Dive into the archives.
- More musikids: PS 22 Chorus
Image: Gillian LaubA couple weeks ago, my friend Josh instructed me to educate myself on something called the PS 22 Chorus. He sent me the link to their blog and said, ‘It’s a worth a blog post, at the very least, if not a drastic career change.’ Last night, I finally did and, man alive, he was not wrong.
First a little background:
PS 22 is an elementary school in Staten Island NY. The chorus is made up of 5th graders between 10 and 11 years old. It meets twice a week during school hours to practice, and performs throughout the year at school functions, local events, and on special requests. (FYI: my birthday = January 7)
The project is overseen by a teacher called Gregg Breinberg who, I think you will agree, is doing a good job. Here is some more info on him from a feature NPR ran a while ago:
“He is not like any other music teacher,” Maimouna Faye says. “He really works with us. He helps us get it right. He doesn’t yell at us. He is really nice. I am going to miss it.”
Breinberg describes himself as “nontraditional and intense.” He says he’s extremely passionate about the music.
“[If] I don’t feel that they are giving 100 percent, yes, I will get intense with them, and I will say, ‘This isn’t fair. I am working so hard for you, I am trying to do my best for you — you have to come through for me,’ ” Breinberg says.
But Breinberg is also a goofball. He’s eccentric and emotional. He’s been known to weep at performances and show the boys in the chorus that it’s fine to cry and show emotion and be themselves.
“What is so wonderful about these kids,” Breinberg says, “they are in this environment that we have created together, that allows them to express themselves and totally be wacky and silly and not worry that they will be made fun of — to be able to sing a solo, make a mistake, and know that it is a safe place and a place they can go to and express themselves.”
Gabriel Vasquez says being in the chorus has allowed him to do something that he often doesn’t have a place for: “letting out your emotions and everything, showing your feelings and letting it all out.”
Now, remember that last line when you watch these clips. In my experience you need to view these at least 20 times to fully grasp the emotions unleashed in these kids. Also their dance moves.
Here we go:
Lisztomania by Pheonix
Just dance by Ladi Ga Ga
Don’t stop believing by Journey
For a sense of how the performances come together, Here’s a short feature from NPR’s All Things Considered:
OK, so I hope that makes your day the way it made mine. I believe that children are the future. Teach them well, record them, and put it on Youtube.
PS 22 Chorus’s Blog
PS 22 Chorus’s Youtube ChannelPopularity: 1% [?]
- Mix: Don’t get aggravated
Don’t get aggravated: a mix, a message. Cool out music for the cold weather featuring The Art of Noise, Al Green, Frankie Beverly & Maze, Marcia Griffiths, Aretha Franklin, Barry White, The Shins, Bon Iver, Bootsy Collins, Janet Jackson, New Birth, Bonobo, Sade, D’Angelo, Maxwell, Aaliyah, The Isley Brothers, Roberta Flack, Donnie Hathaway, and Stevie Wonder.
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right-click + save link as (mac) / save target as (windows)Popularity: 1% [?]
- More Keys
In the last couple days some beautiful people have sent me some beautiful music, none of which I’d heard before, all of which should’ve been on my piano mix… To quote Shakespeare, what’s done is done, and there’s no unmixing what’s already mixed, but I want to pass these jams on as a sort of encore.
Jelly Roll Morton - Dead man blues (Courtesy of Giulio AKA the Italian stallion)
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right-click + save link as (mac) / save target as (windows)Chilly Gonzales & 50 Cent - Many men (Courtesy of Niek AKA Dutch Schultz)
DOWNLOADGonzales (again) - Oregano (Courtesy of Aura AKA the Venezuelan Sarah Palin)
DOWNLOADPopularity: 2% [?]
- New Mix: Keys
Just made a new mix for the new year. It’s called Keys Open Doors - music from across time and space tied together by a common thread of piano. Lots of good stuff on here… soul, some hip hop, r&b, salsa, some Lilith Fair type of songs, minimalist classical, old school house, UK hardcore, all sorts… It’s the second in the Instrumentalist series. First horns, now piano. Hope you enjoy…
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right-click + ’save target as’ (windows) / ’save link as’ (mac)Tracks
Donnie Hathaway - A song for you
Bruce Springsteen - New York city serenade
Mobb Deep w/ Lil Kim - Quite storm
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane - The symphony
El Gran Combo - Yo soy la muerte
Willie Colón - Calle luna calle sol
Alicia Keys - No one
Mary J Blige - For the record (I love you)
Eddie Henderson - Inside you
Reuben Wilson - We’re in love
Joni Mitchell - River
Fiona Apple - Love ridden
Philip Glass - Metamorphosis 2
Anja Lechner & Vassilis Tsabropoulos - Trois Morceaux aprés des hymnes byzantins II
Bill Withers - Liza
Prince Phillip Mitchell - If we can’t be lovers
Humberto Santacruz - Me has robado el corazón
Humberto Santacruz - Ay no se puede
Thom Yorke - The eraser
Atlas Sound - Walkabout
Ce Ce Rogers - Someday
Sterling Void - It’s allright
Liquid - Sweet harmony
Liquid - LiquidPopularity: 3% [?]
- The champ is gone.
Willie Mitchell, one of the greatest music producers of all time, died yesterday. I hate to start to the new year on a somber note, but considering how much pleasure I’ve taken from this man’s music, it would be borderline sociopathic for me to let this slide. I wish I had the time to get all the way into it, but for now (I hope) it suffices to say that I would not be the man I am today had I not come into contact with the comforting challenge of Willie’s music. Since I first heard it as a young music nerd growing up, the sound that he generated as producer/arranger for Hi Records, has been (and will always be) a path to growth - emotional and sensual (+ spiritual, even visual). It is, in my opinion, the greatest soul music ever made.
Willie Mitchell - Groovin
For a few details on his passing and what he was getting up to recently, check this article. Better though is this interview from a very years ago. Best, is just to enjoy his amazing body of work, so let’s do it. Rest in peace Willie. Can’t thank you enough…
OV Wright - Motherless child
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right-click + ’save target as’ (windows) / ’save link as’ (mac)OV Wright - Let’s straighten it out
DOWNLOADAnn Peebles - I can’t stand the rain
DOWNLOADAnn Peebles - I’m gonna tear your playhouse down
DOWNLOADSyl Johnson - That’s just my luck
DOWNLOADSyl Johnson - I hate I walked away
DOWNLOADAl Green - Love and happiness
DOWNLOADAl Green - Simply Beautiful
DOWNLOADLast, here’s a nice little playlist put together by a Dutch music lover called spruitenpraat
Popularity: 3% [?]
- Listen up: DJ Haas - Bring the Rain
The newest/latest from my friend Jeroen AKA DJ Haas. I guess being a DJ is sort of like being a writer and for best results you should ‘mix what you know’. Haas is a native of water logged Holland, where it has apparently been raining for the past two weeks. Bring the Rain is his response and it is awesome. Check the tracklist to see what I mean…
DJ Haas - Bring the Rain
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right-click + save target as (windows) / save link as (mac)Tracks
1 - SWV - Rain
2 - Alexander O’Neil - Can you stand the rain
3 - Ashanti - Rain on me
4 - B.I.G. - Somebody’s gotta die
5 - Raekwon - Rainy Dayz
6 - Mary J Blige - Everyday it Rains
7 - Soul 4 Real - Candy Rain
8 - Orange Juice Jones - Walking in the rain
9 - Janis Joplin - I can’t stand the rain
10 - Ann Peebles - I can’t stand the rain
11 - Tina Turner - I can’t stand the rain
12 - Missy Elliot - I can’t stand the rain
13 - U Brown - The big licking stick
14 - Lee Scratch Perry - Rainy night dub
15 - The Dramatics - In the Rain
16 - 21st Century - Remember the rain
17 - Joe Chambers - Mind rain
18 - Freddie Hubbard - Here’s that rainy dayPopularity: 3% [?]
- VERY FEEL feel good clip of the week: Screamin’
This week’s installment features the legendary performative stylings of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins. Screamin’ Jay is one of those artists who was simply too freaky for his era. He never experienced much commercial success but his darkside flair and general don’t give a fuckness paved the way for Kiss and Alice Cooper and Marilyn Manson and all that stuff. This song is probably his most famous. The version in the clip above is different from the studio single, which is famously sampled and fucking classic. So I’ll put that up too…
Screamin’ Jay Hawkins - I put a spell on you
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right-click + save target as (windows) / save link as (mac)Popularity: 3% [?]
- Coca Cola Shapes
My friend Lauren, an ATL native who as a child played in the shadow of the Coca-Cola bottling plant and as a consequence developed an attachment to their products that borders on the psycho, just sent me this image of the evolution of Coke’s distinctive bottle. Apparently the sequence is (left to right): 1899 - 1900 - 1915 - 1916 - 1957 - 1986.
I actually don’t like Coke, but I like this image a lot, partly because it reminds me of one of my favorite dancehall songs from back in the day, Simpleton’s ‘Coca Cola Bottle Shape’ which was the shit my freshman year of high school. I hadn’t listened to this song in years, but when I played it earlier this afternoon I found that it gave me an instantaneous, involuntary case of blue balls, which I assume is caused by the sense memory of the many fruitless grinding sessions of my youth.
Simpleton - Coca Cola Bottle Shape
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right-click + ’save target as’ (windows)/ ’save link as’ (mac}Thanks Lauren, just playing!
Popularity: 4% [?]
- Hold on… Ying Yang coming
I need to post up this amazing oldie but goodie that I just re-discovered. It features the legendary Sam & Dave performing with the Stax Revue during their tour of Europe in 1967.
This clip speaks for itself, obviously, but I particularly love the way it shows the radical nature of soul music when it was originally unleashed on the world. There are so many aspects of this performance that I love. Sam & Dave’s melodramatic combination of workman-like professionalism and maniacal emotion, Al Jackson’s super-human regularity on the drums + his towel, Booker T’s quiet sophistication, Duck Dunn’s sloppy-tightness on bass, guitarist Steve Cropper’s incredibly tight pants, the Mar-Keys laying down one of the greatest horn lines in the history of music all the while looking like some extras from Mad Men… and all this in front of a sea of arty Norwegians who are restrained physically (and culturally?) from joining the party.
At this point, most of what America has to offer culturally has been fully dispersed, worshipped, mimicked, and mocked. We’ll keep inventing new things for a while and our entertainment-industrial complex will continue to promote them with reckless abandon, but I doubt we will ever be able to recapture the raw power of the cultural confrontation above. The world is too small now and there’s not enough secrets. I mention all this because yesterday I found out that the Ying Yang Twins are going to be performing in Beijing in a couple weeks, and I’ll be there praying for just of taste of that Stax in Oslo vibe.
Thanks to my man JHE for originally turning me on to this performance all those years ago and Crooks & Liars for putting it online.
Sam & Dave - Hold on, I’m coming
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right-click + ’save target as’ (windows) / ’save link as’ (mac)Ying Yang Twins - Wait (the whisper song)
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- Desktop of the Pops
Cleaned all the stray files from my desktop today because people say you should do that. Here’s a selection of the songs I found on there. All good, a couple KILLER, especially this first one.
Johnny Farmer w/ Organized Noise - Death Letter
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I got a letter this morning. This is the way my letter read:
It said you better come home Farmer John, your baby’s deadMichael Jackson - This is it
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I never heard a single word about you, falling in love wasn’t my plan
I never thought that I would be your lover, c’mon baby, just understandJoss Stone w/ Nas - Governmentalist
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I’m an ordinary project dude, I’m subject to genetically modified food
That’s FDA approved, mass produced, still we can tell a lie from the truthRhythm on the Loose - Break of dawn
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I’m surprised to see your suitcase at the door.
Remember the good times, don’t you want some more?The Clipse w/ Pharell & Cam’ron - Popular Demand (Popeye’s)
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Money stacked to the ceiling and just as quick it is dispensed
Who knew those commas meant you could lose your common senseFuzzy Logic w/ Egypt - In the morning
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You and me together, what a fantasy, such a fantasy
You and me forever, it’s just you and me, for eternityTimbaland w/ Drake - Say something
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I am the topic of conversation, this is a celebration
Let’s toast to the fact that I moved out my mama’s basementPopularity: 3% [?]
- Baby Beats
Image flagrantly jacked from OG Raymond ScottThese days many of the of my favorite are people having babies. Since I move around a lot, I rarely get a chance to see them or help out in any way. This instrumental mix is a modest attempt to right that wrong. It provides a nutritious blend of baby-friendly beats to feed a growing mind and nourish a grimey soul.
Expensive Jewelry - Baby Beats Vol 1
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right-click + save link as (mac)/ save target as (windows)Dedicated to my niece Natasha and the rest of the under 1 crew…
Popularity: 4% [?]
- DJ Haas: Women are beautiful
Another amazing mix from my friend DJ Haas. The third in his Stupidtelligent series and maybe his best ever. Hosted by Richard Pryor (in a way).
DJ Haas - Stupidtelligent 3: Women are beautiful
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right-click + save target as [windows] / save link as [mac]Tracklist
01 - Angels Instr. - Diddy & Dirty Money
02 - Fat LAdy Sings - Raekwon
03 - La La La - De La Soul
04 - True Love - Apathy feat. Phonte
05 - Fear Instr. - Drake
06 - Fear - Drake
07 - She dont have to see you (to see through you) - Bobby Patterson
08 - Soft Hoop - Metro Area
09 - Scorpio - Dennis Coffey
10 - Boriken Soul (dub mix) - Yonurican
11 - LAtrifying - Dam Funk
12 - Where’s My Money (Caspa remix) - TC
13 - Heartbeat - Nneka
14 - It’s Not Over (Skream remix) - Klaxons
15 - ReUp - Joker
16 - Miracles - Jamie Vexd
17 - Happy Feelings - Maze & Franky Beverly
18 - Seventh Dangerous Match - Scientist
19 - Love Hangover acapella - Diana Ross
20 - 2-D - Skream
21 - Ribbon in the Sky - Lloydie Crucial
22 - Sweet Love - M Beat
23 - The What acapella - Notorious BIG
24 - Run ‘Em Out (Ft. Roots Manuva) - Breakage
25 - Punanny - Admiral Bailey
26 - Go Go Club Riddim Instr.
27 - Bike Back - Blak Ryno
28 - Bill - Gaza Kim
29 - A Nuh Whore - DeMarco
30 - Knock Knock - OG Ron C & Pleasure P
31 - Be Mine - Donaeo
32 - In The Morning - Egypt
33 - I Should Have Cheated - Keyshia ColePopularity: 4% [?]
- Brett Domino all over your…
DJs it’s all up to you.
A while ago, I made a big post about nerd music where I tried to break down the various subsets of the category. It’s become an ongoing project and I always try to keep an eye out for new examples, and so I was suitably pumped earlier today when my friend Josh sent me a link to this video…
It’s by 2/3 of the Brett Domino Trio, a group music lovers out of Leeds. I can’t get enough of this clip. Check out more of their stuff on Brett Domino’s youtube channel, including an epic MJ tribute performed on the keytar.
Thanks Josh!
Popularity: 4% [?]
- Props to Prop II: USA
Today I had lunch with my friends Shuyu, Max, and Lei and we got to talking a little about the propagandistic nature of the 60th anniversary festivities that I mentioned in my last post. Lei pointed out that the US (Land of the Free, Home of the Brave) has its own elaborate mechanism for promoting its cultural ideals, but it’s less blatant because the messages are usually sent by non-governmental organizations, such as Harvard University and Viacom. This is undeniable and it got me thinking about the different messages that the world’s two great propagandist superpowers put out. Based on the 60th Anniversary parade, the Olympic opening ceremony, and the upcoming Shanghai Expo, the PRC seems to promote discipline, tradition, and unity. What about the US? Freedom, innovation, and diversity? Greed, amnesia, and morbid obesity? Then I came home and opened up iTunes and was introduced to Miley Cyrus’s new single “Party in the USA”. This song/video covers almost every inch of the American ideal. Youth worship, hedonism, multi-cultural homogeneity, muscle cars, a triumphant underdog, cowboy boots, wonderbras, the whole 9. And I won’t lie, it speaks to me.
And a Jay-Z song was ooooonnnn……
And a Britney song was ooooonnnn……
From sea to shining sea.
Popularity: 4% [?]
- OMA United Nations Mix
I’m getting ready to leave Holland, my home away from home. I’ve been here for the past 6 months working at OMA, the office to which I owe many of my professional skills and most of my gray hairs. One of the many virtues of OMA is its workforce, which is drawn from all corners of the earth. Before I left the office I decided to try a little experiment and see if I could make a mix that reflects the variety of the place. I asked every nationality to send me a song. Almost every one did and the result is below. Nuff love to all my colleagues past, present, and future. The beat goes on…
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right-click + save target as (windows) / save link as (mac)TRACKLIST
Albert Pla - Fantasma (Spain)
Wir sind Helden - Aurélie (Germany)
Clara Nunes - Cantos das tres racas (Brazil via Macau)
Waifs - London still (Australia)
Falco - Junge römer (Austria)
Kino - Zvezda po imeni solnce (Russia)
Haja Hamdaouia - Hazou bina laalam (Morocco)
Sabrina - Boys boys boys (Italy)
Röyksopp - The girl and the robot (Norway)
Agoria - Think different (France)
Kraak & Smaak - Jolie banane (Netherlands)
Anima Sound System - 68 (Hungary)
Bendaly Family - Do you love me? (Lebanon)
Vive la Fête - La vérité (Belgium)
Omar Souleyman - Leh jani (Syria)
Twins - Being in love is bigger than the sky (Hong Kong)
Wan Fang - New endless love (China)
MR Shajariyan - Char mezraab bidaad (Iran)
Punky Donch - Mi kier bo awe (Curacao)
Al Green - Love and happiness (US)
Goldfish - Mbira beat (South Africa)
Bally Sagoo feat. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Ali da malang (India)
Lieve Hugo - Blaka rosoe (Suriname)
Grauzone - Eisbär (Switzerland)
DJ Pied Piper & Masters of Ceremony - Do you really like it? (UK)
D’banj - Entertainer (Nigeria)
Komeda - It’s alright baby (Sweden)
*Italo-Bonus*
Max Gazzè - Una musica può fare (Italy)Popularity: 8% [?]
