One last note: All the Rock Band 2 on-disc tracks are taken from the original masters, so thank god for that. Guess it helps to have MTV working with you on a game like this. Nice to know they’re still good for something. Anyway, enough commentary, here’s the goods.

Rock Band 2 On-Disc Track List:
Artist Song Title Decade
1. AC/DC “Let There Be Rock” 1970s
2. AFI “Girl’s Gone Grey” 2000’s
3. Alanis Morissette “You Oughta Know” 1990’s
4. Alice in Chains “Man in the Box” 1990’s
5. Allman Brothers “Ramblin’ Man” 1970’s
6. Avenged Sevenfold “Almost Easy” 2000’s
7. Bad Company “Shooting Star” 1970’s
8. Beastie Boys “So Whatcha Want” 1990’s
9. Beck “E-Pro” 2000’s
10. Bikini Kill “Rebel Girl” 1990’s
11. Billy Idol “White Wedding Pt. I” 1980’s
12. Blondie “One Way or Another” 1970’s
13. Bob Dylan “Tangled Up in Blue” 1970’s
14. Bon Jovi “Livin’ on a Prayer” 1980’s
15. Cheap Trick “Hello There” 1970’s
16. Devo “Uncontrollable Urge” 1980’s
17. Dinosaur Jr. “Feel the Pain” 1990’s
18. Disturbed “Down with the Sickness” 2000’s
19. Dream Theater “Panic Attack” 2000’s
20. Duran Duran “Hungry Like the Wolf” 1980’s
21. Elvis Costello “Pump It Up” 1970’s
22. Fleetwood Mac “Go Your Own Way” 1970’s
23. Foo Fighters “Everlong” 1990’s
24. Guns N’ Roses “Shackler’s Revenge” 2000’s
25. Interpol “PDA” 2000’s
26. Jane’s Addiction “Mountain Song” 1980’s
27. Jethro Tull “Aqualung” 1970’s
28. Jimmy Eat World “The Middle” 2000’s
29. Joan Jett “Bad Reputation” 1980’s
30. Journey “Anyway You Want It” 1970’s
31. Judas Priest “Painkiller” 1990’s
32. Kansas “Carry On Wayward Son” 1970’s
33. L7 “Pretend We’re Dead” 1990’s
34. Lacuna Coil “Our Truth” 2000’s
35. Linkin Park “One Step Closer” 2000’s
36. Lit “My Own Worst Enemy” 1990’s
37. Lush “De-Luxe” 1990’s
38. Mastodon “Colony of Birchmen” 2000’s
39. Megadeth “Peace Sells” 1980’s
40. Metallica “Battery” 1980’s
41. Mighty Mighty Bosstones “Where’d You Go” 1990’s
42. Modest Mouse “Float On” 2000’s
43. Motorhead “Ace of Spades” 1980’s
44. Nirvana “Drain You” 1990’s
45. Norman Greenbaum “Spirit in the Sky” 1960’s
46. Panic at the Disco “Nine in the Afternoon” 2000’s
47. Paramore “That’s What You Get” 2000’s
48. Pearl Jam “Alive” 1990’s
49. Presidents of the USA “Lump” 1990’s
50. Rage Against the Machine “Testify” 1990’s
51. Ratt “Round & Round” 1980’s
52. Red Hot Chili Peppers “Give it Away” 1990’s
53. Rise Against “Give it All” 2000’s
54. Rush “The Trees” 1970’s
55. Silversun Pickups “Lazy Eye” 2000’s
56. Smashing Pumpkins “Today” 1990’s
57. Social Distortion “I Was Wrong” 1990’s
58. Sonic Youth “Teenage Riot” 1980’s
59. Soundgarden “Spoonman” 1990’s
60. Squeeze “Cool for Cats” 1970’s
61. Steely Dan “Bodhitsattva” 1970’s
62. Steve Miller Band “Rock’n Me” 1970’s
63. Survivor “Eye of the Tiger” 1980’s
64. System of a Down “Chop Suey” 2000’s
65. Talking Heads “Psycho Killer” 1970’s
66. Tenacious D “Master Exploder” 2000’s
67. Testament “Souls of Black” 1990’s
68. The Donnas “New Kid in School” 2000’s
69. The Go-Go’s “We Got the Beat” 1980’s
70. The Grateful Dead “Alabama Getaway” 1980’s
71. The Guess Who “American Woman” 1970’s
72. The Muffs “Kids in America” 1990’s
73. The Offspring “Come Out & Play (Keep ‘em Separated)” 1990’s
74. The Replacements “Alex Chilton” 1980’s
75. The Who “Pinball Wizard” 1960’s
Bonus Artist Bonus Song Title Decade
76. Abnormality “Visions” 2000’s
77. Anarchy Club “Get Clean” 2000’s
78. Bang Camaro “Night Lies” 2000’s
79. Breaking Wheel “Shoulder to the Plow” 2000’s
80. The Libyans “Neighborhood” 2000’s
81. The Main Drag “A Jagged Gorgeous Winter” 2000’s
82. Speck “Conventional Lover” 2000’s
83. The Sterns “Supreme Girl” 2000’s
84. That Handsome Devil “Rob the Prez-O-Dent” 2000’s

Anyway, little known fact about Dylan Garret — I used to write for a very large and important video game website back in the day before it turned into a crappy shill for the industry that started changing all their “I”s to “We”s in articles, and still mod over on their message boards. And let me tell you, those message boards are blowing up right now. Sony fanboys feel betrayed, 360 fanboys are rejoicing, and the rest of us folks with calm, cool heads are watching the riot with smirks on our faces, occasionally taking the time to post that GIF of Michael Jackson eating popcorn from the Thriller video.

Personally, I’m all for whatever gets a game into the most hands possible. I get why Sony fanboys might feel betrayed — a lot of big reasons to own a PS3 have jumped over to 360 already, and today, probably the biggest reason to shell out the big money for Sony’s box has also jumped ship. But hell, if you already own a PS3, nothing’s changed. If you don’t, now you too get to experience Final Fantasy XIII. It’s win-win, guys. Let’s not be spiteful here.

Truthfully, I haven’t been all that psyched about FFXIII — looks too much like a desperate return to the zippers-and-pleather era of Final Fantasy, still trying to ride the success of FFVII over a decade later. I actually thought FFXII was the best new Final Fantasy to come out in a long time. I dug that the main character wasn’t some moody bastard whining about how he has to save the world despite his own chronic depression, that it was just some kid who kind of had nothing to do with the epic events going on around him, almost like an objective, sort of naive outsider view on the whole twisted world of war and international politics. The combat and dungeons could have used a lot more love (breaking down why would be a whole ‘nother article altogether), but I really dug the direction they were going with it. Now it’s back to spiky hair, latex, and motorcycles named Shiva, and I’m just not feeling that as much anymore, personally. I want Final Fantasy, not The Matrix.

That said, of course I’m still gonna buy the thing the day it comes out. Hell yeah. It’s a good day to be a gamer.

UPDATE: Looks like Howard Brown totally did beat me to the punch on this bit of news, but without my colorful commentary, so I guess I’ll leave this up as well. After all, it’s news so big, it deserves two posts.

Cool_Deadly_-_Soul_Shakedown_Party.mp3
(left-click to download Cool & Deadly, Soul Shakedown Party mixed by Prince Bam)

Alright before I get to my spiel, let me cut and paste the official line on this mix:

A new mix by Miami bred Brooklyn based selector/producer Prince Bam aka PQ. One half of the Cool&Deadly soundsystem, which throws a monthly in Brooklyn called the Soul Shakedown Party. The party features vintage roots, rocksteady, culture, and just about the funkiest reggae music these guys can dig up.

Alright, now for the unofficial. Man, nothing makes me happier than when I get to host an original mix of this caliber. Mixing is compliments of our man PQ, another of the old Miami DJ crowd who, like yours truly, ended up migrating to Brooklyn a little while back to spread the Magic City’s love to our brothers up north. (Now we just need to get Mr. Brown to make the move… yeah, never going to happen.) A consummate crate-digger, General of the Gospel of Good Sounds, and all around eclectic motherfucker, PQ’s current monthly is the Soul Shakedown Party at Soda Bar in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn (you’ve probably seen my prop other nights at the venue here occasionally too). Some of the best reggae, rocksteady, and old school roots jams you’re likely to hear in any of the 5 boroughs, you’ve got deejay Squintee doing his thing on the mic, occasionally some live instruments making an appearance, and a nice crowd always bringing the good vibes. If you’re in the New York area, you seriously owe it to yourself to check out the Soul Shakedown Party.

If aren’t able to check out the actual Soul Shakedown Party, you owe it to yourself to invite some nice friends over, put out a few drinks, drop this mix, and pretend.

The playlist, which I know you’ll be wanting after hearing this, is up on Bam’s own blog, Champion Sound, and hopefully you’ll take some time to check out whatever other musical goodness he’s been posting about lately.

Enjoy. I’m pretty sure you will.

And I’m kind of one of them.

I’ve sort of lost my day job recently, you see, and not a week goes by that I’m not hurting for money in some way. But the night before last I found myself, again, leaning over the counter of VGNY (www.videogamesnewyork.com) in the East Village, trying to decide just what game to buy with the extra cash I somehow managed to scrape together this week. Man, it was a sad moment. I felt like a crack addict. Hell, video games are starting to reach crack prices. You’ve got to understand how long I stood there quizzing Dan and Jen of VGNY, on every new game, dozens of customers managing to come in, do their business, and leave the store again, in the time I spent grilling the back of every game box I could get my hands on. Did I mention my girlfriend was with me the whole time? Brilliant date-night – dinner, a walk around the city, and an hour of me complaining about not knowing which game to buy (with money I should be using to pay the electric bill). Thank god she’s a gamer herself, or I’m sure she’d have left me ages ago. I can only imaging how dealing with my vinyl addiction (records, not toys, although you better believe I sink some money into vinyl toys as well) already tests her patience, but throwing in video games too? There’s only so much geekery any woman can reasonable be expected to put up with.

Anyway, after spending the better part of an hour wallowing in indecisiveness in my favorite underground NYC game shop, I settled on Dark Sector. Dan, from VGNY, gave it his recommendation, and after so much Lost Odyssey last month, I guess my desire to kill monsters in brutal and increasingly inventive ways, was reignited. Maybe that’s why the video game industry weathers recessions so well – even when times are tough, or especially when they’re tough, people never loose the desire to vent their frustrations by, say, throwing a razor-blade boomerang through a renegade Soviet soldier’s head.

So I bought a full-priced game, a rarity for me (if any of you have seen my GamerTag – “Dylan Garret” – I’ll have you know any new games I’ve played have been generously donated by the aforementioned girlfriend). And it’s not bad, Dark Sector. It did the trick, giving me some shit to kill while not thinking about rent or how I really need new work.

Here’s where I tell you what Dark Sector plays like, although I’m going to keep it short, because I have the feeling you’ve heard this before. It’s an over-the-shoulder shooter, the kind where you hold the left trigger to zoom in and the right trigger to shoot, where you have to utilize cover to keep from getting killed, and develop some super-human powers to aid in your killing (and to differentiate the game from whatever other third-person, over-the-shoulder shooter you’ve been playing this month). Oh, and you can also buy and upgrade weapons at “black market” shops throughout the game to beef up your guns in addition to your naturally-developing sci-fi powers.

If you said, “Hey, that sounds like Gears Of War!” you’d probably be a bit right. If you thought it sounded a bit like Mass Effect’s battle system and biotic powers, minus the intense RPG elements and coherent storyline, you’d also be right. If you think it sounds like… you know what, whatever game you’re thinking of, I can tell you, you’re probably right. And if you already know the type of game, we can skip the boring exposition and get on to whether or not it’s worth spending any part of your upcoming governmental Economic Stimulus Check on.

There’s something I used to say in music reviews, about what I was looking for in a new album. I’d say that I think a musician should either try to do something original, or try to do something better than it’s been done before. I suppose the same could be said about video games. Dark Sector definitely falls into the latter category. There’s nothing strikingly original about its gameplay, but it does have the balls to think it’s doing the over-the-shoulder shooter genre better than its competitors.

Whether or not it does is up to you. Personally, I think it tries hard enough to count. After finishing the game tonight, I’m not sure if I’m dying to start up another play-through in “Brutal” mode, but I’ve certainly enjoyed the past 10 hours of slicing shit up nice. And let me say, while I’m sure the main comparison made to Dark Sector will be Gears Of War, the holy grail of 360 third-person shooters, I really preferred Dark Sector more.

I’ll give you a moment to collect your hate.

Hey, I’m not going to bullshit you. Gears was okay fun, but maybe because I didn’t pick it up myself until after Halo 3 and a price drop came out, it didn’t revolutionize my world or anything. To tell you the truth, I still haven’t beaten it. Not a bad game, but I just got kind of bored during it and decided to play Dead Rising again. So when I say I liked Dark Sector more than Gears, you’ve got to understand it’s coming from someone who was never that devoted to Gears in the first place.

I guess I just like the pacing in Dark Sector more. The story itself isn’t anything special. The short of it is, there’s some kind of terrible infection going around some fictional former Soviet state, and your bad-ass CIA operative character with a shady past gets infected in the first mission. Unlike the other poor saps who become completely infected and turn into crazed, boil-covered monsters, you were lucky enough to only be wounded in your right arm, granting one of your limbs crazy super powers and a razor-sharp boomerang, while saving your mind from indoctrination (though still leaving you with what appears to be a really bad hangover).

And that’s the gimmick. The infection develops over time, hardening the skin, and granting powers to the infected. This leads to some cool pacing, where early stages of the game feature your arm, boil-covered and fairly useless, battling against fleshy zombies that can be killed in one hit, and are much less of a liability than the renegade Soviet hazmat soldiers chasing you. As the game progresses, the skin on your arm hardens into something sleek and superhero-like in its power and visual appeal, while the infected enemies also develop from weak zombies into walking tanks with powers equal to your own. It keeps you playing. The game will start to get tough, then an evolution of your own powers gives you some skill that enables you to decimate a room full of enemies without so much as messing up a single strand of your indie-chic hair-do, then slowly gets harder again until reaching a point where you don’t know how you’re going to keep playing, when another power-up hits you and you’re back to badass. The timing is just right.

And the powers are nice too. They’re fun, simply put. The glaive, your razor-boomerang, is fairly useless to start, hard to aim, and weaker than two pistol shots to the head. You’re likely (no pun intended) to stick to your guns early on. Once you develop the ability to use After Touch (slowing down Matrix-like after throwing the glaive, and being able to control its flight with the right analog stick to navigate around corners and enemy cover for the picture-perfect decapitation), the glaive becomes more and more handy. Other powers include shields, invisibility, energy bursts, and increased damage. Soon you might fight entire levels without a bullet fired, preferring you take down your enemies with a little more style using only the glaive. There’s even an Achievement for it.

And yes, I’m well aware that it’s a gimmick. All these games have to have one. You know, something cool to put on the back of the box and make the game seem different from all the other games like it (and believe me, I looked at the backs of many boxes in that game store the other night). But this one works really well. I mean, it worked well enough to keep me playing, and finishing the game in a couple of days, while Marcus Fenix is still sitting in suspended animation somewhere on a middle-chapter save-file in Gears Of War.

I guess the final verdict is, if you’re as poor as me, you aren’t missing out on any new revelations in gaming by holding off until a price drop or some more expendable income. Dark Sector is one of those games where you’ll play through its 10 hour story, maybe rock a few online matches with your friends, then probably shelve for a while (until, one random day, you remember how fun it is to navigate the glaive through a tight hole in a fence and cut a bad guy standing beyond in half, and decide to put the game back in for another run). If you’re not like me, and don’t need to agonize over which game to pick-up for fear of how long it’ll be until you can afford a new one, definitely give Dark Sector a shot.

Ah, Quantic… my old standby when other new releases aren’t doing it for me. A while ago I wrote in a review that Stereolab has always been one of those bands where I can usually expect any new release to meet some invisible standard of quality. It’s like playing any new Final Fantasy game; it might not be the best release you’ve heard throughout the year, but it’ll never feel like a disappointment. And likewise, you can usually take on faith that any new Quantic joints are going to be solid.

And then there’s Quantic Soul Orchestra, Quantic’s (aka. Will Holland’s) side project/live band, always bringing the classic sounds of deep funk, afrobeat, and latin rhythms. And the newest album, Tropidelico, is about as solid as anything else Holland touches. I’m told by my good friend Mr. Brown that Quantic actually recorded this album while living in Columbia, and it shows with heavy emphasis on the Latin sounds and less of the straight funk. And it’s still lovely. Lovely enough that I don’t really feel like I need to chat it up any more here, and can just go straight to the tunes.

And one throwback to the Stampede LP, from 2003 (though I believe the song was written and performed by Simon Green, aka. Bonobo):

And, hell, the original for posterity:

snoop-dogg-sexual-eruption.mp3
(download Snoop Dogg’s “Sexual Eruption”)

I like that there’s no guest appearances on the new album. From an interview:

“I’mma do the whole record, me by myself. I don’t want no guest rappers, no singer, nothing. Just Snoop Dogg. I want you to feel me. When I think of all the greats before me … I bought Rakim’s album the other day for the hundredth time, no guest rappers. I bought one of KRS-One’s albums the other day for the hundredth time, no guest rappers.

“You lose focus after awhile when you’re doing an album,” Snoop continued. ” ‘Snoop, you got a new album coming out. Who’s on it?’ I’ll be like, ‘I got him on it, him on it, them on it.’ When it’s time to do the video, they’ll do the video with me, but when it’s time to do a show with them, ‘Oh, I got a show in Germany,’ or, ‘I got to be in Paris.’ You’re left one-legged. Now it’s time to show artists.”

“But when you listen to James Brown, he did it by himself. Curtis Mayfield, by himself. Of course they did collaborations, but the [songs] that matter they did by themselves. I don’t think people have got all of me yet. Doggystyle was about 95 percent of me. But I wanted Tha Dogg Pound on my album. This record, even if this record don’t sell, that might be a blessing. It needs to get back to [letting people know] who you are. I don’t know whose record I’m buying right now because it’s so many people on it. Is it a compilation? What is it?”

Anyway, sometimes you come across shit like this and it’s completely useless to you. I mean, I can’t learn shit from this DJ Kentaro vid. He’s just too fast, too beyond me. I mean, there’s certain segments where I can almost sort-of figure out what he’s doing, but that “Holy shit/What the fuck” factor just keeps pulling me back out of it. Brown and I stumbled on this one the other day (don’t know if I mentioned but he was staying at my place up in NYC last week, digging for records and helping his girl move to the 212 — only a matter of time before we get his ass up here too), and we both just kind of sat there for a minute when it was done until his girlfriend’s said, “That’s not… real, right? It’s sped up or something, right?” We just shook our heads.

I guess the main draw for me over other juggling/scratching routines is Kentaro… I mean, dude obviously works in hip-hop, but doesn’t get stuck into the solely hip-hop vibe during his routines. Instead he gets open on some DnB, breaks, jungle, and whatever the hell else sounds good, and just puts together sets that sound way more original than the average scratch superstar to me. (I’m not going to hate on anyone with the technical skills to scratch nice, but I also know there’s not a damned person reading this who hasn’t heard some turntablism sets before that sound like pure DJ masturbation — endless rapid-fired scratches over the same hip-hop beat). Here you get an eclectic mash of shit that comes off sounding like Jet Set Radio on speed after downing a few shots and noticing the girl of his dream winking at him from across the club. I mean… it’s hot.

EDIT: For posterity, here’s the vid of his famous (infamous?) performance at the 2002 DMC Finals.

Flying Lotus’s Reset EP has already been kicking my ass digitally since its release a few weeks ago, but I finally grabbed it on wax last night. Only real regret is that I couldn’t afford to snap it up in time for last weekends gig at Soda – “Tea Leaf Dancers” and “Spicy Sammich” would have been perfect in a couple of spots. Ah well, more shit to play next time. Flylo’s first release for Warp, the songs are a bit tighter, a bit more accessible, than what you heard on 1983, but lord knows that’s nothing to whine about (though I’m sure some will). It’s not like we’re talking candy-pop production here, this is still Flying Lotus, just any DJs out there who were spinning tracks off 1983 might notice Reset’s tracks are a little easier to mix, little more of a solid beat to feel in places, bit clearer sound less likely to overwhelm a shitty club PA. And whatever the intricacies of the sound itself, the songs are just fucking outstanding. Pick it up, ya got to.

The other big surprise was the new Daedelus EP I picked up, Fair Weather Friends. Shouldn’t have been a surprise — twice I saw Daedelus play in NYC last year, and twice I chatted up with him about how his new record was going to be more of house and garage inspired dance tracks – but what the hell can you really expect? Daedelus always has some kind of way of fucking shit up (fucking shit up nice) that turns me on my head. It was nice to hear “At night I think of you” “My Boo” sample that’s been popping up in Daedelus’s live sets for the past year, always setting the floor off in some nice dance action, popping up on this record as “My Beau”. And “Fair Weather Friends” has a nice video to go with it, which I’m definitely going to post… now.

Anyway, a couple of real interesting records you should definitely keep an ear out for if you don’t have them (or hate them) already. Hope you dig.

And that’s how I was feeling this weekend when, for the first time don’t-ask-my-co-workers-how-long, I actually woke up early for work. So, looking to savor the fresh fall air for a few extra hours before my shift started, I decided to walk to work, across the Williamsburg Bridge and crosstown to my job at a small bookstore in the West Village, on foot. Takes about an hour, nice walk. But for me, any walk is only as good as the soundtrack you bring with you.

So I woke up, started a pot of coffee, kicked on my turntables, and went about putting down an hour’s worth of good tunes to take with me on a stroll to work on a cool fall morning. There’s no real theme, no real technical skill or mixing (unless you count the tape delay on a couple of those reggae joints) involved, just a long set of nice tracks, mostly soul cuts, but with a few new joints, some reggae, some afrobeat, and other strangeness peppered in. It made the walk nice, and the workday slide by like butter. And so this set has been dubbed, A Stroll Through the City on a Cool Fall Morning.

Taking a cue from newest PCS music contributor minusbaby and his Cover Letters post, I’m making up for a lack of original album art (though one should show up in your iTunes if you import this set into there) by putting up album covers for most of the records I spun into this set. So let’s get to it.

Also, did I mention we have a few new music contributors making their way to these staff blog pages these days? I don’t want to ruin any surprises, but I will say to keep your eyes and ears open, because things is happening. Hope you enjoy A Stroll Through the City on a Cool Fall Morning.

Anyway, today I bring “Tracks Ahoy!”, Sami’s latest solo mix of shit-hot cosmic disco and old school house tracks. Think of a Beats In Space set on more of a Euro tip, I suppose. At one point we had a track listing for this mix, which I can’t actually find as I write up this post from an internet cafe on 6th St and 3rd Ave, but I’ll put it up in the Playlists section of the B&C site once we can put together a new list. It’s a funky mix, definitely deserves a good listen through (especially given that, in my opinion, the first track with the “big beat” breaks isn’t really indicative of the rest of the mix — make sure to listen past the first track for a better idea of what this mix is about). Pretty eclectic for the genre, and definitely some real gems in there, with a lot of other extremely dope tunes to keep the ride smooth.

So let’s get to it.

But!

I did end up at APT this past Tuesday for the Daedelus show with my boy Sami, my former roommate from Finland and Scandinavian DJ/musician extraordinaire (you can see his name on that sidebar to the right), back in town on a two-week crate digging excursion through the city. I’m sure I could say more important things about the show, or other interesting musical discussion that popped up throughout the night, but really… what’s important is when we walked into the club, the DJ was rocking Nice & Smooth’s “Sometimes I Rhyme Slow”.

And again, we turn to YouTube.

Sami also put together a new set of dope cosmic disco and house joints, which I’ve uploaded but haven’t listed yet, though I will once I can string together some coherent words on it, and get him to put together a track listing for me. By the end of the day, hopefully. ‘Til then, rhyme slow.

Anyway, I’m quiet about this stuff because I have a nice kind of resignation towards comics these days. I’ll pick up a trade of something good if enough people who’s opinion I like tell me to check it out, but the days of hanging around the comic shop getting into arguments over “Who Would Win In A Fight? Batman or Captain America?” are long gone.

Now I just do it in the music shop. So who would win in a fight, Miles Davis or Thelonious Monk? I await your answer below.

Well, all I really wanted to say was, I finally got excited about an upcoming comic. So excited, I had to scan the ad on the back of the book today, and blog that shit nice.

Yes. God yes. Finally. Gonna be one of the few times you’ll find me in the comic shop again on a Wednesday. Not that I’m looking forward to that. I still have Vietnam-style flashbacks of my buddies lying face-down in a stack of Nightwing (the stairs from the stock room were kind of tricky, you know). Or the guys who have to go through – every – single – comic – on the rack and in the overstock to find the perfect copy of each book, like that crazy son of a bitch looking for the perfect dozen of eggs in Clerks. Or the people who won’t let you touch the books when you’re ringing them up, regardless of the fact that you know you had your greasy hands all over them when unpacking the boxes earlier. Yeah, that’s right. I rub them sensually on my lunch break, tenderly touching them in all the right places before putting them on the wall just for you, Ken Wong.

Actually, maybe I just found the source of, you know, some of my animosity towards comics these days. You know.

I should break this up with a song. Here, it’s an ode from Pase Rock and Spank Rock to Lindsay Lohan, called “Lindsay Lohan’s Revenge”. Woke me up nice today.

Pase_Rock_Spank_Rock_-_Lindsay_Lohans_Revenge.mp3
(download Pase Rock’s “Lindsay Lohan’s Revenge feat. Spank Rock”)

Look like a baby rat? Damn… that’s cold.

See also:

• The Random Soul Blog
• The Mix-Up: A Soul Stroll
• The Monday Mix, May 14th Edition
• The Mix-Up: Apes on Tapes
• Kutmah, letting his dollar circulate

]]> http://www.popcultureshock.com/919-i-re-enter-the-world-of-comics/42456/feed/ 5 http://www.popcultureshock.com/blogging-at-6am/42441/ http://www.popcultureshock.com/blogging-at-6am/42441/#comments Mon, 13 Aug 2007 10:00:05 +0000 Dylan Garret http://www.popcultureshock.com/blogging-at-6am/42441/ It’s 6am and I have to be up for work in a few hours. I should be sleeping, but instead I’m up working on music for this film project thing someone hired me to score. Day job in 3 hours. This is really what it’s about, living in NYC with something like three goddamned jobs when you only really need two, and never sleeping. And just the other day I was unemployed. Funny how things turn out.

By the way, there’s no real purpose to this post. That’s the nice thing about having a music blog here on PCS. As long as I toss up a few tracks, anything can seem relevant. I’ll figure out which ones to put up with this post after a couple more paragraphs. Let it come naturally, you know.

Anyway, it’s an interesting exercise, I suppose, composing music for film. Definitely have to approach it differently than you might when making music that isn’t supposed to serve any purpose beyond making you think, “Shit, this beat I just made is dope. Maybe I should rap too.” I’m working with a lot of Brazilian samples now, but I think I’m about to head out to dig through my crates for something a little more, uh… orchestral, I guess. It’s coming together.

(Note: No, I don’t rap.)

Ten till six. Drinking Kirin Afternoon Milk Tea. It’s some good stuff. Really, I hate being caught home working on tunes without a decent sized bottle of Kirin Afternoon Milk Tea on hand. If I were to write a review of it, it would go something like, “Slightly creamy, smooth on the intake, and with a hint sweetness to caress your tongue, drinking Kirin Afternoon Milk Tea is like being wrapped in the embrace of an old lover with whom you’ve realized your life could never be complete without. Highly recommended. Shock Value: A+”

The song I’m working on needs more cabasa. Seriously. It’s the new cowbell. You heard it here first.

Anyway, here’s some Daedelus, off Daedelus Denies The Day’s Demise, because here I am getting no sleep on account of composing music for a film, and his tunes always have a cinematic quality to them. And I saw him play a show at Luna Lounge in Brooklyn with Flying Lotus the other week, and it was the shit (been meaning to write more about that). And hell, while I’m here, some El-P, because this instrumental was used during a really nice scene in Bomb The System, a movie about graffiti and New York and good music which I also highly recommend, maybe as much as I do the milk tea (although the movie isn’t really about music, just that El-P scored the damned thing so you know it’s pretty dope).

sawtooth_ekg.mp3
(download Daedelus’s “Sawtooth EKG”)

8_the_nang_inst.mp3
(download El-P’s “The Front, The Bush, and The Nang (Instrumental)”)

And hey, for some reference off the You Tubes, the trailer to Bomb The System, in case it seems like the kind of movie that interests you, and an older Daedelus track with Busdriver and Pigeon John rapping better than I can.

Alright. Now I really need some sleep.

See also:

• Hot Wax
• A Tribe Called Quest sneakers by Puma
• FFIV's Remake Coming Soon!
• FFIV's Remake Coming Soon!
• Alternate 300 Trailer

]]> http://www.popcultureshock.com/blogging-at-6am/42441/feed/ 0 http://www.popcultureshock.com/i-had-a-dream-about-phat-kat-last-night/42357/ http://www.popcultureshock.com/i-had-a-dream-about-phat-kat-last-night/42357/#comments Mon, 30 Jul 2007 17:37:31 +0000 Dylan Garret http://www.popcultureshock.com/i-had-a-dream-about-phat-kat-last-night/42357/

A few minutes ago, I was on AIM catching up with my friend minusbaby about his adventures in Brazil, and suddenly, out of nowhere, a dream I had last night came back to me in a rush.

It’s not really interesting to tell. I was in Dream New York (this version of New York from every dream I ever have where I’m in New York City, that’s all warped and dreamlike, but has remained the same from dream to dream for years now — I could draw you a map, no joke), walking down 7th Ave after saving the world from dragons in Central Park or something. Even my dreams are some weird mix of video game geekery and cool DJ shit.

Anyway, so I was walking down something 7th Ave in Dream New York, humming “Cold Steel” to myself for some reason. Some guy was walking down the sidewalk in the opposite direction, humming the same song. We bumped into each other. I looked up him.

“Oh shit, you’re Phat Kat!” I said.

And he was like, “Yeah, that’s me.”

We gave each other a quick, knowing sort of nod, and continued on our separate ways.

And that’s… kind of the end of it. Look, I never said it made for a good story. I actually just wanted to post up “Cold Steel” because it’s been stuck in my head all morning now.

coldsteel.mp3
(download “Cold Steel feat. Elzhi” by Phat Kat (produced by J Dilla))

Dreams, huh?

See also:

• The Mix-Up: A Soul Stroll
• Give your iPod a rest.
• DJ Jazzy Jeff and Allen Iverson
• A Musical Journey Through Unemployment
• Quantic Soooooul Orchestra

]]> http://www.popcultureshock.com/i-had-a-dream-about-phat-kat-last-night/42357/feed/ 2 http://www.popcultureshock.com/the-random-soul-blog/42298/ http://www.popcultureshock.com/the-random-soul-blog/42298/#comments Tue, 24 Jul 2007 19:38:56 +0000 Dylan Garret http://www.popcultureshock.com/the-random-soul-blog/42298/

I usually try to have a theme or anecdote or something to say with these music posts. At least some relevant information about the music. I don’t know, I mean, I guess that’s what PCS pays me the big bucks for, right? Today though, I dunno… it’s just no big thing, you know? It’s a nice day, I’ve got a Thai iced coffee at my desk, my big headphones, and a random selection of funk, soul, and old school R&B tracks I threw onto a USB stick to keep me company while my iPod’s in the shop (the stupid thing broke not 60 days after I bought it, would you believe that shit?). There’s just nothing like enjoying some perfect summer weather and a Thai iced coffee with Gwen McCrae’s “Rocking Chair” in your ears, you know? That tune is really hitting the spot today.

So I’m not really going to bother with any more writing. Here’s some songs. Some were pretty big in their day. I think all of them have been sampled by hip-hop artists at some point or another. Some by the same artist. I’m sure you’ll be able to catch at least one or two of them (Lyn Collins is a pretty obvious one — I was going to put in some Edwin Birdsong for the Daft Punk samples, but I’ll save the more disco-y stuff for another post). And that’s it. Soooooooo… you better think. Think.

Think_About_It.mp3
(download Lyn Collins’s “Think About It”)

Soul_Power_74.mp3
(download Maceo Parker’s “Soul Power ‘74″)

Stoned_Out_Of_My_Mind.mp3
(download The Chi-Lites’ “Stoned Out Of My Mind”)

Rocking_Chair.mp3
(download Gwen McCrae’s “Rocking Chair”)

Yep. Keeping it simple.

See also:

• Quantic Soooooul Orchestra
• The Mix-Up: A Soul Stroll
• DJ Jazzy Jeff and Allen Iverson
• Give your iPod a rest.
• A Musical Journey Through Unemployment

]]> http://www.popcultureshock.com/the-random-soul-blog/42298/feed/ 0 http://www.popcultureshock.com/the-mix-up-the-gaslamp-killer/42266/ http://www.popcultureshock.com/the-mix-up-the-gaslamp-killer/42266/#comments Wed, 18 Jul 2007 22:01:43 +0000 Dylan Garret http://www.popcultureshock.com/the-mix-up-the-gaslamp-killer/42266/

gaslamp_killer_for_protons.mp3
(download The Gaslamp Killer’s “Love The Lab” mix)

The Gaslamp Killer. The Gaslamp Killer. The Gaslamp Killer. Three times I’ve got to say his name. That’s how essential it is for you to check this guy out. Thankfully, I just got a fiiiine mix in, again courtesy of the much-propped Dublab crew, that should give you a decent primer on what kind of crazy shit this guy is doing. It’s hip-hop. No, it’s rock. No, it’s dubby. No, it’s turntablism. No, it’s the work of one eclectic goddamned crate digger. We’re talking a “Nine Inch Nails mixed with Birdman” kind of set, with a lot of dope scratches and other fine vibes to fill the space. Bonobo, Madlib, Nirvana… all over the place, but still coherent while surprising enough to keep you on your toes wondering what’s next, and to keep me from wanting to ruin it by talking too much.

Though I will say, the beat at around 24:40 is sick.

So let’s not mince words. You’re going to want to click that play button up top. You’re going to want to download that mix. And you might just find yourself on the subway singing, “Brrrrrrrrrr… what happened to that boy?” again for the first time since 2002.

Oh, but what’s this? There’s more?

Yes, like a goddamned late-night informercial! To compliment your eyes as well as your ears, here are some dope Gaslamp Killer live videos collected from the vast internets. ‘Til next time.

See also:

• A Tribe Called Quest sneakers by Puma
• FU-KUNG: Ando from Heroes in Akira's Hip-Hop Shop
• FU-KUNG: Ando from Heroes in Akira's Hip-Hop Shop
• FFIV's Remake Coming Soon!
• FFIV's Remake Coming Soon!

]]> http://www.popcultureshock.com/the-mix-up-the-gaslamp-killer/42266/feed/ 0 http://www.popcultureshock.com/peter-moore-gets-hired/42244/ http://www.popcultureshock.com/peter-moore-gets-hired/42244/#comments Tue, 17 Jul 2007 21:11:54 +0000 Dylan Garret http://www.popcultureshock.com/peter-moore-gets-hired/42244/ What, you thought he’d take a little time off? Play some golf? Go on a vacation? Make sweet love to the missus? Read my blog post about songs to listen to while unemployed? No, it looks like Peter “Epic Guns” Moore is hurting to get back on the job, and will be taking a new gig as president of EA Sports.

Here’s a cut of the official press release:

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – July 17, 2007 – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced that Peter Moore has joined EA as President of the EA SPORTS™ Label. Moore joins EA from Microsoft Corporation where he served as corporate vice president of the Interactive Entertainment Business in the Entertainment and Devices Division, leading both the Xbox® and Games for Windows businesses. Moore begins at EA in September and will report to EA CEO John Riccitiello.

See also:

• Peter Moore Resigns From Microsoft
• EA Issues Challenge To The Obama Family
• Phil Harrison Resigns
• FIFA 07 Ships
• Xbox Live Movies and TV Expands

]]> http://www.popcultureshock.com/peter-moore-gets-hired/42244/feed/ 0 http://www.popcultureshock.com/dj-jazzy-jeff-and-allen-iverson/42112/ http://www.popcultureshock.com/dj-jazzy-jeff-and-allen-iverson/42112/#comments Thu, 28 Jun 2007 21:23:51 +0000 Dylan Garret http://www.popcultureshock.com/dj-jazzy-jeff-and-allen-iverson/42112/ practice. More musical connections, with cameos by the Isley Brothers and Eumir Deodato.]]> It’s an insane 90-something degrees out. I’m even told by my buddy minusbaby that the repainting of the Graffiti Hall of Fame in East Harlem this week has slowed down on account of the sun putting too many bubbles in the paint. New York summer, for real. It’s starting to feel like a Spike Lee movie up here. The heat is also really cutting down on my ability to write semi-witty music blurbs. Thankfully, we have Alan Iverson to provide the humor for this post, with fine beats from DJ Jazzy Jeff’s new album, The Return of the Magnificent, so I can slack off a bit.

07-dj_jazzy_jeff=practice.mp3
(download DJ Jazzy Jeff’s “Practice”)

And, thanks to YouTube, the priceless sample, from Allen Iverson himself, with the real-time Practice Counter:

I mean, I think he’s talkin’ about practice.

Here’s another track off the DJ Jazzy Jeff album I’ve really been digging, “The Definition”, mostly on account of the Isley Brothers sample it uses.

04-dj_jazzy_jeff=the_definition.mp3
(download DJ Jazzy Jeff’s “The Definition”)

A couple months back I was working on a new beat myself, and was digging through records looking for a nice sample to put with it. I know grabbed that Isley Brothers record, 3 + 3, because I remember getting distracted and listening to “Listen to the Music” a couple times instead of working on the tune I was supposed to be working on. That happens a lot. I ended up grabbing a different sample for the song (Les McCann, I think) and, really, probably never even thought of using any part of “The Highways of My Life”. Then, a little while later, after listening to The Return of the Magnificent in earnest a bit, I hit up minusbaby, asking him what the hell the sample in “The Definition” was, cause it sounded so goddamned familiar. Turns out it was “The Highways of My Life”. I guess that’s why I’m no DJ Jazzy Jeff.

Yet.

The_Isley_Brothers_-_Highways_of_My_Life.mp3
(download The Isley Brothers’s “The Highways of My Life”)

Speaking of samples, the album cover to Magnificent is also a not-so-subtle nod to one of my favorite MPB records, Deodato 2. And because it’d be pretty lame to dig the record out for a picture, but not pull at least one song off to go with it, here’s “Soul Strut”.

Deodato_-_Soul_Strut.mp3
(download Deodato’s “Soul Strut”)

Anyway, that’s today’s PopCultureShock musical connections. From our turntables to your MP3 players. Now get out there and practice.

See also:

• The Random Soul Blog
• Blogging at 6am
• Hot Wax
• Quantic Soooooul Orchestra
• The Mix-Up: A Soul Stroll

]]> http://www.popcultureshock.com/dj-jazzy-jeff-and-allen-iverson/42112/feed/ 1 http://www.popcultureshock.com/a-musical-journey-through-unemployment/42076/ http://www.popcultureshock.com/a-musical-journey-through-unemployment/42076/#comments Tue, 26 Jun 2007 19:48:41 +0000 Dylan Garret http://www.popcultureshock.com/a-musical-journey-through-unemployment/42076/ I know, I’ve been slipping on the regular free music updates lately. The short of it is, I quit my job the other day. I guess, re-reading all the shit I blog here, you probably could’ve seen it coming. 7/10 posts start with something along the lines of, “Here’s the music I’m listening to on another shitty Monday at the day-job. EPIC FAIL.” But I guess that’s why they call them day jobs — if it was something you liked, it’d just be what you do. We invent these little terms like day-job to make ourselves feel better, I guess.

So, after tomorrow, I am out! No other steady work lined up yet, just getting my credentials and samples together for another fun run of freelancing, but if that ain’t part of living in New York, I don’t know what is. So here’s a bunch of songs. I’m not sure what one thing has to do with the other. I’d like to say the theme of these songs is quitting. Lyrically, they’re not. Just, you know, they might be the kind of songs you can listen to and say, “Shit, with music this good out there, why am I spending most of my day punching numbers into Microsoft Excel?” So let’s do this:

dublab_mp3_23.mp3
(download Madvillain’s “Shadows of Tomorrow [Flying Lotus remix])

Yeah, this track is sick. This is the track I set on my somewhat-broken iPod on the train this morning that made me think, “Man, I’ve gotta put this shit up on PopCultureShock”. Found it on dublab’s Future Roots MP3 Blog. Flying Lotus just has a way about music. His production definitely goes in the right way to handle the Quas voice. Gotta love them chunky beats.

dublab_mp3_28.mp3
(download Nobody presents: BLANK BLUE – “Peoplelectro”)

Gonna keep it up with another tune from dublab’s Future Roots blog for another minute. Here’s some good stuff from Nobody, definitely an eclectic son of a bitch. I love that when I put on a Nobody track I’ve never heard before, I’m never really sure what the hell it’s going to sound like. Just that it’s probably gonna be dope. Peeeeeeeeeeople!

03_-_twilight.mp3
(download the Mobius Band’s “Twilight”)

Okay, one slower song, sort of about quitting and how toughing it out through a shitty job doesn’t doesn’t make you more of a man. Or at least that’s how it’s sounding today. This Mobius Band record (The Loving Sounds of Static) actually came out on Ghostly International, who are more known for their downtempo, sometimes glitchy electronica tracks, more than rock-based tunes like this. But you know if I’m about one thing, it’s that diversity, so let’s bring on the Mobius Band.

Jungle_Brothers-On_The_Road_Again_(My_Jimmy_Weighs_A_Ton)_(Q-Tip_Remix).mp3
(download the Jungle Brothers’s “My Jimmy Weighs a Ton [Q-Tip remix]“)

Ahh, the Jungle Brothers. Q-Tip remixing “My Jimmy Weighs a Ton”. Nice summertime tune. The day I quit, when I was walking home and starting to feel a little conflicted about quitting, worrying if I’d made the right decision or not, I put on this track and started to strut my way across the Pulaski Bridge back to Brooklyn from Queens (maybe not unlike the Peter Parker Strut the Spider-man 3, if that helps). Kind of made it all seem right again. “I always cry when you tell me that you’ll be goin’ back on the road agaaaain.”

Alright, more tunes coming, and I swear I’m almost ready to put the finishing touches on a new mix (think Infinite Ways, but cut, blended, peeled, pickled, puréed, and a bunch of other shit you never thought could happen outside of the kitchen). But for now, my ass has got to start hitting the classifieds.

See also:

• The Random Soul Blog
• Give your iPod a rest.
• DJ Jazzy Jeff and Allen Iverson
• Quantic Soooooul Orchestra
• Kutmah, letting his dollar circulate

]]> http://www.popcultureshock.com/a-musical-journey-through-unemployment/42076/feed/ 0 http://www.popcultureshock.com/tatalicious/42010/ http://www.popcultureshock.com/tatalicious/42010/#comments Mon, 18 Jun 2007 20:58:23 +0000 Dylan Garret http://www.popcultureshock.com/tatalicious/42010/ Just saw this on Flickr. Does it really need a comment?

DJ Sweatshop: i think i’m gonna have to blog that picture on PCS, haha
minusbaby: hahaha
minusbaby: It’s the high point of his career
minusbaby: It’s the first thing that he and I agree on!
minusbaby: TITS

See also:

• I had a dream about Phat Kat last night
• Multicultural comics: 21
• DJ Jazzy Jeff and Allen Iverson
• Hello, Word. World.
• Southside Nefertiti trailer

]]> http://www.popcultureshock.com/tatalicious/42010/feed/ 3