Tag:
I've long been fascinated by a certain type of record, where a very particular confluence of sounds and factors intersect to produce an unlikely minor masterpiece that sounds like little else around. Typically, there's some collision of the synthetic and organic involved... although sometimes one side fills in for the other. The rhythm might be … Continue reading Oil – Slight Of Hand
The Beta Band roam the dusted plains. As they say over on Wikipedia, “This article is a stub,” just a place to get down a concept while it's still fresh in my mind (after all, that's how Terminal Vibration started out in the first place). As you've probably noticed, I've been hinting around the concept … Continue reading In Dust We Trust
Biz Markie: More Than Just A Friend So sad to hear the news of Biz Markie’s passing, after struggling with health troubles of a few years now. He hadn't recorded an album since 2003’s Weekend Warrior, but there was something about knowing he could pop up anywhere — as he often would throughout the intervening years — that was … Continue reading Biz Markie
The native terrain of funk is undoubtedly the 7" single. Now don't get me wrong, there are stacks of great funk LPs out there, albums by original dons like James Brown and The Meters through seventies purveyors like Parliament, Cymande and The Beginning Of The End, and running right up through Zapp and Mtume in … Continue reading Sir Mack Rice – Dark Skin Woman
The last of the three “bargain bin 12"s”, and possibly my favorite, an apposite example of this whole “dusted” thing I've been mapping out the contours to lately (we're still riding that roller coaster). Existing in those same shadowy chambers as Original Fire and Becoming X, this 12" brings together the two best tracks from … Continue reading Whale – Four Big Speakers (12″ Promo)
Jungle Wonz: Kings of the Concrete Jungle There's a certain type of Chicago record that plays like the sound of the city itself, capturing the summer heat and humidity of the metropolis, stretched out in all directions and cast beneath those looming, overcast skies. If Virgo were the perfect encapsulation of the city viewed from … Continue reading Jungle Wonz
This list came about naturally enough a couple months back, when my sister-in-law Leah decided that she'd like to do a 'top 45 of the '70s' list for her 45th birthday. Although she's Gen X to the core, the 1970s were crucial in shaping her musical tastes — which roughly put center primarily on canyon, country, and … Continue reading 45 From The 70s
Rammellzee vs. K-Rob Beat Bop (12" Single) Tartown: 1983) Put simply, the Beat Bop 12" is one of the stone tablets of hip hop. Originally released in an ultra-limited run on Tartown Records, which — paired with its skewed street-level funk and visionary, impressionistic raps — virtually guaranteed that it would quickly attain the status of hip hop holy … Continue reading Rammellzee vs. K-Rob – Beat Bop
Man Parrish Special Disconet Remixes (Ram's Horn: 1983) Soaring through the skies and landing somewhere on Earth, we discovered an alien. He was not made of flesh, he was not made of stone, he was... check it out humans: man made. Man Parrish, In The Beginning In the continued narrative of machine music, one of … Continue reading Man Parrish – Special Disconet Remixes
Tony Allen: Backbeat of the Revolution Only three months on from the passing of Manu Dibango, and the great Tony Allen has gone on to join him in that in that great gig in the sky. He'd been on a roll ever since the turn of the century, making his mark anew on the current … Continue reading Tony Allen