Category: Classics

Categories
Classics Music Writing

Essex – Notice

80’s synths got my mind like, YES PLEASE!  Hello Summer, where are you?  I see you in the distance but I need to feel you on my skin so hurry up please.

Las Vegas duo from New York City, Essex, has been making waves since their debut release of ‘Roads’ which received high praises from the likes of Magnetic Magazine, NestHQ, Tune Collective and more. Composed of Tyler Sherritt and Phil Goodman the duo showcases their unique style of 80’s synth pop with hints of singer/songwriter elements along with bass pop. Equipped with the necessary roots in live vocals and instrumentations, expect to hear organic, ethereal, real music coming from these two.”

I like hearing a musical group that goes in a nostalgic direction.  I like to reminisce on my days of total innocence and lesser expectations of the world.  So much on my plate these days that I finally understand the statement “You’ll sleep when your dead.”  Ain’t that the truth, definitely should have appreciated the days when I was able to sleep till 3 in the afternoon.  No use in looking backwards except to remember the sounds that we love so much that gave us our initial love for music.  Thanks Essex for the reminder of where my love for music came from.

Press play and enjoy the rest of your weekend!

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Categories
Classics Music Writing

DivineRule – (CLUE) WHO KILLED 2PAC and BIGGIE SMALLS?

You have the most to lose when you are ahead of the game.  The higher you are in this world the more people want to hate, the haters are always out for blood. Believe me I know this, I have always been a go getter, a really hard worker, I don’t believe in failure and if you tell me I can’t do something I work even harder because boy to I love to prove people wrong and I usually do.  People don’t like confidence because the majority of this world doesn’t have it, so much insecurities in this world, people could actually learn a thing or two from the confident few but they would rather hate, sad but true.  I think it’s just easier for people to focus on the negative, I wish I understood why, I can sometimes rationalize it in my head but I just don’t live in that type of head space.  I know what it’s like to feel like there is just this dark cloud hovering over your head at all times but that’s no way to live, it’s a shit way to live people.

I think the lives of Tupac and Biggie tell a true story of what happens when people live in a hateful head space, when jealousy and rage take over and you can’t appreciate someone else’s hustle.  To much competition since the beginning of time, how do we get rid of that, we probably never will but for a few of us and hopefully more and more as time goes on the word competition can leave our vocabulary. Who knows, all I know is I don’t focus on what everyone else is doing, I focus on my grind and what I need to do to keep pushing forward and eliminate haters, your haters are actually your biggest fans so learn to love them hard working badasses of the world, learn to love em’!

Thanks DivineRule for this jam and a reminder not to be afraid of the hustle, but watch your back if you got somethin’ special!

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Categories
Classics Featured Music Remixes

ATCQ – Electric Relaxation (T4PES X Nick AM Edit)

Don’t you hate it when something really exciting happens and you aren’t allowed to talk about it.  These are all things I will be able to share in the near future, I don’t like surprises but that’s the way it goes sometimes. Fuck it’s like the moment I turned 30 and things just started falling into place.  20’s were the “make mistakes but make sure you are also working hard at whatever it is you love to do.”  Get your heart broken, clean up the mess, pick yourself back up and do it all again until you hit 30 if you don’t have yourself more put together by then, please email me personally.  That’s some partial advice to those of you in your 20’s, don’t stress too hard just make sure you aren’t totally wasting your time, it’s the time in your life where you ARE a grown up (unless you are still living at your parents place) but you can still make mistakes and figure out who you really are.  I figured out I am one badass, strong, loyal, capable female, and there were a lot of hating, jealous, toxic humans trying to get in my way and put out my fire.  “Oh fuck no homie, I don’t play like that homie, move right along now homie and as I watch you kick that dust in your eye, while you’re pretending not to cry, but you know I am oh so high..You can’t help it.”  That was a little something I made up for you all on the spot, you’re welcome!

I’ve been excited to post this mix, a little Tribe with a good weekend dance feel, I’m diggin it.  Any type of old school feel mixed with some new school sounds is right up my alley.  Press play and do you friends, make it all count, even the shitty stuff!

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Categories
Art Classics Music

Spread Love Not Hate…

Let us not forget how we all got here, love is what made us, not hate.

As a women I made choices that changed my life forever because I chose to listen to my heart and my body.  Everyone one has a job to do whether you are a women, a man, gay, straight, black or white, red or gold and that job is to create love, peace and freedom through our positive actions.

To our very young and wildly innocent generation. May this world make you feel strong, powerful, loved and respected.  May this world become a safe and peaceful place for you to spread your wings and be who you want to be. ~Little Bear

<3 <3

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Categories
Classics Music Soundtracks

The Who – Sparks

Tommy Effect: noun  (with reference to psychoacoustics) the phenomenon whereby a single and/or multiple sounds within a complex moment or system can have immense effects which remain ubiquitous for the remainder of a lifetime.

The conversation you have with someone about the moment they fell in love with music is passionate. It feels like one of the easiest ways to get personal with someone. There are seldom stories of, “Yeah, I don’t really know. I guess I just always liked them.” Often a conversation had in a foggy room or crowded bar or end of a second date.

Mine, mine was perfect. I remember listening to Elvis Presley on a tape sitting in back of my family’s steel grey minivan on a trip across the country when we moved to America. I listened to it until it broke in my yellow Sony Walkman. I listened to it front and back, a few hundred times or until the black tape started to unravel. It was the only music I cared to know at first. I am sure it was not my mum’s intention when she threw her tape back to me that she would never again see it again, or that it would have such repercussions on me. I loved his voice. I was 8 and that is when I remember first experiencing the Tommy Effect.

Recently, I had a conversation with my boss in London who was talking about how he wanted to start collecting vinyl. For one reason or another, he craved it in his life. He was telling me about his first records he had as a kid and he lit up. Recalling the moment he fell in love with music. “The best relationship you have in your life.” It was like you could see the dusky old room he was clearly back to in his mind littered with classic records strewn about and a fervent boy rushing to put on one after the other eagerly awaiting the next track to fall in love with.

The Tommy Effect, may be a term I created just then, but recognise that everyone reading this or interested in this site has felt it. The literal reference is to Almost Famous. The moment when William gets his sister’s record collection and puts on The Who‘s album, Tommy, and finds a note in it. That’s when you hear that strumming guitar coming in, approximately 20 seconds before you get goose bumps from your reaction to the music. That scene is so personal and accurate, it makes that character instantly become you or your best friend. It’s like watching the perfect first kiss, the perfect beginning to the best relationship we can ever have.

To experience this effect once more, I will quote one of the best music movies of our time and leave you with this.

“Listen to Tommy with a candle burning and you will see your entire future.” –Penny Lane

The Who – Sparks

Categories
Classics Music

Betty Wright – Clean Up Woman

By now you’ve heard of Lorde, the 17-year old pop sensation who has  taken over international airwaves with a slew of stripped-down, subtle hip-hop crossovers. It’s exciting when someone so young comes out of nowhere to score a huge hit, especially one with such an “authentic” image (in these days of Photoshop and costumery, anyone who wears their natural hairstyle gains street cred).

But the novelty factor is hyperbolic. There have been many young stars to come and go over the years. Few have had significant staying power, though some notable exceptions (Judy Garland, Beyonce, Stevie Wonder to name a few) have left their permanent mark on the cultural landscape.

Today I’d like to introduce you to an artist you likely haven’t heard of: Betty Wright.

Ms. Wright began her career at age 2, singing in a gospel group with her siblings in Miami. Her solo career kicked off in 1966 when, at age 12, Wright signed her first record deal. She scored some local radio/club hits in her early teens, before bursting onto the national stage with “Clean Up Woman,” released just after her 17th birthday. The song reached #2 on the R&B charts, and became a crossover hit, reaching #6 on Billboard’s Hot 100 (when it mattered) and staying on the chart for 14 weeks. The rest of Wright’s career has been wildly successful: international tours, production for mega-stars, Grammy nominations and wins, and a continual output of new music (including a feature on a Lil Wayne track and collabs with Snoop Dogg and Joss Stone). Her biggest hit, “Tonight is the Night,” has been a cultural standby, sampled in honey classics “Knockin Boots” and “I Wanna Sex You Up” (which did so illegally, netting Wright a fat settlement).

And she opened for Bob Marley on the Survivor tour. LEGEND.

Betty Wright – Clean Up Woman

Categories
Classics DJ Music

.WAVs Boat Party – August 2013

WAVsAug2Version_550w

A Friday night in New York City presents itself with endless opportunities from week to week when it’s not summer, so you can imagine my excitement when I was told about this party happening on Friday, that will bring together all of the best things of summer and music. An outdoor range of music performances from multiple talented and party-worthy DJs, spanning the hours of 9pm to whenever the party decides to end sometime in the morning. Performances start at 9pm and then things start getting a little more wild, a little less tame, and a little more sexy at midnight when the ship (yes, there’s a cruise) departs. So of course I’ll be there. And if you like dancing and meeting strangers in strange situations, this might be the perfect way to finish out the end of the summer.

The event takes place on Friday, August 23rd. In writing that, I’ve only just realized that it is almost the end of August which is baffling. Where the hell did this summer go…? Here’s what I have to say about that: if there’s anything you should have done, haven’t done, want to do, do it. Because I look at the summer time the same way I look at a new year — as a time for opportunities, a time to expand on your pre-existing ambitions. Broaden those horizons and take some risks! It’s almost over and if you walk away without having done anything for yourself that is noteworthy, well, the fading tan come Fall won’t be your only disappointment. So go out there and find the one you love and tell ’em. Apply for that new job. Move to that new apartment that you thought you couldn’t get your hands on. If you want it hard enough, you’ll get it. I have only one goal, and that is to buy a decent enough mixer, go to parties, and make people dance.

That said, here’s a fantastic classic that will also make an appearance at .WAVs. I’m in a nostalgic mood and this song reminds me of the days where I learned how to scratch. Enjoy!

Afrika Bambaataa – Planet Rock

Categories
Classics Music

Ebo Taylor – Atwer Abroba

bonfire

You know what no one has said, ever? “This song has too many horns in it.” Or “Hey, this is great, but could we turn the horns down a little?” Or “Why does it have to be a horn section? Couldn’t it just be one horn?” Horns are great, always, period. Case in point: This awesome 1977 track from Ghanaian guitarist and composer Ebo Taylor. Taylor, who’s still recording and releasing new music at the sprightly young age of 77, is a pioneer of the Ghanaian highlife genre, which favors “jazzy horns and multiple guitars” (thanks, Wikipedia!).

I love how lively and seductive this track is. It’s the soundtrack for a party that’s tipped past the point where people are still behaving themselves; this is a song for the loosening of inhibitions, clothes, and hips. A lot of summer music is great because it sounds like the waves, the sun, and the warm wind in your hair. This particular track is great because it sounds like the waves, the moon, and the cool sand under your feet as you dance. Find that – or the closest thing to it you can – and let the horns lift you up.

Ebo Taylor- Atwer Abroba

Categories
Classics Music Video

EMPT Classic: Penguin Prison – Don’t Fuck With My Money (Official Video)

This only seemed fitting considering the way our world is being run as we speak, all the chaos and conspiracies…or are they?  Ha, I really don’t know nor do I like to stress myself out about politics, but man no one is going to play games with ‘my money’!

Here is a nice relevant classic throwback for you all to get your brains swimming outside the box..enjoy!

Original post November 23rd, 2011

_______________

This is still one of my favorite songs from 2011 and the theme is more relevant to the current state of affairs than most people know. I’m not really into politics as you’ve probably noticed by now, there are so many layers of power and everything is so cloudy that unless you’re hip to what’s really going on you’re pretty much just talking about nothing. However, given all the movements popping up around the country and the fact that I love this song so much I had to give my two cents about this stuff. I won’t get into a lecture about what’s really going on because we have Google but make sure to educate yourself on who prints the cash in the US. Don’t get distracted by all the nonsense and complicated explanations on TV, it’s 99% diversion, it all starts and ends with the folks who make the paper. When you understand that you’ll understand what “don’t f&%k with my money” really means, enjoy.

Categories
Classics Mash-Ups Music

Marvin Gaye vs. Pryda – Too Busy Thinking About Leja

Think less, do more.

I tend to over think things. Whether it’s where to go to eat or what song to listen to while I’m working out, I’m constantly plagued by indecisiveness and procrastination. Maybe it’s the English major in me, but I tend to analyze every aspect of my life, from where my life is headed to what color shirt to wear.

The consequence is pretty simple: I feel like I don’t get about a tenth of what I set out to do and hope to accomplish. Ideas flow through my veins, but following through on these ideas and just acting on them can be a challenge. I have difficulty just shutting out everything and focusing on either the moment I’m living in or that one thought I’m having.

This song is about doing exactly that–allowing solely one aspect of your life to consume your actions and thoughts (in this case, that’s love).  I’m not big on resolutions, but this is definitely one I’m zeroing in on for 2013–zoning in on one aspect of my life at a time and not worrying about what I can’t control.

“I aint got time to think about money or what it can buy,
I aint got time to sit down and wonder what makes a birdie fly…”

I’ve been on a huge Marvin Gaye kick lately, and the combination of his deep, emotive voice and Eric Prydz’s ambient house is straight magical right here. It makes me want to laugh and cry at the same time, the way all bittersweet gems do.

“I got a one track mind…”

Marvin Gaye was as troubled as they come, but he still managed to put his problems aside and produce the best soul to come from the Mo-Town era. Everyone has issues and contradictory thoughts swirling through their minds–it’s how you deal with them and what art emerges from those thoughts. In 2013, I hope to do a lot less thinking and a lot more accomplishing.

Marvin Gaye vs. Pryda – Too Busy Thinking About Leja