind of make me paranoid when I thought the fed on the sidewalk could hear what I was enjoying today. One of the scariest pieces of music I've ever heard.

Also, the above is a picture of an Arirang performance, the celebration of Kim Il Sung's birthday which must be seen. Not really so down with the tone of Vice Magazine, but still, watch it.

Also also, Eric Lafforgue's photos of the DPRK have to be seen. Thanks to fellow photography buff Antoine for these!