I'm on a BOAT Mutha F**ka!

The other night I saw Passion Pit on a boat mutha f**ka. The show was an album release party for their first full-length album Manners and it was VERY fun, to say the least. We boarded a boat called The Temptress (sexy right?) and were stuck on it with only booze, food, dancing shoes and sea sickness for 3 hours. Suffice to say I got sufficiently drunk and danced the night away in a dark corner. Unfortunately it was too crowded for me to see anything but the music was good enough that it kept me going, no visuals needed. Also, MTV was there to capture this event--not sure how I feel about MTV overly embracing these young lads but I'll let it slide for now. Take a look at the video below and download the new full-length album Manners out now! You can also check out some more pics on Brooklyn Vegan here. Looking forward to actually seeing them in June at Bowery Ballroom.

MTV Shows

PP=Passion Pit, Not Penis You Perverts

New Passion Pit video out for their first single "The Reeling" off their full-length album Manners, due this May. I'm VERY excited for this album and can not WAIT for the show at Bowery Ballroom on June 20. The video is pretty cool, kind of ultra hipster and the girl is so pretty she makes me want to kill myself, but the song is awesome and I like it when bands decide to still put forth the effort of making a video. They definitely seem to have a thing for obscuring lead singer Michael Angelakos head in their videos as you can tell from their prior video for "Sleepy Head"-Directed by The Wilderness oddly enough. Check it out below and if you haven't listened to their debut Chunk of Change EP yet, get with it please.

Dearest Blossom

Blossom Dearie, a beloved Jazz and standards singer and pianist, died a few months ago after a long career of keepin' it real. I was introduced to Blossom in college while working at the adorable Boutique Darlings. We were allowed to pick the music that was played in the shop and I would often bring in my old fartsy faves--Michael Feinstein, Frank Sinatra, Fred Astaire, etc. But my dearest co-worker and friend Cecile brought in her copy of Blossom Dearie one day and my instant reaction was "who is this child singing?"

Blossom's voice is the tiniest, itsy bitsy little thing you've ever heard and I must admit very hard to take initially. But after hours upon hours of standing around listening to the same CD's on repeat I took to Blossom and became one with her rendition of "Deed I Do."

I came across a wonderful article on Pop Matters today that highlighted the life of Blossom and how the writer,Will Layman, a writer, teacher and musician, came to love this wonderful lady too.

Below I have pulled out a few of the more interesting pieces from the article and you can also listen to some of Blossom's songs through the LaLa playlist while you read. A few of my favorites from the list are "Deed I Do," "Tout Doucement,"
"I Won't Dance," and "They Say It's Spring."

Blossom continued to play at NY and London supper clubs well into her old age and was one of the last remaining supper club performers of her time. She died peacefully in her sleep on February 7, 2009 in her Greenwich Village apartment.

Blossom Dearie - Blossom Deari...

Blossom Dearie was born in 1924 in East Durham, New York, and she came of age as a singer and pianist in the ‘50s, a time when the hippest music in America wasn’t far off from the supper clubs and cabarets—a kind of “indie” music for its time. Blossom, a preppy-looking white woman with a sound that was the very opposite of “down home”, shared a social and music scene with the likes of Miles Davis, the baddest and hippest jazz musician on the planet.

Her career boomed, artistically and commercially, in the ‘60s, and whether through cleverness or pugnacity she made few commercial compromises as the decades passed. She appeared on television singing great songs because the hosts were charmed by her. Her career was inadvertently boosted by the success of a jingle she recorded for Hires Root Beer in 1962, leading to the release of Blossom Dearie Sings Rootin’ Songs, but her art was essentially untouched.

In the ‘70s, she recorded some pop songs associated with the singer-songwriter movement ("Killing Me Softly” and “Both Sides Now") to no real ill effect—at the same time doing more composing herself. She also helped out her pal Bob Dorough by doing some cameo singing for his work on the kids’ show Schoolhouse Rock. She was open-minded, but she knew what she wanted in her art.

From the first notes of “‘Deed I Do” ("Do I want you? Oh, my, do I. Honey ... ‘deed I do"), my ears were in handcuffs. Here was a jazz singer lacking all the usual histrionic business. No trills or swoops or over-drama. No grunting or fake authenticity, but also no sentimentality or cheesiness.

I was only a 14-year-old kid, but I could hear intelligence and wit in Blossom Dearie’s attack on a lyric. Blossom sings:

I won’t dance, don’t ask me
I won’t dance, don’s ask
I won’t dance, monsieur, with you
My heart won’t let my feet do things they should do

And you can hear a twinkle in her phrasing that acknowledges the cleverness and irony in the words. Later, when the lyrics rhymes, “For, heaven rest us / I’m not asbestos!”, Blossom makes the ingenious lyric seems not precious but a thrill. But when she finally sings, “I know that music leads the way to romance / So if I hold you in arms I won’t dance”, it’s clear that what she’s finally saying is—when you hold me in your arms I’ll do way more than dance.

All this is clear because in Blossom’s voice there is the surface sound of innocence—a little girl tone and pitch—that is Turned Just So into experience by the way Blossom places her syllables against the beat. It’s not an obvious thing, but it is a very effective thing: Blossom swings her little girl voice in a way that makes clear that she is no little girl. And so, like the aftertaste of a great glass of wine, her voice becomes impossibly powerful through an act of implication and subtlety.

Blossom Dearie, rest in peace. You sang directly to me, and every note, every syllable, every purring vowel was a thrill.

Fux Tape

Here is the last edition (for now) of the A Dam Fine Man mux tape. This last installment has a somewhat sexier-time feel dubbing it the Fux Tape. The Fineman shall take it from here, enjoy!


http://www.pbzep70.muxtape.com/

I was recently sorting through my mp3 collection looking for future muxtape-worthy songs, and I kept getting caught up by stray mp3s that didnt seem to fit into any conceivable music mix. Then it dawned on me that all these random mp3s had one thing in common, the ability to stimulate the loins. And with this revelation we have the first and last Fuxtape. All these songs are NSFW due to the increased likelihood of you wanting to dry hump while listening to them. It must be said that these songs were just floating around on my computer and I didn't download them for this express purpose; I understand that much better baby-making music mixes can be assembled (so go make one, you dick).

-This Adina Howard song's awesome chorus samples Bootsy Collin's song "I'd Rather Be With You", and also goes on for way too long.

-Even I have this fucking Boyz II Men song on my computer. Probably the one song on here that you need to have on a mix like this. "throw your clothes! on the floor! ima gonna take my clothes off too" is the best line of all time in any song ever. Shit reminds me of bar mitzvah slow dancing, and I hate it all the more for it.

-Ladies and gentleman, may I reacquaint you with H-Town's Knockin Da Boots. You guys used to be tight back in the day right? I feel like this song could score a Wesley Snipes love-making scene ala Money Train.

-Shake You Down features some terrible fake ass synth harmonica with pitch bendies. Just terrible. But yet here we are, enjoying this song.

-Cut the shit. This Janet Jackson song is still amazing. This fucking thing would be a hit if it came out today. Janet Jackson was at the peak of her bone-ability when this fucker dropped in 1993.

-I really wanted to put Ginuwine's "Pony" on this mix, but apparently the ending of that song has like 45 seconds of skit attached to it, and fucking muxtape wont play cropped mp3s. "So Anxious" is actually better for the purpose of pro-creating, so I guess it's a blessing in disguise. Fucking Ginuwine.

-This Isley Brothers staple was sampled by Biggy for one of his most beloved songs, "Big Poppa". But this slow jam is the jam in its original form too.

-Speaking of that tubby, deceased wordsmith Biggy, here we have a young R. Kelly helping him convey that the chivalry is over, time to fuck! Such a beautiful sentiment and so subtly executed. "I'm fucking you tonight". Whatever does he mean?

-"Too Close" makes me want to dance, and that is a rare thing. Fuck this shit is tight. A song about boners, bestill my heart.

-Keith Sweat's "Twisted" gets me everytime. If you haven't heard this song in awhile you are in for a treat. Except for the rap section, which blows hard.

-This LL Cool J track isn't really baby-making music, but I prefer it over "Doin' It" anyday. Total really make this song resonate with me.

Enjoy!

-Adam

Im'a Feelin me some... Port O'Brien

I recently came across this band via Stereogum. Their music video for "I Woke Up Today" (which you can see at the Stereogum link) was adorable, brightly colored and FULL of Whimsy--GOD do I love me some damn whimsy.

The aforementioned song is also really, really, super catchy and strong from beginning to end. It's kind of like a mix of Arcade Fire and Broken Social Scene to me. Except this time Canada is not involved.

Port O'Brien reside in the Bay Area, but the heavy influence of seafaring references that you will notice i.e. "Fisherman's Son," "Stuck on a Boat," stem from the summer time travels that Vocalist and guitarist Van Pierszalowski experiences when he returns to his roots as an actual Fisherman's son in Kodiak Island in Alaska.

His adorable wife who sings and plays banjo, keyboard, and mandolin, goes north, too, as Head Baker at the Larsen Bay cannery.

Spending so much time apart from each other must also take it's toll, thus is the sad, love-strained life that always makes the best musicians. See: Cuomo, Rivers-- Blue, Pinkerton

Check out the entire Port O'Brien album, All We Could Do Was Sing on me MUXTAPE.

You can also catch Port O'Brien on Friday, August 15th at Union Hall in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

A Dam Fine Man's Mux, V

The 5th installment of the Fineman Mux. Enjoy!

This week's mix features 3 songs with female lead singers, this is notable because I used to hate female singers, but look at me now!! A reformed musical misogynist.

-This lead off track is the best song that Phoenix has made that isn't "Too Young", that song can never be topped but this comes close.

-Kylie Minogue, eat your heart out, says Sophie Ellis-Bextor with this wondiferous slice of Euro pop. Strictly 4 my niggaz (and by "niggaz" I mean female listeners).

-Ahhh sweet, sweet Down Bottom. This is one of my favorite beats ever, a Swizz Beatz classic originally gifted to Drag-On who was nice enough to let Juvenile in on the fun. Here, Royce da 5'9" murders the beat in a new way with lines like, "I'm in love with my pistol, but I love your bitch too, I just don't love mine". Hilarious. The Washington Wizards play an instrumental version of this beat after every home win, which is for the best since the original track's chorus goes "do yall fuck them til they cum? damn right we make them cum!".

-I dare you not to rock your head to the first 30 seconds of "Black Cat". I fucking dare you. Granted, the pizzicato violin breakdown section is a little harder to groove to, but just try.

-Da Art of Storytellin is probably my favorite Outkast song. Awesome beat, fantastic opening verse from Big Boi, but the real killer here is Andre. It must be really frustrating for Big Boi, I mean he is an amazing MC but looks like shit compared to Andre 3000 on most of their tracks. Andre's verse is one of the best I have ever heard, the way he rides the beat is transcendant and his lyrics are heartbreaking. I recently learned that this song exists in a different version in which there is a 3rd guest verse from Slick Rick, but I went with the Outkast only one for ya'll.

-This Supremes song is off their Sam Cooke tribute album "We Remember Sam Cooke", which was released shortly after Senor Cooke was sketchily shot to death back in December 1964. Sam Cooke's version is obviously better than this one being that Sam Cooke is the best soul singer ever, and Lou Rawls' uncredited response vocals in the chorus can't be matched. I tried to get this Supremes album but shit is out of print and woulda cost $90 on ebay in vinyl form, but thanks to my boy Frank and the power of internet piracy I proudly present to you this rarity.

-I am quite prone to using hyperbole when describing music that moves me, but I am gravely serious when I say that this Ted Leo song is one of the best indie rock songs ever. If you don't like part or all of this song we can't be friends and you are an asshole. I am sorry you had to find out this way.

-Regulate. The smoothest rap song of all time. How could it possibly be topped? By making a remix of the song with an even SMOOTHER beat is how! I didn't believe it could be done, I mean the original sampled Yacht Rock icon Michael McDonald for fuck's sake! The bass work on this superior remix is key.

-This Yes song from their debut is pretty good, nothing great I know, but for some reason the last 43 seconds really pump my nads. So fantastically chill is this outro, i wish it didnt fade out so soon.

-And finally, this live version of Everything Counts from the Pasadena Rose Bowl circa 1988, what with the acappella fan send off at the end, is the stuff all live albums should be made of.

Sorry so long. It just happened

adam

Fave New Band: Ungdomskulen

The Frankster and I caught this band on New York Noise the other night. Their video for "Modern Drummer" was IRRESISTIBLE. Basically, it looks like it was directed by Tim and Eric, meaning its retardedly hilarious; and the song is really good to boot. Also the fact that their bass player looks like Weird Al with flat ironed hair is perfecto too. As of right now they're only touring in places that are not in America, but Hopefully soon they will show up--preferably in walking distance from my apt;)

Check out their video for "Modern Drummer" and the rest of their jimmy jams on their MySpace: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=40961990

Bye Nerds