MOG - mktackabery's Posts

MC Azeem: Trivia Terrorist

mktackabery — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:31:49 GMT

Here's another track from MC Azeem, at rawkkiddoh's request.

More MC Azeem: Young Cassius

mktackabery — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 23:08:13 GMT

Mollifire posted joyous news today about an upcoming solo drop from the gifted MC Azeem, who has dropped science on tracks by Spearhead and Afro-Mystik, among others. For the lovely molli, here's the most excellent slammin' track that's been bustin' up my 'phones for the past few weeks.

I play it often because it is da shit, to coin a very old phrase. Peace.

I just made a MOG Blidget

mktackabery — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 19:44:20 GMT

I just made a little widget for my blog today to put my MOG posts on my blog page. The link for my widget is here, but anyone can make their own MOG Blidget to put on their own page.

I thought it was a nice way to promote your MOG posts in other places and spread the word about MOG. You have to register for a free Widgetbox account to build a widget, and you don't need any programming knowledge to do it.

Sunday Covers: Sting covers The Police

mktackabery — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 15:50:36 GMT

In 1982 Sting played the Devil in a movie called Brimstone and Treacle, and The Police wrote a devastating song called I Burn For You. Sting later covered it on his first solo album along with a few other Police covers, which at the time seemed to be a statement - I wrote these, or something similar. I go back and forth between the versions. It seems to me that the original version is more dangerous and the jazz version he did with Omar Hakim, Branford Marsalis and Kenny Kirkland is more romantic, losing the danger. I didn't see the movie until about 1992, and by that time any danger the movie might have possessed seemed mitigated by its sheer silliness - Sting, ladies and gentleman, is a much better bass player than an actor.

What's your take?

The original:

Sting's reworking, live from Bring On the Night:

Sunday Covers: Andy Summers & Ben Verdery jazz The Police

mktackabery — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 15:27:09 GMT

Andy Summers

After The Police broke up, Andy Summers did his own damned thing, and that included collaborations and ventures into some of the far reaches of the outer spaces of the electric guitar. He's done new age, spacey, wacky explorations with the likes of Robert Fripp. scored films (did you know he scored 2010?), toured with Keith Jarrett and Eberhard Schoener, and done some incredibly varied solo albums. I suppose being independently wealthy allows you to do whatever you want, and innovate, or not, however you choose.

Benjamin Verdery

Andy's latest project is called First You Build a Cloud, and is a collaboration with classical guitarist and composer Benjamin Verdery, who plays on acoustic instruments and is best known for his affiliations with the academic world in the U.S., most notably with the Yale Guitar Orchestra. Apparently Ben and Andy met at the NY Guitar Festival in 2002 and magic ensued. I can tell you that Cloud is probably my favorite Summers record in ten years, and I have most of them.

On the record is one Police cover, such a rarity for him I had to double check my computer and make sure I was really listening to what I was listening to. Not only was it a cover (Summers did some Monk covers a long while back, but that's about all I remember really), but it was a Police song, once declared musica non grata in the Summers repertoire as far as I know. But no, here is a version of Bring on the Night that not only is played by Andy the f**g man Summers, but is such an exploration in the best sense of improvisation that it literally blew off my headphones. I dont want to say anymore about it so as not to spoil the surprise. But it's different.

And now I share it with you, good MOGgers.

Andy Summers website

Benjamin Verdery website

Sunday Covers: Karsh Kale and MIDival PunditZ rock The Police

mktackabery — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 15:07:01 GMT

First of all a BIG SHOUT OUT! to Sean at Six Degrees for sending me a lovely package - really, I love this label, and Sean sent me some really great stuff which arrived yesterday. I will no doubt be talking about it all. I got some great stickers for my Mac and some really great CDs.

This year Six Degrees' 2008 version of their awesome Traveler collection contains a cover, and this particular cover allows me to talk about one of my all time favorite rock bands, The Police, so I'm doubly (triply? I've lost count at this point) blessed. Also about Karsh Kale, a multi-instrumentalist / producer from India whose last record was released on EMI's Manhattan label. To call Kale's sound unique would be the understatement of the century, but Kale to me seemed to achieve a breakthrough - he seemed to be the first producer to successful transmute Eastern beats into the Western consciousness without simply subsuming them under straight Western time signatures.

Karsh Kale

I don't know enough about percussion and time signatures to speak knowledgably about this subject, but I listen to enough world - fusion - electronica to know that since Deep Forest popularized the immersion of cultural music into pop, a great deal of beautiful Eastern music has gotten bastardized by Western beat producers who just smash some techno and 4/4 time on top of it. It is the strange beat patterns though that prove a barrier for Western listeners to so much Eastern music, and for me, it took a lot of patient listening and an insistence on maintaining an open mind and heart to break out of the need to hear a metronomic beat pattern every time I listened to a song.

MIDival PunditZ

That said, a Western radio-friendly song like The Police's Synchronicity, which relies on a reggae beat but easily falls into metronomic patterns, might seem dangerous for someone like Kale to take on with a group like MIDival PunditZ, a group from India that prides itself on bringing traditional Indian music to the electronically washed masses. At first blush, the straight ahead rock beats are what stand out in this song, but careful listening - with an open mind and heart - bear fruit. There are ancient patterns here, even in a pop song written by the poppiest of pop stars, the man Sting. Which seems fitting for a song which is about ancient darknesses present in the modern-day heart.

Wait, did I just write a treatise about a Sting song?

Karsh Kale's website

MIDival PunditZ website

Six Degrees on the MOG

Charlotte sings 5:55 Saturday

mktackabery — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 13:23:26 GMT

Good morning MOG. I've been in a Charlotte mood for about, oh, a year and a half. I keep coming back to this brilliant record, produced by Air and Jarvis Cocker. Enjoy!

Beauty Mark (live with Air)

Everything I Cannot See (live)

The Operation (vid)

The Songs That We Sing (live, although I strongly suspect lip synching. For shame Charlotte! But I still love you)

Title track (vid)

and, my absolute favorite track, Little Monsters (fan vid)

Sunday Covers: Tori Amos covers R.E.M.

mktackabery — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 16:40:40 GMT

It's safe to say after all these years that R.E.M.'s best selling song is their greatest, I think. As someone who was there almost at the beginning, I feel qualified to say that Losing My Religion will stand the test of time as one of the Greatest. Pop. Songs. Ever.

Tori recorded an unbelievable version of it for a POS movie called Higher Learning around the time Under The Pink was recorded. The song leaves the entire creative (if I can use that word) effort of that film in the dust and brings Michael Stipe's lyrics somewhere else. Which confirms that it is one of the Greatest. Pop. Songs. Ever.

I recommend closing your eyes to the Velveeta fan vid. Below it is Tori expaining her experience with the film, and performing the song, live.

Sunday Covers: Tori Amos covers Leonard Cohen

mktackabery — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 16:32:43 GMT

Tori Amos recorded a cover of Famous Blue Raincoat for the Leonard Cohen tribute album, Tower of Song: The Songs of Leonard Cohen, which I loaned to someone and have not replaced yet. Thankfully we have YouTube. Ignore the bad video and just listen to five and a half minutes of one of the greatest songs ever written given what can only be described as a treatment of this song by which all new recordings should be judged. It's simply devastating.

And what can I tell you my brother, my killer?
What can I possibly say?

I guess that I miss you. I guess I forgive you
I'm glad you stood in my way.

If you ever come by here, for Jane or for me,
Your enemy is sleeping, and his woman is free.

Sunday Covers: Tori Amos covers Bruce Springsteen

mktackabery — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 16:15:43 GMT

I'm in a piano mood today; sometimes it just strikes one, and you have to go with it. I have always appreciated Tori Amos; although I am not one of those fans who chases her every breathless statement and recording, I have about two-thirds of her discography, which must qualify me as a connoisseur.

Tori has a practice of releasing B-sides and singles along with most of her studio recordings; she is also a devoted performer of other songwriters. Sadly, no performers of her caliber that I am aware of have returned the favor. No matter. She has such a rich catalog of covers out there, she makes quite an interesting subject for a trio of Sunday posts.

Tori usually puts her own spin on her covers, too, which I believe my trio will demonstrate. Without further ado, our first exhibit: Bruce Springsteen's commercial ballad, I'm on Fire, a song which hindsight tells us demonstrated a new direction for Bruce that we didn't quite see coming at the time. Bruce wrote a smoldering, desperately painful song, and it's worth showing the video for that song, which to me was one of the few instances, especially at that particular time in video history, of a video enriching and expanding the emotional impact of a song. I can't embed it, so you'll have to venture over to YouTube to watch it here.

Tori's version keeps the smolder in, and the slower pace adds a growing menace, as if the object of her attention was nearby and the desperation of the narrator was spilling over into something dangerous.

I've got a bad desire.

What if we held a revolution and nobody came?

mktackabery — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:29:29 GMT

One week ago Rep. Dennis Kucinich introduced Articles of Impeachment against the President and Vice President of the United States of America.

This event, to my knowledge, was not covered by any major news organization, unless it was in the footnotes somewhere. It did, however, make the front page of Le Monde.

Gore Vidal's article on Truthdig inspired the shit out of me, but it's probably a bit too late, as our fearless state representatives have now buried said motion in a committee that probably won't move until after the coming election:

As I listened to Rep. Kucinich invoke the great engine of impeachment—he listed some 35 crimes by these two faithless officials—we heard, like great bells tolling, the voice of the Constitution itself speak out ringingly against those who had tried to destroy it.

Although this is the most important motion made in Congress in the 21st century, it was also the most significant plea for a restoration of the republic, which had been swept to one side by the mad antics of a president bent on great crime. And as I listened with awe to Kucinich, I realized that no newspaper in the U.S., no broadcast or cable network, would pay much notice to the fact that a highly respected member of Congress was asking for the president and vice president to be tried for crimes which were carefully listed by Kucinich in his articles requesting impeachment.

But then I have known for a long time that the media of the U.S. and too many of its elected officials give not a flying fuck for the welfare of this republic . . .

Listen to Gore Vidal read his article.

U.S. House Resolution 33 Documents

Rep. Kucinich on the web.

Funky Friday: Feeling love for Ubiquity today

mktackabery — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 14:53:59 GMT

All hail Ubiquity Records, for doing the electro-jazz thing before anyone else, and for reviving the funk before the 70s were cool again. Often imitated, never duplicated; a great introduction to their artists is the great Cookin' series. I am definitely in a mood for some Cookin' today . . . it's going to be another scorcher here, and we've been suffering smoke from serious wildfires in our area that are blowing from down eaatern NC way that make it pretty much impossible for me to go outside today unless I want to sleep with a nebulizer in the hospital all weekend

Since I'm cookin', I'm glad I got some Cookin' to keep me cool. Whatchoo got?

p.s. Re: picture below, note to Anna: just doing my part to equalize the MOG.

HHT: Don't ask me why I'm on white boys tonight . . .

mktackabery — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 01:26:30 GMT

Rappers from Iceland who sound like Rage Against the Machine shredding PE make perfect sense to me right now.

HHT: More techno white boys making rap noise

mktackabery — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 23:56:25 GMT

what ignorance, what a nation,

they're implanting rfid chips for identification . . .

Jack Dangers: brilliant.

HHT: Featuring Trent Reznor, part 3

mktackabery — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 20:00:55 GMT

Gotta finish the HHT-Rez trilogy with Saul Williams' brillian Niggy Tardust. If you haven't downloaded this album, shame on you. It's going to be one of those records that influence the kids for years to come.

This really isn't a video, but I'm at work and can't upload any mp3s, so just crank it. Let it out, blow it out, spit it out . . . Break the pain!

HHT: Featuring Trent Reznor, part 2

mktackabery — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 19:48:13 GMT

This isn't hip-hop, but it's got the same vibe. You could slip it in next to that El-P cut just fine. So say I. Plus this remix kicks ass. So there.

HHT: Featuring Trent Reznor

mktackabery — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 19:44:13 GMT

MOG has a WYSIWYG editor!

MOG has a WYSIWYG editor!
MOG has a WYSIWYG editor!

Yes, I'm

happy
about
this
shit!

Er, back to what I was gonna say . . .

Lately I've been a bit Reznor-obsessed, because dammit, someone has finally done it - he's completely fucked with the music industry. And it's a guy my age, who in real life is a pasty-faced former band geek just like me. Trent's so cool, and he's ubiquitous. If you look, he's by-god everywhere. And I can put him in hip hop Thursday, too. Check it:Trent with El-P.

Who's your obsession?

Thanks MOG for fixing MOM

mktackabery — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 19:22:40 GMT

Lies My MOG is telling about me

mktackabery — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 18:45:16 GMT

I did not just add the takeover UK, Paul Potts, or any new Frank Sinatra tunes to my digital music collection.

I have not been listening to Korn or Eminem lately.

And I have been commenting on a lot more posts than it appears I have today.

I swear MOG, I am about to go postal . . . it's not going to be pretty.

Our Fearless Leader: Now you can color!

mktackabery — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 12:49:37 GMT

From Lost at E Minor, this item: The George W. Bush Coloring Book!

Illustrated by Karen Ocker, this fabulous piece of satire features key moments in the illustrious career of Dubya, including "Mission Accomplished," complete with famous quotes like this gem: "We spend a lot of time talking about Africa, and we should. Africa is a country that suffers from incredible disease."

Pick yours up today! In the meantime, don't forget: we were all warned!

Funky Friday: An Electro-Funk Classic

mktackabery — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 17:00:38 GMT

In the early 80s, when Afrika Bambaata released Planet Rock, an entire generation busted out with a sound that was christened electro-funk, and Michael Johnson was the king. Tommy Boy records released a ton of 12" back in the day, and when I was the Token White Girl at the Record Bar, on Tuesdays when they'd come in we'd take them out for a spin.

Lay back and spin to this electro-funk classic. And no, that is not a Dalek dancing - that's Bobby Brown's uncle, who went on to produce a boatload of bands including New Edition, New Kids on the Block, and others.

More Jonzun Crew classics:

Funky Friday: Hungarian Hoedown

mktackabery — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 14:25:28 GMT

It's still hot down here in NC and the weekend is going to be roasting, but it's cool, because I've got the new funky in my Ford Escape, and it's Hungarian flavored.

Hey, I never promised that anything on my MOG page would make rational sense. But funky is not rational. You either feel it or you don't. This track may not strike you as funky, but it gets me somewhere in my funky trunk, and that's alright.

If you're into Mr. Scruff and others of that ilk, you will find a lot to appreciate here. Crookram's debut EP is available for free via Buda Beats, a Hungarian netlabel. I can't read their website, but the beats come in loud, clear, and cool.

You can listen to the entire EP, and download additional free tracks, from Crookram's own website. Be sure to check out Balboa while you are in a funky mood.

Download the 19/76 EP for free from Buda Beats.

HHT: Let's just all chill out

mktackabery — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 20:47:07 GMT

It's 99 d**n degrees in North Kackalacky y'all. Let's just ease inna this mutha.

MBM: There is no darker dub

mktackabery — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 20:48:18 GMT

I finally got around to picking up Jack Dangers' latest commercial outpouring, the dark dub-rubbed technopiece, AutoImmune, and it's probably no major surprise that I love it as I have loved all things JACK. So I can't even pretend to present an unbiased review here, but if you've been following Jack's output for the last four years or so, it should also come as no major surprise that this recording is a somewhat slower, darker, deeper exploration into dubalicious that earlier MBM outings into cyberaudiospace. Check out uploaded red button track above, and the vid clip of Hellfire below, for a taste. Warning: epileptic fits may ensue.

Dangers has not exactly stripped away his thick layers of overdubbed, mixed-up, microbeaten samples so much as submerged them into the earth. I picked up an album by another artist today (review coming soon) that was described as slurtronic, and I've been rolling that description around my mouth all day. AutoImmune isn't slurtronic, but I might call it sludgetronic.

Lovers of the IDM angry-white-vegan rapper version of the JACK won't be disappointed, though they'll have to wait until track 5 (Solid Waste, shown in the vid clip below) to get any vocals from the Dangers-man on this record. The patience is worth it; although Jack hasn't changed his idea of melody much, that driving, make-you-wanna-stomp magic is still in evidence. Strap on your Docs and get on the floor, boy!

In short, I love this damn record and look forward to lots of ear damage all summer long. Bang on, Mr. Jack.

A great 4-part video interview with the JACK begins here:

Meat Beat Manifesto's website MBM on MySpace

Sunday Covers Bartleby's Bluegrass Edition #3: Pat Flynn & Friends cover The Band

mktackabery — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 14:40:44 GMT

Live from the Greyfox Bluegrass Festival in New York, Pat Flynn and some friends jam out to Up on Cripple Creek. And thus my bluegrass trilogy is concluded.

Sunda Covers, Bartelby's Bluegrass Edition #2: Bela Fleck & Chris Thile cover Radiohead

mktackabery — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 14:36:55 GMT

We must have more bluegrass on the MOG! I can only do my part. Here is the undisputed bluegrass banjo master, Bela Fleck, and a recent disciple, Nickelback's Chris Thile on the mandolin, doing a nice job with a Radiohead tune.

Sunday Covers, Barteby's Bluegrass Edition #1: Alison Brown Covers Simon & Garfunkel

mktackabery — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 14:32:08 GMT

Bartelby's wish is my command! I didn't have time to rip this CD, but I did find it on youtube - sans video, but at least you can hear the great job Alison (that would be the babe banjo player) does with Homeward Bound. Enjoy, Mr. B.

Sunday Covers: June Tabor sings Richard Thompson

mktackabery — Sun, 25 May 2008 15:21:17 GMT

On 1994's Against the Stream, June Tabor covered Pavanne, a song written by Richard Thompson and recorded by Richard and Linda for 1978's First Light. It is a song that can only be sung by women like these - women whose high, high notes quiver like steel strings instead of water.

Here's a great recording of the Thompsons doing Pavanne:

Sunday Covers: June Tabor sings Ian Telfer

mktackabery — Sun, 25 May 2008 15:16:52 GMT

June Tabor has recorded and performed with The Oyster Band for years. One of my favorite songs she does was written by their Ian Telfer. It brings an exile's lament to our own Chicago shores. It's an odd song to listen to in May, but I am attracted to its melancholy cold nonetheless.

June and the Oyster boys covered another band who excelled at the melancholy and the cold. I believe you will find this a quite enjoyable rendition of Love Will Tear Us Apart.

Sunday Covers: June Tabor Covers Elvis Costello

mktackabery — Sun, 25 May 2008 15:04:36 GMT

It is the rare artist who, having attained a level of respect among her peers, begins to collect the rarest of treasures: songs written just for her to sing.

So it was with June Tabor who, having come back to recording and singing music publicly again in the 90s, was gifted with a cornucopia of tunes from many masters. In 1994 she recorded this gem from Elvis Costello, with longtime collaborator Huw Warren on piano for her album Against the Streams. It is a tiny gem about a woman who is treated like a tiny gem. Good morning, Mog.

In 1996 Elvis Costello recorded another song he wrote for her, and gave it prominence as the title song for a collection of odds and ends he wrote for other artists. The song, even when Elvis sings it, seems vintage June Tabor. That song in the comments.

Welcome Back Funky Friday: Kalimba Story

mktackabery — Fri, 23 May 2008 23:20:58 GMT

Earth, Wind & Fire introduced the soul of soul and the funk of funk to a lot of people, including me. Because they were such a huge pop success, they are often overlooked when discussion of "serious" musicians ensues.

There is a most wonderful website (aren't there so many wonderful websites? but I digress. . .) that helps dispel that bulls**t called "The Surfer's Guide to EWF." The biography of EWF on that site includes the excellent introduction written by Alan Light that explains the magic of Maurice White, what he was trying to do with the sound of Earth, Wind, and Fire, and the instrument that was the heart of that sound: the African "thumb piano" called the kalimba. The melodic clinking, a sound that many Americans recall from their childhood toy pianos, is such a joyful noise that one cannot but smile when it's heard.

Which, my friend, was the whole point of Earth, Wind, and Fire.

Get up and get funky now! Click here to hear Kalimba Story live, by the most excellent, still funky, and still one of my favorites: Earth! Wind! and FI-YAH!

I'm striking too . . .

mktackabery — Fri, 16 May 2008 00:09:21 GMT

We love the MOG, we love our peeps, we're hanging out for stronger hardware; safe, secure posts, and an end to the rabbit forever!

Warren Ellis is even smarter than I thought

mktackabery — Wed, 14 May 2008 21:39:39 GMT

Is there anything cooler than finding new music? Yeah . . . finding out someone you admire also digs some of the coolest music in the world.

Warren Ellis writes comic books, graphic novels, books. Yeah, get over yourself. A new media master, among his latest works are:

a free webcomic called FreakAngels

a brilliant comic series called Fell that sells for the low, low price of a buck ninety-nine. That's about half the price of many comics. It's also about twice as brilliant. Maybe thrice. You can read the entire first issue for free online.

an alternate-futre graphic novel coming in July about a PI investigating an alien invasion, called Aetheric Mechanics.

Ellis frequently posts music on his blog, usually without any explanation as to why. Recently he put up a video by electronic artist Philip Jeck, someone I was woefully ignorant about. Shame on me! Jeck's latest release on Touch is called Sand, and he recently released a 7" with Christian Fennesz, an artist I have recently becoming obsessed about, and Charles Matthews.

I realize electronic squarks, washes and glicks is not for everyone. For those who are intrigued, here's some Jeck:

Here's Jeck with Fennesz, live in October 2006:

A Dream Like Mine, about to come true

mktackabery — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 12:41:23 GMT

When you've got a dream like mine Nobody can take you down When you've got a dream like mine Nobody can push you around. . .

Four years ago I embarked on a journey, and tonight I find out if that journey will be fruitful. At six p.m. EST, I will give my final presentation in front of the Technical Communication faculty at NC State for the Master's degree.

Today I dream of how it used to be Things were different before The picture shifts to how it's going to be Balance restored

When you know even for a moment That it's your time Then you can walk with the power Of a thousand generations.

I am nervous of course, but mostly, I feel pretty confident. I have a very high GPA and have been impressive in all my classes (not arrogance, just the truth). To be quite frank, I have worked my tail off for four years, balancing a very demanding job against a very demanding graduate program, where the faculty is comprised of some of the most well-respected, most published academics in the field. I did not mess around. I wasn't perfect every moment, but I did pretty good. I'm proud of my accomplishments, and I'll be proud to stand in that little room tonight, in the basement of Tompkins Hall off Hillsborough Street in Raleigh, and make my case.

Anybody here can do the same. All it takes is one strong thought, held inside you. Your dream. All the other dreamers will walk with you.

Bruce Cockburn tells the story behind this song, and all the rest, at this website.

OS Hip Hop Wars: This is called the show

mktackabery — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 16:47:07 GMT

Get your Ballys on . . .

OS Hip Hop Wars: Oh My God!

mktackabery — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 16:45:36 GMT

MKTack on the deliverable: Old school hip hop wars continue!

mktackabery — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:14:12 GMT

I'll send you up north, i ain't givin respect . . .

Old School Hip Hop Wars #5 Response: Too easy, dude

mktackabery — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:13:26 GMT

Old School Hip Hop Wars #4: Now it's on boyeez!!!

mktackabery — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:09:53 GMT

Old School Hip Hop Wars #3 Response: Consolidated v PE

mktackabery — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:03:25 GMT

Um, is somebody else gonna play? If not, I could take Pete out all by my self.

I could too.

Old School Hip Hop Wars #2 Response: Only LL can beat down the Moe

mktackabery — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 23:59:28 GMT

Pete brought Kool Moe! Oh no. That means I must bring LL. Hell.

Old School Hip Hop Wars #1 Response: Watch What You Say Pete

mktackabery — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 23:55:23 GMT

Chaka is watching you, Pete.

Sunday Covers: Maura O'Connell sings Shawn Colvin

mktackabery — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 18:37:02 GMT

Shawn Colvin's debut album for Sony featured quite a few zingers, none more potent than Shotgun Down the Avalanche, about the perils of living with an out-of-control lover. Maybe he's bipolar, maybe he's a drunk, but either way, you're on a ride you can't control and you can't get off until you crash land. In Shawn's sweet voice though, the words don't quite kick you hard enough, so John Leventhal added a good hard clicker - for the life of me, I can't remember what that thing is called - to give you that sleigh ride effect on the song. It worked, but when Maura O'Connell finally recorded her version after honing it on the road with her band for some time, I felt the song finally found it's zing. Watch out, it's a bumpy ride.

Here's Shawn doing her version:

Sunday Covers: Maura O'Connell sings Cheryl Wheeler

mktackabery — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 18:25:26 GMT

Irish singer Maura O'Connell, now based in Nashville, is not a songwriter, so by default all she does is covers. Still, I don't feel like it's cheating to feature her in a covers post, especially when she does it so damned well. I first became acquainted with Maura when her first major label recording was issued in the U.S., entitled Helpless Heart. This song, written by Cheryl Wheeler, says so much about innocence lost and heartbreak you can't help but let it burn right into your synapses. Once it's there it doesn't let you go.

Her live version, uploaded here, kicks ass, I must say. Cheryl's version in the comments.

Sunday Covers: EBTG covers S&G

mktackabery — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 17:28:51 GMT

I've been feeling a bit twee lately-acoustic guitars and mandolins tend to make me happy as a clam. In that spirit I present to you Everything But the Girl's twee cover of Simon and Garfunkel's The Only Living Boy in New York, as twee as they come. Even the video, shot by Hal Hartley, is twee, with lots of staring out the windows and contemplating the wee clouds and the lovely buildings and the great spectacle of the universe.

It's all so . . . happy! Below, Paul and Artie kick it in Munich. This is a case of the cover basically playing it completely safe. That's okay though, because this song just makes me want to sit in a swing and drink lemonade.

Sing it with us. Ahhhh-ah-ah-ah.

For your consideration: Ky-Mani Marley's urban blast

mktackabery — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:38:09 GMT

Last night on the way home from campus I switched over to Starbucks Cafe on XM radio; say what you will, but that station is pretty fargin' great. Last night's eTown broadcast featured the great Tim Finn and one of the many children of the late, also great Bob Marley, Ky-Mani, who has been touring with Van Halen.

Yeah, that Van Halen. But I digress. The hubby and I missed most of Ky-Mani's show when we saw Van Halen in Greensboro at the start of their tour, but the little bit I heard sounded pretty great. Last night Marley kicked off his short bit on the show with this tune, which I insist you watch.

No, really. I insist.

Immediately apparent from the set was that Ky-Mani has passion, chops (well, duh), and intensity. Unfortunately, when I clicked over to iTunes this morning I was disappointed to discover that his record has packaged him as some kind of successor to Nelly. The marked difference between his live sound and his produced sound was like a slap in the face. Especially to this song, which I thought had a hell of a message.

How sad. I guess that's the problem with being a Marley? Maybe the gods will smile and he'll change labels or get to put out a live record. Either way, I plan to catch the cat . . . live . . . the next time around.

But I don't think I'm going to be buying the record, and I really wanted to.

Sunday Cover: Sarah MacLachlan, Tricky cover XTC

mktackabery — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 17:53:35 GMT

Procrastinating this afternoon before I get cracking on my thesis project, I was stumbling through my Tunes and found the Tricky cover of XTC's Dear God, a song released as a bonus track on 1986's groundbreaking album Skylarking and as a controversial single.

The song, a dystheistic attack on the creator himself, herself, itself, or themselves, depending upon how some of you might feel about it, is a snapshot of XTC's devastating touch with a pop song . . . you may find yourself humming and singing along before you realize exactly what you're singing, and once you do, the gut-punch will hit you every single time you hear the song again like a distant echo, or maybe child abuse.

Because the fact is that if everything happens for a reason, and there is a God, he, she, or it must be a manic-depressive, megalomaniacal, schizophrenic, serial killer, not to mention a pathological liar, the creationist equivalent of a drunk mother who hugs you too hard one minute and kicks you down the stairs the next. I was watching the movie Monster last night, and when Aileen Wuornos is marching off to death row at the end of the movie, and says "Love conquers all . . . . everything happens for a reason. . . . Well, they have to tell you something!" it's hard not to agree with her that all those platitudes are so much horse-shit in the face of the truth of the world.

The lyrics of Dear God are not, in retrospect, necessarily an intellectual tour de force; like any good pop song, the words and message are simple, and the video, complete with an 8-year-old child sticking his jaw out refusing to believe, too, rounds out the portrait of a human race turning its back on a maker it's grown past.

Tricky's cover of the tune, on his lp Vulnerable, got criticized a lot, and perhaps rightly so; it's too breathy to be taken seriously really. Sarah McLachlan's version is one of the best covers she's ever done, I think, displaying a buildup to a display of rare anger and remorse that a lot of her sweetly girly songs lack. (Um, that's probably the understatement of my year. Sorry).

Dear God came home to me yesterday when I was volunteering in the 3rd annual MADD Walk in Raleigh. It was cold, and raining, and yucky, but I am always uplifted by just participating. This year, as usual, a large bevy of family joined as a result of losing someone to a drunk driver. I was pulling down signs after the event when I was waved down by a woman asking for directions to the freeway. She was one of the aforementioned family members, and as she told me about her cousin being killed and coming out to the walk, and the effect of her cousin's death, she said, "Well, God works in mysterious ways, everything happens for a reason." I didn't respond, but wished her a safe ride back. As she drove away, I thought, does that mean random bad stuff happens because we all deserve to be punished, and everything good happens because we deserve it? So God is like a Catholic nun? Sometimes I wish I could have that kind of faith, but I don't. I mostly end up being, well, more like a stubborn 8-year-old kid.

The hurt I see helps to compound that Father, Son and Holy Ghost is just somebody's unholy hoax, and if you're up there you'd perceive that my heart's here upon my sleeve.

Tricky and Sarah in the comments.

Funky Good Friday

mktackabery — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 14:42:03 GMT

Once upon a time on a day like today I would fast, then go to a dark church and kiss the feet of a dusty statue on a wooden replica of the cross. I always thought this was one of the stupidest rituals in the Catholic Church, which would make many people I know gasp, and I'm sorry to offend the numerous unknown people I am sure to offend with this, but come on.

The representation isn't Jesus, and kissing wood isn't reverent. It's creepy and makes you feel dumb.

Can we all join the 21st century? Apparently not. There is so much creepy Jesus around these days, it's a sin to speak of these things. Luckily I know on the MOG I have some irreverent pals who will happily join me in hell, where you know they will have a hell of a band. Um, on to the funk contribution. While browsing my way through eMusic, looking for something else, I found the most fresh Big Chill Recordings, and found myself bookmarking practically their entire catalog. Among the choice gems was this group from the UK with the funky fresh name of LeggoBeast.

We're talking samples, horns, guitars, horns, guitars, samples, mashed together, deconstructed and mashed up again and deconstructed and mashed up again and . . . hot damn. Go check out the MySpace page for more.

The label's profile of LeggoBeast. Get the record on eMusic.

Sunday Covers: Buddy Guy sings Bill Withers

mktackabery — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 15:03:43 GMT

When I wake up with the blues, I can only turn to the greats for solace. A few years ago, the legendary Buddy Guy got divorced, and then put out an album of slow, sad blues songs, which had never been his style. Buddy has always been more of the smoking, leave 'em dead and gasping, kind of blues guitarist.

And, a snappy dresser, as I think you will agree.

The album contained some stellar guests singing essential soul standards. Let me tell you, if you don't appreciate the sentiments of "Ain't No Sunshine" you must be stone, cold dead. Nobody cried on wax like Bill, and I must say, Buddy did him justice with a fine tribute.

Here's some more clips of Buddy featuring another great smoking guitarist, Carlos Santana, and also John Mayer, who did a series of shows with Buddy that were also stellar. Look 'em up on YouTube, you won't be disappointed.

Cry with me, my MOG family. My Wolfpack finally got it together, and they lost by one point. One. . . point. Lord, it's a sad morning in Raleigh.

Inrush the Inbox

mktackabery — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 21:40:26 GMT

So out of the blue the other day, I get an email from a stranger that wasn't spam. It was from a guy who makes guitars in France and found me on eMusic. We're neighbors there - got the same tastes apparently. So this guy asks me to give his record a listen. I read it and put it aside because I was busy at the time, but I held onto it. Cleaning up my email today, I go check it out. He's got a MySpace page and a website, and I'm thinking, oh Lord, this is going to suck.

Well, welcome to non-suckitude, MOGgers, get it while it's hot. Either this guy is a trans-continental mind-reader or I'm having a schizophrenic episode reading emails from people that don't exist. Nah. I'm sure that's not it.

Inrush-A does a stellar combination of funky space rock, psychedelic samples, and political hip-hop, and you need to check it out too, if you have any indie cred whatsoever.

I think we must hook him and his crew up with Lady C and the Living Room Tours too.

The record.

Find your ATMA with Tya's world beat

mktackabery — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 15:18:06 GMT

Martin Scherl is a German percussionist who found himself going native with aborigines in Australia. His recordings under the moniker Tya (pronounced something like tsch-ya), at first go, may strike one as nothing more than Deep Forest, Enigma stuff. On one level I think that it's the same thing. Tya has been featured in the Buddha Lounge series of recordings. I see those all the time at Borders bookstores and pseudo hip retailers like Pottery Barn and places like that, and hear them at the spa I go to, when I can afford it every nine months or so, for a massage. Aural wallpaper?

Nah. There's something deeper about Tya, and it's not just because they have not pursued the mainstream by pumping out records every year. The music just reaches me somewhere deep, deeper with each listen. I just know it's real, that's all.

His latest, Atma, is taken from the Sanskrit word for soul. On his website Scherl points out that the word closely resembles the German word for breath. The Latinate for that is spirit.

More Tya in the comments. You can pick up Tya at eMusic and BSC Music.

Tya's website

Ain't it Funky?

mktackabery — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:25:17 GMT

Hello MOG, how ya been? I've been trying to adjust to a new job these last eight weeks, and it's been rough, but I think I have got my groove back. I saw Rollins last week in Raleigh, and he helped a lot. Rollins gave me some perspective, again, but he's good for that. He's five years older than me and has about, oh, four or five hundred percent more energy than me. There is so much life to experience, and so much of it is just . . . really cool. I re-read our Sandman comics after we moved in - packing and unpacking books gives you a mind to re-discover your old favorites - and I took to heart Death's words to her brother after a seriously difficult passing. "So live." Today might be all we have. Rollins knows that pretty damn well.

I think I'm so busy, got so much going on, and what I really do is stand still. I have to get moving. I made some major changes really quickly at the end of the year - brand new job, brand new apartment, new lifestyle with more money in our pockets, and it has been a stressful change. But now I've got to make this new life of mine sing. Make it work. Make it funky. Getting the engine primed isn't enough. You have to feed it, and put the pedal to the medal.

Like James Brown says, you've got to HIT IT!

Y'all enjoy this , now.

Sunday Covers: Diana Krall sings Tom Waits

mktackabery — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 15:32:12 GMT

In 2004, Diana Krall broke out of the babe-playing-standards routine and recorded an album of modern standards. Of course, Tom was on the list. The regret in this song is not particularly regretful. It's the quickly-discarded regret of, um. lust. The kind you regret in the morning . . . maybe. This version is absolutely flawless.

I know that she is made of smoke, but I've lost my way. She knows that I am broke, but I must pay . . . Temptation, . . . oh, whoa, temptation. . . I can't resist. As a bonus to wrap up my Sunday Covers trio, I present Tom himself doing yet another of my long-time piano favorites: San Diego Serenade.

I never saw the white line, 'til I was leaving you behind. I never knew I needed you 'til I was caught up in a bind. I never spoke 'I love you' 'til I cursed you in vain, I never felt my heartstrings until I nearly went insane.

Y'all have a good one, now.

Sunday Covers: Sarah McLachlan sings Tom Waits

mktackabery — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 15:07:42 GMT

On paper, Ol' 55 reads like a song to be sung with screaming guitars, a heavy drumbeat and wind in the hair. But it's really a song about the dream of those days; youth, and the dream of the American road. The dream of the endless goodbye. The frontier, the sun coming up, promises of the new that fade into greasy diners and wasted love. It's always been one of my favorites. Sarah MacLachlan's version on The Freedom Sessions is a wee bit sanitized, but it works pretty well despite the slick production.

And now the sun's coming up; I'm riding with Lady Luck; freeway cars and trucks. Stars beginning to fade, and I lead the parade; Just a-wishing I'd stayed a little longer. Oh, Lord, let me tell you That the feeling's getting stronger.

Sunday Covers: Tori Amos sings Tom Waits

mktackabery — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 14:44:48 GMT

There's something about remorse and regret that demands a smoky bar, a husky voice, and a piano. Nobody does the piano bar regret blues quite like Tom Waits. so today, a trio of Toms. While Tori Amos doesn't fit the piano bar blues profile, she did one Waits cover on her Strange Little Girls lp in which, if you close your eyes, you just might see her in a different light.

Well, things are pretty lousy for a calendar girl. The boys just dive right off the cars and splash into the street. And when she's on a roll she pulls a razor from her boot and a thousand pigeons fall around her feet. So put a candle in the window and a kiss upon his lips, til the dish outside the window fills with rain. Just like a stranger with the weeds in your heart; Pay the fiddler off til I come back again.

Public MOG bitching: Why are RSS feeds useless?

mktackabery — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 17:17:28 GMT

My MOG RSS feed (the xml script provided) continually mashes up my posts and the posts of others. I have continually tried to keep up with my fellow MOGsters via RSS b/c the slew of emails is too much, but their feeds don't work either.

I've been experimenting with new aggregating sites like Tumblr and Soup today and both sites have mashed up my feeds, but it's not the fault of the aggregators . . . it's the feed. According to my Blog Posts feed, I've posted a hell of a lot today. Fix the code, MOG kids. Unless Ruby is as crappy as advertised . . .

Forget Top Tens . . . Here's my Top Three

mktackabery — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 17:25:09 GMT

The last four months of my life have been a complete whirlwhind . . . school four nights a week, rapid-fire changes at work, culminating in leaving there at the end of the year; par for the course in a year that saw my husband lose a job and gain a new one, the death of one of my sisters, and the reappearance of my mother and my sister's daughter in my life after seven years. Not to mention the loss, here, of friend moggers like rawkkiddo, and, in real life, the much-mourned death of Christopher Pryor.

Time to take a breath. But not a long enough one to decide which are my top ten albums, etc. I can only share with you my most listened-to songs of the last four months. In a season of rapid instability in my life, these three albums kept me in check, and these were the songs I listened to the most from those albums.

Drum roll, please. Why thank you. #3-Suzanne Vega, Beauty & Crime; Song: Pornographer's Dream Out of our hands, over our heads, out of our reach, under this real life; Hidden in veils, covered in silk - Dreaming of what might be.

#2-Ulrich Schnauss, Goodbye: Song: Stars Looking at the stars, must be a reason, Why our hopes feel lost in the glow for every season. Looking at the stars, see that they move on; Because I'm not sure if you miss me, I move on

#1-Charlotte Gainsbourg, 5:55; Song: Little Monsters Deep inside i'm still the same, just one more little monster. Making out that she knows the rules-a sincere impostor.

Tack's Twelve Days of Christmas, Number Eleven

mktackabery — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 02:17:13 GMT

Christmas Eve, and hubby and are huddled around our computers, television on watching . . . fellow North Carolina State alum Philip Rivers, LaDanian Tomlinson and the boys kick the Denver Broncos all over their home field. Nothing like a quiet Christmas Eve at home.

The song Silent Night has always struck me as a most ridiculous fiction. I mean, if Jesus really was born in a stable and visited by three rich guys from the East, I can't imagine a more unquiet place to be born. Cows, sheep, chickens and who knows what all mooing, lowing, and complaining, and lo! a screaming baby appears.

I'm thinking Mary was asking for an epidural. But that's just me.

Merry Christmas Eve to all the MOG peeps. Here's one of my favorite versions of the greatest story ever sold, er, told. Whatever. Stevie Nicks with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers:

Tack's Twelve Days of Christmas, Number Ten

mktackabery — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 18:52:02 GMT

Post-punk, jazz, funk supergroup Banyan provides a nice long ditty for the penultimate shopping day before the big Christmas loot debut. If you gotta get into the madness, bring some funky with you, y'all. If you don't (like me), bless you. I am going nowhere and doing a whole bunch of nothing until Tip Time (7ish). Dig It.

More Banyan: On MySpace

Sunday Covers: Stone Goddard sings Woody Guthrie

mktackabery — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 18:06:21 GMT

Woody Guthrie continues to resonate for American songwriters and musicians. Roll on Columbia is one of those songs that I remember being knocked out by when I first heard a version of it sung by Richard Thompson in concert about fifteen years ago. I couldn't find that one, but I did find another great version by grunge master Stone Goddard.

This is the version of Guthrie many people connect to-the folk activist. Still powerful today.

Sunday Covers: Bruce Springsteen sings Woody Guthrie

mktackabery — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 17:59:28 GMT

Woody Guthrie's music lies so deep within the fabric of the music of our country that I think we don't even realize it anymore. The melodies, the sadness, the story of the loner traveling from place to place looking for a new frontier to start again . . . it's all as American as, well-Bruce Springsteen. I Ain't Got No Home

Sunday Covers: John Gorka sings Woody Guthrie

mktackabery — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 17:50:57 GMT

Woody Guthrie While John Gorka hardly ever records covers, he performs many of them at his concerts. He also sings often of life on the road, something Guthrie wrote about many, many times. John Gorka Highway of Life:

Tack's Twelve Days of Christmas, Number Nine: The Funk/Soul/Blues Edition

mktackabery — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 14:36:08 GMT

I meant to do this yesterday for funky Friday, but yesterday was a different Friday for me, so today I bring you the funky Christmas you all deserve. First, we have the incomparable Bootsy Collins, who wants to Be With You:

I must say, no one dresses for a video shoot quite like Bootsy's crew. The album is called Christmas is 4-Ever. Oh yeah. On the soul tip, a little Jimmy Jam/Terry Lewis joint from Alexander O'Neal (the clip is a fanvid, so unless you like a gazillion pictures of Alexander, just listen). This track is one of those potentially bland tracks that kind of sneaks into your eardrums because of that great bass groove.

And my main man, B.B. King . . . I couldn't find a vid of the man, but this one has great sound quality. This particular song only works, for me, when B.B. sings it: Please Come Home for Christmas

Tack's Twelve Days of Christmas, Number Eight: The James Scott Farrin Holiday Party Edition

mktackabery — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 23:10:01 GMT

I am just about to get gussied up and head out to the Umstead Hotel and Spa for the annual Law Offices of James Scott Farrin holiday party, where we will celebrate our tenth anniversary and a drop-dead year where internet marketing experienced 68% growth. Woo Hoo!

As happy as that makes me, tonight is bitter sweet. I have accepted a great job offer with IBM in Research Triangle Park, and so will be leaving the firm in a week. Next week, tears. Tonight, champagne, cocktails, dancing, memories, and laughter. For that, I need me some Neville, y'all: Louisiana Christmas Day

Song of Bernadette

Ave Maria:

Tack's Twelve Days of Christmas, Number Seven

mktackabery — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 18:45:54 GMT

Time to take a chill pill. Just a few days left til the big day, and the shopping ads are starting to really get on my nerves. A little Kaskade on the downtempo tip should fix that up real nice.

Tack's Twelve Days of Christmas, Number Seven

mktackabery — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 12:44:31 GMT

Just this year, multi-instrumentalist and Ubiquity funk turntabalist Shawn Lee released a nice little slice called A Very Ping Pong Christmas. While some of the tracks are a bit uninspired, there is a lot there to jam to as well. If you have to have a Christmas party, you might as well make it funky!!

Shawn Lee's website, where you can find a bunch of cool downloads in the treats section. I highly recommend checking some of this stuff out. Loads of fun for your stocking; no coal, guaranteed.

Tack's Twelve Days of Christmas, Number Six

mktackabery — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 12:41:04 GMT

A very sweet trio is the group Late Tuesday from the great state of Washington. After their latest and greatest lp, Drowning Out Love was released (also their fifth), the trio announced a little bit ago that they would be taking a break.

Sad for us. If you like straight-ahead folk pop with stellar harmonies, Late Tuesday is your group. I love to crank them in the car. I also like this little ditty from their Christmas ep.

An ep for the holidays instead of a long boring mish-mash of the same-old same-old? I snapped it up and it was well worth it. Enjoy!

Tack's Twelve Days of Christmas, Number Five

mktackabery — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 20:33:59 GMT

Hi, my name is Michelle Tackabery, and occasionally I can be swayed by an over-the-top, warbling country ballad sung by Dolly Parton. Hey, I live in the south. Get off my ass!

For years I always adored her little gem Hard Candy Christmas. Then it comes on the radio the other day-it's very hard to avoid Christmas music on the radio in the Triangle area of North Carolina, as there are not one, not two, but three bloody stations playing Christmas music 24/7!!!-not that I'm bitter-and I find out, not only does my husband also like the song (he of the complete KISS collection), but that he also loves the film from which is came, a Burt Reynolds opus from the musical: The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

I didn't know the song came from the movie. Which proves that I picked the right guy to marry, I must say.

I like this particular song, once again, because of the melancholy and yearning it embodies. To me, that's Christmas. How can one day ever live up to the things we expect of it? Leigh Nash Leigh Nash did a lovely version of it which I've attached, and here's the movie version:

Tack's Twelve Days of Christmas, Number Four: The Christmas Cover Edition

mktackabery — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 21:36:19 GMT

Janis Ian, who learned the rules at seventeen, wrote a little Christmas song with fellow songwriter Kye Fleming in 1987 that has been recorded by several folk, country, blues and pop artists, including Beth Nielsen Chapman and Susan Tedeschi. I like this attached version by Kathy Mattea, who has a strong, confident, and reassuring voice made for songs like this. Emmanuel is another one of those songs that children can learn quickly, and is therefore easily remembered. It's one of those songs I want to put on repeat for a few times when it comes along on the holiday shuffle, because the melody seems to beg you to keep on singing it.