Laptop Battle Tokyo Vol. 5 at Super Deluxe was far more incredible than I was expecting it to be. There was a fairly wide range of interesting performances and music styles, such as Taishin Inoue and Back in Tokio. But more than anything, I got to hear some wonderful breakcore by JaQwa, so good that I would put it up there with Venetian Snares, the genius himself.
Unfortunately, JaQwa got beat out in his second round by the dance party antics of DJ Take. I felt pretty let down by this since DJ Take was just spinning other people’s music, like Chemical Brothers and Fat Boy Slim. It was a little interesting to see him sample himself beatboxing, then scratch it on his digital turntables, but this could have been executed much better, and the crowd was far more into it than they should have been.
Thankfully, DJ Take was beat out in the end by Plapla Pinky, with whose performance I was pleased. One of his pieces had a reggaeton feel to it and made my eyes watery (the second time of the night — the first by JaQwa), but I neglected to get a recording of it.
I made an incredible, if obvious and untimely, discovery recently about a classic drum and bass song.
Anyone familiar with drum and bass knows that it has been influenced by jazz. A great example of that can be found in Adam F’s “Circles,” which appeared on the amazing compilation History Part 2: 93-96 The Rough And The Smooth. I listened to this song a lot when I first started getting into drum and bass. Even now it brings back memories about my initial discovery of this music genre.
However, it wasn’t until recently, when I was listening to some pretty terrible jazz at an Atlanta Bread Company, that I randomly discovered where Adam F got his melody from. I immediately recognized the tune when it started playing, and the Shazam app on my iPhone told me that it was “Westchester Lady” by Bob James.
I can’t really explain what is so wonderful about this video to me, but it is.
I suppose part of it is just seeing people from an older generation, who have their own charisma and rawness at that, respond to contemporary pop music. I also like the way it gives some insight into their lives, however contrived the situation may be.
I know, I know, this really isn’t that different than cable access TV. But the difference is that I don’t have to live in whatever town this is being produced in to be able to see it. I’m also able to share this with other people much easier than I would if I were watching it on TV.
This is another chapter in my book of musical education, youth culture, and what’s new. I also just want to draw attention to this genre — dubstep — in the hopes that more people will start listening to it. It should definitely appeal to old dnb/jungleheads — I think that is part of what did it for me.
I was inspired to write this after listening to this track by The Bug, “Poison Dart feat. Warrior Queen,” which I am just loving, along with the rest of the album.
I encountered this genre of music as a result of listening to Mary Anne Hobbs’s show on BBC Radio 1. Wikipedia says, “Hobbs has been a notable champion of the dubstep and grime genres.“
To give you a little more background, here is a short documentary that the BBC made on dubstep. You should note that the video was added April 26, 2006, so, unfortunately, if this is the first time you’re hearing about this genre, then you’re already behind.
Boing Boing posted about a new MGMT video that is out.
The video is great, but I can’t watch it without thinking about Sparkle Motion. Apparently this scene was originally supposed to be shot with the Pet Shop Boys’s “West End Girls,” but it was too expensive so they picked Duran Duran’s “Notorious” instead. It’s nice to see it with “West End Girls,” but I think “Notorious” works out better in the end.
I watched a good video of Naomi Klein talking about her new book The Shock Doctrine, where she argues that governments use disasters to establish equally if not more disastrous neoliberal economic policies. It was inspiring to think about history as “shock resistance,” but I am so pessimistic about the world right now that it is difficult to believe there is much if anything we can do, especially because of the need for collective action. Maybe the best we can do is to simply get through this.
De-Stress
I got a response from the IRB, which helped to reduce a lot of my stress.
Experiencing Nowhere
I found it amusing that everyone used their weak or non-existent cell phone reception as an index for how removed we were at the lake house.
Minutiae
Mailed some documents, shot a video journal at the mall, bought a Nintendo DS, got a haircut, and drove to the lake house — I played lots of Pokemon Diamond on the way.
Links
So, I’ve known about R. Kelly’s 22-part Trapped in the Closet epic for a long time — but it looks like the final push for me to watch it has come from NPR of all places!
This American Life has an episode about the mortgage scandal.
Killed some time at Barnes and Noble, shot a journal entry at Panera, and went to The Chat Room Pub with Jacqui (very cool, chill, friendly, liberal place).
At some point I cried while listening to Venetian Snare’s new song “Gentleman”.
I’m not usually a fan of the chill lounge sound, but this is also a good track.
Towa Tei – “Technova”
I knew I had encountered Towa Tei before, but I couldn’t quite place him. Then it hit me — which explains the sample in “German Bold Italic.” Groove is in your heart.
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