D23 is a Disney convention, the first of its kind, held this past weekend. Here’s a report on the presentation for The Princess and the Frog.
Related: The songs from the movie that are being positioned for Oscar contention.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ||
|
It was okay, though, because my sister Lynne had all his records. Lynne was always super-protective of her record collection – how could she not be, with a little brother around? I remember she had a boxful of 45s she kept in her wardrobe, in addition to her 12-inches, and when she wasn’t around I’d sift through them and play the ones I liked on her stereo. She was first to get Thriller when it came out, of course, and I believe I eventually bought a copy on cassette a few years later, when I started to get an allowance and began building a music collection of my own. I remember watching the Motown 25th Anniversary Special with the family, and seeing him moonwalk made me want to do it too. In fact, I’ve always had a secret desire to want to dance like him. In my sixth grade language arts class (do they still call it that these days?), I had a remarkable teacher named Stacey Brooks; I still miss her dearly. Anyway, she loved to do unusual, outside-the-box type projects that encouraged us to not only read, but to enjoy reading and to comprehend the things we read. One such project was to write a new set of lyrics to “Beat It” and make a new song called “Read It.” This would be accompanied by a “video,” of course (although I’m fairly sure she didn’t film anything). The class was divided into three groups, so we’d get three different versions of the song. In my group this one girl tried to teach me how to moonwalk, and I tried so hard to get it right. I practiced constantly! I wanted so bad to do it because MJ was the biggest thing on earth and if you were a kid in the early 80s, you knew all his songs, you saw all his videos, and you wanted to dance like him (or at least attempt to). Oh, did someone say videos? I remember watching the world premiere of “Thriller” on Friday Night Videos (please tell me someone else remembers this show) and just marveling at it. Videos were still such a new thing back then; kids today don’t realize how popular the idea of music videos was back then – and to think that someone could turn a three-minute video into a fifteen-minute mini-film was a radical idea. And what a video! I don’t think I had seen John Landis’ An American Werewolf in London at that point; if I had, I probably would’ve made comparisons between the two. “Thriller” is more than a little dated in places now, but it still holds up. Indeed, the imagery in most of his videos has done much to solidify his iconic status. I remember not liking the song “Smooth Criminal” (at first; I like it now) but liking the video. Anyone remember the MJ arcade game which was directly inspired by that video? I played it, but in my mind it wasn’t quite the same. As I got older, my musical tastes changed pretty drastically. I discovered classic rock and heavy metal, and moved away from Top 40 music (including hip hop, which was just beginning to take off), but I kept my MJ records and cassettes. Why wouldn’t I? That music was part of my childhood, and always would be. Me being a kid, I never completely understood why MJ changed his looks so drastically from Off The Wall to Thriller. I’d hear disc jockeys make fun of him for his plastic surgery, but I suppose I must’ve chalked it up at the time to weird celebrity antics. It never mattered; the music was what always mattered. Of course, later on, it grew impossible to ignore, but I could still brush it off, especially since I had new music to listen to. The peculiar reports of his lifestyle habits became, like those of many celebrities, something to laugh at, but little more. I’m not gonna go into the stuff about whether he molested kids or not. That’s all been bashed about to death in the media. I will say that if the kids in question had their say in public, it is entirely possible we’d get a very different side of the story. No matter what you thought of him – and there’s no doubt that he was an immensely controversial figure; I wonder if anyone really understood the “real” him – the man was a legend. And we will never see his like again. (Let the record show that I was in the Cup O’ Joe cafe at the Lennox Mall in Columbus, Ohio, when I heard the news.) 
Alright before I get to my spiel, let me cut and paste the official line on this mix:
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.
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. 03-the_quantic_soul_orchestra-she_said_what_(feat_j-live).mp3 (download Quantic Soul Orchestra feat. J-Live’s “She Said What?”) 02-the_quantic_soul_orchestra-panama_city.mp3 And one throwback to the Stampede LP, from 2003 (though I believe the song was written and performed by Simon Green, aka. Bonobo): quantic_soul_orchestra_-_terrapin.mp3 (download Quantic Soul Orchestra’s “Terrapin”) And, hell, the original for posterity: bonobo_-_terrapin.mp3 (download Bonobo’s “Terrapin”)
 By Katherine Dacey on January 25, 2008 at 3:36 pm
VIZ MEDIA RELEASES THE THIRD ANNUAL SHOJO BEAT MUSIC AWARDS ISSUE, FEBRUARY 2008 VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, has announced that its Third Annual SHOJO BEAT Music Awards Issue features a reader’s choice vote and a new, exclusive contest in conjunction with MYX, the first and only music lifestyle channel focused on the Asian American market. The February issue, on sale at retail outlets now, offers a host of new surprises and exciting editorial content sure to delight even the most discriminating fan. The February 2008 issue of SHOJO BEAT, rated T+ for Older Teens, celebrates the best in Japanese music with a beginner’s guide to Japanese bands, a Tokyo record store’s top 10 and two music-themed Hot Lists in addition to the featured awards. For the Music Awards, SHOJO BEAT takes a look at previous up-and-comers in the awards competition as well as this year’s newest and most talented artists. In the Best Pop Artist or Group category, artists include: Budo Grape, Puffy AmiYumi, Swinging Popsicle and HALCALI. In the Best Rock Artist or Group category, artists include: L’Arc~en~Ciel, AN CAFÉ, ROCKET K and DOGG BONE. There is also a new category for Music Videos made possible by the folks at MYX. SHOJO BEAT readers who vote for their favorite music will be entered into a random drawing for one of 15 cool prizes. Prizes include 100 song downloads on JapanFiles.com, and the latest edition of Dance Dance Revolution, SuperNOVA2 donated by Konami. For more details and Official Rules, visit http://shojobeat.com/music/rules.php. In addition to its help with the Music Video category in the Awards, MYX is also working with SHOJO BEAT this month and allowing readers to get even more into the exciting world of Asian music. The ‘MYX a Music Spot SHOJO BEAT Style’ contest promotes a search for creative SHOJO BEAT and J-Music-loving fans to help MYX create a 10-30 second spot to be featured between their regular programming of music videos and Asian-American oriented shows! Participants will simply upload their ideas to the MYX.tv website, MYX and SHOJO BEAT will pick the best concepts, and one lucky grand prize winner will have their concept turned into an actual spot produced by MYX. The grand prize winner will also receive a SHOJO BEAT goodie bag containing a T-shirt and Konami’s Dance Dance Revolution game. Each of the three runner-up winners will receive a SHOJO BEAT goodie bag containing a T-shirt and Konami’s latest Dance Dance Revolution game. For more details and official rules, visit http://www.shojobeat.com/myx32/. MYX is also offering an exclusive promotion in conjunction with the SHOJO BEAT music issue on its website (http://myx.tv) where participants can enter to win a new 16gb iPod Touch. Site visitors who join the MYX newsletter are automatically entered in a random drawing to win… In addition to extensive and exciting music coverage, the February issue features all the fun stuff that SHOJO BEAT is known for–dramatic, cathartic, romantic and fantastic shojo manga: Monkey High! preview, plus the exciting continuation of serialized titles Absolute Boyfriend, Crimson Hero, Vampire Knight, Honey and Clover, Haruka and Sand Chronicles. The fresh Japanese infused lifestyle editorial, along with the incredible addiction of the shojo manga titles has helped this unique magazine increase its circulation over 57% percent since launching in June 2005 and shows no signs of slowing its growth as the appeal of manga for girls and Japanese pop culture continues to rise. My roommate has been blasting this throughout the apartment for… weeks straight now. And, I gotta say… I don’t really mind. I mean, it’s Snoop, which frankly makes the talkbox not bad in any sort of way, and I can’t help but feel a little Frankie Knuckles love on the whistles (you know all know how I dig my house music), and as for that main synth line… well, I have to admit that really just reminds me of the background music to Tokyo Xtreme Racer for the Dreamcast, a completely underrated video game which I totally played the shit out of back in the day. So yeah, high marks on all counts. snoop-dogg-sexual-eruption.mp3 I like that there’s no guest appearances on the new album. From an interview:
Sometimes I watch homemade scratching and juggling videos on YouTube, you know, just looking to get ideas, or inspiration for combinations or whatever — it’s not biting per se, it’s to watch, learn, and build on, you know? Foundations. 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. Nothing like some dope new records to get you off your ass and posting again. After being lucky enough to get hit with paychecks from all three of my jobs on the same day this weekend, it was time for some long-overdue record digging. Got a bunch of shit, old and new, but two new releases are doing it for me tonight.
a1-flying_lotus-tea_leaf_dancers.mp3
b1-flying_lotus-spicy_sammich.mp3
02-daedelus-my_beau.mp3
03-daedelus-hermitage.mp3
Got a couple of YouTube clips too. First is that video I mentioned for “Fair Weather Friends”, the title track to the EP. Really nice video for a really nice song. The second clip is required viewing, of Daedelus rocking the spot in Tokyo with tracks off the new record, taped professionally so the sound quality is quite nice. The second song of the set kills it, though you just can’t go wrong with “Samba Legrand” (the track the clip ends on). Some day when I’m feeling less self-conscious (and in front of my own computer at home) I might post the booty hip-hop remix I did of “Samba Legrand” a while back. Some day.
It looks like fall is finally here in New York City, just a few months later than some of us had been hoping. Still, breaking out of the lethargy of yet another prolonged (and exceptionally humid) New York summer, the cool air settling over the city this past week feels damn good. Therapeutic, even. It makes you wake up with a little extra spring in your step and a little more love in your heart. 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.
Dylan_Garret_-_A_Stroll_Though_the_City_on_a_Cool_Fall_Morning.mp3 (left-click to download Dylan Garret’s “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. TracksAhoy.mp3 (download Sami Suova a.k.a. Schmami’s “Tracks Ahoy!” mix) Have nice listenings, more fresh mixes to follow.
|
|
Also Check These Out!
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Let’s see… My earliest memories: one of the first records my father ever bought for me was the Jacksons’ Victory. That world tour they did, with screaming fans passing out and needing to be hospitalized, so very much like when the Beatles first came to America – not that I could appreciate the comparison at the time, me being only about 9 or 10. Of course, I begged my parents to get tickets, but tickets were impossible to get. You’d have to have a persistence that my parents did not have.
Erin’s declared this week Shojo Beat week at PopCultureShock. So in the spirit of her recent reviews of 
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.
Time to freshen up the PCS soundtrack a bit. Mentioned in the last post, aside of the “3 job hustle” stuff, that my old roommate, B&C contributor (you know, spiritually, given how he doesn’t actually post much himself but tosses me a lot of tracks), and Scandinavian DJ superstar Sami Suova, aka “Schmami”, put together a nice little mix before leaving his native Finland to come back to New York City on a 2 week long record digging tour. He be ended his stay yesterday, Sunday, and flew back to Finland with enough 12″s to bring up some serious discussion about weight limits for luggage on international flights. He even tossed me an Avalanches 12″ I’ve been looking for for a bit (specifically, the Stereolab remix of “Since I Left You”, better than the original in most every possibly way).
