Charts - 11/12

1	BAND OF HORSES	Cease To Begin	SUB POP
2	GRIZZLY BEAR	Friend [EP]	Warp
3	BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE PRESENTS KEVIN DREW	Spirit If...	Arts And Crafts
4	IRON AND WINE	The Shepherd's Dog	SUB POP
5	JENS LEKMAN	Night Falls Over Kortedala	Secretly Canadian
6	TOKYO POLICE CLUB	Smith [EP]	Paper Bag
7	A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS	A Place To Bury Strangers	Killer Pimp
8	SOUNDTRACK	I'm Not There	Columbia
9	TULLYCRAFT	Every Scene Needs A Center	Magic Marker
10	DE NOVO DAHL	Shout [EP]	Roadrunner
11	BRITISH SEA POWER	Krankenhaus [EP]	Rough Trade
12	FRANK TURNER	Campfire Punk Rock	Welcome Home
13	SEA WOLF	Leaves In The River	Dangerbird
14	LONEY, DEAR	Sologne	Rebel Group
15	G AND D	Message Uni Versa	Look
16	CAKE SALE	Cake Sale	Yep Roc
17	STARS	In Our Bedroom After The War	Arts And Crafts
18	OCTOPUS PROJECT	Hello, Avalanche	Peek-A-Boo
19	CUT OFF YOUR HANDS	Shaky Hands [EP]	Iamsound
20	GUNSHY	There's No Love In This War	Latest Flame
21	ICE PALACE	Bright Leaf Left	Speaker Phone
22	MGMT	Oracular Spectacular	Columbia
23	HAMMER NO MORE THE FINGERS	Hammer No More The Fingers	Power Team-Sharon Collins
24	SIOUXSIE	Mantaray	Decca
25	PRE	Epic Fits	Skin Graft
26	ELECTRIC SIX	I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me From Being The Master	Metropolis
27	SIBERIAN	With Me	Sonic Boom
28	ENON	Grass Geysers... Carbon Clouds	Touch And Go
29	BIRD AND THE BEE	Please Clap Your Hands	Blue Note
30	FRANTIC	Audio And Murder	Sinister Muse

Tearz

A little while back, during the KWUR executive staff potluck, we were sitting around listening to Wu-Tang Clan and Mikey challenged me to name the sample in the Wu-Tang song "Tearz" Although I have listened to that song many a time (it includes the fantastic line "then / like a whammy / he pressed his luck"), I did not happen to know the sample. I was like a deer in headlights. My life flashed before my eyes. I had been disgraced as a man, and more importantly, as a soul DJ. When I reached home and finally stopped crying, I swore that I would never rest until I could name that sample. Luckily for me, it took me about five minutes to find the sample, thanks to the miracle of the Internet, and more specifically, the Wikipedia page on "36 Chambers", which lists every sample for every song on that album.

There are basically two types of hip-hop beats, if you ask me. The first is the kind where a lot of different tracks (some that sound absolutely un-funky on their own, unaltered) are skilfully spliced together to form a beat (examples include Kanye's beat for Jay-Z's "Takeover", RZA's beat for "Can It Be All So Simple"). The other kind are beats based around one, impossible funky sample (examples include Kanye's "Stronger") that even complete garbage flow would sound good over. I tend to be in awe of the first kind more, since it requires considerably more skill and creative energy. However, the second kind also takes skill. To pick a really good sample, you have to find a small snippet of a song that's really danceable but not instantly recognizable, and this requires a great deal of crate-digging, which, as a soul DJ of some sort, is something I have a lot of respect for.

"Tearz" is the second kind of beat. RZA is a crate-digger par excellence, and this one is a real gem. The song sampled in "Tearz" is "After Laughter (Comes Tears)" by Wendy Rene. Wendy Rene was one of the artists in the Stax-Volt stable, originally part of a group called The Drapels with her brother, Johnny. AllMusic has this fun little tidbit to share about Ms. Rene (originally Ms. Frierson):

A tour with Rufus Thomas included an appearance at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, NY. Rene returned from the Big Apple, to the dismay of her parents, with a monkey she purchased at a pet store there. Arguments over the monkey messin' up the house became the predominant topic; Rene was still a teen and lived at home. Monkeys were a status-symbol in the '60s for some. You dressed them, tuxedos were the vogue, and drove around in convertibles with the critters riding shotgun. Soul singer Edwin Starr, among others, briefly owned monkeys. Get a hit, buy a drop top and a monkey.

Which, coincidentally, is more or less how I roll. After releasing just two singles with The Drapels, "After Laughter (Comes Tears)", although recorded with The Drapels, was credited entirely to Wendy Rene, in Phil Spector style, and released in 1964. The track's a real doozy. RZA doesn't have to do much to the sample, just adds a little backbeat. The vocal delivery is exuberant and heart-felt, typical of mid sixties Memphis soul. But the real neat thing about the song is the instrumentation, which is a weird, minimalist proto-Isaac Hayes (who probably wrote the thing, come to think of it) composition. Check it out:

That clip, btw, is from the movie "Head-On". Another neat thing I found in the course of my research (i.e. dicking around the internet) is that Wendy Rene is still around and still doing gigs. Hell, she even has a MySpace. It's funny; you tend to think that after the sixties, all these soul people died or disappeared off the face of the earth, but a lot of them are still around, still doing shows. KWUR Week, anyone?

Good Copy, Bad Copy

A Danish documentary that explores the current remix and copyright landscape. It takes a look at how different cultures (Sweden, Brazil, US, UK, etc.) are taking on this issue, interviewing giants of the entertainment industry to music distributors to artists like Girl Talk and Dangermouse.

Available for free for your viewing pleasure.

Subversive Cinema: Killer of Sheep

In 1977 Charles Burnett completed his UCLA Masters Thesis Killer of Sheep. He filmed the movie basically by himself on weekends in 1972 and 1973.

The film is undoubtedly a classic of American cinema. It was one of the 50 first films to enter the Library of Congress' National Film Registry (along side such films as Wizard of Oz, Star Wars, Vertigo, and Citizen Kane) where it will be preserved for future generations.

Burnett was able to make this masterpiece completely outside any big budget corporate Hollywood studio for a price of only $10,000 (which is an amazingly small budget for any movie - let alone an outstanding one).

The film captures urban African-American culture in 1970's Los Angeles. It tells the story of Stan, a slaughter house worker, and his family in loosely connected episodes. Often times the camera just observes the actions of everyday life in this community. Burnett used non-professional actors and filmed completely on location. These low budget, but arguably better and more realistic techniques, recollect the radical style of post-war Italian cinema (Italian Neo-Realism). To celebrate the history of African-American music Burnett created a soundtrack that songs from all eras.

But it was this soundtrack that made the film literally "the best film you've never seen". Burnett was unable to secure proper licensing for the soundtrack, so the film, while critically acclaimed, had no official theatrical release until 30 years after it was completed.

Thankfully, director Steven Soderbergh put down the $150,000 needed to license the soundtrack (except for one song). After a nice preservation job at the UCLA Film Archive (blowing the original 16mm print up to a theater friendly 35mm one), the film was finally given a proper (although limited) theatrical release earlier this year. [The film played at the Tivoli for less than a week this summer].

So where does this leave us? Well, this month a nice DVD boxset of some of Charles Burnett's early films is being released. This is the first official home video release of the film (and it isn't bootleg quality...).

OK, great. What else? Well, if you missed the short run of the film this summer at Tivoli, Webster Film Series (really the only place worth seeing films in St. Louis) will be showing the film this January on the 17 through the 19. And don't make me remind you that seeing the actual film is always better than DVD...

AND... to top that, Charles Burnett himself will be doing a free workshop on Saturday January 19th. You must RSVP to that event so visit the Webster Film Series site for information. I'll even be in town (from NY) attending that event, so see you there.

It should also be noted that Burnett is only one of a few filmmakers who has received the highly prestigious MacArthur Fellowship ("genius grant").



-Klax

http://www.marriedtothesea.com/110207/home-of.gif

Charts - 11/5

1	TULLYCRAFT	Every Scene Needs A Center	Magic Marker
2	SOUNDTRACK	I'm Not There	Columbia
3	BAND OF HORSES	Cease To Begin	SUB POP
4	DE NOVO DAHL	Shout [EP]	Roadrunner
5	BIRD AND THE BEE	Please Clap Your Hands	Blue Note
6	CASTANETS	In The Vines	Asthmatic Kitty
7	GOOD LIFE	Help Wanted Nights	Saddle Creek
8	FIERY FURNACES	Widow City	Thrill Jockey
9	OCTOPUS PROJECT	Hello, Avalanche	Peek-A-Boo
10	LONEY, DEAR	Sologne	Rebel Group
11	WEAKERTHANS	Reunion Tour	Anti
12	STARS	In Our Bedroom After The War	Arts And Crafts
13	SOFT	Gone Faded
14	SHARON JONES AND THE DAP KINGS	100 Days 100 Nights	Daptone
15	ANTI-FLAG	A Benefit For Victims Of Violent Crime	A-F
16	BABYSHAMBLES	Shotter's Nation	Parlophone
17	LES SAVY FAV	Let's Stay Friends	Frenchkiss
18	ENON	Grass Geysers... Carbon Clouds	Touch And Go
19	ELECTRIC SIX	I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me From Being The Master	Metropolis
20	THOMAS DYBDAHL	Science	Recall
21	BEIRUT	The Flying Club Cup	Ba Da Bing
22	FIRE ENGINES	Hungry Beat	Acute
23	BLACK LIPS	Good Bad Not Evil	Vice
24	CAKE SALE	Cake Sale	Yep Roc
25	PATRICK WATSON	Close To Paradise	Secret City
26	BRITISH SEA POWER	Krankenhaus [EP]	Rough Trade
27	CUT OFF YOUR HANDS	Shaky Hands [EP]	Iamsound
28	SHOOTING SPIRES	Shooting Spires	Cardboard
29	HEALTH	Health	Lovepump United
30	GEORGIE JAMES	Places	Saddle Creek

Facebook music?

Via CMJ:

Facebook, the online social community craze, could use the upcoming ad:tech convention in New York City to announce their latest (rumored) music component, Facebook Music, suggests Co-Ed Magazine.com. The speculation follows possible "top-secret meetings between the website and high-level representatives at each of the four major labels," according to the site. This new feature, which is said to be similar to programs such as iTunes and MySpace Music, would use artist pages to let fans, "play music, watch videos, upload pictures, add music to their page, receive tour information and interact with other fans." Held this year at the New York Hilton from November 5-8, the ad:tech, an interactive advertising and technology conference, will showcase a number of keynote speakers and workshops concerning the fields of marketing and technology.