sorrysorrysorrysorry

I’m having trouble keeping up the blog. My work situation involves writing at a computer all day and with the persistent migraines still in full effect, any free time I have is spent getting away. But my feeling is this: it’s just a blog. I’ll come and go as I please, use nonsensical titles, post informal tangents without media, and you’ll like it. Ha!

Erykah Badu- Jump Up In The Air And Stay There f. Lil Wayne & Bilal via the Dope Boyz

Although I should be posting all the things I’ve missed, I can’t help it… I’m only posting because Erykah Badu’s single came out. The song is called “Jump in the Air (And Stay There)” and it features Lil Wayne and Bilal. I knew New Amerykah Part II: Return of the Ankh was coming but didn’t expect so soon- March 30th. The tracklist looks f#cking awesome, including Madlib collaborations. I’m definitely ready to hear some Madu.

I love Erykah Badu for so many reasons, as we all do, but one my main reasons is her writing, her lyrics. And this song gives me the idea of lucid dreaming, which is another obsession for me. There are tricks to train yourself to recognize certain dream signs, and if you can train yourself to stay in that dream in those moments, you can then proceed to do whatever the f#ck you want. You know what I’m saying – it rocks. If you don’t know what I’m saying, as Scholar would say, “dig deeper“.

One of the many tricks I use for Lucid Dreaming involves jumping in the air and attempting to linger, just for a second. You have to do it when you’re awake too, so it becomes a habit, then you start doing it in your dreams. This means you might make an ass of yourself in public jumping in the air and trying to hover. But not me, I live in New York.

The trick worked; it gave me lots of lucid dreams, and it was pretty great. I’ve never been in a anti-gravity machine, but I’m sure I know what it feels like to be weightless. In one dream I ran through an endless field of grass, and I decided while running to try to “take off” or fly. And it worked, kind of like the wind picked me up and carried me away.

Nikki & Rich: Too Sweet?

Nikki & Rich: the iTunes Discovery Download of the week
“Next Best Thing” (download mp3)

Years ago, I would have spit this out with pure disdain. But my tastes are changing: either I’m becoming mainstream-pop as I get older, becoming less cool in general as people do, or I’m brainwashed.

Watch the “documentary trailer” to the end; you might get a kick out of these two even if it is too sweet. At the very least, you have to admit it’s a nice little piece of marketing.

Nikki & Rich myspace

I Could Never Have What You Have

Little Dragon -Never Never from Machine Dreams

Well, they figured out what we want: Yukimi, Yukimi, and more Yukimi. I’m loving this video, and Machine Dreams is a good album. But I just can’t get into the music of Machine Dreams as much as the first album. I wish it weren’t true, but it is. I think it’s just because “After the Rain” rocks.so.hard.

Little Dragon- After the Rain from Little Dragon

“Puzzles & Riddles” from Ashley Beedle & Darren Morris

Mavis- Puzzles & Riddles ft Ed Harcourt (download mp3)

Here’s a short description of this project, stolen from Dusty Groove: “An ambitious and sweetly appealing project from Ashley Beedle & Darren Morris — named after their shared reverence for the spiritual & soulful sounds of Mavis Staples & The Staple Singers — in which the the duo uses a Staples or Staples inspired track and craft their own grooves outward, with a diverse roster of guest vocalists!”

I am way more into this than the stuff coming out on the newly resurrected Stax label. The Stax legacy seems to be crumbling with each autotuned track they release. Or maybe Stax just isn’t what I thought it was.

At least we do still have some independent artists forming and growing organically, and this track is just the beginning. A full Mavis album is due for release in February.

Can You Stay Up for the Weekend til Next Year?

Lily’s 2009 Favorites:

Albums
1. Basement Jaxx – Scars / Zephyr [itunes]
2. Fat Freddy’s Drop – Dr Boondigga & the Big BW [itunes]
3. Calvin Harris – Ready for the Weekend [itunes]
4. MSTRKRFT- Fist of God [itunes]
5. Tommy T -Prester John Sessions [itunes]

Mixtapes / Free Downloads
1. Various Artists – Aaliyah Revisited via SoulCulture.co.uk
2. Shalonda- Just Go… a mixtape
3. Fresh Daily – Tomorrow Comes Today
4. Idle Warship – Party Robot
5. Blu(e)- Her Favorite Colo(u)r

Cover Songs
Joy Jones – “Go Down Moses / Funky Drummer”
Ellie Goulding – “Black & Gold” (Sam Sparro cover)
Bird & the Bee – “Please Don’t Stop the Music” (Rihanna cover)

So Bad It’s Good
Hyper Crush (The Arcade)
Kid Sister (Ultraviolet)
Wallpaper (Doodoo Face)

Lyrics:
# “Don’t get me wrong, I like you /
But I don’t like your band, your style, your sound”
-Annie from “I Don’t Like Your Band” from Don’t Stop

# “I can’t stay on the tracks / discipline is what we lack
but you ain’t stoppin’ me again / don’t know if you understand
you made me jump / I have to land”
- Amanda Blank – “Shame On Me”
(VIKING Remix)

# “I pitch with a grenade / swing away if you’re feeling brave”
-Rihanna from “Wait Your Turn” from Rated R

The Bamboos featuring Kylie Auldist

Go google the UK record label Tru Thoughts; they’re just amazing.

Georgia Anne Muldrow

Georgia Anne Muldrow (@JahJahMuldrow) – “Roses” from UMSINDO

This is not a video blog

But you know me and Laura. We’re lazy, and this is easy. Plus I could never deprive you of the latest Hot Chip.

Look out for their North American tour with The XX coming in Spring 2010. They have a cool thing going for US fans – their album will be on sale at these shows before the release date in the UK. I love this idea, as a fan of music that often comes from the UK, I have to wait.

But we all know the result of this plan, right? Some US jerk will upload the thing to torrent, and then all of the world, including the UK, will have the full album. Dear Record Labels, the world is flat again. US, UK, times and dates are no longer relevant.

Chromeo Dances Dirty

Chromeo released this song on the label which I love to complain about, the Mountain Dew-owned Green Label Sounds. Yet their stuff is always good. I can’t respond to this video with anything but laughter.

Silhouette Brown – “Leave A Note ft. Lady Alma”

I would not have known the subject of this song if I hadn’t read it in a press release: suicide. I’m suddenly a lot more interested. At first I thought, this track is not nearly sad, angry, or insane enough to reflect suicidal thoughts. But the closer I listened to the lyrics, the more I liked this song. Lady Alma and her crew added some beauty to the suicidal ideation. I just wonder what brought the author of these lyrics to this point.

Lyrics (corrections are welcome – leave ‘em in the comments)

Some say it takes a coward to commit this act
Or how that bravery is what you lack
But to be pushed to the edge and badgered so
What you blame them for? What they heard and saw?

Now being backed up into a corner with no escape
When existence is pain, demise an easier way
Troubles cannot be answered by logic or faith
To go on, you ask, what you gain on this path

I want to dream forever, just let me dream forever
And rest my head, in a pool of red
(X2)

100% ain’t good enough indication of last straw
When you thought it couldn’t get worse, you’re liable to more
The whole experience is like tasting a spoonful of salt
If you have concern, then don’t let this endure

I want to dream forever, just let me dream forever
And rest my head, in a pool of red
(X2)

Like going up a steep hill on roller skates
Or the phrase that ‘There’s too much on my plate’
Wake up to the nightmare every morning, alone
Should I leave a note? Do they want to know?

I love how it ends there so abruptly. The song is normally structured except that it cuts short after that last line, which is really about a suicide note. The academic in me wants to point out the meaning of the fractured song structure, like how that abrupt ending metaphorically conveys the singer kicking the chair out from under her and “committing the act.”

The theory fits well with my favorite quote about suicide. (Is it weird that I have a favorite? Whatever.) As Edwin Shneidman writes, “In order to commit suicide, one cannot write a meaningful note; conversely, if one could write a meaningful note, one would not have to commit suicide.”

It’s a meaningful song, and the group that is Silhouette Brown and Lady Alma are still alive. So I thank them for sharing it with us, and for having the sense to sort out their thoughts.