Home Taping Is Killing Music #2
Hello all. So as the second instalment of 'Home Taping...' deposits pixels onto your screen, I must begin with an apology. Despite being only two articles in, I am already slacking and being late with it all. Very sorry, hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive me. If not, accept these tracks as my most profuse and sincere apologies.
1) Big Boi - Shine Blockas feat. Gucci Mane
After the fuggy malice of 'Fo Yo Sorrows', Big Boi is quick to demonstrate that he hasn't lost the knack of crafting the sunniest of nu-soul grooves. With help from Gucci Mane, who lends a pleasing drawl to the chorus but ultimately sees his verse blown out of the water, he talks about walking piggy banks and "spraying like a skunk" and lots of other nonsense that culminates in one of the freshest, funnest rap tracks of the year. The mid-tempo beat is impeccable, a nifty little bassline adding movement to a sparkling chord sequence that would be just as home at a wedding party as a club, and BB proves that he has one of the most versatile voices in hip-hop, flitting from his trademark clipped alliteration to wide-mouthed Deep-Southism to agitated adolescent in the space of a few bars. If he keeps letting stuff like this out, Sir Luscious Leftfoot... is going to make us forgive him a thousand times over for not releasing an Outkast record in, like, forever. [DOWNLOAD HERE]
2) Rosie Parker - Break My Fall
Rosie Parker is a just-16-year-old from Richmond, and 'Break My Fall' is the first cut from her first, self-released EP. I was just giving you some context so that you would subsequently listen to this track and go "crikey, she sounds so very much older!" Because for someone so young, she has a hell of a voice. Like, srsly good guys. There is a purity about the vocal lines that evokes the spirit of Vashti Bunyan and Joni Mitchell, and each crystalline melody and counter-melody moves in and out of the others with perfect ease and finesse, acting in easy tandem with the sparse acoustic arpeggios and liquid violin harmonies. There'll be a trill here, a quicksilver scale there, or the soaring climactic ebb and flow that comes at about 2:24 in. The whole thing bathes itself in a hazy, sunny loveliness that makes one feel just that little bit better about the world, and thus if you want to feel good about yourself I do say you should give this one a listen. [DOWNLOAD HERE]
3) Shakira - She Wolf (Teen Wolf Remix)
Yes, we all love Shakira. Well, I know I do. But in all honesty there must be few people in the Western world who can honestly admit, either to themselves or others, that they genuinely don't like at least one of the Columbian chaneuses songs, and that number must have decreased even further after the release of mega-smash 'She Wolf' earlier this year. In her hands, the track was a sultry, seductive cut of nu-disco perfection, something the hearts and hips of few could resist. However, when taken on by Las Vegas-based producer Teen Wolf, the track morphs itself into something altogether more fierce. The kick-drum is ratcheted up into a tribal monster, the bass becomes unresolved and restless, and Shakira herself sounds icy, sinister and far more wolfish than on the original. Add in some panting, hollering and tinny synths, and you've a remix worthy of any full moon. [DOWNLOAD HERE]
4) Dances with White Girls - And How We Live -
Dances with White Girls is the house project of the crypitcally named "Frog", Brooklyn-based producer and recent Mad Decent signing. 'And How We Live' snuk onto the net a couple of weeks back, and it is damn (in)tense. Kicking off with a beat reminiscent of last year's club hit 'Township Funk', the track builds from a base of 808 handclaps and atonal bleeping synths to a throbbing juggernaut of bassline (distortion up full, clearly) and 80s horror-movie organ. The whole thing sets your very skin on edge and makes you twitchy, fidgety and nervous (or that might just be my disposition). At any rate, this is perfect dance music for 2009 Halloween, so get out the cape and fake fangs, slap this on and feel the spirit of the otherworldly commanding your feet to move. [DOWNLOAD HERE]
That's all for now. Happy Halloween etc, don't go on Question Time.
Artists in this article: Big Boi, Rosie Parker, Shakira, Dances With White Girls