Required Reading...

Hi again- so I'm back in Allston/Brighton/Brookline/Cambridge, and for good this time.




Since I haven't had much time to read- outside of the research I've been doing for various papers and articles- I don't have much to talk about, but I wanted to use this time to expand on my blogroll and give some big UPS to various internet publications and things that I find will make you a better person in general.

In no particular order:

Musik Line...
...to which I was linked from Negrophonic, is a "...journal / blog dedicated to sound system culture and to African, Caribbean and other music." From the bit I've read, it seems very historically-oriented, in that it has dug up and embellished social histories from relatively obscure subcultural movements, from "the Italian cult of the tarantula" to the contemporary Hip Hop scene in Nouakchott, Mauritania. It doesn't seem anthropological in the problematic sense, in that many of the pieces are straightforward with regards to the author's privileged, outsider perspective.

Beantown Boogiedown...
...a Boston-centric electronic music blog from local DJ (an incredibly versatile DJ, I might add) Nickdawg, who posts event listings, MP-frees, fucking sick mixes- his most recent one being a masterful blend of Baltimore Club, UK Funky, 2-Step, and a little bit of Dubstep- and updates about various software & hardware goodies. I've been digging it.

WNYC - Langston Hughes: Ask Your Mama...
...the WNYC blog's project, a call for audiences to help in the unpacking of Langston Hugh's epic twelve-part poem, "Ask Your Mama: 12 Moods for Jazz," using any media necessary.

Not only have they provided the entire text of this work and allowed space for reactions, commentary, and analysis (the collective power of the hive-mind at work), but they have commissioned "...New York artists of differing musical backgrounds to interpret sections of 'Ask Your Mama' in their own way. Hip-hop star Beans of the indelible Anti-Pop Consortium recorded 'Horn of Plenty'; guitarist Brandon Ross interpreted 'Jazztet Muted' for banjo and soprano guitar; mash-up extraordinaire DJ /rupture reconceived 'Is It True?'; and saxophonist Matana Roberts contributed a beautiful version of 'Blues in Stereo.'"

These multi-media, interdisciplinary approaches to analysis have shed a whole new light on the literature by using music and pastiche to express dimensions of the piece that were formerly inaudible amidst the din created by the "complex array of musical, cultural and historical references" embedded in his poetry. I'm excited about this project, and I hope it is fruitful in trying to distill meaning out of this daunting piece of work, and in trying to update the emotional and political themes contained within it to a contemporary context.

Please enjoy. Now that the summer has set in, you can expect more from Pop. Influence in terms of cool links, more required reading, free downloads, mixes, musician profiles, and event listings, etc. Now get reading!

Grime: It's a UK thing!

So now that everyone's on that Dubstep tip, it seems that Grime, its over-saturated, unruly older sister has gone by the wayside. Why is that?




The last Grime album I remember getting any mainstream airtime was when the WIRE went nuts over Trim's most recent mixtape, Soul Food Vol. 3... There was the Kano mixtape before that, and then there's Dizzee's most recent album, but is that even Grime? Sure, there's a feedback loop, and you can hear the characteristic, syncopated, ruff-n-tuff qualities in international Hip-Hop and electronica, à la Buraka Som Sistema, or in the drrty Street-Bass sounds of American producers like Starkey, but where has all the Grime gone?

I remember getting GrimeWave in 2007, a spectacular full-length mix CD put together by the incredible UK DJ Semtex, and thinking, "Fuck, I can't wait to see where this genre goes."



ANYWAYS, I was doing a bit of search-engine trickery to search out full-quality, 320 kbps Grime singles that I could spin in a Dubstep set, and I was so lucky to have stumbled upon a free EP of REALLY spectacular Grime instrumentals from The Grime Forum, which, up until now, I had no idea existed.

I promise to get back to the academia in a bit, but for now I just have to hook you kids up with the link to this download, which I simply cannot believe is free. I mean, these beats are absolutely FYRE. The first track from producer Prov, is a classical-sampling tour-de-force. He samples (or has some ridiculous midi string patches and was able to synthesize) a string part that sounds like some serious fucking triumphant shit you'd here during a good-pirate versus bad-pirate epic showdown, but it's got this thugged-out sliding bassline (think EDit or Glitch Mob) that's making me rock my shoulders like a fucking lunatic.

I couldn't even believe it. Each of the producers on this EP take sampling in a really interesting direction, deftly using short string and piano samples from classical and jazz tracks, in much the same way as East Coast Underground Hip-Hop did it in the late 90's and early 00's (think Mr. Lif, Virtuoso, Akrobatik), fitting them alongside crunk beats with 16th-note high-hats, BIG kick drums, and punch-y, in-your-face snare samples.

The third track on the album is all-parts future thug, with disgusting wah-wah bass lines, far-off industrial samples, and big fat raved out arpeggios à la early Skream and Benga.

It was apparently released after a contest in 2008, in which the forum called for productions from UK amateurs, and they released a four-track EP that's off the motherfucking walls.

THE DOWNLOAD IS HERE.

I hope to hear some of you Boston DJs spinning this in sets next time I get out to see some of you gig wit' it. Enjoy!