It’s been so long since I posted here, I basically forgot how to do it. We’ll make it through. Starting small, I thought I’d mention a few of the re-issues I was fortunate enough to stumble upon in this blog’s hiatus.
It was always one of the great pleasures when Relative Theory […]
Soul Jazz keeps putting out Studio One collections, and they have yet to fail to live up to the high expectations they have set. Studio One, known as the Motown of Jamaica, was the soundsystem/label set up by Coxsone Dodd that virtually created and led the way for the development of Jamaican pop from ska […]
The good people at Daptone Records have done the public service of digging up “If This World Were Mine…”, an album by teen soul sensations Bob & Gene, made in the late 60s by obscure Buffalo label MoDo, for its first release on CD. Daptone has developed a stellar reputation, using the best musicians […]
check out this gallery of old tape cassettes. Definitely some flyer worthy images to grab. LINK
Basement Jaxx proves problematic to the indie ear that does not dismiss them outright. Rooty and Kish Kash are two of the best releases of the new millennium for anybody who values pop and eclecticism. Rooty, along with Andre 3000s The Love Below, is among the finest of fake Prince albums, both easily […]
Isn’t the title of PT Anderson’s epic disco masterpiece “Boogie Nights” curious? Certainly it is catchy, and plenty of the action in the film takes place at night, and there is a fair amount of boogieing throughout. Still, if you saw the film without a title, wouldn’t you name it something like “Golden […]
off to see Miami Vice since we are avid Michael Mann fans, we will speak of our thoughts in the Music and Culture tomorrow. Today’s closing thought: The Beta Band was the shit. Seriously.
Beta Band Needles In My Eyes
Why does everybody hate America? Remember when we didn’t suck? Or, at least when we didn’t have the internet and pesky truth-telling reporters to blow up our western-imperialist-capitalist spot? Anyhoo…
If politicians had listened to Michael Franti’s caustic critiques of American society from the jump, I’d have a little more hope for the future of this […]
I’ma skip the knowledge this time and just be direct: if anyone reading this has been the victim of miseducation and thinks that Hall and Oates are a corny 80s group, your antidote of truth sits waiting at Relative Theory.
The soulful-oreo duo that is Hall and Oates are co-chillin in the used vinly section in […]
Ok class, thinking caps on: once upon a time in ‘77, hip-hop sprouted from the post-industrial rubble that was the Bronx and started spreading south into Manhattan. In the early ’80s, punks, new wavers, and avant-garders (ok, pre-hipsters) started noticing black and brown kids kicking rhymes, paining burners, and rocking doubles and thought, “yo, that’s […]
Not to be confused with that lil blue mo-fo from Seseme Street, Grover Washington, Jr. is one of the most sampled jazz artists in the history of history. Lemme go back… In the beginning there were Bob James, Roy Ayres, and Grover Washington, Jr. These men (sexist as it may be) comprised the holy trinity […]
Steely Dan
Gold
Label: MCARelease Date: 1982
Steely Dan (aka The Dan) has been obscenely misrepresented by your pop’s so-called classic rock station; “Reeling in the Years” doesn’t even count. Exhibit A: emcees and producers have been fooling with the Dan for a minute now. […]
The Relative appended note on this 1977 LP I bought for $.98 contained only a few good-natured ribs at disco and the whistle blowing sirens gracing the cover. Of course, Relatives cheeky lack of gravity and insight is often what makes their cocky proclamations so charming.
Up from the dusty Relative crates right now is a mint copy of Herb Alpert’s Rise. While some ignorant mofos might call this “Love Boat music,” (pshh!) pay them no mind: Herb is no herb. Follow his meandering trumpet on the title track to the breakdown that is the monster bassline straight jacked for Biggie’s […]
Right now in the used vinyl section sits a resurrected album sampler from Q-Tip’s unreleased solo LP (under the name Kamaal the Abstract) just wating to be picked up by some lucky digger. Why unreleased, you ask??? Probably because it doesn’t sound like jazzy 90’s Tribe or his first solo effort Amplified (remember “Vivrant Thing”?). […]
