my friends are the best

I know, I know - who doesn't believe their friends are talented? I truly believe I've been luckier than most though, as I'm constantly amazed by way the people closest to me express themselves. And while it's a journalistic taboo to write about your friends, I've always ignored it. I can see where it might get tricky to criticize friends, but fortunately for me, I've almost always had something nice to say. And oh boy, I'm about to rave about Andrew Klein.

It's not hard to meet Andrew Klein, or count yourself among his friends. He's got to be one of the most approachable people I know, and the way he conducts himself with transparent romance and a quick wit endear him very quickly to anyone willing to listen to him wax poetic. I met Andrew first as a neighbor, then became immediately inseparable when I was the music editor and he the fine arts editor of The Michigan Daily. Always a great writer, Andrew and I shared many a hazy night passing each other beers and the typewriter.

So, in addition to being a terrific writer, editor and friend, Klein can also play a little guitar. And I have to be honest, I never thought of Andrew as a particularly great guitarist, at least technically. Not compared with the lead guitarist in his band, Gary, who must have practiced ten hours a day, and took roughly 95% of the solos in their blues band (The Midnight Special). But what Andrew may have lacked in technical skills, he more than made up for with enthusiasm and stage prescence (not to mention reverb and tremolo). This man knows how to sweat on a Telecaster, let me tell you. And if I ever needed someone to belt "Bring It On Home" after six beers, he'd be my first call.

But I was still caught off guard with the song that arrived in my mailbox this afternoon. Labeled Assistant Editor by the computer (its registered name, repurposed from Splicetoday.com) and with"About Half Way Done" as a working title, it's a one man (garage) band fucking jam. The guitar work doesn't surprise me - the tone is workmanlike and soulful, economical and brash. The vocals on the other hand, were a bit of a wtf moment. Andrew, did you spend some time alone in the woods or something, Bon Iver style? Where did these heavenly harmonies descend from? Was it all the gospel we listened to. I bet it was The Soul Stirrers.

I couldn't be more proud to debut this. Ladies and Gents, for the first time anywhere: Assistant Editor:

http://www.mediafire.com/?adzyi4nmjwu

(pictured above: the jail outside Memphis where Andrew and I spent a night on the floor sharing what looked like a thirty year old gym mat. We had to trade our pancakes for a blanket, and smoked menthol cigarettes rolled in toilet paper with a guy named Dot. But that's a story for another time).

the african phil collins

I don't have a lot of money to be throwing around these days, and I suspect this is the case for many of you as well. But for ten bucks, you can't go wrong with picking up this little gem of a seven inch. I've long been a fan of Vampire Weekend (despite the decidedly so over the top its come back around hipness ramifications) as well as Esau Mmamwaya, Radioclit, Africa and even the phrase "Very Best." So when all of these things come together in one beautifully designed package, its a must buy. And its a must buy right now, because they only pressed 500. For you speculatin' types, I 'spect this will be worth more than ten bucks in no time. I ordered one, and despite shipping only being $1, they sent it FedEx Express, and it was literally at my door the next day. I'm not sure I understand why, but hey, that's unparalleled customer service from Green Owl.

Link to purchase / free download

radio love

A couple posts back I claimed I wanted to get some recurring features up in here, this is gonna be another one of them. In an effort to prove I'm serious about this so not being a genre specific music blog, I'm going to try and get up mp3's of the least obscure music on the internet. More specifically, I'm going to post songs I hear on Top 40 radio and love. A lot of this stuff gets dismissed outright because of, well, because of it's popularity, but I think there are definitely some things happening in the modern hip hop and r&b community worth discussing.

Try as it might to kill itself, the (major label) music industry still has a pretty tight promotional grasp over terrestrial radio. And try as radio may to kill itself with blandness, it's still beats nothing when you have a car with a busted tape deck and no cd player. This here song, "Break Up," by Mario feat. Gucci Mane has a beat with Timbaland's influence all over it. It's not his though - it's produced by Bangladesh (Ludacris' "What's Your Fantasy," more recently Lil Wayne's ubiquitous "A Milli"), and it features the bass heavy, sample-free, slick harmonies that made/make it a sure-fire hit. I can't stop listening to it (and seeing as it's in heavy rotation, won't have to), and though this is technically a remix, it's more like a subtle re-work with an additional verse.

I'd also be remiss if I didn't bring up what an amazing and ridiculous name Gucci Mane is. I have spent some serious time wondering how he got to that point. It's not the kind of nick name your friends give you, so I have to think he carefully whittled it down from a combination of brands and horse parts. Vuitton Hoof, anyone? I think maybe I'll start calling myself Burberry Stallion. And like The Fader (who, more on later, but thanks for the link), I think my absolute favorite part of this song has to be Gucci's line: "Girls are like buses. Miss one, next fifteen one coming" following with the bass dropping like a hammer. Someone asked me if this was my break-up song. I said, "Don't be ridiculous. This song actually makes me happy."

Download:

Mario, feat. Gucci Mane & Nicki Minaj - Break Up (remix)

a tape from forest, damon

There are a lot of mixes posted on the internet, and frankly this will not often be the venue for other people's tastes, no matter how well informed they may be. That having been said, every once in awhile when a special one comes along that I feel a personal connection with, I'll insist you all download it.

This is one of those mixes. While Enigmatic Ocean is composed by Damon Palermo, phenomenal drummer for Mi Ami and probably the coolest person I know in San Francisco, I'd give equal credit to Forest Juziuk, who commissioned it as a tie-in to his Ann Arbor dance night, Dark Matter. Commissioned, inspired, however you want to put it, Forest has a way of making things happen with astonishingly frequent success rates of quality and quantity. Despite beginning our relationship as slightly contentious co-workers (at Wazoo Records) I'm proud to call Forest a good friend, and probably the funniest person I'll ever meet. Definitely the funniest looking.



Download:

Damon Palermo - Enigmatic Ocean


Oh yeah, and I should talk about what's on it and why it's so good and so forth. Let's just say you were in the mood to take a cosmic voyage through a galaxy of cascading synthesizers and jazz fusion violinists. This is what you'd want to put on to help you pretend you were there in 1977. Disco wasn't dying, it was getting darker. It's like that but whoah.

a tape for you, steven

Well, this is really a tape from my friend Steven - hopefully the first of many.

Not to rip off Awesome Tapes From Africa too hard, but from time to time I'd like to upload tapes ripped from other people's collections, as well as my own, in addition to the mixtapes that were initially the driving concept behind this whole blog. None of those mixes have appeared yet, but fear not, the only thing stopping me up to this point was the 5mb upload limit on our free internet.

Anyway, couldn't tell you much about this tape if I wanted to. I believe Steven bought this in Africa, in, I believe Morocco? I dunno, it's just one guy with a kora, which basically sounds like an acoustic guitar. Each side is one long epic, and I think I could draw a few lines between what this guy does with his kora rhythmically on some of the long instrumental passages and Ben Chasny's guitar bits from Six Organs of Admittance. Add a little more reverb and maybe a dash of delay, and this could be psych-folk.

One thing that I hope turns out to be fun with all of this, is I'll hopefully learn a whole lot about some of this music that's new to me, and educate you all about music from my own collection at the same time. Unfortunately this time around, thar ain't a whole lotta learnin' ta do.

Download:

Archive of Bande Originale (?) 320 mp3

an aside: I'd normally divide these up into individual tracks, but since I didn't have the track names (I'm not even sure of the artists name) I didn't bother. You get to experience it like me: side a & side b.

this week in lloyd

I want to start getting some furniture up in here, and I plan on having this be a regular feature. I've long been fascinated with the name 'Lloyd,' for what ought to be obvious reasons. So each week, from here until I get bored of it (eternity!) I'll try and offer you all a look into the small, but exceedingly interesting world of people/places/things named Lloyd.

We'll start with a single I stumbled upon in eBay's completed listings section. It had gone unsold, and it killed me to see no one wanted a killer-looking gospel 7", especially one that plays at 33 1/3, on a label that no one has ever heard of, and especially one featuring a group with an oustanding name like The Lloyd Singers. So I offered the seller a trade, and lo and behold, all he wanted was money! It's amazing how transactions like that work.

Needless to say, I was not disappointed by the actual music contained in the grooves of the impeccably named wax. I've always had an unusual affinity for gospel, and this is the kind of raw stuff you can appreciate on a wholly unreligious level. I'd love to give you some more info on this group, or Leroy Lloyd in particular, but all I can tell is what the label on the record says. That, and Leroy was the guitarist. Beyond his blessed name, everything else is a mystery.

Download:

Archive of Lloyd Singers (320kbs mp3)

those that know me...

People I've just met would probably never figure me for the sports type; even those that know me are a bit surprised to know my passion for sports. I'm a baseball fan first and foremost, with the Phillies being my team of favor. After the World Fucking Champion Phillies, my allegiances lay with Michigan Football, the NBA in general until the Sixers even have the slightest amount of promise, and Eagles football. Of all the sports, I'm probably most interested in the characters of the NBA. For some reason, ballers seem to have more personality.

Which brings me to this:



FreeDarko, one of my favorite blogs recently put up this post about basketball as jazz, and I'm a little sad they missed the notion of coach as composer - Because Phil Jackson certainly has the same kind of laid-back brilliance in using tone colors (playing syles) as Miles Davis. Jackson, a former player, didn't have Miles' chops when he was on the court, but Miles own technical proficiency always took a backseat to his willingness to adapt to the boldest and best players of his day. Miles Davis made legendary records with John Coltrane, Phil won titles with Michael Jordan. Miles won with Herbie Hancock, Phil did it with Kobe Bryant. Ok, so maybe that's straining it a bit, but both guys gave their teams/groups a solid base to work with, never got complacent, and allowed freakishly talented pros enough freedom to keep their groups one step ahead of everyone else.

Rashied Ali passed away today.

I remember driving through New Jersey on a high school digging expedition to Princeton Record Exchange (back when it was a mecca) and hearing an interview with Rashied Ali on the radio. Soft spoken, but confident, Ali was the link between John Coltrane and Albert Ayler, probably my two most beloved jazz icons. His drums were the terrestrial gateway into the mindfuck of Interstellar Space. I'd say at least he's free now, but Rashied Ali was born free. He played free and he always will be free to anyone with open ears.

who is clive?

I while back I wrote an article for splice about my top ten favorite Sesame Street performances. This one wasn't around at the time, or believe me I would have found it.

RIP Michael

I wrote this a few years ago, and its still true.

Singling out the best

By Lloyd H. Cargo
On October 4th, 2006

Ever since RCA Victor introduced the 45 RPM record in 1949, millions of singles have been released on the format. One stands above them all: Motown M1157.

I've repeated these words dozens of times since I stumbled across a $.59 copy at a hole in the wall record store in Philadelphia - "Close your eyes, I'm about to put on the greatest single of all time."

You have to start with the B-side. Drop the needle and the first thing you hear is a few measures of Rhodes electric piano before Michael Jackson starts in with "When I had you I treated you bad and wrong my dear ..." with a startling passion that belies his age - he was only 11 years old.

The year is 1969, the song is Smokey Robinson's "Who's Lovin' You" and the group is the Jackson Five. In my opinion, it's quite possibly the greatest b-side of all time - and it is certainly the most heart-stopping, jaw-dropping, remarkable performance from a pre-teen that ever has been or will be. It's not hard to see how Michael could burn out the way he did when he was absolutely slaying people before he even reached puberty.

"Who's Lovin' You" is fairly simple slow-burning blues ballad, but production crew The CorporationT (Berry Gordy, Freddie Perren, Deke Richards and Alphonzo Mizell) makes the most with its minimal elements. The bass line is the foundation, creating a rock-solid groove with the drums while a guitar bathed in tremolo strums the occasional punctuating chord. Over all this Michael coos and pleads with incredibly mature melisma. He drags out the phrases, "I-I-I-I-I should have never, ever, ever made you cry" and really drives it home with raw emotion

An 11-year-old isn't supposed to have pitch like that, range like that. His "All I can do, all I can do, since you been gone is cry" can't possibly be from personal experience, but he sells it with all his soul.

The ending is the best part, my favorite 30 seconds of music ever. The band keeps crawling along at the same pace while Michael's shouts become more and more frantic. The last note he hits - "who's lovin' you" - is about an octave higher than even Smokey Robinson himself could hit, which is saying a hell of lot. It never fails to give me chills.

And that's the motherfucking B-side.

Before people even have time to gather their composure after the needle lifts, I like to hit hit them with the A-side. It's the most recognizable intro in Motown history. That piano glissando into that strident bass line - Oh. My. God. It's the most sure fire get-them-all-on-the-dance-floor track there is, even now, 27 years later.

"Oh baby all I need is one more chance (Show you that I love you) / Won't you please let me (back in your heart) / Oh darlin' I was blind to let you go (let you go baby) / But now since I see you in his arms (I want you back)."

The structure of the song is a basic I / IV / vi / iii / IV / I / ii / V / I, with a call-and-reponse chorus and an absolutely unforgettable bass line. Once again Michael's vocal performance is immediately arresting. It's easy to forget looking back after all he's been through, but this is a child making his recording debut. It's a momentous moment in pop-music history and beyond that it's a great fucking song.

I've worn out the grooves on my copy and I could still listen to it every day without losing any of the personal awe it inspires. I'm not one of those people that thinks Michael is a freak anyway, but even if he has 50 kids buried in his backyard, that doesn't diminish that he ranks up there with The Beatles, Sam Cooke and Frank Sinatra as titans of 20th century popular music. "I Want You Back" backed with "Who's Lovin You" started all that for Michael, and the combined impact of those two perfect pop creations make Motown M1157 not only the greatest Motown single, the greatest pop single, the greatest soul single, the greatest single from a man who would go on to have the greatest selling album of all time, but simply the greatest single of all time.