Green Lake Branch Edition. I'm Ballard4Lyfe but I'm
driving alot less these days so the GL SPL is gonna be my official home branch. They open at one everyday so after I get my java from the lovely ladies at cafe
LuLu I usually cruise over there and check on my holds and whatever other gems I can find.
Today was a huge score!
Eccentric Soul: Mighty Mike Lenaburg Got another
Eccentric Soul release from
Numero Group Records: Mighty Mike Lenaburg, and all I can really say is fuck yes. Mike Lenaburg was a producer of soul music in Phoenix Arizona in the 60's and 70's and this disc is a compilation of some of the rad shit that he produced. Like many of the groups showcased in Witchata's Smart's Palace scene, you probably haven't heard of any of these artists, which is kind of what the Eccentric series is all about: documenting a relatively obscure place and time of a particular genre's musical history. One of my favorite things about thinking/talking about music is realizing a sound's geographical influence. Phoenix Arizona? Are you shitting me? Mike Lenaburg was not. Smooth and raw (like sex--soul music always reminds me of sex which I think is often its very intention), listening to this record transports the listener to the desert, stuck in between the paradigms of Los Angeles and Detroit. The recordings definitely have an intense analog aesthetic. To hear them remastered would only detract from their charm. The album plays through more like a mixtape, with most tracks just sort of fading out, which would be my only complaint. I want more! Haven't heard a shabby release yet and I sincerely hope that these dudes continue to unearth these obscure cuts.
Eminem-The Marshall Mathers LP Obviously this is a ridiculous CD to "review" in 2013 but I'm goin' for it for a couple of reasons. #1: every "rock writer" has had his/her shot at writing about Eminem and I thought I'd give it a go. #2: I fucked up and got the edited version which is damn near impossible to listen to. A very large portion of the lyrical content is literally missing. It's quite jarring. Especially when you've been listening to this shit for twelve years like I'm sure most of us have. Or maybe you haven't. Maybe you don't like rap or you find Eminem offensive. I find the edited version of this album offensive. So now that I have the censored chip off my shoulder I should empty the hot gas from my brain and say what thousands of others have written before me: this record changed the fucking game. Marketing ploy or not, Em brought his take on the ghetto to the burbs, beach and frat parties with a flair and honesty that has yet to be replicated. It was socially polarizing in the music biz, the true hiphop world, and many other subcultures (I remember being at a warped tour in 99 and seeing a tattooed mohegian "punk" throwing water bottles and middle fingers at Mr. Mathers like Em had just shit down his throat. The dude was so bummed, and what's more punk than bumming out the punx?) And apart from all the controversy, Eminem could and can shut your favorite rapper down in a freestyle cypher as well as the studio booth. A true wordsmith, (no matter how corny and/or hellacious he may be at times) I'm convinced that if Marshall Mathers were not Eminem he could've been Tom Robbins.
Radiohead-The King Of Limbs This samplespastic Radiohead EP is also a bit older (2011) but I'm not exactly pitchfork.com nor do I care to be. These are reviews of CD's that I find at the Seattle Public Library, if anyone's paying attention... I like this shit. It's trippy and weird and is propelled by interesting rhythms that I haven't heard anywhere else. For me alot of it almost translates to jungle music, but with that sensitive depressing British twist. Self-released (and partially recorded at Drew Barrymore's house?)
King of Limbs walks the line of overtly obscure and garishly mainstream. I dig what they're up to, but admittedly can't listen to this stuff everyday, kinda like I don't want to get stoned and watch
Gattaca on the reg.
"What's your bloody number...?"
Eminem-The Marshall Mathers LP Obviously this is a ridiculous CD to "review" in 2013 but I'm goin' for it for a couple of reasons. #1: every "rock writer" has had his/her shot at writing about Eminem and I thought I'd give it a go. #2: I fucked up and got the edited version which is damn near impossible to listen to. A very large portion of the lyrical content is literally missing. It's quite jarring. Especially when you've been listening to this shit for twelve years like I'm sure most of us have. Or maybe you haven't. Maybe you don't like rap or you find Eminem offensive. I find the edited version of this album offensive. So now that I have the censored chip off my shoulder I should empty the hot gas from my brain and say what thousands of others have written before me: this record changed the fucking game. Marketing ploy or not, Em brought his take on the ghetto to the burbs, beach and frat parties with a flair and honesty that has yet to be replicated. It was socially polarizing in the music biz, the true hiphop world, and many other subcultures (I remember being at a warped tour in 99 and seeing a tattooed mohegian "punk" throwing water bottles and middle fingers at Mr. Mathers like Em had just shit down his throat. The dude was so bummed, and what's more punk than bumming out the punx?) And apart from all the controversy, Eminem could and can shut your favorite rapper down in a freestyle cypher as well as the studio booth. A true wordsmith, (no matter how corny and/or hellacious he may be at times) I'm convinced that if Marshall Mathers were not Eminem he could've been Tom Robbins.
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