Underneath The Bridge

Listenin To That Jesus Muzik

2007-05-09T22:47:00.000-07:00

I have to give a shout to my homie Brian who was with me the first time I heard this track. Needless to say it took both of us by complete surprise. We were down in NC for our college reunion a few weeks ago, cruising to the store for one of the numerous beer runs of the weekend. Not being overly familiar with the radio stations in Durham after a 5 year absence we were shuffling through the dial looking for anything good when a thumpin rap beat caught our ear and we stopped to hear it out.

After listening to the first verse, something atypical stood out about this song- there was no cursing. This wasn't the usual pause in the song or reworked lyrics type of no cursing though. This was pious, we're making a point not to curse, no cursing. So we both leaned in a little closer to the radio, like proximity was going to reveal the bad words we knew had to be there but were somehow deaf to momentarily. Still no curse words. Just then a word came blaring out of the speakers and surprised us more than any expletive we were waiting on. As clear as day the MC shouted out- Jesus. Contrary to the notions of gangster bravado the base heavy beat had set us up for, this was a Christian rap song. An in your face, unapologetically urban Christian rap song. When the DJ came on saying how this was one of his most requested cuts I immediately knew why. I'd never heard a religious song come with such a street attitude. Theses dudes weren't preaching from way up high, they were bringing their message straight to the block. It doesn't matter what you believe, there's no denying honest intensity and production like this. So I bring you LaCrea's "Jesus Muzik".

And the people said amen. Amen.

Lacrae- "Jesus Muzik"

Hard Back. Stern Face.

2007-04-28T10:26:00.000-07:00

Nobody needs another blog entry giving you the whole Dizzee Rascal backstory. One google search and you'll learn way more about him than I can tell you. I will tell you this though. He's top of the pops in the world of grime and he's about to unleash his third album "Maths and English". This time out he's taken his flow in a new 3rd coast Houston direction. Needless to say some of the kids are loving it but other folks are hating hard. Most notably his one time mentor Wiley, who may or may not be the intended target of a diss song included on the new album.

The first cut I heard was "Hard Back Industry". " The song's I'm Just a Bill steeze is helpfully instructive. Dizzee breaks down the rules of the music game, schoolin youngins on the finer points of business. He's got advise worth heeding and seeing as this is his third album in a genre that produced mostly debuts, he might be on to something. Then he came round the bend blasting the single "Sirens" with a fly little video hot on his heels. There's a full hunting party dressed for the occasion, with Dizzee playing the role of resident sly fox. He slips in and out of corners in the video, paralleling his flow through the beat. Staying completely in the shadows you can hear how dark things are for him.

Dizzee Rascal - "Hard Back Industry"

Dizzee Rascal - "Sirens"

Sparkling

2007-04-21T16:56:00.000-07:00

Talent. Its not something that's requisite for kid singers. Don't get me wrong, most of the Mousketeers in Mickey's club are fairly talented but for every Christina Aguilara blowing that old soul truth, there's a Britney Spears sexy whispering her way to better record sales. If talent were the deal breaker in this equation Avril Lavigne would've slipped off her skateboard and broken her neck years ago.

So imagine my surprise when I stumbled across 15 year old Amy Diamond. Another product of pop heavy Sweden this little girl is the real deal and easily my youngest friend on Myspace. She broke out in Sweden at the age of 12 with her debut single "What's In It for Me" off of her album This is Me Now. The song tore up the Swedish charts making it all the way to number #1 even though some Swedish TV stations wouldn't show her video because she was so young. From the wholesome look of the video it's hard to understand what they didn't like. She's dressed like a normal, well adjusted tween should be. "Hit Me Baby One More Time" this is not. To prove she's packin bone fide chops, and not just studio wizardry, I included a video of her singing her newest single, "Don't Cry Your Heart Out", live. You might not like your tunes quite this sachrine but you can't front on her pipes. She's like a teenage, bubblegum version of Neko Case.

Amy Diamond - "What's In It for Me?"

Amy Diamond - "Don't Cry Your Heart Out"

Is it Rock? Is it Rap? Is it Crap? I dont Know...

2007-04-21T15:44:00.000-07:00

Pop music enterd the sphere of hipster credibility sometime in the past couple years, and I for one thank god. Its not time to get carried away and start reppin for bullshit trad-rock like Nickleback, but we can all agree at this point that shiny, happy harmonies can still sweat out the liquid irony that fills the core of every postmodern conception of cool. Lilly Allen, The Bird and The Bee, Cold War Kids and others like them have ushered in the current era of "Sophisti-pop" thats brought glossy out of the shadows and onto the most descerning of tastemaker IPods. Don't be ashamed of liking Justin Timberlake. Simply reclaim his MJ apping style as yours all along cool kids. Is that Kelly Clarkson I hear you listening too? I surely hope so.

Enter 21 year old Jamie T out of Wimbledon South London. NME has named him their next big thing but according to these guys that magazine is worthless and I shouldn't be reading it any way. Its a sacrafic I'm willing to make. Doesn't matter what the critics say about this guy any way. I'm onboard right or wrong, in shallowness and in depth. Jamie makes a rocky, rapish, jangle pop fuss all over his tracks and best of all he makes them in the catchiest way possible. He sorta splits the difference between the Artic Monkeys and The Streets, and he's got drunk, everyman wail-speak down pat. The cockney accent keeps the top button of his very blue collar undone and you can hear him thinking about another pint as he's singing.

The song to download, "If you Got The Money" nearly made its way up into the top 10 on the UK charts and rides the little ragga swing its built on all the way to the bank. The video is for his song "Sheila" and stars everyone's favorite rabbit sidekick, Bob Hoskins. Jamie fishes the waters of human interaction for a lot of his themes and Bob plays the father of the song's title character while mouthing the song's words at the camera. Its strangly affecting and I'll bet you watch it twice if you watch it at all. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to mine Radio Disney for my next pop-perfect discovery.

Jamie T - "If You Got the Money"

Jamie T - "Sheila"

No Love

2007-02-27T21:48:00.000-08:00

The creepiest, dirtiest and down right most uninviting genre of music to crawl up the basement stairs in the past few years has to be dubstep. We’re a world at war and this is the sound of the battlefield one day after the smoke has cleared. Its empty space, and air that’s almost too still to breath. You feel the bombs in the distance almost more than you hear them. There’s no reason to duck and cover because the violence has passed but there’s danger over the hills and you know one day its coming back around. Dubstep is a warning: leave before it’s too late.

This first dubstep omens came from the darkest corners of UK 2-step around 2001. As Garage made its way up the charts through sunny Craig David vocal numbers the Forward sound retreated as far from the light as possible, turning DnB and 2-Step in on themselves until new twisted hybrids like grime and dubstep were born. Today within its admittedly limited range of sounds producers like Digital Mystikz, Hatcha and Kode9 have pushed the genre into an ever more distinct and dub-ified direction with only minimal attempts at smoothing out the sound for the masses. One of the first attempts at accessible “dinner party” dubstep came last year from a team of producers with the most misleading name possible, Various. Their album The World Is Gone marries vocals with dubstep’s half-step lurch, crafting sub bass funeral dirgs that will blow out your speakers in mourning. The video below for their song “Hater” is on some 3AM MTV Amped Shit. A ball of nothing floating through space explodes into different objects. You don't need a Kanye sized video budget to back up a song like this, following the bouncing ball is more than enough.

Various- "Hater"

Everyone Is Trying to Bum Me Out

2007-02-14T18:56:00.000-08:00

Rain, sleet, hail, or snow I tend to walk around with a smile on my face. At first glance you'd think I was either the happiest guy in the world or touched. Truth is neither could be further from the truth. I'm in fairly good control of all my faculties and as a rule I don't like things. Seriously, most things I could do without: Cars, work, people etc. Given the choice I'd take a pass of the majority of life. Problem is I'm stuck here for the foreseeable future so I figure the path of least resistance is my best chance for skating by till something better than the here and now comes along. I have no intention of checking out before my reservation is up but I don't really feel like fighting while I'm here. This machine is broken. We gummed up the works a long time ago so now its completely out of whack. Some people don't see anything wrong with how the ball bounces so they play along in blissful ignorance. Those people bug me. Other people see that things are FUBAR and rage out loud with righteous indignation. Those people bug me. There's lots of gray in between these two extremes and there's folks clear across the spectrum at every point. However, at some point or another I can guarantee you of one thing: they will bug me.

I'm not saying I've got it all figured out over here, I'm just saying I don't pretend to either. If I had to write some sort of credo it would read like this:

CHAS
Que Sera Sera
It Is What It Is
Everything Is Everything
Whatever...I'm Tired

So on those days when my apathetic prick quotient is at its highest I turn to a little song by the Eels called "Flower". Its off their '96 album Beautiful Freak, the same album that gave them their only real radio hit "Novocaine For The Soul". The Eels are a band but really its just an outlet for lead singer/songerwriter/multi-instrumentalist E to wax misanthropic on record. "Flower" is melancholia on a sunny day. E lets you know that he's none too thrilled with the world but the whole song rests on a choir harmony that lets a sliver of inspiration peer through. He's pretty bummed out, but not really...either way.

Eels- "Flower"

Mellow Yellow

2007-02-11T23:32:00.000-08:00

Korean born, Queens bred Cool Calm Pete first put me at ease on the Babbletron album Mechanical Royalty. Along with Jay Manila and DJ Pre, they hot wired beats built like hoopty spaceships falling to pieces and rebuilt with junkyard parts. The sound was held together with string but half the fun of a jalopy is the fact that you can drive it into the ground without being afraid. Babbletron took full advantage, whipping through the galaxy without an ounce of fear driving their music like they stole it.

On his first solo album Lost, Pete pulls out of the space race but I wouldn't say he's got both feet planted on the ground either. This afternoon he's hanging in his hammock three feet above the Earth, swaying back and forth in the wind with his journal, some lemonade and a near faded outline of the last smoke ring he blew. He's been around the block before, but today he sees all he needs to from the comfort of his own backyard. Tomorrow he might have something to prove but for now he's just trying to live up to his name. The kind of inner comfort that you can only gain from seeing truth first hand has left him sure of the world and his place in it. No need to brag, no need to boast, just do what you came here to do and keep it movin. He sets the mood for this self-assured day dream with loose limbed soul samples from the 60's & 70's. Easy like Sunday morning, these are screen door beats. They keep the bugs out but let the breeze blow through. The track for download "Tune In" cools things down just like Pete intended. Instead of flexing to support his claim at manhood he lets the truth stand on its own and, as always, reality is strong enough to prop itself up. "Black Friday", the video below, is a song produced by RJ-D2 and was added as a bonus track to the album when it was reissued by the Def-Jux label. The track is more gamma-ray funk than the rest of the album but the interplay between the iconography and lyrics is whip smart.

Cool Calm Pete- "Tune In"

Cool Calm Pete- "Black Friday"

What's Shakin Uptown

2007-01-08T19:26:00.000-08:00

The Harlem Shakes are a band I know very little about outside of the fact that I'm obsessed with their new EP Burning Birthdays. I also know that lead singer Lex was polite enough to take the time to read my myspace profile and respond with a real message when I sent them a friend request. I'm glad I caught this band on the way up cause soon he won't have time for those sorts of niceties.
All the pieces snap together to build a jigsaw puzzle of this years big thing in indie rock. First you build the outside edge from the angular guitar grooves of The Strokes, back when they knew how to have fun. Then you look for all the vocal colors splashed across the mosaic. The Walkmen, CYHSY, Paul McCartney, 60's soul and the rest. Finish putting it together when you layout the pieces for the wide expanse of sky behind it all. Its the same sky that Bloc Party moves you toward, till you push right over the edge of the cliff and soar 3 minutes into a song. Take one look at it all together, then break it apart and drop everything back in the box. Now even though you know exactly how the pieces fit, I bet next time you have even more fun putting it all together again.

The Harlem Shakes- "Red Right Hands"

I Could Not Undo This Desire

2007-01-04T19:50:00.000-08:00

For my money, Joanna Newsom's Ys was the crowning musical achievement of 2006. Nothing else came close to gracing the heights it reached in terms of musicality, lyricism, or unabashed pathos. Its a career defining work, that I think even she'll find difficult to match again. May she never try.

I do hope for more music from her, but nothing that might detract from the power of the concept she's crafted here. A classically trained harpist, she's thrown the doors wide open on her song craft and poetic content. Her first record, The Milk-Eyed Mender, was an announcement of a new voice in the indie scene that valued both compositional structure and mythic prose. Her childish pitch blended with well-worn themes of being and understanding to imply both innocence and aged resignation. On Ys she pushes this idea to the wall with the help of musical heavies Steve Albini (Producer), Van Dyke Parks (Arranger), and Jim O'Rourke (Mixer). These are bold statements comprised of mini song movements and epic Homeric poetry, the shortest of which clocks in at just over 9 minutes long. There's no irony within these bars and if you can't give yourself over completely to the sentiment then you might find indulgence where I see passion.

The clip below shows Joanna playing my favorite track from the album "Sawdust & Diamonds". Though I can't claim to have extracted meaning from every line, I find the lyrics supremely moving. Its a treatise on birth, love, death and above all desire. Music moves me to tears pretty often, but even I laughed at myself as I sat at work wiping my eyes the first time I saw this. Luckily I came prepared with a tissue when I posted the link.

Joanna Newsom- "Sawdust and Diamonds"

Poppin Off In Sweden

2007-01-02T20:28:00.000-08:00

Through a series of complicated and highly accurate mathematical equations, scientists have been able to calculate that the exact center of the pop music universe rests somewhere within the borders of what is modern day Sweden. Theories abound as to why this is the case but all credible sources regard it as an immutable fact. Immediately upon birth, Swedish children have even been known to belt out frightfully catchy, chart-topping melodies when spanked. Perhaps the future holds answers to this mystery but for now we are simply left to scratch our heads in wonder and dance with abandon.

Run down the names: ABBA, Roxette, Ace of Base, The Cardigans etc. Perfect pop music from blond haired artists with infectious hooks. Helping carry on this tradition, singer-songwriter Robyn is doing her countrymen proud and steadily becoming one of the best pop acts on any continent. If you know her at all, its probably from one of her mid 90s American singles "Show Me Love" or "Do You Know (What It Takes)". Both of which used to blast from the hatch back of my Honda CR-X after track practice. She never got huge stateside, but kept making music and turned out a couple of smash singles in Europe. In '05 she started her own label, Konichiwa Bitches, and put out the self titled album Robyn. The video below for "Handle Me" is a lot like her music, simple in execution but dead on with the charm. I love how the guys ice grillin the camera look so perfectly real. And could she be any cuter in those cornrows and bamboo earrings...not likely. The song to download, "Konichiwa Bitches", is from the '06 Rakamonie E.P. Use this one to brighten up any dull moment with hardly no effort at all. Robyn makes it easy.

Robyn- "Konichiwa Bitches"

Robyn- "Handle Me"

Blue-Eyed Glitch Soul

2006-12-31T09:35:00.000-08:00

Mike Milosh's style branched off from the same limb that grew The Postal Service, Junior Boys, and Jamie Liddel. Its the reimagined sound of soul in a digital realm. Where every I love you is sliced, dissected and recombined to electronically wring feeling from voices that may not have reached such depths otherwise. Carving out his place in this sound, Milosh hardly ever raises his voice above a whisper or his beats above 80 bpm, but he still manages to make it rain in this quiet storm. Micro snaps and stutters leave plenty of room for his phrasing to waltz all over the tracks. He always sings like he's on one knee and this earnest approach makes potentially boring moments warmly heartfelt instead.

The track below for download, "Its Over", is from his 2006 album Meme. Almost over before it starts, I can listen to this song all day and never get bored. A perfect example of his simple appeal, its nearly begging for the movie soundtrack treatment. Zack Braff I'm looking at you. The video is for the song "You Make Me Feel" from 2004's You Make Me Feel. In a super inventive move, this video actually changes every time you watch it based on your local weather. The youtube clip is just one static take, for your own original version click here.

Milosh- "It's Over"

Milosh- "You Make Me Feel"

No Time To Rest

2006-12-26T21:26:00.000-08:00

El-P is an artist I count as automatic. No matter when or where, if he puts his hand to a project I’m rolling pennies til I get enough money to buy his new heat. Right now he’s in the studio stoking just that sort of fuego and I’m busy looking in couch cushions making sure I have the coinage to cop it when it drops.

Since his days with Company Flow he’s continuously built on his everything but the kitchen sink approach to production and crafted some of the densest off-kilter soundscapes ever put on wax. The man has a command of drum pattern programming that leaves 808s tripping over themselves trying to keep up. Blend that with the disembodied synths that float in and out of the mix and you get 8 steps to haunted-hop perfection. He’s finally found the time between producing for others and heading the Def Jux imprint to drop this second proper solo album I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead. Word has it that he’s calling in favors from the likes of Trent Reznor, The Mars Volta and Cat Power to name a few. The world needs a remix of “The Greatest” if you have time sir. From the sound of these new tracks his heart’s still in ’88 but he’s seen the future of the machine and knows how grimy the gears can get. Brains have been ground up trying to decipher wordplay like this. I’m happy to just let these metallic sonics steam roll the status quo without getting too involved myself.

El-P "Smithereens (Stop Crying)"

El-P "Everything Must Go"

Nothing Left To See

2006-12-23T17:05:00.000-08:00

Emily Haines has one of those voices that reminds you of the time when singers sounded like individuals and not just Auto-Tuned factory girls. Her catalogue isn't long enough to secure a place as a permanent member in my vocal Security Council yet but Neko, PJ, Rufus and the rest think there might be room at the table if she keeps this up.

When fronting the punky Canadian outfit Metric she yelps and hollers between her whispers to add a cathartic and propulsive dynamism to their songs. On her second solo outing, Knives Don't Have Your Back, she never steps too hard on the gas. It isn't about getting where you're going, its about gazing out the window and trying to count the stars you're using as a map. Of all the songs my personal fave is "Doctor Blind", which mopes its way to making a point about empty modern hearts stuffed to the brim with pills. We can't swallow human connection and the druggy, plodding video by director Jaron Albertin shows that hard truth in a simple but off putting way. Something's just not right. You know, Emily knows it, and so does the man behind the counter refilling your script.

A Little Lily

2006-12-23T11:11:00.000-08:00

Lily Allen is but one part of my self professed Anglophilia. She's just about the cutest damn Chav this side of Sussex and I'm really feeling her style. Born of Myspace demo postings, her album Alright Still went straight to #1 in the UK based on the easy ska-lite rhythms and snotty/charmings lyrics. It was a perfect summertime record that sounded like a tall glass of hard lemonade, saccharin sweet but plenty boozey.

I've put a few tracks on the album in heavy rotation at one time or another but right now I'm all caught up in "Littlest Things". Observational slice of life moments rap-sung over a wilting piano melody make for an I miss you song thats equal parts sentimental and realistic. Leaves me glassy-eyed with a smile still on my face. That and I love the way she calls sneakers "trainers". Shit is dope.

Deep Underpinnings

2006-12-21T15:07:00.000-08:00

Califone are a band I came across just this year, but feel like I've lived with forever. Its in the music they make. Hazy, lived in, notes reach way down to the roots of American music and pull up a unique sound, dirt and all. Deep jangles and clangs of folk, country, gospel, blues and rock as seen through eyes teared from pulling so damn hard. To help bring up these sounds buried under modern ground, they use slightly modern studio techniques. Subtle samples and programmed drums get their hands dirty right along side banjos and harmonicas. Everyone pulls their weight and they move with chain gang rhythm, keeping steady time. Finally, weary and bruised from the journey out come songs from another era that couldn't exist again until now. Tired, but hopeful after seeing the light of day.

Califone- "Our Kitten Sees Ghosts"

Califone- "Sunday Noises"

Quitters Never Win

2006-12-20T15:27:00.000-08:00

When art and commerce mingle, smoke and mirrors are deployed. One of the quickest slight of hand moves is to take a blase singer and dress 'em up in studio production geared specifically to reap critical acclaim. Somewhere along the way the industry learned that if you take what the kids are listening to, and slow it down to half-adult contemporary speed you split the two in half to find a delicious Grammy filled center. Its from the blood of this musical Seppuku that singers like the UK's Amy Winehouse are born. Imagine a Joss Stone with no chops, and you're somewhere in the neighborhood she terrorizes. She even went head to head with Ms. Stone for a Mercury Prize in 04, the blood of better-solo ideas still on her hands.

Now take a band like Hot Chip. Also from the UK, also criticaly acclaimed, also nominated for a Mercury Prize (06). They're an example of styles come together under the blanket of love to give birth to something great. Pop, electrco, rock, soul, dance, they cover every base and still shake their ass while rounding 3rd. When music embraces you get new life. When it collides you get monstrous Frankensuck singles.

So its a testament to their skill that the guys from Hot Chip somehow manage to break out a wig, a pretty dress and some makeup to turn one of Amy's beasts into something I wouldn't be afraid to hold hands with in public. I think the Craigslist phrase is "passable". I'm loving the bounce to this track and the sentiment is one that any dabbler can relate with....right or wrong. This is LA sunrise music, and trust me, no one wakes up that early in LA.

Amy Winehouse- "Rehab" (Hot Chip Remix)"

Some Dreams Stay Dreams, Some Dreams Come True

2006-12-20T11:50:00.000-08:00

I have to admit right off the top that I've never been the Ace #1 Nas fan on the planet. Can he rhyme: no doubt. Do I respect his swagger: no question. But for reasons that remain wormhole mysterious he's never been at the top of my personal MC roll call. There's no questioning his status in the game, or the place of Illmatic in the pantheon of rap records but I've always been whatevs when it came to his albums. That being said, Hip Hop Is Dead is an end to end burner without question. Knowing how I came at him before, theres no merit in me giving it the coveted "Best Record Since Illmatic" tag that every other review lays on it. All I can say is that this is the most entertained he's left me since...well...ever. This album is no Illmatic, even a casual and some might say weak-jack, listener like me can tell the difference between a stone cold classic and and a solid late career record. Illmatic might turn up in your college syllabus, Hip Hop Is Dead might turn up in your late night smoke session.

Theres no shortage of yarns spun but of all the cuts on the album I keep coming back to "Still Dreaming" with Kanye West. Whipping up the same colabo chemistry that made "We Major" a stand out on Kanye's album both MCs snuggle up in an understated drum break that stays elevated thanks to the whisper light vocal sample that loops through the song. They lay it on you like a daydream- you get that far off gaze and its like you're really there, till you blink and its over. Indelibly easy.

Nas featuring Kanye West- "Still Dreaming"