Ribbon Bow

I've been fiddling around with this for the past couple of days. It was really nice to work in a slow tempo.

Samplse Used:
Asha Bhosle - Ab Ke Baras Bhej
Asha Bhosle - Aaiye Meharban
Debussy - Nocturnes (Nuages)
Isaac Hayes - (They Long to Be) Close to You
Maxine Sullivan - If I Had a Ribbon Bow
Otis Redding - Your One and Only Man

A couple of weeks ago Gabe played me "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel." It was a strange coincidence, because I'd been reading about the record in Can't Stop Won't Stop, a history of what author Jeff Chang calls the hip-hop generation. Gabe was interested in the break 2:13 into the record. We figured out all the other samples Flash uses, since they've all gone on to become ubiquitous hip-hop breaks, but we couldn't place that one.

The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel

We had no luck until we turned to Damon who figured out that the break came from another record by Grandmaster Flash, "The Birthday Party." The instrumental version is actually the b-side to the Wheels of Steel.

The Birthday Party

After hearing this, I assumed that the song was also based on another sample, and I was determined to track it down. After hours of fruitless searching, I found the that the composer credits for the song were given to Sylvia Robinson and Clifton "Jiggs" Chase on Allmusic. Sylvia Robinson is the owner of Sugar Hill Records, and Chase was the label's in-house producer. He was responsible for that awesome keyboard line on "The Message." The lack of documentation on the record with the composer credits leads me to believe that the song was sample free. I'd read a few things about Sugar Hill's in-house band, and I can only assume that "The Birthday Party" is one of their creations. I guess my initial assumption that the song had to have come from a sample reveals some of the residual prejudices I still hold against hip-hop as an art form. I'm working on it.

Anyway, during my research I also found this great song Sylvia Robinson did during her career as an artist. It's called "Pillow Talk" and has that Fleetwood Mac style drum feel.

We're playing a show on Saturday, August 9th at Public Assembly (formerly known as Galapagos) in Brooklyn with Camera-Head Shark (10:30 PM), The Jaguar Club (11:30 PM), and The States (12:30 AM). We go on at 1:30 AM. Get some extra sleep the night before so you can stay up late and see our set.

Public Assembly
70 North 6th St. Brooklyn, NY.
718.384.4586

Gabel just posted the same thing, but I figured I'd break up the tracks, and host the file instead of having it on yousendit. This is most of our set. The tape ran out before we played our last two songs. Also on the bill were the excellent Data Dog, The Kitchen Cabinet, and Megafaun.

Setlist:

Nectarine
We Are Four
Daniel
Great Girl
Aquarellas
I Want a House
Be Kind to Your Conscience

All I Really Want to Do
Ginger

Download the entire show (zip)

Obama Mix

Months after I actually finished designing the site it's up. There are many kinks to be worked out, but it's coming along. Please let me know if you notice any bugs, it'd be very helpful.

To commemorate the launch I'm posting a mix that Damon and I made over several months. It began in the early spring, and then I didn't touch it for a while because I couldn't come up with a decent end. But I finally found it, so enjoy. The mix itself is kind of strange. It's not the length of most mixes because it has a bunch of edits and it would just be too time-consuming to do 45 minutes. At the same time it doesn't have enough edits to completely remove it from the realm of a mixtape I haphazardly threw together. Plus, the tempo was difficult to work with. The whole mix is 100 BPM, too slow for most house, and too fast for a lot of hip-hop. I'm happy I did it though, because it lets me start to figure out what I want to do with this particular kind of form. I'm not really interested in doing remixes, or straight mixes. Mostly, it's the context of each sample within the whole that's fascinating. I'll figure it out eventually.

Samples Used:

Fela Kuti - Lady (0:00)
Jack Mayborn - Music People (0:38)
Jay-Z - Public Service Announcement (Interlude) (1:24)
Justin Timberlake - Señorita (2:24)
Black Ivory - I Keep Asking You Questions (3:21)
Nas - Life's A Bitch (3:31)
J Dilla - The Diff'rence (3:50)
Caetano Veloso - Irene (4:50)
Blur - Moroccan People's Revolutionary Bowl Club (4:55)
8-Ball & MJG - Just Like Candy (6:12)
Air - Ce Matin La (7:09)
Boogie Down Productions (7:55)
Breeders - Cannonball (8:40)
Daft Punk - Emotion (9:23)
Run DMC - Sucker MCs (10:02)
Ray Parker Jr. - Ghostbusters Theme (10:50)
T.I. - Bring 'Em Out (11:38)
Dr. Dre - The Next Episode (12:36)
David McCallum - The Edge (13:43)
Wu-Tang Clan - Day Mystery of Chessboxing (14:02)
Sly & The Family Stone - Family Affair (14:51)
NWA - Express Yourself (15:21)
Chic - Funny Bone (15:21)
Public Enemy - Bring Tha Noise (15:40)
Beastie Boys - Super Disco Breakin' (15:58)

Get Through the Night

In my dreams I'm still working on an album that all my friends will play on. Ryan Smith is going to sing this song, and we started doing it, but I was never really happy with how it was coming out. So, this is a new try at it. Luke Daniels will be playing bass, and I need to add a couple of little extra things as well as spend a couple of hours programming the drums.

These aren't new or anything.

SWAT Instrumental

Get Loose Instrumental

You're No Cannibal

I did this last night, hope you like it. It needs drums and bass... so get on it Eric. I did an older version of this when I wrote it. It's a capella save for some silly ass Radiohead drums. You can listen to it below.

You're No Cannibal (ver. 1)

SWAT

I think this is almost done. I re-did the second part completely, and made a couple of subtle changes with the help of Damon.

I started working on some new stuff using ableton. The transitions are rough, and I'm re-using a drum loop that I've already used. It's starting to sound kind of like what I want it to though.

listen!

The song samples The Rhythm Heritage - "Theme From SWAT," Foster Sylvers - "Misdemeanour," and Bob James "Take Me to Mardi Gras."