Doesn’t happen too often, but here’s another giveaway (our second), a pair of tickets to see Ice Cube at the Grove in Anaheim this Sunday. Very short turnaround on this, so don’t waste your time. E-mail me at michael[at]meltingpotblog.com by Saturday, December 12th at 5pm (left coast time) to be entered. I’ll draw the winner at random and let you know who won shortly after that.

And just in case you done forgot why you should be interested in seeing this show, you never know if he’s going to bring this back or not, after all the 1990s are comin’ back in a big way!

Peace,

Michael

The Black Hollies – Number Ten Girl

New Jersey’s Black Hollies were just in Los Angeles last week. With their third record, Softly Towards The Light, their recorded work is perhaps beginning to outpace their live sound. A blessed cross between the Zombies and the Bonniwell Music Machine…

Edan – Echo Party (Excerpt)

Still very early, but the more I delve into this 30 minute mix by Edan of the Traffic Entertainment Catalog (which includes Enjoy, P&P, Sound of New York and other old school New York labels) the more I’m in awe of what he’s done here. More than a mix, he’s added effects, his own instrumentation (including the kazoo heard in the excerpt above) and the mind boggles at how this all came together. Apparently the CD version has extensive notes on all the manipulations done here.

My man Matthew Africa said it best in a write up on his blog, “It’s so vast, so detailed and weird that it makes me feel like a really shitty, lazy DJ.” Generally that’s how most DJs make me feel, but especially so Edan’s work here. Hell, I’m just happy to have a test press of this one…

And just when you thought it couldn’t achieve a higher level of pure dopeocity, there’s even going to be a film and possible DVD in 2010. Here’s the first mind melting excerpt:

Geez…it has been sometime since I did one of these, I’d intended for it to be a monthly addition to the blog, but this semester has been a monster. Of late, given that it’s that time of the year, I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about the best records of the year. On of my early favorites was, and remains, Middle Cyclone from Neko Case. So, on the last day of the month, I take a deeper look at a lyrically perplexing song from one of the better records of the year.

This song, like probably 75% of all songs, appears to be about love, more specifically a woman who wants a man to know that she loves him. It’s the kind of woman that makes this song a bit perplexing. It might be autobiographical, Case has been described as a “force of nature” in her style and manner of singing, but she never seemed like quite THIS kind a woman.

I left them motherless, fatherless,
Their souls dangling inside out from their mouths,
But it’s never enough

To be completely honest, that sounds like the kind a woman I don’t ever want to meet. But just for good measure, Case continues to endear this “Tornado” to the listener…

Carve your name across three counties,
Ground it in with bloody hides,
Their broken necks will lie in the ditch,
Till you stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it,
Stop this madness,
I want you

Broken necks lying in a ditch, grounding my name into the bloody hides of lord knows what…This woman scares the hell out of me. When Case repeats certain phrases, such as “Stop it, Stop it, ” or “I miss, I miss…” it only cements the fact that this woman is Krazy, that’s right with a Capital K!

My love, I’m an owl on the sill
In the evening
But morning finds you
Still warm and breathing

Okay, not only is she a destructive force of nature, Krazy with a Capital K, she’s also damn creepy. She’s both a Tornado and an Owl, that means she’s a double harbinger of death, but some how her paramour survives. Perhaps because she’s still on the outside and not inside their heart completely.

I can completely understand why the object of her affection is on the run and unwilling to commit. After all, who wants love from a Tornado, they swoop in all the sudden, destroy every single thing in their path and then disappear leaving the destruction for someone else to clean up. Come to think of it, that does remind me of a few ex-girlfriends…

That the Tornado of a woman loves me or that her love is believeable isn’t the point. The point is, as sweetly as Case sings, as desperately as she pleads, what person in their right mind would want love from a Tornado!?!!?! Maybe I missed something…what do you think?

Neko Case – “This Tornado Loves You” – from Middle Cyclone (2009)

My love, I am the speed of sound
I left them motherless, fatherless
Their souls dangling inside out from their mouths
But it’s never enough
I want you

Carve your name across three counties
Ground it in with bloody hides
Their broken necks will lie in the ditch
Till you stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it
Stop this madness
I want you

I have waited with a glacier’s patience
Smashed every transformer with every trailer
Till nothing was standing
Sixty five miles wide
Still you are nowhere, still you are nowhere
Nowhere in sight
Come out to meet me
Run out to meet me
Come into the light

Climb the boxcars to the engine
Through the smoke and to the sky
Your rails have always outrun mine
So I picked them up and crashed them down
In a moment close to now
Cause I miss, I miss, I miss, I miss
I miss, I miss, I miss, I miss
How you’d sigh yourself to sleep
When I’d rake the springtime
Across your sheets

My love, I am the speed of sound
I left the motherless, fatherless
Their souls dangling inside out from their mouths
But it’s never enough

My love, I’m an owl on the sill
In the evening
But morning finds you
Still warm and breathing

This tornado loves you
What will make you believe me?

Blakroc – On The Vista

Here’s something to look out for, coming out this coming week, a new collaboration between the Black Keys and a variety of MCs, from underground darlings like Pharoah Monch and Mos Def, to prime-timers like Ludacris & Jim Jones, and no less than three members of Wu-Tang, Raekwon, The RZA and the dearly departed ODB. The standouts come from Jay-Z-a-like NOE and Mos Def, so much so that you almost wish Mos & the Keys just decided to do their own collabo. “On The VIsta” to my ears is the best of the bunch.

If you check their website, apparently there’s a tie-in special edition Blakroc Camaro, and no, that is not a joke…

Here’s two bands that I’m very thankful for, though I don’t even know where I’d begin making a decision on this one…two of the most influential rock’n’roll bands to ever come out of Michigan, maybe two of the most important 60s American bands of all time. Legendary groups, legendary sounds but pound for pound…who would come out on top? The Stooges or The MC5? Let me know what you think!

Here’s some clips of both bands in their prime to help you decide.

The Stooges – “TV Eye & “1970”

The MC5 – “Kick Out The Jams”

Build An Ark – Love

Los Angeles collective Build An Ark just sounds like 1974 to me. Primarily because their sound is heavily inspiried by artist collectives of that period and the music from labels such as Strata-East and Tribe (Phil Ranelin who cut some great records for Tribe is actually a featured member of B.A.A.). Though the sound is clearly connected to a very different world some 35 years ago, the sentiments and spirits are just as needed now, so I’m thankful that this group is together and producing these sounds today.