MetaFilter posts tagged with soul

Mop Mop: bastard performances of modern jazz, afro funk, soul music, etc

filthy light thief — Fri, 10 May 2013 06:45:31 -0800

Andrea Benini is a musician, music producer and composer from Cesena, Italy, and is more commonly known as Mop Mop, or at least the head of a changing group of musicians who use that name. In 2005, collective Mop Mop released an album of cool vibes, spare paino lines, tight grooves (5 sample tracks, streaming on Grooveshark). The group has changed over the years, releasing a total of four albums, with the most recent, Isle of Magic, containing 13 tracks of pure voodoo jazz, Caribbean flavors, Afro-funk, exotic rhythms and soul music. Andrea Benini apparently picked the name Mpo Mop from a 1961 Dictionary of Jazz, which described Mop Mop as "...a bastard performance of modern jazz based on riffs looped till monotony..." Benini had been spinning and making music for a while, but Mop Mop formally started with a festival appearance in 2002, and in 2003, Andrea Benini and some collaborators recorded an album. It was finally released two years later as The 11th Pill, and was followed about three years later by a teaser for their next album. Kiss of Kali EP (MySpace stream) featured two remixes and three original tracks, which was expanded to an 11 track album (Bandcamp) by the same name. This album was a mix jazz music with a club flavor as well as incorporate his Italian roots. The label made a behind-the-scenes video, and you can see a clip of that here. The third album, Ritual of the Savage (Bandcamp), was pure hypnotic Jazz, spiritual flavours, exotic Funk and Soul music influenced by Latin and African beats, continuing the evolution of the sound of Mop Mop. That lead up to Isle Of Magic (Bandcamp), which mixes a haze of vibraphone and flutes trill like a lost Martin Denny album with an unusual afro-european melange. If that's not enough, here's more!

Let I Go, feat. Anthony Joseph, live at Club Der Visionäre in Berlin (YouTube, HD)

Mop Mop mixes on Mixcloud, including an hour-long mix of Benini's favorite Bobby Hutcherson tracks

Andrea Benini's Soundcloud page, with a seven hour long compilation of mixsets

11 Mop Mop reworks, free to stream from Bandcamp, and downloadable for whatever price you see fit

Before the world knew his name

flapjax at midnite — Mon, 06 May 2013 23:27:59 -0800

In 1965 guitar legend Jimi Hendrix was doing the chitlin circuit with R&B acts, where he honed some of the guitar artistry as well as the showman skills that would soon set the world on fire. Here's a taste of that pre-rock star Jimi, as a member of the Buddy and Stacy revue, doing the Junior Walker classic Shotgun. If you want more pre-rock star Jimi, well, there's... Here's Traveling to California, featuring some absolutely killing blues guitar work and exquisitely Hendrixian vocal, from the Jimmy James days (the clip features lots of great old pics of Hendrix with various bands) And here he is sounding great on the Muddy Waters chestnut I'm a Man. He's singing the blues, but his guitar solo here was moving beyond, big time. Kickass, no holds barred. His eye was on the future.

"Til you reach that..."

timsteil — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 06:52:24 -0800

Stevie Wonder, in his prime. Jesus.

She took us there.

flapjax at midnite — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 04:43:44 -0800

When Staple Singers hits like I’ll Take You There and If You’re Ready (Come Go With Me) came on the radio, it was easy to get lost in Mavis Staples’ raspy, soulful lead vocals. But if you listened closer, a key element in the Chicago gospel-soul group’s warmly distinctive sound was the deft soprano harmony of Mavis’ sister Cleotha Staples, who died on Feb. 21 at age 78 in Chicago. RIP Cleotha Staples.

More soundtracks for 2013!

Tom-B — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 13:43:09 -0800

DJ Nirso explores the connection between Africa, North and South America with tasteful remixes and mixtapes.

The line between science fiction and true science is often thin

filthy light thief — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 11:25:55 -0800

In 1990, Isaac Asimov was working on a TV series to bridge science fiction and science fact, "synthesizing his visionary ideas about where humanity is going." He passed away in 1992, and the series never progressed beyond the pilot, which was re-worked and released as the documentary Visions of the Future (YouTube playlist, via Brainpickings, which calls the video "essentially, the antithesis to the Future Shock [documentary] narrated by Orson Welles"). Futurologist Alvin Toffler's 1970 book Future Shock was influential enough in its own time, with Curtis Mayfield recording a song with that title (Soultrain performance) and released it on his album Back to the World. Herbie Hancock remade the song, which was released on the album of the same name.

The Existential Adventures of Tim Maia

Tom-B — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 10:09:41 -0800

The Existential Adventures of Tim Maia

Better than "S&M". Guaranteed.

raihan_ — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 13:43:02 -0800

"As part of Radio 1's Specialist Takeover in the first week of January 2013, Benji B delivered a very special show from Maida Vale. A 16 piece string orchestra performed specially arranged scores, written by Grant Windsor, over some of the biggest underground electronic tunes, including the likes of Kanye West, Flying Lotus and Drake." Tracklisting (+ links to original tracks): Dwele - "A.N.G.E.L" (for comparison, here's a version as arranged by LA composer Miguel Atwood-Ferguson as arranged for the J. Dilla tribute "Timeless: Suite for Ma Dukes") Flying Lotus - "Do The Astral Plane" (also arranged by M. Ferguson.) Ossie - "Love Crazy" D-Malice - "Gabryelle Refix" Bok Bok - "Silo Pass" Wiley - "Highs n Lows" S-X - "Bricks" Timbaland - "Ayo Technology (Instrumental)" (note: Timbaland made the beat for this one; it's originally a 50 Cent track) Africa HiTech - "Out in the Streets" TNGHT - "Higher Ground" Kanye West, Jay-Z & Big Sean - "Clique" Drake - "Headlines" Jeremih - "All The Time" (lyrics NSFW) Raphael Saadiq - "Skyy Can You Feel Me" James Blake - "Love What Happened Here" Radiohead - "Everything in it's Right Place"

Xmas Eve Eve Eve 2012 Xmas Present: Johnny ''Guitar'' Watson

y2karl — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 14:34:50 -0800

Some say that surf guitar started here: Johnny Guitar Watson - Space Guitar
Young John Watson's first appearance on wax: Chuck Higgins & his Mellotones - Motor Head Baby
Also back in the day: Johnny "Guitar" Watson - The Bear
And not so far back in the day - a Frank Zappa jam with Tuva throat Singers, Chieftains and Johnny ''Guitar'' Watson And for the meat and potatoes part of the post: Johnny "Guitar" Watson - In Concert

y2funkysoultrainlive ( or, at least... lip synced )

y2karl — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 10:55:40 -0800

Get Down On It:
Jean Knight - Mr Big Stuff
Marvin Gaye - Got To Give It Up
The Five Stairsteps - Ooh Child
Al Green - Tired of Being Alone
Shirley Brown - Woman to Woman
Joe Tex - I Gotcha
A Taste of Honey - Sukiyaki
Yellow Magic Orchestra - Firecracker
Five Star- All Fall Down
Eddie Kendricks - Happy
Aretha Franklin - Rock Steady
Al Green - Love and Happiness
The Staples Singers Come Go With Me
Sly & the Family Stone - Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)

And as no Soul Train post would be complete without a line dance: Temptations - Papa Was A Rolling Stone On A related Tip or Two: Don Cornelius on Marvin Gaye's "Got To Give It Up, Part 1" recording And, as I can not get enough of Mavis Staples... from the 1973 Grammys, The Staple Singers - I'll Take You There and, then, from back in the day, Uncloudy Day - The Staple Singers and The Staple Singers - This May be the Last Time From Cinncinati's Upbeat!: Archie Bell & The Drells - Tighten Up See also Yellow Magic Orchestra - Tighten up And from very much later in the day: Betty Wright - Clean up Woman And, of course, the obligatory link to Sly & The Family Stone - Thank You For Talkin' To Me Africa is in order, too. Upon review: a hat tip to February28 is in order, too

Tina Turner, Holland 1971

Egg Shen — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 11:47:53 -0800

"She's known as the hardest working young lady in show business today. Ladies and gentlemen, Miss Tina Turner." She can do The Beatles. She can do The Stones. And, oh my, can she sing the blues. Oh, yeah... she does a Creedence number too.

Searching for Iran’s lost funk

furtive — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 08:52:17 -0800

"...it should be made clear that Tehran in the ’70s was not an equivalent to New Orleans, Chicago or Detroit. There was no funk haven per se, but within the Iranian pop world some tracks did appear, and those records are a rare treasure trove for funk aficionados." — Searching for Iran’s lost funk The CBC article coincides with the launch of Gian Gomeshi's biography 1982 about a UK boy of Iranian descent fixated on glam living in a tawny Toronto suburb and consolidates tracks from Secret Stash's Persian Funk collection, which contains a bunch more videos.

Back before the musical lines were so clearly drawn

flapjax at midnite — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 06:38:55 -0800

In decades past, R&B and soul artists didn't shy away from covering country songs. That's right, children, straight up country songs. And the results were often stunningly good. For example, Al Green's performance of Kris Kristofferson's For the Good Times (best known as a hit for country crooner Ray Price). Or Ray Charles' performance of Eddy Arnold's You Don't Know Me. Or Aretha Franklin's performance of country chestnut You Are My Sunshine, first recorded in 1939 by the Pine Ridge Boys. And... Percy Sledge, best known for his iconic hit "When a Man Loves a Woman" went full-on country with his cover of Merle Haggard's Mama Tried. Meanwhile, here's Gladys Knight and the Pip's version of a Jim Weatherly tune that was first a hit for, once again, Ray Price, You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me. But let's take this back to where we started, shall we? Back to the great Al Green. Here's his performance of Hank Williams classic I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry and his wonderful rendition of Willie Nelson's Funny How Time Slips Away. Which, by the way, was also covered, with a rather amusing spoken-word introduction, by blues/soul singer Junior Parker.

My name is GRiZ

loquacious — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 03:25:54 -0800

GRiZ - Mad Liberation. Take a 21 year old bedroom producer from Michigan, raise them on the the internet with a near complete access to the history of modern music with a focus on electronic/dance and apparently you get this incredibly humanistic and cross-cultural album that's both homage, monument and appropriation of hundreds of influences in modern music in an incredibly dubby dubstep framework. (Free album download here.)

Future Shock. Indeed.

raysmj — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 08:57:27 -0800

'textbook definition of surrealism' In his epic new bio of James Brown, "The One"--an account of not just the man's life and music, but a panoramic view of African-American, southern and American political and cultural history of the 20th Century--author R.J. Smith briefly discusses "Future Shock," a dance show that Brown hosted in the mid-1970s. It aired on a pioneering Atlanta station, WTCG, a Ted Turner-owned UHF station that would become a satellite channel by the end of 1976. Along with the pay-only HBO (started in '75 in select markets), WTCG paved the way for a cable TV revolution. Its name would be changed to WTBS (otherwise known as Superstation WTBS) in 1979. According to Smith, Brown's idea was to syndicate "Future Shock" to American and then African audiences, with the idea that it could serve as a forum for black people to be themselves. "He saw it as building on 'Soul Train,'" the author writes, "which it sort of did, in the way that John Wilkes Booth built on Abraham Lincoln." Sadly, you can't find any episodes, or even a representative collection of clips, anywhere on high-quality video. You can, however, find a decent-enough, 25-minute selection of clips at Vimeo and a WFMU blog entry from 2008, where people in comments claim to have been dance contest entrants and show participants. The most eye-opening material comes around 5:30 in both videos, where the show's dance contest begins. There, you see the blueprint or beginnings of a coming decade of street/hip-hop dance innovations. An entire episode is posted at WFMU's Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban blog. An ad for "Future Shock" T-shirts can also be found at YouTube. At the former of the WFMU blogs linked, a commenter says of the dance contest: "Man, the dance contest footage is the textbook definition of surrealism. Not literally, of course, but if you were to film a movie set in the 1970s that incorporated footage like that, you would likely be accused of extreme exaggeration."

Sing us a Song to Keep us Warm, There's Such a Chill

Rhaomi — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 12:06:13 -0800

In the wake of their grunge-y breakout hit "Creep" and the success of sophomore record The Bends, Thom Yorke and the rest of Radiohead were under pressure to deliver once more. So they shut themselves away inside the echoing halls of a secluded 16th century manor and got to work. What emerged from that crumbling Elizabethan castle fifteen years ago today was a shockingly ambitious masterpiece of progressive rock, a visionary concept album that explored the "fridge buzz" of modernity -- alienation, social disconnection, existential dread, the impersonal hum of technology -- through a mosaic of challenging, innovative, eerily beautiful music unlike anything else at the time. Tentatively called Ones and Zeroes, then Your Home May Be at Risk If You Do Not Keep Up Payments, the band finally settled on OK Computer, an appropriately enigmatic title for this acclaimed harbinger of millennial angst. For more, you can watch the retrospective OK Computer: A Classic Album Under Review for a track-by-track rundown, or the unsettling documentary Meeting People is Easy for a look at how the album's whirlwind tour nearly gave Yorke a nervous breakdown. Or look inside for more details and cool interpretations of all the tracks -- including an upcoming MeFi Music Challenge! Album tributes and cover versions: Quinton Sung deftly recreates the whole album in 8-bit chiptune style Stereogum's OKX: a multi-artist tribute (previ-ously) Strung Out on OK Computer: The Vitamin String Quartet's classical cover of the album Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions of Radiohead: Airbag - Paranoid Android - Subterranean Homesick Alien - Let Down - Karma Police - No Surprises Amazingly choreographed renditions from the University of Arizona marching band: Airbag - Paranoid Android - Fitter Happier - Karma Police - Exit Music (From a Film) - Lucky Individual tracks: "Airbag" (notes)

Inspired (along with several other songs) by a car accident Yorke and his girlfriend had been in years before; muses on "the feeling you get when you realise that you've just missed having a serious accident, and the feeling of elation that follows."

"Paranoid Android" (notes)

The most ambitious track, a mutating six-minute sprawl in the tradition of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" and the Beatles' "Happiness is a Warm Gun" that took the band eighteen months of practice to play live. Rooted in a harrowing experience Yorke had in a druggy Los Angeles club, he later passed the track off as a lark, but NME's Luke Lewis (who declared it the best single of the last 15 years) objects:
Far from penning a universal hymn of woe, Thom Yorke claims he picked the title as a self-mocking "joke", and says the lyrics are "not personal at all." Bassist Colin Greenwood remembers the writing process being "a laugh", the result of "getting wasted together". When the band came to actually play the song live, according to guitarist Ed O' Brien the whole thing was "completely hilarious" and had them "pissing ourselves as we played". Anyone would think they'd written 'My Humps', not one of the towering rock songs of the 20th Century. And yet... they protest too much. I have a theory. I think that Radiohead knew they'd written an era-defining masterwork, but - in a very British way - felt embarrassed by the grandeur of their creation, and ever since then have bashfully tried to make light of it. They're not fooling anyone. [...] Anyone with ears and a brain can tell that this is a song about the horror of modernity. Thom Yorke surveys the whole grand sweep of humanity and finds he's disgusted by all of it. [...] Besides, this idea that 'Paranoid Android' was intended as a joke - a sozzled attempt to rewrite Queen’s 'Bohemian Rhapsody' - doesn't quite tally with Yorke's own account of how he wrote the lyrics. They came to him at 5am following a hateful night out amongst coked-up music biz types in Los Angeles. "I was trying to sleep when I literally heard these voices that wouldn't leave me alone," he recalled in 1997. "Basically 'Paranoid Android' is just about chaos, chaos, utter fucking chaos." When pressed to reveal more about the "kicking squealing Gucci little" piggies who inspired the song, Yorke described them as "inhuman… you do often see demons in people's eyes. They're like fucking devils…. Everyone was trying to get something out of me. I felt like my own self was collapsing in the presence of it." Hmm. So not quite dashed off as a rib-tickling novelty wig-out then? Lest you doubt that 'Paranoid Android' burns with a core of genuine misanthropy, note the hex on the single sleeve. The ensuing world tour was called Against Demons. 'Paranoid Android' is a song about seeing evil in the world around you, and being absolutely terrified by it.
Don't miss the phenomenal cover version compiled from dozens of amateur YouTube videos (previously). Other notable takes: - Weezer - Mike Massé acoustic guitar (previously) - Christopher O'Riley on solo piano - jazz pianist Brad Mehldau's 9-minute interpretation - Male and female a capella - early demo version - Easy Star All-Stars reggae version - Sia Furler's soul version - University of Arizona marching band

- Big band arrangement "Subterranean Homesick Alien" (notes)

Namechecks Bob Dylan's Subterranean Homesick Blues and evokes the fanciful "Martian poetry" style to take an anthropologist's eye to mankind's troubles. The need for vintage soft keyboards has led to the track not being played on live tours in the last decade.

"Exit Music (For a Film)" (notes)

Written for the end credits of Romeo+Juliet and partially inspired by Zeffirelli's 1968 version, which had moved a 13-year-old Yorke to tears and wonder why the two lovers never tried to just run away from their families. The intimate vocals were recorded on the manor's stone steps.

"Let Down" (notes)

A melodic musing on the disappointment of glib sentimentality promoted in the media; guitarist Jonny Greenwood plays in a different time signature to amplify the feeling of disconnection and disorientation. For aural effect, it was recorded in the spacious manor ballroom at 3 a.m.

"Karma Police" (notes)

Named for a band in-joke about the "karma police" nabbing anyone who misbehaved, equated with the overly regimented atmosphere in large organizations. Originally passed on by Marilyn Manson, the concept for the backseat music video led to a hairy situation where Yorke was stuck in a car leaking carbon monoxide fumes (referenced later in "No Surprises").

"Fitter Happier" (notes)

A bleak piece dominated by increasingly surreal robotic pronouncements on ways to live a better life (voiced by the same synthesizer Stephen Hawking uses). Yorke claimed the list of imperatives was "the most upsetting thing I've ever written."

"Electioneering" (notes)

Late '90s Britain was swept by the landslide victory of Tony Blair's "New Labour" party, but this angry broadside held no illusions about modern politics. Inspired by both the Poll Tax Riots that helped remove Margaret Thatcher from power and the gladhanding "rope line" atmosphere that dogged the band's American tours.

"Climbing Up the Walls" (notes)

An eerie track from the perspective of various creeping horrors, from serial killers to insane asylums to "the monster in the closet." Prompted by Yorke's experience working part-time in a sanitarium emptied of many dangerous patients by Conservative budget cuts. Incorporates a string section modeled on Krzysztof Penderecki's nerve-wracking "Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima."

"No Surprises" (notes)

The first song recorded for the album (and on the first take). The music video, involving Yorke locked into a 2001-esque space helmet slowly filling with water, was somewhat disturbing to make, even with special effects tricks to speed up the submersion sequence.

"Lucky" (notes)

Recorded in five hours for a charity benefiting Bosnian War victims, the band considered this track their best. Brian Eno agreed, calling it "the most beautiful song I've heard for a long, long time."

"The Tourist" (notes)

A slower, spacier closing track written by Greenwood as a reaction the breakneck pace of the other tracks. Thematically linked to the rampant pace of technology as well as to the opening track's car crash, implying a kind of Joycean circularity to the album.

MeFi Music Challenge: Recently announced and still open to applications is next month's Music Challenge -- multiple cover versions of every OK Computer track by Mefites of all stripes. Discussion is over in MetaTalk; here's the set list for now:

Airbag: unSane, The Great Big Mulp, naju, davejay, Corduroy, bedhead Paranoid Android: InfidelZombie, chococat, Ardiril, Jofus, ignignokt, ZsigE Subterranean Homesick Alien: snsranch, dobie, god hates math, Rube R. Nekker, burnmp3s, dismas Exit Music (For A Film): askmeaboutLOOM, koeselitz, th3ph17, two lights above the sea, O9scar, the_very_hungry_caterpillar Let Down: dubold, pyramid termite, The World Famous, curious nu, fleacircus, theichibun Karma Police: uncleozzy, tigrefacile, erikgrande, Acari, michaelh, lazaruslong, modernserf Fitter Happier: sleepy pete, azarbayejani, flapjax at midnite, Listener, threeants, freya_lamb Electioneering: TwoWordReview, motty, muhonnin, roboton666, not_on_display, MrVisible Climbing Up The Walls: Doleful Creature, Elmore, supercres, Captain Najork, Johnny Wallflower, Sebmojo No Surprises: cortex, Grangousier, John Cohen, visual mechanic, OrangeGloves, the jam Lucky: grog, cmoj, googly, idiopath, Karlos the Jackal, greenish The Tourist: cathodeheart, qnarf, sinnesloeschen, Philosopher Dirtbike, evoque, zix

Other: An entire OK Computer live show (previously) Liner notes and artwork (part 2) The album's cryptic liner art analyzed Interview with cover designer Stanley Donwood Were OK Computer and In Rainbows meant to be played over each other? Radiohead and T.S. Eliot Not from OKC, but this creepy animation based on "2+2=5" is worth watching (previously) as is the "Homeless Mustard" cover of "Creep" (previously)

"You won't never know whether or not I'm broke. But most of the time I am."

BitterOldPunk — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 10:19:57 -0800

Ralph "Soul" Jackson is celebrating the release of his first full-length LP, The Alabama Love Man. He's been making the record with some help from friends and admirers for more than three years. But Jackson has been recording his brand of soul music with little success for more than forty years. In 1965, 18-year-old Ralph Jackson sat down with a reel-to-reel and recorded his first song, Don't Tear Yourself Down. He sent it to producer Rick Hall of FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, AL. Hall invited Jackson to cut a single. The song went nowhere. Undeterred, Hall paired Jackson with Spooner Oldham (who along with Dan Penn had written the hit Cry Like A Baby for The Box Tops). It was Oldham's idea to have Jackson record a punchy, soulful, horn-driven cover of Cream's Sunshine of Your Love. But the cover sank without a ripple. Jackson plugged on, recording an incendiary cover of Carl Perkins' Matchbox (If you only click one link in this post, make it this one). But Jackson couldn't catch a break. Obscurity awaited. His singles went unreleased or self-released with little or no distribution. Things got pretty bleak. He made some mistakes. He did some time. But that's all behind him now. A clean, sober, and invigorated Jackson is making audiences sit up and take notice again. He's got his own website. There's talk of a documentary. At age 65, he's still got (most of) the voice, (all) the charisma, and the chops to light up a room. Admittedly, they're small rooms. Like the legendary Gip's Place, where Jackson recently performed, good-naturedly humoring a band that couldn't keep up with him. (That handsome feller in the front, with the cowboy hat? That's Gip. He deserves his own FPP. The man's a living legend.) He's making them scream at the Continental Club in Austin, TX. Things are looking up. Here's a few more tunes to brighten your Saturday: Set Me Free I Shot The Sheriff Rainy Night In Georgia I Will Take Care Of You and My Mind My Body My Heart (live from Jackson's home studio, where it is obvious the man is still having fun making music)

James Brown's 1971 Olympia Concert

Trurl — Thu, 31 May 2012 18:38:36 -0800

On March 8, 1971, James Brown performed at The Olympia in Paris. Blessedly, there are quality audio recordings. The opening "Brother Rapp"/"Ain't It Funky" medley was chosen for inclusion in the peerless Star Time 4 CD box set. [The smile of satisfaction on the bandleader's face during Phelps Collins' epic guitar solo proves that the answer was: Why, yes. Yes, it is.] And the entire concert was finally released by Polydor in 1992 as Love Power Peace - which occasioned one of those extraordinary Julian Cope reviews I was talking about.

RIP mister bassman, Donald "Duck" Dunn

flapjax at midnite — Sun, 13 May 2012 03:15:55 -0800

Millions may know him best from one of the only lines he delivered in the Blues Brothers movie: "We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline". Others who notice these things will remember him as the guy who also played the bass in the Blues Brothers band. And those for whom Stax records and the Memphis sound are important will know him as the four-string foundation of the great Booker T and the MGs, and the man who lent his solid, no-frills bass lines to many a tune by soul luminaries Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett and lots of other greats. Memphis-born bassman Donald "Duck" Dunn has died while on tour (along with fellow legend and bandmate Steve Cropper) in Tokyo. RIP, Duck Dunn, and if there's any goat piss in heaven, I know you're gonna turn it into gasoline up there, too.

#liberalmediabias

East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 09:50:09 -0800

Jimmy Fallon and The Roots (ft. President Obama) - Stafford Loan Interest Slow Jam

You got to hoooooooooooooold on

Doleful Creature — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 21:49:16 -0800

Alabama Shakes - Hold On Alabama Shakes are an up and coming rock-soul band from Athens, Alabama (wiki link). They released their first full-length album on April 9th 2012 (pitchfork.com review). More Tracks: You Ain't Alone I Found You I Found You (acoustic) Hang Loose Heavy Chevy Rise to the Sun

Aretha Franklin's "Amazing Grace"

Trurl — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 22:00:29 -0800

On January 13 and 14, 1972, Aretha Franklin sang during services at the Reverend James Cleveland's New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles. The audio recordings released as Amazing Grace remain the largest-selling gospel album in history. However, of the 20 hours of 16mm film footage by Sydney Pollack - intended as a concert movie for tandem release - only a few snippets have ever been seen. (previously: 1, 2)

Rock and roll is here to stay

BoringPostcards — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 00:07:27 -0800

Alex Chilton (of the band Big Star) died two years ago today. Here's a choir singing Big Star's song "Thirteen."

Don Cornelius, Soul Train creator, RIP

flapjax at midnite — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 07:28:00 -0800

Over its amazing 35 year run, Soul Train provided American television viewers with an incredible panorama, a veritable cornucopia of black popular music, and of course, entertained everyone with their legendary line dance segments. The man who created and hosted the show from its beginnings up until 1993, Mr. Don Cornelius, was on Wednesday found dead in his home, an apparent suicide.

The Gift and the Curse

reenum — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 08:45:09 -0800

After years of rumored depression, drug and alcohol addiction, and legal issues, D'Angelo is poised to make a comeback. He's released a cover of Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun", embarked on a European tour, and his James River album, the Chinese Democracy of R&B, is reportedly "90% done".