I hope Nancy Reagan doesn't read this...

Actually that's a lie. I can use all the readers I can get...



Gene Shaw is a relatively lesser-known trumpeter from Detroit with a sick, sick tone who once told Charles Mingus to go fuck himself... which is only one of the interesting parts of his story. Click on his name up there for the full down low... just know that it also involves white women, metaphysics and carpentry. No drugs, though, which is odd for a Jazz musician. I mean, it doesn't mention drugs... but there was probably at least a little drugs, right? Probably. Anyhoo, despite the possible lack of drugs, this is fantastic album for the Jazz dancers. Check the vibe...

Gene Shaw - Street Dance (ysi)

Long out-of-print. Google that shit.

In all seriousness, though... I really do want my musicians to be on some sort of drugs. Because you know what you get when you have musicians who don't do drugs? You get this...



Just say no?


I believe I have proven my point... and I bid you good day...

The Shadow as a Glimmer

The shuffle felt like revisiting our old pal DJ Shadow again. I got no issue with that...



So here's one from the super-duper rare 4-Track Era set of Shadow's very earliest work, a remix of the not-exactly legendary Poor Righteous Teachers. Now if you don't remember them, their members went by the handles Wise Intelligent and Culture Freedom. Any questions? Didn't think so. Now this really does sound like "early work"... it's not fantastically mastered, it's a bit scattered with perhaps a couple too many ideas... but that's what makes it neat. It's a look at the master's skills as they developed. Dig it...

Poor Righteous Teachers - Shakiyla (DJ Shadow Remix) (ysi)

Rough but promising, no? Of course, these days Shadow rolls a little more like this...



You've come a long way, baby...

(smokes foot-long cigarette)

(coughs uncontrollably)

Don't be Perplexed

Every once I a while I will drop an attempt at original music on you all and that's cute, I guess... but I have some friends with actual musical talent. To wit...



Perplexa is a long-percolating project of F.o.T. (Friend of Tonegent) John Wald, a drummer whom to listen to you might think had 8 octopus-like tentacles, and Rob, the frontman of West Indian Girl. Now, since this is a friend of mine, I suppose I'll back away from the usual non-sequiter dick jokes (although you may have noticed I couldn't resist the cheesy pun in the post title... I am, after all, only human) and say that if you're into stuff like Mogwai and Explosions In The Sky but maybe wished those acts were a bit more rhythmically spicy, this should be right in your wheelhouse...

Perplexa - Flood

Oh, and if you like cello, you're also in luck. So do they, and it's one of the major elements, along with the drumming, that make this band and record stand out. And hey look! Someone made a video...



Big things are afoot for Perplexa, mark my words (I may some inside information, after all). If you're one of those people who likes to brag about how you knew about this band before everyone else did... well, now you do. Bam...

Death & Kittens

Every now and then, you need a reminder of why we miss Mr. James Yancey in this music game...



This here record by Slum Village is widely regarded as one of the best Hip-Hop albums of the '00s and one of J Dilla's masterpieces. People don't even care that the rapping is only so-so, that's how hard Dilla killed it on this one. I'm not saying the rapping is bad... I mean, it's not, like, Lil' Jon level but it's nothing to write home about. But yeah, this one's all about the beats, peeps. To wit...

Slum Village - Eyes Up

(Something's happened that's made my page turn up as an attack site and it mentioned this post. So some asshole did something, somewhere. Had to remove the links... sorry.)

See what I mean? The spittin's nothin' special, but that jam is still hot. It's pretty sad that two of the three people involved in the recording you just heard are dead already. That's what's called ending on a downer...

...

...

Well, shit, that's depressing... here's some kittens...





Much better...

Motion in the Ocean

We gots a good one today...



I am very impressed with this record by Submotion Orchestra out of Leeds, UK. It's the perfect update of the sound Morcheeba, Zero 7 and all those other cats were turning not long ago updated with the influence of, of all things, Dubstep(!). I'd been finding myself wondering not long ago if people were just done making that kind of stuff or if it had just run it's course... well here's your answer. Dig how this goes from a Broken Beat vibe into a heavy Dub/Dubstep thing at the end, all the while keeping the atmosphere chilly-chill and all tied together with the vocal. I'm so impressed I haven't even made a dick joke in this post yet and that, my friends, is saying something...

Submotion Orchestra - Secrets (ysi)

And how about a 20+ minute live mini-set video of some kind? Don't mind if I do...



Yes indeed, we have a new fave 'round here. Welcome, Submotion Orchestra, to the Tonegents, um... Circle? Group?... of Bands We Like... Alot. Or something. Don't really have an official name for it. So... just welcome, I guess...

Michigander... or Deutschlander?

House Music Friday wants to be from Detroit sometimes, too...



Motor City Drum Ensemble is, as you would guess from the name, a little, goth-lookin' German dude. He's pretty new on my radar, but if you've gotten yourself an entry in Studio !K7's DJ-Kicks series, you have obviously got some game. Here's some proof...

Motor City Drum Ensemble - Raw Cuts #1 (ysi)

Talk about a track living up to it's name. Wikked business, that. Have a great weekend, all...

Hippies, Fatties and Drunks... Oh Shit!

Although my hatred for dirty hippies and their dirty hippie jam bands is rather well documented, I am about to give you this...



But I can explain! Back in my binge drinking formative years at a respected institution of higher learning... ok, Syracuse University, close enough... I spent a pretty good deal of time at a bar called Hungry Charley's aka Chuck's. It was dark, dirty, smelly and perfect. They played all styles of music, from Classic Rock to, um... Rock. But being the farm kid from a town where Hair Metal ruled, I loved the selection and it really helped start me on my path to true music nerd-ery. There were certain songs you were absolutely going to hear at Chuck's every single night (maybe even more than once if you stayed there for oh, 6-8 hours, which was not uncommon) and of course some of them bring me pleasant nostalgia even if they are from dirty hippie jam bands like Blues Traveler. But hey, I kinda love this song, so suck on it...

Blues Traveler - But Anyway (ysi)

No matter what you think of that, you gotta be dazzled by that fat-ass John Popper's harmonica skeelz. But I imagine that when you can't even get your giant butt off a chair, you got nothing better to do that sit around and practice. "Hey man! Dude's not even fat anymore! You're a dick!" I know. Anyhoo, there's a fake Chuck's in Syracuse now, so I'm not gonna recommend any of you go there or anything. Pretty anti-climactic, huh? Oh, and don't worry, hippies... I still hate you.

Dutch oven joke, anyone?

I guess it's not THAT odd for quality Hip-Hip to come out of a country that's famous for it's marijuana, but still...



I think we can all agree that, when you're talking about the hotbeds of Hip-Hop in this world, the first place that comes to anyone's mind is, of course, The Netherlands. What? Oh, did I say Hip-Hop? I meant pointy wooden shoes. And tourists fucked up on mushrooms falling into assorted bodies of water and drowning. Right. But Dutch Hip-Hop? Well, there is Nicolay, and he's rapidly becoming my favorite producer. For this record from a couple years back, he teamed up with the relatively unknown rapper Kay out of Houston... because having an actual Dutch rapper would be keeping it too real, no? Because then you get lyrics like this:

Je weet dat er meer is, dan gewoon maar wat lauws,
Als je rode biefstuk smaakt, naar stroganofsaus.
Je voelt je overhoop, en wanhopig benauwt,
Gezichtskleur, zicht, je loopt ook wat blauw.

Now that's what I call droppin' science. Or it could be a pastry recipe. I got no fuckin' idea, which I believe proves my point...

Nicolay & Kay - I've Seen Rivers (ysi)

Fo realsies, though, do yourself a favor and pick up anything you see with this guy's name on it on sight, especially this new live thing when it's out next week. Should be tasty indeed...

Get Skye On The Hook

Which member of a band is the most expendable? Well, it's certainly not the hot, angel-voiced lead singer, dipshits...



Skye Edwards was, of course the only true reason for the success of the singer for Morcheeba before the brothers that turn the knobs decided they didn't need her, shitcanned her, vanished almost instantly into obscurity and then just recently (you must assume) came groveling back to her to rejoin the band so they could make the payments on their new kitchen appliances. In the time when she wasn't in the band, she made a couple solo albums that pretty much sound exactly like Morcheeba, in that, well she was the only true reason for the success of the singer for Morcheeba. If this sounds like I'm being hard on the guys, listen to one of the albums they did without Skye and get back to me. But first, enjoy the silky goodness...

Skye - Love Show (ysi)

Mmmmmmmm... buttery like hotcakes...

Now I'm hungry...

Mice Are From Mars, Cats Are From Venus

Yeah, maybe I should have posted this one during the recent Women's World Cup (you know how I like to be on-the-fucking-nose like that), but honestly you wouldn't have been able to enjoy the music over the sound of the US team choking. Yep. I went there. THAT'S A WOMEN'S SOCCER TAKE, CLONES! STEP YO GAME UP! (Any Jim Rome fans reading this blog? Didn't think so...)



Anyhoo, Mouse On Mars! Two German dudes who have been churning out quality tunes for quite some time now and who I'd put up there in stature not far from the BoCs and Autechres of the world as far as props in the IDM-ish idiom. I'm not sure what that means, but it sounds kind of erudite, no? Vocabulary, bitches!

Mouse On Mars - Saturday Night Worldcup Fieber (ysi)

I would imagine that if you actually put a mouse on Mars, something like this would happen...



And thus ends your dignified, scholarly music criticism of the day. So, suck on that...

The Lone Raver

Is it too soon for early '90s Rave nostalgia? Apparently not...



One thing Manchester, UK producer Lone has in commmon with the great wave of Electronic producers that brought Acid House or Rave or whatever the hell you want to call it to prominence 20 or so years ago? He's pasty and British. (You may count that as two things, but it's really just one.) The other thing he has in common with them... the sound. And I'll have you know that I was going to say this sounded like a lost 808 State record from '90 WAY BEFORE I read the Boomkat review that said pretty much the same thing. Totally way before. Get yer glowsticks out...

Lone - Explorers (ysi)

And how exactly is it that R & S Records is cool again after all these years? Many trendier labels have come and gone...