Posts from March 2000
31
Mar 00
Hooray for Bassquake for being arsed to type up
Hooray for Bassquake for being arsed to type up The 100 Greatest Dance Singles of All Time, from an old issue of Muzik I rather suspect. And speaking of rather suspect, this plainly dates from the era when that magazine considered breakbeats distinctly ‘unmusical’. (an era you kind of wish would return, come to think of it….)
Do we like lists? Yes yes
Do we like lists? Yes yes – preparing for the top 100 singles of the 80s I find myself reading through Ego Trip’s Singles and falling into a haze of nostalgia (and envy for anyone who’s actually heard all of these).
look at what i found..
look at what i found.. is a blog with lots of links relating to the kind of indie rock which to my shame I’m unlikely ever to cover much.
Josh has some interesting stuff to say about abstraction and jazz
Josh has some interesting stuff to say about abstraction and jazz in his blog today. I’d add that if abstraction is what allows jazz acceptance into the canon, rhythm is precisely what makes that acceptance “grudging”. I’d also add that Hancock’s Sextant is highly uncanonical and is viewed as being pretty freaky and over-reliant on electronics even by the man’s fans, let alone by jazz fans. Or at least that was the impression I got! Great record, though.
30
Mar 00
Trout CD Reviews
Trout CD Reviews: what a beautiful and clever way of presenting a music review site. Sadly the music in question is the kind that I’m 95% bored of, but a lot of you might dig it hugely.
SISQO – “The Thong Song”
“The thing here, is letting girls know what guys talk about”. Oh really? Well, as long as it’s educational, who’s to complain? But exactly what topics would you expect a song dedicated to thongs to cover off, I wonder: which thongular material chafes the least, perhaps? Or harsh words on the sweatshop manufacture of thongs? Or would you perhaps anticipate that the entire song is about arses? Ah, third time lucky!
Luke Skyywalker this is thankfully not, though – Sisqo may be playing the horny goof, but he’s not overdoing things and from his pant-laden rhyming to the infectious “Thong-th-thong-thong-thong!” chorus he keeps “The Thong Song” smutty without letting it get uncomfortable. That said the number one reason to hear the track is its production, drunken strings reeling towards a histrionic, hip-hoperatic chorus which lusty or not is one of the most gleefully soulful things I’ve heard in ’00.
THE ALUMINUM GROUP – “Impress Me”
THE ALUMINUM GROUP – “Impress Me” (MP3)
So it’s quarter past seven, I’m sick as a dog and everybody else has gone home. I’m left with striplit walls and copier hum and a spreadsheet full of data on the Canadian power tools industry. The Aluminum Group fit the situation from their super-functional name on in: this is cubicle music. Morose, buttoned-down, economical tech-pop from their recent Pedals album, “Impress Me” is a massive shift forward from the breezier pop on Plano, their previous record. Roughly speaking, they used to be good and now they’re interesting. According to the group’s label website, producer Jim O’Rourke’s been encouraging them to stretch out without losing sight of the hooks, and that desire to experiment a little comes through. Four minutes of quiet, single-minded guitar pulses, sighing synth drones and Jim Navin’s throatily bleak vocals, “Impress Me” is finally and thankfully still pop, but pop unusual enough that I’ve got to go right back to 80s one-hit-intellectuals Furniture for a comparison. Song ends. Click to play again. Back to work.
Billie! No! Don’t do it! Worrying news c/o the NME:
Billie! No! Don’t do it! Worrying news c/o the NME: Billie goes indierock! The inevitable career path, really.
This kind of reciprocal linking appears to be weblog ettiquette
This kind of reciprocal linking appears to be weblog ettiquette, but that’s fine, since the people at log.nu seem nice anyway.
Memories of Ian Dury
Memories of Ian Dury, courtesy of the BBC site.
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