Filed under: Lists
Okay, so no ‘proper’ content as of yet, but eff it, it’s Christmas. Once I’ve digested my turkey and got over the hangover you’ll get something a little more from my itchy fingers.
Until then go and check out the top 50 albums of the year over at Passion of the Weiss. Once again Mr Weiss has been generous enough to open up the doors for Team Passion to drop the knowledge and although I may be a little biased (yours truly contributed a few blurbs) for my money it’s a fine overview of the year’s musical offerings. The linked post will be gradually updated to contain the whole 50, so check back in over the next few days for the complete picture.
Eat, drink and be merry people. Opportunities for this level of self-indulgence are reserved solely for this time of year, so don’t waste it: I know I won’t be. Enjoy the festive frivolities and I’ll catch ya in a few days with some – gasp – fresh content. Merry Christmas!
Filed under: Lists
After much anticipation I’m now back in the driving seat of my digital game. It’s a relief. However, the timing’s off in terms of posting as obviously we’re about to hit Christmas, so I wouldn’t hold your breath for content over the next few days: you should be drinking heavily and rampantly consuming anyway.
You can however check out my contributions to Passion of the Weiss’s Top 25 hip hop cuts of the year and marvel at the combined strength of Team Passion. A rather good job by all contributors if I do say so myself. You should read the whole thing, but if you’re keeping an eye out especially for me (you know I love you too) then check out my write-ups for Q-Tip’s ‘Move’, Elzhi’s ‘Motown 25′ and Luda’s ‘MVP’.
More to come from me shortly…
Filed under: Lists
Not one to disappoint, here we go with part two of FDB’s ‘Holiday Hits’. I’ve been trying to get into a little bit more soul and jazz recently, inspired by blogs such as Souled On Music. Of course, this is also the breeding ground of samples for hip hop, so the enjoyment is two-fold: I get to check out some great records as well as pick out the constituent parts that may have come to be utilised at a later date and in a different musical context. As a result, I picked up a few bits and pieces whilst away.
(Forewarning: more holiday gloating ahead)
Whilst sunning yourself on a terrace that overlooks the Mediterranean, the hardest of the hardcore rap music seems a little inappropriate, and I got a lot of pleasure out of the following records as the evenings set in on the Cote D’Azur (sick of it yet?). Allow me to share…
Moving Down The Line – Marvin Gaye
‘Trouble Man’ has always been one of my favourite Marvin Gaye tracks, and it is only recently that I realised that the song was part of a soundtrack, scored by Gaye, for the blaxploitation film of the same name. What this record shows is his ability to embrace a range of musical styles beyond his earlier output, and the music lies more within the realms of funk and jazz here than with any other work that he recorded. Very few of the cuts feature Marvin’s beautiful voice which I feel is a shame because it would have worked well soaring over the dramatic soundscape below, but of course this is a soundtrack to a film. The title song is still my clear favourite, but ‘T Plays It Cool’ gets itself into a tasty funk groove and ‘Don’t Mess With Mister T’ is atmospheric and spacious. Dim the lights, sit back and soak it up..
Ever Feel Kind Of Down And Out? – Gil Scott-Heron
I feel relatively ashamed that I haven’t got into Gil Scott-Heron earlier, and his influence on hip hop is undeniable (could he be considered the first ‘rapper’?). What’s particularly interesting about this record, recorded in just two days in 1971, is the range of musical textures and subject matter here, with Gil ranging from angry and revolutionary (‘The Revolution Will Not Be Televised’), positive and uplifting (‘Lady Day and John Coltrane’) to pensive and tortured (‘The Sign Of The Ages’). The musical backdrop is similarly varied, and it makes for an exciting and engaging listen. I think I prefer the more upbeat numbers, but the album in its entirety is excellent.
I don’t know much about the context of this album within his career as a whole, and would greatly appreciate any information on similar works within his catalogue or any other recommendations. I’m at the beginnings of my soul journey: point me in the right direction brothers and sisters.
Around The Way Girl – Amy Winehouse
The musical cynic in me generally avoids big album releases, the hype too often overwhelming the music itself. It’s ridiculous I know, and ‘Back To Black’ is a fine demonstration of why this policy does not always work. I’d seen a few people mentioning this album on the hip hop blogs, so during one of my afternoons in Fnac I thought I’d give it a try and was absolutely blown away by it. The manner in which Salaam Remi and Mark Ronson have captured the essence of Motown records from the ’60s is staggering, and such is the quality of the album that it goes beyond a simple rehashing of the past and feels fresh, warm and lively.
Winehouse’s voice is sensational, full of emotion and power. My Dad noted a similarity with Dinah Washington whilst we were away, and I read this afternoon that she actually states Washington as one of her main influences (well done Dad).
I’m not even going to post a link for this as it is so widely available that it feels pointless, but you should definitely track this down and enjoy these little slices of perfectly crafted pop soul. She’s a North Londoner as well: she must be great.
Back onto regular album reviews and the like from here on in; I’m back in work on Friday so reality is gradually starting to creep in… take it easy.
Filed under: Lists
Having spent the last week and a half on the sunny shores (most of the time…) of the south of France, I’m glad to be back at home and have been itching to get back into the cosy world of hip hop cyberspace. I had quite a few ideas for posts whilst I was away, but I’m going to kick things off with a post split into two parts that will detail my holiday listening/buying habits. Of course, I listened to loads of stuff, but these are the albums that for whatever reason received more airtime than the others. Tomorrow’s focus will be on soul/jazz, but for now, let’s get into the hip hop…
Flippin’ Like Species – LL Cool J
Man, where do you start with LL Cool J? James Smith has seen it all in hip hop, and along with only a handful of others, has managed to carve out a career of serious longevity in rap music. It’s fair to say that his output has been a little hit and miss, but LL was there all the way back in the innocent mid ’80s, still kicking it through the more hardcore aesthetic of the early and mid ’90s and then onto teaming up with R ‘n’ B female vocalists and suchlike as the jiggy era dawned. The man is still recording as well, although I’m not really interested in checking out any of his material beyond 1995′s ‘Mr. Smith’, the first of today’s albums. Granted, this is by no means a sensational release, but it is rewarding in places and had me bopping my head whilst basking in the rays of the Med (it’s a hard life I know).
Let’s take this one step at a time. Of course, the album has the obligatory radio hits in the form of ‘Hey Lover’ and ‘Doin’ It’, the former of which is trash, but ‘Doin’ It’ is pretty much as good as any crossover hit from the era with bangin’ production and a pleasingly hard edge. The overly sexy shit on the lyrical side of things does grate, but I don’t have a problem with this song and although I’m a little loathed to admit it, I like it. The strength of these hits commercially was phenomenal, and amazingly pushed the album to double platinum status. Even I had it on tape when it was released: the exposure was substantial due to these two cuts (to put this in context, I was a spotty thirteen year old at this stage who had had little proper exposure to hip hop and was only just beginning to go out and buy it for myself).
What I genuinely enjoy about this album is that aside from these crossover hits, there is some pretty solid production elsewhere that is largely handled by the Trackmasterz. Naturally, there is a fairly large dose of cheesy chorus hooks, but the beats themselves are pretty dope: the ‘Who Shot Ya (Remix)’ being the most agreeably hard-hitting. Other tracks are well worth a listen as well: ‘Mr. Smith’ features some era-defining sleighbells; ‘Life As’ won’t fail to get your head nodding and ‘God Bless’ does a good job of flipping the heavily used Vickie Anderson break. Beyond these, my personal favourite is ‘Hollis To Hollywood’, where LL muses on the use of metaphor in the rap game and cleverly weaves together references to films backed by the best Trackmasterz’s beat on the album. I love the way that the double bass kick in the last quarter of the bar in the intro leads you into the verse section, and the lightly crashing cymbals in the background give the track depth and flava.
In addition to this, LL’s verses over the album are enjoyable, if not sensational. Again, the sexual references do grow tiresome after a while, but the delivery is complex enough to keep you engaged and there is no denying that the man has charisma and style, the hallmarks of any great MC. You have to admire his ability to stay current, and even appearances from Fat Joe, Keith Murray and Prodigy demonstrate that even though ‘Mr Smith’ was released ten whole years after LL’s first release, he could still hold his own alongside his big name contemporaries in ’95. If you haven’t heard this album in its entirety then give it a go: it ain’t going to rock your world, but you may find some joints that tickle your fancy.
The Most Underrated Album Of All Time?
I’ve already done a post on Da King & I’s slept on classic ‘Contemporary Jeep Music’, so no need to go into any detail here. However, I was still killing this album on the holiday: fun, witty, funky, amazingly consistent, intelligent… this is my current nomination for most underrated album of all time. From front to back this is an absolute banger and if you’re still sleeping on it then resolve the situation immediately and hit the link.
Que La Force Soit Avec Toi – Cut Killer
France’s equivalent to HMV/Virgin Megastore is Fnac, and every time I visit the continent I enjoy a couple of hours flicking through their selections and listening to bits and pieces as you can walk up to listening posts, scan the barcode and check out 30 second clips of each of the songs on the selected albums. I also like to try to walk out with at least one or two French releases as well, otherwise I may as well be surfing Amazon from the comfort of my own home. Cut Killer has already featured here on FDB, and this is another of his mixtape series that is well worth owning. There’s isn’t much to say here that I haven’t said already, but this is a two disc mixtape of quality boom bap beats blended with style. The tracklisting (click the second picture) only tells half the story as there are plenty of other instrumentals and acapellas dropped throughout the course of the mix and the result is a bangin’ selection from front to back. Enjoy.
Cut Killer Mix Disc 1
Cut Killer Mix Disc 2
FDB Cut Killer Archives
C’est Pour Toi – Onra & Quetzal
The final album for today is something that I had never come across before and I imagine will be totally new to the majority of you. The great thing about actually flicking through racks of CDs rather than just surfing on the net is that something can catch your eye that would have otherwise have passed you by entirely, and these can often turn out to be some of the most exciting things that you buy. I am not suggesting that this is a sensational release, but it is certainly a demonstration of well-crafted beat-making that will receive very little exposure outside French shores. Ostensibly, the ‘tribute’ in question is to soul records of the sixties and seventies that form the basis of the samples here, but this could also be seen as a Dilla tribute, as this clearly draws its influence from ‘Donuts’.
Featuring 35 beat skits with plenty of chopped up soul vocals and a progressive edge, Onra & Quetzal do a very effective Dilla impersonation here, clearly in line with the current trend for rich, soulful samples and slightly more abstract constructions care of a big stack of records and an MPC. This lacks the creativity of ‘Donuts’, but it is an enjoyable listen that demonstrates some real talent, and I hope to catch wind of more of their production work in the future. Although this was only released at the end of last year, I’m throwing it up because these guys deserve exposure and as yet, this is only available on the Fnac website and not on Amazon. I’ve put the link to the website below to make it as easy as possible: if you like it, bumble your way through the registration process and cop it.
That’s it for today, tune in tomorrow for the second installment of my holiday hits series which will focus on some soul and jazz… laters.
