POPLICKS RADIO: JUNE 2007

Amerie didn't have time to fully change after her Foot Locker shift

Here's the track listing for this month's Poplicks Radio, available for your listening pleasure on the right column of this page:


"Late in the Evening / Tarde En La Noche" - Spanish Harlem Orchestra feat. Paul Simon

• New York City salsa is hot! I'm not much of a Latin music aficionado -- although I do own Los Del Chipmunks' cover of "Macarena" -- but I still have the hubris to declare that United We Sing by the Spanish Harlem Orchestra is one of 2007's best albums. On this track, Paul Simon busts out with some español and upgrades his own classic with the help of pianist and arranger Oscar Hernández.
  

"The Party" - Justice

• What do you get when you blend Three Six Mafia + L'Trimm + Daft Punk + Fergie + early 80s synth-based soundtrack music and mix it with French crystal meth? This acquired taste, off the uneven album, † (Cross).
  

"Sex Machine (Readymade Jazz Defector)" - James Brown

• As a rule, James Brown songs are never improved when remixed. But I'll be a damned licking stick if this track doesn't come close. This cut uses an alternative JB intro and a double-time ballroom beat to flip the script while still respecting the original. The album it comes from -- Dynamite X -- is strangely not available in the United States.
  

"Gotta Work" - Amerie

• Yes, this is an obvious rehash of the formula perfected by Amerie's "1 Thing." But who's complaining? To my amazement, Rich Harrison had nothing to do with this track or any track off the new album.
  

"Hospital Rooms Aren't For Lovers" - Bear Colony

• This song is perfect for people who think Death Cab for Cutie needs a drum machine and more morose and scatological lyrics.
  

"Supreme Evil" - Go Home Productions (ELO vs. Diana Ross & The Supremes vs. Michael Jackson)

• Go Home Productions has unleashed arguably the best mashup in history, and I don't say that lightly. The chord changes work perfectly - ELO's classic "Evil Woman" piano riffs sound as if they were recorded for both Michael Jackson's "Bad" and The Supreme's "Stop! In The Name of Love." Moreover, there isn't much outrageous chopping or tempo/pitch shifting. Plus, I can't get enough of ELO's eight-count string break that the Pussycat Dolls sampled for "Beep." Honestly, I'd much rather hear -- get ready for blasphemy -- this version of MJ's and Diana Ross's vocals.
  

"When Your Mind's Made Up" - Glen Hansard & Marketa Iglóva

• This is an A- song from a B+ movie, Once, which is the best ... emo anti-musical musical movie about a Hoover vacuum repairman who almost connects with a Czech immigrant in Dublin ... ever. While the movie and the soundtrack are a bit too subdued for summer, I appreciate the honesty of the songs. I'm highlighting this track because I'm a sucker for songs in 5/4 time signature.
  

"Innocence" - Björk

• Volta has turned out to be the third consecutive underwhelming Björk album, but "Innocence" is one of several gems that stand out. Anything that maximizes Timbaland's syncopated punching sounds and Björk's nonsensical soaring lyrics is worth everyone's attention.
  

"Yeah (Bhangra Remix)" - Usher

• I need somebody to send me or point me to some good bhangra tracks. I can't keep getting my fix off this old Usher remix/mash.
  

"How I Go" - Yellowcard feat. Natalie Maines

• Who would have guessed that Natalie's best vocals would show up on a sappy Yellowcard ballad? This is a guilty pleasure to the Nth degree. I'm impressed this song has resisted becoming the theme song to every other show on the CW.
  

"Take Me Home" - Brother Ali

• Now that I'm a paying subscriber to Legally Blind Albino Muslim Rappers Quarterly, I feel more confident in promoting yet another Brother Ali cut. The last verse of this song is sicker than Andrew Speaker. For the Sussudiophiles out there, it has nothing to do with Phil Collins' "Take Me Home," presumably because Bone Thugs N Harmony already ruined that unclassic for everyone. Cop the new album -- The Undisputed Truth -- and be more convinced that hip hop is not dead.

"Inversion" - Mark Ronson

• Mark Ronson apparently recorded some magic with a horn player, a rhythm section, a piano player, and a sample of someone's hiccups in reverb, but he couldn't find a 12th guest vocalist for the album. Thankfully, he made room for "Inversion" in Version. I get incensed every time it fades prematurely, however. Extended 12" single, please!
  

Hope you enjoyed. If you prefer to listen on a free-standing player, click below:

--Junichi

POPLICKS RADIO: APRIL 2007

Keep your lip stiff / Keep your fist clenched

I've received emails from tons of cats asking the names of the songs that used to be on the Poplicks Radio playlist on the right-hand side of this blog.

Any by "tons of cats," I mean three people.

So that I may remain lazy about writing people back, I'll post the new playlist every time I change the records in the jukebox.

I'm firmly committed to not ever starting an audioblog -- who has time for my rambling thoughts on the nexus between leaked tracks from Suburban Kids with Biblical Names and the beats used on the first Spice Girls album? -- but I did add short commentary under each of the song titles.

In this month's mixtape:

"Rain Water" - Brother Ali

• Brother Ali gets my vote for releasing the best hip hop tracks of 2007 thus far. For those in the dark - no pun intended - Brother Ali is a legally-blind Albino Muslim rapper from Minnesota (pictured above). The weakest track on his new album, The Undisputed Truth, is better than the best track that M.I.M.S. will ever record. "Rain Water" is apparently an older track but still deserving of radio play today.
  

"Dandelion" - Antje Duvekot

• Antje Duvekot is my favorite singer-songwriter of the moment. Not since Ani DiFranco's "Both Hands" has a woman's voice and her guitar compelled me to immediately buy a CD after hearing a song just once.
  

"Rehab (Remix)" - Amy Winehouse feat. Pharoahe Monch

• I realize Amy Winehouse is now so popular that your grandmother is bumping her retro beats and the cool kids have long since moved on. But most people haven't heard Pharoahe Monch's soon-to-be-dated cameo on this remix, which makes this song even more incredibly timely. I look forward to "Take my black ass to Rehab" being sampled ten years from now.
  

"ABC Breaker" - DJ Moule (Jackson 5 vs. Led Zeppelin vs. The Beatles)

• This musical orgy shouldn't work because the "Heartbreaker" riff has a minor third and the melody of"ABC" uses the major third. But it does. And this proves that studying over a decade of music theory has not helped me to predict what will sound brilliant on my iPod.
  

"Bombay" - Timbaland feat. Amar & Jim Beanz

• At last, Timbaland stops ripping off Eastern musicians and finally shares the spotlight (and royalties?) with South Asian vocalist Amar. You might've already heard Amar on a Nelly Furtado remix.
  

"Cause and Effect" - Art Hirahara

• Art Hirahara is a Japanese American jazz pianist originally from the bay. I met him once because we share a few common friends and because JAs gather monthly to practice karaoke. The gorgeous "Cause and Effect" is one of many stand-out tracks from Edge of This Earth.
  

"Earth Intruders (Mark Stent Extended Mix)" - Bjork

• Is there anything better than a Timbo and Bjork collabo? I can't wait for Volta to drop. Watching her dance on Saturday Night Live was kind of like watching an old friend at a wedding reception bust out the same awkward but charming dance moves unleashed at high school prom. Too bad Bjork's backup singers and horn section were stealing wardrobe ideas from the Polyphonic Spree. The music video -- which reminds me of Baby Einstein DVDs -- does nothing to shed light on the meaning of the lyrics.
  

"Case of the R A" - Tanya Morgan

• Despite a woman on the cover of their latest album, Tanya Morgan is a group of three male MCs who exploit people like me hoping to discover the next great female rapper. This "cover" of the Leaders of the New School classic was a free download from the group's webpage.
  

"Simple Song" - Zebra

• I know absolutely nothing about this 70s song or the group. But it sho is funky.
  

"Passenger Fever" - Peggy Lee vs. Iggy Pop

• Too bad Peggy Lee passed away right when the Stooges reunited. This mashup suggests great potential.
  

By the way, why isn't Oliver contributing to this playlist, you ask? Since you're apparently one of two people in the galaxy who don't know about Soul Sides, you should check out Oliver's inscrutable ingenious musical meanderings at http://soul-sides.com.

--Junichi

POPLICKS RADIO?

I'm experimenting with BlogAMP, which allows me to upload a few songs and gives you the option of playing my selected tracks on-demand while you read Poplicks. A Poplicks soundtrack, of sorts. Just hit play below.

I figure it'll be an excuse to put together a short mixtape every few weeks. Let me know if you have any feedback.

--Junichi