Met Museum Highlights 4/3/14

Qui Anxiong
New Classic of Mountains and Seas I, 2008
Woodblock print, ink on paper

Tangtan: There is a beast in the western lands with a body like a bull. Its head is connected directly to its back and its body is covered in armor-like scales. It has no feet but moves rapidly on its belly and its straight snout erupts fire. It is called "Tangtan" (Tank).
Qui Anxiong
New Classics of Mountains and Seas I, 2008
Woodblock print, ink on paper

Tingdu: There is a large beast in the deep, dark waters of the North that dives several kilometers under the ocean. Its body is black and its skin is hard. Its eyes are on the tops of the back fins Its back has holes from which small fish can leap up beyond the clouds. It is called "Tingdu" (Trident submarine).
Yang Yongliang
View of Tide, 2008
Inkjet Print

Below it are portions of Zhao Mengfu's Ten Thousand Li of Yangzi River from the Song Dynasty (1127-1279) on which it is based.
Yang Yongliang
View of Tide [Detail]
Mishka Henner
Staphorst Ammunition Depot, Overijssel, from the series Dutch Landscapes, 2011
Inkjet print

Locations important to Dutch national security were rendered into a mosaic pattern on Google Maps at the behest of the government.

Songs for My Father Mixtape


A jazz mixtape for my dad. What kind of father gives his son a Sun Ra tape when he's nine?

Horace Silver Quintet - Song for My Father
Gracan Moncur III - When
Donald Byrd - Cristo Redentor
Unknown
Lee Konitz - Five, Four and Three
Duke Pearson - The Phantom
Donald Byrd - You've Been Talkin' Bout Me, Baby
Sun Ra - Angels and Demons
Yusef Lateef (R.I.P.) - First Gymnopedie
Bill Evans Trio - My Man's Gone Now
Ernie Clark - For the Grace of God
Leon Thomas - Song for My Father








Songs for My Father
[right-click to download]

Brooklyn Museum Highlights 12/27/13

From the exhibition WAR/PHOTOGRAPHY

Dmitri Baltermants
Tchaikovsky, 1945 (Red Army seizure of Berlin)
Gelatin silver print
Vo Anh Khanh
A Cambodian guerrilla is carried to an improvised operating room ina  mangrove swamp in this Viet Cong haven on the Ca Mau Peninsula, 1970
Messenger pigeon released from a British tank, France 1918

October 2013

Billy Young - Suffering With A Hangover

Darrow Fletcher - My Judgment Day

The Deceptions - Of All the Hearts

The Dub Syndicate - Hi-Fi Gets a Pounding Pts. 1 & 2

Freedom Express - Get Down

The Inner Drive - Party Man

James K-Nine - Live It Up

Johnnie Taylor - I'm Trying // Poor Make Believer

King Tutt - You've Got Me Hung Up

Koushik - Be With

Lee Austin - Screwdriver

Little Janice - Since You've Been Gone

Luther Davis - You Can Be A Star

The New Birth - Oh, Baby, I Love the Way

Orchestra Harlow - Freak Off

Os Mutantes - Balada do Louco

The Poppy Family - There's No Blood in the Bone // You Took My Moonlight Away // Shadows on My Wall // Where Evil Grows

Sun Araw - Deep Cover

Swizzymack - Drip

Additionally:

Flying Lotus's FlyLoFM radio station for GTAV


Ego Trip: Have you ever thought about collaborating with more hip-hop artists outside the Beasties?  Ad Rock: Yeah, we’ve toured and been friends with rap groups and we’ve always been like, “Yeah, let’s do this or that together.” I wanted to start a group in ’92 with me, Q-Tip, B-Real and Busy Bee and call it the “Nasal Tongues.” I thought it was funny. I mentioned it to Busy Bee, but I don’t think he remembered me. But the other guys were into it.

Poor Bessie!


[ENTER]

Moon at Night

"Our kids are the last generation who will see no city lights on the moon."
— Randii Wessen, via BLDGBLOG

See also: Formation of the Moon, Terraforming the Moon

Koch Lovers

Get ready for the grimiest 80 minutes of your week:






I'm seeing Wolfen, Saturday Night Fever, Dog Day Afternoon, Midnight Cowboy, Death Wish, Cruising, Superfly, The Warriors, Rosemary's Baby, Taxi Driver, French Connection, Husbands, Three Days of the Condor, The Odd Couple, Author! Author!, Klute, The Boys in the Band, Hi, Mom!, Superman, Scarface, The Landlord, American Pop, Mean Streets, After Hours, Wild Style, Panic in Needle Park, Fame, Downtown 81, Tootsie, Fritz the Cat, Serpico, Serpico, Serpico, and so many other movies I'm desperate to see.

August and September 2013



Needless to say, I've been busy.

Antonio Adolfo & A Brazuca - Transamazonica

Big Youth - Cool Breeze

Captive - The Fool

Chester Lewis - Precious Lord

Clarendonians - You Won't See Me

Danny Brown - Dubstep 

Devendra Banhart - Golden Girls

Disclosure - Latch // White Noise
 

Dr. Alimantado - I Am The Greatest Says Muhammed Ali

Hank Williams - Angel of Death (Undubbed Session Demo)

The Headhunters - Mugic

Jeremiah Jae - King Raid // Seventy 8

Joyce - Aldeia de Ogum

Juj - Mbira Spirit

Lennie Hibbert - Soul Shack // Village Soul // More Creation // Montego Rock

Michael Jackson - Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough (Demo) // Billie Jean (Demo) // Beat It (Demo) // Want to Be Startin' Somethin' (Demo)

The Monks - Drugs in my Pocket

Piece of Peace - Pass it On, Part One

Robert Vanderbilt & the Foundation of Souls - A Message Especially from God

Scotty - Salvation Train

Sly & the Family Stone - Wishful Thinkin'

Stylle Band - If You Love Me
From the forthcoming Numero Group pre-Prince Minneapolis comp Purple Snow

Tesfa Maryam Kidané - Heywèté

Additionally:

Kathleen Hanna explains the story behind Smells Like Teen Spirit:


[ENTER]

July 2013


Brenda & the Big Dudes - Weekend Special
Straight out of 1986 Soweto.

Doris & Kelley - You Don't Have to Worry

Francis Bebey - Akwaaba

Fruko y sus Tesos - Bang Bang

Ken Boothe - Let's Get It On

Little Boy Blues - Dream Weaver
I've loved their song Seed of Love for years. I've only just discovered the song that immediately precedes it on their only album.

Outkast x A Tribe Called Quest - Relaxin' Jackson

The Raincoats - Lola

Additionally:

Richard Pryor & Sly Stone on the Mike Douglas Show, 1974


The Madvillainy samples mix.

[ENTER]

David Rakoff — Love Dishonor Marry Die Cherish Perish


From David Rakoff's final book, written while dying of cancer. A novel in rhyming couplets spanning the 20th Century:
He'd loved Touch of Evil, when la Dietrich tells
The fortune of corpulent, vile Orson Welles:
"Your future's all used up." So funny and grim.
But now that the same could be spoken of him
It was sadness that gripped him, far more than the fear
That, in facing the truth, he had maybe a year.

When poetic phrases like "eyes, look your last"
Become true, all you want is to stay, to hold fast.
A new, fierce attachment to all of this world
Now pierced him, it stabbed like a deity-hurled
Lightning bolt lancing him, sent from above,
Left him giddy and tearful. It felt like young love.
He'd thought of himself as uniquely proficient
At seeing, but now that sense felt insufficient.
He wanted to grab, to possess, to devour
To eat with his eyes, how he needed that power.

June 2013

Astrud Gilberto - Take it Easy My Brother Charlie

The Belles - Melvin

The Commands - Too Late to Cry

The Fabulous Denos - Once I Had A Love

Gary U.S. Bonds - I Wanna Holler

The Gaylads - I Love the Reggae

Holy Name of Mary Choral Family - He'll Give Us What We Really Need*

Laura Mvula - Green Garden [Demo] // Can't Live With the World


The Manish Boys - I Pity the Fool
Just David Bowie on vocals and Jimmy Page on guitar, no big deal.

Omega - Gyöngyhajú*

Parliament - The Motor-Booty Affair

Prince Buster - Whine & Grine

Sound Dimension - Ironside

Wee - Aeroplane (Reprise)*

*Yeezus samples

Additionally:

Beck covers Bowie's Sound and Vision with a 160-plus person band/orchestra:


The Rediscovery of Heracleion








Heracleion, Egypt's main port before it sank into the sea in the 6th or 7th century A.D., probably due to earthquakes or floods. Located in 2000.

Basquiat's Resume, Age 20


May 2013


Al Green - Beware (Extended Version)
An unreleased, 15 minute jam of Al Green in his prime? Yes please! (Please note this will be the only time I ever refer to a jam as a positive).

Ballin' Jack - Found A Child
I picked up this album because it has the Beastie Boys' "never let 'em say that I don't love you" sample on it and was delighted to come across the Bust A Move sample too! In retrospect not surprising since Paul's Boutique contributor Matt Dike also worked with Young MC.

Broadcast - The Sacred Marriage
From the horror movie soundtrack they were working on when singer Trish Keenan took ill and died. The whole album is a wonderful Zombi-esque work.

Curtis Mayfield - Power to the People

Dorothy Ashby - Taboo // Autumn in Rome

Lee Moses - What You Don't Want Me to Be // Free at Last

Marconi Notaro - Symphony em Ré

Nina Simone - Come On Back, Jack

Rogério Duprat - Flying // Baby
The man behind the orchestrations for Os Mutantes, Caetano Veloso, Tom Zé and Gilberto Gil. The "George Martin" of Tropicalia" and the "Brian Wilson of Brazil."

Shuggie Otis - Special

The Undisputed Truth - Ball of Confusion

The Weeknd - Kiss Land

Additionally:

The infamous Jimmy Page score for Kenneth Anger's Lucifer Rising.

Jay-Z, Harlem, 1939.

This mix by Kaytranada.

Oh David!