Tuesday, March 31, 2009

2 THINGS



First thing: I am pretty much just hanging at the GAYSCIENCE TUMBLR nowadays, so go check them shits out. Hilariousness, internet linkage, shitty opinions, etc. Also look at my band's myspace.

Second thing: GAYSCIENCE is playing tomorrow and the next day at the Lab theatre at UT at 8:30 and 5:30 respectively. Let's get this shit apoppin.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Friday, February 13, 2009

Really Tho



The Clash was very good at creating, in my opinion, successful songs. Mind blowing? Infrequently. They excel at outlining the modest aims of their song and then achieving those modest aims with panache and raditude. Por ejemplo: Train in Vain. Problem: you said you would stand by me, you did not in fact stand by me. Secondary problem: I am still into you. Solution: Write a song outlining the problem as well as speculating the root cause of said problem (the inconstancy of women? lyin?), using the most elementary rhyming structure available in the English language, three chords, and a harmonica. Mission accomplished. 

Saturday, February 7, 2009

SUPER ROOTS 10 IZ HEEERRRRREEEE!!!


I rarely offer to fight people over the internet, but I will go on record right now and say that I will fight any adult human being who claims that Vision Creation Newsun is not the best album to drive to/take drugs to ever made. Driving while taking drugs? Better. Actually, stop the car, do the drugs and then drive. The Boredoms have stopped fucking around, I guess, and have decided that, in lieu of being bizarro and mysterious, they will just shred constantly, which I whole-heartedly endorse. In my mind, The Boredoms transcend the "shred gap" that Agresta and I argue about ad nauseaum–the question being, does shredding=douchebaggery in all possible situations in all possible worlds? The answer is clearly no, because The Boredoms shred monstrously and are clearly not douchebags. Although the singer-guy has dreads. Fuck. Well, Super Roots 10 just came out and this song is apparently called "Ant 10." That may be a lie, though. ANYWAYS IT IS FUCKING RAD, so stop wasting your time and download this shit. Also, there are hella remixes, one by Lindstrom as well but I am sour on that guy since he has given up the crown of Swedish model-slayer and now, like, hangs in chatrooms with AC Slater or some other bloghouse garbaggio. SXFCE out. 

Friday, February 6, 2009

Violent Rage Attcaks

Sexface and Flava Flav: Great Minds?

HOLY FUCKING CRAP. Sorry. So I just found out today that Public Enemy, during their unsung (read: sucky) years, recorded a song called "Do You Wanna Go Our Way???" Subject matter: I don't know. All I know is that I listened to the first few bars of this and realized that they sampled the EXACT SAME PART of the EXACT SAME SONG that I sampled to make the beat for the Steak Fingaz mega-jam "Space Snacks." Does this kind of thing happen to real hip-hop producers, or just jokers like myself who's idea of "crate digging" is finding dead Hungarian music blogs? Whatevs, I think that Steak Fingaz brought it a lot harder, both on the beat and the rhymes–although this may have occurred during flav's ascent to reality stardom, in which case he gets a pass. NO PASS FOR U THO, CHUCK D!

Monday, January 12, 2009

Clube da Esquina v. Quarteto em Cy


One of my favorite past times–besides drinking champagne and watching Scrubs (not a joke?)–is listening to different versions of the same song, preferable with one of the versions being by the composer. I really, truly, enjoy this when the non-composer's version ends up being better. Why is that? Because it means that the song is actually better than the composer himself knew, which in my opinion, is the sign of a good piece o' art. Today I will be taking a look at two versions of the song "Tudo que você podia ser," (Everything that you could have been) originally written by the Borges brothers, Lô and Márcio. The original version of the song was released on Lô Borges* and Milton Nascimento's "Clube da Esquina" (The corner club) an album which cemented both of them as permanent fixtures in MPB. Without getting too into it, I will say that both of these dudes are super heavy duty hosses (Nascimento made an album with Wayne Shorter after this and gets mad respect from jazz heads and screaming, fainting Brazilian cougars, Borges became a little too saccharine but is still an unstoppable freight train of harmonically complex pop). Another thing that I will refrain from doing is translating all of the lyrics, but I will tell you that they deal with someone who has lost their childhood hopes of being a great hero. They really fit with the melancholy tone of the rest of the album, most of whose topics deal–in a dreamy, abstract way–with the two musician's home state of Minas Gerais, which is like the Texas of Brazil (I will explain someday why I say that). The melancholy of the lyrics works well with the somewhat ragged timing of the vocals contributes to their earnestness. The articulation doesn't entirely fit–almost like he is trying to stuff too many thoughts into the line. Check it out.


Next up we have a rendition of the same song by a group called Quarteto em Cy. Quarteto em Cy was a female vocal group composed of 4(5?) sisters who were famous for doing a lot of work with Vinicius Moraes–well known poet, composer, diplomat, bon vivant, lyricist of "The Girl from Ipanema" and general professional badass. One of their trademarks was the fact that most of the time they sang in unison. This sounds simple, but given that we are so used to hearing groups of females sing in harmony, the effect is kind of rad. Unfortunately, this often means that their rhythm is more formulaic, no doubt because it is hard getting everyone to sing in the same rhythm to begin with. You can't simply have everyone warbling off into the melismasphere. That means that this version comes across as snappier, drum set and all. Snappy syncopation is the enemy of Brazilian music. That said, this song is still beautiful so don't sleep on it.


So have I been denied my supreme pleasure of a second version being better than the first? Sort of. It turns out that some years later, Lô Borges–the composer–released a version of this song sans Milton. The result? Horseshit. So I still kind of get my cake and eat it too, a phrase that I never quite understood. holler.



*What a great fucking name