A keynote lecture on body & work literacy

Monday rush. I’m supposed to skip
but I just found Sunday in your hips

It sounds too good to be true. A Marxist hip hop band from Oakland, California. How could I have slept on The Coup? Especially when Boots shares his insights on “the study of how bodies may be tossed and folded”:

Thoughts wrangled up, legs tangled up,
baby do this feel good angled up?
Can’t be expressed by a sangle fuck
Wanna gently caress it and bang it up

I could wax poetic about this track, but That Good Good really nails it:

[Boots] flips a paradoxical metaphor with a claustrophobic outside and a universe under the weight of his girl and then thoughts of “lost aerobics” are oddly accompanied by a double time handclap creating a mini flamenco-fire with a [Stevie] Wonder-esque harmonica meandering over it. Suddenly his sex/work debate spurs a thought of burning his workplace down if not allowed to head home by 5:02. He taps into a working-class disgust of not getting paid for every second he has to be in service to the boss. Strings come in as he struggles to make his decision. At least the cymbals of the trap set and symbols of the political set (a Jesse Jackson? speech reiterates Day’s query) combine to make beautiful music together…

Those strings. Oh those strings.

The Coup – I just wanna lay around all day in bed with you (Epitaph, 2006)

Download if you really must, spend a buck if you like quality music.

[H/T: Orsii, aka lil' miss sunshine on LDBK]

First Ironman, now José James: K-Swiss

First, K-Swiss partners with IM, then with kspace.tv and now with the man.

I can’t wait for José’s sophomore effort, Blackmagic, to drop. I know what I’m buying my family and friends for their 2010 birthdays/anniversaries/newborns/sex changes.

Here come the drums and a rhymin Simon

She said it’s really not my habit to intrude
Furthermore, I hope my meaning won’t be lost or misconstrued
But I’ll repeat myself, at the risk of being crude
There must be fifty ways to leave your lover

The military percussion in this song is sheer perfection.

She said it grieves me so to see you in such pain
I wish there was something I could do to make you smile again
I said I appreciate that and would you please explain
About the fifty ways

So is Paul Simon’s flow.

She said why don’t we both just sleep on it tonight
And I believe in the morning you’ll begin to see the light
And then she kissed me and I realized she probably was right
There must be fifty ways to leave your lover

Pure genius.

Paul Simon – 50 ways to leave your lover (Columbia Records, 1975)

Trivia: do you know of the 45 additional ways to leave your lover?

Give yourself the freedom, let’s bounce

For some sports you need a ball. For triathlon you need two. Writing a PhD however, requires a third. While said to be benign, the growth is known to induce severe moodswings, bouts of paranoia and insomnia. Other side effects are self-indulgence, weight loss and Sehnsucht.

One way I try to escape from it all is by running. Long distance running. Ran a 20k trail race yesterday with long time buddy Danny and was able to run consistently and comfortably at my (ideal) marathon pace of 12km/h. All along, I ran to Vaughn Mason & Crew’s timeless bassline.

Vaughn Mason & Crew – Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll (Brunswick, 1980)

Quietly taking over the world: LeFto

His taste in music is cut from the same eclectic cloth as Gilles Peterson, he’s a Nike sneakerhead, a resident DJ at  GP’s Worldwide festivals and a Brownswood regular, a radio show host at StuBru and quietly making a name for himself internationally: LeFto.

The Strictly Niceness magic formula

Grown folks music, good times and strictly niceness, courtesy of Phil & Bernard. Strictly niceness are monthly shindigs in our nation’s capital. Recommended. I’d never thought I’d say this, but Brussels is really growing on me. For everyone who says Brussels is a soulless bureaucracy, think twice.

A dash of Jonathan Jeremiah happiness

What do The Roots’ bandleader Questlove, James Brown’s legendary band The JBs and Bernard Butler have in common? They’ve all been drawn to a tiny recording studio in Dollis Hill by the singular talent that is Jonathan Jeremiah.

Imagine a young London born singer songwriter working night-shifts for seven years to get the money together to hire legendary brass players, soulful string orchestras, and Questlove, one of music’s most influential figures to drum on five of the tracks, and record them in an analogue studio.

Sounds like a PR gimmick by a forward thinking record label, right? Think again.

Jonathan Jeremiah – Happiness (Quiet Village Remix) (rcrdlbl.com, 2009)

Stream/download/share on rcrdlbl.com

A Marvin Gaye ‘audiobiography’

Jimmy Green, I salute you. You’ve made an instant classic mixtape of Marvin Gaye gems, audio snippets, blends and beats. You call it an ‘audiobiography’, I call it a masterpiece. ‘After the Dance’ featuring Biggie? Damn right. Thanks for this, Jimmy. Download. Spread the word. Dance.

They say you’re no good for me

A little synth-infused throwback soulfunk never hurt anyone. Granted, Stones Throw is milking A Strange Affair somewhat, but if they keep churning out quality remixes, keep on milking I say.

Mayer Hawthorne – Green eyed love (classixx remix) (Stones Throw, 2009)

You’re who you think you are

A whopping 11 minutes of symphonic soul jazz. This song put honey-voiced Randy Crawford on the map and makes me dance. No matter what.

Picture courtesy of Steve Greenwood (drop.io wizard)

The Crusaders (feat. Randy Crawford) – Street life (MCA, 1979)