Nuclear Beef

Daedelus Travels To Japan Audio Beef Today. Springtime meets The Cure in uptown Tokyo.

'A Touch Of Spring' by Daedelus from his 2003 EP The Quiet Party on Plug Research Records

UPDATE: 'The Walk - Mark Saunders Everything Mix' by The Cure, remixed by Mark Saunders from Mixed Up, original (single-only) version anthologized on Staring At The Sea: The Singles

So I'm in Japan right now, on the 15th story of a hotel in Tokyo. Since I arrived in this crazy country, I've had to get used to constantly hearing people say things which I don't understand in the slightest. My brain isn't quite used to this, so I keep thinking that I comprehend... before realizing that I actually don't.

This sensation reminds me very much of this Daedelus song, in no small part because it begins with someone saying something I don't understand in Japanese. So I've been humming this song to myself for days now, and it seems very much the perfect soundtrack for Tokyo, as it features a thick groove and more than its fair share of confusing whimsy. Daedelus effortlessly merges the disparate, just as my experience of Tokyo combines the sensation of being incredibly conspicuous and completely invisible. Those playing along at home may share my inkling that this metaphor can be extended to the lead melody here. Daedelus seems to have jacked it from some song I've heard before... I swear it's by The Cure. If anyone who is reading knows which Cure song he's cribbing from, please let me know! db suggested that it's 'Fascination Street,' but it's not.

I must have walked down one thousand streets in Akihabara today and all of them could have been named 'Fascination.'

(God, my life is crazy sometimes. Extra special shouts out to db, without whom none of this would be possible. Also shouts out to Cinnacism who somehow found this track stuck in her head at the very same time I did. FWIW, this post was written on Saturday the 19th, but I haven't had a chance to post it until today. I'll be back in teh USA in a few days..)

UPDATE: Special thanks to adania, who told me (while hanging out in Yasu, JP) that The Cure track in question was, in fact, 'The Walk.' Thank god for her, I had been going nuts for months trying to figure it out. I knew I had heard that melody before, and it was a Cure song.. but my copy of Staring At The Sea is on vinyl, so I was too lazy to find it and check it for that track. Go figure. The mix here is by Mark Saunders, who (as that discogs.com link attests) has done a lot of work for various classic UK synth acts. Solid.

I kissed you in the water /
I made your dry lips sing /
I saw you look like a Japanese baby /
In an instant, I remembered everything

Posted by darwin at 12:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Just a quick note in case anyone is checking in regularly and wondering why there haven't been any updates in a while. There's a simple reason... I'm in Japan! I have two songs I'm already planning to post, but net access is teh suxxx at this hotel, so they'll have to wait until I'm back in the states.

For some fun while I'm away, be sure to check out the comments for the previous entry where one of the MCs on the track (Atypical) responds to some of my snide commentary on Sween's album. I'll be responding in the comments and dropping him an email when I get back, but I wanted to clarify just a bit here.

Most of my jabs in that entry were directed at Sween's artistic direction on Face Punch Music, not at those featured on his album, or the city of Albany, or the hip-hop scene of Albany. As I tried to indicate with my language ("Albany must have some mean streets") I don't know much of anything about Albany or its hip-hop scene. What I don't get is where Sween's persona is coming from. I understand branching out in an artistic direction, adopting a character and so forth.. I just don't get why Sween feels a need to be so GRIMEY. That's what I was trying to get at via the comparison to the Insane Clown Posee and early Eminem... the confusion I feel at MCs whose artistic inspiration is to cast themselves as hyper-violent assholes. My preference has always been towards music which is personal and sincere and coherent, and I don't feel that in Sween's 22 tracks of ruggedness. I was so frustrated with his album because he's clearly a very passionate and talented guy.. but from his entire album the only track that wasn't off-putting on a personal level was the track I posted. The 'Robolitics' track made it clear that the MCs were creating characters to express themselves. The rest of the album sounds like Sween really wants to convince everyone that he is a vicious, aggressive asshole. I just don't grasp why, hence my commentary.

With regards to Atypical specifically, I really like the beat he produced on the track that I posted and I'm looking forward to hearing what he comes up with in the future. Thanks for the feedback, and welcome to The Beef!

Posted by darwin at 06:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Pissed Off Robot Hip-Hop Audio Beef Today. Sween, Atypical and Dez let us know just how unpleasant it is to be a robot.

'Robolitics' by Sween (featuring Atypical and Dez) from Sween's 2004 album Face Punch Music on Pitch Control Music

Staying with our robot theme, here's a friendly track from Albany, NY rapper Sween. I don't know too much about Sween except that he seems to like the word "bitch" a lot and has a really lousy web-page. Not only does it require you to "scroll yo ass to the right" in order to see any actual content, it doesn't provide any way to actually.. you know.. BUY his music. The giant graphic on the front page says the album "should" be available from the website. I agree, it certainly "should" be available.. but it isn't. There isn't even an email address, so I guess if you want to buy it you should post on his web forum or something.

The beat on this track is produced by Atypical (who also contributes a verse) and has some interesting moments. The robot-themed rhymes sound a bit like Eminem's early records. You know, shocking stuff ('It's not sex / It's psycho-vaginal surgery!') that will make you giggle if you can manage to suspend disbelief long enough to take it seriously. No matter what you think of the track, you have to admit that Sween, Atypical and Dez sure are some angry pimp robots! GRRR... BEEP! BZZZZZT!

(Albany must have some mean streets, because the rest of Sween's Face Punch Music is similarly rugged. Or maybe they're just underground rappers who have more in common with the Insane Clown Posee then Grandmaster Flash. I mean, we have Necro and Mr. Hyde.. do we really need more horror-core? There's some funny bits, but the album has 22 tracks by 8 different producers. That strikes me as the very definition of unfocused creativity. Sween obviously has a lot of passion; unfortunately he seems to lack any sort of restraint. If you like what you hear, you can check a few other tracks from Face Punch Music at his wack-ass website.)

Posted by darwin at 10:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Just a quick note. The people who host my images and media files had a system meltdown, and have been down for a while now. Update and a new post as soon as they come back.

UPDATE : It's back. Thanks to the people involved for their work to get it back quickly.

Posted by darwin at 08:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Neo-Oldschool Sci-Fi Headgame Video Beef Today. Pete Miser is a computer animated robot, programmed to think he's not a robot.

'Scent Of A Robot' Video (15MB, Quicktime 320×240, External Link) by Pete Miser, video production by UV Phactory, track from his self-released 2004 album Camouflage Is Relative

Here's a great music video from New York based MC Pete Miser.

The premise of the song is clever, with an idea that harkens back to the halycon days of Science Fiction: What if you were a robot who was programmed not to know that you were a robot? How would you react if you found out? NYC's UV Phactory animation studio gives this video a fresh look and compliments Pete's story perfectly. His flow is solid and the beats are good, but the video definitely puts it over the top.

I'm sure this will be linked all over the place in a week or so... be the first on your block to check-a-check it out!

(I normally mirror things I link, but in this case it's large enough that I direct linked to the file. If this is not ok, please feel free to contact me at nuclearbeef @at@ gmail d0t d0t d0t com and I'll make a local mirror. You can find a higher-res (28MB, Quicktime 640×480) version here at UV Phactory's site. Be sure to hit up Pete Miser's Official Site and support creative hiphop in the 2K5. Props to August for the hook-up.)

UPDATE: Apparently Lev over at Gizmodo linked this a week ago. I am so pwned.

Posted by darwin at 03:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)