los amigos de durutti

Baby Loves Hip Hop (Prince Paul and Dino 5)

2008-03-30T23:32:00.003-04:00

(l-r) Prince Paul, Scratch, Wordsworth, Mec, and Chali 2Na

April 1st sees the release of an album by an astounding hip hop supergroup consisting of Prince Paul (De La Soul, Stetsasonic, Handsome Boy Modeling School, etc.), Ladybug Mecca (Digable Planets), Scratch (The Roots), Chali 2Na (J5, Ozomatli), and Wordsworth (eMC). Wow. Wow. Some of my all-time favorite artists from some of my all-time favorite hip hop groups. And get this -- the supergroup, billed as "Dino 5," front as cute cartoon dinosaurs targeted to the all-important pre-school demographic.

If any part of that sounds like an April Fools joke, it's not.

The Baby Loves Music label hooked-up with the legendary Prince Paul to produce an inaugural Baby Loves Hip Hop release. Paul gathered Mec, Scratch, Wordsworth, and Chali 2Na to take on cartoon dinosaur personae and join together as Dino 5, "the first prehistoric hip hop supergroup" (take that rappin' Barney Rubble!)

the Dino 5 crew

Parents. Teach your children hip hop! What a thrill and relief it must be for moms and dads to put pick up Dino 5 and put down the sickeningly cute Barney -- whose insipid "I Love You" song could drive any parent insane. And while Baby Loves Hip Hop is great for what it is, it's not like Dino 5 is your father's legendary Roots crew. Or your mother's De La. Or your uncle's Jurassic 5. Er, wait. Actually it is. Well, sorta.

The Dino 5 website claims the Baby Loves Hip Hop release is "3 Feet High and Rising for the next generation." I'd say that's a Tyrannosaurus stretch. And yet, who better than Prince "3 is the Magic Number" Paul to produce a hip hop for toddlers album? Hell, Paul even corrals cameos from De La Plugs One and Two, Posdnuos and Trugoy (but not Plug 3 -- Hey Paul, where was Mase?)

Prince Paul is DJ Stegosaurus
Plug Tunin' for the under six set! The album tells the story of five dinosaur friends who come together to perform as Dino 5 for a school talent show. Along the way, they learn all sorts of important lessons that dino-boys and dino-girls must learn to be better dino-pals in dino-land. Prince Paul is "DJ Stegosaurus." Chali 2Na is "MC T-Rex." Wordsworth is "Billy Brontosaurus." Ladybug Mecca is "Tracy Triceratops." And Scratch is "Teo the Beatboxing Pterodactyl."

Baby Loves Hip Hop has made one track, "What About 10?" (Paul's retort to 3 is the Magic Number?) available for free download. Oh, and here's the infectious intro to the "Dino 5 Theme," courtesy of Pitchfork last week:

What About 10? -- Dino 5: Baby Loves Hip Hop

Dino 5 Theme (Intro) -- " . . . " (2008)

I'm a Billy Brontosaurus with four big feet
I eat lots of plants, but I don't eat meat
I'm one cool dino, no matter what they say
So when I say "fossil," jump up and say "hey"!

Ahhh. Pure genius. As great as this may be for hip hop loving parents, a part of me cringed, over and over, at Baby Loves Hip Hop. Prince Paul and Ladybug Mecca are absolute heroes of mine. So when I click on Mec's "Tracy Triceratops" page on the Dino 5 website and read: "Tracy didn't learn how to use potty until she was four years old and now she speaks to dino-kids across dino-land about the benefits of early potty training!" I, you know, cringe. Say it ain't so Mec. (Oh, it be so).

BONUS: Dino-cuteness antidote. Here's a couple of remixes of De La's "Magic Number": Chad Jackson's "1-2-3 mix" from the UK release of the "Magic Number" / "Buddy" single, and the "Too Mad mix" from a De La Rarities and Remixes album released in the UK in 1996. Enjoy these semi-rare remixes of a childhood-recalling track from 3 Feet High and Rising, one of the best hip hop albums of all time.

The Magic Number (1-2-3 Mix): De La Soul (1989)

The Magic Number (Too Mad Mix): De La Soul

Preorder Baby Loves Hip Hop from Amazon.

p.s. "How high's the water mama?"
p.p.s. "Anybody in the audience ever get hit by a car?"
. . .

Fresh Soul Frequencies (some Afrofreque)

2008-03-17T18:38:00.004-04:00

"The revolution will not be digitized / Even though the Presidency has been idiotized"

In addition to the hyped national and international acts showcased at SXSW, local Austin bands also get to shine at gigs and events around town during the festival. And now that SXSW is over (not that I was there, mind you), I thought it was high time I got around to featuring one of those local groups who brought the funk to a couple SXSW related performances last week: Afrofreque, "Austin's favorite hip hop groove junkies."

Afrofreque starts with The Roots' live hip hop group template, but fashions a brighter sound with socially conscious lyrics and a heavy focus on '70s soul grooves and ultra-funky, feel-good jams. Added to the mix are healthy doses of afrobeat, spoonfuls of reggae, and the occasional dash of electro.

The group's debut album, Fresh Soul Frequencies, features ten joints written collectively by the band members (who've all honed their chops with stints in other Austin groups): Tigre Liu (raps, vocals), DJ Resinthol (turntables), Michael Hale (drums, vocals), Claude 9 (keyboards, vocals), John Siebenthaler (bass), and Fumi-Hito Sugarawa (guitar).

Hale's crisp drumming, which owes a bit to ?questlove's signature style, is extremely solid. Hale lays a strong foundation, along with Siebenthaler's bass and Fumi Sugawara's funky rhythm guitar (which occasionally stretches out -- he lays down a space jam solo and embellishments on "Cool Breeze" that could have flown from Al Di Meola's fingers in a '70s Return to Forever joint).

DJ Resinthol's scratches are often excellent. DJ Logic and Rob Swift are likely influences (you can hear echoes of both on "Illumination"), but elsewhere he reminds me of another Texas turntablist -- Dallas' underrated DJ Zero, best known for his late '80s and early '90s work with MC 900 Ft. Jesus. In addition to p-funkesque synth lines, Claude 9 favors old-school Rhodes and, most frequently, B3 (or B3-sounding) keys. Along with Resinthol's pastiche of samples, Claude 9's spectrum of keyboard sounds help craft the group's amalgamation of hip hop, soul, funk, and groove.

Leading the pac is MC Tigre Liu. At times, Tigre Liu raps remind me a bit of Chali 2Na (J5, Ozomatli) -- not so much his voice (which is not quite as deep), but his flow and, to some extent his delivery. Oh, and he does a little beat boxing on "Ice Age."

Actually, Jurassic 5 is not a bad touchstone for Afrofreque. At times listening to Fresh Soul Frequencies, I heard traces of The Roots lightened up with a bit of J5 (or even the Pharcyde), set to a soul groove that could have come from acid jazz funksters Brand New Heavies (sans N'Dea). No wonder I like these guys.

Afrofreque

In addition to "Illumination," which you can hear below courtesy of Afrofreque and Earthbird Music, other highlights include the hip hop / summertime party funk of "Smooth and Sweet," the beautifully melodic and jazzy "Born Soul," the B3, cowbell, and wah-wah guitar fueled turbo funk of "Whatcha' Gonna Do," and the catchy "Ice Age" (although I had a hard time warming-up to Tigre Liu's flow on that, and a couple other tracks, no pun intended).

Another standout is "Cool Breeze" which is an amalgamation of hip hop, '80s Minneapolis sound (Prince/Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis), breezy soul, a bit of p-funk, and a Nas Illmatic sample ("The World is Yours") snippet ("it's yours!") thrown-in for good measure. Check the short clip, below:

Illumination -- Afrofreque: Fresh Soul Frequencies

Cool Breeze (clip) -- Afrofreque: " . . ."

You know these guys just have to be fantastic live. Join the party if you're in Austin. Hopefully a tour will take them far from Texas soon. Definitely a band to keep an eye on as they grow and mature.

Purchase Afrofreque's Fresh Soul Frequencies from iTunes, GigaCrate, and CD Baby :: Afrofreque Website | MySpace

peace
. . .

Them Changes (r.i.p. Buddy Miles)

2008-03-05T23:18:00.007-05:00

give the drummer some

Memorial posts seem to come in pairs. Two years ago I did a Ray Baretto memorial piece on the heals of a Dilla tribute. Then Billy Preston died less than two weeks after we lost Desmond Dekker. And late last summer Max Roach passed within a week or so of Hilly Kristal's death (then Joe Zawinul died just a few weeks after that).

And it's happened again. Teo Macero died two weeks ago (see this great piece at Destination: OUT and Darcy's take). I didn't have time to do a Teo tribute post then, but had this vague sense of dread that another shoe was in the air. And sure enough, late last week I received an email from my brother in Omaha with a subject line "Omaha news for your blog: Buddy Miles." Oh crap, I thought. Although I was hoping that Buddy was alive and well and doing a benefit gig back in his old hometown or something, I knew I was fooling myself.

Of course my brother's news was that the great Buddy Miles had just died. He'd been in marginal health, suffering from congestive heart failure. He was only 60 years old.

Buddy Miles was born George Miles Jr. in Omaha in 1947. He was a child prodigy and earned his nickname on account of his love of Buddy Rich's drumming. At age twelve, Miles started playing drums with Omaha group The Bebops -- his father's jazz band. (As wikipedia notes, Buddy's dad George Miles had played bass with the likes of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Charlie Parker and Dexter Gordon.) While a teenager, Buddy played with the touring bands for the Ink Spots, the Delfonics and Wilson Pickett.

At age 21, Miles relocated from Omaha to Chicago and hooked up with guitarist Mike Bloomfield to form the Electric Flag -- one of the first mixed race, blues-based, horn driven rock and soul bands. After Bloomfield left and The Electric Flag broke up, Buddy formed the Buddy Miles Express using the Flag's horn section.

Buddy Miles and his big ass fro

The Buddy Miles Express' two albums, Expressway to Your Skull, and Electric Church, both released in 1969, were produced by Jimi Hendrix, who also wrote the liner notes for Skull. Buddy played on Hendrix's classic Electric Ladyland album. After that, Jimi, Buddy, and Billy Cox formed the Band of Gypsys, Hendrix's all-black and much more soulful, but short-lived project. Buddy brought the soul, his sweet but gutsy vocals, and, of course, his fat, commanding, and incredibly powerful drumming.

Shortly after Hendrix's death, Buddy released what would become his best known album under his own name. In Them Changes, Buddy fused funk, soul, jazz-rock, blues, and even a bit of gospel. Such amalgamations are commonplace these days, but in the late 1960s -- not so much. Buddy's music was too back and soulful for many white rock fans of Hendrix and Santana. And yet his rock and jazz-rock bent didn't fit the format of many black radio stations at the time. Of course such factors and concerns didn't prevent Sly Stone's soulful, psychedelic funk-rock or WAR's fusion of jazz, funk, Latin, and soul from reaching the masses and scoring big hits. But Buddy's heavier, bluesy, gut-bucket soul and funky jazz rock sound had a harder time breaking through. He never became a big star on his own or had a significant chart success with his own bands after Them Changes.

Except when he hooked-up and toured with Carlos Santana in 1972. The live album that tour produced Santana & Buddy Miles! Live!, went gold and includes a ferocious, uptempo, extended version of "Them Changes," along with a 25 minute jam titled "Free Form Funkified Filth" (!)

Buddy struggled with drug problems and spent much of the late 70's and early '80s locked-up on narcotics charges. In the mid-1980s, he hit it big once again. This time as the lead singer for the California Raisins -- an R&B group of claymation raisins decked-out in Raybans singing "I Heard it Through the Grapevine" (clever, huh?) in a series of televisions commercials for the California Raisin Growers Council (or some such). Although the claymation figures smacked of racist cartoon caricatures and ceramic figurines from the 1930s and 1940s and thus left a bad taste in some folks' mouths (including mine), the singing and dancing and jiving Raisins were wildly popular, spinning off from the commercial campaign to release four albums, a cartoon, an X-mas special, toys, and a bunch of other crap. At least they made Buddy a chunk of change.

According to Jon Pareless' obit in the New York Times, during the course of his career, Buddy Miles played on over 70 albums, working with (in addition to Bloomfield, Hendrix, and Santana) everyone from George Clinton, Bootsy Collins and Stevie Wonder, to David Bowie, John McLaughlin and Barry White.

Even if you've never heard of Buddy Miles, or even if you have but don't think you know any of his material, well, you have heard his signature joint "Them Changes." Trust me. Here's a sample (a bit more than half of the track) to convince you:

Them Changes (edit) -- Buddy Miles: Them Changes (1970)

In 1994, Buddy reformed the Buddy Miles Express and released the aptly titled Hell and Back (see drug problems and Raisins, above). The album was produced by by Bill Laswell and is full of good, solid material. Although largely hewed from the same stock as Buddy's late 60s and early 70s material (right down to the throw-back cover art!), the album is a somewhat fresh and open attempt to update that sound. And it comes off as though he had a blast pulling it together. In all those regards, it reminds me a bit of WAR's "comeback album," Peace Sign, from around the same time. Check out the jazz-rock-funk track "The Decision," below, which sounds almost like a mid-late 1970s Tower of Power instrumental.

The Decision -- Buddy Miles Express: Hell and Back (1994)

On Buddy's website, his attorney and friend, Geoffrey Menin, noted that, just two nights before Buddy passed, he:

had the chance to phone him from Madison Square Garden so he and Sherrilae could hear Winwood and Clapton as they laid down yet another version of his song, "Them Changes" to thunderous acclaim. As his niece said when I was in Austin recently: "Uncle Buddy, you're not from this planet. Your people put you here, and now they're coming to take you back home." I think she was right. I think he's at peace now that he's home. Surely he left us with many treasures evidencing his visit to earth. We will miss him dearly.

Rest easy, Buddy. I'm sure you and Jimi have some catching up to do.

UPDATE: Although Buddy had been living in Austin Texas for the past few years, I was sent a link to the obit in the Omaha World Herald which noted that Miles spent the mid-nineties playing drums and singing with Omaha band the Mighty Jailbreakers. In 2004, Buddy performed at the Omaha Riverfront Jazz & Blues Festival and was inducted into the Omaha Black Music Hall of Fame in 2005.

UPDATE 2: Austin-based journalist, blogger, and radio host Thomas Fawcett had a chance to interview Buddy back in October for a cool piece he produced for Austin station KVRX -- which you can hear at his great Miles tribute post here.

p.s. I know it's been a while since I last posted. Very busy at work. And very busy in my spare time volunteering for the Obama campaign (and blogging a bit at barackobama.com to boot). Be back soon. GOBAMA !
. . .

Politicians, Don't Let Your Daughters Grow Up to Be Music Bloggers

2008-02-15T20:57:00.010-05:00

John McCain's Daughter takes ~~Reagan~~ Dad to Bitburg

Did you see this in Pitchfork yesterday? "John McCain's Daughter: Music Blogger." Well, John McCain's 23 year-old daughter started (with the help of a couple others) an ersatz blog to follow and report about her dad's Presidential campaign. It's called the McCain . . . wait for it . . . "Blogette." How original that! Like "Wonkette," but, ya know, not all like mega-liberal or wonkish and junk, but, ya know, like, a blog 'n stuff. (Note: Meghan went to Columbia and doesn't really write like that in her li'l "blog." And she probably doesn't talk quite like that either.)

But she did recently post a Super Duper Tuesday playlist that included the RAMONES' "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg" -- selected because it felt like her "Brain Was Hanging Upside Down" after "waking up at 5 am to go to The Today Show." I tried to link to this actual Blogette post, but the entries don't have individual permalinks. Because, like, it's not really a blog and stuff. Here's the McCain Blogette site if you want to wade through all the ~~horsehit~~ "musings and pop culture on the campaign trail" posts. The site includes a lot of photos of old, well dressed white people taken on campaign stops and at fundraisers. Dude, so rad! Oh, and it's not published under a Creative Commons license. (Oh that Lawrence Lessig, he's practically a Communist!)

There was a very funny post recently on Slate written by a college student who felt all alone in his support for Hillary. He noted that being a Hillary Clinton supporter instead of a Barack booster on campus was like "being a Yankee fan at a Red Sox game, a Barry Manilow lover at a Radiohead concert." Humm. Maybe being a McCain fan on campus feels like being a neo-Nazi at a Holocaust Museum. Or not.

But back to Bitburg. After that post, Meghan had sum splainin' to do (again, no permalink):

There's always some great irony in between life and art. I posted a link to the Ramone's [sic] "My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg)" yesterday and some people seem to think there's some message in the fact that it was written in part [in part?? huh?] as a criticism of a trip President [Ronald] Reagan made to Bitburg, West Germany in May 1985.

Duh. WTF did she think Joey's song was about?! Then again, she was an infant when Joey and Dee Dee blasted "Bonzo" -- how can she be expected to know that Reagan was called "Bonzo" way back when (gee, what's that all about?) and, ya know, like, went to some Nazi cemetery and like the liberals and radicals and Jews (they're so touchy!)* got all like upset and like misconstrued the visit and stuff. (*As Meghan learned from wikipedia (see below): "Joey [Ramone], who was Jewish, has stated that he started on the song lyrics [for "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg"] after being almost physically sickened by the Reagan visit, feeling that the President had shown disrespect for the six million victims of the Holocaust by visiting Bitburg").

my copy of Bonzo Goes to Bitburg 12" single (back)

Gee, that's just what dad needs. Try to make your campaign seem just a wee bit hip in the face of Obama's netroots juggernaut by letting daughter Meghan write a "Blogette," and what does she do? Goes and slaps the sacred corpse of Reagan upside the head at a time when Dad's desperately trying to convince conservative Republicans that he's one of them after all, and not just some war-supporting moderate the independents love to love.

Gee, sorry dad.

Well, Meghan back peddled away from the Bonzo goes to Bitburg slap as fast as she could (clearly with the help of wiki-"making bloggers everywhere appear to know more than they actually do"-pedia):

Wow . . . I happen to like the song and figured it was a bit of an edgy choice considering the content . . . BUT those of you who know [what the song is about], also probably know Johnny Ramone was a proud Republican and big fan of President Reagan who insisted the title of [Joey Ramone's] song be changed to its refrain. So if you've been following along with us these last few months, you already know things aren't always what they seem on the Blogette . . . enjoy the song . . . love the irony . . .

Oh. It was 'sposed to be ironic. That esplains it. Talk about your "brain hanging upside down." Note: all ellipsis in original. Although I'm not sure she understands their proper usage . . . Meghan loves ellipsis (now there's a blog name).

Bonzo Goes To Bitburg -- RAMONES (1986)

Note that, in addition to no entry permalinks, you can't leave comments on the McCain Blogette. The "people [who] seem[ed] to think there's some message" in the "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg" post had to email their thoughts and concerns. I mean, come on, Blogette may be pretending to be all hip and netrooty and connected to the people and all that junk but it's not gonna go all crazy-like and let actual real people contribute and post comments and, like, actually control content! Sheesh. What do you think this is barackobama.com or something?

I'm not sure why, but Blogette didn't post this:

(see "john.he.is" UPDATE to "Barack Obama Has a Posse" post, below).

p.s. "pick up the pieces."

p.p.s. Don't worry, los amigos is not turning into a political snark site or Barack blog. Except maybe every once in a while.
. . .

Barack Obama Has A Posse

2008-02-05T23:53:00.004-05:00

Obama '08 Vote Change poster designed by Flickr user xtrapop

Shepard Fairey of "André the Giant Has a Posse" and "Obey Giant" fame ("manufacturing quality dissent since 1989"), recently created a fantastic Obama poster (below, right), in support of the Illinois Senator's campaign.

And of course it was only a matter of hours before folks picked up Shepard's ball and rolled out iconic "Barack Obama Has a Posse" posters and "Obey" style "Obama" images (below, left). Beautiful.

And Barack Obama does have a posse. Including will.i.am, Common, Herbie Hancock, Scarlett Johansson, John Legend, Jesse Dylan, and others:

"Yes We Can" was inspired by Obama's New Hampshire post-primary speech. The Black Eyed Peas' will.i.am turns Obama's speech into a song, speaking/singing along to Obama's words. A cast of all-stars -- including Common, Herbie Hancock, Scarlett Johansson, Tatyana Ali, Jesse Dylan, John Legend, Kate Walsh, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Adam Rodriquez, Kelly Hu, Amber Valetta, Eric Balfour, and Aisha Tyler -- joins will.i.am, lending their voices to the song and appearing in the accompanying video (above) directed by Jesse Dylan.

Here's the song:

Yes We Can (Obama for America): will.i.am., Herbie Hancock, John Legend, Jesse Dylan, et al. (2008)

yes. we. can. GOBAMA !

peace

p.s. As I was posting this, the major networks declared that Clinton took California (reported with only 16% of the vote in). Almost instantly, my inbox began buzzing with a back-and-forth email dialog from members of the Boston for Obama campaign group. Folks were very frustrated by the California loss (and early call). But as Kos just noted, tonight was a huge night for Obama. This thing is far from over.

And remember . . . Barack Obama has a Posse !

UPDATE: If you haven't seen the "john.he.is" McCain skewering parody of will.i.am and Jesse Dylan's "Yes We Can" video . . . you must. I mean really. You must. The vid, by LA comedy group Election08, has circulated virally via Kos and hundreds of other blogs in the past 48 hours. My good friend arb linked to it in the comments (thanks arb!) What? Can't be bothered to click through (let alone drop a note)? Oh, OK, here's the link for the hilarious video parody. You're welcome.
. . .

Rhythm Science (DJ Spooky at Boston's ICA)

2008-02-02T22:56:00.000-05:00

Paul D. Miller, aka DJ Spooky, was at Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art last weekend. He did a well received DJ spin in the ICA's giant lobby on Friday night and presented a "work in progress" live mix of a string trio on Saturday that was universally ~~panned~~ savaged in the Boston press (more on that below).

But Thursday night's lecture / performance was what I was most looking forward to -- and it's the only gig I caught. Miller's talk was loosely based on his award-winning "Rhythm Science" (MIT Press, 2004) -- a treatise on the role sampling technology has played in transforming culture and our view of art and reality. Or, as the book's promotional website puts it: "taking the DJ's mix as template, [Miller] describes how the artist, navigating the innumerable ways to arrange the mix of cultural ideas and objects that bombard us, uses technology and art to create something new and expressive and endlessly variable." A must read (well, in my book).

Paul was hungry, missing dinner, and probably tired. You see he'd very recently returned from a month in Antarctica, where he was filming the melting continent while living on a rented Russian trawler crammed full of high definition cameras and his recording studio. Miller premiered the initial mix of the film at Sundance, projected onto a circle of 17 screens. He showed us a snippet of the film, which he's remixing to play at Imax type theaters.

While hip hop is constructed drawing off the vibe, culture, and surroundings of the urban environment, Miller said he wanted to do the same thing in Antarctica, totally divorced from urban society. Thus, Spooky composed the mostly improvised soundtrack for his new film on board the ship -- in large part using his recordings of the sound of ice cracking and breaking-up, with an occasional penguin squawk tossed into the mix. It was interesting, but didn't sound all that inspired and at times even seemed to borrow some well-worn avant-minimalism themes from Philip Glass' soundtrack to Koyaanisqatsi (not that there's anything wrong with that, but I was expecting more -- like a startling mix of rhythmic ice crunch and flow. But perhaps he had an Imax audience in mind).

Much more rewarding was Spooky's discussion of the history of sampling and sequencing in film -- beginning with a short film from 1900 by French filmmaker Georges Méliès (you've probably seen the homage to his most famous film Voyage Dans la Lune (posted here on YouTube) in the video for the Smashing Pumpkins' "Tonight, Tonight," which includes the famous scene of a spaceship crashing into the eye of a stylized "man in the moon"). Spooky showed Méliès short film L'homme Orchestre (The One-Man Band), pioneering the technique of superimposing multiple exposures to make objects appear and disappear. Méliès film presents a magic act in which, with a wave of a wand, he creates multiple copies of himself on stage with different instruments, who all play as a band, and then one-by-one collapse, back into a single band leader (check the film, posted here on YouTube). This, according to Miller, is the first example of sampling and sequencing in film.

Fast forward to the present, and Spooky connected Méliès innovation to the contemporary use of digital editing to seamlessly cut and paste, manipulate, and mash-up footage. As an example, he presented a perfectly edited and hilarious sequence he constructed of a Bush state of the union speech, which had Dubbya actually speaking the truth about the war in Iraq ("we invaded Iraq based on lies and distortions," "and we made sure the risk of terror increased and spread around the globe," "and we were evil," etc).

This set-up Miller's discussion, with clips, of his celebrated "Rebirth of a Nation" reworking of W.D. Griffith's racist 1915 film "Birth of a Nation." Check here for a great article on the project.

DJ Spooky started the evening by passing out free CDs, noting that he was helping to spread music and art as an open, "gift-based medium." Which fits in with his championing of the open source movement and Creative Commons. I got a chance to speak briefly with Miller after the lecture about his recent performance at the Creative Commons five year anniversary bash. If you don't know Creative Commons (cc), it's a groundbreaking licensing method that provides a range of alternatives to copyright (c). Creative and scientific works with a cc license may be set for free use with a variety of restrictions, fostering creative and cooperative development stifled by draconian or outmoded formal copyright.

At least one artsy type in the audience at Thursday's lecture didn't realize where Spooky was coming from. In the Q&A after his talk, she mentioned that he samples other people in his work, and then asked, in an accusatory voice, "how would you feel if somebody else sampled you !?" (RIAA agit prop?) Miller was very nice about it, basically answering "just fine." He noted that all sorts of his mixes are available for free download on his website, and that he wouldn't be surprised if some DJs the audience went home and made their own mixes using the free CDs he handed out earlier.

Speaking of those free mixes, here's a 12+ minute edit of the 80 minute mix I received as a gift.

Trip Jazz mix (Asphalt-Bitches Brew-Hot Rats edit) -- DJ Spooky

In addition to samples of Miles' title track to Bitches Brew and a Low End Theory-like, looped bass line from Zappa's sublime "Little Umbrellas" (from the jazz-rock masterpiece Hot Rats), the mix kicks off with Carl Hancock Rux spoken word "rap" in "Asphalt" (the title of his celebrated novel, a must read . . . well, again, imho). The rap in "Asphalt" is taken from Spooky's jazz collaboration with Matthew Shipp and William Parker (and Joe McPhee and Guillermo E. Brown) for Thirsty Ear records' Blue Series. That album, Optometry, is one of my favorite jazz albums of the past 5 years. More here.

I've got two turntables and Coltrane
and not just Blue Coltrane
and not just Monk and not just Miles
I've got a million musicians playing over my head
a band of angels responding to the percussion of stomps and hollars
heads don't even know what's happening to 'em
they just know something's happenin' to 'em
I'm the anointed one, turning them over to an urban space
a vacant lot near a tenement building . . .

As a bonus, here's a sample from DJ Spooky's remix of material from the Thirsty Ear Blue Series:

CD:Dir - Gesture - N B LA (Theory Remix) -- DJ Spooky: Celestial Mechanix: The Blue Series Mastermix (2004)

Back to DJ Spooky's apparently ill-fated performance with a string trio last week. Titled "Subliminal Strings," the evening was billed as one in which Paul would sample, sequence, and live mix the string trio, cutting and throwing into the mix beats and bits of everything from Gotan Project to Radiohead. Sounds great. I was sorry to miss it . . . until I read the reviews.

None of the press write-ups mentioned samples of Gotan Project, Radiohead, or anything else, expect the live mix of the strings. Nobody was impressed. Or rather, everyone was distressed by the performance. A few snippets from the major press accounts, which are highly entertaining in their savagery:

Boston Phoenix review Subliminal Cruelty: "As [the string trio] plucked out abstract figures and droned cerebral moans, Spooky would burst in with dissonant woodwind samples, pitch-bent textures, and woefully dated drum loops. It was endless, drab, meandering, and somewhat insulting."

Boston Globe's review Aural Collage Becomes a Collision: "[Spooky] called it a 'collision between recordings of the ensemble and the materials they are playing,' although it's unlikely by collision he meant train wreck. . . . Rather than playing off each other, Spooky and the trio played against each other, competing for the listeners' attention. It felt something like sitting between two rehearsal studios, a hip-hop group practicing in one room and a classical group in the other, snippets of sound bleeding through the walls. . . . Spooky described his 'strange experiment' as a 'work in progress,' which is true in the way that falling down a flight of stairs is a work in progress toward smashing your head." ouch.

And the exceedingly harsh Boston Herald review DJ Spooky Spins Out of Control: first line: "If you gave DJ Spooky an enema, you could fit him in a tin can." yeow. "[DJ Spooky] has pushed a lot of boundaries in his career, but unfortunately the emperor was buck-naked at the ICA, where the extra-modern waterfront venue only added to the pretension. . . . Maybe he is a genius; not many DJs can get a flock of aging white folks to pretend they like something." ouch.

Guess I'm glad I wasn't there. Then again, I'm even more sorry I missed the performance since I have no way to determine if it was really that bad -- or if I, as a Spooky sympathizer, would've ranted against the unfair reviews.

But Miller has successfully merged avant guard and contemporary classical music with turntablism before -- including his performance of Anthony De Ritis' Devolution: A Concerto for DJ and Orchestra at Harvard's Sanders Theater last Spring. At that performance, his last Boston appearance, Spooky got to cut it up and improvise on the ones and twos with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. De Ritis, chair of the Department of Music and director of Multimedia Studies at Boston's Northeastern University, used Ravel's Bolero and a theme from Beethoven's Seventh Symphony to construct a piece within which DJ Spooky could loop and throw back bits and pieces of those compositions, along with broken beats and other sounds, including the haunting wail of an Arabic muezzin (which worked particularly well).

As I noted in a review last Spring, it was a great performance. I've re-upped the tracks in that post, which include a sample from Spooky's excellent avant-classical collaboration with the Freight Elevator Quartet.

So what went wrong with the string trio last week? Maybe Spooky was still jet lagged and simply exhausted from his month in Antarctica. Or had been partying too late with his DJ spin the night before. Or maybe he was just bored.
. . .

Rewriting "Rehab"

2008-01-24T23:23:00.000-05:00

They tried to make me go to rehab /

I said oh, oh, oh, OK, you win /

I'll go, go, go . . .

The Guardian: Amy Winehouse Enters Rehab:

Soul singer Amy Winehouse was admitted into a rehab clinic last night in the latest attempt to tackle her drug addiction.

The announcement came days after video footage emerged allegedly showing the troubled 24-year old smoking crack cocaine. Winehouse decided to enter the facility after talks with her record company, management, doctors and family, according to a statement from her label, Universal Music.

"She has come to understand that she requires specialist treatment to continue her ongoing recovery from drug addiction," the statement said.

She also cancelled a scheduled appearance at an awards ceremony in France, Universal said.

Earlier in the day, Winehouse's father said he had considered having her sectioned under the Mental Health Act to help her get clean. Mitch Winehouse, a London cab driver, told the BBC it was not possible because the singer was not considered "a danger to herself".

"You might consider taking drugs is a danger to herself, but unfortunately the authorities don't," he said.

Until yesterday, Winehouse has been in denial about her addiction, he said. "Part of the problem is she doesn't think she's got a problem. She thinks she can do what she does recreationally and get on with the rest of her life," he said.
. . .

According to Universal, Winehouse plans to travel to Los Angeles next month to perform at the Grammys, where her critically-acclaimed album Back to Black has been nominated for six awards.

Rehab (Desert Eagle Discs (Ronson) remix) -- Amy Winehouse

good luck Amy.
. . .

Shadow says: Happy MLK Day

2008-01-21T14:04:00.000-05:00

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!

In recognition of today's MLK holiday, I thought I'd reup a DJ Shadow goodie posted back in a 2005 Rosa Parks memorial post and a 2006 MLK and the Dreamers post.

It's a segment from DJ Shadow's Diminishing Returns mix originally broadcast by John Peel (rip) as "UK Buzz No. 3" on BBC Radio 1 in March 2003. After the broadcast, Shadow released 1,000 "party pack" copies (see above) through his website. Since then a few "official bootleg" editions in standard 2CD jewel cases found their way to some outlets (I picked up one of those bootlegs -- I don't have a numbered copy of the original Shadow release, unfortunately). Even with a few bootlegs out there, the mix is still very hard to get a hold of.

The BBC Radio 1 broadcast was in two parts: an 80 minute mix of relatively obscure hip hop -- mostly left field and left coast stuff from the 1980s. The second, 40 minute section is an amazing mix of rare, forgotten, neglected, or very obscure late-60s psychedelic tracks, with a couple weird, tripped-out, proto-prog pieces thrown in. Many are shrouded in a bluesy jazz haze. It's delicious and simply incredible.

The last seven minute segment of the hip hop mix features several treats, including a Czech(?) version of Hall and Oates' "I Can't Go For That" (which Shadow cuts with Hall and Oates' original), a steel drum jam of Gary Numan's "Cars," and a marching band cover of "Another One Bites the Dust."

But chief among the treats in this segment is "Martin Luther King," a great old school hip hop jam by the B-Down Brothers, released in 1986 on the Boston Goes Def hip hop compilation straight outta Beantown. It's a wide-eyed, earnest tribute to MLK:

Martin was my kind of guy
And if you wonder why
Because he wanted equal rights
For blacks and even whites
For men and women and boy and girl
Join hands around the world
Singing free at last, free at last
Thank god almighty we're free at last

Sure it's a bit cheesy, but that's part of its appeal. Check the slap bass line that really kicks-in towards the end the jam, which the B-Down Brothers close-out by singing "We Shall Overcome." Beyond sublime.

I Can't Go For That (MLK - steel edit) - DJ Shadow: Diminishing Returns

peace

p.s. "Boy, this scratching is making me itch."

p.p.s. "That's the end of part one of UK Buzz number 3. In part two . . . I'll be playing more records by people you've never heard of and don't like very much." (John Peel)

p.p.p.s. Good luck to Obama in South Carolina on Saturday and Florida next Tuesday.
. . .

Made in the Dark (new Hot Chip)

2008-01-19T21:54:00.000-05:00

Hot Chip Live at Bonnaroo last year (photo: wikipedia commons)

DJ Kicks: Hot Chip

London-based electro-pop purveyors and shiny dance floor nerd funk hipsters Hot Chip are about to drop their new album. Made In the Dark will be released by Astralwerks / DFA in the U.S. on February 5th, and on February 4th by EMI in the U.K. The new album follows hot on the heels of Hot Chip's DJ Kicks mixtape release for the K7 series over the summer -- not to mention about a gazillion remix projects over the past year featuring everyone from Kraftwerk to Tracey Thorn, !!! to CSS, and Omaha's Tilly and the Wall to the Elysian String Quartet's performance of Prokofiev's "String Quartet No. 2" (!)

Hot Chip: Made in the Dark
Made in the Dark is, of course, ready for the dance floor. The album's first single, "Shake a Fist," was released last year, and the second single, "Ready for the Floor," will be released on January 28th as an enhanced CD single with the video (see below), a SoulWax remix, and a Diplo remix of "Shake a Fist. " "Ready for the Floor" is driven by a fantastic, elastic-bounce bass line. In addition to drawing off early-80s electro-pop (think Soft Cell and OMD crossed with the Buggles), the track features a chorus that sounds like something Jeff Lynne would've written for an ELO pop song. Check the video, which features Alexis Taylor as a two-faced combination of Batman villains the Joker and Two Face playing around in Thomas Dolby's lab (with lots of technicolor and cans of paint):

The promo-material for Made in the Dark notes that "the band's sound has evolved towards a wilder, heavier electronics, though still coupled with a signature pop aesthetic," keeping "pure, unadulterated head rush pop into the mix."

But, along with the dance floor grooves, the album's title track is a ballad. And a reflective, somewhat melancholy, break-up ballad at that. It's, uh, pretty. It's slow. It takes its time with an extremely downtempo, boom-boom-bip beat.

And it's been made available for posting and free downloading:

Made In The Dark -- Hot Chip: Made In The Dark (2008)

Hot Chip kick-off the release of Made in the Dark with special shows in New York and LA next month, followed by dates in the UK. The band comes back to the US in April with gigs in Philly (4/10), DC (4/11), New York (4/12), Boston (4/14), and Chicago (4/17), among others. See the band's myspace page for complete listings.

Preorder Made in the Dark from Insound in the US, and Recordstore in the UK. Release date: February 4th (UK), February 5th (US).

p.s. "You're my Number One Guy."
. . .

los favoritos de los amigos (2007)

2008-01-06T21:24:00.000-05:00

team durutti works on the los amigos year end favorite album list

I didn't have time to put together the obligatory year end list before the holidays this year. But the indulgence of ranking the year's "best" albums (which, in los amigos' case, is really more of a "favorite albums" tally) is too much fun to pass up just because we've entered 2008. Plus, this year is notable in that three (count 'em) albums were available for DRM-free mp3 downloads in innovative, optional pricing models: Radiohead's "pay what you want," plan; Saul Williams' "pay a suggested $5 price (for 320kbps), or pay nothing (for 192kbps)" model; and, most simply, Tim Fite's "go ahead and download my album for free" gift. Of course, that's just the tip of the looming ice berg (Titanic image intended). See here for Billboard's speculation on who's likely to follow (Prince?, Daft Punk?, Chuck D?, Sufjan?).

So, without further delay, here goes los favoritos de los amigos for 2007:

1. M.I.A.: Kala The World is a Ghetto. This was a pretty easy choice for the top spot. From the Jonathan Richman quote (the Modern Lovers' "Roadrunner") that kicks off "Bamboo Banga" to the Pixes quote ("Where Is My Mind?") in "$20," Kala is a hell of ride. And one built literally around the globe as M.I.A. (Maya Arulpragasam) traveled the planet working with different artists and producers, partially in response to an extended battle with U.S. Immigration to reenter the U.S. so she could work with Timbaland (which she eventually did). There was all kinds of blogosphere speculation and debate about the extent to which her visa delays related to the radical lyrics in Arular and the M.I.A./Diplo Piracy Funds Terrorism mixtape or her father's connection to the Tamil revolutionary movement. But whatever the reason, Kala is an even more explosive amalgamation of cultural influences and clashing styles than Arular. There's the frantic Indian drumming of the infectious (no pun) "Bird Flu," the delicious Bollywood swirl of "Jimmy," and the neo-rave, acid house reminiscences ("where were you in '92?") of XR-2, three standouts. But my favorite tracks are probably "Bamboo Banga" and "Paper Planes," which Diplo and Maya built around a sample from the Clash's "Straight to Hell." I'm not sure if Diplo worked on"Paper Planes" before or after his somewhat acrimonious split with M.I.A., but the the gun shots / reload click / cash register chime (ala Dark Side of the Moon) rhythm that punctuates the Wreckx-N-Effet chorus (which is intended as an "in your face" (with a gun) affront to anti-immigrant reactionaries and their worst fears) is startling and simply incredible. As is the whole album.

p.s. "I've put people on the map who've never seen a map."
p.p.s. "M.I.A. Third World Democracy. I got more records than the KGB."
p.p.p.s. "It ain't Coca-Cola, it's rice. Go straight to hell boy." (the Clash)

2. LCD Soundsystem: Sound of Silver My very good friend DA in NYC recently chastised me: "you need to hype LCD Soundsystem more." And he's right. LCD Soundsystem's debut made it clear that nobody does dance rock better that James Murphy (DFA). But Murphy's follow-up is even more satisfying -- surprisingly because, at first blush, it lacks killer standouts like "Daft Punk is Playing at My House," "Disco Infiltrator," and, of course "Losing My Edge." But all of the tracks on SOS are so damn great. From the punk-funk of "North America Scum" ("for those of you who still think we're from England, we're not . . . No"), the pulsing, Low trilogy-era / Talking Heads' Remain In Light, Bowiesque art funk of "Get Innocuous," the clacking-churning piano and New Order-like beats and bass of "All My Friends," and the smooth electro of "Someone Great." And then there's the almost ridiculously plaintive ballad "New York, I Love You (But You’re Bringing Me Down)," wherein Murphy bemoans the legacy of Giuliani's law-and-order crusade to sanitize the city -- through to the present "billionaire Mayor who's convinced he's a king." We'll see if Giuliani survives New Hampshire next week, but I kept thinking of Le Tigre's "My, My Metrocard" and "Bang! Bang!" (the scathing critique of racist NYC Police shootings and abuse of suspects) as I listened again to "NY I Love You." Kathleen Hanna was, as usual, right-on when she declared that "shut down all the strip bars" Giuliani is "such a fucking jerk," rhyming it with "work fare does not work." But back to SOS: if you don't already have it, buy it.

p.s. "New York you're safer, but you're wasting my time. Our records all show you were filthy but fine. But they shuttered your stores when you opened the doors to the cops who were bored once they ran out of crime."
p.p.s. "Sound of silver talk to me, makes you want to feel like a teenager, until you remember what it's like to be a real, live, emotional teenager . . . then you think again."

3. Kanye West: Graduation I've always loved Kanye, and while this album doesn't quite have a "Gold Digger" or "Touch The Sky" standout, it is, overall, even stronger than Late Registration. While Kanye will never be the best rapper on the planet, his production skills are in full force. And this time out he samples Daft Punk ("Stronger"), Can ("Drunk and Hot Girls"), and Steely Dan ("Champion"). Amid all of the album's use of electro and techno synths, there is still the old-school, 70s soul sound / scattered samples and occasional gospel lift. Damn, I love this album. Can't wait for "Grad School Drop-out," or whatever Kanye drops next.

4. Radiohead: In Rainbows I'm one of those types that really loved Kid A and Kid B, er, Amnesiac (the electric piano that spills out to envelop you at the beginning of "Everything In Its Right Place" always drops my jaw and gets me warm and tingly, in an unsettling kind of way, of course). But, even more than Hail To The Thief, In Rainbows brings back "more accessible" "songs" without leaving behind the edge and experimental bent that made every album since The Bends so damn great. You get the harder edged "Bodysnatchers" and standout "15 Steps," as well as the trademark melodic pieces and that are often lullaby-like beautiful, but (once again that word), unsettling. And mega kudos to Thom York and company for making the entire album available as a "pay what you want" DRM-free download. If you missed the DL, you can purchase a hard copy of the CD now (it's even available at, uh, Starbucks). But, unfortunately, Warner put the kybosh on the plan to offer Amplive's remix of the album (Raindayz Remixes) for free to anyone who downloaded In Rainbows. So it goes.

5. Amy Winehouse: Back In Black I don't really care about the anti-Amy backlash, which has only intensified in the wake of her increasingly self-destructive behavior. No, count me among the cheerleading fans of Amy and Mark Ronson's hip hop influenced update on the sound of Motown, Philly Soul, and early '60s girl group R&B. Amy's liquid smoke, soul soaked vocals and slippery phrasing have been described as Billie Holiday crossed with Lauryn Hill. But as the mighty ?uestlove noted on his myspace blog, Amy's Back to Black is the album Lauryn would've killed to make. Of course Ronson and Salaam Remi's production work is a big part of what makes Back to Black so phenomenal and infectious -- whether they're worshiping in the church of Phil Spector for the album's stunning title track, or channeling Berry Gordy and Huff & Gamble while experimenting with new hip hop beats.

6. V/A: The Harlem Experiment (Ropeadope) I already posted a preview of this album, predicting that it would make my top ten. And sure enough. Every year I think about doing a favorite or "best" jazz album list, but conclude that I haven't heard enough of what came out to put together a meaningful tally. But Ropeadope's Harlem Experiment gets my jazz jones into this year's list in a big way. Moreover, it's a fantastic amalgamation of jazz, hip hop, funk, r&b, soul, Latin, and klezmer . . . all music with deep roots in Harlem. The musicians Ropeadope brought together for the album (the "Harlem Experiment House Band") include Eddy Martinez (Tito Puente, Mongo Santamaria, Run D.M.C.) on the keys, Steven Bernstein (Sex Mob) on trumpet, Steve Berrios on drums, Don Byron (!) on clarinet, Ruben Rodriguez (Tito Puente) on bass, and Carlos Alomar (David Bowie) on guitar. Guest artists and vocalists include Olu Dara, Taj Mahal, and Queen Esther. The joint is produced by Aaron Levinson, creator of the great Spanish Harlem Orchestra. Highly recommended.

7. Pharoahe Monch: Desire Was it worth the eight year wait since Monch's fantastic solo debut Internal Affairs? Hell yeah. Desire is chock-full of smooth 70s soul, bouncing and rocking funk, jazz, and gospel (especially on "Free," one of the album's stand-out tracks). Desire's most impressive piece, however, is the three-part "Triolgy." Plus, Pharoahe updates Public Enemy's "Welcome to the Terrordome" for a new, ah hem, political climate. The overarching theme of the album is the desire to be free -- exploring many manifestations of freedom (personal, political, expressive, etc.). Definitely one of the best, and more conscious, hip hop albums of the year (sorry Common).

8. Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings: 100 Days, 100 Nights OK, I'm a sucker for Jones and the Dap-King's exploration of 60s and early 70s soul, funk, and R&B of the the JBs, Motown, and Stax variety (and I'm not alone on that, obviously). Mark Ronson helped push the Brooklyn-based band (and Daptone label) into the spotlight by employing the Dap-Kings to work on Back To Black and accompany Amy Winehouse on her U.S. tour (although she should have let them stretch-out on a few songs, or, better yet, lay-out and let them take over for a track or two, as I noted in my review of Amy's Boston show). And, of course, Jones' deep, bluesy, soul-gospel pipes could blow Winehouse off the stage.

9. Tim Fite: Over the Counter Culture. As I mentioned in a preview of this album last January, Fite churned out an angry, "overtly political hip hop record," released in February as a free download through Fite's website. The album is a scathing attack on commercial culture in general and the money-driven world of mainstream, corporate hip hop in particular. Fite's label, Epitaph's Anti- imprint (Michael Franti, The Coup, Tom Waits, Blackalicious, Joe Strummer's (rip) Mescaleros), wanted to do a proper commercial release, but went along with Fite's insistence that an album about the politics of consumerism and corporate control of music could not be put out as a traditional, for profit label release, even by an indie like Anti-. "It's All Right Here," one of the album's most impressive tracks, features steam press beats and swirling strings that sound like they are lifted from a dream sequence in an early 1940's movie. The track gets right to the core of Fite's critique of consumer culture, including Wal-Mart ("it's all right here, so come and get it / and if you don't have cash, use credit") and corporate hip hop ("where's my ill-begotten riches, where's my women who want to be called bitches? . . . y'all stay payin' and I stay paid"). "Camouflage" ("it's hot this season, a fashion statement from a fascist nation") makes a strong anti-war and anti-Bush statement ("it seems like this camouflage is camouflaging Kings posing as Presidents / camouflaging the evidence that the Patriot Act is tapping every phone in your residence"). And the hilarious "I've Been Shot" parodies the corporate marketing of neo-gangsta rappers ("exit wounds make record exec goons swoon"). Other great tracks include "Oh Well" and the Eastern European accordion dirge sampled "In Your Hair." The latter features some nice scratching, although the best turntablism displays are found in "I'm Not Scared of You" and the old school scratch exercise "Good Evening."

It's All Right Here -- Tim Fite: Over The Counter Culture

I'm Not Scared of You -- " . . . " (2007)

Over the Counter Culture -- " . . . "

10. Saul Williams: The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! Williams, perhaps better known as slam poet than rapper, teamed-up with NIN's Trent Reznor and Thavis Beck and made the resulting political hip hop gem available for free download at 192kbps, or for $5 at 320kbps. Standout tracks include the powerful "Black History Month" and "Scared Money," the Boards of Canada-like "No One Ever Does," as well as "The Ritual" and "Break." And then there's the relatively straight forward cover of U2's "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (a bit of a surprise). Both Fite and Williams -- coming from very different places -- made two of the most powerfully political records of the year -- both of which provide cutting critiques of mainstream, corporate hip hop culture. And for free, no less. Plus, both albums have great titles, although the Bowie-inspired name for Saul Williams' project has to be in the running for best album title of the year.

-----

First Runners-Up: These three runners-up, Ghostface's Big Doe Rehab, Common's Finding Forever, and The Go! Team's Proof of Youth, should probably make a "top 10" cut. I need to spend more time with all of them, but the releases by these three just weren't as strong or intoxicating as their previous albums (Ghostface's Fishscales made my top spot last year, and for 2005, the U.S. release of The Go! Team's Thunder Lightning, Strike came in at number 1, while Common's Be weighed-in at 5).

Also-Rans: Andre 3000: Music from the Class of 3000; Talib Kwelie: Ear Drum; Alice Smith: For Lovers, Dreamers, and Me; Zap Mama: Supermoon; Bebel Gilberto: Momento, The Good the Bad and the Queen;

Best Ep: Hands down, The Mighty Underdogs: The Prelude Ep. See my recent review here, or here (which also got a nod on the SoleSides site and boards, which is always nice).

Need to Hear: El-P: I'll Sleep When You're Dead; Prefuse 73: Preparations; Ween: La Cucaracha; Holly Golightly and the Brokeoffs: You Can't Buy a Gun When You're Crying (has to be in the running for best album title of the year, along with Niggy Tardust).

Whew. Well, although belated, that was sure fun. Hope next year's as strong musically.

p.s. Congrats to Obama on his resounding win in the Iowa Caucuses! Here's to a big win, or at at least a win in New Hampshire on Tuesday!
. . .