Frenchy’s Fracas

General Description
Artist/Band: David Holmes ||
Album Title: Come Get It, I Got It
Year: 2002

Producer’s Master Class

How I Got Into This Music
The second source of interesting music, my man ArAm, it’s all his fault again
He let me listen to another album from David Holmes called Let’s Get Killed a coupla years ago, but… The album didn’t really work for me back then and I didn’t pay much attention to the artists for quite a while. Until..
Sitting in the movie theater with another friend of mine (Hello, SleighRide!) watching.. gulp.. Out Of Site with Mr. Clooney and Miss Lopez’ JellyBuns. I didn’t expect a lot from the movie and was surprised when I realized that the movie was great entertainment. What really got me excited (no, not her nice butt) was the film score/soundtrack, wow!!! I got the CD the next day and it took me some days to connect the soundtrack to Let’s Get Killed, silly me..
So I went scouting for more and encountered this little album called Come Get It, I Got It..

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Tracks that got my attention:
Intro
Heheh.. Heard this one also being used by rap legend Grandmaster Flash!

Sixto Rodriguez - Sugarman
This song? Wow… couldn’t believe my ears when I heard this the first time. Still can’t believe them, this track has this incredible grip on my emotional triggers: I can get happy and sad at the same time when I hear this song.
Never heard of Sixto (Diaz) Rodriguez before but I sure am glad mister Holmes introduced me to him!

The Free Association - Effectin
Ohh.. The first entry from The Free Association project of mister Holmes and others. Love the whole thought behind the lyrics!

Hodges, James, Smith & Crawford - Nobody
Man-o-man-o-man-o-man!
When I play this one in the car, other drivers get to see me shouting my lungs across the galaxy.

Muddy Waters - Tom Cat
The late great Muddy Waters doing his dirty deeds, nice!

The Johnny Otis Show - Country Girl
You can take foxes out of the country, but
You can’t take the country out of foxes
O-so-nasty! Straight down and dirty blues mucking up those spit-shined shoes..

Rex Garvin & The Mighty Cravers - Strange Happenings
Whoa.. Heavy stuff, not always my cup of tea. Subtle production work by Holmes with the extra heavy background hisses and disturbances.

Harold Alexander - Mama Soul
Damn, I’ve never heard shit like this before! Don’t especially like or dislike the song, but it’s definitely a bizarre track..

Ray Bryant - Up Above The Rock
Sometimes this track’s a bit annoying, but there’s also this great vibe coming off the whole thing, making me wanna clap my hands and stomp my feet.
Also sounds like a great intro track for some 70’s TV show.

Cyril Neville - Gossip
Cyril Neville of the Neville Brothers, doing some funky bluesy stuff.

A Fascinating Musical Experience - The Monster
There’s a 99% chance that if you wake me from my hard earned sleep around four in the morning, just to play me this song, that you’ll probably live to tell the story.. Just probably not with all your body parts intact, but hey..
I just LOVE this track: that mellowed-out bass on the background, the solo guitar that just makes the devil cry and those nasty keyboards chopping away at your sanity. Love it!!

Jujus - Sweet Songs
Love this one too, the band gets to do some old school introductions: instruments, horoscope, name and a little solo. Sweet songs, indeed!

Betty Adams - Make It Real (Ride On)
Somebody told me lightning don’t strike the same place twice.
Uh-huh, that could be true, but somehow it don’t somehow seem right.
Alright, I saw you last night and I saw you today.
Uh-huh, every time, baby, you make me feel the same way.
Damn, you know I like me some metaphores and gross exaggerations, but with this song it’s simple: you need to be totally dead and buried/cremated (or working for the Civil Service for more than six months) to NOT feel anything when you hear this song.
Listen, to me it’s a sort of natural selection, making the distinction between those who love music and those who don’t. If you’re in the second category, go work for the Civil Service, you’ll like it there.
Do you follow?

The Staple Singers - Why? (Am I Treated So Bad)
Classy bass, the incredibly talented vocals, sweeeeet..

The Free Association - La Dolce Vita
Wacky electronics, takes the right mood to listen to this one, and when the mood matches the track: pure extacy! When it doesn’t match: a lot of valium helps a bit.

Johnny Jones And The King Casuals - Purple Haze
Have a read here about their relation with Jimi Hendrix.

The Free Association - Don’t Believe A Word
Incredible mix of electronics, great vocals and great closing lyrics.
Don’t shoot that stuff in your arms.
The only thing [we] should have in our arms, is eachother

Conclusion
I think I’ve succeeded in bringing across these subtle hints about my serious love for this album. If not, lemme try again.. Ehm..
This album could be viewed as just a collection of diverse tracks used in such a way that a certain coherence is being proposed that comes across as suggestively eclectic mix of music. (getting drowsy..)
Or, read this excellent review by the interestingly name Pimps Of Gore
Or, you could simply acccept that this mix of weird, soulful, blues-infected, electronics-injected songs is something you’ve never expected to hear in such a way and that it’s impossible not be awestruck by this album. It’s just one of my Favorite albums, have a listen and after that you can come back and agree with me
Nuff said..

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General Description
Artist/Band: Feist ||
Album Title: The Reminder
Year: 2007

Talented singer..

How I Got Into This Music
Well, it was one of those TV discoveries, that still works occassionally
Saw this funny video called One Two Three Four and the song and the video registered somewhere in my brain. Then I saw it again somewhere, and I gave the album a listen.

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Tracks that got my attention:
I’m Sorry
Wow, an opening track that sounds like a closing track
There’s a great vibe and a kinda 70’s feeling with this song.

Feel It All
Ah, bad choice of style. The up-tempo is going nowhere and the slower parts are.. meh..

My Moon My Man
Great balance between the soft vocals and the rest of the band. The chorus is also almost electro, nice.

The Park
Love the simple guitar intro and when her vocals take over. The whole track is very well supported by her vocal talents.

Sea Lion Woman
A nice change of pace and of style. It’s simple and catchy.

Past In Present
Second track that reminds me waaaay too much of Sheryl Crow, and that’s one too many. The buildup’s great, solid guitars, great beat, too bad.

One Two Three Four
Brilliant! I like the background vocals during the chorus, love the sweet and soft bits with the violins and banjo and the horns halfway the track. Tender vocals, beautiful!

Brandy Alexander
Very intense song, love it! There are more than one explanations for the title, have a read here.. I’m guessing it’s the cocktail
And again, her voice is excellent, wow..

Intuition
And in came a heatwave
A merciful save
You choose, you chose
Poetry over prose
Not sure what’s being told, but it’s beautifully performed, chills..
Even bigger chills: the background vocals at the end of this track; I have to restrain myself from skipping to the end, love that part that much, but it won’t be fair to the whole track.

Conclusion
First things first: her vocals. With almost every track I’m racking my brain thinking about a specific singer she’s reminding me of. That’s not always a negative, mind you. But sometimes, it can get on my nerves, especially when you trigger memories of artists like Sheryl Crow and Dido.
Still, I’ve been playing this record now for a while and it doesn’t get boring at all. It’s an excellent album to play when you’re having people over for dinner. Of course, shops like BarStucks will use the record too and play till everybody gets homocidal, I’m afraid..
So, not a bad album, definitely not a bad singer. Just nothing too much above average, easy listening to the max.

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General Info
Artist: Marcus Miller ||
Location: De Boerderij, Zoetermeer
When: 19 October 2007

Who?
Marcus Miller is one of the big boys of modern jazz or Big Boys Of Modern Jazz, same thing?
His track record includes collaborations with almost every great musician in jazz music, producing and playing along with Miles Davis and making funky tunes with my dear Meshell Ndegeocello.
I only have one album of his, Tales, and it’s a beauty! Saw him perform with his excellent band on North Sea Jazz these last two years and at that festival he’s one of the public’s favorite. Now, I got me a chance to see them perform on a smaller set, with a smaller audience. Together with my SweetLake Friends
Check out some of his performances

The Show
Oooh.. No opening hickups, straight dive into the music and the show. Mister Miller’s talented band follow his lead like an old-school big band and Miller gives them plenty of solo time. Another sweat thing is seeing and hearing all the band members play off of eachother in turns, improvising and battling!

The Band: the bearded giant Poogie Bell (a Muppet Show reference wouldn’t be too cheesy) on drums, the coolest of cool Patches Stewart on trumpet, the quiet but diverse Keith Anderson on sax, the seemingly bored Bobby Sparks on keyboards, and the horribly talented Gregoire Maret on harmonica.

Familiar tracks were performed, his inevitable classic Run For Cover still sends chills down this little boy’s back time after time. A great Miles Davis tune called Jean Pierre (lovely name) again showed the audience the pure musical talents of this band. Like I’ve said before: You don’t have to like it, but if your ears are working you know you’re listening to a masterful performance.
The funky version of the Beatles’ Come Together is another of the crowd pleasers and yes, it still is weird to sing the chorus

Conclusion
The performance was a bit short but tight and light, serious fun, a joy for any mainstream music lover and purist alike.
Just to tease Hieronymus Fox, Miller had a special guest on vocals: miss Jean Norris. Oooon and ooon and oooon.. that’s the only hint you’ll get, son!
Back to the show: it’s great to experience this band in a smaller setting, they seem to take more risks and that’s always fun!
My world wasn’t rocked, but I can advice everyone to go see these guys perform!

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General Description
Artist/Band: Visioneers ||
Album Title: Dirty Old Hip Hop
Year: 2006

Excellent grooviness..

How I Got Into This Music
I’ve been enjoying 4hero and Marc Mac’s Chess Cadet All Stars for about a year now. This album’s another of Marc Mac’s projects and I just had to listen to it..

Google Search for reviews of this album || Album details at Artistdirect.com || || Discogs ||

Tracks that got my attention:
Replay ft. Voice
Mellowness taking the listener on a flashback trip through the history of quality rap musicians and producers like A Tribe Called Quest, Jazzy Jeff, Gangstarr and The Pharcyde. Love the smooth vocals by Voice.

Runnin’
Never thought people would be so smitten with the original version by The Pharcyde, but I ain’t complaining! I remember hearing the intro of this version with Hieronymus Fox and we were both jumping like happy kids; when we noticed it was an instrumental version, we stopped acting silly.. for about thirty seconds

The World Is Yours
Laidback bass and keyboards, catchy loops. Love the bass solo, but not that much else happening.

Funk Box ft. Capitol A
Familiar vocals by Capitol A, who also worked with Jazzanova. Basic quality, groove and funkiness.

It’s Simple
A very relaxed version of Simple Folk, a track from Marc Mac’s project from yesteryears, The Chess Cadet All Stars.
More jazzy influences, the flute working some nice magic in the background with the guitar, and that bass? Love it.

Dirty Old Bossa Nova
Damn, got me scanning all my CD’s from A Tribe Called Quest, grmbl.. Hold on.. Nope, I give up, can’t find it, argh!
Back to the track itself: lovely bossa groove!

Run For Cover
Yep, pure gold. Great way of using a central theme in the track, and then the sudden double tempo variant at the end? Great stuff!

55 Dollars
Oooooh.. Flashback to all those TV series from the seventies. Love the horns..

Paul’s Guitar Story
Hmmm, jazz guitar track, sounds nice, just a bit too bland for my taste.

Days Gone By (Egyptology)
Much better guitar work on this track. The track sounds a bit like Jill Scott’s Slowly Surely, I’m sure that’s intentional since they’ve worked with eachother in the past on Jill’s Experience album.

Conclusion
I think my love for previous work by Marc Mac and 4hero has kinda spoilt me a bit. Dirty Old Hip Hop is a great album and very tightly produced too. But… For me, there’s not a lot of new things happening. That’s why this album’s not one of my Favorites. Still very curious to hear the remix version called Dirty Old Remixes!

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General Description
Artist/Band: Plantlife
Album Title: The Return Of Jack Splash
Year: 2004

Swinging, up and down, still massively groovay..

How I Got Into This Music
Another one from last.fm that I just couldn’t ignore..

Google Search for reviews of this album || Album details at Artistdirect.com || || Discogs ||

Tracks that got my attention:
Jack’s Back
Kinda weird reviewing a 30 second intro but it’s worth it: a great way to start an album, a condensed version of what you can expect.
Promises, promises..

Appreciate
A bit lazy, a bit weak. Track’s very well produced, getting into a fine groove, but nothing spectacular.

Underwaterluvboogie (deep blue)
Well, they’ve been labeled as an electrotechnofunkrock band and they deliver as promised. But kinda so-so experience.

When She Smiles, She Lights The Sky
Ohwow.. Incredible build-up: the string loop, the soft falsettos, that bass/guitar in the background and then.. The Pay-off, sweet! Excellent track, yessirree!! Keeps your head bobbing with a great smile on your face..

Got2Get2Gether4Luv
Excellent funky nastiness, a Nile Rogers guitar, a plucking bass and a great chorus.

Two Beautiful Souls In A Crazy World
Here’s where the band keeps disappointing me (as if their existince is based on pleasing me, heh..). Just doesn’t work for me, yuck..

Beautiful Babies
Yeah, it’s been done a gazillion times, but they get this one right: just a sweet soulful kinda ballad, their style is right on the money for this track.

Stardancer
Hey, Jamiroquai got away with doing this kind of music for years and in this case, Plantlife nails it, even though I know I’d skip this track more times than I’d let it play on.

The Girl Said Give It To Me!
Excellent floorfiller. Plus a great MC Lyte sample at the end.

If I Wuz Ur Man
Hmm.. The title’s a dead giveaway - we’re invited to listen to a very Prince-inspired track. Kinda nice..

Conclusion
Here’s the thing, play some of these tracks on the dancefloor and the floor will go wild, but don’t you dare to play more than one song, it will become boring. And that’s the same thing with the whole album: some tracks are excellent, well-thought and deepdown Groovay. But most tracks just turn me off, there’s this laziness that just makes the songs a bit too cheezy to ignore. I love the fact that some classic styles are being recycled, but it’s not done well enough for me to enjoy. Probably getting way too many Outkast references from this record, but that’s my mindset being a bit too nasty.
The intro doesn’t deliver, but hey, we’re just talking about my expectations, I’m sure this album will work for other people..

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