Back Pocket Tracks

1. Incomplete Transmission--Keith Kemp
This comes from a new compilation on Ferris Park Records which is a relatively new Detroit label. I don’t know much about Keith Kemp other than he’s been around awhile and I think worked at Record Time at some point in the past. I originally bought this CD thinking it had tracks by Mike Huckaby on it (who is signed to their label) but it doesn’t! Oh well, this track reminds me of the sort of futuristic techno-scapes that Jeff Mills is particularly fond of.

2. Late Night Shopping (remixed by Burnt Friedman)— David Sylvian
David Sylvian was a member of the bands Japan and Rain Tree Crow and I’ve known many fanatical devotes of both. My understanding of him is he’s always SUPER-mellow and sort of noodley…not favorite things for many folks I know (hi Lisa!) but I think the lyrics to this are sort of sweet and I can totally relate to wandering around a grocery store in the middle of the night. Burnt Friedman is one of the German Nu Dub School of Jazz members and a founding member of Drome and Flanger (a collaboration with Uwe Schmidt AKA Atom Heart).

3. Broken Drum (Boards of Canada Remix)—Beck
This is off the new limited edition Beck release. The limited version comes with a quality DVD/CD/Book package and they really did it up right. Usually these things are just extra-fancy packaging and that’s it. This one has 7 bonus tracks (including this one) only available in this package. The DVD is dual format with a 5.1 audio mix on one side, and videos for every track that he commissioned an animator for on the other side. The amazing thing? This version is only $10 more than the standard issue. I think you’ll this release will really please Beck's long-time fans…so much so in fact; I put two songs from it on this CD. Last thing, this is one of like maybe three remixes I’m aware of BOC ever doing…rare like hen’s teeth in more ways than one!

4. Szerencsétlen—Venetian Snares
I can’t find a definition of this word anywhere online so I don’t really know what this song is meant to be getting at. However, the inside booklet says “These are love songs and grief songs.” This sounds like a lot of modern chamber string music that I’ve heard except that it has some wonderful V-Snares drum & bass programming on it. I like it…very moody and atmospheric. The rest of the album is less percussive and more mellow melodic…a very weird release for him.

5. Sprang (2003)—Mikkel Metal
This is on a teeny Danish label Echocord that’s based in Copenhagen and is distributed by Kompakt. He’s also had tracks on Traum and Kompakt. He’s got a degree in philosophy, is a web programmer by day, and is a former shoe-gazer indie guitarist (you can kind of hear that influence in this track.)

6. '79 Aka The Shouty Track—Lemon Jelly
Don’t know a lot about this group but apparently the whole cd is made up of samples from their record collections…the title ’64-’95 refers to the timeframe all the samples were taken from. This track reminds me a bit of the sort of indie rock I really liked in the early 90s…groups like Chapterhouse, early Blur, and the Stone Roses. I also like a song to use “shouty” in the title.

7. I'm Into Something Good—The Langley Music Project
I was originally going to put “In My Room” on this CD as I love that track but the whoo-hoo-hoos on this track totally sold me! The track was originally done by Herman’s Hermits and was co-written by Carole King during her Brill Building days I’m guessing.

8. Just Steelin'—Starlight Drifters
This is the song they played when I asked the guitarist to throw down on his steel the night I saw them at Robert’s Western World in Nashville. It’s an original composition by him and follows in a long history of steel players developing a show stopping instrumental to use as sort of a theme song.

9. Pardon My Whiskers—Wayne Raney
Raney is a bit of an anomaly in country music as he’s known for his harmonica playing. Harmonicas were (and are) better known for the blues. As a result his music sounds super unique and fun! Look out! My whiskers might get you!

10. Swing Down, Chariot—Golden Gate Quartet
I found this gem nestled in with a bunch of Super-Southern-Styled-Gospel (read painfully white) songs on the CD “Close Harmony." The liner notes point out that these guys didn’t get very far in the fame and fortune side of things due to racial segregation. They got their start out of a barbershop and eventually got some opportunities to sing for white audiences (and record buyers) who were blown away at they’re style. A GREAT version of this classic spiritual.

11. Jaleo (Señor Coconut Remix) Featuring Concha Buika—Truby Trio
Here’s another new release that gets two songs representing it on this CD. Truby Trio are the fantastic Nu-German-Latino-Jazz pioneers who kicked some much needed sense of musicianship in the crappy “Lounge” scene that was developing in the late 90s. While everyone else was sampling and rearranging classics, Truby Trio came along and started writing new classics and *gasp!* actually playing their instruments! This is a lovely rework by Atom Heart in his Senor Coconut persona.

12. Girl At The Typewriter—Raymond Scott Quintette
You might know of Raymond through his music being featured in many Warner Brothers cartoons. I'm a huge fan of his and he was always up to something interesting...creating radical electronic equipment and music, writing concept albums for newborns, or smokin' with his early jazz ensembles. He used to perform this number live and bring out a woman on stage to accompany the Quintette on typewriter…pretty radical for the 30s!

13. Hell Yes—Beck
The second track from Beck on here…you can hear one of the “typical” album tracks. I think this beat is very funky and is a return to form for this “Loser.”

14. Now You're Leaving (Featuring Camu)—Prefuse 73
Well you've most likely run across the Georgian (that's the one in the South son) Prefuse 73...if you haven't, don't sleep...run out and buy anything you can get your hands on. This Camu fella’ is new to me. He’s affiliated with the Def Jux label (Aesop Rock and RJD2) and he sorta’ reminds me of Detroit's new soul singer Dwele if Dwele rapped. This is from Prefuse’s new CD where he collaborates with a bunch of rappers including Ghostface Killa and GZA from Wu-Tang, Beans, and Aesop Rock. The tracks tend to be rap or really mellow pop songs.

15. Codeine—TTC
Alright, here’s your French test…how much can you understand? Me? None! But they’re fun, fun, fun and quite strange. This isn’t even the weirdest track on the CD. They make me think of Luc Besson movies. They’re on Big Dada which is the “Rap” imprint of Ninja Tune. This CD that has a clever die-cut for the front insert which allows the reflective surface of the CD to fill the negative space for their sunglasses.

16. From the Love Side—Hank Ballard
This is a James Brown side project (you can hear him screaming and shouting in the background) with former Twist legend (who apparently beat Chubby Checker to the punch) Ballard taking the lead vocals. This is off a fun collection of Funk compiled by RZA from the Wu-Tang clan.

17. Return Of DJango—The Upsetter
Before he went completely batty, Lee “Scratch” Perry was the bomb! This track reminds me (in soul and feeling) of the previous track's funk…but it's funk played through a Caribbean filter. This CD (with the same title as this track) is an organ lover’s delight with many weird and far-out organ jams populating it. Very few vocals and an awesome sci-fi sort of sound.

18. Rasta Determination—Trinity
Alright, dub haters (really? are there such people you ask? have you met my wife Lisa?) take your medicine and here’s your one multi-vitamin of dub…not even towering dub as they’re still a vocal in there with Yabby You’s thundering production. And what a righteous vocal our natty man Trinity brings…truly a deep and spiritual request for holiness in all aspects of life.

19. Dub Styles— Roots Manuva
An updated sound of the dub/dancehall sound. The more I hear from Roots Manuva the more a really, really like him. I think he has the perfect voice for this sort of thing. He’s one of the few UK MCs I really like. This is also on Big Dada.

20. Dubplatter—Shitmat
Here’s another divergent branch of the dub family tree. And this time with a Planet-µ proto-rave-break-beat courtesy of Shitmat. This track makes me think of the first time I visited Camden Town in London and the sort of music I heard blasting out of the stalls. Rude-Bwoy!

21. Vicious Game (Radio Edit)-- David Carretta
The French came out pretty decently on this compilation (and I originally intended to put some Daft Punk on too) . . . this one by way of Germany’s International Deejay Gigolos label run by DJ Hell. Carretta’s been around since the inception of the label and can always be counted on for some rough Hard Beat Industrial-esque that sounds like it’s been lost in a vault since the early 80s. This song would make me shake my booty on a dance floor.

22. Alegre 2004 (Louie Vega's EOL Main Mix) featuring Marcia Montez—Truby Trio
Another Truby treat! This time Masters At Work genius Louis Vega extends the Latin block party vibe for almost 10 minutes…and I don’t know about you but I never get bored or think “when will this end?” Funky to the last drop!