One nation under the clap beat.

If I explain it to someone who doesn't comprehend much about music, they'll look at me blankly. Most of the songs that you like on the radio have something in common and I'm not talking about verse, chorus, verse. It's the clap beat.

Everyone likes to clap their hands and sing along. Hell! There is even a band called "Clap your hands and say yeah!" You can clap on the two or the four or both.

One and clap! Three and Clap! Get it?

Today's clap beat jam is Big Boi's "Shutterbug." Keeping the clap on the two and the four, Big Boi (originally from Outkast) brings back memories of American wrestler turned Iranian traitor, Sgt. Slaughter.

com truise - Cyanide Sisters EP

Simple beats and hooks...interesting production. Plus, it's free.

http://www.last.fm/music/Com+Truise/Cyanide+Sisters+EP

You can definitely tell that its a work in progress style, which is possibly why he's giving it away for free. But, he's onto something which may turn into a great full-length.

the art of sampling

"It's the exact same song. He just rhymes over it."

This is a popular opinion when it comes to sampling. To an extent it's true. Some hip-hop songs don't even try to hide the fact that they're taking the catchiest part of a song and looping it. I don't know if anyone remembers P-Diddy back in the day when he was just a little Puff took the riff to Led Zeppelin's classic rock opus Kashmir, looped it and spit hot fire over the beat for the Godzilla soundtrack. It was pretty bad and the only reason the song was ever popular was probably because of the hook. But, we can't chastise an entire art-form for one of its less than adequate perpetrators no more than you can hate landscape painting for all those cheesy Thomas Kinkade paintings that your mom hangs in the bathroom.

What I disagree with most about the above statement is the word "just," as if rhyming, flowing and being a lyricist is such a trivial thing. The quote is real and is something I found under a youtube video for Herb Alperts forgotten classic Rise.



18 years later one of history's greatest MC's, Biggy Smalls, managed to just rhyme over a sample of the before mentioned song. Whether you think he was one of the greatest or not, the track Hypnotize does a pretty good job of finding the middle ground of sampling. It's not completely unreconizable from the original, but different enough to never be confused for the other. The lyrics are good, have a nice flow and do some interesting things rhythmically. To say there is no talent involved is pretty short-sighted. This song goes to show that even somewhere in P-Diddy's over-paid body existed talent when he was working with the right people and not doing his own shit.

The sun ain't gonna shine anymore

Back in 1965, this song was a sort of throw away hit for the boy band-ish group The Walker Brothers. Long before I ever knew who Scott Walker was, I knew this song and didn't really think too much of it other than that it was fairly catchy.

Today more than anything, Scott Walker has a reputation among the indie-scene (as broad as that sounds) for his more recent avant-garde albums Drift and Tilt which are admirable for his continued emphasis on music growth and experimentation, but lack any kind of major impression other than that he just doesn't give a fuck about what anyone wants out of him. But, that's what those crazy indie-kids like, right?

Long before his first five solo masterpieces Scott 1, 2, 3, 4 and Til' the band comes in Scott was the enigmatic frontman of The Walker Brothers who from most accounts back in that time could have rivaled The Beatles in popularity if only they had played the game right and broke out more in the States.

Even in this 1965 video of The sun ain't gonna shine anymore you can see that Scott Walker had a sort of darker carisma at work and a voice that that shames any of those big-time crooners of the era.

Wearing my rolex

I've kind of come to the conclusion that for now I need to broaden my blogs musical focus. There are only so much great music coming out of Portland at a time and I don't really like to focus too much on the ones already being written about.

Here's a track that I recently came upon from U.K Grime pioneer Wiley. He's a pioneer for sure, but until he dropped "Wearing my rolex" the majority of his recognition came from being linked with Grime phenomenon Dizzee Rascal. If you haven't heard of Dizzee then you're really out of the Grime loop.

This track isn't really true Grime by the standards of those who consider themselves the "Grimiest." But, it's very British and I'm a sucker for a good beat and a good cockney flow. One thing I really like about this one is that it's very much in the vain of old school hip-hop. It's focused around one material item, such as shoes or a watch rather than going on about having everything. It's very reminiscent of Dizzee's track off of last years "Maths and English" titled "Bubbles" where he flaunts his pair of Nike's. Also, I like the fact that Wiley is admitting to letting the female getting the best of her rather than demeaning her. A little different vibe than a lot of mainstream hip-hop.

Wiley - Wearing my rolex



Dizzee Rascal - Bubbles

Stumpclub: Vol. II

Music is not black and white. Some people want to write songs with great melodies that conform to the standards of what a great melody is as represented by every great pop songwriter. Some people have a shit-load of energy that they need to get out who could care less what a melody is. And then there is a whole lot of in-between.

What makes Stumpclub: Vol. 2 a brilliant compilation is that it represents this spectrum of popular music with full force. There are good examples of both extremes with a whole lot of in between. This is everything that makes the Portland scene so amazing is that even though the outside world doesn't recognize these spectrums, PDX does in spades. Not only is the music created, but it's recognized as being great music. It's a known fact that songs based on pure, raw emotion are just as good and listenable as those with amazing melodies and more predictable sounds and structures. I'm not saying Portland is the only scene that recognizes this cause frankley I've never been a part of any other scene, but it's one of the few that advertises it.

On the side of catchy melodies that will linger in your consciousness for days, there is David Evan (myspace.com/davidevanmusic) who is secretly one of the best song craftsmen that the Stump has to offer, not to mention an amazing producer. "Kill no keepers, Kill no thieves" prooves to be his best written and produced song to date.

For pure emotion and what I imagine is an amazing live show from The Penny Jam video I saw on their myspace page (myspace.com/magicjohnsonmusic), the musical group named after former Lakers b-baller, Dream-teamer and advocate for HIV/Aids prevention and safe sex. In the song Kelly the Antichrist the guitar/drum duo either hate Kelley or love her and hate Christ. Honestly, I don't really care to translate. I don't care either way, because that's not what is appealing about MG. They have the kind of caotic energy that starts revolutions and was drained out of most of us by eighteen from over-consumption of Mountain Dew.

In the middle and by far the best track of the compilation is Raggae Bob by The Hand That Bleeds (myspace.com/handthatbleeds). Even though the song doesn't have the kind of melody that you can sing in the shower, the mix of control and emotion that underline this song is commendable. I'm not sure whether she loves or hates his guy, but the ability of the bass, guitar and vocals to stagnate on the edge of creating a catchy melody or something that has no audible appeal is fucking fantastic. As someone who is always inclined to create majory key sounds, it blows my mind how they are able to naturally hug that line. This isn't something that can be faked or learned. It lies somewhere deep in the unconsciousness of THTB.

Other stand-out bands on Stump Club: Vol 2 are Hockey, Copy and Reporter.

stumpclub.org

Y La Bamba: Alida St

I remember a long time ago, in the early 90's, there was a songwriter named Beck Hanson who couldn't play guitar very well. To say that his recordings were lo-fi and that his guitar was either out of tune and had bad tone was a complete understatement. But, for those who are aware of his pre-"one foot in the grave" recordings, in between the bleeps, the bloops and some down-right ear-numbing tracks, there was a hint of a great songwriter whether or not anyone knew it back then.

Y La Bamba is the kind of artist that garners a lot of hate from some of those who spent years becoming great technical musicians, but never learned how to write a great song or how to be creative with little resources. Every great musician when recording wants to make sure that their tone and presentation is perfect, but they still won't be able to release an album as good as Alida St. or play there guitar as effectively as on "Fasting in San Francisco." The fact is that it's the voice, the melody and the emotion that matter more than any kind of technical prowess.

Alida St. is a collection of songs that couldn't have been written by a great musician. As I'm sure all songwriters can attest, a lot of our most creative work came from our own ignorance of our instruments, their chord progressions and the laid-out way of going about things. It's for that reason that a lot of guitarist/songwriters eventually dabble in alternate tunings as a way of freeing up our minds of it's constraints and trying to reaccess the unknown that was the beginning of our musicianship. It's the same reason that Jack White tries to convince meg to never practice the drums and the same reason I suspect why Eddie Van Halen started writing songs on the keys.

This woman has an amazing voice and flow that can only come from pure emotional delivery. There are so many different speeds, changes, inflections and great vocals steps going on here that there couldn't have been any thinking involved, not to mention how unnoticablely she transitionals from English to Spanish. It doesn't even matter what she is saying half the time because I'm so intranced by the rhythm of her voice. Though there is a lack of major instrumentation on this record her two voices that exist as one throughout the record, playing along with each other at just the right times, fill in the empty space. With the mainstream music world aflutter with whispy-voiced songtresses singing simple melodies that go side-by-side with Macontosh tv adverts, Y La Bamba makes their delivery seem held-back and inexperienced.

Every track on the record needs to be listened to with the exception of "Borthwick Magic," though it does make a nice surprise when you think the album is winding down to find that the last track, "knuckles," is one of the best.

According to Y La Bamba's myspace, she plans on recording a new collection of songs with a full band which leads me to believe that this might be her one and only lo-fi record where we are able to witness her songwriting ability through the shere lack of sound.

myspace.com/ylabamba