Top 10 Playlist: 4/2

0 Comments 02 April 2010

The Faint

1. DJ Krush feat. Esthero “Final Home” –- The playlist kicks off again this week on a chill note with a groove that will please hip-hop heads and lounge cats alike. Influenced by the groundbreaking hip-hop documentary Wild Style in the early 1980s, Tokyo native and former yakuza Hideaki Ishi created alter ego DJ Krush and went on to become one of Japan’s first hip-hop/turntable artists. Providing smooth, jazzy vocals for this downtempo joint is one of my all-time favorite artists, Canadian songbird Esthero. Her unique 1998 debut album “Breath From Another” is one record that no hip-hop, trip-hop or chillout fan should be without.

2. Tricky “Black Steel” –- British trip-hop maestro Tricky put a very avant-garde spin on his cover of anti-government manifesto “Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos”, originally recorded by Public Enemy for their 1998 masterpiece It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back. Track three on Tricky’s 1995 solo debut Maxinquaye, this version is part trip-hop, part tribal and completely in charge of your eardrums. Vocals are provided by Tricky’s sometime girlfriend Martina Topley-Bird, her voice instantly recognizable on many of Tricky’s songs for her blasé, purposely-imperfect, slightly cockney-accented delivery. The combination is particularly ear-catching when you consider the aggressive lyrical content of “Black Steel”. She’s no Chuck D, but then again, who is?

3. Chapterhouse “Pearl” -– Among the musical genres emerging from the UK in the 1990’s was shoegaze, a favorite of sensitive souls raised on The Smiths and which produced a number of genre-defining albums such as Slowdive’s Souvlaki (1993), My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless (1991) and Chapterhouse’s excellent 1991 release, Whirlpool. Released on British indie label Cherry Red, Whirlpool rocked a little harder than the average shoegaze fare and was actually a little closer in style to 1990s “Madchester” bands like Happy Mondays and The Charlatans. “Pearl” is part of a really interesting musical ménage a trois — it features sampled drums from Zeppelin’s “When The Levee Breaks” as well as a sample in the break section from Schoolly D.’s “P.S.K. – What Does It Mean”, a beat that Brit music fans will also recognize from Siouxsie and the Banshees’ 1991 hit “Kiss Them For Me”. The fact that two British artists sampled the same hip-hop track in the same year shows the impact that hip-hop was beginning to have on British pop in the early 1990s.

4. Heaven 17 “ (We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang” –- The drastically changing political climate in the US and the UK during the early 1980s was accompanied by a major musical backlash, captured perfectly in this synth-funk classic from Heaven 17’s 1981 debut release, Penthouse and Pavement. As cold war paranoia, extreme right-wing political agendas and conservative religious dogma asserted control within the world’s two largest superpowers, this timely track told listeners that the best way to fight the power was to band together and dance to the groove. Named after a reference from A Clockwork Orange and fronted by former Human League vocalist Phil Oakey, Heaven 17 never really achieved major commercial success despite hits like this one and the more subdued “Let Me Go” off of their 1983 release, The Luxury Gap.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F23OHGZCAcE

5. MC Shan “The Bridge” –- A classic track from the early days of hip-hop, Queens native MC Shan’s single “The Bridge” from his 1987 debut release Down By Law became one half of a well-known lyrical beef that divided the fledgling hip-hop community in New York City following the release later that same year of Bronx-based Boogie Down Productions’ response, “The Bridge Is Over” (from their debut record, Criminal Minded). As a result of misunderstanding Shan’s lyrics as being a statement that hip-hop originated in Long Island City’s Queensbridge projects, BDP emcee KRS-One fired back on wax to claim hip-hop as Bronx’s own creation. For a long time in the ‘80s and ‘90s, Queens DJs didn’t dare play BDP’s track in the Queens clubs, and Bronx DJs wouldn’t be caught dead playing Shan’s track up in the Bronx – for fear of being physically caught dead. Luckily, everyone’s getting along these days, because this Queens-based DJ loves to spin these two perfectly beat-matched tracks back to back.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfbyJlzwWLk

6. Death From Above 1979 “Black History Month” -– Toronto natives Death From Above 1979’s debut album You’re A Woman, I’m a Machine (2004) fused punk, dance and indie styles together in a way that made them stand out a bit from the crowd of similar artists currently competing for our earspace. Though they toured extensively with the likes of Queens of the Stone Age and Nine Inch Nails, they only released one album (and an album of remixes) before disbanding in 2005 to pursue other projects; DFA1979’s Jesse Keeler is currently one half of indie dance duo MSTRKRFT. This track has absolutely nothing to do with Black History Month (not that I can figure out, anyway), but it’s got a great beat and flows perfectly into David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance”. Try it!

7. The Faint “Desperate Guys” –- I’ll say straight out that I’m not the biggest fan of The Faint or indie dance music in general, but I love The Faint’s Danse Macabre Remixes (2003) record which features absolutely killer versions of tracks from their 2001 debut Danse Macabre, as re-interpreted by such remix superstars as Photek, Thin White Duke and Paul Oakenfold. “Desperate Guys” is from a later Faint release (2004’s Wet From Birth) but sounds as though The Faint went back and listened to the superior remixes of their Danse Macabre sessions and headed towards a more aggressive indie dance sound. In addition to this upbeat story of a low-end guy obsessed with a high-end girl, that same aggressive style can be heard on a fantastic remix by The Faint of Nine Inch Nails’ “Meet Your Master”, found on NIN’s 2007 release Y34RZ3R0R3MIX3D.

8. Ghostface Killah “Charlie Brown (Original Extended Version)” -– There are very few hip-hop artists these days that I give even a minute of attention to, but one very notable exception is Wu-Tang Clan alum Ghostface Killah. On a different path from his more commercially recognizable Wu counterparts, Ghost offers smart lyrics and obscure song samples for the educated hip-hop head, sourcing samples and beats that you would never expect — like the one featured on the original and rarely-heard version of “Charlie Brown”. The track’s main sample (from Brazilian legend Caetano Veloso’s “Alfomega”) was never officially cleared for use, so this version is very, very hard to come by, but the determined can get down with the original “Charlie Brown” by locating the import version of Ghost’s 2007 collaboration with fellow Wu emcee Raekwon, “R.A.G.U. (Rae And Ghost United) Volume One”.

9. Royksopp “Happy Up Here” –- Norwegian electronica artists and remix specialists Royksopp should probably be banished to the seventh level of hell for giving us that annoying track from the Geico caveman commercials (aka “Remind Me”, from their otherwise terrific 2001 debut album Melody A.M.), but I’ll forgive them thanks mostly in part to this infectious pop-tronica confection from their most recent release, 2009’s Junior. Bouncy, bubbly and impossible not to dance to, it’ll remind you of happy days when you were a kid, before your world got so serious. If that doesn’t make you smile, go back to your cave.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmcPeuf5aXo

10. Milla “Rocket Collecting” -– Yes, this is THAT Milla…Fifth Element and Resident Evil actress, model, clothing designer… “Leelu Dallas multipass” Milla. Few people know that Russian/Serbian beauty Milla Jovovich can sing, which she proved on her 1994 album The Divine Comedy. Though that album went nowhere commercially, Milla got my attention in a big way on a great soundtrack for a so-so movie, 2003’s vampires vs. werewolves bite-fest Underworld. Not only does she provide backing vocals for Tool creator Maynard James Keenan’s Puscifer track (the excellent and blasphemous “Rev 22:20”) as well as David Bowie’s achingly beautiful “Bring Me The Disco King”, but then Milla totally knocks it out of the park all by herself with “Rocket Collecting”, an atmospheric downtempo stunner that sounds a bit like a chilled out Fiona Apple singing for Hooverphonic. In fact, I recommend listening to it as a companion track to Hooverphonic’s “2 Wicky”. This is one song you’ll want to listen to with the lights out.