White Gold, The Best I Can Give Is 2%
Once upon a time, in the far-off year of 2007, The California Milk Processor Board was looking for a new spin on the “Got Milk?” Campaign, and decided to try to create an off-beat viral sensation. So begins the tale of White Gold, a fictional rock star who was given a milk-filled guitar, his ability to rock, and his spectacular hair by “a crazy angel.” The Best I Can Give Is 2% is a 2008 EP of songs by “White Gold,” actually written and performed by Electric Six’s Dick Valentine and The Colonel. some of them were adapted into TV spots and music videos with an LA actor & musician playing the role of White Gold, but lip synching to Valentine’s vocal recordings. The songs are hilarious, some of the best material in recent Electric Six history, made even funnier because they stay on message throughout. Whether spinning wild tales about how milk can help you get women, have better hair, fall asleep and even help women with PMS, the songs are as laugh-out-loud funny as they are informative. It’s a weird, weird project, worth listening to.
White Gold, “Tame the Tiger”
Shock Cinema, Our Way Is Revenge
Shock Cinema’s full-length, Hell & Highwater, came to my attention by chance via yet another night of browsing new releases on eMusic back in 2008. It was spooky and moody and really engaging, and a quick search found their website, which featured this bio:
“Autry Fulbright, Destiny Montague, and Miyuki Furtado met at a midnight meeting of the “Universal Order of the Cinematic Mind,” a movement started in Hollywood in the 1930’s. A group of filmmakers began meeting together to discuss the immortality of film. They believed that creating motion pictures would grant them immortality in the minds of others. There are still groups that meet in various cities across the world to discuss the teachings of this organization.
After meeting at one of these events, Destiny and Autry struck up a conversation that included the German Kraut Rock group CAN, the director David Lynch, and how they influenced the coming of the end of the world in 2012. Miyuki, overhearing, agreed that they along with composer Ennio Morricone and Sergio Leone would play a large a role in the coming Apocalypse. Having recently spent time in the band The Rogers Sisters, Miyuki suggested that they apply what they had learned from those midnight meetings, along with their ideas and influences and start creating music.
The group was performing live on a fishing boat they were swallowed by a gigantic whale. But they claimed they were unafraid, as this experience was foretold by the Universal Order. They quickly began fashioning instruments from the detritus in the belly of the whale: bones became drums, sinew became guitar strings, and skulls became microphones. After playing for months in the belly of the beast, the creature spewed them out onto the shore of the East River. Their songs retell the stories of their experiences together.”
I bought it immediately. But later I went back to the EP that preceded it, Our Way Is Revenge, and have ended up liking it even more. It’s got plenty of atmosphere and style, but it’s a lot more kinetic and upbeat, and as you may have noticed, that’s my sweet spot.
The band seems to have disappeared not long after Hell & Highwater came out. That makes me sad. The downside to finding cool, lesser known bands on eMusic has been watching them disappear...
So, there’s not studio songs on youtube, so I’m going with Spotify here. I don’t like to resort to something you have to sign up for, but what can you do?
Shock Cinema, Our Way Is Revenge
Spacehog, Resident Alien
When I was in high school, “In The Meantime” was a big radio hit. I bough the record and loved it. I was the only one. All my friends hated Spacehog but one, and I didn’t find out he was into them until awhile later (Shout out to Matt!). I distinctly remember an evening, waiting for some stupid after hours school function to start, sitting in my car with Matt, listening to this album and talking about how everyone else was crazy for not liking it. Its appearance in Rock Band 3 (Where I hit it up a lot after getting the keyboard controller last year) had it on my mind, so I put it on for the first time in quite awhile. If I find myself in the mood for this band, I generally reach for the 2nd album, because it is insane. But this holds up alright. It’s a little all over the place stylistically, but in the mid-90s, most bands were. It was an odd period in music, in that respect. It’s not been often in the history of pop music that bands who were just throwing everything at the wall also had mainstream hits. Honestly, I can’t say how much of the record is good and how much of it is just fond memories, but I still like it. and my hatin’ little brother came around eventually, so that’s got to count for something (Shout out to Daniel!).
Spacehog, “In The Meantime”
Bob Dylan, Love & Theft
This one, I have a real soft spot for. It’s a rollicking good time, and the beginning of a new phase in Dylan’s career, the first one I was present for. I’d only become an obsessive Dylan fan (As mentioned in a previous entry) around the release of Time Out of Mind. This was the first album released since I was a fully-fledged follower. And it kicked off the new troubadour persona for Bob, dusting off all manner of old blues and folk songs, rearranging, rewriting and updating them, and audibly having as much fun as he’s ever had in his career. It was a shock to hear “Mississippi” for the first time, having heard the Sheryl Crow version repeatedly working in a record store several years prior. “Is... is Bob Dylan covering Sheryl Crow?” Nope, he just gave her the song and I had no idea (Years, later, 3 separate demos of “Mississippi” by Dylan from earlier recording sessions would be released on The Bootleg Series, Vol. 8). Love & Theft is a rollicking good time, full of danceable rockers and subdued ballads, brimming throughout with a playful sense of humor not really heard in his music in decades. It’s one of the greats.
I always forget it’s impossible to find Dylan stuff on youtube, too. Drat.
Bob Dylan, Love And Theft
Heems, Nerhu Jackets
Every one in Das Racist promised new mixtapes this year, and Heems is the 2nd one out of the gate with Nehru Jackets. The whole thing is produced by longtime friend Mike Finito, and was released in association with New York non-profit SEVA, whose members appear on the album rapping and singing in Punjabi. There’s also guest appearances from the usual suspects like Kool AD, Lakutis, Danny Brown, Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire, Despot, Fat Tony, and Big Baby Ghandi. But it’s still Heems’ show, and while it might sound like he could get lost in the tide of guest stars and participants, he certainly doesn’t. He brings the ethos that has made Das Racist one of the most interesting forces in hip hop to bear here. That is, he has completely ridiculous songs like “Jason Bourne” (it’s about Jason Bourne) and “Computers” (It’s about liking computers) at one extreme, and then he has songs that are anything but ridiculous like “NYC Cops,” basically just a powerful list of atrocities committed by that police department, and “Juveniles Detained in Guantanamo Bay,” which is about what it says it is, at the other. He’s smart and silly in equal measure, and it makes for a lively listen.
Nehru Jackets is as much a showcase for Mike Finito as it is for Heems. His productions are fantastic throughout, and can be traditional boom bap or draw from some pretty surprising sources (Hip hop beats made from PJ Harvey and Kate Bush songs? Yes, please). Together, they created easily the most entertaining album I’ve heard so far this year, and they didn’t even charge for it. You can get it here.
http://sevany.com/Heems, “Jason Bourne”
There you go.
--D
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