where the wild things are (full trailer HD)

directed by Spike Jonze. Gandolfini is the monster. Max is Max. song: "Wake Up" by Arcade Fire. Soundtrack will by YYY's Karen O, aka Spike's gf.

equinox - change of seasons

equinox - change of seasons

last night my friend casey were chatting online and trading youtube clips of smoothness and new ageness. following the rabbit-hole of video links, casey came across this jam. an incredible find. it's posted by someone running the 'ambient music collective' out of montreal canada. it sounds like a daft punk sample. literally it's some amazing digital lazer euro lite-funk complete with dope 808 tom thuds. I'm stunned. if you have any leads on this, please, come forward.

sun ra - saga of resistance (theo parrish remix)

sun ra - saga of resistance (theo parrish remix)

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sun ra remix! by theo parrish! 

ra wants to make love in this club: nerds rejoice. 

seriously though, if only more dance music was this hip-shaking but gloriously eccentric at the same time. wonky, out of tune horn loops, frog-voiced guttural mutterisms. I like tracks that sound like the Tattoine bar scene in "Star Wars." 

so deep. unfortunately there's no one singing "space is the place!!! outttter spaaacce..." and no upside-down laser organ solos. don't let that dissuade you from riding the smoothed-out afro-groove submarine all the way to the deep-house ocean floor. 

Heldon - Interface

Heldon - Interface

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legendary lazer-rock face-melter from Richard Pinhas' 70s experimental trio Heldon. Trippy electronics, barrelling, careening drums and siren-squall feedback guitar, it sounds like Sonic Youth jamming with Suicide. no, really, that's what it sounds like, like the sky has cracked and light from the future is shooting down, blinding people. 

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sometimes it pays to judge a record by its cover. I was at Kim's, digging around in the psych rock section, and pulled this martian jedi pilot out from among the dusty sleeves, and bought the thing on sight. You see, I have an excessive faith in the unpredictable. I take alot of hard left-turns. sometimes this means I wind up in the hidden cave of Aladdin, surrounded by spectral, bosomy virgins and occult scrolls, other times I find myself on the wrong end of the rabbit-hole, cast onto a frozen desert, wandering shelterless in the dark. in this case my faith was rewarded - interface is a real mind-blower, one whose first listen can pack enough wallop to shake any nerdic genealogical tree of twentieth-century music.  

The Onion Interviews Kool Keith

Kool Keith & Kutmasta Kurt

some important quotes: 

"What's your beef with Simon Cowell?

Kool Keith: I think for one guy to sit up and judge people and for him to be British at that—who the fuck is he to judge people? To come to America and try to judge people?"

Why shopping?

KK: I like to smell new clothes, tags. The store has new scents. It's just motivational to me. That's the point of doing something. I always buy something to make myself motivated. It's good to feel that you can buy something and motivate yourself. That's what I do, just buy stuff. I like to buy something new and then record."

KK: One time I had like 75 people interview me, and they started asking me the same questions. One guy was just asking me all types of questions, and I was just like, "Yeah, I went to Bellevue. I chewed my own hand off and they had to sew it back on." And the guy believed it." 

Kool Keith Interview In Full

Don Gardner / Betty Harris

Don Gardner - My Baby Likes to Boogaloo



Betty Harris - There's a Break in the Road

There are moments when it would not be difficult to convince me that one of man's greatest achievements has been the invention of soul music. I mean, good lord, it's called 'soul' music, that should tell you something.

These two tracks here are both, to once again use Howie B's indispensible phraseology, absolute stonkers. Don Gardner sings like he's about to bust out of his own skin. It's that kind of irrepressible, ecstatic, barely-contain-yourself soul singing that the body just needs to be filled with sometimes. And the Betty Harris track, produced by Alain Toussaint, has the Meters as the backup band, and is just such a sweaty, messy syncopated monster, I recommend taking a step back from the stereo after you press play.

I should tell you that there's a reason I don't ordinarily search out or DJ rare soul, why I prefer to look for wonky weirdo disco instead: it's exactly because soul is just so goddamned good. Poking through old disco is more of a challenge, it excites the critical faculties because one really has to weed through it all and evaluate it, and be more prepared for weird surprises, moments of "wait, do I like this? is this super-corny, but good? or what?"

this is not at all to disparage those who labor to dig up soul or to DJ it, anymore than I would mock someone for enjoying an unobstructed view of the sunset over the ocean on a small Italian island, or taking time to breathe in the dizzying grandeur of a mountain range, all three are purifications that the soul and body need, only that soul/r&b music can help one to endure and stand freshly on the ground when the pleasures of a grand voyage are for practical reasons out of reach.

Enjoy