ballsmell and asstink

hip hop takeover right now, tune in

2006-11-10T21:35:00.000-05:00

something so cool is happening now. tune into hip hop takeover on wbai.org. you only have 24 hours. hurry. now. tune. in. hip. hop. takeover.

we got lazy

2006-08-28T21:38:00.000-04:00

sorry folks, we got lazy! or we ARE lazy! maybe that's more like it. anyhow, we decided to end our audioblogging capabilities because we just weren't using them. so apologies to all about not having posted any tunes in a very long time for all you people out there (all four of ya!) who check this site for the greatest hottest hits of all times! i don't know what we'll do next with this. maybe post random things and pictures and stuff. whatever comes up. i'm not much for reading things at length online so i probably won't write too much myself, but i can't speak for Phil. we also have a flickr page up too for photos. it is www.flickr.com/photos/defpo. check it out! and check out some of the links to the right. and tune into WFMU!

Do You Think the World is Yours?

2006-07-21T23:47:00.000-04:00

OK. It's been awhile. At this point, I'm pretty sure I'm just writing for Anne. Our apologies for staying quiet for so long. Wow. It has been a crazy couple of weeks. The global situation seems to be deteriorating day by day. In the midst of all this I feel like I have to breathe out consciously, and I'm here in the safety of the US (at least, I'm not hiding in a shelter) where I can comfortably criticize everyone in the world.
So, the first track...Paul Onyeabor, a guy from Lagos, chanted this simple but provocative mantra back in 1978 (hence the cold war alignments). It seems to be the zietgeist at the moment. But listening to this song gives me some hope. Not simply because it is such an amazing tune, but because he calls everybody out. There are any number of people and groups I would like to pose this question to at the moment (and I shouldn't forget myself). The song is from the album Love's a Real Thing (on Luaka Bop) a compliation of West African "psychedellic" pop. Betty Lavete's track, on the compliation album Mama's Got a Brand New Bag (Stateside) is from 1965 but it feels pretty timeless. That voice is nuts and the stripped down rhythm has the tone of some deep dark blues. That could be appropriate even here in Queens around now. The ridiculous heat and lack of air conditioning or electricity through large sections of Queens (fortunately, not us) no doubt has many people griping more than me. We don't have AC, but at least we have fans and thanks to Con Edison, they work. Whew.

Paul Onyeabor-Better Change Your Mind

Betty Lavette-Let Me Down Easy

Remember Back in the Day?

2006-05-07T12:09:00.000-04:00

Nah, probably not. That's because if you are reading this, you probably weren't around 'back in the day,' (I certainly wasn't) and besides, the nostalgia of terms like back in the day is never a good thing. First, it wasn't like those were the good ole days (trying not to romanticize the burning of the bronx) or that any days are the good ole days for most folks, except when they are looking in the rearview mirror. And also, that kind of nostalgia keeps us from looking at whats in front of our eyes now. When people complain about how things were great back then, those same people will talk about how things that happened right now were great twenty years down the line. Now that more and more hiphop history is emerging, there is a whole industry of nostalgia rising up-even in the music itself.

Some of that history, like Jeff Chang's great book Can't Stop Won't Stop, should make us pause before reflecting with nostalgia-it emerged out of economic crisis and the gang warfare that it breeds and it didn't stop because of Kool Herc or Africa Bambaataa. Just the opposite, reagonomics was completely devastating and gangsta rap is also inseparable from these socio-economic trends, even if there is no simple cause/effect correlation. Still, there is some fantastic music and art that comes out of that and I don't see any problem in recognizing that and celebrating it-not as the bygone era but as something that is alive and permutating all the time. So, with this post, I am putting out a couple tracks from the Soul Jazz comp Big Apple Rappin' that stand the test of time (much of the music on these cds does remain quite potent). The eponymous Big Apple Rappin' is by Spyder D and I am also listing what some call the first political rap track, Brother D & Collective Effort's How We Gonna Make the Black Nation Rise. According to Lister-Hewan Lowe, the jamaican producer who put out the track, it is also the first recorded hip hop track to feature women. But in addition to history, I thought I would extend the political commentary to the present when we are once more living under a horrible right wing christian fascist who is alienated even by the standards of reagan stalwarts. So, the last two tracks are by the Bay Area crew, the Coup who always do a good job of mixing parties and politics: We Are the Ones and Laugh, Love, Fuck & Drink Liquor (and help the revolution come quicker!). both tracks are from the recent release Pick a Bigger Weapon. East to West, New to Old, the best music, if it does anything besides making us shake our asses (definitely worthy in and of itself) it opens our eyes to the world around us and transcends the easy categories that help us function in our daily lives.

Enjoy.

Spyder D Big Apple Rappin'
Brother D & Collective Effort-How We Gonna Make the Black Nation Rise?
The Coup - We Are the Ones
The Coup- Pick a Bigger Weapon

p.s. graffiti pics are from 5 points in queens, a bright burst of color just under the 7 tracks.

Maggots in My Mouth

2006-05-06T13:54:00.000-04:00

Today's posting has nothing to do with music, but i had this dream last night where i had maggots crawling around in my mouth and i was trying to get them out. i had bitten into a bad piece of fruit and all these larvae worms were transferred into my mouth. they were skinny little white larvae rather than the big fat maggots you see crawling around in garbage cans on a hot summer day. nonetheless, still nasty. i was picking them out of my mouth and when one would start to feast on my gums or something, i could feel a prickly sting and the oozing of some drops of blood. i would grab at them with my fingernails and i was paranoid that they'd be crawling into the spaces between my teeth and gums (hello gingivitis) or into the empty sockets where my wisdom teeth once were (though these have closed long ago). what in hell do you think this dream means?!?!

Friday Night at the BB&B

2006-03-19T18:10:00.000-05:00

That's right, I'm not embarrassed.

MP3 File

Radio Samples From the 7

2006-03-19T09:04:00.000-05:00

The 7 line into Queens is dubbed the Immigrant Express or Orient Express. Hell any line in NYC could be dubbed as such. The demographics of this city is what makes it so spectacular and dynamic. Yesterday, I took the 7 into Flushing for a little CD hunting and gathering at the Flushing Library. I brought my little iRiver and recorded various radio samples while riding and waiting for the number 7 at various points between Jackson Heights and Flushing. Pretty interesting radio bits. I skipped some of the commercial stuff common across the US. Well, maybe some of this stuff I've posted here is common across the US right now and I just don't know it. For more info, check out this article and photos of the 7 line. Enjoy and impeach Bush! I mean, enjoy the audioclips AND impeach Bush, oh you know what i mean!

MP3 File of I have no idea what, sounds South Asian

MP3 File of I don't know what, I don't speak Spanish unfortunately

MP3 File of I have no clue, but there's that darn foghorn again

MP3 File of something Greek, I think. Phil, you're Greek, what are they saying??

Richard Pryor Tribute

2006-02-27T19:52:00.000-05:00

This weekend was the Richard Pryor Tribute at the Museum of Moving Image. We went to all three events, curated by Warrington Hudlin, that included a panel discussion and two screenings of Richard Pryor films. The experience stayed with me throughout the day today, especially the skit where a young Richard tries to rob his Mafia boss in Live on Sunset Strip. Too fuckin' funny. Ehhhh, it's a stick up, bwahhhhhhh haaaaaaaa haaaaaaaaaaaa!!! No audio with this brief post today, just this little moment of rememberance.

Today is the Future of Yesterday-Black History Month pt. 3

2006-02-16T11:24:00.000-05:00

Of course, I never saw Sun Ra play live though he only died in 1993 (he probably isn't dead but playing at some lounge on Saturn). But when we had the chance to hear the remaining members of the Arkestra play at Central Park with the MC5 and DJ Spooky last summer (2005) for free, we decided to go. Some people find Spooky annoying, but as an MC I thought he was kind of endearing and always remained very humble, humorous, and down to earth. The MC5 were fun too, but somehow, even without their leader, the Arkestra was a sight to behold. I am posting a couple of utterly stupid videos I took by holding my camera aloft and swinging it around (I wasn't even high!) but at least you get to see some live Arkestra! I am also posting a couple tracks from when the maestro was still gracing our lowly earth. These tracks are fairly well known to Ra fans: the opening track Mu from Atlantis, and We Travel the Spaceways. Definitely outter space kinda stuff that hardly could be confined by the term "jazz" in its most conventional and deadened sense, though the term seems quite appropriate in its initial spirit. Finally, I am putting up a recent Madvillain track featuring Lord Quas and Doom making reference to Sun Ra (and Steve Reich too) and appropriately juggling past, present, and future over a pretty sick beat.

Sun Ra Mu Mp3
We Travel the Spaceways MP3
Madvillain Shadows of Tomorrow MP3 File

Man Next Door- Dennis Brown

2006-02-11T12:13:00.000-05:00

Now this song I had heard covered by the Slits and Horace Andy (maybe as Massive Attack?). And then I ran into this, what may be the original? Composed by John Holt so I don't know if there's another one still. But anyway, it's a great cruising on two feet song and one of those I put on repeat. It's also a great anthem to living in NYC in one of these apartment buildings. Fuck, the man downstairs, the couple upstairs, the woman next door, all screaming and/or moving shit around into the night. i wear earplugs just about every night now and i'm sure it fucks up my ears. it definitely fucks with my sleep. sometimes i get real mad, sometimes i shrug and think...ahhhhh new york city. now if i could just get a gun... no i'm just kidding, really. really i am.

Dennis Brown Man Next Door MP3

Are Black People from Outer Space? Black History Month pt. 2

2006-02-08T10:42:00.000-05:00

Continuing with the celebration of Black History month and musical cosmonauts we come to Rahsaan Roland Kirk. While he might not be as outlandish (in appearance) as George Clinton or Sun Ra, his famous talent for playing multiple horns at once (and well, at that) suggests that he could have been from another planet, a more musical galaxy. I had heard a bunch of Kirk's stuff before that I enjoyed (particularly his playing with Jaki Byard), but once I listened to the live album Compliments of the Mysterious Phantom, I finally began to see what it was all about. I'm just sorry I didn't get to see him. There is a bunch of "Rahspeak" on the album, but unlike most skits that litter hip hop albums, his speech is pretty funny, sometimes sharp and sometimes seemingly random. Listen for the judgements of the lips and the power of the nose in the Rahspeaks below. The image here, painted by Nancy Ostrovsky (live) is worthily far out. B.L.A.C.K.N.U.S.S. Ya dig...Feel free to sing along!

Rahsaan Roland Kirk Live-Blacknuss mp3

Rahspeak 1
Rahspeak 2

Black History-Black to the Future

2006-02-04T12:51:00.000-05:00

OK, It's Black History Month and now that I have figured out how to post these tracks as downloadable MP3s, I am reposting the prior Pryor (ahem) track-a great kickoff for the celebration. I was listening to some Sun Ra stuff a bit ago and the chanting chorus about wanting to get the hell out of here (the whole planet, no less) and travel the spaceways from whence they came. It struck me how I could identify with the feelings a little reading day after day of horrible fucking news. And then I Anne and I went to see the doc From Mambo to Hiphop which chronicles the crazy mix of people and music that make up the Bronx and Africa Bambaataa appears towards the end all funked out colors and outerspace sonic lunacy. Bambaataa was about using music to help overcome gang barriers and entropic violence in the neighborhood when hiphop was not yet a global cash cow. To me, the link between outer space utopias and black experience in America is fascinating. In any event, I will be posting a bunch of stuff to celebrate, from black history to black sci-fi stuff (Bambaataa, George Clinton, Sun Ra, Sly, possibly some readings of Samuel Delaney) and other far outs that have made not just black history, and not just history, but future too.

Richard Pryor-Bicentennial Ni**er MP3

Awkwardness/Celebrity/Sampling Virus

2006-01-30T10:31:00.000-05:00

Once I interviewed the film director Kurosawa Kiyoshi. After about an hour of fascinating discussion, I looked down at my MD recorder and realized that it hadn't started recording yet. I was completely devastated but tried not to show it, thanking him politely a couple minutes later and then wanting to throw myself out a window once he left. With the opportunity to interview Otomo Yoshihide (a musical hero of mine), I was much more careful and Otomo, perhaps being a sound guy, tapped on my player and asked, Haitte iru? (Is it recording). That time there was no problem but the interview wasn't as fruitful. I was very interested in his idea of a sampling virus that he addressed through his group Ground Zero during the 1990s. Everything felt rushed and if I was probably too casual with Kurosawa, I was way too formal with Otomo. Something like using the Queen's English to interview the Sex Pistols. I usually don't consider myself much a worshipper of idols, false or otherwise (I have to learn my celebrity gossip from Anne and I am usually a few relationships behind). But when it comes to meeting them face to face (even people who aren't breaking sales records in the arts), I manage to bungle it. Fortunately, the arts can speak for themselves better than I can. This is a live recording of Ground Zero's noted Consume Red recording, which is fortified by the absolutely breathtaking (sampled) sound of the Hojok, a Korean instrument. Pretty unbelievable.
Ground Zero-Consume Red Live MP3

LOOOOOOVE

2006-01-14T11:42:00.000-05:00

I first heard Junior Delahaye from the Wackie's sampler. There's a photo of him on his album cover that looks very unassuming, like someone just stopped him in the hall at school and snapped a picture of him as he was on his way to the bathroom. I love that song on the Wackie's sampler and wanted to find more so I got a Junior Delahaye CD, seems to be simply titled "Reggae". Phil was in China for a few weeks, I was in the midst of a detox diet, and had just gotten my first ever colonic when I went to buy this CD. That day I was also to begin a top-to-bottom cleaning out of the apartment after spotting the umpteenth cockroach. I was cleaning out me insides and outsides!! Because it was summertime, there was a population boom of cockroaches everywhere and after spotting the third juvenile roach in the utensil drawer, I was like, THAT'S IT!!! I learned about non-toxic environmentally friendly roach-ridding methods by the friendly folks of West Harlem Environmental Action and was more than ready to put that knowledge to use. Anyhow, it being summertime, everyone has their windows open. The apartment across the alley from us blasts this horrible Christian-adult-contemporary-esque music for hours on end. I mean, it is so bad. But what's worse is she sometimes plays the same song on repeat. So I, in return, blast our music back when I'm feeling particularly sassy. The last few times I blasted back the Choubi Choubi-Music from Iraq CD and the Terry Riley - You No Good 15 minute endlessly looped what-the-fuck song that will drive anyone crazy. So this time, for day one of cockroach assault, I put in this Junior Delahaye CD, blasted it, and just about melted into a puddle with this first song Love. Enjoy.

Love

The World According to Richard Pryor

2006-01-14T11:30:00.000-05:00

A couple years ago for the winter holidays, Anne and I sent out cards with silkscreened images of Richard Pryor's face (that you see on the left) with a note on the inside from his Mudbone personna-"Splash a little sunshine on your face!" Not sure how well those cards went over but we liked to imagine them decorating hearths, next to pretty seasonal cards with reindeer and fireplaces and trees and whatnot. We actually used the same image as a decoration for our wedding last year (in 2004, that is). Mr. Pryor passed away this year after a long battle with MS (he joked about this too!) We were sad to hear it, but happy he had graced us with his comedy for a couple decades. As my first posting on this blog, I am putting up twoRP track. The first is the brilliant closing track from his album Bicentennial Ni**er. The second is in the famous Mudbone persona (maybe all those cards will make sense now!) There are so many tracks to choose from but I think these tracks demonstrate well the way that Pryor turned pain (both personal and racial) into the most thoughtful and thought-provoking comedy. Enjoy!

Richard Pryor RIP Part 2 Mudbone

2006-01-12T00:34:00.000-05:00

From Tupelo!

loose ends-hangin' on a string

2005-11-07T22:40:00.000-05:00

so i worked for Meals on Wheels for 1 year where i drove this beat up old van for my routes. i could only get AM stations so i tuned into this R&B station that was halfway decent and very very local. they were broadcasting live from some cafe where they had a panel of community leaders discussing the lack of funding for schools in communities of color. when they came back from commercial breaks, they'd play this song as a lead-in to the live discussion. not only was i impressed by the live broadcast of the program as i made my rounds, but i loved the snippets i heard of this song. there was something about it. it's a little bit cheese but i ain't no vegan. i dine on a little dairy now and then (hello fettucine alfredo). anyhow, i got pretty lucky finding the name of this song and locating a record on ebay. the whole transaction between hearing the song and hunting it down til it was in my hands was about 2 weeks. not bad. what helps is when the song title matches the main chorus. here it is for your listening pleshah...

2005-11-06T14:00:00.000-05:00

Music now.