Friday , July 9, 2010
Heavy Rotation: HEALTH, 2Pac, Girls Against Boys, Rammellzee vs. K-Rob, Betty Davis, the Slits
HEALTH, "Die Slow"
This song makes me want to dance like a banshee and smash my body into a wall of concrete at the same time. I think these are oddly healthy sentiments, actually. (Kat)
2Pac, "Ambitions Az A Ridah"
For reasons unbeknownst to myself and to others around me, I recently undertook the somewhat monumental task of listening to the entire Tupac Shakur discography (major albums only) from start to finish. It was pretty much like listening to a Dostoyevsky novel, only more hardcore, because we all know Tupac's real-life story in some way or another. Tupac started off as a second-string rapper, roadie and dancer with Digital Underground and eventually became the martyr of the gangsta thug archetype. That's a pretty riveting journey, made all the more tragic because his records are filled with humor, compassion, awareness, social consciousness and surprisingly sensitive, soulful reflections on his life choices. But as his work progresses, it gets filled with an increasing sense of encroaching mortality and an existential dread that proved to be all too prophetic. "Ambitionz As A Ridah" is the opening track of what's regarded as Tupac's magnum opus, All Eyez on Me, the first double album in hip-hop. If Tupac's oeuvre were like Star Wars, it's like the point where, after doubts and foreboding, Anakin Skywalker embraces the dark side and goes over to the Empire. All Eyez On Me is an unapologetic, romanticized celebration of being straight-gangsta, a real work of theatre and performance (Tupac was a great actor: see Juice.) And the nihilistic exuberance is matched by a level of production that swings low and deep in terms of sonic palette. It's kind of hard to walk down the street listening to this on your headphones and NOT want to throw your weight around and swagger like a badass, but then you remember Tupac and you just have to pause a bit in your steps and remember you're listening to a dead man's words about heading towards the ultimate endgame. Eerie. (Kat)
Girls Against Boys, "Glazed-Eye"
Oh, Girls Against Boys! Never before had a band attempted to fuse the aggression and attack of post-hardcore to lounge music; the combination, when it worked, was heavy but surprisingly sensual. No wonder the ladies loved it at the time. (Does anyone but me remember the late-90s oddball cocktail/lounge renaissance in indie rock? How many Esquivel re-issues did I listen to at parties back then?!) I find this oddly relaxing to fall asleep to, but maybe this explains why my dreams get so sexy sometimes... (Kat)
Rammellzee vs. K-Rob, "Beat Bop"
You know why they turned the adjective "sick" into a word that means "good"? So that I could describe what this song sounds like right now. Which is: SICK. Speaking of "things that are 'sick'": the beautiful word "Rammellzee." Here is what "Rammellzee" means: RAM (Like the animal? Or maybe the Paul McCartney album) + another M for "Magnitude" + the 1st L for "longitude", the 2nd L for "latitude". And then the ZEE is for "Z-Bar," the last letter of the Latin alphabet. It is like a normal "z," but with a latitudinal stroke across the middle, which is how I always write my zees, only I'm Canadian, so they're called "zed." (Laura Jane)
Betty Davis, "He Was A Big Freak"
As an artist, the greatest challenge you will face is turning ugliness into beauty. But there is an exception to every rule, and as far as I'm concerned, every great artist is entitled to one "How Do You Sleep?" This song is Betty Davis'. It is from her second album, They Say I'm Different, which is sort of like the "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" by the Kinks of Betty Davis, if something had to be. This song is petty, anxious, and anguished. But it was probably very satisfying for her to write, once she hit the "hatred" phase of "getting over Miles Davis." Although I want to state for the record that whipping some dude with a turquoise chain actually sounds kind of hot to me. (Laura Jane)
The Slits, "So Tough"
This song means a lot to me. "Why would you ever take nonsense seriously?" it asks. And if my headphones are asking me a question, I must answer them, immediately. If you hear the words your headphones say, it means that the world- people and stores, weather and rain- is not enough to distract you. The world is a very distracting place, so that's a surefire way to tell if these are important song lyrics. They are! I don't care about any of the nonsense things I used to. I never eat "milkshakes" or "cherry cheesecake," but I do get a piece of mango raspberry cheesecake from Future Bakery like thrice a week guys. PROBABLY EVEN TODAY. It's so good!!! Cloud-like. What's more- "So Tough" has helped me arrive at a marvelous place in my life where I regularly describe things as being "vunderbar," SICK. (LJ)
Tags: aggression, Betty Davis, Girls Against Boys, HEALTH, How Do You Sleep?, lounge music, mango raspberry cheesecake, nihilism, Rammellzee, The Slits, Tupac Shakur
Share | 
| 
| 
|
|
Posted by Kat in Heavy Rotation |
Permalink |
Leave a comment |
Comments (6)
+ Contact Us
+ HOME
6 Comments!!
Say something so insightful and witty, it will blow us away. (No pressure.)
Got something to say? We'd love to hear it! Name, email and "type in the weirdo drunken text" thingie are all required to comment; don't worry, we won't email you or anything, we just want to make sure you're not an evil spambot. Keeping in mind the good-times mentality we like to keep going here, we've worked hard to keep NOGOODFORME.COM as fun as possible. We welcome all kinds of comments, but insults/abuse/general bitchery are not tolerated. In other words, we put the smackdown on evil troll posts. If you want to be a hater, please go elsewhere. Now, as Salt 'N Pepa say, "Only the sexy people..."
this Heavy Rotation is proof that when two Cancerians are in charge of things, CRAZY HAPPENS.
awesome!
xo k.
By Kat
on October 7, 2009 4:41 PM
kat, your 2pac entry is epic and totally spot-on. i need to remember to die before you so you can write my obituary! speaking of death, did you gals ever do an entry on the soundtrack for your funeral(s)? wait, i can't end this comment on such a grim note. Dairy Queen has pumpkin pie Blizzards. get one!
By rob on October 7, 2009 5:33 PM
Kat champions the restorative properties of slamming her body against a concrete wall, while Laura Jane confesses that she'd be into whipping dudes with turquoise chains. SADISM COINCIDENCE!!!
By Laura
on October 7, 2009 6:30 PM
Oh man, the lounge revival. I tried really hard to like Combustible Edison at one point, but Stereolab is as far as I could manage to go in that direction.
By John on October 7, 2009 11:16 PM
i remember going through that trying-really-hard-to-like-combustible-edison phase in college. it was far from my finest hour.
By Liz
on October 8, 2009 9:52 AM
g vs b!! Loved their HEAVINESS. Also the first line on the first song of their side-band New Wet Kojak: "I'm gettin' happy. I'm gettin'...slappy."
By brixton on October 12, 2009 12:00 AM