Tag: Classic

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Music

Manu Dibango – Soul Makossa

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Trance music isn’t just for ravers. The past two decades have seen that term attached to a specific type of electronic music, but you can’t deny that other types of music serve the same purpose. I recently saw Omar Souleyman perform, and damn, the entire crowd was undeniably in a trance – eyes rolling back, arms waving wildly, feet flying – the whole shebang.

The concept of “the trance” goes way back. Ancient shamanic figures assumed such states, as did the famed Oracle at Delphi, to predict the future or commune with spirits. Warriors, including the Viking Berserkers, threw themselves into a blind frenzy in which they could feel no pain and see nothing but rage. Each and every one of us drifts into daydreams, losing touch with the present moment and settling into the unconscious.

Music was born with humanity. The earliest thumping beat inspired movement. A few million years later, we aren’t so different. Sonic repetition and tonal consistency still bring us out of our shells and into a freer state. Consider vedic chanting: the voices of one or many, looping rhythmic and sonorous. After a while, you cease to hear yourself or the others, and the concept of time that controls our lives fades to unimportance. After a time, you wake up, without ever sleeping.

One of my favorite types of trance music is Afrobeat, popularized by Fela Kuti but practiced by many others, including the Cameroonian Manu Dibango. “Soul Makossa” feels over before starting, even though it runs over six minutes. The key to trance, I think, is a steady beat paired with an uncommon treble (in this case, the group chanting and plucky horns). The electronic version offers the 4×4 beat with synthesized sounds that our brains force into a natural order. The Afrobeat strain, however, offers a more human element, a wild desire that brings sweat to the brow of any listener.

Embrace that humanity, join your primate ancestors, and step into the trance.

Manu Dibango – Soul Makossa 

Categories
Music

Dee Edwards – (I Can) Deal With That

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Sometimes it is necessary to take a break.

There was a point yesterday where I was siting at work (yes, we work in offices with horrible fluorescent lighting and mandatory skirts too) and nearly cried when I got another request for another project due two days before I ever saw it.

It is these times where you need a reality check the most. As much as I scorn the people who post those little quotes every day with their spirit phrase or whatever. I openly scoff, but deep down, I sort of love them. “If you fear failure, you will never go anywhere.” “Life is what happens outside your comfort zone.” “You are a victim to the rules you live by.” “Live each day….” you get it. So stupid, but something about it makes me feel like I just pet a puppy.

But I think it helps sometimes that you get your cheerleading squad going for you. However you find it. I called my boss which helped. And watched Bridget Jones with a bottle of champers and a good friend which really helped.

I like this song because it feels like the one you have on the walk back from a shitty place or situation and you realise it was a speck in the timeline and sometimes you just got roll with it. We made it this far already.

This song from Dee Edwards is great for it. And just like a great philosopher, there are gems interwoven in this one.

“I won’t bother trouble if trouble don’t bother me.”

Dee Edwards – (I Can) Deal With That

 

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Music

Sam and Dave – Sooth Me (Live)

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I used to be up on all the new shit.

By the time you were saying “OMG have you heard of XYZ band?” I’d have downloaded their discography, played you their best songs (though at the time you couldn’t be bothered and clearly don’t remember) and moved on to the next hot sound. I can’t tell you how many times I went to shows with under 50 people for under $20, and the next time that act came through town prices were through the roof and the rooms were packed beyond capacity.

That was then.

Now, when my friends ask me to send them good new music, I feel embarrassed and direct them to my fellow EMPT writers’ posts. I’ve lost touch. Partially this is a function of new technology, especially streaming services that offer a music discovery platform that doesn’t require any effort on my part. I can build a Spotify playlist and let those proprietary Swedish algorithms do the rest. And really, I don’t have the time anymore to “crate dig” across the blogosphere. Commute+job+pet+life.

But if a friend asks me for some “good music,” I’m never at a loss for words.

If we’re being honest, the best music ever recorded hasn’t come out in the past 10 or even 20 years, with a few notable exceptions. With the rise of studio technology and autotune-esque band-aids, much of the raw authenticity that marked early recordings has vanished.

Listen to the passion Sam and Dave exude on this recording of “Sooth Me” (which I believe was recorded in Paris, 1967). The Sultans of Sweat, as they were known, knew how to put on a show. There were no backup dancers or props. There were no illusions as to what the audience was seeing or hearing. Two men and a band, on stage, in the flesh, bringing the roof down, every night – these were the men, after all, that introduced the word “soul” into the musical lexicon of white America.

This post is for all of you who are up on the new shit. It’s cool for a while, but how much will you really remember, or will you want to pass on to your kids? Next time you go on a blog dive, take a gander at some charts from the 30s-early 70s instead. You may be surprised at the gems you never knew existed.

Sam and Dave –  Sooth Me (Live)

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
Music

EMPT Classic: Chromeo – Momma’s Boy

 

Let me tell you I know a lot of “Momma’s Boys” in this world and these kinds of boys require a lot of love, and it’s Summer so give em what they want ladies until Winter rolls around and then they better get busy with the back rubs.  I felt like a classic throwback today, so here is too all the momma’s boys and especially to their Momma’s..Re-enjoy!

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She says I remind her of her father and I know she likes it, she want’s a guy that’s got his game locked tight.”

I was reading an article in the New York Times recently that was talking about new trends among famous and powerful men to marry “young women whose job it was to tend to them and care for them in some way: their secretaries, assistants, nannies, caterers, flight attendants, researchers and fact-checkers.” Seriously though, since when is this a new trend? The article talked about all these studies being held and research done trying to figure out why this is happening. That’s like trying to understand why women want men instead of boys…

If they say why, why?…Tell ’em that it’s human nature…” – Michael Jackson (Human Nature, 1984)

Before the women’s movements guys were too hard and then they became too soft, big mistake. Yeah women want someone who can be in touch with their needs but that doesn’t mean be Mr. Softie, there’s a big difference that I think dudes need to recognize. Anyways, my views on the subject are somewhat unconventional so I won’t get into it but I will post one of my favorite Chromeo songs to speak for me, enjoy.

Chromeo – Momma’s Boy

Categories
Classics Covers Music Remixes Soundtracks

Chromatics – Into The Black (Voxels Remix)

It’s very hard to top a classic such as Neil Young‘s rock anthem Into The Black but what Chromatics did to it and then Voxels on the cover… This is just nothing short of amazing.

Here’s the thing. I believe the original is very good, but it is only when you take it down a notch from the fast paced rock that you actually take in and the lyrics take on another colour of sorts. Now, the Voxels further dramatize the best moments of the track like a roller coaster – at times going faster and other slower. The bridge is just magical on their rendition.

I don’t want to neglect other special mentions in the covering of this song, such as Battleme’s version that soundtracked the eerily sentimental moments of the Sons of Anarchy Season 3 Finale. On this rendition Battleme stripped it naked almost completely – leaving only the wet crooning vocals over a piano.

I rated this 5 stars on my iTunes and this is probably one of the sickest remixes of a cover that I own. By far. I can’t help myself but to also share with you the original cover of Neil Young’s classic by the Chromatics and Battleme‘s.

The composition in this song is the common denominator and is as powerful as it gets:

Hey hey, my my
Rock and roll can never die
There’s more to the picture
Than meets the eye.
Hey hey, my my.

Out of the blue
and into the black
You pay for this,
but they give you that
And once you’re gone,
you can’t come back
When you’re out of the blue
and into the black.

The king is gone
but he’s not forgotten
Is this the tale
of Johnny Rotten?
It’s better to burn out
Than fade away
The king is gone
but he’s not forgotten.

Hey hey, my my
Rock and roll can never die
There’s more to the picture
Than meets the eye.”

Let these amazingly powerful lyrics –expressed in different ways– hit you and knock you out.

Chromatics – Into The Black (Voxels Remix)

Chromatics – Into The Black

Battleme – Hey Hey, My My

Categories
Remixes

Tina Turner – What’s Love Got To Do (Zimmer Rework)

Love’s got a sh*tload to do with it when it comes to pulling off a such a great remix of a song. It’s Zimmer’s ability to stay true to the original while injecting the right dose of echoed claps, deep bassline and that flute-like sound reminiscent of Met At Work’s famous Down Under that make up this accurately labeled rendition as a ‘rework’ rather than a ‘remix’.

I was only a year old when this song came out but it’s inevitable to have multiple memories of specific moments when this song played on the radio or on a cassette player. I find it really odd that it was only this year that this song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame or any Hall of Fame for that matter. A fun fact about this track is that Donna Summer sat on this composition for a couple of years and never recorded it.

Zimmer hails from Paris, France and his Soundcloud bio states that his music is a “feel good, body-warming and enthusiastic wave that goes straight to the heart and stays until the end of the night” which I couldn’t find a more apt description of his work.

Enjoy this fresh throwback best served in a tropical environment or mood.

Tina Turner – What’s Love Got To Do (Zimmer Rework)

Categories
Music Remixes

Billy Ocean – Caribbean Queen (Tesla Boy Remix)

In the fall of 1984 Billy Ocean released Caribbean Queen – also known as European Queen or African Queen depending in which part of the world it was released. Not only did it climb to the Soul Singles and Hot 100 #1 spots but how’s this for proof of its timelessness: In 2004, the song was re-released as a digital single for its 20th anniversary, shooting up to #25 on the Billboard digital singles chart and garnering radio play across the US and UK.

Now Anton & Dima from Tesla Boy stay as true to the original as possible not messing up the essence of it. Crafted with looped melodies and samples with chopped vocals they manage to refresh a classic for modern day enjoyment. When Tesla Boy sought out to remix this one we could say they stayed true to its original colors but painted it with a different technique.

I was gonna say it’s a Sunday afternoon track but how could I forget the aforementioned timelessness. Shame on me. If you haven’t heard what Tesla Boy is capable of in their originals, I invite you to enjoy the treat below.

Billy Ocean – Caribbean Queen (Tesla Boy Remix)

Bonus:

Tesla Boy – Electric Lady

Categories
Music

Nas – The World Is Yours

I’ve been hesitant to post anything from Illmatic because like anything of good quality it’s not a quick-fix one night stand, you have to listen to the whole album many times to really understand and appreciate all of it’s beautiful details. Also, Illmatic is so complex in terms of rhyme patterns, expression, insight and innovation that I would have to do some very serious writing to do it justice and I simply don’t have that kind of time on Halloween. However, I did read something on Pitchfork that will better express how I feel about this album.

Illmatic is the best hip-hop record ever made. Not because it has ten great tracks with perfect beats and flawless rhymes, but because it encompasses everything great about hip-hop that makes the genre worthy of its place in music history. Stylistically, if every other hip-hop record were destroyed, the entire genre could be reconstructed from this one album. But in spirit, Illmatic can just as easily be compared to Ready to Die, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, and Enter the Wu-Tang as it can to Rites of Spring, A Hard Day’s Night, Innervisions, and Never Mind the Bollocks. In Illmatic, you find the meaning not just of hip-hop, but of music itself: the struggle of youth to retain its freedom, which is ultimately the struggle of man to retain his own essence.“–Matthew Gasteier

Nas – The World Is Yours

Do I think it’s the best Hip Hop album of all time? In my opinion titles like that limits the way you can appreciate other candidates so I won’t answer the question, not to you or myself. Do I think you can build hip hop from Illmatic alone? Absolutely not but I will encourage you to check this album out, it really is something special. Also, peep some classic articles and reviews about Nasty Nas after the break. Bloggin’ like it’s 1994, whatever. Enjoy.

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