Mr. Oizo is directing a movie...

...about a renegade mind exploding tire:
http://twitchfilm.net/news/2010/01/quentin-dupieux-redefines-the-road-movie-with-rubber.php



(and yes... he's making the soundtrack)

Banner Redesign, Minor Format Changes

Made some changes to the blog's format. Most notably I designed a blog banner image based on this Horace Andy cover:



I also changed the colors of some of the different text types and expanded the main panel's width by 100 pixels to allow for easier reading.

Dam Funk - ToEachIzOwn (2009)

Artist: Dam-Funk
Album: ToEachIzOwn
Format: Double Disc CD release
Genre: Syntesized Funk, R&B
Release Date: 2009
Qualities: Synthesizers, Drum Machines, FUNK
Mood: Chill, Nighttime, Romantic, Driving
RIYL: Prince, Electro-boogie music

Rating: *****

(this review borrows from my Favorites of the Year (2009) post because I felt like I said things pretty well the first time)

It's extremely ambitious to make your first release a double album, but synth-funk wizard Dam-Funk (pronounced "dame") did just that, successfully. It is a refreshing release and one of 2009's best. What Dam does here is to enter into what I might consider Post-Modernist music. Just like a Post-Modern visual artist, he doesn't necessarily do something entirely new, trailblazing, or genre defying; he simply utilizes techniques/concepts already developed, rearranges them, and combines them to achieve his own vision. And within this vision comes uniqueness. Dam-Funk revives the blatant use of synth and so called "dated" sounds to show that it isn't just OK to use them, but actually that they could in fact have many advantages over modern production.
The first CD features songs with Dam-Funk's vocals, whether they be highly distorted or not. This tends to make the songs lean to a little more of an R&B aesthetic (as seen on the wonderful "One Less Day" and "I Wanna Thank You"). So a listener looking for a romantic soundtrack would probably choose the first disc over the harder hitting instrumental second one. The second disc is great to drive to, with the g-funk styled "Hood Pass Intact" and the short but bopping theme song "Toeachizown". The album does lull a bit at points (as most of even the best doubles do), such as on "Brookside Park", which, at over nine minutes long, could be cut to four. Because of the solidity of material overall, and the difference between discs (although they are still both very similar listening experiences) the album retains listener attention regardless (even if they choose to listen to only one of the CDs each sitting). Very highly recommended.

Disc 1 (vocal):

1. Let's Take Off (Far Away) ***
2. Come On Outside ***
3. Mirrors ****
4. One Less Day *****!
5. Brookside Park **
6. The Sky is Ours ****
7. (My Funk Goes) On & On ****
8. Searchin' 4 Funk's Future ***
9. Love Is Here 2Nite (I Can Feel It) ****
10. I Wanna Thank You For (Stepping Into My Life) *****
11. Fantasy ****
12. Keep Lookin 2 the Sky ****

Disc 2 (instrumental):

1. Toeachizown (D-F's theme) *****!
2. 10 West ****
3. The Move Suite *****
4. Flying V Ride ****
5. Burn Straight Thru U *****
6. Rollin' ***
7. Hood Pass Intact *****!
8. Killdat aka Killdatmuthafu*ka ****
9. I Gots 2 Be Done Wit' U ***
10. LAtrifying *****
11. Spacecapades **
12. In Flight ***
    

Terry Lynn - Kingstonlogic 2.0

Artist: Terry Lynn
Album: Kingstonlogic 2.0
Genre: Reggae: Dancehall
Release Date: Sep 23, 2008
Qualities: Ragga/Electronic/Grime, Club music
Mood: Tough & Raw
RIYL: MIA, Sister Carol

Rating: ****

Terry Lynn's debut is an incredibly raw start, anyone expecting your standard contemporary club banging dancehall album will not find what they are looking for. Instead, Terry Lynn gets her "riddims" by having a number of different UK electronic artists provide heavy, relentless beats, giving her a grime aesthetic. Comparisons to MIA may exist, but the difference between MIA and Lynn is that Terry does not come off at all cute. This is not someone poking fun at the tradition of violence and aggressiveness in hardcore rap (such as in MIA's "Paper Planes")--this is someone trying to chant down Babylon.
She has three or four great different toasting styles--from an above average singjay voice (as on "Consumers") to hard-hitting speed toast. Lyrics are about the grittiness of Jamaican ghettos and the irresponsibility of politicians. And on songs like "System", Terry Lynn releases such intense anger it causes chills under one's skin. The album is magnificent for the first eight tracks, and would be an instant contemporary dancehall classic if it weren't for the two songs that follow. "Destiny" has a great electronic beat, but lyrically drops the ball with a refrain that tells us "There's a hero/inside of us all", with the rawness of the prior songs no where to be found. This is forgivable, because inspiring the youth is a noble enough purpose. But the next song goes against all of the political activism Lynn had set on the table beforehand. It is an attempt at a dance number with lyrics about a man who ignored Terry, but now that she is famous and rich she can put him in his place ("You read it in the magazine/I'm living life like a beauty queen"). When you've just listened to an entire album of biting ghetto anthems this song comes off incredibly petty. Luckily Lynn redeems herself with a wonderful throwback to roots reggae/dancehall with the fantastic spiritual closing number "The Most High"--in which she is accompanied by the Melodians vocalist, Brenton Dowe, set to a sparse nyabinghi drum beat and atmospheric electronics. Besides a couple blunders, this material is excellent (some of the best conscious dancehall of the 2000s) and one hopes to see more from Lynn soon. Highly recommended.

1. Child of the Soil ****
2. Kingstonlogic *****
3. Politricks (Interlude)
4. System *****!!
5. Screaming in the Night ***
6. Streetlife *****
7. Imf ***
8. Consumers ***
9. Destiny **
10. Stone *
11. The Most High (Interlude)
12. Rivers of Babylon *****
13. Kingston Rockers (Kingstonlogic remix [hidden track]) ****
    

Sister Carol - Mother Culture (1991)

Artist: Sister Carol
Album: Mother Culture
Genre: Reggae: Dancehall
Release Date: 1991
Qualities: Genre Fusion
Mood: Tough, Spiritual, Upbeat
RIYL: Sister Nancy, Yellowman, Macka B

Rating: ***

Sister Carol is one of the toughest woman in dancehall history, and this album's highlights are during its rawer, more aggressive moments. The album opener "Shackles" is a fiery tune chanting down both her oppression by Babylon as a rasta and, much more refreshingly, as a woman ("Why do the Eden, dey rage/and fight against a woman like me"). This is followed by "Mother Culture", featuring a heavy dub riddim and more feminist lyrics ("Now when I say DJ/me no mean Disc Jockey... Me mean da Daughter of Jah"). Unfortunately, while there are many incredibly strong songs here, the album wavers overall. Granted they are very early examples of dancehall and hip-hop fusion, songs like "B Who U R" and "Tight Spot" are quite bad and feel much more shallow and artificial than the purer dancehall tunes. Most disappointing are Carol's attempts to assimilate popular rapping styles of the time, rather than maintain her excellent dancehall toasting abilities. The rapping does not resemble the sounds of the well established hardcore underground of the early 90s but rather a cheap knockoff of Queen Latifah. The album is further undermined by Sister Carol's attempts at upbeat escapist tunes, such as the calypso tinged "The Music Nice", which both lyrically and musically leaves the listener begging for her to get back to her earlier demonstrations of tough feminist rasta dancehall. Sweetness is best achieved on "Mandela's Release" in which Sister Carol is accompanied by a lover's rock vocalist I cannot identify (although it sounds somewhat like Beres Hammond or perhaps Luciano). The two beautifully duet back and forth with Carol toasting hard and fast. Finally the album closes on another great note with the impressive ragga song "It Haffi Done".

1. Shackles *****
2. Mother Culture ****
3. Ababajoni ***
4. B Who U R *
5. Tight Spot **
6. The Music Nice ***
7. Mi Glad Mi Find God ***
8. Lovers Rock Style **
9. Mandela's Release *****
10. It Haffi Done *****