Sunday, October 05, 2003

Downloads, we have downloads!

Thanks to the courtesy (and server space) of my domain host Paul, I'll now be posting a pair of songs for you to download, changed approximately weekly. The first set is now available, to your left.

I've already written a bit about "Lucky Star," the first single from the forthcoming atom bomb third Basement Jaxx album, Kish Kash. It features (U.K.) man-of-the-moment Dizzee Rascal, and expertly manifests their two styles (if Jaxx can be said to have a "style," which I'd argue they can't - they do everything, as kitchen sink as music gets, and yet pull it off). "Star" has a tremendous jump-up quality to it, and ups the ante for Timbaland's next batch of productions (no way you can convince me he's not listening), mixing a snake-charmer vibe with pure bounce and the sheer thrills that only UK Garage is putting forth on wax these days. Dizzee just spits and spits; he may not be "grime," but he's mos def grimey. This is what happens when brilliant musical minds collide.

No, I won't try to convince you that ZZ Top are, or ever were, brilliant. What they are, and were, is quite possibly the best damn little band from Texas, whose stock in trade's a simple one: boogie. "Rough Boy" comes from their '86 album Afterburner, as the band were at their commercial apex (and about to lose it), and its very atypical of Gibbons/Gibbons/Beard, as it's a frickin' ballad. Even more shockingly, it works, for no other reason than the fact that it just does, bad synth drums and all. This is one of my 3 all-time favorite jukebox songs (the others being Fleetwood Mac's "Gypsy" and "There's a Tear in my Beer" by Hanks Jr. & Sr.), and every time I'm near a jukebox which has this on it (usually in the form of ZZ's Greatest Hits), I play it. Every time. It's a silly, sappy record, but they make me believe it. And the guitar work is of course impeccable.

Enjoy, y'all.

Comments: Post a Comment





<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?