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Deep Space NYC :: View topic - Random observation of the day
Been spending a little time today thinking about the phenomenon of "the reggae track" on rock, soul and hip-hop albums, particularly of the 80s & 90s.
You know the track: usually the worst one on the album, feels tacked-on, with no sense of much deep passion for the form or its practioners; the kind of track that might suggest an interest in one or two star performers (say Marley or Shabba) and just a vaguely generic awareness beyond that.
And yet, sometimes a great one shines through. I have to say that Stevie Wonder's "Master Blaster" (aka "Jammin') is a damn fine song, but also to my ears, a real archetype of "the reggae track" which channels "Bob Marley" and "reggae" and not much in between.
And on the flip, it's something that always strikes me about The Clash: how sympathetic to the deeper currents and artists they managed to be as they crossed genre boundaries. S'like: with "The Magnificent Seven" they do a "disco track" that still manages to be clearly The Clash, but is also achieves legitimacy with the DJs and disco dancers that inspired it, instead of sounding like a laughable parady. Same, IMHO, with their reggae tracks, like "Revolution Rock."
Anyway, just something I was thinking about today...
Anyone have any particularly good or egregious examples of "the reggae track" to share?
great post T. I can only think of this...My Morning Jacket with a reggae-tinged tune called "Phone Went West". They are a band that covers differently genres without hesitation. But with this one, you still get that reverb-drenched rock guitar, and Jim James' amazing voice that brings to it that anthemic level which they are so good at.
Joined: May 31, 2003 Posts: 2094 Location: in range
Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 1:56 pm Post subject:
On the reverse, there are many Reggae tracks which manage to make their pop counterparts sound tame, after you've heard that Reggae version there's no going back.
One that did this to me was Otis Gayle "I'll Be Around" [StudioOne]
No offense to The Spinners or anyone else who's ever covered this gem, but the Jamaican version just blows me away every time I hear it.
On the reverse, there are many Reggae tracks which manage to make their pop counterparts sound tame, after you've heard that Reggae version there's no going back.
This is true.
I've always especially rode for the several versions of Delroy Wilson doing "Get Ready", such as:
BUUUUUUT... I'm also worried by the shiny tech on display in the preview. I feel like it could be a sign of a problem I've noticed in some other similar sci-fi movies like Red Planet or Sunshine, where all the cool gadgetry suggests a mission of boundless resources meant to feel like humanity's greatest/most important endeavor. But when the characters start fighting/squabbling amongst themselves, it feels like: who put these jokers in charge? Is this supposed to be humanity's most competent mission crew?--they're a bunch of nitwits!
Whereas the grimy world that Alien imagined, populated by a bunch of space haulers amidst monochrome CRTs and dirtstained corridors, gave a much more involving sense of people out of their depth--gave the characters' struggles more relatability.
I guess it's like my feeling about the difference between rappers bragging about driving Mercedes-Benzes vs Maybachs and Bentleys. Both fantasies are aspirational, but you don't have to be a celebrity or a CEO to buy a Mercedes... So there's a greater variety of situations where a listener could see their aspirations aligned with the rapper's back when it was about Benzes and Beemers instead of Maybachs and Bentleys.
I feel like the same thing happens in sci-fi movies where the universe the characters inhabit feels too perfected: the drama is off in a world the audience can spectate upon but not inhabit themselves.
Joined: May 31, 2003 Posts: 2094 Location: in range
Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2012 8:04 pm Post subject:
ttauri wrote:
Pretty excited for Prometheus.
BUUUUUUT... I'm also worried by the shiny tech on display in the preview. I feel like it could be a sign of a problem I've noticed in some other similar sci-fi movies like Red Planet or Sunshine, where all the cool gadgetry suggests a mission of boundless resources meant to feel like humanity's greatest/most important endeavor. But when the characters start fighting/squabbling amongst themselves, it feels like: who put these jokers in charge? Is this supposed to be humanity's most competent mission crew?--they're a bunch of nitwits!
Whereas the grimy world that Alien imagined, populated by a bunch of space haulers amidst monochrome CRTs and dirtstained corridors, gave a much more involving sense of people out of their depth--gave the characters' struggles more relatability.
I guess it's like my feeling about the difference between rappers bragging about driving Mercedes-Benzes vs Maybachs and Bentleys. Both fantasies are aspirational, but you don't have to be a celebrity or a CEO to buy a Mercedes... So there's a greater variety of situations where a listener could see their aspirations aligned with the rapper's back when it was about Benzes and Beemers instead of Maybachs and Bentleys.
I feel like the same thing happens in sci-fi movies where the universe the characters inhabit feels too perfected: the drama is off in a world the audience can spectate upon but not inhabit themselves.
Curious which world I'll see in Prometheus.
Peece,
T. Tauri
Funny but recently, I have found better Sci-Fi in games than in movies. Epic games like Deus Ex: Human Revolution and the Mass Effect or Half-Life II franchises seem to give me just as much if not more tingles as what I got to see on the big screen...
Funny but recently, I have found better Sci-Fi in games than in movies. Epic games like Deus Ex: Human Revolution and the Mass Effect or Half-Life II franchises seem to give me just as much if not more tingles as what I got to see on the big screen...
One of these days I'll update the OS on my Macs so I can play Deus Ex. Been itchin' to, as the original was a favorite.
To the larger point, not much to say seeing as I haven't had time to enjoy either movies *or* video games since the lad arrived.
Like Daniel Wang, I think Mark E's turn from using other people's music was for the worse, but some things recently have been growing on me.
on Twitter @innersounds wrote:
@ttauri don't you think it is part of a producer's learning curve? Start with edits and move on? Used to be a producer started on remixes.
@ttauri but now there are less major labels churning out 100s of dance remixes a month so producers have to make edits first? Just a thought
My too-long-for-Twitter reply:
Looking back on my own evolution, I think I started with trying to copy what excited me, without much sense of stages to learn. I don't remember anyone else I knew in the same circumstances who acted any differently. So I don't believe Mark E started with edits as part of an educational plan. But I think copyright law and litigation potential makes one re-assess sampling/using other people's music. Did for me.
But at the same time, we're talking about people who've invested time in creating a certain kind of voice, and I've seen a lot of people who hit that wall too easily give up some of the things that gave them their appeal (specifically, I think we live in a moment when texture and timbre are important communicators, which is why we gravitated to sampling/etc in the first place). But I think methods do exist to reincorporate some of those aspects, if one is inclined to look for them (I look at Mark Ronson using the Dap Kings for Amy Winehouse, or DJ Premier's loop chopping, for example).
Mark E's an interesting case, in that it's such a total reset, but then I think ultimately, I've extended too much credit of the editor to the programmer.
Thinking today how Prince's extended mixes form a unique body of work. There's not really anyone who approached extended versions the way he did--turning them into extended jams that started off as the "LP version" and then just went off into other territories.
Partly I'd call this commendable originality. But I'd also call it a clear statement of scorn for the DJ-ruled dance club world. They sit apart because I don't think Prince really wanted to connect to that world on its terms at all.
Kind of a weird dichotomy in how powerful a presence he was as a producer/performer for the dance/club set and how opposed he was to that community's norms and practices.
(...at least until Steve Silk Hurley did the remix to "Gett Off"--and that's weird in its own way, since it was pretty much in the ID Productions cookie-cutter mode, but yet surpassed its cliché origins to be a really dope joint.)
Another mix, this time selected from (digital rips of) the crate I had packed for a recent vinyl-only set (first time for that in years), for which I dug back into the archives for records I hadn't played since I made the switch to Traktor. Music of various vintages, but at least several years old.
"Just when I thought I was out... They pull me back in!"
Akwaaba - Get Yong'Un
Chateau Flight - Prism
Brommage Dub - Trinidub
Robert Owens - I'll Be Your Friend (Dead Zone)
Anthony White - Love Me Tonight (Experimental Dub)
The Beatmasters f. Claudia Fontaine - Warm Love (Turntable Orchestra Remix)
Sterling Void - Set Me Free (Julian "Jumpin" Perez Remix)
Funky Green Dogs From Outer Space - High Up (Cuba Libre Dub & Vapor Rub Dub)
The Woodentops vs Bang The Party - Tainted World
The King & I present André Leon - The Truth (Brudda's Mix)
Cubian - Miami Groove
The Money Penny Project - Clarisse-C (Two Lone Swordsmen Double Mutator Mix)
Those Norwegians - Finbiff Patrol
Abe Duque f. Blake Baxter - Acid
Slam - Positive Education
Cybersonik - Lash Out
Listening to Slam's Positive Education in the above mix, it really struck me how much more eventful techno used to be. The track builds up and breaks down multiple times, beats drop and come back, and just constantly changing profile. Compare that to a current track from, say, Planetary Assault Systems or Chris Liebing or even Slam...
Not that a DJ can't take the modern tracks and make something similarly interesting, but I don't think the techno world thinks of songcraft the same way anymore.
Every so often, people in my musical peer group get to talking up something that seems to me more based on what it represents in theory rather than how well it actually makes reality of that theory. At the moment that something is Robert Glasper.
The Delfonics/William Hart are legends, and the soundtrack to Black Dynamite was awesome work (as was the movie). I would love to love this Adrian Younge/Delfonics LP, but I can barely listen to it.
Louis and Bebe Barron - The Mind Booster - Creation Of Matter
The Art Ensemble of Chicago - Ancestral Meditation
(w/ a couple cameos by Vacuum Tree Head, Borful Tang & Sun Ra)
Mickey Hart, Airto & Flora Purim - Dry Sands of the Desert
Albert Ayler - Music is the Healing Force of the Universe
The Irresistable Force - Fish Dances (Frederic Galliano Remix)
Christian Prommer's Drumlesson - Space Jam 2000.17
Robag Wruhme - Tulpa Ovi
Ed Wizard & Disco Double Dee - Inner City (Jazz Dub)
40 Thieves - Backward Love
Deep Joy - Speak (20,000 Leagues and Counting Mix)
The Sahara All Stars - Take Your Soul
Linn & Freddie - Keep On Playing
Francis Inferno Orchestra - Time For Tea
6th Borough Projectm - Closer
Hearts Of Space - Breathe Out
Cool Jack - Just Come (Pink Version)
The Beloved - Outer Space Girl (Lost In Bass Mix)
Terranova - So Strong
Eamon Harkin - Rigor Music (Roman Flugel Remix)
Ragrange Symphony - Up in the Dimension
Kindred Spirits Ensemble - Shining Liberation (Tom Trago Dub)
Joe Smooth - One Moment in Love (House Mix)
S3 - Seein' Doe
Jimmy & David Ruffin - When My Love Hand Comes Down
The Geisha Boys - The Bose
Heatwave - Ain't No Half Steppin'
Hot 8 Brass Band - Fly Away
Kuniyuki f. Fumio Itabashi - Get Up With You
Endian - Birdhouse
Traversable Wormhole - Exiting the Milky Way (Surgeon Remix)
Detroit Grand Pubahs - Engineroom
Endangered Species - Mother of the Future
Sparkle - Disco Madness
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