Sounds of the last century?

This week's edition of House Music Friday proves that sounds don't need to be particularly "old" to be "vintage"...



So, I got very much into the Deep House back right back around the turn of the century (love saying that because it sounds so weird) when Naked Music started dropping all of their classic bombs... the most pristinely produced, sexy, melodic vocal House biznezz ever put on wax... but these days, a mere decade later (don't love saying that as much because it makes me feel old as fuck) there aren't too many people laying down that same style. It's all minimal this and fidget that, ya know? Who makes true Deep House anymore? Well I've found at least one act that's carrying the torch in truly excellent fashion, the Swedish duo known as Physics. Yep, these guys pretty much nail it. Vocals by this gal, who's kinda creepy looking...

Physics - When It Breaks (ysi)

And thus concludes another week of whatever the hell it is we do around here. Put that in your pipe, smoke it, and have a great weekend!

What do Amish people have to do with Reggae? Nothing.

Today's artist has the name of an Amish guy, but he's not. Do the Amish people even have music or is it just the Devil's Ear Candy?



I don't think I've touched on the label Soul Jazz Records much around here, and that's a dang shame because they put out some pretty good stuff... almost none of which is Soul or Jazz music, but whatever to that. I'm pretty sure they started out as a re-issue label for Funk/Reggae/Punk mega-obscurities and have recently moved on to put out Techno & Dubstep records... so yeah, not an easy label to label (ha!), but they generally put out quality regardless of genre. This XXX% Dynamite series is a real winner for those who like it Jah-style... and there's something like 8 of them now I think. Here's a track from Jacob Miller, whom I didn't know much about, but he was the original singer of Inner Circle, a group definitely on the White Frat Boy Reggae Radar, a.k.a. they were pretty big...

Jacob Miller - Healing Of The Nation (ysi)

So... turns out the Amish do have music and from this description it sounds like it's just as awful as you might imagine. Anybody been to any Amish shows? Lemme know...

Sometimes I blog slow, Sometimes I blog quick

Busy busy busy... so short and sweet today...



The Ultramagnetic MC's were one of the most innovative groups in the history of Hip-Hop, but most people probably just know them as the group that Kool Keith started out with. Which is fine from the 2009 perspective because we love Kool Keith and we can't expect those snot nosed kids to appreciate their elders, now can we? Get off my lawn!

Ultramagnetic MC's - Watch Me Now (ysi)

I've also got the Jimmy Castor Bunch jam they sampled still up, so peep that if you missed it the first time. 'Til tomorrow...

Mellow Yellow Fellows

Once again, I'm going back to the college days for something completely different...



Am I just out of touch or are there no funny bands anymore? I don't mean people like Flight of the Conchords, who are a straight up comedy act, or John Mayer, who thinks he's funny on Twitter... I mean a good band who is funny. Seems back in the '90s there were several acts who could crack you up, but with a finely crafted Pop song... people like They Might Be Giants, Ween, King Missile... and of course The Dead Milkmen. The Milkmen were hilarious, but if you put some "serious" lyrics in there, you'd notice they were damn fine songwriters and musicians. But who wants serious lyrics? It's more just more fun to sing along to a Dead Milkmen song than it is the average Alice In Chains song, and sometimes that's exactly what you need...

The Dead Milkmen - Smokin' Banana Peels (ysi)

I got reminded of this song a couple of weeks back when stories surfaced that Amy Winehouse had been smoking banana peels in St. Lucia... which is one of those stories that's so awesome you can only hope that it's true. Supposedly the whole banana peel thing is a hoax, but I hope not. Y'all go ahead and try this, then get back to me...

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UPDATE: The amazing Donna Lethal just passed this along to me and it is far too amazing not to share...

George Guzman - Banana Freak Out

Be sure and drop by her spot and say "Hello". That's an order...

Band - Singer = Pffft. Except for this song the band did without the singer.

Happy Monday, folks. How was that weekend? Get that gardening done? Do a little painting 'round the house? Productive much? Nah, you just drank some Steel Reserves and watched pro wrestling like always, didn't you?



Once again, I find myself a to be a bit shocked to discover I've never blogged on a certain band, and this time that band is Morcheeba, possibly the best of all of the Trip-Hop acts of the late '90s... until they committed the ultimate bonehead play of kicking their amazing singer out of the band (see Pimps, Sneaker)... and then nobody cared anymore. It's gotten so bad for the brothers Godfrey (the pasty guys in the band, not that anyone cares) that they have taken to soliciting for singers on their Myspace. Actually they're probably just trolling for a few Handy J's, but still, the point stands. Anyhoo, after all this talk about singers, here's an instrumental rarity from the "Shoulder Holster" 2-disc single, because that makes sense...

Morcheeba - Ray Payola (Curly Wurly Mix) (ysi)

But really guys... Myspace? Unless you're looking for they type of singer who also tried out for one of those VH-1 I Wanna Bang The Singer Of Skid Row On His Tour Bus type shows, I don't think that's the way to go....

"Summer" Songs week, the big transvestite finish!

Okay, time to bring what's been an amazing, transcendental, life-changing "Summer" Songs week to a conclusion...



And what better way to that than with a couple cross-dressing Swedes? I don't know of one, so let's proceed... Koop really do like to wear the ladies' clothes, from what the Interwebs tell me... which is way more RAWK than some poser like Marilyn Manson who only does it for album covers. Of course, the music isn't very RAWK... it's groovy, jazzy stuff not usually heavy on dancefloor beats. That's where this remix album comes in. Here, fellow Swede Markus Enochson, who wears boy-clothes as far as I know, makes a Broken Beat/House thing that is quite summery indeed...

Koop - Summer Sun (Markus Enochson Mix) (ysi)

And there's your "Summer" songs week... you have a whole weekend to soak it in, so have a great one!

"Summer" Songs week - Baseball and Billie

Big Up to Mark Buehrle of the White Sox for the sweet perfect game today. How friggin' "summer" is that?



You can't really do a cheesy theme week about "Summer" songs without including some version of "Summertime", as it might be, oh... one of the best songs ever written. But which one of the approximately 8,000,000 versions to use? Now, I know you were probably hoping for Perry Como's take, which is straight heat, but I thought I'd go a little newer and hit you with the Billie Holiday remix, because you can't go wrong sampling Lady Day. Organica are no one of any import and have a pretty lame moniker, but even they can't fuck up such good source material...

Billie Holiday - Summertime (Organica Remix) (ysi)

I was really hoping the YouTubes had some Perry Como I could drop on you, but like most of the Tampa Bay hitters today, I struck out on that one. (See what I did there? Eh? Eh?)

"Summer" Songs Week, Installment the Third

"Summer" Songs week continues with another cover, and this one is a doozy...



One thing I've discovered over the last couple of years is that there is a Reggae cover version of pretty much every song ever released, especially '60s and '70s songs. I imagine that's because most of the time the guys were too stoned to concentrate on writing new songs, because A) that shit's hard and B) I'm huge into stereotypes. I mean there's not too many other reasons I can think of that would drive someone to record a Seals & Crofts cover, and "Keyboard King" Jackie Mittoo is unfortunately too dead to dispute my theory. So therefore it stands. He was really stoned... and it pretty much sounds like it...

Jackie Mittoo - Summer Breeze (ysi)

... I mean, dude doesn't even get the chorus right. Yeah, I know the words to this... so?

"Summer" Songs Week continues!

So there's a theme this week, and it is "Summer" songs, and it is so on-the-nose that I'm only using songs with "Summer" in the title. I know this is a little abstract, a little outside-of-the-box... but if you concentrate and focus, you'll be able to wrap your head around the concept, I think...



Lonnie Liston Smith's Expansions was kind of a landmark album for me in that it was my gateway into the world of Jazz that was not Be-Bop, aka the funky shit. So props to my man Julien for that one. So while there are better albums of the genre, this one might always be my favorite. Today's track is maybe a teeeeeensy bit on the "smooth" side, but once you get past the introductory hook into the meat of the tune, it's a nice, tight Latin groove...

Lonnie Liston Smith - Summer Days (ysi)

I love the way he's all smushed up on the cover like he or the artist or most likely both were on a serious mushroom trip, don't you?

(The answer is yes. Yes you do.)

Guess where this is going...

Well hello, there! Back from a vacation where it was approximately 1700 degrees outside for two straight weeks... and I have a cold... the fuck?! Anyhoo, despite some serious consideration about switching this blog to an All Pirate Metal, All The Time format, I've come to my senses and we shall continue with the usual Tonegents goodness...



... and the first bit o' goodness comes from one of our favorite French people, DJ Cam, making his third appearance on the blog, which means he just won himself a shiny new toaster. This one, a Kool & The Gang cover (you cannot go wrong) is so on-the-nose, I don't think I have to say much more...

DJ Cam - Summermadness (ysi)

By the way, the album the original version came from, Kool Jazz, is absolutely mind-blowing if you only think of Kool & The Gang as the guys who did "Celebrate"... just FYI. And you know what, I think I feel an extremely cliche theme week coming on... stay tuned...

Yo Ho Ho and a bottle of METAL!

While in Detroit last week, I had a musical revelation brought to me from a very unexpected source. And despite the city, it had nothing to do with techno...

"It's like all my life I've been doing nothing but preparing to listen to this."

- Some Random Message Board Poster

And it didn't come from any city slicker. No, it came from a dude from some town in Michigan of approximately 300 people which I can't remember the name of right now...

"All I can say is that I was blown away."

- Some Random Amazon Reviewer

Yes, this new friend of mine introduced me to a genre of music I'd never known existed, and it's for that reason that my life has seemed empty to this point. A music at once so ridiculous and yet awesome that it single-handedly proves the existence of God. I'm talking, of course, about motherfucking PIRATE METAL!

"AAAAAAAAR!"
- A motherfucking PIRATE!

They are called Alestorm. They are from Scotland (of course!) and they dress up like motherfuckin' pirates and play Heavy Metal motherfuckin' pirate songs. Not heavy metal about pirates... Pirates playing Heavy Metal. About fucking pirates. YO HO HO AND A FUCKING POWER CHORD SHREDDING YOUR FAAAAAAACE! ACCORDIONS AND PENNYWHISTLES... PLAYED ON A MOTHERFUCKING KEYTAAAAAAR! AND DOUBLE KICKS UP YOUR AAAAAAASSSS, SCURVY BITCHEZ! AAAAAAAAAAR! Seriously, this is amazing...

Alestorm - Wenches & Mead (ysi)

I know. I know! And when you get to the YouTubes it just gets better...



Tonegents will resume regular programming on Monday. I figure it's going to take you all a few days to let this soak in and decide if you ever want to listen to anything other than Pirate Metal again. See you in a few... we shall discuss...

See ya in a week

House Music Friday moves to Thursday, because tomorrow I'm gettin' outta Dodge...



... and I have little time today, either. Just know that Faze Action are back with a full-length culled from the 12's they have released over the past couple years and it is full-on balls-out Disco madness of the highest order. Put it on at your July 4th BBQ and watch the girls go cray-zay...

Faze Action - Disco Warrior (ysi)

I won't be around until about a week from today. Don't miss me too much... and have a great 'til then!

Take off, you hosers!

Happy Canada Day, everyone! No, I'm not really Canadian, all though I do play one on Twitter. I did grow up very near Canada though, and feel that I'm an honorary Canuck... whether or not I'm ever allowed to re-enter the country, so...



Frozen Ghost were a pop duo who were pretty big in Canada (and nowhere else) during the '80s. They had a singer with a Hulk Hogan mullet and a sax player (which made any band rad when I was 16) and played a lot in Southern Ontario, across the border from where I grew up in New York. So I saw them live about a dozen times in a few years and they became one of my favorite bands simply for that fact alone. They were kind of like Men At Work without the sense of humor, but for my money they were better than many of the more popular acts on the radio machine. So, yeah, this isn't regular Tonegents music and many of you will hate this song... and I do not care. It's Canada Day, so suck it up, bitches...

Frozen Ghost - Should I See (ysi)

And oh yes, I have YouTubes... "Pauper In Paradise" was also a big Canada hit...



You know what, all joking aside... Frozen Ghost fucking ruled... Happy Canada Day, eh?