Sunday, August 20, 2006

High, Y'all


I'm in the process of enjoying an unusually lazy and bluntastic afternoon. I don't mind taking some time to correspond with my peoples, but it feels like a good day to stay focused on simply posting music links. I don't think that in my current state, it will be feasible for me to strain my brain too much further than that...

For my own sanity, I haven't watched the news or paid a bit of attention to world events all weekend. I generally require a daily fix of political...spin...but I also believe that it's cathartic to abstain every so often, and revel in a state of blissful oblivion. At the very minimum, it's afforded me the luxury of not having to look at this jackass for a moment or two.

Anyway, do what you've gotta do to have a pleasant day, children(s). Let the music take your mind...

Courtesy of Funky 16 Corners, you can currently download a funky little song called "Buttermilk Pt. 1" by Sly (of The Family Stone). This track was recorded in 1965, well before the bulk of his most popular material was released. Don't miss out---this uptempo groove might actually make you want to move your chubby lil' ass a bit.

One of the most frequently sampled songs in hip-hop history, The Incredible Bongo Band's version of "Apache" is available at My Old Kentucky Blog. A remix of the track by Grandmaster Flash and Sugar Hill Gang's interpretation are also included. Additional thanks to MOKB for calling my attention to this post at Blogs Are For Dogs, which includes mp3s for Pitchfork's entire list of The 200 Greatest Songs of the 1960s.

Speaking of massive/generous mp3 posts, Some Velvet Blog and I AM FUEL, YOU ARE FRIENDS have been busily trying to post all of the tracks that were blended together to create Girl Talk's Night Ripper LP. Cop tunes by Biggie, Busta Rhymes, Black Sheep, The Emotions, Purple Ribbon All-Stars, Stevie Wonder, Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock, George Benson, The Five Stairsteps, Ludacris, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, The Main Ingredient, The Clipse, Digable Planets, 2Pac, and more.

Visit Palms Out Sounds to download a couple more tracks from J. Period's Best of The Roots mixtape, as well as J. Dilla's "Love Movin'", featuring Black Thought.

Everyone who loves me knows that I love Nina Simone. Download "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" via Achtung, Baby!, and her version of "Mr. Bojangles" at Keep The Coffee Coming.

If I'm being honest, Rick Ross's album hasn't exactly been on my list of the most anxiously anticipated releases of the year---but that said, there are a few joints on it that I might be willing to listen to from time to time. Cop three tracks from The Port of Miami by way of Pound for Pound.

Fans of Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings can download mp3 clips of almost all of the tracks from her albums Naturally and Dap Dippin' with Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings. If you aren't already souled on this group, go get familiar...

My friend Obi at Soul On Ice is a finalist for Best International Blog in this year's Black Weblog Awards. Please take a moment to cast a well-deserved vote in his favor.

I somehow forgot about this earlier when I was discussing gigantic mp3 posts, but callmeMICKEY recently posted a ton of Wu-Tang Clan tracks---group efforts, as well as solo joints.

Moistworks offered a couple of excellent posts this past week. One of them features tracks by Betty Davis, Ike and Tina Turner, Labelle, and Vicki Anderson, while the other features Beatles covers by the likes of Ramsey Lewis, Junior Parker, Kim Weston, Donny Hathaway, Joe Bataan, Otis Redding, The Wailers, and more.

Silence Is A Rhythm, Too is featuring a couple of tracks from DJ Krush's 2-disc retrospective (Stepping Stones: The Self-Remixed Best)---"Shinjiro (Harsh Mix)" w/ Mos Def and "Meiso (Silent Gun Mix)" w/ Malik B and Black Thought of The Roots.

At marathonpacks, you can download Al Green's cover of "Take Me to the River", in addition to Stevie Wonder's version of "We Can Work It Out".

Otis Redding's live rendition of "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" is available courtesy of The Sean Show.

If I still haven't given you enough funk your trunk, check out "Butter Your Popcorn" by Hank Ballard and "Chicken Strut" by The Meters, both of which are brought to you by The Stepfather of Soul.

At Fifty-One:Fifty-One you can acquire a couple of tracks from Method Man's new LP, 4:21...The Day After. Regardless of how you feel about his new material, I hope we can all agree that it can't even be in the same iPod with "Bring the Pain". Selling deodorant fucked Meth up fo' real...

Locust Street recently posted numerous songs with the word "blue" in the title. Download tracks by Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Dorothy Moore, Duke Ellington, and many others.

"Shimmy" by Toussaint McCall is available for download at Charles Bronson vs. God.

One of my favorite auditory indulgences when I'm feelin' sorry for myself is "Many Rivers to Cross"---especially the version by reggae great Jimmy Cliff. Cop it at The Rich Girls Are Weeping---and you'll be cryin' like a fool, too.

Any emotion, if it sincere, is involuntary---Mark Twain

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't know if ANY of his 'solo' material can be in the Poddie as "Bring The Pain" can with an exception of "...All I Need" with Mary or a few cuts off Tical.

Anonymous said...

s-

come on! this is an embarrassment of riches.

tho those sharon jones teasers are infuriating. "i've got a fish in my dish"? is worth dropping the green for... by title alone. still, you'd think they'd give you at least one full song.

and i didn't know there was a different betty davis beyond she of the eyes...

as for beck. well he's just saying what we're all thinking, right? ; )

(an awfully heavy burden to give one small emoticon)

stay off the news, it's all bad. let's just hope we survive tomorrow.

firpo

Scholar said...

Boogs---I couldn't agree more. His second album had a couple of decent tracks, but the rest was pretty much a wash.

In Meth's defense, I don't think that the majority of rappers these days are coming w/ anything remotely on the level of "Bring the Pain". Either that, or we're just getting old ;)

Firpo---
As always, your comments were enlightening. I had to go back and edit that clause about the Sharon Jones snippets. The original phrasing was pretty misleading. I'm such a shitty blogger, but I try.

I'm going to post "Fish in My Dish" this week...just for you, and anyone else whose feelings I may have hurt with that misguided link. If you have spare greens lying around, however, her records still make for a worthwhile purchase.

Betty Davis is really wonderful, and very unique in her approach. I discovered her music a few years ago, and was pissed at myself instantly for not being aware of her sooner.

Still haven't watched the news---Beck or otherwise. I did glance at the front page of a newspaper, though, and saw the guy who's being accused of murdering Jon Benet. Strikes me as a convenient way to divert people's attention. The story has all the elements of a Greek tragedy, and people eat it up with a spoon. The sensationalism of it all is pretty revolting---a crazed media circus in the aftermath of the death of a child who was already being exploited. My hypothesis is that this guy wishes he killed her, but didn't. There's so much smoke up my ass that I'm cryin'.

...and that would be just one of many reasons why I shouldn't be allowed to watch the news for a while.

You really do need to write a culture/politics blog. I think it would be interesting, to say the least.

Anonymous said...

quit with the dramatics! you are my mainline to good soul and i will not have you beating yourself up!

as for our friend who "killed" the "beauty princess" I fear you are right and he is just a real piece of work with delusions of grandeur. it's something about his straight out of fourties fred astaire look that really rings my alarms.

i promised myself I'd stay away from blogging, despite the fact that it is an admirable arena- i have too much work to do elsewhere- so don't tempt me! but i'll let you know if i ever put my work on the "interwebs".

meanwhile- don't even glance at that paper. and enjoy the rest of the summer.

f

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