Photo credit: Miss Anniela.

Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood – Sand
(How does that grab you / 1966)

Sand is one of the sexiest songs that Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood ever penned together. It tells the story of a woman whose flames of love are small until she meets this cold man called Sand, that sets her on fire. It’s a well known fact that nothing fuels a good flirtation like need and desperation. The rhythm section is particulary interesting, a cross of guitars and what sounds like harps which give the song a certain vibe that I can’t stop relating to beach boys’ “pet sounds” and also a sitar kind of solo in the middle that draws an instant comparison to what would eventually become the most important rock record of the 60′s:

The Beatles – tomorrow never knows
(Revolver / 1966)

This song popped on my car on Wednesday and I was telling my lover how mind boggling it might have been for the Beatles audience (which pretty much means everyone who had ears in the 60′s) to hear Revolver for the first time. I know it’s a trite example but imagine the odds of a pop-icon such as Justin Timberlake to suddenly move to northern Europe, become a heroine drug-addict (which he probably is already) and to come out of the studio one year later with the most influential rock record of the decade under his sleeve. It’s not as if they did a huge step from Rubber Soul to Revolver but every single song on Revolver is a marvellous collage of innovation with restraint. And yet when they lose it, it gets even better, the only time they do it on full scale in here, is on the album closer “tomorrow never knows”, an acid-drenched pleasure trip driven by Ringo’s hypnotizing drumming, a droning sea of backward guitars and sped-up cellos revolving around one single note and John blurting something about taoist lisergic meditation, giving a glimpse on the brilliant career that was just in front of them.

Santana – soul sacrifice
(Santana / 1969)

The 60′s was an exciting time for debuts and Santana’s was amongst the best of them all. The percussion solo on Soul Sacrifice and the vast amount afrocuban percussive elements on his debut turned many of the listeners on to Latin music for the first time, and given thw sheer amount of boasting energy that the album gave to the rock scene, it really shouldn’t come as a surprise to anybody.

Nina Simone – funkier than a mosquito’s tweeter
(It Is Finished / 1974)

Nina Simone doing funk! But this is not just your average funk workout, but one that pulls from African soul like Ali Farka Toure, Fela Kuti and Nina’s own high jazz standards to create a 5 minute smoldering groove punctuated intermittently by a soft upright bass and amazing drums. It is subtle nuanced yet undeniably funky with a sophistication and rawness you rarely find in this type of music.

Bo Diddley – elephant man
(The black gladiator / 1970)

The Black Gladiator comes on strong with the opening cut, “Elephant Man,” which rides a primitive three-note riff into gale-force funk as Diddley proceeds to explain how he invented the elephant—that’s right, invented the elephant—constructing the animal piece by piece. After that, Diddley throws up his fist for black power, contemplates the word of God, brags about his sexual prowess, and lays down the law for his wife, telling her “you ain’t going nowhere, put those shoes back under the bed.” (Fred Beldin on “I’d love to turn yo on to Bo Diddley”)

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Tarantino is the first white filmmaker to forge a career based on disreputable, underclass taste — the movie culture that black urban youth were raised on and affectionately viewed as their own. Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill owe their inspiration to ’70s blaxploitation movies — a Hollywood trend that catered to the domestic fragmentation that occurred in America after ’60s political dissent, responding specifically to the social conflagrations of riots and rebellions that shifted the tax base and demographic make up of most U.S. cities. (Abandoned urban movie houses were blighted, left to feature the kind of trash-product that had been the traditional fare of drive-ins.) Blaxploitation anticipated a lasting cultural fragmentation. The pop audience that the ’60s seemed to unite became newly segregated into distinct racial and generational enclaves. The young folk who grew up on blaxploitation (and who would innovate hip hop culture) withdrew into disaffected sub-cults — claiming grade Z action movies, even the cheaply made and hastily dubbed kung-fu imports, as aesthetic ideals divorced of any social or ideological thinking. -Alter.net

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“O Ren Ishii adventure”

01. Yeasayer - Sunrise (MySpace)
2080 sunrise single (We Are Free, 2007)
02. Björk - Ambergris March
The Music form Drawing Restraint 9 (One Little Indian Us, 2006)
03. Medeski Martin and Wood – Partido Alto
The Dropper (2000)
04. The Flashbulb – Passage D
Binedump EP ( Bohnerwachs Tontrager, 2005)
05. Son House – Grinning in Your Face
Original Delta Blues (1998)
06. The Go! Team – Patricia’s Moving Picture
Proof Of Youth (Sub Pop, 2007)
07. Battles - Tonto (Four Tet Remix)
Tonto (Four Tet / The Field Mixes) (Warp Records, 2007)
08. Moondog - Avenue of the Americas (51st street)
Viking of Sixth Avenue (2006)
09. Public Enemy – Harder Than You Think (Instrumental)
Harder Than You Think (Slam Jamz Records, 2007)

note: Can a music genre and its signifying form exist outside the narrative of popular culture. (ie. does this song sound white or black without the usual context?) Admittedly this is a much more polite than I originally put it as a responds to S/F-J article in New Yorker. On top of very hard to pin beyond the obvious, this sort of conversation is not useful nor fun beyond revealing thinking construct of an observer. It’s nothing more than a critic projecting his own cultural perception. And often it doesn’t even fit with what goes on. For eg. What sound exactly is the list above? It certainly is organized in some criteria, but does it conforms to what critic likes to call “indie rock“? (bass line, soulful, rhythm/harmony structure, voice) Second, this list is a proof that internet and the various resources in can create a coherent sound beyond what is commonly accepted. Without the internet and various site like oink, adventurous sound cannot emerge except out of few elites with access. Consequently the primary function of p2p is to aggregate sounds in quantity never before for everybody. New sound can be created by anybody outside few traditional taste makers. Anybody. This is what the media conglomerate fears. So this post exists only because of current form of cross talk on the net. (more discussion 1, 2, 3)

see also: Made her smile for a while
image: O Ren Ishii from Kill Bill.

Taken by trees – taken too young (TTA remake)
(mp3 release only)
Yeasayer – sunrise
(2080 sunrise single / 2007)
Late of the Pier – the bears are coming
(criminally unreleased)
Frankmusik – made her smile
(Frankisum ep / 2007)
The Go! Team - ladyflash
(thunder lightning strike / 2004)
Those Dancing days – Those dancing days
(Those dancing days Ep / 2007)
Hot Chip – shake a fist
(shake a fist / 2007)
Lukestar – white shade
(white shade 7″ / 2007)
Marnie Stern – put all your eggs in one basket and then watch that basket
(in advance of the broken arm / 2007)

For this playlist I’ve chosen the most exuberant, childlike pastiche pop that I have heard this year. It’s all fun, deliriously evanescent and is almost guaranteed to cheer you up and embed firmly into your brain with its overwhelming chirpiness and dizzying percussions abound. Enjoy.

Image credit: Mark Verhaagen

Geraldo D’arbilly – So Wet (Summer Rain)
(www.geraldodarbilly.com/ 2007)
RJD2 – Ghostwriter
(Dead Ringer/ 2002)
Oribtal – Attached
(Snivilisation/ 1994)
Sound Tribe Sector 9 – Equinox
(Seasons 01/ 2002)
thefunke1 – Ellison
(acidplanet.com/ 2006)
Karsh Kale – One Step Beyond
(Realize/ 2001)

notes: not much of a theme … just what’s been playing in the background lately … eclectic (it is what it is) … some jazz, some electronic, some a bit raspy hip-hop funkish, just a medley mix — enjoi

photo: courtesy of alex donald

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This, then, is the will to live–that is to say, it is exactly _that which_ so intensely desires both life and continuance, and which accordingly remains unharmed and unaffected by death. Further, its present state cannot be improved, and while there is life it is certain of the unceasing sufferings and death of the individual. The _denial_ of the will to live is reserved to free it from this, as the means by which the individual will breaks away from the stem of the species, and surrenders that existence in it. – Schopenhauer, Metaphysic of Love.

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“autumn #5″

01. Frederic Chopin – Piano Sonata No. 3 in B minor Op. 58 : IV. Finale (Presto, non tanto)
Martha Argerich Plays Chopin: The Legendary 1965 Recording (1999)
02. Sergei Rachmaninov – Preludes Op. 32 No.12 (Sviatoslav Richter, 1983)
Sviatoslav Richter 3 (1999)
03. Franz Schubert – Impromptu #2 In A Flat, Op. 142, D 935 – Allegretto
Alfred Brendel : Impromptus Op. 90 & 142 (1989)
04. J.S. Bach – Partita No.2. V Rondeau & VI Capriccio
Martha Argerich : Live from the Concertgebouw, 1978 & 1979 (2000)
05. Frederic Chopin – Sonate Nº 2 En Si Bémol Majeur, Op.35: IV Finale (Presto)
Alfred Cortot : Frédéric Chopin: Piano Works (2002)
06. Domenico Scarlatti – Sonata in F minor K.466
17 sonate per pianoforte
07. Sergei Rachmaninov – Preludes Op. 23 No 4 In D (Sviatoslav Richter, 1983)
Sviatoslav Richter 3 (1999)

Note: Fall mood filler, almost a romance list. They are excellent, something like 200 yrs of piano playing history compressed in 20 minutes of modernistic approach. I like firm interpretation and full dynamic range, expressive but within structure.

see also: Dec ’06 entry, .
image: Astrohome, NYT