I Am Not A Gun: MP3s

Showing posts with label MP3s. Show all posts

Oh My God

I just had a once in a lifetime epiphany and realized that Whitney's Million Dollar Bill and Robin S's Show Me Love have the exact same BPM. Coincidence? I don't think so. There is a god and he is very gay.

Whitney Houston & Robin S. - Show Me Dollar Bills
[right-click to download]

Favorite Songs of 2010

Happy New Years!

Not a mixtape, just an MP3 dump, here are my favorites of my favorite songs I've come across this year, almost all of them not from 2010. These are songs that it pains me to think of never having heard, the feeling that drives almost everything I do in life:

Alexander O'Neal & Cherrelle - Saturday Love
Aretha Franklin - Jump
Arthur Russell - I Couldn't Say it To Your Face
Bob Dylan - I Was Young When I Left Home
Bob Marley & the Wailers - It Hurts to Be Alone
Brenton Wood - The Oogum Boogum Song (Soul Explosion)
Darondo - Didn't I
Dionne Warwick - You're Gonna Need Me
Dr. John - Twilight Zone
Estelle - More Than Friends
Family Circle - It Doesn't Make Sense
Happy Birthday - Subliminal Message
The Hot 8 Brass Band - Sexual Healing
The Impressions - I'm Getting Ready
International Music System - Dancing Therapy
Janis Joplin - Little Girl Blues
Jens Lekman - I'm Leaving You Because I Don't Love You
John Prine with Iris Defflent - In Spite of Ourselves
The Joubert Singers - Stand (Larry Levan Mix)
Kris Kristofferson - Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down
Little Willie John - My Love Is
Mayer Hawthorne - Just Ain't Gonna Work Out
The Nipple Erectors - Vengeance
Nora Dean & Dansak - How Could You Do This
The Ordeals - Sippin' A Cup of Coffee
Os Mutantes - Ave Lúcifer
Pastor T.L. Barrett & the Youth for Christ Choir - Like a Ship... (Without a Sail)
Pineapples - Come on Closer
Private - My Secret Lover
Ray Charles - I Believe to My Soul
Richard Hawley - Tonight the Streets Are Ours
Rotary Connection - Love Has Fallen Over Me
Sam Cooke - Mean Old World
Simon & Garfunkel - The Only Living Boy in New York
Sparque - Let's Go Dancing
The Strokes - I'll Try Anything Once
Thunderheist - LBG (Little Booty Girl)
Top Drawer - Song of a Sinner
The Valentines - Stop the Violence
[Unknown artist] - It'll All Be Over [I'm guessing]

Download Part A (126 Mb)
Download Part B (112 Mb)

New Basquiat Movie

This looks like it might be great. Plus for no good reason, here's the song from the Rammelzee Vs. K-Rob 12-inch that Jean-Michel did the art for:

Rammelzee Vs K-Rob - Beat Bop
[right-click to download]

Listen close and you'll hear at least two Beastie Boy samples (and of said Beasties, two are involved in this documentary, and one is married to the director!)

Private Sparkle

Here are my two new favorite songs this week:

1.) Aretha Franklin - Jump

I read about this soundtrack album (that I had never heard of or seen even after years of record shopping) as being the most criminally unknown/underrated Aretha album. The fact that it's from 1976 and composed/produced by Curtis Mayfield should put any lingering doubt in your mind to rest. Here's the vinyl rip since I couldn't find anything online.

Aretha Franklin - Jump
[right-click to download]

2.) Private - My Secret Lover

Sorry for the radio edit but it's all I could get for the moment. Watch the video for all the dirty bits. Apparently (but of course) this is huge in the UK, yet another reason I'm in the wrong country...

Private - My Secret Lover
[right-click to download]

Shfuck 2

I've been accused of being too positive but when it comes to the prospects of ever managing to score Tom Waits tickets I'm downright despairing. So for me, listening to his live albums are understandably both wonderful and bittersweet. His new album includes a bonus disc of his between song banter-stories that I'm happy to report are all new, with no overlap of my forthcoming Tom Waits Comedy Album I've been compiling from other live shows for a while now. Check his out:

Tom Waits - Tom Tales
[right-click to download]

Just for fun I just want to toss in a few interview snippets:

PLAYBOY: While you may strive for musical crudity, lyrically you’re quite sophisticated-interior rhymes, classical allusions and your hallmark, a great ear for the vernacular. In a sense, you’re the William Safire of street patois, rescuing such phrases as walking Spanish–inebriated saunter–and even coining some pretty good lingo of your own, such as rain dogs: stray people who, like animals after a shower, can’t find their markings and wander aimlessly. What are some of your other favorite bits of slang, phrases you’d like to see get more everyday use?

WAITS: For starters, I’d like to see the term wooden kimono return to the lexicon. Means coffin. Think it originated in New Orleans, but I’m not certain. Another one I like is wolf tickets, which means bad news, as in someone who is bad news or generally insubordinate. In a sentence, you’d say, “Don’t fuck with me, I’m passing out wolf tickets.” Think it’s either Baltimore Negro or turn-of-the-century railroadese.

PITCHFORK: Are there any new artists or people performing right now that you're excited about?

WAITS: Missy Elliott. I'm crazy about her. She did some video where she's on the beach doing the jerk in a wife beater. She's out of her mind. She's so natural. It's like she's always been around. Chamillionaire. I listen to a lot of stuff that my kids listen to. You know, Jay-Z, the Beastie Boys, all that. Most of the stuff that dominates the household is not stuff I'd necessarily listen to, but now I put on what the kids put on.

Pearl's Back From Africa!

In true Pearl style I can't sleep and am posting this at 5AM.

Pearl's Back From Africa! (Side A) [right-click to download]

Yaw - Where Would You Be
Curtis Mayfield - So In Love
Lauryn Hill - Doo Wop (That Thing)
Sharon Jones - How Long Do I Have To Wait For You (Ticklah Remix)
Inell Young - What Do You See in Her?
Mos Def - Ms. Fat Booty
Pressure - Love & Affection
Jazmine Sullivan - Need U Bad
Bob Marley & the Wailers - Burnin' and Lootin'

Pearl's Back From Africa! (Side B) [right-click to download]

Nina Simone - Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
Lil Wayne - Misunderstood
Helene Smith - I Am Controlled By Your Love
George Jackson - Aretha, Sing On
Aretha Franklin - One Step Ahead
Portishead - Sour Times
Bohannon - Save Their Souls

Pearl's Back From Africa! (Side C) [right-click to download]

Etta James - A Sunday Kind of Love
Buddy Miles Express - Cigarettes & Coffee
Black Star - Definition
Jay-Z & Biggie - Brooklyn's Finest
Erykah Badu - Twinkle
Nas - Memory Lane (Sittin' In Da Park)
Slick Rick - Memories
Femi Kuti, D'angelo & Macy Gray - Water Get No Enemy

Excuse Me Mr. DJ, Do You Take Requests?

Shout-outs to the Bartman and the Turbobass button! I hope to hear this on the dancefloor at the peak of the party, the Lonely Island's new song on their brand new album Incredibad:

Lonely Island - Boombox (feat. Julian Casablancas)
[right-click to download]

Paul's Boutique Reissued

My favorite album ever made (and sole focus of an imminent tome I've been working on for years) is being remastered and reissued February 10th for it's 20th anniversary (even though it was released in July of '89). I got all excited to buy the VIP package but it turns out they're asking $130 for the CD, the vinyl, an uninspired t-shirt and an 8-foot long poster that is just the vinyl gatefold you already have all over again. I'm a little disappointed, especially since there were rumors of previously unreleased tracks that I can't confirm on their new Boutiue page or anywhere else. The good news is that if you give them your e-mail address they'll let you download an MP3 of them (kind of) discussing the album in one long commentary track for free. Or you can listen to it here:

The Paul's Boutique Commentary Track
[right-click to download all 49 Mb of inside jokes]

Nobody cares about this but me but I care about it so much it makes up the difference...

Merry X-Mas & RIP James Brown

Image courtesy of Paddy

Patsy Raye & the Beatniks - Beatnik's Wish
[right-click to download]

James Brown - Soulful Christmas
[right-click to download]

My New Favorite Things of the Past 2 Weeks

Joe Cocker - Space Captain

Grant Phabao & Djouls - Are Molesting Laura Vol.9 mixtape of all brass band covers (especially the Hot 8 Brass Band's version of Sexual Healing)

Scientists discover the fossil remains of what could be the largest snake to ever exist. A relative of today’s boa constrictor, it was at least 12.8 meters long and weighed more than a ton. Another scientist has found what he believes to be the world's smallest snake.

Crazy pictures of the sun and the Smithsonian's top NASA photos of all time.

The awesomely unauthorized video of Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot.

My new pop-up book that I discovered through BoingBoing (and is only $14 on Amazon!):

The Wunderkammer exhibit that is up at MoMA right now (and is closing on November 10th).

John Hodgman describing his encounters with aliens:

The Chris Ware cartoon that the New Yorker wouldn't publish because it broke with their formatting:

And this, my new favorite song that I can't believe I've never heard before:

Ray Charles - Let's Go Get Stoned
[right-click to download]

Many Men Blues

My friend Pearl was at a junk shop in Asbury Park and found this old record. I thought I'd share it with you:

Many Men Blues
[right-click to download]

Liam and Sasha's Post-Apocalyptic Tour of America

First, before I forget, a special Fuck You to the Mississippi Trooper who pulled us over and interrogated us separately for no reason other than to harass us. Having us both get out of the car only to make me get back in when you realized I was six inches taller than you was especially amusing. The supremely lame life you are and will be leading until you die is your own self-inflicted and fitting punishment. And with that out of the way we're off!

Our first stop was Centralia [Wikipedia] [Map], Pennsylvania coal country where a mine fire below the town has been burning for 46 years. The populace was evacuated in 1984 and all but a few of the buildings have burned down (those that survived fell victim to arson) leaving behind a grid of suburban streets where trees are more than taking over. Supposedly when it's raining the ground steams. Here are some before and after pictures:

[From offroaders.com]

Here Sasha surveys the post-apocalyptic landscape:

Here I am doing my best impression of an asshole. In my defense I thought I had to look as butch as possible so we wouldn't get lynched for looking weird when we stopped to get directions. Then I turned out to be an obnoxious New Yorker when everyone we talked to ended up being completely civil:

That night we arrived in Asheville, NC at a certain punk house that has a 300+ year old tree outside with a swing. You might not appreciate this video now but watch it again in February and you'll feel just a tiny bit less depressed:

The house was also the home of a Carolina Dog, a primitive form of dog that accompanied the first humans crossing the Bering landbridge into North America from Asia. These dogs were a result of the domestication of southwest Asian wolves in the region of Iraq a few thousand years earlier. I have to add here that I recently read how the first Americans most likely came by sea (as opposed to by land as the way was blocked by a formidable glacier).

We also snuck in a little Lord of the Rings Risk:

Things get tense:

P. makes the classic mistake of panicking and putting on the one ring, inviting the wrath of the Nazgul:

On a side note, I didn't remember until it was too late that we could have visited places like Falling Water and Monticello if we had driven just a little bit more. That's when I decided to finally start keeping track of the places I want to or have previously visited on one map so I this would never happen again. Here it is (I've also put it in my sidebar):

[View Larger Map]

On our next day driving we stop at Unclaimed Baggage in Alabama, a store that sells off all the unclaimed airline baggage in the country. I built it up to be a store that would have everything I ever wanted for almost free but it ended up being kind of a giant Goodwill instead. Check out some of the amazing things they've found though.

We arrive late night in New Orleans [AKA NOLA] where Lil' Waynia is in full effect. Every other song on the radio and the song blasting out of every other bar is Lil' Wayne and I did not mind at all.

Lil' Wayne - A Milli
[right-click to download]

After drinking cheap beer in the streets and getting harassed by Amazonian dancers we end up staying in an ancient hotel right off Bourbon St. that was probably all kinds of haunted but we were both too exhausted to notice.

The next day we cruise around the hardest hit neighborhoods of the city. I don't have any pictures because it was already fucked up enough driving by the remaining people sitting on their porches watching SUVs with North Dakota plates stopping to disgorge a bunch of obese white people taking photos. Instead I took a picture of this:

We arrive in Austin! Our first day there E. takes us to Hamilton Pool, a semi-covered grotto formed by thousands of years of erosion. A middle-aged couple who quickly informed us they were from Oklahoma and churchgoers started discussing the pools formation with us. When his wife turned to him to ask how old the pool was he figured it was a couple of hundred years old but definitely after the flood. I instinctively almost started telling my flood origins stories but suddenly realized what they were saying and quickly pretended I saw someone I knew and swam away.

I know it would be insanely toxic and bad but I would love to have some spray paint that could do this to concrete:

Later that night...

Did you know that in Spring and Summer Austin was home to the largest urban bat colony in North America with upwards of 1.5 million bats at its peak? No? Well this photo won't help convince you, it's all I could get:

Sasha and I cruise around some of Austin's extensive network of storm drains (note the person sleeping under the tent next to his tent):

H. demonstrates how to train a dog to understand sign language (Spoiler alert! Use beer):

LLast night in the Lone Star State. Sasha is a train junkie:

What a Fuck Up

How do you fuck up having a backing band consisting of Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, and Harry Nilsson? Apparently by being a complaining, coked-up, and drunk John Lennon, ugh. I finally tracked down the bootleg of this rumored 1974 recording (the only post-Beatles McCartney and Lennon performance known to man) and was so disappointed. You can literally hear John offering Stevie coke on the first track:

A Toot and a Snore
[right-click to download]

Then they twist the knife by starting and stopping to play one of my favorite songs, Santo & Johnny's Sleepwalker [right-click to download] (later covered nicely by Modest Mouse as Sleepwalkin' [right-click to download]):

Nightmares
[right-click to download]

Thankfully on the last track the mic is passed from John to Paul and Stevie and a song is actually completed:

Cupid / Take this Hammer
[right-click to download]

This beats the previous biggest blown opportunity I thought I had ever seen, The Dirty Mac, a supergroup consisting of John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards and Mitch Mitchell (Jimi Hendrix's drummer) that Lennon put together for the Stones' Rock and Roll Circus. It was also the first time that Lennon had ever performed without the Beatles since their inception. Of the two songs they ever played, Yoko Ono (who is not a bad person) got to sing:

At least the Stones appreciated a genius:

Uptight (Everything's Alright) / (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
[right-click to download]

Watch the end to see Stevie and Mick dancing together! God I love Stevie Wonder...

Pump Up The Volume

I just spent way too much money that I don't have so I can do things like this:

And what better song to start with than "The Scenario," [right click to download] the bootleg-only Beastie Boys song briefly featured in the bedroom-based pirate radio station movie Pump Up the Volume:

Riddim of I 'Eart

[Lion Kiss Video]

Because who doesn't love reggae?

Alicia Keys - You Don't Know My Name (Reggae Remix)
Cornell Campbell - Ten to One
Alton & Hortense Ellis - Breaking Up is Hard to Do
Cornell Campbell - Undying Love
Jimmy London - I'm Your Puppet
Marcia Griffiths - Tell Me Now
Lloyd Williams - In Love With You
Tommy McCook & the Supersonics - Reggae Merengue
Finley Quaye - Your Love Gets Sweeter
Alton Ellis - What Does it Take to Win Your Love
Bob Marley & the Wailers - Try Me
Dandy - Reggae in Your Jeggae
Ed Nangle - Good Girl
Alton Ellis - It's a Shame
John Holt - For the Love of You
Sean Paul - I'm Still In Love With You (feat. Sasha)

Riddim of I 'Eart Mixtape [right-click to download]

James Brown Babies

I was going to wait until his birthday or deathday (aka x-mas) but they're both months away and I can't wait. This is officially my favorite song of the week (you can listen to it right away here). It's from a 1970 album called Ghetto Reality that a group of elementary school students wrote and performed themselves! It's a lot cooler but not as cute as this:

How to Make it in the Biz

Thanks Lashea for passing this on to me:

This also means Erykah Badu is now officially a label on my blog!

On an unrelated note (besides being another rad female singer) here is my favorite song of the week, Vivien Goldman - Launderette

New Amerykah

Fuck everybody, I love Erykah Badu. I've always loved her, always will, and have got her every album as soon as they come out since Baduizm (that means 11 straight years of love). Her new video is full of references to some other great albums and is interrupted by an excerpt of a video by her new super group side project Edith Funker (which includes Wendy & Lisa (of Prince's band The Revolution), ?uestlove, and DJ JazzyJeff among others). Where's the love?

References:

In other news, my new all-time favorite subway conductor is whoever it is on the F who sounds like Q-Tip...

Erykah Badu & Rahzel - Country Girl [Download]

Key West

Theme Music: King Horror - Loch Ness Monster [download]

I got back from Key West a while back and think I got skin cancer as a result (no joke!). Mostly all I did was read Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, swim, eat and drink too much.

I read that the dead outnumber the living in Key West due to the large cemetery in the center of it. There's a tomb rumored to house a vampire and one man's inscription reads "I told you I was sick." Which is not nearly as funny as this.

I also caught this on video, an osprey eating a fish...brain first! I shoot what National Geographic is afraid to:

Oh, and I saw this:

Dilettante cryptozoologists would probably presume it to be a variant on the Loch Ness monster or Champ but it's clearly related to the Mokèlé-mbèmbé. Please ignore the asshole blocking the shot...

Springtime in New York

It was Spring today in New York City! I was skipping around downtown all day singing this song:

Jonathan Richman will be playing a $15 show on March 4th at the Music Hall of Williamsburg FYI.

[Download Jonathan Richman - Springtime in New York]