I’d say that half of the music I like is pure, decadent electro that doesn’t really require much thought. The other half is music that tells a story, and that’s why I like this track from Oddioblender. Give it a listen and let the story play out.
Oddioblender - Psychics Don’t Need Hooks
After listening to it, I totally started remember Psycho Mantis from Metal Gear Solid. Remember how he read your memory card, and the only way to beat him was to unplug your controller, and plug it into the other port? Truly a memorable moment, and definitely some fourth-wall breaking shiznit right there.
You know who else doesn’t need a hook? Jay-z, that’s who.
This song is from the Junior Boys’ newest release, Begone Dull Care, which is in my opinion the best thing they’ve done so far (which is saying a lot, because it’s all been great). It’s a very smooth and low-key electro track with a powerful groove. It’s obvious that these guys are terrific producers.
DJs have gotta play Jay-Z, right? Well, this one combines a great Ratatat backing track with Jay-Z’s signature flow. The line between rap and rock is nowhere to be found here.
I came across Dragonette in a UK magazine “Watch Out For…” section, and I was super-happy when I listened to them. It makes me think that there’s hope for pop R&B. Their allmusic page calls them “new wave revivalists” and “bouncy electro-pop”, but that doesn’t give them nearly enough credit. Oh, and I just discovered (after about a year) that they’re Canadian.
This song is a few years old, but I can’t help playing it regularly. It’s got a great rhythm, it’s upbeat, and it fits with a lot of musical styles—it’s a great bridge track. Bonus: I just discovered that the chorus melody is stolen from here.
Well, soul music hardly gets better than this 1967 track, especially from Motown. Can you believe that it wasn’t released as a single for two years after it appeared on an album? That album must have been pretty darn good to have the label not consider “Tears of a Clown” as a single. No surprise it’s so great: the music was written by Stevie Wonder (with Hank Cosby).
Speaking of Stevie Wonder, this is an obvious choice. My friend Derek once told me a story about DJing a party where a lady came up to him when he was playing Stevie and asked, “Can you play something we can dance to?” That person was wrong.
ELO never really tried to hide their pop, did they? And we should be happy about that, because they created some terrific disco-pop songs like this one. Of course, these songs mostly sounded pretty similar to one another, but I think they’re still well above the “throw-away” threshold.
Eventually, I’ll put together a proper DJ mix for 199x, but until I’ve got the time and the gear, this will have to do.
Read Gorley’s post about laptop DJing on BlogCampaigning, then hit him up on Twitter. He’s AGorley there.
There has been a lot of talk lately about the connections the Jigga might have to secret societies like the Masons.
It makes me wonder what these theorists would make to Jay-Z’s connections to German electro-pioneers and avid cyclists Kraftwerk. In the track “Sunshine,” it definitely sounds like he samples the Kraftwerk track “Man Machine” from their album of the same name.
I remember first realizing where Jay-Z got that sample from and being blown away. Probably more blown away than was warranted. Someone needs to do a mashup of these two songs.
And remember: its not a crazy conspiracy theory if it actually turns out to be true.
I added that picture of BJ Penn turning Joe Stevenson into a murder scene because The Persian Prince sent me a couple of tracks and wrote me an email about MMA last week:
“Remember when we used to spend an inordinate amount of time watching big knockouts? Perhaps the most satisfying of which was watching over-rated Kimbo Slice getting his ass handed to him in 14 seconds from a washed up ex-UFC fighter. Not sure whether he loves big knockouts as much as us, but Praverb references the aforementioned KO in this new track, “Blessed with the Gift”, produced by Teddy Roxpin.
I don’t much care for Kanye the rapper (let alone Kanye the robo-voice singer)….but Kanye the producer? Pretty much never misses. Case in point: the new Jay-Z track with the fantastic Santogold sample.”
Praverb - Blessed with the Gift
Jay-Z - Brooklyn Go Hard
I love Penn because he’s from HI, and I’m stoked to see him and GSP go at it in January.
