The Critters - Anthology: The Complete Kapp Recordings 1965-1967 (1994)

Great summertime pop music. Incredibly catchy songs. I haven't listened to this collection in awhile, but a few years ago I used to listen to a lot. Definitely a product of it's time, but some of the absolute best guitar/folk/sunshine pop of its kind.

New Jersey's Critters have earned a reputation as a bubblegum pop group, but they really had a lot more going for them than that. For starters, founding members Jim Ryan and Don Ciccone were both gifted songwriters, singers, and arrangers, and if they had a sort of soft, sunshine approach to things, well, they did it as well as anyone. This anthology collects their Kapp recordings (which essentially means their one album for Kama Sutra and a handful of singles and B-sides) from 1965 to 1967, and it shows a versatile band that was much more than a sort of precursor to Bread. Their first single, a folk-rock cover of Jackie DeShannon's "Children and Flowers," leads things off here, and yes, it's sappy, but wonderfully so, and once you accept the lyrics, it emerges as a bit of a lost treasure. The next two tracks are also striking, the Beatlesque "He'll Make You Cry" and the equally impressive "Little Girl," both of which could have -- and should have -- been AM radio hits. "Mr. Dieingly Sad," a group original that out-associates the Association, is another highlight, and the set closes with a surprisingly bright, joyous, and breezy version of the Motown classic "Dancing in the Street." Leaving Kama Sutra at the end of 1967, the band recorded a second album on the Project 3 label before calling it quits. The Critters, like Chicago's Cryan' Shames, might have gone on to bigger and better things if the military draft, label snafus, and public perception hadn't short-circuited the creative life span of the group. As it is, they'll make you smile on a rainy day. There's something really valuable in that. - Steve Legget, AMG

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Three Matthew Shipp Albums

Y'know why not? Uploaded these recently, all 3 are great. I have other recent uploads I could post, but here are these anyway.

Matthew Shipp is one of the best/most heralded jazz pianists of the last 10+ years. He somehow fuses avant-garde with hip-hop but maintains a strong hard jazz feel in his records. He recorded with J. Spaceman as well as Antipop Consortium. He's a good guy to follow.

Equilibrium (2003)

My favorite Shipp album I've heard. Killer album. One of the few jazz albums that would make it onto a "best of 00's" list for me.
"The key to this record's success is its fearless combination of approaches: jazz in a relatively pure form, as well as blended with a hip-hop/electronica sensibility. The mixes and effects, rather than diluting the essence, enrich it. So many pitfalls avoided, so many heights reached: Equilibrium is a brilliant record which should bear appeal to an incredibly wide range of listeners." -allaboutjazz
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One (2006)

Solo piano performance.
"Without the burden of having to prove his music’s merit to an imaginary crowd of tongue-wagging purists, Shipp achieves a more subtle, truer kind of fusion. One is a space in which Bill Evans’ impressionism and Cecil Taylor’s effluvious mindfucks can coexist and disintegrate together, as Shipp leaves jazz piano behind as seamlessly as he surveys its history, readily launching into cerebral passages that owe more to contemporary chamber music than jazz or blues traditions. Here’s hoping this release marks the beginning of a more tempered sense of ambition for Shipp." - tinymixtapes
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Harmonic Disorder (2009)

One of the best jazz albums I've heard this year. Brilliant playing.
The title Harmonic Disorder may read like this is one of Shipp's more intense outings, but the truth is, while it has wonderfully fiery moments, this is an intimate recording filled with new ideas, humor, depth, and warmth. -amg
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Sorry dudes

Sorry for the lack of updates. Am in the process of moving among other things. I have actually uploaded a number of things recently, just didn't post them here. I could probably do that.

Will resume in a week most likely.

When The Morning Sun Has Stopped Shining (A Mix)

Part two of two for my girlfriend's road trip. I guess the title is sort of foreboding, but it's not. Line from the Huckleberry Flint song included (Humboldt represent). This one isn't "mixed" like the other, just a collection of folk, country, bluegrass, americana songs that I like and thought would go together pretty decently on this mix. There is a chance that the Leon Redbone song is untagged in the artist field, so tag it as such. Also the Laura Cantrell song might be tagged as track 8, but should be 15. Otherwise there isn't much to say...just enjoy if you want it.

1. kate wolf - riding in the country
2. phil ochs - bullets of mexico
3. the seldom scene - hello mary lou
4. leon redbone - desert blues (big chief buffalo nickel)
5. willie nelson - three days
6. bill anderson - sittin' in an all-night cafe
7. doc watson - interstate rag
8. huckleberry flint - good night darling
9. uncle earl - sleepy desert
10. wilco - forget the flowers
11. calexico - dub latina
12. carrie rodriguez - never gonna be your bride
13. the wailin' jennys - devil's paintbrush road
14. wanda jackson - fujiyama mama
15. laura cantrell - yonder comes a freight train
16. hamilton camp - a satisfied mind
17. brenda lee - speak to me pretty
18. ricky nelson - i'm walkin
19. the brothers four - where have all the flowers gone
20. louise massey & the westerners - my adobe hacienda
21. norman blake - salt river
22. heron - sally goodin'

Link Removed by DMCA - let me know if you want it.

And I'm Stripped To My Sheets (A Mix)

Making two mixes for my girlfriend and her roommate for their mini roadtrip to Santa Fe this weekend. Fun stuff. This is a more pop themed mix, songs to sing along to, songs to have fun with, blah blah. A decent celebration of the summer to be. No real theme other than that. Just songs I like from different time periods, whatever. I think that it turned out really well. I used Mixmeister to edit a handful of tracks as well as blend/mix the tracks. So if you download you basically have to listen in order or else you'll hear fades that don't make sense. Just makes sense with this type of mix. Title comes from the first line in the Animal Collective song, pretty silly. Anyway, tracklist follows. Enjoy.

1. juana molina - un dia
2. freestyle fellowship - inner city boundaries
3. kleerup - until we bleed (ft. lykke li)
4. kelis - millionaire (ft. andre 3000)
5. the-dream - walkin on the moon (ft. kanye west)
6. common - new wave
7. abstract rude - thynk eye can (ft. haiku d'etat)
8. animal collective - summertime clothes
9. phoenix - 1901
10. robin thicke - lazy bones
11. private - my secret lover
12. michael jackson - p.y.t.
13. solange - i decided (part 1)
14. mayer hawthorne & the county - maybe so, maybe no
15. erykah badu - honey
16. pete rock - it's a love thing (ft. cl smooth & denosha)
17. zapp & roger - be alright

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The Nonce - World Ultimate (1995)

Recently watched the 2008 documentary film "This is the Life" that looks at the hip hop scene known as The Good Life. Named after a restaurant in Los Angeles in the early 90s, the scene birthed such underground legends as Freestyle Fellowship (Mikah 9, Aceyalone, P.E.A.C.E and Self-Jupiter), Abstract Rude, Chali 2na, Cut Chemist, Busdriver, Pigeon John and loads of others that time has forgotten.

While The Good Life was centered around stage performances and freestyles, urging creativity and style above actual substance, there are a handful of outstanding albums to come from Good Life alumni. One of these album is "World Ultimate" by The Nonce.

I won't try to encapsulate the short-lived career of The Nonce, you can find it online or by downloading the video I have included in this post taken from the Documentary previously mentioned. The Nonce consist of Nouka Base and Yusef Afloat (RIP). The music contained within is often called the West Coast A Tribe Called Quest. Super smooth, jazzy beats that have a decent bottom, excellent rapping that just rides the beats. Hip Hop music you can get lost in. Beautiful record and definitely a forgotten classic. Posting their classic single "Mixtapes" right below this, and then the album included. Enjoy the summer, play this over and over.



Video link removed. Visit the website here!
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Dru Down - Can You Feel Me (1996)

So let's look at what I've posted recently: 70's jazz, two modern classical compositions by a Russian, another 70s experimental jazz album, awesome P-Funk related guitar album, some minimalism with Steve Reich, and then 4 Mamas & Papas easy vocal music.

Seriously lacking some hip hop.

You know I could go through the hip hop I have and post classic shit from NY or albums that were overlooked that I feel are classic (you can go back to my Scientifik post). But I'm not going to. It's slowly turning into summer, I'm graduating and moving to the Bay Area and the past 2 weekends I have heavily listened to some West Coast gangsta shit that I remember from when I was younger. This past weekend I suddenly remembered Dru Down and his classic (yes, classic) 1996 LP "Can You Feel Me"

Lots of people know Dru Down from Po Pimpin and all that shit, but this is his masterpiece. True funky west coast rap. Charismatic rapping almost solely about pimping and ho's and the bass/g-funk sound so heavy it'll rattle every speaker. I probably hadn't heard the music on this album since 6th grade...probably like 10-11 years. Yet listening to it again after all this time I'm amazed by how well I remember these songs. I can recite "Baby Bubba" and "Can You Feel Me" almost word for word, and at least know the chorus to about every other song on the album.

Listen guys and gals. Sometimes we need music like this. While I grow up and realize that I can't really listen to people like Eminem like I once obsessed over, I'm remembering my love for Bay Area and LA hip hop from the 90s, before all that hyphy bullshit. Of course I still prefer golden age NY stuff, but this music is essential weekend listening.

Enjoy.

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