WTF????

You know, I (We) should be dumbfounded at how someone like this has served, not one, but two terms as the President of these United States, elected by the people for the people. And we're supposed to be one of the more educated societies of the world. Are we??? I think that's a legitmate question.

(Footage brought to you by way of Poplicks)

Amerie

What happened to this album's official U.S. release???

The Donna Cappa Goines

The Cappatilize Project is better than some of the other Wu member's projects that have dropped. I'm not saying it's any good. Two of my favorite tracks clock in under the 2-minute mark.

"The Annointing"
"Peace God" feat. Born Divine - (Somebody actually flipped the Bee Gee's "Nights On Broadway" and layed it down quite flat).

Not Here

I think I could turn and live with animals, they're so
placid and self-contain'd,
I stand and look at them long and long.
They do not sweat and whine about their condition,
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their
sins,
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,
Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania
of owing things,
Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived
thousands of years ago,
Not one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth.

- Walt Whitman

Fleet Foxes: "Meadowlarks"

The Next Plateau

Wow. Things done changed.

I just caught Planet B-Boy on MTV2 this past Sunday night. I know that breakdancing had evolved into something more than uprocking and backspins but the contemporary b-boy continues to take the art form to new heights. Sometimes when I see what they're able to do, physically, with the precision, speed, intricacy, complexity, and the sheer strength and body control it takes to pull off each move...I dunno. I don't think they're human. And battles sure as hell aren't what they used to be.

Oliver Wang interviewed the documentary's director Benson Lee back in June of 2008 which you can read here.

The documentary is definitely worth checking out.

He is a Grandpa, but he fathered your style...

Wasn't too impressed with Pro Tools but this track, produced by Bronze Nazereth, is worth a listen. GZA sounds like he just rolled out of bed and into the booth but the track bangs.

GZA feat. Bronze Nazereth: "7 Pounds"

Welcome 2009

"I'm still living, at the old address..."

Toro!

One of my favorite films of the year is Guillermo Del Toro's Hellboy II: The Golden Army. I absolutely loved the first installment and the sequel is mind-blowing visually. The plot isn't very dynamic but I wasn't expecting too much in that respect. It is, after all, a sci-fi action extravaganza anyway. I'll take Hellboy II over The Dark Knight in a battle over this year's blockbusters any day. The Batman sequel was actually pretty disappointing.

I am a huge fan of Del Toro's other films as well, especially 2006's Pan's Labyrinth which I just watched again for the third time last night. I usually don't watch movies more than once, especially ones with exceptional stories and plots because the thrill is gone when you already know how the story and plots unravel, but Pan's Labyrinth is such a mulit-layered picture I discover something new with each viewing. It's a fascinating movie with stunning visuals and thought-provoking themes. It's become a more enjoyable experience revisiting the movie after diving into some of Del Toro's older interviews where he discusses the film, it's early beginnings, how he developed the story and it's various themes, how he chose the score, and so forth. Here's some interesting stuff I picked up around the way. He gives engaging and insightful interviews, good stuff.



These excerpts are on the Deluxe DVD release of Pan's Labyrinth as added bonus features:





Here he makes an appearance on Charlie Rose with fellow Mexican directors Alfonso Cuaron (Director of The Children of Men) and Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu (Director of Babel) who are also his compadres as well as peers. This also appears on the Pan's Labyrinth Deluxe DVD release.



Guillermo Del Toro's next project is the prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Hobbit (and it's sequel). I'm pretty sure it's going to be a monumental piece of work. Look at what he did with the Hellboy II budget.

Random Shots

I discovered Vampire Weekend's self titled release a little late but it's ridiculously good and is well worth mentioning as the year in music winds to a close. I usually browse "The Best Of..." lists at the year's conclusion to acquaint myself with music that may have flown under my radar during the year and Vampire Weekend was one of them. It was released January of 2008 but I didn't give it a thorough listen until the other night. Like The Walkmen's You & Me, it boasts an album's worth of strong cuts, all catchy, all well-produced.

The pleasure in listening to this album is that it's hard to nail down a favorite, but here's a couple to goodies worth throwing out there.

"Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa"
"Mansard Roof"

...and Beach House's "Gila" is such a mesmerizer...

Fleet Foxes' self-titled debut is another album I just discovered. "Blue Ridge Mountains" is amazing. Very sublime, as is the rest of their solid debut.

And I can't begin to tell you how indispensible Soul Sides has been in introducing me to such an amazing catalog of the most soulful of soul classics. You know, the soul music variety that simply absorbs you...like these...

The Impressions: "I'm Loving Nothing"
Candi Staton: "Too Hurt To Cry"

The video is terrible and this song came out last year but I haven't been able to get enough of it. From it's quiet and unassuming introductory 2.5 minutes to the unravelling of it's 1.5 minute conclusion that you want to sing from the rafters-The Shins' "Sleeping Lessons" from 2007's Wincing The Night Away is a sonic nova.

Junichi and Oliver over at Poplicks have rounded out their usual year-end lists.

Junichi's "Best Quotes of 2008" is a must read.

The Albums

1. The Walkmen: You & Me
2. Various: Fallin' Off The Reel Volume 2
3. Menahan Street Band: Make The Road By Walking
4. Q-Tip: The Renaissance
5. Jean Grae: Jeanius
6. Estelle: Shine
7. Coldplay: Viva La Vida
8. Final Solution: Brotherman OST
9. Erykah Badu: New Amerykah Part 1 (4th World War)
10. Vampire Weekend: Vampire Weekend

Honorable Mention:

Fleet Foxes: Fleet Foxes
J-Live: Then What Happened?
Beach House: Devotion

This Year In Music - The Songs

Some of these tunes didn't come out in 2008 but were heard for the first time this year. Here's my month to month breakdown of this year's most memorable songs...

January:

1. Candi Staton: "Too Hurt To Cry"
2. Kev Brown: "Batida"
3. Nas: "On The Real"

February:

1. Pete Rock: "We Roll (Instrumental)"

March:

1. Lee Fields & The Expressions: "My World"
2. Lee Fields & The Expressions: "Love Comes & Goes"
3. Pete Rock feat. Slum Village: "Gangsta Boogie"
4. Erykah Badu: "Soldier"
5. Gnarls Barkley: "Who's Gonna Save My Soul"

April:

1. Rock Marciano: "MC's"
2. Nut-Rageous: "They Wanna Know"
3. Estelle: "Back In Love"

May:

1. J-Live feat. Posdnous & Oddisee: "The Upgrade"
2. BIG: "Another Rough One"
3. J-Live: "It Don't Stop"
4. NYGz feat. Lady of Rage & Royce 5'9: "Ya Dayz R #d (Remix)"

June:

1. Solange: "I Decided (Pt. 1)"
2. Coldplay: "Strawberry Swing"
3. Quantic & Nickodemus: "Mi Swing Es Tropical"
4. Little Brother feat. Oddisee: "Delusional"
5. Jean Grae: "#8"
6. Elkin & Nelson: "Vamanos"
7. Ray Barretto: "Pastime Paradise"
8. Infakt feat. Moonrokk: "California"

July:

1. Bishop Lamont: "Grow Up"
2. Rock Marciano: "4 All The Real Raw Deal"
3. M.I.A. feat Freeway: "Paper Planes (Remix)"
4. Alicia Keys: "Teenage Love Affair (Instrumental)"

August:

1. Mos Def: "The Glow"
2. The GZA: "IntroMental"
3. Q-Tip: "Gettin' Up"
4. Solange: "Would've Been The One"
5. Joe Bataan: "Gypsy Woman (Demo Version)"
6. Menahan Street Band: "Make The Road By Walking"
7. Portishead: "Threads"

September:

1. The Walkmen: "The Blue Route"
2. The Jacksons: "Show You The Way To Go"
3. Final Solution: "Brotherman"
4. Joe Bataan: "Under The Street Lamp"

October:

1. EPMD: "Listen Up"
2. Roberto Roena y Su Apollo Sound: "Que Se Sepa"
3. Menahan Street Band: "Go The Distance"

November:

1. Raphael Saadiq: "Kelly Ray"
2. Cesaria Evora: "Sodade"
3. Bill Withers: "I Want To Spend The Night"
4. Q-Tip: "Move"
5. Oddisee feat. Buckshot: "Where I Be At"
6. Stevie Wonder: "Send Me Some Lovin'"

December:

1. Jay-Z feat. B.I.G.: "Brooklyn Go Hard (Mick Boogie Remix)"
2. Paul Mitchell Trio: "Now That I Know What Loneliness Is"
3. Jay-Z: "Sweet (Feli Kuti Remix)"
4. Marsha Ambrosius feat. Little Brother: "Sunshine"
5. The Temprees: "(Girl) I Love You"
6. Joe Bataan: "Ordinary Guy (45 Version)"
7. Nina Simone: "Gimme Some (Mike Mangini Mix)"
8. Fleet Foxes: "Blue Ridge Mountains"
9. Vampire Weekend: "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa"

Dante For President

I'm all for Jam Master Jay Day...

?uesto on Dilla

Blackstar's "Little Brother" just so happens to be one of the most gorgeous J-Dilla tracks I've ever heard. And that's saying a lot when you consider his body of work prior to his passing two years ago.

And it just so happens that ?uestlove has recounted the events leading up the creation of this Dilla jewel here. When I first heard this track my first response was "where did he sample this from?" So when I read ?uesto's story about how the beat came to life - let's just say that my wig is completely flipped backwards.

J-Dilla was on some other shit. But you already knew that...

Blackstar: "Little Brother"

(Story brought to you by way of Nah Right Lite)

Pass The Mic

SEMTEX TV: DELA SOUL, MOS DEF, NAS, WILL I AM, KANYE WEST, DAMON ALBARN ROC THE MIC @ THE G.O.O.D. MUSIC AFTER PARTY, LONDON, UK from DJ SEMTEX on Vimeo.

Nas, Mos Def, and De La Soul passing the mic here at the G.O.O.D. Music after party in London just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Taking it back.

Reckoner

Radiohead - Reckoner - by Clement Picon

Politics As Usual

I really enjoyed this this morning.

Courtesy of Junichi over at Poplicks.

Keep Walking With Me

"The Blue Route", my favorite cut from my favorite album so far this year.

Hamilton Leithauser's vocals weave flawlessly through this song.

But Matt Barrack on drums is the star, not only on "The Blue Route", but the on the entire album.

You remember the "The Rat" right?

Walk With Me

So far, the best of 2008.

The Maverick

The Notations: "It Only Hurts For A Little While"

The Glow

Mos Def: "The Glow"