Needless Hipster Baiting

Here's one for the hipsters...



Or not... as Buckshot LeFonque was a band put together by saxamaphonist Branford Marsalis which was basically an (cringing as he says it) Acid Jazz project. I mean, I'm sure Branford himself, being a serious musician who plays serious jazz music seriously might not use that term, but let's call it what it is. Acid MF'in Jazz. Yep, not gonna get a whole lotta love from the Animal Collective on this one, but then again... fuck the Animal Collective massive. (THAT'S SOME EDGY BLOGGING RIGHT THERE!) But actually, there is a bit of hipster steez to this one as the beats were done by none other than Primo himself. So suck on that, Pitchforkers. It ain't a classic, but it ain't half bad at all. See for yourself...

Buckshot LeFonque - Wonders & Signs (ysi)

I'd probably rather to listen to that song on repeat for 24 hours straight than listen to a single Animal Collective song. It might drive me mad, but that's a chance I'm willing to take...

Coming to you live from Margarita Thursday!

... because that's what we do at my job. I like my job...



Nathan Haines is a Kiwi saxamaphone player whose music is kinda half Jazz/half Electronic, but it's not as bad as that sounds. You think of Jazz players messing around in the dance music idiom and usually you think weak sauce, but Mr. Haines is definitely sans fromage. Hell, dude even did Drum & Bass records for Metalheadz as Sci-Clone... which is no joke, slow poke. Here he teams up with the excellent UK MC Ty (don't sleep) on a track that sounds like something from Guru's Jazzmatazz but with a bit more edge...

Nathan Haines - Pick It Up (ft. Ty) (ysi)

Actually, we also do Bagel Thursday at my job, too. So I guess Margarita/Bagel Thursday is the best Jewish/Mexican collaboration since, um... I have no fucking idea...

It's better than a spring loaded shot to the nuts, at least...

You know who still likes Acid Jazz? Why, Japanese people, of course!



Yeah, it's kind of a dirty word and all but it is happy music generally and the Japanese seem to be a happy bunch. You would be too if you had flying cars and robot hamsters like they do. So you get people like Kenichi Ikeda, aka Root Soul still workin' the A to the J. I can't think of any other genre you could put this in... it's so Brand New Heavies, it hurts. Vocals by the not Japanese but British Vanessa Freeman, whose own solo record is an excellent broken beat affair that you should also go find out about. I can't do everything for you...

Root Soul - It's The Way (ft. Vanessa Freeman (ysi)

Nice one. And here's a little tip: If you ever visit Japan, do not go on a game show, no matter what the prizes are...



It's Super Happy Crush Balls Hour! Banzai!

In which I give some props to Acid Jazz

I know what you're thinking when you read that post title, but just hang on and hear me out, okay?



I'll admit that I'm generally in the front of the line when it comes to bashing Acid Jazz for being the tepid Neo-Fusion pap that it is/was. It was just hard for us to see it at the time, since there wasn't a hell of a lot of any kind of Jazz going around and it was kinda funky and relatively fun. But most importantly I think it acted as a "gateway drug" for the real Jazz & Funk that we'd become obsessed with. We had to get into it somehow, right? It wasn't The Prodigy or Nirvana that made us say "what the heck" and pick up a Coltrane record. And yes, I'm using the royal "we" today because it makes me feel classy. Try it out sometime. Anyhoo... the real Jazz showed us how wussy the Acid Jazz was, but we must appreciate the Acid Jazz for what it was and go ahead and blog it when it pops up in the shuffle. So here's Jazzinho, a Brazilian-flavoured outfit from Portugal, produced by Brazilian legend Ed Motta, and it's kinda nice enough to snuggle up to at home but just wussy enough that you don't want be seen out with it in public...

Jazzinho - Da Tempo Ao Tempo (ysi)

So to conclude, Acid Jazz = kinda weak but kinda not. Got it? Did any of that make any sense? Does this blog ever? You don't have to answer that last one...