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Radiohead are no fans of the track that started it all. ‘Creep’ featured on Pablo Honey and put them on the map with its breakthrough in the US. Thom Yorke apparently took to calling the song ‘Crap’ and at one concert in Montreal, he answered a fan’s song request by telling the crowd to “f*ck off, we’re tired of it”. A nice problem to have.
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“I’ve been crowned the king of it and it’s all that we have/ So, wait to hear my words and they’re diamond sharp/ I can open it up and it’s up and down.” The “king of it” is Pavement’s Stephen Malkmus. 1991 may have belonged to Nirvana, but 1992 was all about Pavement’s debut Slanted And Enchanted, “the quintessential indie rock album” (Rolling Stone) . ‘In The Mouth A Desert’ was the fourth track on Side 1 of the L.P.
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Yesterday, I was looking back at 1992 and all that it had to offer. The process threw out a few blog omissions from the standout sounds that year. For starters, South Central L.A. hip hopsters The Pharcyde released their classic debut Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde. It featured that sample of Quincy Jones’s ‘Summer In The City‘. Have a great week.
A compilation for sunny day in June. 1992 could have been a wasteland between what had been (Madchester, shoegazing, grunge) and what was to come (the Wu-Tang, trip hop, Britpop), but no. For one thing, it turned out to be one of the most inventive years in dance music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAvHjoLxxh8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnTFKWAT-XE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gn2GYzJjR2I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38by00DGid0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahJ6Kh8klM4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYyRLTveFJQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si3dBlNdifE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMjlhIWxfFI
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Honourable mentions also go to: Sade for ‘No Ordinary Love‘; Derrick May for his Illusion First Mix of ‘Sueño Latino‘; Mel’isa Morgan for ‘Still In Love‘; Coco Steel & Lovebom for ‘Feel It‘, My Bloody Valentine for ‘Only Shallow‘, Sergio Mendes for ‘Fanfarra (Cabua Le-Le)‘, Spiritualized for ‘Shine A Light‘, Kevin Saunderson for his Tunnel Mix of Inner City’s ‘Pennies From Heaven‘, Flowered Up for ‘Weekender‘; X-Press 2 for ‘Muzik Xpress‘; and The Pharcyde for ‘Passing Me By’.
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I short changed my regular subscribers this week. Today a bonus track, tomorrow a “Best of” list. L.A. singer-songwriter Cuco has shared a new song called ‘Bossa No Sé’. It’s an advance single from his forthcoming debut LP Para Mi, to be released on 26 July on Interscope. Alt-soul or bossanova-pop-hip-hop… whatever the label, his story of bad romance is endearing. The duet format with Jean Carter (from L.A. hip-hopsters Your Grandparents) is fun. Have a great weekend.
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Yikes, I’ve missed a day. Thankfully, today’s track will give you your money’s worth. The Forever Mix of Kasper Marott’s ‘Drømmen om Ø’ (The Dream of the Island) comes in at 14 minutes long. During this time, the Danish DJ indulges himself and his listeners in a sound that would not have felt out of place 25 years ago. Enjoy the journey with its nods to Chicago and ambient house music.
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‘Manifest’ is the third single released off Andrew Bird’s most recent album My Finest Work Yet. He could be right.
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The touching sound of ‘The Ballad of the Hulk’ sees Bill Callahan reflect upon his (lack of) anger management issues. This nostalgia is inspired by the 1970s TV show The Incredible Hulk. While Callahan “used to share a tailor with David Bruce Banner”, he just “never got angry”. The internalisation has brought about some great music. The track features on his new album Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest. Have a great week.
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Before it was named by George Harrison as his favourite song, before it was covered pretty badly by The Rolling Stones, and before House of Pain lifted its horns for ‘Jump Around’, ‘Harlem Shuffle’ had already gone through its own rebirth. Co-arranged by Barry White and Gene Page, the original single wasn’t a commercial success. But then it was reissued six years later in 1969 and hit the chart heights. Apparently it took that long to learn the dance.
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Londoners Andy Cato and Tom Findlay are Groove Armada. 20 years ago, they released the wonderful downtempo LP Vertigo. Prior to the chillout finale ‘Inside My Mind’, they featured ‘At The River’ with its sublime Patti Page sample at its core. The album was released on Jive’s Pepper Records.
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Aside of being Maxi Priest’s cousin, Jacob Miller is probably best known for his classic single ‘Tenement Yard’. He was also a protégé of Augustus Pablo, with whom he made several records, including 1975’s ‘Baby I Love You So’. Miller’s music was brought to an abrupt halt when he had a fatal car accident in Kingston, Jamaica in May 1980. His music would live on.
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Good morning peeps. The classic ‘My Doorbell’ was The White Stripes’ second single from their album Get Behind Me Satan. Enjoy and have a good week.
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I started the week with a track from Haruomi Hosono… I end with another influential figure in the world of city pop. Outside of Japan, Mariya Takeuchi is best known for marrying her collaborator Tatsuro Yamashitathe and releasing the classic 1984 song ‘Plastic Love’, with its dancefloor-filling final chorus. The Japanese genre is an unexpected mix of 1970s/1980s smooth AOR and jazz funk. This very American sound is strange through the filter of a Japanese scene. Have a great weekend.
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In April 2013, Jai Paul broke onto the music scene with the unexpected release of a set of songs on Bandcamp. Everyone was clamouring to find out who was this creative force – a new Prince elect they pronounced. Six years on and it’s happened again. From nowhere, we’ve received ‘Do You Love Her Now’. It’s good.
