so long michael, see you tomorrow

michael jackson is dead. it's sad that in a lot of ways i wasn't entirely surprised to hear the news; it was shocking, but after that ten seconds when it all sank in i was left thinking about what michael's legacy was to this generation. mtv, in a confounding state of sensibility and honor not seen since... well when they started playing mj, is doing a bunch of interviews, and they're trying to bring in viewers that really only know jackson as this media freak who used to have a few catchy songs.

i think jackson is like the beatles: one of those musical acts that will never really see someone come in after them and do it quite as well or rather quite as orginally. it took me years before i truly appreciated michael's music, and a lot of friends of mine still don't appreciate it. maybe they will now. isn't that how it works with dead musicians?

i don't think the london shows were going to turn out that well, and i think the new material he had been working on with will.i.am and akon among other people wouldn't even have been a glimmer in the face of the body of work he had produced in the late 70s and 80s. nothing against him, but again i think the media will be quick to speculate what would have happened if today hadn't happened.

i'm not sure much will change for me from here on out. thriller and off the wall were in my car this morning, and they'll be there when i wake up tomorrow.

no music posts today. how could you pick just one? or ten?

blech not even moved in yet

so for those who are linked biographically with me in other ways besides this blog, you know that i am in the process of moving. so we're in the new house, we got cable internet. WHAT THE FUCK MAN, i'm sure you're saying. WHAT HAPPENED AT THE MAJOR LAZER SHOW???? i know, i would want to know too. but until tomorrow, when hopefully i will have the energy to conquer the massive post-show review that will include video and pictures as well as you know my general vibes, you'll have settle for the radically new design of my blog. okay, so my boy will just hooked me up with a new logo. but its siiiiiiiiiiick, right???

first and second impressions, pre-show

yeah i know what the hell do i have to say about a dancehall album? i was trying to think of a proper analogy, and the best i could come up with would be like a literary snob trying to make sense of 8 mile (inside joke for someone who doesn't read this blog).

it would be hard to not compare the major lazer album to mia's kala, since both diplo and switch (who comprise major lazer) had such a big hand in that. or maybe it would be more fair to compare it to santogold's debut, which featured similar contributions that probably turned out much more similar sonically.

there are the songs that just sort of sound like pretty generic dancehall to me, and then there's the outer space productions. for me, the vocals here are fairly interchangeable; the guest list is varied but since i can't tell what the hell they're saying half the time (more of a comic exaggeration pointing out my skin color than actual fact, although it is worth pointing out that diplo and switch and both just as white as i am, and i'm pretty sure neither of them grew up in jamaica).

i can't imagine much of this stuff is common to the genre: there's the surf-guitar riff in lead-off hold the line, the uhhh... nursery rhyme wtf of mary jane, the otherwise boring auto-tuned pop of keep it goin louder that somehow manages to redeem itself with a simple drum beat and the last ten seconds of eurotrance synths. and that's ultimately what sets the record apart. the autotuned baby crying that everyone was talking about surfaces as a minute long skit that touches on messages of peace and respecting maternal figures. i shuddered when i heard lil jon's voice, only to breath a sigh of relief when he left three seconds later.

so there's definitely some highlights that are going to make for a crazy show. pon de floor is the album highlight, and i'll let you know how mental the crowd goes when they drop that shit, but i'm sure someone will post the footage on youtube anyways.

when you hear the bassline feat. ms thing

pon de floor feat. vybz kartel (what the fuck is that sound oh hell who cares)

MIXXES: afterparty

1. prince - controversy (single edit) (1981)

2. zoot woman - taken it all (le knight club remix) (2004)

3. allure - champagne (???? this year?)

4. yeah yeah yeahs - heads will roll (2009)

5. phoenix - lisztomania (2009)

6. matt & kim - daylight (2009)

7. mr. hudson - supernova (feat. kanYe) (2009)

8. grizzly bear - two weeks (2009)

9. daft punk - harder better faster stronger (breakers break remix) (2001)

10. passion pit - sleepyhead (2009)

11. lady gaga - eh, eh (electric piano & human beat box version) (2009)

12. lykke li - little bit (2008)

13. the-dream - hater (2009)

14. little boots - new in town (2009)

15. black eyed peas - alive (2009)

16. the streets - when you wasn't famous (2006)

17. peaches - lose you (2009)

18. grizzly bear - two weeks (fred falke extended mix) (2009)

19. john lennon - oh yoko! (1971)

really light on the oldies this time around huh? blech, playing this in my car is fine but posting it online is really highlighting 2009 blog surfing

a little bit of gold and a pager

i know i know i've been slackin on the blog tip. shit's been real with parties, concerts comin up and, you know, moving two towns over.

this really hits close to home, not on the music side of things, but because i'm in the elongated process of sending back pants that are just way too tight.

more major, more lazer

surprisingly, i don't go to concerts that often, but apparently i have pretty good taste when i do make up my mind. the last one was a little shindig in grant park, chi-town, a couple summers ago where i saw these two robots in leather motorcycle suits on top of a pyramid that was pretty cool. about a month ago i decided my next venture out into the big world would be major lazer. surprise surprise, when i opened up the summer fiction issue of the new yorker (robot on the cover, strange coincidence) to find the mag's pop-music critic fancied himself a little piece of the action at s.o.b.'s. well too bad sasha frere-jones, whoever you are. if i see you at the show i'm gonna punch you in the gut.

New Yorker Blurb Validating My Impeccable Tastes in Music

just a little taste on what you guys are missing out on. yes that's a baby crying, run through a muthafuckin auto-tune. major lazer album, would you leak already?!?!?!?!?!?!

the beatles revolution 1, take 20

in high school, and maybe as a freshman in college, i would always tell people the white album was my favorite album of all time. how disappointed i now find myself today realizing that it could have been this much better.

now i know, this has been around since february. i did know about it back then, although for whatever reason i did not listen to it. now i wish i had, but i suppose it doesn't really matter.

of course i am referring to the "lost" 20th take of revolution 1. for all you beatle nubes, there are three released versions of revolution, the first real political song from the fab four. the first was released as the b-side to the hey jude single, and is considered the precursor to the heavy metal genre, although i think the kink's "you really got me" is also a serious contender. the second and third versions were released on the fourth side of the album's self-titled double album, released in 1969. revolution 1 is a campfire acoustic version of revolution. revolution 9 is a mind-fuck of audio bytes and studio processing, the first real sampled piece of music.

while revo 9 is cool and everything, it really just sucks to listen to. it has zero replay value, and i think i've only listened to the entire thing all the way through once or twice. that's where this uncovered take 20 comes in, bridging the gap between revolution 1 and 9. it's got a hey jude extenda coda vibe, some freudian mama and papas but above all else you can listen to it and enjoy its avant gardiness, which is more than i can say about revo 9.

here's the link to  youtube video, i really don't want emi knocking on my door after i post the mp3 and embedding is disabled.

i feel like k-fed, no wait maybe nick cannon

so my girlfriend blew up before i did. yep, she's the bees knees to burt's bees. they're probably going to end up supplying her with a couple year's worth of chapstick, which is bad news for the leeching underachieving boyfriend. i mean, couldn't she have posted her flickr with a bunch of images of bagel bites? or jazzmutant lemurs? let's hope she doesn't get any smart ideas and dump my dumb ass.

The Streets - When You Wasn't Famous

here's elise's post(kinda posted above), and here's where burt's bees used it for free promotional usage (click on footage)