I’ve just created a site for my Spotify playlists. You’ll find it here together with the rest of them. Yes, I’ve quickly created a semi-ugly site for collecting all of my Spotify playlists, so that spotify.pivic.com is the only address you’ll ever have to remember.
Here’s the low-down on the playlist for this week:
…and here’s the breakdown.
Ever since I first heard MC Hammer (or somebody like him) I was intrigued by hip-hop. Thankfully, I found better ways out, and since the real demise of Cypress Hill started, I’ve liked artists that remind me of them and still manage to do individual stuff, like Delinquent Habits. This track just makes me want to hop into a hooptie ride and pimp-smack some pink shirts down at Stureplan.
Speaking of which, Soul Position is really worth checking out; it’s RJD2 and Blueprint! No genre does intros like hip-hop, both in a great and horrible way; this showcases the former. Nuff said!
Break ‘em off some. Indeed. LCD Soundsystem manages to use instruments that make me think of my days as a 9-year-old holding an instrument in music class for the first time, and still make stuff funky; just listen to the break – shock! – at 01:32 in “Time To Get Away“. Minimal arrangement, nasal singing and typical DFA production merges and powerhouses me into loving this.
Speaking of which, the drum-beat in that track has always reminded me of The Clash’s “Train In Vain”, so here that goes. I was going to add something off “Sandinista“, but I’d rather a swangin’ track.
But hell with that in the next word! Bhangra! If I could crush on a singing voice, it’d probably be that of Natacha Atlas. Ever since her days in Transglobal Underground I’ve followed her career with glee, even though I’ve always adored her more western-poppy efforts than her Arabic ones; the former’s just more my cup of tea, but the sound of her mother tongue is enchanting. And don’t dare miss her singing on David Arnold’s famed cover of the James Bond theme titelled “From Russia With Love“.
The Pipettes are fairly defunct right now, especially as Rose Elinor Dougall – one third of the females fronting the band – has embarked on a solo tip. Her first single, “Another Version Of Pop Song“, is to me more alluring than her latest, “Start/Stop/Synchro” Simple pop with slight allure, reminiscent of Charlotte Hatherley in quirkiness, but far from it.
Manics’ first single, “Motown Junk”, was one I really didn’t like at first, but it grew on me over the years, and seeing them perform it live for the promo video is really cool – apart from James’ hairdo.
As Alexander recently made me think of Harry Nilsson, I reckoned it was time to check out his epic album “Nilsson Schmilsson” again. I then remembered that this track, “Jump Into The Fire“, has been covered by Elliott Smith. 70s rawk.
Sibiria is a Swedish band that sings in Swedish, and while their music is fairly harmless and melodic, the lyrics often reek of hatred, which is something I really like. This song is about how Swedish athlete Christian Olsson neglected his friends after he started winning and becoming famous; I’ve no idea whether that was the case or not, but the song is hilarious. Learn Swedish and agree.
When I first heard “Painted From Memory“, the collaboration LP that Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello made together, I felt the tears-a-comin’. The songs were all centered around heart-break or middle-aged crisis and felt original. Contrasting the emotion felt through “Christian Olsson“, these are matured, yet raw emotions that run through the song.
Another break. Orbital is two brothers who make the best cerebral dance music; it’s highly clinical, as in every sound sounds very crisp and cleansed by scientists. Still, this is funky in a way that few can do it. These guys could make a museum rock in a way that Parliament or Kraftwerk couldn’t. This track is off the harrowing “Snivilisation“, a strong contender as one of the best electronic albums of the 90s. Also noteworthy is that Goldfrapp started her career in mainstream music by singing to some of their tracks.
“Mama Told Me Not To Come” is a typical soundtrack song, available to all from Tarantino to Wes Anderson, to American sports films and documentaries. The sound is compressed and organ-laden. Sweeeetness. The kind of music I think I could have been a teenager in the USA during the 70s, if I’d been prone to smoking heroin, shooting dope. Yeah, right. Or I’d be a stiffie jock cheerleader with pom-poms, listening to Rick Springfield. Nah. ‘cuz I was Jesse’s giiiiiiiirl.
Then pair that with the air-shock that is Missy Elliott/Timbaland’s “Pass That Dutch“. Any song that references a serial-killer is always hot with me:
Shove my beat up, attack like my name was Saddam
I am the bomb from New York to Milan
And I can write a song sicker than Jeffrey Dahm’
That’s quite sick, even though I find Dahmer healthier than most people in the US congress. Hollaaaaa!
In a parallel world, I can imagine Missy sitting at home in her styled house, in the middle of her dining-room where all is white, listening to “First Light” by Harold Budd and Brian Eno, leaving her gangsta image way behind her, floating into a distant universe. A wholly different thing is to be said about the most dead Eazy-E and his gangsta image. This track is from before he started hating Dr. Dre, so there’s more “fun” gangsta life here than deadly serious stuff.
Similarly, but vice versa, Phil Lynott’s Thin Lizzy made “Live and Dangerous“, where a hard-rocking Irishman turned fuzzy guitars swangy, as if somebody handed soul to Eric Clapton (and cut down on the f-ing fiddling).
I like the fact that Dirty Pretty Things altered duties when singing, not far from Barât’s regular routine with Pete Doherty in The Libertines. Their trashy sound sounds really tight in comparison with Babyshambles’ debut album. “The enemy, as I know it/is right inside my head“.
Sena Jurinac is one of my favourite singers where opera is concerned. This album is a compilation that I praise Spotify for unearthing; it’s really worth repetitive listens. Her singing Richard Strauss’ “September” is sheer beauty. If you’ve always hated opera, this might a blissful beginning to discover something really beautiful.
Ending this virtual mixtape is The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, today known just as Blues Explosion. “Bellbottoms” is an epic track, showcasing not only how this band churns out tracks as a whole, but how they do it individually; Judah Bauer’s guitar is free-wheelin’, sheer rock ‘n’ roll down-gritted into blues, the swamp, turning men into dinosaurs! Hellfire! At the same time, Russell Simins’ drumming is hip-hop, rock ‘n’ roll and then to top it off, echoing through Jon Spencer’s voice is hauled desire and simpleness expressed because it has to come it, not to be explained but to bring forth like a minister of a non-godworthy church!
So I hope you liked it. Instead of a poll – because everybody seems to hate polls anyway – do leave a comment if you care.
By watching this video, you’ll see a little on how IBM helped the nazis by leasing them punch-card systems, in order to count the number of jews that were lodged at the concentration camps. From the great documentary titelled “The Corporation“, here’s word from Edwin Black, the author of “IBM and the Holocaust“.
