LIFEISNOIZE

While fashion is living through the last of the 80's revival... and exploring the early 90's revival (check out Alicia Silverstone's attire in Aerosmith's Cryin' video and you'll see what I mean), the music world is - in part - going through a late 60's early 70's soul revival.

Here are 3 examples of just that...  Just like the houses found in pop story "Les trois petits cochons", there's a really bad one, a medium-okay one and a really good one.

1- GAME - Shake

Man WTF?  This guy is like.... huh, how put this into words.  Like he still talks about YEYO and making too much noize in his crib and getting complaints from his landlord and shit... C'MON man!  We all know you is still living with your ma' here buddy! 

Then he goes on with the too easy "let's dis some white people rhymes" by letting us know that only the Black Eye Peas make white folk SHAKE...  JUST PLAIN HORRIBLE MAN, ANNE MURRAY MAKE WHITE PEOPLE SHAKE TOO.  The beat itself, is OKAY!

So Game, if you gonna be a hater, try being good at it dude (yeah, I just called him dude).

2- WU-TANG-CLAN - Early Grave

So this track has a very decent soulfull beat with the ODB flavor all over it.  So overall, I like it.  Can't say much about it so you tell me what you think???

3- SHARON JONES & THE DAP KINGS - I Learned the hard way

Listen, this track will make you feel "Friday GOOD"...

Peace

By SonofleGUN

tks to RCRLBL

** Aerosmith were and always will be a bunch of phonies

I know this post would probably fit more in the Videos of our Lives category, but we ain't got one ya'll!  Anyways, these lads have a pretty good bunch of poppy sounding tracks and are not totally out of place here!

Here are two vids from our Irish mates TDCC.  Low tech productions, well kinda... just how I like em'

I CAN'T TALK - I really like this one!

And "Undercover Martyn" the second single of the Irish trio

Two Door Cinema Club, as NME said :   " It's herky, it's jerky, it's mile a minute, it's everything we love about guitars and boys". This track is taken from their debut album "Tourist History" to be released March 1st through Kitsuné / Cooperative Music.

Thanks Kitsune

By SonOfLeGun

Here's a little sweet track from CROOKERS for you music lovers... ENJOY

RCRDLBL

By SonOfLeGun

Not like the Marquis de Sade (bad wordplay, I admit) it does not pain me to hear Milady Sade again.  Was not a big Sade fan I'll also admit that but the ladies in my life through time & space taught me how to appreciate all of her gems. 

I was not expecting her first single to be THAT POWERFUL! Here is the vid people... She is strong & commanding in the music however delicate & sensitive in her words... She is Sade. 

BTW still jammin' with the SAME band... Sweetback.

Unfortunately it is impossible to find a proper copy of the vid with a nice embedded code so I have to link you to another site, YUK! Here it is anyway it's from soulculture.co.uk (yeah it's legit)

By Mario in love... 

Willie Mitchell, who owned Royal Studio where Buddy Guy, John Mayer and many others recorded their music, died on Tuesday January 5th at the age of 81.  Mitchell had been responsible for many of Al Green's hits on Hi Records of Memphis.

With the passing of Willie Mitchell, we loose a great record producer, label head and musician who has inspired not only his generation, but almost each generation that followed.  Think about what The RZA's career would of been without him... 

His music, in part, reminds me of the 70's and 80's U.K. Northern Soul Dancing... For those who know me well, ya'll know how much I would of like being on the scene at this "epoque".

Look closely; baby powder on the dance floor, Dj wearing some Fred Perry...  The closes I've come to that was at Salon Daomé in the early 2000's.  Thanks my friends!

By Phil

Ok, this for me is HUGE! When I read the article this morning I was shaking of enthusiasm and could barely believe it. New B&W pics & more than 4000 hours of unheard audio footage with the best jazz had to offer in the 50's and the 60's now available. Monk was there so inevitably Powell was there too (they were good friends and influenced each other in ways we cannot understand, specially because theirs styles is so opposite to each other) But I digress, again. 

 WNYC just produced a kick ass tour de force with the raw material recorded in that particular loft on 6th Avenue in New York. Sit down and enjoy. Lots of Jazz in the Jazz Loft.

It's a jazz thang!

 By Mario "scat" Pierre

I've found out this little piece of laughter last week and tried to posted it through the SquareSpace iPhone app. No success. ANYWAY (yes' I'm looking at you SS engineers...) I'm posting now the Muppets interpretation of the universally well renown hit by Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody...

Just watch and laugh...

If you know me you know damn well I'm a music fan/lover. My passion for it is growing day by day. I've always, since I'm haitian, had an ear for kompa. No disrespect for the one man orchestra gig but yours truly ain't down with that. What I'm talking about (like) is the good old haitian music with its "rythme de feu" & "boleros". I have a little collection of my own I've been keeping for quite a while now. But one of my friend DJ Kobal has some major haitian shizm in his collection. Some people call it kompa, some people call it tropical funk... I call it good music.

Here is a link providing to you a mix of my friend DJ Kobal latest. You'll hear some haitian tracks alongside some stuff from Guadeloupe & Martinique. There is a difference, yes. Subtle differences in the rhythmic sections here and there mostly in the fast pace - voodoo influenced - haitian rythme de feu. Off course each band has a distinct sound but beyond that, you kinda can tell which country a track comes from. 

Finally, remember a couple of weeks ago I talked to you about Soundcloud??? (Posted October 5th 2009 - Music, Mizik, Muzak) Well  DJ Kobal knows and posted some mixes here and there. I told you Soundcloud was the shizm! If you wanna hear some more from my man hit this right here. 

My homie Scott C (The Goods, The Incubator) has released a new track. He produced that one and the 1rst on the mic is no one but Kev Brown. If you don't know him it's alright, now it is the time to dig his beats and lyrics.  Scott says he worked on it throughout the summer 09 and now he is delivering the goods. What I think of it? Like I wrote on his blog (Incubator) it ain't a BOOM BAP but i still see myself spreading the good love on it on the dance floor. Perhaps at the next GOODS? (It sad, I missed at all of the 2009 parties... Shame on me, but that is another story.)

So here it is you LIN lovers available for download (straight from mediafire.com) the Man with Metazon & Kev Brown (The Incubator rmx)

If you just wanna listen to the track, just hit the flyer, right thurr.

Wariodeecee

About.com just posted an excellent introduction article on some giant saxophone players. My favorite, Lester Young. Read and learn ya'll!

Class dismissed.

By Wario Peterson

I present to you the Vijay Iyer's. The new players (Vijay Iyer leads a trio) in the jazz world. Maybe too new for my taste actually. They are wonderful jazz players with lots of imagination for the music between the music. Like Charlie Parker... They have this gift of just getting in the intersection of blues, pop music and... (insert something).

The band plays pop or hip hop songs with nothing less than a drum, a piano and a bass. This is not the reprises in the like of FLying Lotus. Nah huh! I must say the band does not tickle my fancy. But I had to let you know about them because you'll have to deal with 'em for the next years. They will be a power house in the jazz music industry because they found a niche, a very cerebral niche I must say. Some will disagree with what I just wrote. What do I care... 

I appreciate what they Vijay Iyer's (Ain't I talking about it?) but... Ok let me put it like this. I do remember the first time I heard Free Jazz from Ornette Coleman. I knew I was listening to something unique, intelligent, avant-gardiste etc. The experience was not pleasing. On the second listening I felt less stupid... Let me tell you it will take me more than two hearings for this one.

All that said it is a good album. I know I contradict myself, I know. But that is how I feel & what I think. I have not been confused like that for quite awhile. I kinda felt like that too when I heard Quasimodo for the first time at Noize Records on St-Laurent Blvd. in Montreal. It took me a couple of months to dig it and walk straight with Madlib. 

I digress...

I to say I dunno what else to say here. Perhaps I just rushed my post? Say, what if I give myself & yourself time to listen to the album again and come back to you in a couple of days-weeks-months???

What say you?

I the meantime I'm posting a link from the famous NPR regarding the Vijay Lyer Trio (Sweet name though).

See you in a couple of (insert length of time here)

I'm adding a few links (clic the pic for a different related link) from the NPR related with Vijay Iyer's, from MySpace

Here a lil' web tool to convert your favorite Youtube video into an mp3. I know there is a few add-ons for Firefox doing the same thing but if you are like me and do not use Firefox I present to you ListenToYouTube.

P.S. Try to download HQ content if you can cuz the audio quality might be very poor.

Holler!

By Awrio

Hey people!

Here is a way to make some very accurate searches for music... using Google. All is there; illegal tracks, incomplete tracks, songs on Youtube.com (which is owned by Google) etc etc etc. Lots of MAJOR partners but NOT the majors you might think of like BMG, Sony, EMI... (Those majors are in a world of their own and they dunno how to click their heels 3 times & come back to our reality via the new digital tornado i.e. the web). Google made deals with Imeem, Pandora (which is available in the U.S. if you don't use a proxy), Lala, MySpace & Rhapsody. Ain't that cool? 

Now just search, find and play! Yup! Google added a player straight on the search page... oooohhh!

So go out there, refine your search while knowingly sticking it to the Man...

Have fun.

Google Music

My mom got for me a huge poster of him when we went to NYC in 1983 or 1984. I had a somewhat identical red jacket with zippers all over and the infamous glove. The only thing missing was the jehri curl. (My mom had her limits) I knew all the choreographies by heart, could moonwalk for miles with attitude... Remembered the first time I saw him do the moonwalk on tv. I was like, wow he knows how to do that - cuz you must know bboyz & bgilrz were doin' it way before him in the streets of NYC - 

Remembering that is all we can do now. He is gone. The man I must say I couldn't care less but the beats, the songs, the voice... Like everybody else I was shocked when he passed away. Sad. Whatever happened afterwards was & is still so "JACKSONIAN". 

A couple of days ago some obscure song was released and written by Paul Anka. An incomplete unpolished song must I say. Whatever!

Nonetheless, Dj Jazzy Jeff paid tribute to the artist(s) - yes he was not alone creating the kingdom. Think Berry Gordie & all the Motown studio musicians, Rod Templeton & Quincy etc etc...

I cannot say more but to let you listen to this. Actually if you want you can even download the whole set for free mes amis! Here it is and lemme know what d'you think of it.

I'd like to thank Steve Mes for this find. (twitter.com/stevemes)

Here it is He's the King, I'm the Dj. (Download)

He's the King, I'm the Dj (Stream) - YOU HAVE TO CREATE AN IMEEM ACCOUNT (FREE)

By Ma"Ma ma say, ma ma sa, ma ma coo sa"rio

Hello music lovers!

Here is a website you'll enjoy for sure. I actually played with it a for a few weeks before to post on lifeisnoize. It's Citysound.fm where you can listen to a whole lot of music from a lot of cities around the world... FOR FREE!

Ya heard me dawgs & dawgettes... You could even post some of your music if ya want to. There is also a neat thing if you are a twitterino (like yours truly) where you could actually tweet about the songs you just heard, or tweet for the city you are rooting for. Montreal lost a few spots on the ethos there but the Freezer is still on the top 32. I'm gonna let the creators explain what the hubbub about all this for a few seconds...

What's Soundcloud? from thewavingcat on Vimeo.

The sound is simply Urm-May-Zing! I must say a lot of people posting their OWN CREATIONs are mos def sound freaks. On the other hand, a lot of music posted is Tech, Tech House or some other kind of harsh electronic music. For my taste, some are muzak but that is just me. Couple of weeks ago hip hop started to pop here and there but I don't think it is good stuff. I intend to put some jazz, baroque & funk on the spot ... watch me!

Anyway it's a great way to discover a lot of new bands, producers, dj's & artists in general. 

Once again, I repeat... IT'S FREE!

Try it, NOW!

 By WoWrio

They're called Metronomy, they're from London...

This remix joint is brought to you thanks to Wild Geese.  Here's the story thanks to RCRDLBL

"London remixers Wild Geese retrofit the malleable “Do the Right Thing” with a menu of classic dance-club moves: a sturdy synth-clap beat that’d mix in or out of anything, a bit of cowbell and a stove full of boiling electronics, all rising and falling and hissing out clouds of digital steam".

Here's a little piece of sweet ear candy for you boys and girls... It has become harder to find this type of beats played in Montreal's club.  Is it because the kids don't like those kinda tracks?  Sorry, but t is a relevant question... After the death of both NYC and Chicago's House Music scene, can Montreal carry the weight of the Northern East Coast?

Wario?  Speak Senor Emperador, SPEAK!

By Phil

Aiight aiight aiight, I ain't one of them youngstas anymore, so I do like my share of old school flav' here and there. 

While I was listening to Claude VonStroke's latest track available on RCRDLBL, I noticed the link to his BBC Essential Mix (which was recorded back in 2007 if I'm not mistaken), so I click on it...  Since the shite (and I mean this in a good way Claude) starts with Countdown to Armagedon by  Public Enemy, I was like... oooh I might be in for a treat

I was not wrong about that either folks.  Check it out, it's packed with Jackin, Housy, Acidy, Techy flavors!

Music Here

Peace... dancers delight

Ain't that a battle mix???

Here is my response to "The dude is a dude with soul".  I invite you to discover Lewiston, Maine's very own Ray Lamontagne.  His latest album Gossip In The Rain is simply off the hook... Enjoy!

Here's a track that I personally affection (and check out Meg White as well)

Bio:

" With his remarkable, rough hewn vocals and evocative, finely etched songs, Ray LaMontagne has, in but a few short years, become the rare artist of whom the world waits with to see what each new work will reveal. Now, on his much anticipated third album, the Maine-based singer and songwriter has crafted a warm and welcoming record which unveils heretofore untapped depths of ingenuity and optimism. Touching upon a range of styles and musical setting – spanning pastoral folk, railroad blues, front porch country, and plangent balladry – “GOSSIP IN THE GRAIN” proves to be LaMontagne’s most creative and emotionally expansive collection to date." (Read more about Ray Lamontagne on Myspace).

By Phil

Mayer Hawthorne, remember that name. I've been following the cat for the past year or so and dang the bro ... But wait a minute he ain't a bro but a DUDE! Word up people! Peanut Butter Wolf did it once again. He's (PBW) been able to surprise us with all kind of finding and collabos in the past years. All them Madlib split personality projects, MF Doom, Dam Funk, the late J Dilla amongst many other artists. Go check 'em all out here on Stones Throw website. (Stones Throw is the name of the record label PBW owns baby!)

Let's get back to our main subject. Mayer Hawthorne. A white dude from the outskirts of Motown singing like not a lot a people are nowadays. Don't let me start on that topic, let me just say they almost all sing from the nose...aaaiigghht! Hawthorne is not. Actually is not even a singer! He just do what he can, and peeps & peepsettes he sure can. Plays all the instruments, still learns how to master his vocal cords -must say you can still hear the inexperience voice here and there- Ain't it the same for a lot of artists? At least he has no intention of calling 'isself a "singer". 

All that said the sound of Mayer Hawthorne is... it's like comfort food for me. Old school proven formulas to make you dance, giggle and mostly to make you happy. Trust me when I say the single Just Ain't Gonna Work Out will stay in your ears for quite a while once you hear it... You know what? Why don't you just listen to it NOW!

I ain't done yet so meet you after your listening...

So what do you think? I dunno why but I really connect with the song. Yeah, I've heard it: "Wario it's just ain't gonna work out & I said that: "I told you girl, I'm not down with a relationship now... it just ain't gonna work out if you need more." (both situations topped by the It's not you it's me joke...)

Anyway enough with my personal life...

The production on several other track is loose, blue and heartfelt not over produced au contraire. For quite a while I thought sampling was used and abused for the tracks but nah huh! A live studio band people! It gives the whole project personality. Even the piano sounds good on I wish It Would Rain. It sound groovy and the notes are not buzzing even on an mp4 256kbps format. (Yes my ears are sensitive, ok) 

If you went through all your Impressions (Curtis Mayfield first doo wop band) collection and you wanna hear something brand new and fresh try my man Mayer Hawthorne. Album is out so go get it folks. That one I will actually GRAB THE COMPACT DISC perhaps straight from ST website. Yeah I still like to buy my gems on optical support... it sounds WAY BETTER.  

So in all I give the 5 tracks I heard so far a big 85/100.  We will rate again once the entire album will be heard.

Now I'm leaving you on this one... Mayer Hawthorne acapella with his band of bad boys!

 Wario with the falsetto voice!

Update on Friday, September 4, 2009 at 3:17PM by Lifeisnoize Editors

Here is what L. Michael Gipson from Creating Loafing had to say about it:

 

There's much hoopla over Mayer Hawthorne getting signed to Stones Throw Records on the strength of two songs. From the retro-soul sound of Hawthorne's debut, the blue-eyed soulster from Detroit must have succeeded on his lyricism, because the voice just isn't there. A thin natural and blender falsetto that's part Smokey Robinson, part Curtis Mayfield and too much talent show crooner, Hawthorne mistakes vulnerability for soul. His songwriting, however, and the band's soft funk playing elevate the set. "Maybe So, Maybe No" goes from a gauzy "Wake Up Everybody" opener to a swinging, complex doo-wop extravaganza that never once sacrifices melody for band pyrotechnics. The title track is a loving massage boasting Hawthorne's best performance. These tunes are just slightly more soulful than the pop ditties that made the Rascals, the Association, and the Lovin' Spoonful '60s favorites. What's strange is how often you find yourself pressing repeat. (Stones Throw) 4 stars out of 5

 

Now from Tim Forrester Skiddle.com

 

Peanut Butter Wolf’s ‘Stones Throw’ label brings us its latest signing, Mayer Hawthorne, and according to his press release, he’s ‘the new school soul sensation who has taken the Motown assembly-line production model and eliminated every element but himself and a few hired hands’, and, apparently, ‘It’s not just throwback music anymore – this revival is all about progression’.

That all just sounds like meaningless, advertising speak to me, as, Mayer Hawthorne, if we’re going to be blunt about it, has created nothing more than a throwback album, desperate to emulate the glorious sounds of Berry Gordy’s legendary label. 
A more cynical mind would think it’s, financially, a good move to sign up white, 60’s influenced, soul singers in the wake of successes from the like of Amy Whinehouse and Duffy.

Hawthorne’s influences, from the likes of Smokey Robinson and Curtis Mayfield, stand out all the way through ‘A Strange Arrangement’, it’s just unfortunate he is unable to come anywhere close to the passion and talent of those original artists, but why listen to a pale imitation when you can just as easily re-visit the original Motown recordings?