King Jammy - Jailhouse Rock

A couple of friends turned me onto this video. Pretty good look at the dub process.

Best Dressed Chicken in Town

I bought this record on ebay last week and I was going to wait until I got it in the mail to write about it, but the check just cleared today and it’s coming from California so it may be a while. This is an essential reggae album, it features Doctor Alimantado’s best work and some of Lee Perry’s best Black Ark work. Involved in Jamaican Djing from an early age, Alimantado named himself after his grandfather who was an English doctor. He was a prominent sound system DJ in the 70’s, and Lee Perry actually approached him after a DJ performance to record some tracks. Alimantado chose to release the record on Greensleeves when they offered to help him develop his own label (International Sounds Distrobution Association). He released a few more albums on Greensleeves into the 80’s and also released a series of dub albums titled In the Mix. I’m sharing the song “Unitone Skank”. I don’t think it’s the best song on the album, but it’s almost impossible to pick out the best song on this album. I think this song is solid and a good representation of the production (listen to the dubbing of the guitar and some of the vocals), and the album as a whole. I would also recommend checking out “I Shot the Barber” for the horn lines, and “Can’t Conquer Natty Dreadlocks”.
Dr. Alimantado - Unitone Skank
(It’s also somewhat interesting to know that while he was doing the research to trace his roots through the middle passage back to Africa Alimantado also discovered that he was a distant cousin to Marcus Garvey).

Dots and Loops

Stereolab is probably still one of the best bands around today. If you’ve never heard them, take all of the best elements from 50’s and 60’s pop, psychedelia, jazz, soul, lounge and funk and perfectly mix them into a single aesthetic and that’s Stereolab. While some of their output since Mary Hansen’s death hasn’t been as good as their prime material (Emperor Tomato, Ketchup, Dots and Loops, Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night), it is still better than 90% of the music currently being made. Posted is Brakhage off of Dots and Loops.
Brakhage by Stereolab

P.S. If you haven’t already seen it, check out this Britney Spears photoshop contest on Stereogum. I think my top three are the Blueman Group, Sloth, and Paul from Dave Letterman.

The Harder they Come

I actually got this record out of my parents’ music collection a few years ago. I'd listened to it a few times a few years ago and thought it was pretty good, but i didn't really have an ear for reggae then. I've learned alot more about the genre since then thanks to a few friends and alot of reading and record buying, and I feel like this is a decent introduction to reggae.

The film is loosely based on a Jamaican folk hero/rude boy named Rhygin and stars Jimmy Cliff. Cliff plays Ivan, a poor youth who is trying to win over a preacher's daughter, make a hit record, and make some money. He sells his record to a pushy producer (who's partner I believe is played by Leslie Kong) for 20 dollars and it doesn't sell much due to lack of promotion from the producer. With no push from the record company and no money Ivan resorts to selling marijuana and I'll leave the rest for you to see. I think my favorite scene in the film is when he gets all dressed up and goes to see the DJ play the record for the first time to mediocre reactions and he is talking to someone and says, "What you think about this record man, I think it's a hit!", to which the man replies, "Ah, it's alright".

The soundtrack is solid and claimed by many to have been one of the records that spread reggae to the United States along with Marley's 'Catch a Fire'. Before these records, most reggae singles sold in the U.K. as novelty records or solely in Jamaican record stores. While Cliff's songs on the soundtrack are good, I think some of the standout tracks are Scotty's "Draw Your Breaks", The Maytals’ "Sweet and Dandy" and their classic "Pressure Drop". My favorite track on the album has to be Desmond Dekker's "Shanty Town". The melody, guitar work and Dekker's smooth voice make this song my favorite track on the album ("Pressure Drop" definitely comes in a strong second though). Either way, all the songs serve as a decent introduction to the genre. Other albums I would recommend checking out for an introduction to reggae are Madlib's "Blunted in the Bomb Shelter", the Island records compilation "This is Reggae Vol. 2", or any of the Trojan Record compilations (Or just read this blog once and a while, I’m sure this won’t be the first post about reggae). I’ve posted Dekker’s “Shanty Town” for your enjoyment.

Shanty Town by Desmond Dekker

Don't Change Your Love

The first time I recognized the drums in the song I was in 2nd grade and I heard Naughty by Natures', "Hip Hop Hooray". I didn't know too much about hip hop and sampling then, all I knew was that that snare drum sounded amazing. This easily recognizable break has been used by almost everyone; Big Daddy Kane, Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth, De la Soul, A Tribe Called Quest and the list goes on. Five Stairsteps are a pretty solid band in their own right, other than this song, you've probably heard the songs "Oooh Baby, Baby" and "O-o-h Child". This song, written and produced by Curtis Mayfield, starts off with the break and leads into lush production complete with full horn line and strings. Other than the break, I think my favorite things about this song have to be the bassline and the bridge with the horn solo. I read somewhere that James Gadson from Charles Wrights band played on "O-o-h Child" and possibly this song but when I researched it, I couldn't find anything to confirm this. Either way, whoever played drums on this track has a monster left hand.
Don't Change Your Love

James Brown

This post is dedicated to James Brown. Though his personality and character are often questioned, (namely for his drug addiction, underpaying and even fining his band and beating his wife) there is no denying the quality of his body of work. From his early soul balads to his deep funk, his work has proved to be some of the most timeless music ever written. He is probably one of the most sampled artists of all time and one of the founders of the hip hope movement. Even the acts that he produced have created some of the most memorable music and samples of the 60's and early 70's, namely Lyn Collins' "Think", Marva Whitney's "It's my Thing" and "Unwind Yourself". There is not enough I can say about his music, and if you've only heard the hits, I would definately check out his heavier funk numbers, they are probably his best work. Linked is what I consider one of his best songs "Get up, get into it, get involved". I hope everyone realizes how important he was and what an incredible legacy he left behind. Check out this month's Wax Poetics magazine for more info on JB.

Get up, Get into it, Get Involved pt. 1

First Post.

This is the first post of my hopefully long running blog relating to music. I’m a recently graduated college student living in Orlando, Florida right now. I was an English Lit student and hoped to get a teaching job out of college, but after substitute teaching for a while and applying for a few full time positions I realized I didn’t want to teach. I really only know a lot about a few things…drums, records, music, and literature. So, I figure with the knowledge that I have of the above I should be able to make happy living writing or doing something related to music. I think my ideal job would be scoring films and choosing the music for their soundtracks.

I do a lot of thrift shopping for records because I don’t really have very much money to spend on record store or ebay prices. When I do have the time and money to watch an ebay auction I really do prefer buying things that way. I feel it’s more convenient and I don’t have to dig through 300 dirty and moldy classical and Christian records to find what I want. I also like seeing what other people are interested in and if they bid on the records I do. However, I do like finding a good chunk of records at a thrift store for a quarter a piece. I’ve learned to be pretty patient. I know I’m not gonna find a Beatles Butcher Block, Skull Snaps, or Rickey Calloway all of the time, but sometimes I find pretty good stuff just being patient and going through everything. Some of the things I’ve found lately are the Question Mark and the Mysterians full length, “Groove Grease” by Jimmy Mcgriff, a few Lee Dorsey records and a Mickey and the Soul Generation funk 45.

Anyway, The majority of this blog may just be about records I find at thrift stores, or records that I’ve been playing a lot lately at the house. Some days I just wake up and there is a specific record that I want to hear right away. The other day I got up and the instant I stood up I wanted to hear 7 and 7 by Love. You know when you get in a certain mood and start playing records of one genre you just want to play them all? Well, I just started playing all of the 60’s psychedelic stuff that I had and then I got into garage records and all kinds of different things out and then by the end of my frenzy I had about 20 records scattered all around my turntable.

I listen to almost every genre. I grew up listening to classic rock and oldies with my parents. My aunt occasionally would play drums along to some of the Motown classics, but other than that I mostly grew up on classic rock. When I was a teenager I became heavily involved in the punk rock scene and I also began listening to classic 90’s hip hop like Gang Star, Common Sense, Tribe and others. Most of the hip hop I heard was in skateboarding videos and things like that. Of course, when I came to college I became interested in listening to and collecting just about every genre especially funk, soul, hip hop, jazz, indie rock, and in the last few years roots reggae. This blog will be pretty well rounded in terms of what music I choose to write about. Some of the artists will be contemporary and some will be a little bit older. I feel like there are very few contemporary artists worth writing about so if there is someone on here who is newer odds are they are someone I feel still produces genuine, sincere, thought provoking music.

So we’ll see how this blog goes, I hope to have a decent amount of people reading it. I also hope that I can turn people onto new music. I think that introducing music into people’s lives or having new music introduced into your own is totally refreshing, especially if you get turned onto a completely new genre, record label or sound. I am completely open to all sorts of opinions and will take criticisms and responses seriously. I realize I don’t know everything about music and I love learning about music just as much as I like teaching people about it. I hope that this becomes a blog that you frequent and tell your friends and family about. I especially hope that you enjoy learning about the music that I love and want to share with you.
Zach Callahan.