Ike White: Love & Affection and Changin’ Times
From: Changin’ Times [LA International, 1976]
Back with the rare today and Ike White’s 1976 LP, Changin’ Times. This post will be of the mercifully short type due to my knowledge of Ike being limited to that he recorded this album while in prison, it was at least partially produced by Jerry Goldstein, the man behind War’s sound, and that it was endorsed enough by Mr Stevie Wonder for him to page the liner notes that accompany the great music. I can certainly see why Stevie felt drawn to this artist, the combination of beautifully produced jazz/soul is right up his alley as White ventures into many a noodling territory before always bringing the track back into the funk lane.
While the entire album is of a high quality there’s no doubting that the reason why it regularly goes for over 100 dollars is due to the inclusion of the much comped, much loved, Love & Affection. I couldn’t really feature this album without including this track just in case you haven’t been witness to its majesty before. A combination of great horns, cow bell, an irresistible groove and a more than slightly Sly approach to tune structure and vocals result in a true funk classic and one that never gets old. Absolute belter.
I was torn between throwing up Antoinette, a 9 minute jam that ventures from deep groove to cheesy jazz funk to beautiful groove and Changin’ Times, another nine minute track that is more of the mellow soul variety. In the end I had to plump for the title track, its mixture of soul and jazz too much to resist. Very much a slow burner, the track really takes off around the two minute mark as the strings enter the mix and, to my ears at least, the guitar work takes on an extra intricacy as the percussion also steps up a gear. Very smooth but never dull, and, in its own way, rather beautiful.
Sadly this album still appears to be far from being reissued though as we so many of these, we live in hope. Nice heavy vinyl pressing please.
3rd Bass: Steppin’ to the A.M.
From: The Cactus Album [Def Jam, 1989]
Banbarra: Shack Up
From: Shack Up single [Atco, 1976]
James Brown: Stoned to the Bone
From: The Payback [Polydor, 1974]
Gary Wright: Can’t Find the Judge
From: The Dreamweaver [Warner Bros, 1975]
Pink Floyd: Time
From: The Dark Side of the Moon [EMI, 1973]
Kool and the Gang: Mother Earth
From: Spirit of the Boogie [De-Lite, 1975]
Spoonie Gee: Spoonin’ Rap
From: Single [Sugar Hill, 1980]
Beastie Boys: Time to Get Ill
From: Licensed to Ill [Def Jam, 1986]
I know that I promised you all that another Anatomy of a Sample post was right around the corner about two months ago, but good things always come to those who wait. Today’s Anatomy of a Sample focuses on the standout track from one of the best rap albums to come out of the Def Jam stable in the late 80’s. The act, song and album in question are 3rd Bass with “Steppin’ to the A.M.” from The Cactus Album. With the Bomb Squad’s versatile samples and exemplary production alone, this record was destined to be one for the ages. But these two Mc’s had the skills to pay the bills and then some, with a witty repartee and hard-hitting rhymes that would go on to influence the next generation of independent hip-hop.
However, due to a lackluster second effort called Derilects of Dialect, the group would fade into obscurity, only to reappear on the scene as solo artists in the coming years. Even though they never achieved the same level of recognition that other white hip-hop acts such as the Beastie Boys, and House of Pain were given on a regular basis, The Cactus Album would prove to stand the test of time. In fact, as I reached for my cassette tape of The Cactus Album the other day, a sense of nostalgia rushed over me that took me right back to the day that I first heard this album.
Today, I will be analyzing the samples that were used to create the slamming track “Steppin’ To the A.M” on the pioneering first record from 3rd Bass. This one gets started immediately with a horn stab taken from the two second mark of James Brown’s “Stone to the Bone”. This sample has been slowed down and the tone has been changed to disguise it’s origin, but it appears several times in the track. There is a sample of woman’s voice at the one second mark that says “At the sound of the tone the time will be 12 a.m.”. I was at a loss when trying to locate the sample for this one, but I’m thinking that it could be a person who provided a voiceover for the track, instead of an actual sample. At the six second mark, a melange of bells and chimes are taken from the twenty second mark of Pink Floyd’s “Time”.
Then, at the ten second mark, the first sign of a drum beat and bassline enter the picture as the ten second mark of Banbarra’s “Shack Up” is sampled to great effect. It appears that this has been slowed down considerably, as the pace of the original track is much more uptempo than the beat on “Steppin’ to the A.M.” It took repeated listens to figure this one out, as the Bomb Squad have expertly crafted this sample to mask its identity. Coming in at the same time as the Banbarra sample are the high hats from the opening bars of Slick Rick’s “Lick the Balls”.
Next, as MC Serch begins to deliver his first verse on the track, the twenty second mark of Gary Wright’s “Can’t Find the Judge is sampled to add more complexity to the bassline. After the first verse, the horns from the five second mark of Kool and the Gang’s “Mother Earth” are sampled at the fifty-seven second point of the track. This horn sample will also appear at the 2:02 and 2:58 point of the track. Directly after the horn sample is a montage of samples taken from Hip hop tracks that feature the word “time”. First, is the Beastie Boys “What’s the time” mantra taken from “Time to Get Ill”. Then, it samples the lines “Time to Get Stupid” from Public Enemy’s Raise the Roof, followed by the lines “Kickin’ till the A.M. from Big Daddy Kane’s “Raw”. One of the samples that is not present in the first group of “time” samples is the :07 mark of Spoonie Gee’s “Two for the time” lyric taken from Spoonin’ Rap. This makes it’s first appearance at the 2:06 part of the track, and then later appears at the 4:26 mark of the track. There is a spacey synthesizer sample that plays in the background of these montages, but I can’t for the life of me figure out what it is.
At the 3:17 point of the song, the high hats from the Slick Rick sample are the only thing left in the mix. But after a few more seconds, the bassline from “Can’t Find the Judge” enters, and it is much easier to identify it with everything else absent from the mix. The song closes out with numerous horn stabs from the “Stoned to the Bone” sample juxtaposed with the time-themed samples from Beastie Boys, Big Daddy Kane, Public Enemy and Spoonie Gee.
I hope you have enjoyed this edition of Anatomy of a Sample, and I look forward to bringing you more of these in the future.
Please send me any requests for hip-hop songs that you would like to see featured on Anatomy of a Sample, and I will do my best to make it happen.
Bei Bei and Shawn Lee: Hot Thursday and Little Sunrise
From: Into the Wind (Ubiquity, 2010)
I don’t know if there’s a more active artist out there outside of Robert Pollard and Lil’ Wayne circa 2007 than Shawn Lee. Altogether in a little over a decade he’s had a hand in nearly 22 albums. Some are solo projects, some are soundtracks (Bully, The Getaway), some are with his funk Orchestra and some are with mystery characters (The Clutchy Hopkins albums). He’s worked within genres including afrobeat, funk, instrumental hiphop, soul and often uses many different latin genres as inspiration as well.
On this new album with Bei Bei he veers into eastern instruments adding funk to the Gu Zheng playing of Bei Bei. While it might be that my only real familiarity with the instrument is from foreign flicks that usually have their share of battles to the sounds of the Gu Zheng, I think its the funky backdrop that makes me think of it as a the perfect soundtrack to a blaxploitation kung fu hybrid that could take place in Chinese back alleys, rooftops and basements. Even some of the song titles like The Ambush, The Tiger and The Blue Grotto lend themselves to soundtracking.
If I had to pick a track for the Opening titles it’d be Hot Thursday. Sharp drum snares and percussion back the quick and yet relaxed playing of Bei Bei. Some sounds in the backround almost duplicate the sound of sirens. I can imagine the cuts around the city, smoke on the rooftops wide shots panning around, busy streets and changing lights. It might be that I need to watch more Hong Kong cinema, or just the fact that it was a great movie, but I keep picturing scenes from Chunking Express while listening.
Little Sunrise is one of the most down tempo tracks on the album and gives Bei Bei a little more room to move with a few less instruments. The best part that Shawn Lee adds behind her is a subtle and occasional Xylophone and a latin instrument that I can’t even place at the moment. Basically this could wake me up every morning and I can’t see myself being anything other than completely relaxed. It ends uptempo and much less relaxed than it began, I imagine its saying time to get the investigation up and running again, Kung Fu thugs be damned.
In addition to Shawn Lee the record also features a little help from Georgia Ann Muldrow and a cover of Billy Paul’s East. There’s also a short EP up on the Ubiquity website that features a remix and an instrumental of one of the Georgia Ann Muldrow songs. I can’t wait for the next 20 albums Shawn Lee puts out this decade.
Hypnotic Brass Ensemble: Gibbous and War
From: Self Titled (Honest Jon’s, 2009)
What better way to celebrate the Saints victory of which I’m not actually celebrating then to post some great Brass Ensemble music. I had been trying to get this post up for a while but now seems like the perfect time.
Despite being indebted to New Orleans, The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble are actually from Chicago. In a way you can hear it, as they definately stray from the traditional brass band mode. Besides the traditional brass they throw hard hitting type of hiphop rhythms and drums as well as taking from Brass marching bands and drum corps to make an epic hard hitting sound. All eight members are the sons of longtime Sun Ra collaborator Phil Cochran and you can hear the inspiration of the Arkestra in their music.
Both songs are off of their self titled album. What you’ll first notice is almost all their songs aren’t longer than 3-4 minutes. Solos find there way in but 1-2 minute trumpet solos are rare. They move to fast and too hard to get caught up with drawn out solos. Gibbous is a marching band brass epic. It barely lasts 3 minutes of solid brass funk. This is exactly why I’m excited to hear what they do with Gorillaz on their new Plastic Beach album.
The 2nd track is War which is carried by a dirty hard trumpet part. This song is begging to be remixed and rapped over and makes me wish I had Just Blaze’s phone number. Tuesday night I was able to see Brother Ali perform at a Haiti Benefit show and he rapped over a Hypnotic Brass Ensemble track. That might have been my favorite moment of the entire night.
Oscar Brown, Jr.: A Dime Away from A Hotdog
From:Movin on
Chuck Brown & The Soul Searchers: Bustin’ Loose
From:Bustin’ Loose
Phirpo Y Sus Caribes: Comencemos
From: Parilla Caliente [Phillips, 1973]
Bobby Pauneto: El Senor Sid
From: El Sonido Morderno [Mardi Gras, 196?]
Bobby Hutcherson feat. Harold Land : Goin’ Down South
From: San Francisco
Max Roach: January V
From: M’Boom
Back with an odds and sods post today though be assured that this has been handpicked for that EarFuzz seal of quality and all tracks are suitably fantastic.
Kings Go Forth: One Day
From: The Outsiders Are Back [Luaka Bop, 2010]
Holy hell. This just dropped into my inbox and shook every single January cobweb out of my head. From the upcoming Kings Go Forth’s debut album, The Outsiders Are Back, this is an absolutely fantastic slice of soulful funk. Like something transported right out of my private mind garden the track has it all - from the relentlessly driving rhythm section, to the horns, to the soaring vocals, to the breakdown, everything clicks. Excuse the gushing but this is something a bit special indeed.
Co-founded by Lotus Land record shop owner Andy Noble and veteran singer Black Wolf the album is also going to feature artwork by Ear Fuzz favourite Mingering Mike. Talk about ticking all the right boxes.
You can find out more about the artists and their release date here.
What a way to start the weekend.
Lou Ragland: Understand Each Other and The Next World
From: Is Conveyor [SMH, 1977]
So, been a while since I popped up with a music post but my fellow fuzzers? Fuzzists? have put up some sterling posts. Please do not sleep on the treasures on offer on the site, some stunning music in the last month alone.
On a positive note we now appear to be over the worst of the move from blogger to wordpress though drop me a line if you think something is still not right. One issue I am aware of is that the response/comment box link on the post is currently very small which I can only assume is the reason why people aren’t leaving comments left right and centre. Don’t be shy, mi casa es su casa and all that. Another plus point is that we’re now leaving songs up longer for you to get your mitts on because we’re that wonderful. Really, we are.
Anyway, on to the music and another shamefully hard to grab release, Lou Ragland Is Conveyor. An artist whose recording career started in the mid sixties, Ragland was already an old hand of the industry by the end of the decade, having been both a vice president of a record label (SARU Records) and a producer of the acts. Ragland then went on to form the first of his record labels and release his Hot Chocolate LP with the band of the same name. Not to be confused with the Errol Brown group of the same name, Ragland’s work was decidedly more funky.
Never stopping still Ragland then moved on and created a whole new label, SMH which is where he released the subject of today’s post, Is Conveyor. An album put together with the confidence and skill of someone who has earnt their place in the recording studio, it offers up a mixture of late seventies funk and smoother grooves which is just, for want of a better word, fantastic.
Understand Each Other starts off with a great descending guitar and organ line over drums before settling into six plus minutes of absolute top drawer soul music. The strangest thing about a track like this is that it’s so spot on, so polished, so obviously a classic of the genre that it boggles the mind to think that it’s rare as hell to get a hold off.
The Next World is more of that good shit. The funkier side of Ragland including organ stabs and semi psychedelic lyrics, it’s another great example of (a) what a talent this man has and (b) the absolute insanity that this hasn’t be reissued for the wider public’s consumption.
Don’t delay, listen today and respect the architect that is Ragland. Fantastic front cover too.
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings: Ain’t No Chimneys
More new music today with a new release from Fuzz favourites Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings. In typically funky fashion the track records Sharon’s own childhood memories in one of the least maudlin xmas tunes i’ve heard in many a long year. In fact, it was powerful enough to actually force me to start my christmas shopping, albeit by logging onto amazon with my debit card.
You can buy the vinyl 45 of the song plus b-side here but, getting into the yuletide spirit, the label has also made it available as an entirely free download. Can’t say fairer than that.
Miguel De Deus: Mister Funk and Black Soul Brothers
From: Black Soul Brothers [Underground, 1977]
Time to shake those Monday blues away with some down and dirty funk from Brazil in the shape of the first and only solo release from Miguel De Deus: Black Soul Brothers. Whenever I see an album with that kind of title my first reaction is one of excitement and fear. Excitement because the title promises all kinds of awesomeness awaiting on the vinyl and fear because 9 times out of 10 it turns out to be tepid light disco with little to recommend it.
Happily for me, and you, this is the bona fide deal and is usually priced according to this fact when it pops up on ebay. In fact, a quick check shows one going for 200 dollars as we speak (disclaimer: not my auction!)
Although this is Miguel’s only solo album up to this date his earlier work in supporting groups (including Os Brazoes) from the sixties onwards is evident in the tight composition and focused feel of the songs on offer here.
Mister Funk on an album called Black Soul Brothers has an awful lot to live up to not be a crushing disappointment but live up to it it does. Starting with an open break the track takes the form of an improvised jam that just happens to be unbelievably on point. Featuring vocals that are more scat than structured, backing singers that come in and out of the mix and some wonderful synthesised bass noises this is absolute killer.
Black Soul Brothers, the only track on the album not written by Miguel, is another funk treat. This time round the horns lead the line as the band once again concentrate more on the overall composition than any sort of coherent lyric and it’s all the better for it. Caught in that wonderful place between disco and funk it’s entirely inappropriate for the cold and wet weather outside the window but then who gives a damn when the music’s so on point?
As mentioned, this is far from a cheap LP to pick up but some light digging should turn up many of the tunes on various compilations released over the last few years. Forget the cold and feel the funk.
Squarepusher: Don’t Go Plastic, Ill Descent and Shin Triad
From: Music is Rotted One Note [Warp, 1998]
Before I dive into the subject matter of this week’s post, I would like to personally thank Junior and Chuck for making the switch over to Wordpress without any major issues occurring. I apologize that I have been missing in action lately, but life has been smacking me around like a red-headed step child. I hope to get my bearings and post on a more regular basis, but I am unable to commit to any sort of schedule at this point. Thanks go out to the rest of the crew for bringing the serious funk while I was gone. Here’s to continuing the legacy of Ear Fuzz on Wordpress.
Today’s post focuses on electro-jazz, a style of music that juxtaposes elements of jazz fusion, funk and soul. In the late 90’s, electronic acts and jazz musicians began marching to the same drummer, as numerous like-minded acts started releasing records all over the globe. I know the name electro-jazz or nu-jazz makes a lot of people cringe, but aside from a few big names like St. Germain and Jazzanova, there is an abundance of great stuff to be found in this genre.
One of my first discoveries of Electro-jazz was the album Music is Rotted One Note by UK electronic act Squarepusher. This is essentially the brainchild of Tom Jenkinson who combined vintage samplers and sequencers with organic intrumentation to achieve a fascinating reinterpretation of the sound Miles Davis mastered on Bitches Brew. Even though I was merely a jazz novice when I first discovered this record, I couldn’t help but notice the similarities between Squarepusher and most of the 70’s fusion like Miles, Weather Report, Mahavishnu Orchestra, etc. The entire album is not in the jazz-fusion vein however, as it incorporates musique concrete, ambient electronic passages and aural transmissions from another world.
I am featuring three songs from the album that encapsulate the feel of it as a whole, with two of them sounding like they could have easily been on any Miles Davis album from the fusion era. Keep in mind that the only instruments used on this record are sequencers, synthesizers, percussion and rhodes piano.
The second track on the record “Don’t Go Plastic” starts out with cymbal splashes and the sound of rhodes piano bubbling under the surface like molten lava. It slowly builds with percussion that seems to be spliced from different takes, while the rhodes glides through the song like it has wings. At about the two minute mark, their is a percussive break that is seemingly computer-generated, and then a sinister piano melody plays for a couple bars. After a brief but impressive drum solo, a solo kicks in that is like no other. It is hard to tell whether this solo was achieved through the various sequencers and pedals that are the usual M.O. for Squarepusher, but it sounds to me like a piano is being played underwater while the rest of the band is riding the groove.
“Ill Descent” captures the essence of ambient rock bands like Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze while simultaneously managing to experiment with textures and sound that pull from jazz and avant garde music. If I had thought of this song when I was compiling my triumvirate of space music comps, it would have fit like a glove.
The last track is a short burst of creative energy that opens with scattershot drumming and electronic sound waves only to switch gears completely into a cacophonous, funky slab of goodness that is just too good to pass up. The rumbling bassline from Digital Underground’s classic hip-hop track “The Humpty Dance” is the most obvious influence on this track.
This concludes my overview of Squarepusher’s 1998 classic Music For Rotted One Note. I welcome any comments about other Electro-jazz bands that you guys are digging right now.
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