forwardMuzak Fun For the Entire Family
by Rachel Cotton
In the last issue of the acclaimed Yo Beat, some film dork wasted time
evaluating
millions of movies and suggesting "obscure indie pick of the issue"s, hoping
that what she said would turn at least a few members of our gargantuan audience onto her
recommended gems. She even went so far as to suggest the type of person that would
appreciate the movie (see "Wild Things" if you are a frat boy who likes to say
"sha-wing" upon viewing a little girl on girl). I'm fairly certain that none of
you paid any attention to her suggestions, if you even bothered to read them, so I will
now do an evaluation of a few obscure gems in my music collection, expecting you not to
take any notice whatsoever. If you are actually interested, however, I have created
helpful categories to turn you onto some truly fine pieces of musical work that you may
not be familiar with. Find the heading or headings (in this color)
that apply to you or your musical taste and give some of my suggestions (in this color) at least the 1 checka.
The "wish my car was a souped up lowrider with big booties
bumpin outta every window, so I could bounce down the street with the bass thumpin and
look like a ghetto video on BET at 3 AM" type.
Ridin' Hard. V/A. I will go so far as to say that
this is easily the ghettoist compilation in existence, and, therefore, a true gem and a
must have. Including such lowrider classics as "My 64" by Deuce Mob,
"Loco" by Tommy Gun, which, and I kid you not, includes the phrase "Fly
like a food stamp and welfare check it," and "Bump Dat Ass" by a lot of
people, this gem of a comp. is basically MAD ghetto Latino rap about the lowrider life. If
you cannot find this compilation, and I suspect that this will be the case because it is
SO ghetto, I will gladly send you a copy ( I want some ) because nobody should be without
it.
Dr. Octagon. Dr. Octagon A.K.A. Kool Keith is amazing. WACK rhymes,
usually about sickly entertaining medical phenomenon or just wackness in general, backed
by incredible technoesque beats, form a unique and enchanting sound.
Public Enemy. Everyone should like Public Enemy, hailed all-stars of the
The School. Chuck D, the guy with the views, Flava Flav, the crackhead, Terminator X, DJ
extraordinaire, the token white guy, who fills space by being incredibly white, and
company, who keep it DL, combine to personify smoothness. Forget that west sizzide trash
(except, of course, when listening to "ridin' hard") because the The School is
where it's at.
The "find it highly amusing that characters named Bebop and
Rocksteady are part of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Entourage" type.
Ska's The Limit vol. 1. V/A. Featuring truly
outstanding examples of traditional ska, this is an incredible compilation. The songs of
Laurel Aitken, Jimmy Cliff, Lord Creator, Robert Marley and many many others combine to
form an amazing collection of early R&B, Calypso, and mento influenced ska. Buy it.
Sentimental Swing: All-Star Dance Classics. V/A. Big bands played to get
people swingin, so their music is, obviously, pretty swingin and, therefore, great. On
this particular compilation, the works of such Big Band legends as Count Basie, The Duke,
Les Brown, Tony Bennett, Les & Larry Elgart, and the outstanding vocals of Doris Day
unite in quite the swingin collection. If you are not familiar with the world of swing, it
is definitely worth exploring because it is truly GREAT music. There are millions of
really good Big-Band/Swing compilations out there, so just pick one up, and I guarantee
that you won't be disappointed.
Jump With Joey. Ok, I LOVE Jump With Joey. Straight outta Hollywood, this band
combines the smooth sounds of Jazz, ska, calypso, and salsa influence, and a true mastery
of instruments, to form an extraordinarily captivating "jazz with a little uumph and
a lotta flow" sound. I can listen to their stuff over and over again, and it's just
as amazingly amazing as the first time I heard it. To the best of my knowledge, they used
to be released out of Japan or had some strange affiliation with an Asian country that
made them really hard to find, but now, and I know you're all as excited about this as I
am, their strange affiliation has gone American, and their stuff is much easier to find.
Please get yourself some Jump With Joey because they are soooooo GREAT.
The "rah rah noise" type
Filth and Mankind? are both phenomenal bands,
although I think that if I tried to relate why exactly I like their music, it would
probably make them sound completely unappealing to any ordinary person. If, to you, it
sounds inviting that to describe them would make them sound, in "musical" terms,
horrible, then get some of their stuff because they are incredible. In grind we crust.
The "folk aint a joke, up the beautiful voices and acoustic
guitars" type
Sarah McLachlan. The music of Sarah McLachlan is
peacefully enchanting. I tend to hate female vocalists of the punk variety for some
reason. Sarah McLachlan, however, is not in a punk band and has THE most beautiful voice.
I like to listen to her music when I'm in a quiet mood. Unlike most of my other
recommendations, I'm sure most of you have heard Sarah and you either like her or you
don't. If you are not familiar with her, however, check out some of her stuff because if
you like it, you will LOVE it.