November 18, 2008 – 10:30 am
Obviously getting older is cause for a bit of introspection. For some it might even be a source of panic, worry or depression. For others it’s simply a passage of time. For me it’s an across-the-board experience, but the chronology of my experiences has always been important to me.
During my relatively short journey I’ve seen so many changes…four music formats (vinyl, 8-tracks, cassette tapes and now compact discs) have meet obsolescence…phones went from rotary-dials to almost universally wireless mini-computers…computers themselves, once esoteric giants, are now the primary method of communication and livelihood for many, myself included…and the country I live in, where racist cowards burned a cross in my front yard when I was a child, overwhelmingly voted an African American man into the highest political office in the nation.
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November 17, 2008 – 10:30 am
This upcoming Sunday is my birthday. My original plan for the day was to gather some good friends and extended family together, make an afternoon visit to a local “gentlemen’s club” and then go out to dinner. However, financial troubles and the work schedule of some of those friends are probably going to gang up to collectively rain on my nudity-and-tasty-food-themed parade.
Since I’m not the type of person to resort to masked robbery to get what I want I’ve settled on substituting far-less pricey internet porn and whatever snacks I can scrounge in place of my foiled scheme. Being the musical nerd that I am I’ve even devised a way to assure that the booty jiggling on my screen is accompanied by some appropriately triple-x-rated, bass-heavy, club-worthy, booty-poppin’ music. And it’s to Miami, Florida’s Otto Von Schirach, and his new LP Oozing Bass Spasms, whom I turn to first to provide it.
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By El Keter
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Posted in Music
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Tagged Bruce Haack, Carmen Castro, Daft Punk, Detroit Grand Pubahs, DJ Assault, Feist Rob Base, Kool G Rap, Mr. Oizo, Otto Von Schirach, Spank Rock, Uffie, Yo Majesty
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November 14, 2008 – 10:30 am
Earlier this week I was watching late-nite re-runs of The Cosby Show when I had a revelation. Dr. Heathcliff “Cliff” Huxtable, the show’s main character, despite all of his positive aspects, was a habitual liar. He was a successful doctor, had an amazing wife, exceedingly lovely daughters, an industrious son, and an awesome brownstone in Brooklyn…But he was a liar. He was constantly keeping things from his wife, hiding food around the house, telling tall tales and making up details about his own life whenever questioned by his children or grandchildren. The only people he may have been wholly honest to were his patients.
I bring this up because I think this breakthrough may have contributed to my picking Bill Cosby’s 1968 LP, Hooray for the Salvation Army Band, his second release as a singer rather than a comedian, for this week’s Records at Random entry. I can’t lie and act like it’s not a novelty album, and I generally shy away from treating novelty records as more than mere curiosities. But I already had Cosby on the brain, so when I flipped past it while digging through some wax I set it aside thinking it’d be a perfectly good addition to the blog. And it is, just like it was a perfectly good addition to my record collection, because in all honesty it’s not a bad album at all.
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By El Keter
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Posted in Music
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Tagged Allen Toussaint, Bill Cosby, Bill Withers, Bobby Hebb, Charles Wright, Dennis Coffey, Jimi Hendrix, Parliament, Rufus Thomas, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band
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November 13, 2008 – 10:30 am
Yes, that is Chunk–the pudgy, habitually dishonest, ice-cream-obsessed kid from the 1980’s flick The Goonies–doing his “truffle shuffle” at the top of this page. And that can only mean one thing…that in today’s post I’m putting Blogarhythms on “shuffle” once again!
Named after a song by postpunkelectrogoths New Order, the Paris-based Thieves Like Us are an Electro-Rock trio made up of two guys from Sweden and a guy from America who met in Berlin, heard a lot of electronic music they didn’t like and decided to make their own. I fell in love with their singles, the glitched-n-filtered “Drugs In My Body” and the chilly “Fass,” which have been out forever. And I’ve quite enjoyed their debut album Play Music–which meshes melancholy Post-Punk and New Wave/Electro-inspired electronics a-la Factory Records/The Haçienda, incorporates proggy Krautrockisms and then squeezes it all through the filter of crunchy Electro-House–since I got my hands on it during the Summer of ‘07. I thought it hit stores soon after, and even put it on my “best of list” over at Imageyenation last year. But apparently it was only just released! I don’t know what the wait was about, but if you think Devo would have sounded better if they were born in England and became The Smiths–but still played synthesizers–you’ll dig.
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By El Keter
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Posted in Music
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Tagged Bobbito, CocoRosie, Count Bass D, Daedelus, Devo, Filthy Dukes, Flying Lotus, Illa J, Jay Dee, Joe "Bean" Esposito, John Cafferty, L-Vis 1990, M.F. Doom, Minnie Riperton, New Order, Oliver, Pete Nice, Plastic Little, RJD2, Robert Tepper, The Long Lost, The Smiths, Thieves Like Us
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November 12, 2008 – 10:30 am
The pair of acts I’m going to introduce you to today are sort-of a holdover from yesterday’s entry discussing Neptunesian Pop music. Neither of them are signed to the Star Trak label. But both are well-versed in the keyboard and drum-machine-powered method of neoteric transposition of the grooves, melodies, chords, instrumental flourishes, songwriting and vocal styles of the Pop, Soul, Funk and R&B of the past which has given Pharrell & Chad so many hits.
From Copenhagen, Denmark comes When Saints Go Machine, a four-man band whose self-titled debut EP left me staggered in a way no record by an unfamiliar artist has since Hot Chip’s Coming On Strong fell in my lap a few years ago. Like a lot of records I recommend it’s not available in any official capacity here in the states, but it’s one that I assure you is worth whatever efforts one might need make to obtain a copy. Hopefully I’ll get enough people hooked on them that some label will see fit to properly release their forthcoming full-length on our shores when it drops.
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By El Keter
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Posted in Music
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Tagged Calvin Harris, Caspa Codina, Chromeo, Danger Mouse, Envy, Hot Chip, James Pants, Jamie Lidell, Justin Timberlake, Lady Sovereign, Lo-Fi-Fnk, Matthew Dear, MSTRKRFT, Plantlife, Robin Thicke, Sam Sparro, Scissor Sisters, Spektrum, The DFA, The Neptunes, Usher, When Saints Go Machine
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I bring this up because I think this breakthrough may have contributed to my picking Bill Cosby’s 1968 LP, Hooray for the Salvation Army Band, his second release as a singer rather than a comedian, for this week’s Records at Random entry. I can’t lie and act like it’s not a novelty album, and I generally shy away from treating novelty records as more than mere curiosities. But I already had Cosby on the brain, so when I flipped past it while digging through some wax I set it aside thinking it’d be a perfectly good addition to the blog. And it is, just like it was a perfectly good addition to my record collection, because in all honesty it’s not a bad album at all.
Named after a song by postpunkelectrogoths New Order, the Paris-based 
From Copenhagen, Denmark comes 