Discuss and/or add on:
- the voice of Sam Cooke
- the appeal of Debbie Harry
- hearing U-Roy come in
- the hair extensions of Al Jourgenson
- college-age Steve Albini being too broke to afford a Walkman and consequently walking the campus of Northwestern listening to a drum machine through headphones
- "I would prefer not to."
- This Heat
- Sly Stone's opening "Ahhh!" on "Skin I'm In." An entire soul examined, expressed, exhaled, and exhausted, all in a single breath.
- George Clinton's excited "Hey, Glen!" from the Houston '77 "Mothership Connection"
- Proper creepers. Fuck the cornball rockabilly shits with, like, zebra stripes or flames or whatever.
- Thin Mints in the freezer
- Jean Toomer's Cane
- Charles Stepney and the drums of Ter Mar
- hearing The Blackbyrds on the radio
- "The 900 Number"
- Fuzzy Jones intros
- the organ sound of Booker T. Jones
- "Tighten Up" by Archie Bell & The Drells
- the sound of The Bar-Kays' "Holy Ghost." Did anything else ever sound like this, ever?
- Iggy & The Stooges' "Tight Pants"
- Farfisa
- the voice of Bobby Womack
- The Phenix Horns
- Denise & Co.'s "Boy What'll You Do Then." How is Jann Wenner still up and walking around after this?
- "Sleng Teng"
- good French filter house
- Built To Spill's "Twin Falls"
- Ultimate Breaks & Beats
- the demo of "Raw," with Big Daddy Kane and Kool G Rap
- Strafe's "Set It Off"
- the "Grindin'" beat
- James Mason / Mae Jemison
- the Coasters' "Shoppin' For Clothes"
- Large Professor, unapologetic but not unsympathetic, in some interview several years back talking about all the crazy shit--beats, music, A-list collaborations, etc.--that he's got on various tapes and that we will never get to hear: "Some things just aren't for sale, you know?"
- the boozy, undead trumpet in Cousteau's "Last Good Day Of The Year"
- Harry Belafonte on The Muppet Show doing "Turn The World Around"
- the panned synth ricochet that opens Inner City's "Good Life"
- Courtial's "Losing You"
- the first minute of David Essex's "Rock On." More abstract, fucked-up, and sonically arresting than ninety percent of the records you own, plus it's playing out loud on some radio somewhere right this very second.
- the audible smile of Lee Dorsey
- Suicide. The band.
- the liner notes of De La Soul
- dinosaurs
- the jingle for Li'l Cricket
- the genuinely patient smile of Kate Bush in all those tv clips where she's on some talk show putting up with fucking idiots
- the "I even let you watch the shows you wanted to see!" in Dramarama's "Anything Anything." For a second it feels small and childish, the belief that letting someone watch the television shows they want to watch will make them stay, but the more you think about it, the more the everyday enormity of it grows. How devoted would you have to be to offer something like that? How desperate would you have to be to expect it to make a difference? How much of a betrayal would it feel like to have it go unappreciated? And how much would it hurt to have to say all of it out loud?
- Joe Jackson's "Steppin' Out"
- "Benny And The Jets"
- ESG
- Fiona Apple impersonating Posh Spice
- Fred Williams & The Jewels Band's "Tell Her"
- that period of time after you knew who Dilla was but before he became a saint
- Jake One's "Home"
- knowing the words behind the M.A.S.H. theme
- James Brown, at the end of his rope, screaming "Wait! Wait!" in "Get Up, Get Into It, And Get Involved"
- LL Cool J's "heeshy!"
- the rainstorm break in "Ojala Que Llueve Cafe"
- Sinead O'Connor doing "Troy" at Pinkpop '88
- Meters 45s with the peach Josie label
- "Planet Rock"
- the last "you" in Little Anthony and The Imperials' "Tears On My Pillow"
- the "I'm trying to be all yours / although I'm ain't answering your calls" from Luomo's "Tessio"
- the seven-trumpets guitar drone that opens "Iron Leg"
- the first verse of "Shook Ones Pt. II"
- Trouble Funk Live
- the tremolo on Magic Sam's West Side Soul
- Mary J. Blige
- that rehearsal video of an embryonic New Edition working out "Candy Girl", with Ralph on the kit, Ronnie on synth drum, Ricky on clavinet, and Bobby Fucking Brown on congas, recorded in one ear and deeeeeep in the red. If you like or have ever liked breakbeats, distortion, r&b, the 1980s, youth, party and/or bullshit, this will never not cook your whole shit down to crystal.
- the moment when the sunny opening clang of "Debaser" capsizes into Black Francis's pinched, murderous vocal. Here is perhaps the secret reason why Nirvana ultimately couldn't even carry The Pixies' shoes: there are reservoirs of frustration, fatigue, resentment, and rage that simply are not accessible to those who grew up skinny. Ask Poly Styrene, De La Soul, David Thomas, Biggie, Damian Abraham, et al.
- Prince
- Outkast's "B.O.B." It took the 1990s and the 2000s just to contain this shit.
- the strange weight of the knowledge that "Boys Of Summer" was first shopped to Tom Petty
- Phil Phillips & The Twilights' "Sea Of Love"
- the fact that "It's All About The Benjamins," in some ways the absolute era-defining pinnacle of nickel-slick Bad Boy/Hitmen big-money rap production, climaxes with a verse rocked over the same swampy loop that opens motherfucking Death Mix
- the "Silver Child" drums
- the voice of Michael Stipe
- the name "Rainy Davis"
- "Satta Massagana"
- "Here We Go (Live At The Funhouse)"
- the disconcerting realization that Sade is not beamed in from some other planet where all is cool and confidential and the color of cafe au lait, but in fact walks among us. This realization usually hits right around the first time you hear "Maureen."
- Santo & Johnny's "Sleep Walk"
- Yellow Magic Orchestra's "Simoon"
- The Spinners' "I'll Be Around"
- driving around to Willie William's "Armagideon Time"
- in Stone Coal White's "You Know," the close-miked "It makes my heart...beats a little faster" slow-drizzling into your ear like liquid syphilis
- Tori Amos's voice fraying in the last verse of "Caught A Lite Sneeze"
- "and all the love and everyone"
- Whitelily's Bottom Of The Universe
- bonus beats
- Rakim
- red-label Polydor
What else?
- the voice of Sam Cooke
- the appeal of Debbie Harry
- hearing U-Roy come in
- the hair extensions of Al Jourgenson
- college-age Steve Albini being too broke to afford a Walkman and consequently walking the campus of Northwestern listening to a drum machine through headphones
- "I would prefer not to."
- This Heat
- Sly Stone's opening "Ahhh!" on "Skin I'm In." An entire soul examined, expressed, exhaled, and exhausted, all in a single breath.
- George Clinton's excited "Hey, Glen!" from the Houston '77 "Mothership Connection"
- Proper creepers. Fuck the cornball rockabilly shits with, like, zebra stripes or flames or whatever.
- Thin Mints in the freezer
- Jean Toomer's Cane
- Charles Stepney and the drums of Ter Mar
- hearing The Blackbyrds on the radio
- "The 900 Number"
- Fuzzy Jones intros
- the organ sound of Booker T. Jones
- "Tighten Up" by Archie Bell & The Drells
- the sound of The Bar-Kays' "Holy Ghost." Did anything else ever sound like this, ever?
- Iggy & The Stooges' "Tight Pants"
- Farfisa
- the voice of Bobby Womack
- The Phenix Horns
- Denise & Co.'s "Boy What'll You Do Then." How is Jann Wenner still up and walking around after this?
- "Sleng Teng"
- good French filter house
- Built To Spill's "Twin Falls"
- Ultimate Breaks & Beats
- the demo of "Raw," with Big Daddy Kane and Kool G Rap
- Strafe's "Set It Off"
- the "Grindin'" beat
- James Mason / Mae Jemison
- the Coasters' "Shoppin' For Clothes"
- Large Professor, unapologetic but not unsympathetic, in some interview several years back talking about all the crazy shit--beats, music, A-list collaborations, etc.--that he's got on various tapes and that we will never get to hear: "Some things just aren't for sale, you know?"
- the boozy, undead trumpet in Cousteau's "Last Good Day Of The Year"
- Harry Belafonte on The Muppet Show doing "Turn The World Around"
- the panned synth ricochet that opens Inner City's "Good Life"
- Courtial's "Losing You"
- the first minute of David Essex's "Rock On." More abstract, fucked-up, and sonically arresting than ninety percent of the records you own, plus it's playing out loud on some radio somewhere right this very second.
- the audible smile of Lee Dorsey
- Suicide. The band.
- the liner notes of De La Soul
- dinosaurs
- the jingle for Li'l Cricket
- the genuinely patient smile of Kate Bush in all those tv clips where she's on some talk show putting up with fucking idiots
- the "I even let you watch the shows you wanted to see!" in Dramarama's "Anything Anything." For a second it feels small and childish, the belief that letting someone watch the television shows they want to watch will make them stay, but the more you think about it, the more the everyday enormity of it grows. How devoted would you have to be to offer something like that? How desperate would you have to be to expect it to make a difference? How much of a betrayal would it feel like to have it go unappreciated? And how much would it hurt to have to say all of it out loud?
- Joe Jackson's "Steppin' Out"
- "Benny And The Jets"
- ESG
- Fiona Apple impersonating Posh Spice
- Fred Williams & The Jewels Band's "Tell Her"
- that period of time after you knew who Dilla was but before he became a saint
- Jake One's "Home"
- knowing the words behind the M.A.S.H. theme
- James Brown, at the end of his rope, screaming "Wait! Wait!" in "Get Up, Get Into It, And Get Involved"
- LL Cool J's "heeshy!"
- the rainstorm break in "Ojala Que Llueve Cafe"
- Sinead O'Connor doing "Troy" at Pinkpop '88
- Meters 45s with the peach Josie label
- "Planet Rock"
- the last "you" in Little Anthony and The Imperials' "Tears On My Pillow"
- the "I'm trying to be all yours / although I'm ain't answering your calls" from Luomo's "Tessio"
- the seven-trumpets guitar drone that opens "Iron Leg"
- the first verse of "Shook Ones Pt. II"
- Trouble Funk Live
- the tremolo on Magic Sam's West Side Soul
- Mary J. Blige
- that rehearsal video of an embryonic New Edition working out "Candy Girl", with Ralph on the kit, Ronnie on synth drum, Ricky on clavinet, and Bobby Fucking Brown on congas, recorded in one ear and deeeeeep in the red. If you like or have ever liked breakbeats, distortion, r&b, the 1980s, youth, party and/or bullshit, this will never not cook your whole shit down to crystal.
- the moment when the sunny opening clang of "Debaser" capsizes into Black Francis's pinched, murderous vocal. Here is perhaps the secret reason why Nirvana ultimately couldn't even carry The Pixies' shoes: there are reservoirs of frustration, fatigue, resentment, and rage that simply are not accessible to those who grew up skinny. Ask Poly Styrene, De La Soul, David Thomas, Biggie, Damian Abraham, et al.
- Prince
- Outkast's "B.O.B." It took the 1990s and the 2000s just to contain this shit.
- the strange weight of the knowledge that "Boys Of Summer" was first shopped to Tom Petty
- Phil Phillips & The Twilights' "Sea Of Love"
- the fact that "It's All About The Benjamins," in some ways the absolute era-defining pinnacle of nickel-slick Bad Boy/Hitmen big-money rap production, climaxes with a verse rocked over the same swampy loop that opens motherfucking Death Mix
- the "Silver Child" drums
- the voice of Michael Stipe
- the name "Rainy Davis"
- "Satta Massagana"
- "Here We Go (Live At The Funhouse)"
- the disconcerting realization that Sade is not beamed in from some other planet where all is cool and confidential and the color of cafe au lait, but in fact walks among us. This realization usually hits right around the first time you hear "Maureen."
- Santo & Johnny's "Sleep Walk"
- Yellow Magic Orchestra's "Simoon"
- The Spinners' "I'll Be Around"
- driving around to Willie William's "Armagideon Time"
- in Stone Coal White's "You Know," the close-miked "It makes my heart...beats a little faster" slow-drizzling into your ear like liquid syphilis
- Tori Amos's voice fraying in the last verse of "Caught A Lite Sneeze"
- "and all the love and everyone"
- Whitelily's Bottom Of The Universe
- bonus beats
- Rakim
- red-label Polydor
What else?
