In case anyone's still checking this . . .

Hi all,

Just to let you know--I removed you all as blog authors from this blog because there hadn't been any activity for quite some time and I thought that this blog had probably served its purpose. I'll probably leave this up for awhile, but will probably delete the blog at the end of the academic year--unless I hear otherwise from you. Also, if you think you'd like to post to this blog again, let me know and I'd be happy to add you back.

Also, consider signing up for my class this spring on the history of pop music (I forget the course number, but just look on the Fairhaven site.

Take care, all,

Jeff

From Japan

Hi all,

I hadn't checked this blog for awhile, and then I saw there was a new post, plus a comment to a previous post that I hadn't seen before--so thanks for keeping this blog in mind. I'm in Japan right now--we got here on July 3rd and will be back next week. We've done a lot of stuff, but one relevant thing to mention is my explorations of cd shops, mostly in Osaka. Probably the most noteworthy stuff (as far as I'm concerned) is a bunch of work by Haruomi Hosono, a really interesting musician who started off in a psych rock band called Apryl Fool, then to a West Coast rock style band called Happy End (who are great) and his solo work of the 70s which centers on his so called "Tropical Trilogy," which delves quite deeply into both the history of Japanese pop and the history of Western pop inspired by Asia. He's probably most famous for being in Yellow Magic Orchestra. A pretty amazing guy, all around. I also picked up a bunch of CDs that document Japanese pop music from 1928-1959--20 CDs of this. So, I've been having fun on that score.

One thing that really struck me this trip is exploring America Mura in Osaka. This is a maze of clothing and music shops, restaurants, and other stuff--the name came from a time when a bunch of shops opened here with vintage American clothes. You can still find those, but the thing that got me was how hip-hop and reggae focused this area is. It's just a huge presence here. I can say more if you're interested.

Enjoy your summer, all,

Jeff

New Girl Talk, folks!!!

http://therapup.uproxx.com/2008/06/freebie-friday-girl-talk-feed-the-animals.html

Hey!

Thanks to Cameron, Kaleb, and Liz for posting this quarter. I'm pretty sure you've all been super busy, and I've definitely been super busy. But I enjoyed each post. I wanted to let you all know that I will be teaching a class at Fairhaven next year, and it will be a pop music class (I originally thought that I'd be doing a film class, but that will probably be the year after next). I'm pretty sure that this time, it will be some kind of history of pop class. I'm even thinking of using a textbook for this class; it's by John Covach, whom you'll remember from our class. It's a pretty cool book, but I'm going to take a closer look at it before making a final decision. He covers a lot more ground than we can do in 10 weeks, so I'll have to think about what kinds of things to focus on. One of the comments that people made after our class was wanting to have more frequent and shorter writing assignments. I'll probably do something like that, in conjunction with a blog again. And, there will probably be one presentation, maybe as a final project. Anyway, there's lots to figure out, including the time and days; oh, did I mention it's going to be in Spring Quarter? So, I hope it will work out for some of you to take it. If it fills up and any of you want to get in, just let me know.

Good luck on the rest of your quarter.

SASQUATCH!!!

IT'S THIS WEEKEND!!!!!!

I hope you guys are at least going to Folklife, if you didn't get the opportunity to go to Sasquatch this year.

Go! Listen to good music and be joyous!

Have a fantastic memorial day weekend!

Revisiting

It's alive! Listen to this:



It's called "Royal Flush," and it's Outkast and Raekwon killing it over pretty whiplash worthy, thick drums and a bubbly but funky bassline. Andre 3000 is the standout here with the last verse. Raekwon second, Big Boi first. Big Boi definitely holds his own but Raekwon is kind of falling behind.

Now listen to this, it's called "Skew on the Bar-B" from their Aquemini album in '98.




Interesting to see how stuff changes in a decade. Raekwon sounds less invigorated nowadays. They really all delivered on "Skew," not so much in "Royal Flush." This is still better than a very large amount of stuff being played on the radio, though.

Hope everyone's having a good quarter.

my favorites right now....

this first song 'Strange Times' is off of the Black Keys newest album "Attack and Release" produced by Danger Mouse (of The Gray Album and Gnarls Barkley fame) and I just can't get enough... plus you can't beat a video that is all about laser tag!



next up Justice - Genesis... its got such a nasty synth in it that just kicks so hard no video here, just the song



finally Chromeo - Tenderoni because you gotta love the talkbox