Nuclear Beef

Jacking Rolling-Bassline Techno Remix Audio Beef Today. Si Begg takes a walk and plays with his Bolz.

---

'Take A Walk' by Bolz Bolz, remixed by Si Begg from the 2001 12" vinyl Take A Walk on Longhaul Records, original licensed from World Electric Records

---

Here's another in a long line of excellent Si Begg remixes. This time it's Cologne, Germany's Bolz Bolz who gets the chop-and-bassline treatment courtesy of the prolific Begg. The original is passable, but nothing special. Unfortunately this description applies to most of Bolz's work. Si Begg, on the other hand, has been putting out excellent techno, house and downtempo music for coming on 10 years. I've posted a Si Begg remix here before, and fans of Ready Rock Rex will recall his fondness for Mr. Begg. It's doubly odd to me to find others who love his music, because I still think of him as an experimental techno artist on Edinburgh's Sativae Records, a sub-label of No Future. Not exactly a group of superstars, unless you love confusing techno.

I found this record for about 300 yen at Spice Records in Shibuya, Tokyo. The label seemed to indicate that side 'A' was the Si Begg remix, and I was rather disappointed when I threw it on. Where was the rolling fuzz, the chopped breakdowns, the weird sampling? I flipped it over to see what was on the 'B' side and.. right, there we go. Techno like it should be done. I played this on the booming system in my car recently and was overwhelmed by aurgasms like whoa.

As Begg's sample says :

AAAAAHHHhhhhhhhhhhhh.

(This song is about 7 minutes long, as it's clearly meant for DJs. Others may think it's too long for casual listening, but it's certainly good music to work to! Notice the awesome scratch about 30 seconds in. It's totally invisible but goes POP really loud a few times. Wicked. Also, Longhaul records seems to not actually exist, which is why I haven't linked to them. As far as I know, this is the only commercial release of this remix. Isn't vinyl AWESOME?)

Posted by darwin at 04:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Fresh Air Interview Audio Beef Today. The RZA explains the history of the Clan and his many special techniques.

---

'Fresh Air Interview - 03/07/2005' (21mb .mp3, 64Khz mono) by The RZA and Terry Gross from NPR's Fresh Air, March 7th, 2005.

---

Here's a fun interview with the Wu Tang Clan's RZA from NPR's Fresh Air program. Terry Gross tries to roll with Bobby Digital even though he is.. how shall we say.. somewhat less than articulate.

Take for example this segment where the RZA explains how he decided to become the RZA instead of Prince Rakeem :

RZA : ... and the Z in mathematics yknawmean (because you know, I study mathematics) and the Z stands for 'Zig Zag Zig' which represents knowledge, wisdom and understanding. It means like, you can go this way and sometimes you're going to have to zag back cause you got to go back and check on yourself, but then you realize you was going the right way in the beginning so you zig again. And that shows you that sometimes you may know something and you can understand it, but if you don't live through it it's not fully understood by you and so that zag is me living it out. And when I zagged, you know I went through so much troubles of life and life experiences so now I have the experience so now I have to zig again. So that's what really put that 'z' in my name.

I also particularly enjoy how Terry keeps referring to him as a 'composer' like he was Aaron Copeland or something. She tries really hard, but it's difficult to buy it when she enthuses about the track 'B.O.B.B.Y.' off the Bobby Digital album. I mean, c'mon.. even people who are into his music don't like that crap.

The interview covers a lot of RZA and Wu history, from the early days of the Clan to RZA's work on movie soundtracks. He also talks about his childhood involvement with Kung-Fu movies and how he taught himself to produce records. Throughout, The RZA comes off as a very likeable and passionate individual, self-educated but clearly very intelligent. He also seems to have a very practical viewpoint on success, which up-and-coming musicians would do well to heed. RZA confesses to smoking weed at age 9 and having sex at age 11, and (even more shockingly!) shouts out Garth Brooks for doing an album as a character! Classic.

He also offers this classic explanation of the benefits of being self-educated :

RZA: ... I just didn't have the patience to sit in a class or the attention power to sit in a class and listen to a teacher tell me these things because I would be thinking of a girl or something or thinking you know even sometimes, you know, it's funny and I'll say this out loud because I know a lot of men can relate. Sometimes you can be a 14 year old boy in the classroom and all you thinking about is having sex with the teacher, yknawmean? And it's crazy and you'll be sitting there just looking and looking no matter what she's trying to teach you, say to you, all you is dreaming about is man what if you could just take Mrs. (garble) in the back, yknawmean? And I realized that in my own self that this is a real true distraction of life and I should stay home and read and study myself and that's why you know self-knowledge is important and self-study is important, no matter cause whether you go to school or whether you go to a Kung-Fu class for instance, you're not going to learn the technique because you're going to the class. No, it's going to be your self-practice, your self-dedication on the inside that's going to help you perfect what you need to perfect.

The Abbot of the Clan, indeed.

(The RZA has a new book out, 'The Wu Tang Manual' which is a comprehensive compendium of Wu background and history. If you're John Book and you want to know about the Wu like you're reading the U-WU mailing list, you should check it out.)

UPDATE : Oops! MP3 link was broken, is fixed now. Sorry! Thanks to the Anon Y. Mouse in comments.

Posted by darwin at 11:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Corrected Producer-Self-Indulgence Hip-Hop Audio Beef Today. Grand Puba is liberated from the Shark Cage of Wackness by our fearless hero, Darwin.

---

'All For Nothing - Darwin's Shark Cage Refix' and 'All For Nothing' by Sharkey from his 2004 album Sharkey's Machine on Baby Grande Records

---

It's the mid-oughts, a time of superstar producers who, in the words of De La Soul:

... Talk all over your tones /
As if my name was Pete Rock /
Or Sean 'Puffy' Combs

The Producer album is here to stay, and I'm not sure I'm happy about it. For every great synergy between Producer and Guest Rapper there are hundreds of mis-matches. In part I think there is an inherent problem with the Super-Producer albums: they've become so used to producing ear-grabbing singles that they can't seem to get conceptually serious. They've also had enough success to have the attendant ego inflation, which is even more dangerous.

This track by Sharkey shows both of these faults. The beat is hot, the guest rapper (a Hip-Hop legend) puts in a solid performance. Then Sharkey starts singing on the chorus like he was Pharrell. Except he isn't Pharrell... his voice sucks, his hooks suck and his lyrics suck too! He should stay the hell off the mic and avoid writing his own songs. Sharkey's beats are great, very well constructed and catchy, but his songs are artistically ill-conceived and poorly executed. I mean, Christ, he made me dislike a song with the following chorus :

I used to skate around the neighborhood /
But now I just jerk off on the Internet

I should love that song. But it's crap! Tracks like that one, ('Skateboarders Blues') exhibt what I can only describe as self-indulgent masturbatory artistic judgement. A dope beat completely ruined by wack hooks and ad-lib 'flavor' that isn't flavorful. You can almost see him and Zooks in the studio high-fiving each other for how very clever the wackness is. This album would have to be reduced to only the verses (by rappers other than Zooks) in order to be listenable.

By means of illustration, I offer my very own Shark Cage Refix (n. - Fixing what's broken) of Sharkey's 'All For Nothing,' which features Grand Puba of Brand Nubian. I've taken the original track and removed all traces of Sharkey's wack singing, including the so-called 'hook' and a 'verse' he contributes at the end. What's left is really quite good, even taking into account the anti-downloading sentiment on the pre-chorus which serves as the chorus in the edit. Grand Puba does his usual thing where he pulls out non-sequitor ad libs about nothing but sounds great anyway. The remix is shorter than a song should be, but one listen to the original will prove my point without any doubt. Sharkey sounds like a Beck wannabe, except without any singing or songwriting talent. The horror. Please, Sharkey, if you're out there... stick to the beats.

(I feel like I should point out that I don't recommend listening to the original mix of this song. It's really really annoying. If you do, have a good song ready to listen to right afterwards so you don't get it stuck in your head. The copyright on all of this material obviously still belongs to Sharkey. This remix is brought to you solely for educational fair use purposes! If you happen to be Sharkey and are reading this, I hope you have a sense of humor.

Shouts out to adamb who knows good music when he hears it. Also, Shrugmp3s (aka "We're Here To Help You Through Your Changes") has some great songs up by Was, Not (Was), which you should check out ASAP. And if you haven't heard this Hulk Hogan track which blair posted over a m(fr).. you're just not truly living.)

Posted by darwin at 05:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

German Girl-Glitch Singing Esotericore Audio Beef Today! Niobe angers (read: amuses) the gods (read: me) by being too.. creative.

---

'Good Old Owl' and 'Like A Dog' by Niobe from her 2004 album Voodooluba on Sonig Records

---

Niobe is a German woman named Yvonne Cornelius. I haven't heard her first album (released on Tomlab, home of Casiotone FTPA), but this (her second album) gives me the impression that she is quite talented. She's on Sonig, which is the record label of the guys from Mouse on Mars. I think she's pretty damn excellent.

'Good Old Owl' is an example of Niobe's tricky style: a vintage sounding number which is more and less than it appears. Simple guitar strumming forms the foundation, meshing with sparse percussion to provide a comfortable space for Niobe's vocal. Her intensely evocative singing is deeply verbed and filtered... and doesn't appear to be intelligible. Some of the phrases make sense, but most of the lyrics are either gibberish or at the very least some language other than German or English.

Living Colour once sampled someone saying :

We must never take these words too seriously. Words are very important but then if we take them too seriously, we destroy everything.

For someone who is hooked on lyrical content, it's nice to be reminded that the vocal tones can be as important as the words. Sorta like hearing the Cocteau Twins for the first time. I challenge you to dislike this song.

Some people will certainly dislike 'Like A Dog,' but not me! Although it's nearly 6 minutes long, it covers so much ground that it seems short. This song is a better example of the album than 'Good Old Owl,' in that it is challenging, moody and ultimately rewarding. In a way Niobe sounds like Blevin Blectum doing an album on 4AD records. She lacks the Tigerbeat6 slapstick sense of humor, but has all of the idiosyncratic shuffling and bleeping grace. Did I mention she's got an incredible voice?

'Like A Dog' showcases Niobe's intense creation and destruction in an avalanche of glitch and sudden surprise. What more do you want? Download it already!

(Niobe of legend angered the Greek gods by bragging about how many children she had. She had 14, 7 sons and 7 daughters. So she was bragging one day and dissed the Goddess Leto who only had two children of her own. Unfortunately for Niobe's trash-talking ass, these children were by Zeus, the pimp of the Greek gods. He and Leto drank naught but ambrosia from his pimp cup and she gave birth to Apollo and Artemis. When Leto found out that Niobe dissed her, she sent Apollo and Artemis to Earth to murder all of Niobe's children. Oops! Moral of the story is don't fuck with Zeus' top girl. NOTE: Leto is not to be confused with Jared Leto of TV's My So-Called Life. Oh, and if you like the music in this post you should really check out this group called Obadia over at Comfort Music before the post expires. Nummy.)

Posted by darwin at 05:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

UPDATED, see below!

TV Commercial Techno Audio Beef Today. Toyota Scion gets a ripping choon from HumanWorldWide edIT.

---

'Scion Xa Xb Commercial', by edIT Artist Unknown, produced for Toyota/Scion by Human Worldwide, Inc. in 2004 (not available for purchase)

---

Here's a little bit of excellent commercial music. Not commercial like the music you hear on the radio, commercial like it's the background music for an ad on TV. Ever since the dawn of Rave, people have complained about Rave-like music in car commercials. This usually makes sense, because the tracks are watered down or are from such major artists that they're basically pop music. They're not "keeping it real" because the music is wack.

This case seems different to me, because the track is clearly the choon. If I heard someone play this track on a dance-floor, I'd spaz out and start shaking my ass like crazy. I frankly don't care that it was commissioned for this commercial. It rocks harder than a magic kiss, it really whups the camel's ass. (RIP Wesley Willis) If we accept that "it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing" we must also accept that it do mean a thing if it does got that swing.

This track (which is clearly excerpted from a longer piece, though the video and full-length track seem to be unavailable on the internets) certainly has enough swing to go around. According to this page at the Ad Tunes forum it was produced by someone who works for the ad agency linked above. A guy has also posted a (96k/s) mp3 extended mix of the track over here. I have contacted the agency to request confirmation (as well as the release of the full-length track) and I will let you know if I get it. I believe that there is more to the track because of the way it 'ends' with the first part of a melodic line. I can hear the end of it in my head, which seems like a good indication that there's more.

Thanks to Moe Rex, I know there are a lot of people spazzing out about Scion's branding efforts, in particular what has been called Scion-Hop. For my part I'm happy whenever an artist gets paid for their art. I don't really care why they're getting paid, how they're getting paid, or whatever. If Scion wants to "keep it real" by throwing free shows for Hip-Hop heads.. um.. free Hip-Hop shows, the artists get paid.. where's the problem again?

Of course, anyone who actually buys into Scion's marketing hype is a schmuck.

(emphasis mine)

SCION (the car company and the magazine) recognizes the value of the individual and the remix, the re-appropriation of mass culture, and it will focus on the struggle, the challenge and the successes of keeping it real.

The idea of the remix has become more common and now can be applied to entire identities, from music to fashion, from technology to art. The lines have been blurred. The opportunity for independence is vital. We are now active participants in the process, tricking out the smallest details, tweaking the characteristics to fit our lifestyles.

Their ad copy says stuff like 'The idea of the remix has become more common and can now be applied to entire identities' and I'm supposed to be upset? That's what I've been telling people for years now! I'm glad as hell that we agree, though it sure ain't a reason to buy a car...

(Of course, in teh Japan Scions are just Toyotas. I saw nuff middle-aged Japanese ladies driving around in Scion Xbs to have permanently seperated the physical vehicle from Toyota's excellent branding efforts. What a difference a brand makes.)

UPDATE : According to the most recent update at the Complex Players Club blog (which represents the LA glitch scene (and has no permalinks)) this track is produced by none other than a favorite of Nuclear Beef (and Dozer Blog and Comfort Music), Los Angeles glitchster Edward Ma, aka edIT, of Planet Mu Records. Go figure, one of my favorite electronic artists creates a track for a commercial and I love it so much that I post it. I've fixed the id3 tags on the file to reflect edIT as the artist. I've also contacted him and hope to get his commentary on the track and the experience of working with Toyota/Scion.

Thanks to edIT for making this post's point so very well. Extra special Beef thanks to Brad Weslake for the heads up in comments.

Posted by darwin at 01:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Complex Abstract Hip-Hop Audio Beef Today. Mr. Complex travels to Japan and straight up kills it.

'Ima Killit' by Mr. Complex from his 1999 album Hold This Down on 7 Heads Records

Technically speaking, Mr. Complex didn't travel to Japan. I did. He just hitched a ride in my musical memory.

While I was in Kyoto (emitting CO2 like crazy!) my partner-in-crime was Chris, a musician and painter par excellence who I know from way back. Our buddy db was trapped in conference land so Chris and I descended on Kyoto like we was Mecha-Godzilla and Rodan. We're both very musical people and were deprived of recognizable music for days on end. So of course we started singing whatever songs would pop into our heads. Usually this doesn't work, because people don't recognize each other's songs.. but Chris and I are BOTH obsessive so it worked out great. He'd start singing something (like Prince's '1999') and I'd sing along at my favorite part ('If you didn't come to party / don't bother knocking on the door') and we'd have a grand old time. He even forgave me for singing along with the ubiquitous muzak version of 'Winds of Change' by The Scorpions which we heard everywhere.

Somewhere between the first and second 500ml Sapporo, this Mr. Complex track popped into my head. I turned to Chris and asked him:

ME: Chris, what am I gonna do to Japan right now?!?!

HIM: I dunno, what?

ME: IMA KILLIT.

And kill it we did. The night before he left, we all stayed up drinking, and Chris stumbled back to Boston bleary eyed and satisfied. Extra Special Beef Thanks to db, adania, Club Metro, Vibes Kyoto, Helen Merrill and various patient bartenders who put up with our drunk gaijin asses.

Mr. Complex totally kills it on this track too. A ill little janky piano loop and wordplay you really can't front on.

Choice Beef Quote:

You hear this for the first time, you're like 'Ooh! The Beat!' /
Second time around you got up out yo seat /
Third time around you went buck in the street /
Fourth time you caught the rhyme and jerked your meat!

(I'm back in teh USA finally, though I brought a nasty headcold with me. I slept about 15 hours last night and am finally starting to feel human again. Dear Japaneses, please no more cigarette smoking. Oh btw, adania solved the mystery regarding the Daedelus Track I posted recently. It samples the melody of The Cure song 'The Walk.' I have also posted a remix of the Cure track in the update to that post.)

Posted by darwin at 07:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)