Beat Authority playlist: 1/30/09

Get the Rec.

Funky Buffalo, Pt. 2

Can't talk about funky Buffalo without mentioning this man, and specifically, this song.

A Tremendous Discovery for Buffalonians (and Hip Hop Lovers)

Alert listener (and fellow blogger) S. Compton of Potsdam has unearthed a gem of a discovery. You've read and heard me gush about DJ Shadow and his 1990s record Entroducing - it boldly stated that a DJ can be a composer and orchestra and band all in one, taking the DJ out from behind the MC and the decks on steel and onto center stage. DJ Spooky, Cut Chemist, DJ Qbert, and so many others have elevated the art form of "turntablism", mashing up beats, spoken word, found sounds, and a million teeny clips of a million rare gems unearthed from used record stores. Return of the DJ, Vol.1 is widely considered the seminal collection of the genre.

Lo and behold we have just such a DJ in the Queen City, the (sometimes not-so) proud urb on the Lake, Buffalo, NY. Big props to Jeff Miers of the Buffalo News for telling us the story of Scott Down, DJ Cutler, and Blue Collar Funk. They even mix in immediately recognizable Buffalo-relevant clips into their tracks. I'm in heaven.

The wheels of progress roll on

Admit it: you've always wanted to be a rock star. Even Bill Gates knows it. That's why Microsoft developed Songsmith, a new program that lets you sing, however amateurishly you want, and turn your song into a "masterpiece" using the miracle of modern computing.

Less miraculous has been Microsoft's promotion of the software. They released a video promoting Songsmith which has become the laughingstock of YouTube. The New York Times dissed the video by quoting Susan Sontag's 1964 definition of bad camp: “bad to the point of being laughable, but not bad to the point of being enjoyable.” Ouch. Judge for yourselves...



But then the world comes to Microsoft's rescue. Remember that MP3 of Running With The Devil with only David Lee Roth's vocals that zipped around the internet a while ago? Well someone had the bright idea to put that amateurishly sung vocal into Microsoft's Songsmith and create this "masterpiece":

Beat Authority playlist: 1/23/09

Sorry not many posts this week...just back from a family trip to Florida, where this song is on the radio non-stop. Here's today's playlist.

The Swamp Fox

When I played Run DMC's version of "Walk This Way" (did you remember how awesome this video is?) last week, it somehow reminded alert listener Stephen L. of Tony Joe White. I really didn't know much about Tony Joe, but this youtube really says it all. Thanks, Stephen!

Playlist for 1/16/09

Obamanos!

Step back, you (SLU) suckah MCs

Just got sent a youtube of what is most likely Clarkson University's hottest (only?) MC. Potsdam, represent. Go get a last pass. Step. (Thanks, Hugo!)

The inauguration soundtrack

You'll hear a lot during the coverage of which artists are playing as a part of the official inauguration festivities. But I couldn't help but salivate over how many great shows there are bound to be on the stages of Washington, DC starting Sunday.

The 9:30 Club, one of DC's prime live music spots, has Moby DJ-ing an inauguration opening show Sunday night. Monday the Beastie Boys and Sheryl Crow are strange-bedfellows headliners. And Michael Franti and Talin Kweli anchor the inauguration nigth celebration. Now that's a show to catch.

Over at Eighteenth Street Lounge, home to Thievery Corporation and the transglobal underground sound, Nickodemus, one of my favorite DJs and Turntables on the Hudson host, leads a raft of DJs in the celebration.

Man, I want to be in DC...

Playlist for 1/9/09

Check it. Have a fine weekend!

The Small World Mixtape

I got an e-mail from a friend here in Potsdam. He forwarded a link to a college roommate's annual mixtape. This is the first year he made it a digital download, rather than a "brick and mortar" CD sent in the "mail" (remember that?)

So I download it and really dig it, thinking the whole while...gee, this guy has remarkably similar musical tastes to my own.

Turns out the mixtape author is a former college roommate of none other than Delaney Flushboy - yes, THE Delaney Flushboy who contributes to this blog and weekly to the Beat Authority. Dennis lived in a house with Delaney when we all were consuming lots and lots of music of all genres. We all hung out a lot. Hence, the similarity in tastes.

So, join in the fun. Here's the link for you to download the (great) Funky President mixtape. Thanks, Dennis!

Crate digger

Another great post from Egon of Stones Throw fame on NPR's site. There seems to be no end to 1970s Afro-funk. If you like these five tracks, you'll want to get Soundway's 2 CD Nigeria compilation that came out last year, widely considered one of the best comps of the year...

Los Fabulosos en giro

Awhile back there was a debate in the comments section over whether Los Fabulosos Cadillacs of Argentina were a band of the 80s and 90s, or of today. Well, word from Nacional Records has it they're doing a U.S. reunion tour in April, and has a new record coming out in March, which you'll hear on the BA, of course. How good that record is will help answer our question: are Los FCs an aging "reunion" band or are they bringing something new and fresh to the table? Vamos a ver...

Meanwhile, here they are performing their hit from the 90s, Matador, in a hometown show in buenos Aires in December...

K'Naan: The Hip Hop Emperor Has No Clothes (and free download)

A few years ago, I was visiting Delaney Flushboy in Sweden and went to see Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley in Copenhagen. It was a great show, but the highlight was the scrawny, high-voiced rapper who opened. K'naan played a drum as he rapped, his full band locking in the groove with a combination of hip-hop, afro-beat, and straight up rock 'n' roll. When I returned home, I couldn't believe there was almost no mention of K'Naan's album, The Dusty Foot Philosopher, here in the U.S. Don't get me started on America's refusal to acknowledge incredible hip hop from Senegal to Toronto to Sweden.

Today, K'Naan's about to release his second CD, Troubadour, and he's getting the hype he deserves. K' Naan lives in Toronto, but he grew up in Somalia. His rhymes paint vivid and gruesome pictures and perhaps the most chaotic country on earth. And he regularly takes American Hip Hop to task for talking tough and violent when the meanest streets of L.A. are nothing compared to Mogadishu. Listen to "What's Hardcore".

NPR's Morning Edition aired a great story about K'Naan and his new album this morning. The best quote is when, talking about American MCs' frontin' and gangsta talk, he says, "in Somalia, we think it's kinda cute."

You'll hear plenty of this album in the coming months on The Beat Authority. But get a head start...thanks to NPR, you can download one track here. Best of all, you can see K'Naan for yourself: he's playing at the University of Ottawa on January 30th.

51 more to go!

The first Beat Authority of 2009 is in the books. I give thanks that I get to play incredible music to people who actually want to listen every week. Here's to 2009! Feliz ano nuevo!