Found Music

Hey look at that! “Can’t Get Outta the Rain” was drawn from “You Can’t Win”, from the soundtrack to The Wiz. I must have forgotten because The Wiz is a terrible movie (sorry). Thanks Internet!

thankyoufortheparty:

fuckyeahoffthewall:

thankyoufortheparty:

foundmusic:

Michael Jackson - Can’t Get Outta the Rain

B-side to the “Thriller” single, 1982. Produced by Quincy Jones. Found somewhere in Nashville, I think.

Enjoyably straightforward boogie music from one of pop’s greatest performers. Not very much going on here lyrically (the title contains every word used in the song), but dressed up to the nines—punchy horns, awesome synthesizer-ish bassline, handclaps, all that good stuff. It’s pretty clearly made for DJ sets: no forward momentum; all joyous stasis. Quincy & Michael probably knocked this out in an afternoon. I really want to hear this on a summer night in somebody’s parking lot or a public park. Bonus points for laughter.

Isn’t this just one repeated line from You Can’t Win from The Wiz? 

It is but it isn’t. It’s changed slightly. He says “can’t get out of the game” in the one from the movie. For whatever reason they did this one which really is just that whole breakdown part.

It totally is though, some fans call it a new song (I’ve seen it even labelled as “brand new leak!!” etc etc on youtube before) when really, it’s not LOL.

Michael Jackson - Can’t Get Outta the Rain

B-side to the “Thriller” single, 1982. Produced by Quincy Jones. Found somewhere in Nashville, I think.

Enjoyably straightforward boogie music from one of pop’s greatest performers. Not very much going on here lyrically (the title contains every word used in the song), but dressed up to the nines—punchy horns, awesome synthesizer-ish bassline, handclaps, all that good stuff. It’s pretty clearly made for DJ sets: no forward momentum; all joyous stasis. Quincy & Michael probably knocked this out in an afternoon. I really want to hear this on a summer night in somebody’s parking lot or a public park. Bonus points for laughter.

Ten Wheel Drive - Come Live with Me

From Brief Replies, 1970. Found in the bassline of “I Gotcha Opin” by Black Moon.

Hearing this song with no context and no knowledge of the performers I imagined the singer to be a Betty Davis type: soulful, weathered, and black. (I also thought Nina Simone was a man the first time I heard her.) However, she is actually a Polish immigrant named Genyusha Zelkowitz, AKA Genya Ravan, and Ten Wheel Drive is a horn-rock act much closer to Blood, Sweat, and Tears than anything I had in mind.

Anyway, this is some bluesy shit that hits pretty hard; I get lost in it just about every time I listen. Genya’s voice is sexy as hell, yes, but dig a little deeper and you find all these wonderful production touches:

-the bass
-the way her lonely vocal is tucked away on the left
-the vibe hits hiding in the bassline
-the smokey saxophone calling from a back room, playing simultaneous with the plaintive harmonica

Hell, I even love the echo on the hi-hat. Everything just sounds perfectly calibrated.

The Four Seasons - Beggin’

From New Gold Hits, 1967. Re-edited/remixed by some asshole in 2007; covered that same year by some Norwegian rappers who almost got it right.

Their funkiest song by a country mile. No “December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)” does not count, fuck you and fuck your wedding.

The mixing is a little wonky for dancefloor purposes—the drums and bass are all the way to the left—but it hardly matters: this is a serious banger. Frankie et al don’t really deviate from their normal high-pitched doo-wop-type formula—this one was written by their keyboardist, same as usual—but damn if the band doesn’t bring it hard with the rhythm section and the handclaps. Dance classic. Maybe just by accident, hell, I don’t know. Bonus points for the mellotron.

Latin Blues Band - I’ll Be a Happy Man

From Take a Trip Pussycat, 1968. Found on a Latin funk compilation, purchased at a flea market in London. Bernard Purdie on drums.

This wonderful track has an interesting history, having been released four separate times with slight alterations through the late ’60s and early ’70s (somewhere along the line acquiring the DNA of Archie Bell and the Drell’s “Tighten Up”). The fourth version, “Hippy Skippy Moon Strut”, was sampled by DJ Premier for his production of Christina Aguilera’s “Ain’t No Other Man” (and unsurprisingly they fucked up the sample clearance). Anyway, this is the OG, the only one with proper singing on it, and man it is a Banger: an amazing horn chart held down by some of the tightest double-time funk drumming I’ve ever heard, slowing down a couple times for some straight-up Latin breaks but always staying crazy danceable. Yes!

James Brown - Mind Power

From The Payback double LP, 1974. Fun Fact: According to Wikipedia, The Payback was originally submitted as the soundtrack album to the movie Hell Up in Harlem, but was rejected by the director for not being funky enough. Whatta asshole!

Anxious, epic funk: two separate grooves, one breathing in and the other breathing out. Now I want to talk about the pronunciation and the realization. What it is and what it is. Brothers need jobs. Now the educators, they call it ESP, positive thinking, right. Being nine years old before I got my first pair of underwear out of a store. Look like the catfish went in with his head and come out real quick and didn’t leave nothing else. Two little fishes, five loaves of bread. Mind power. Gimme some flute. Five-point buttermilk bottom in Atlanta. Heh. All right. Funky robot. And meanwhile back to the ranch. Deal. Deal. Deal. Deal. Deal. Deal. Deal. Deal.

Bohannon - Save Their Souls

From Stop & Go, 1972. Found inside “Cashmere Thoughts” by Jay-Z.

Apart from a name-check in the Tom Tom Club’s “Genius of Love” and the occasional sample, this guy seems to have been largely forgotten. It’s a shame, because the guy is responsible for some fantastic funk gems. “Save Their Souls” is a little heavier than his usual dance-floor stuff, and all the better for it: deep bass, organ, handclaps, smokey saxophone, vague lyrics about salvation: a stone groove. Bonus points for the dramatic two-note violin ostinatos and especially the syncopated plucking, tripping up and down the scale. I get fixated on those plucks; when the song gets going, sometimes it’s all I can hear.

Bill Withers - You

From +’Justments, 1974.

How is this not on any greatest hits albums? It’s so awesome: one of Bill’s serious-er grooves, lyrics that somehow are angry, righteous, confident, soulful, and uplifting all at the same time, and best of all, no chorus—just Bill telling this uncouth woman off, one awesome couplet at a time. A lot of great lines here: my favorite is “While you’re looking at the monkeys, the monkeys looking dead at you, two people getting done trying to figure out who’s doing who” but also, “People lying down always get blinded by people standing on their own two feet,” and, “Life is just a shadow that I can’t seem to find sometimes, but I guess I’ll make it ‘cause I found out that it’s really in my mind.”

This has to be the most positive break-up song ever: full of vitality, injecting the listener with confidence in himself and his future and making the world outside brighter.
—-
You want to take me to a doctor
To talk to me about my mind
To try to give directions to some places
That I don’t really want to find
Trouble in me is not related
To things that I might say or do
I’m really not that complicated
Your good doctor friend, he ought to talk to you
I notice that he can’t remember
Things that he never should forget
And why does he spend his evenings
Smoking them funny cigarettes?
I have a friend that knows your best friend
He goes some places where she goes
He said he saw y’all at a party
Sniffing white powder up your nose
You got the nerve to call me narrow-minded
‘Cause I’m not loose and indiscreet
But people lying down always get blinded
By people standing on their own two feet
Life is just a shadow
That I just can’t seem to find sometimes
But I guess I’ll make it
‘Cause I found out that it’s really in my mind
You shouldn’t take it too seriously
‘Cause it really ain’t gon’ last too long
You really only got two choices
You can lay down and be weak
Or you can stand up where you’re at
And still be strong
Tomorrow depends too much on today
And yesterday, all that gentleman is to you is gone
All you find out looking back
Is the fact that both of us was wrong
Both of us was wrong
You’re talking right to me
But you really ain’t saying a thing
You’re pouring muddy water on me
Trying to convince me it’s rain
You’re talking to me crazy
But you’re trying to make me feel insane
You’re like a Sunday family
Digging animals in a zoo
But while you’re looking at monkeys
The monkeys looking dead at you
Two people getting done
Trying to figure out who’s doing who
If you’re throwing dirt at people
You got to get some dirt on you
I got to take a tone of lies
Just to get an ounce of truth from you
You’re like a man loving Jesus
That says he can’t stand a Jew

Get on down and play the dozens
Talk about four folks
From your mama to your cousins
You down there,
You know what I’m talking ‘bout

Bruce Haack - Blow Job

From a bootleg of Haackula, 1978 but unreleased until a few years ago. Obtained from a friend.

The cleaned-up “Snow Job” version from his Bite album benefits from some lovely Vocoder-type melodies, but this one still wins for being fucking creepy. Haack’s synthesizers are by and large self-made, and he’s constructed a beautifully trippy background with them here, all springing rhythm and winding, ethereal melody. But that’s not the creepy part. No, the creepy part is Bruce whispering his own fatalistic lyrics, rubbing up against the music all full of bitter anger and weird phallic insertions. These are the words of a man beaten and driven half-mad from living in this world, aware of the uselessness of his words but compelled to carry on anyway. It’s surreally poetic (history gave you a blowjob?!), but also kind of insane; those two qualities taken together make for an unsettling listen. 

Welcome
Welcome to second best my friend
The living part of life is just a blow job
Welcome
You left your courage in a tree
And history gave you a blowjob
Time is only love’s mistake
And love is what they used to make
When days had turned to reckless night
And lights were blowin’ out of sight
The way they said we all should be
Somehow they really got to me
And I have suffered from their fear
And wondered if the time was near
To go back
Go back
And let the righteous have my day
And let the sun go all the way
Suffer little ones who always knew
That you were me and I was you
To come with dignity and pride
Into a world where side by side
They all can find a perfect way
To live their life, to play their play
To kiss the sky and so to fly
Away from us who did not die
But went beyond so they could know
Who did the job, who dealt the blow
Who killed the cock, who spoiled the show
Who did the job, who dealt the blow

Madlib - Electric Company (Voltage-Watts)

From Beat Konducta Vols. 1-2: Movie Scenes, 2006.

As much as I love and respect Madlib, songcraft is not the guy’s strong suit. His brilliance comes across not through careful craft or isolated moments but rather sheer force of discography: an unceasing stream of beats slapped together about as quickly as he can think of them, mistakes and all. I approach his instrumental work as kind of a record-night listening party: instead of a self-contained presentation of rap beats, we get a brief tour through a particular corner of an amazing record collection.

These approaches can make it difficult to isolate (or even remember) selected tracks from any given album, but “Electric Company (Voltage-Watts)” stands out for its smart sample choices—Raymond Scott bleeps paired with some nifty synth work and a random ODB interview snippet. The whole thing has a quietly alien air at odds with the soul flips on the rest of the album.

Okay, are we back up?

RJD2 - Thine Planetarium

From the Tin Foil Hat EP, originally released as part of his greatest-hits vinyl box set in 2009. Also available as a bonus track on the 2009 reissue of Deadringer.

This one starts out with murky synthesizer samples before establishing a theme with a male choral sample, then taking us on an adventure with a half-dozen or more tempo changes and musical left turns (bonus points for the Moog Carmen), offering up various re-introductions and mutations of that theme before returning to it nine-some minutes later at warp speed, finally dropping back down to earth with a looped coda. RJD2 generally piles up his samples with a composer’s ear, and the epic length and loose, episodic form of this song bears that out as well as anything else in his catalog. Those very qualities also make it something of an anomaly in his catalog, justifying its exclusion from a proper album; still and all, it’s one of his best.

RJD2 - Get Off My Spaceship, Bitch

Another B-side (I told you I was a sucker) from the same 12” as yesterday. 2004.

This guy covers the same tonal ground as “1976 (Remix)”—vintage synth sounds, rock drumming, a little guitar—just enough outside his normal palette to warrant being left off an album. I like the stop/start nature of the song, especially the two resting points with the spooky percussive sound effects; it makes me wonder what it would be like entirely without drums. He could have afforded to fuck around just a little more. This is a B-side, after all; the stakes are much lower.

RJD2 - 1976 (Remix)

12” single, 2004. I need a new needle.

I’m a sucker for B-sides and this is a nice one, flash-freezing the original’s vocal sample and resetting it against some neat analog synthesizer noises and urgent rock-style drum programming. RJD2’s music has an unfortunate tendency to age very quickly—I can’t put my finger on why but it might have to do with his choice of drum sounds, which sounded stale and annoyingly processed even when I first heard them—but his best productions retain an exhilarating, emotional power, and so it is with this one, the music and lyrics (in German, singing about beautiful Istanbul) rubbing against each other with just enough cognitive dissonance to create a sad-alien vibe without turning you off entirely.

P.S. Look at this bullshit:
“Please note: at the request of the artist, this page is protected, meaning that no further content can be added by community members for this artist”

Fuck you RJD2. What are you afraid of?

DJ Shadow - Mutual Slump

From Live! In Tune and on Time, 2004.

This live version of a standout track from Endtroducing… isolates the original’s central Bjork loop and lets it ride solo for a while, slowly incorporating the comic monologue and Vangelis synths from the back half of “Stem/Long Stem”. I’ve been harping on minimalist hip-hop lately like a big dork, and this guy here, with its reverb-laden, 5-note loop buttressed by a drone and a vocal snippet, is so minimal it’s ambient. Definitely closer to Steve Reich than Steinski. Take out the audience noise and you’re floating in space.

Bonus points for that stuttering effect at the end, most likely the result of rapid crossfader action similar to a transformer scratch. It’s a relatively small change that achieves maximum emotional impact due to the ethereal stillness of the rest of the song, like a sleepy starship shifting direction. Or something.

Simian Mobile Disco - Clock

From the Clock EP, 2008. Also available as a bonus track on some or other version of Attack Sustain Decay Release.

New Kraftwerk! This thing is titled aptly, zipping along as it does with beauty and precision and without a hint of humanity. Simian Mobile Disco generally make more straightforward dance music, but they started out as Simian, a rock band with a serious Brian Eno jones (the liner notes for their first album thank him for the “toys”). “Clock” splits the difference between that earlier group of studio-tinkerers and its current club-oriented incarnation, delivering a bouncy robot full of carefully calibrated synth tones and metronomic drum hits. The result is as joyous and melodic as something this artificial can be (even though the “melody” is only four notes long). Good for driving down futuristic highways at high speed.