'soul' music.
(this meme was created by a friend, based on the '20 albums' meme that's been going around facebook. we thought a list of songs should be in order. i enjoyed this far more than the albums one.. and thought i'd post my list here too. that means any of you reading this - whether i know you or not - are all tagged! get posting on your blogs and leave a comment so i can find where you posted yours!)
Think of 20 SONGS (feel free to list more) that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life. Dug into your soul. Music that brought you to life when you heard it. If you can, include links to the songs if you can find them (youtube and google are your friends!), or make a mix and put it online somewhere with a link.
Then when you finish, tag 15 others (or more), including me. Make sure you copy and paste this part so they know the drill.
-----------------
this was a lot harder than i thought to narrow it down to just 20.. so i didn't! only 25 was still hard though! :P. i think i enjoyed doing this list way too much for a normal human being. i sacrificed sleep for a music list?! priorities..
oh, and check out this interesting talk by a deaf percussionist named evelyn glennie who talks about how music is not simply auditory but something you feel and experience. yes!
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/evelyn_glennie_shows_how_to_listen.html
***
so here is the list that i slaved over.. in no particular order, the music that i felt/feel, and not just listened/listen to:
1. the diamond sea - sonic youth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whW7oVPcCYo
this was never my fave SY song but it was life altering when i first heard it.. i was completely blown away and so began my passion for sonic youth. i quickly bought up every single album they ever released, and stopped at 'NYC ghosts & flowers' (circa 2000) cuz i thought things started to really suck. anyway, i loved sonic youth so much that i even picked the name 'x-girl' (aka: kim gordon's clothing line) as my alias when i got sucked into the geekfest that was BBSing (what existed before the internet..) when i was 16 or 17 or so.
2. shortwave radio - shotmaker
http://cowbell.fm/artist/Shotmaker
i can't express enough how much i used to love this friggin' band during the punk/hardcore years. deep love! i got into them after they had already broken up though, but i managed to acquire almost every single thing they ever released - even rare stuff! - aside from maybe one or two 7" records. my old roommate erin and i once put on a show for a post-shotmaker band called 'three penny opera'. all was good until the sketchy old white guy whose venue we rented got into a racist altercation with a black member of the opening band. we should have run far away when we saw the confederate flag hanging behind the stage..
3. bang yer head - portraits of past
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqS5Fo9j7BA
loved this band too back in those days. this song kicked me in the gut (above my studded belt), then wrung it out to be eaten by wolves.. and made me feel all emo as i danced spastically, grabbed at the air (in an emo way, of course) and screamed while crying (screamo style).
4. half of what - ...and you will know us by the trail of dead
http://hypem.com/track/755009/...And+You+Will+Know+Us+by+the+Trail+of+Dead-Half+of+What
i used to love this song back in the day. it somehow reminds me of all those years of seeing bands in peoples' basements, taking long roadtrips to attend punk/hardcore music fests, putting on shows for touring bands, writing a shitty and self-righteous column for heartattaCk, crashing on strangers' couches. i saw this band play once, around the end of my love affair with punk/hardcore. it was at a big venue in london UK (the astoria?) cuz they had gotten big.. and i don't remember much else about the show aside from being amazed that at the end of their set, they tossed their drums into the crowd and smashed the shit out of their les paul guitars.
5. i wouldn't change a thing - coke escovedo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN0UnZ5KuzI
i just can't stay in my seat when i hear this song. it's magic!
6. move on up - curtis mayfield
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FQNlzRQrAM
can't keep still when this plays either. a classic tune that never gets old for me. my fave parts are the polyriddims and the killer bassline (love that groove)!
7. boubou n'gary - etoile 2000 (etoile de dakar)
http://www.boomkat.com/item.cfm?id=104470&highlight=104483
my old roommate jonathan's record collection used to cover an entire wall of our living room.. but this was from one of his CDs, not records. when i first heard the CD, i was completely blown away by a type of music i had never heard before, and i had to know more about this 'golden age of african pop' bidness! this CD was responsible for my love of african music from the 70s, beyond just fela kuti. this particular song is mbalax music from senegal.. and the polyrhythms and melodies on this just slay me! i also love the shitty recording quality cuz it harkens back to a bygone era.. i can just picture the band up on stage, playing in some smokey night club in dakar in the 70s, while people danced. oh, and this was youssou n'dour's old band before he went solo and made cheesier music in the 80s.
8. on verra ca - orchestra baobab
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDtzUVk-648
i love this tune! 2 of the most amazing live shows i have ever had the privilege of witnessing were orchestra baobab's, seriously. one at harbourfront and one at massey hall. i remember dancing in the aisle at harbourfront and it suddenly hitting me that i was seeing them live and how amazing they were, and i was completely awestruck by the experience. i love the comment someone made on youtube (see above link): "This band makes my insides scream and shout with happiness and love." ditto!
9. money is the root of evil - dan boadi & the african internationals
http://www.rushhour.nl/store_detailed.php?item=18443
this song makes me want to dance instantly! i used to play it out a lot but really wanted to be on the other side of the booth dancing to it. sometimes i'd throw it on as my last track, just as the other DJ was gonna come on.. and then i'd get out there and dance like crazy.
10. donuts - j dilla
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68_Io-RPDXE
i'm cheating cuz this is an album, not a song.. but it's almost like a song anyway cuz the album is so seamless. it's extra bittersweet knowing dilla made this in his hospital bed (now that's dedication! he is the master..) and it was the very last album he made before his untimely death. i'm so glad we got to hear this. i feel like i'll never get sick of it.
11. poolhouse blue - 18th dye
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GALKPntrIUk
this one's a throwback to my indie rock days. i loved this even though i knew nothing about this german band. the back of the CD says it was released in 1995 on matador records. when i put this on again, i realized it's still a really good track.
12. free up black man - cedric 'im' brooks & the light of saba
http://www.honestjons.com/label.php?pid=27446&LabelID=14815
the entire double LP album on honest jon records kicks my ass. it's that good! it was hard to pick just one track off of it, but here ya go. i love this 'funkier' (well, with the afro-influenced drumbeats) side of reggae. spiritual reggae. nyabinghi music!
13. we been troddin - rhythm & sound w/ shalom
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDlS91B_f8M
i think it's the political thang ("we been troddin for so long.. we been sufferin for too long..") that first pulled me into this song.. well, that and the fact that the dubby production rules! i was so happy when i finally found this on vinyl!
14. moya - godspeed you black emperor!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rsf2LoLk3SA
the first time i ever saw/heard GYBE was probably around 1997 or so. they played to about 20 people at club shanghai, a shortlived bar on spadina, right in the heart of chinatown. they came out and walked through the crowd first, playing their bagpipe, guitars and string instruments and i was just blown away. i saw them a ton of times after that at much bigger venues with sold out shows but nothing ever lived up to the first time. anyway, there is this killer part near the end of this song where it builds, builds, builds and then crashes into the melody line and makes me do the indie rock style swaying/head nodding even though i am no longer an indie rocker. i repeat, i am no longer an indie rocker.
15. baliky bone - hypnotic brass ensemble
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWJOZELBaB8
i love horns! when i see youtube videos of these guys performing on the streets and subways of chicago and wherever else, i'm amazed and appalled that people walk by like it ain't no thang. what the hell? how can you walk by such amazing music and not even stop to look?
16. kyenkyen bi adi mawu - alhaji k. frimpong
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tR3_Q8KOdd0
i would give my right and left arms for this on vinyl. i guess my arms are collectively worth about $200+ cuz that's how much the original vinyl seems to go for on ebay. anyway, the horns, the vocals, and especially the killer organ (keys?), horns and dirty drumbeats make this a killer track.. and also the shitty production quality from the 70s (you know i love that). i heard it on the dancefloor once and it made me go crazy. no one else seemed to go crazy with me though (why?!). now i have serato. thank god for serato.
17. xberg ghosts - deadbeat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvEmN9UvJJw
i have to represent dub techno somewhere cuz i am really into it these days. this whole album ('roots & wire') is amazing but my friend steve snagged the last copy at slinkymusic so i had to get it digitally instead. damn you, steve!
18. the creator has a master plan - pharoah sanders (the long version from the 'karma' LP)
http://www.badongo.com/audio/11939572
aside from jazz-influenced stuff and nu jazz, i thought i didn't really like most jazz for the longest time (though i still had respect for it). i thought of it as 'background music'.. then i discovered spiritual jazz (though i still have a ton to learn about it). this song kills me.. it's so good and definitely not background music. i like to listen to it with headphones on while lying on the floor and doing nothing but listening.
19. all i do - stevie wonder
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flXHX0I1dL8
(this clip has both the original version stevie wonder wrote for tammi terrell in the 60s, and then the version he does in the 80s follows right after.. both great in their own ways!)
i automatically want to sing along when this comes on. i can also rarely listen to it just once but have to hear it again (and sometimes again and..). i also got to dance to it at the most fun party i went to last year (courtesy of DJs spinna & bobbito.. and the milk. guys!) - all stevie wonder-related tracks all night! OH YES.
20. the seed - the roots
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqi5P4gAvSY
i love the roots! i love the live drumbeats! i really loved this album as well, though it's not most people's fave. well, too bad for most people! anyway, i love that this is not your typical hip hop track.
21. sweet child o' mine - guns n' roses
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-AYAv0IoWI
have to rep my childhood somewhere! can you deny that ridiculous guitar solo at the beginning?! no you can't! i loved gn'r as an awkward, shy, geeky 12-year-old. my sister, our friends and i even chose this song to make a lipsync video to in our summer school videomaking class. they wanted me to be slash cuz i had long hair with a bad middle part and could make my hair cover my face. i refused out of embarrassment. in the end, i was not in the video though i forget why. also, for some reason, my little 4-yr-old bro worshipped slash back then. i have many other gn'r stories.
22. mogwai fear satan - mogwai
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgDQN2qls9c
i used to love mogwai! this was the perfect long song to listen to on headphones and just drown in a wash of guitars. good thing mogwai barely use lyrics cuz who knows what they're saying in their thick glasgow accent.
23. ebo lala - mulatu astatke
http://www.tunes.co.uk/tunes/featured/10934.html
i know most people prefer 'emnete' cuz it's instantly funkier-sounding (those killer horns..!) but they're all wrong. how can you deny the amazing vocals, percussion and horns? there's this part where the horns come in and it drives me mental. (psssst.. 'emnete' is still amazing too though)
24. tell it like you mean it - quantic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR06j0SwsLM
have to represent quantic somewhere on this list cuz i love his stuff. this is probably my fave quantic track. everytime i play it for anyone, they're like "who is this?!" that's right, you better recognize!
25. fancy clown - madvillain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2V0mPD6FhXQ
(though this track + video = dopeness: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewc1hixzYPY )
the first time i heard this track, it was actually from an unfinished copy of the album that someone leaked on soulseek. bad leaker! the version i heard was a bit different from the final version, and had a different song title. shortly after the album came out, i saw mf doom & madlib live at the opera house. i went by myself cuz no one i knew at the time liked them and wanted to go. i biked there in the winter time cuz i was completely insane, of course. when's this supposed new album coming out anyway?!
Think of 20 SONGS (feel free to list more) that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life. Dug into your soul. Music that brought you to life when you heard it. If you can, include links to the songs if you can find them (youtube and google are your friends!), or make a mix and put it online somewhere with a link.
Then when you finish, tag 15 others (or more), including me. Make sure you copy and paste this part so they know the drill.
-----------------
this was a lot harder than i thought to narrow it down to just 20.. so i didn't! only 25 was still hard though! :P. i think i enjoyed doing this list way too much for a normal human being. i sacrificed sleep for a music list?! priorities..
oh, and check out this interesting talk by a deaf percussionist named evelyn glennie who talks about how music is not simply auditory but something you feel and experience. yes!
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/evelyn_glennie_shows_how_to_listen.html
***
so here is the list that i slaved over.. in no particular order, the music that i felt/feel, and not just listened/listen to:
1. the diamond sea - sonic youth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whW7oVPcCYo
this was never my fave SY song but it was life altering when i first heard it.. i was completely blown away and so began my passion for sonic youth. i quickly bought up every single album they ever released, and stopped at 'NYC ghosts & flowers' (circa 2000) cuz i thought things started to really suck. anyway, i loved sonic youth so much that i even picked the name 'x-girl' (aka: kim gordon's clothing line) as my alias when i got sucked into the geekfest that was BBSing (what existed before the internet..) when i was 16 or 17 or so.
2. shortwave radio - shotmaker
http://cowbell.fm/artist/Shotmaker
i can't express enough how much i used to love this friggin' band during the punk/hardcore years. deep love! i got into them after they had already broken up though, but i managed to acquire almost every single thing they ever released - even rare stuff! - aside from maybe one or two 7" records. my old roommate erin and i once put on a show for a post-shotmaker band called 'three penny opera'. all was good until the sketchy old white guy whose venue we rented got into a racist altercation with a black member of the opening band. we should have run far away when we saw the confederate flag hanging behind the stage..
3. bang yer head - portraits of past
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqS5Fo9j7BA
loved this band too back in those days. this song kicked me in the gut (above my studded belt), then wrung it out to be eaten by wolves.. and made me feel all emo as i danced spastically, grabbed at the air (in an emo way, of course) and screamed while crying (screamo style).
4. half of what - ...and you will know us by the trail of dead
http://hypem.com/track/755009/...And+You+Will+Know+Us+by+the+Trail+of+Dead-Half+of+What
i used to love this song back in the day. it somehow reminds me of all those years of seeing bands in peoples' basements, taking long roadtrips to attend punk/hardcore music fests, putting on shows for touring bands, writing a shitty and self-righteous column for heartattaCk, crashing on strangers' couches. i saw this band play once, around the end of my love affair with punk/hardcore. it was at a big venue in london UK (the astoria?) cuz they had gotten big.. and i don't remember much else about the show aside from being amazed that at the end of their set, they tossed their drums into the crowd and smashed the shit out of their les paul guitars.
5. i wouldn't change a thing - coke escovedo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN0UnZ5KuzI
i just can't stay in my seat when i hear this song. it's magic!
6. move on up - curtis mayfield
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FQNlzRQrAM
can't keep still when this plays either. a classic tune that never gets old for me. my fave parts are the polyriddims and the killer bassline (love that groove)!
7. boubou n'gary - etoile 2000 (etoile de dakar)
http://www.boomkat.com/item.cfm?id=104470&highlight=104483
my old roommate jonathan's record collection used to cover an entire wall of our living room.. but this was from one of his CDs, not records. when i first heard the CD, i was completely blown away by a type of music i had never heard before, and i had to know more about this 'golden age of african pop' bidness! this CD was responsible for my love of african music from the 70s, beyond just fela kuti. this particular song is mbalax music from senegal.. and the polyrhythms and melodies on this just slay me! i also love the shitty recording quality cuz it harkens back to a bygone era.. i can just picture the band up on stage, playing in some smokey night club in dakar in the 70s, while people danced. oh, and this was youssou n'dour's old band before he went solo and made cheesier music in the 80s.
8. on verra ca - orchestra baobab
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDtzUVk-648
i love this tune! 2 of the most amazing live shows i have ever had the privilege of witnessing were orchestra baobab's, seriously. one at harbourfront and one at massey hall. i remember dancing in the aisle at harbourfront and it suddenly hitting me that i was seeing them live and how amazing they were, and i was completely awestruck by the experience. i love the comment someone made on youtube (see above link): "This band makes my insides scream and shout with happiness and love." ditto!
9. money is the root of evil - dan boadi & the african internationals
http://www.rushhour.nl/store_detailed.php?item=18443
this song makes me want to dance instantly! i used to play it out a lot but really wanted to be on the other side of the booth dancing to it. sometimes i'd throw it on as my last track, just as the other DJ was gonna come on.. and then i'd get out there and dance like crazy.
10. donuts - j dilla
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68_Io-RPDXE
i'm cheating cuz this is an album, not a song.. but it's almost like a song anyway cuz the album is so seamless. it's extra bittersweet knowing dilla made this in his hospital bed (now that's dedication! he is the master..) and it was the very last album he made before his untimely death. i'm so glad we got to hear this. i feel like i'll never get sick of it.
11. poolhouse blue - 18th dye
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GALKPntrIUk
this one's a throwback to my indie rock days. i loved this even though i knew nothing about this german band. the back of the CD says it was released in 1995 on matador records. when i put this on again, i realized it's still a really good track.
12. free up black man - cedric 'im' brooks & the light of saba
http://www.honestjons.com/label.php?pid=27446&LabelID=14815
the entire double LP album on honest jon records kicks my ass. it's that good! it was hard to pick just one track off of it, but here ya go. i love this 'funkier' (well, with the afro-influenced drumbeats) side of reggae. spiritual reggae. nyabinghi music!
13. we been troddin - rhythm & sound w/ shalom
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDlS91B_f8M
i think it's the political thang ("we been troddin for so long.. we been sufferin for too long..") that first pulled me into this song.. well, that and the fact that the dubby production rules! i was so happy when i finally found this on vinyl!
14. moya - godspeed you black emperor!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rsf2LoLk3SA
the first time i ever saw/heard GYBE was probably around 1997 or so. they played to about 20 people at club shanghai, a shortlived bar on spadina, right in the heart of chinatown. they came out and walked through the crowd first, playing their bagpipe, guitars and string instruments and i was just blown away. i saw them a ton of times after that at much bigger venues with sold out shows but nothing ever lived up to the first time. anyway, there is this killer part near the end of this song where it builds, builds, builds and then crashes into the melody line and makes me do the indie rock style swaying/head nodding even though i am no longer an indie rocker. i repeat, i am no longer an indie rocker.
15. baliky bone - hypnotic brass ensemble
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWJOZELBaB8
i love horns! when i see youtube videos of these guys performing on the streets and subways of chicago and wherever else, i'm amazed and appalled that people walk by like it ain't no thang. what the hell? how can you walk by such amazing music and not even stop to look?
16. kyenkyen bi adi mawu - alhaji k. frimpong
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tR3_Q8KOdd0
i would give my right and left arms for this on vinyl. i guess my arms are collectively worth about $200+ cuz that's how much the original vinyl seems to go for on ebay. anyway, the horns, the vocals, and especially the killer organ (keys?), horns and dirty drumbeats make this a killer track.. and also the shitty production quality from the 70s (you know i love that). i heard it on the dancefloor once and it made me go crazy. no one else seemed to go crazy with me though (why?!). now i have serato. thank god for serato.
17. xberg ghosts - deadbeat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvEmN9UvJJw
i have to represent dub techno somewhere cuz i am really into it these days. this whole album ('roots & wire') is amazing but my friend steve snagged the last copy at slinkymusic so i had to get it digitally instead. damn you, steve!
18. the creator has a master plan - pharoah sanders (the long version from the 'karma' LP)
http://www.badongo.com/audio/11939572
aside from jazz-influenced stuff and nu jazz, i thought i didn't really like most jazz for the longest time (though i still had respect for it). i thought of it as 'background music'.. then i discovered spiritual jazz (though i still have a ton to learn about it). this song kills me.. it's so good and definitely not background music. i like to listen to it with headphones on while lying on the floor and doing nothing but listening.
19. all i do - stevie wonder
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flXHX0I1dL8
(this clip has both the original version stevie wonder wrote for tammi terrell in the 60s, and then the version he does in the 80s follows right after.. both great in their own ways!)
i automatically want to sing along when this comes on. i can also rarely listen to it just once but have to hear it again (and sometimes again and..). i also got to dance to it at the most fun party i went to last year (courtesy of DJs spinna & bobbito.. and the milk. guys!) - all stevie wonder-related tracks all night! OH YES.
20. the seed - the roots
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqi5P4gAvSY
i love the roots! i love the live drumbeats! i really loved this album as well, though it's not most people's fave. well, too bad for most people! anyway, i love that this is not your typical hip hop track.
21. sweet child o' mine - guns n' roses
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-AYAv0IoWI
have to rep my childhood somewhere! can you deny that ridiculous guitar solo at the beginning?! no you can't! i loved gn'r as an awkward, shy, geeky 12-year-old. my sister, our friends and i even chose this song to make a lipsync video to in our summer school videomaking class. they wanted me to be slash cuz i had long hair with a bad middle part and could make my hair cover my face. i refused out of embarrassment. in the end, i was not in the video though i forget why. also, for some reason, my little 4-yr-old bro worshipped slash back then. i have many other gn'r stories.
22. mogwai fear satan - mogwai
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgDQN2qls9c
i used to love mogwai! this was the perfect long song to listen to on headphones and just drown in a wash of guitars. good thing mogwai barely use lyrics cuz who knows what they're saying in their thick glasgow accent.
23. ebo lala - mulatu astatke
http://www.tunes.co.uk/tunes/featured/10934.html
i know most people prefer 'emnete' cuz it's instantly funkier-sounding (those killer horns..!) but they're all wrong. how can you deny the amazing vocals, percussion and horns? there's this part where the horns come in and it drives me mental. (psssst.. 'emnete' is still amazing too though)
24. tell it like you mean it - quantic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR06j0SwsLM
have to represent quantic somewhere on this list cuz i love his stuff. this is probably my fave quantic track. everytime i play it for anyone, they're like "who is this?!" that's right, you better recognize!
25. fancy clown - madvillain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2V0mPD6FhXQ
(though this track + video = dopeness: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewc1hixzYPY )
the first time i heard this track, it was actually from an unfinished copy of the album that someone leaked on soulseek. bad leaker! the version i heard was a bit different from the final version, and had a different song title. shortly after the album came out, i saw mf doom & madlib live at the opera house. i went by myself cuz no one i knew at the time liked them and wanted to go. i biked there in the winter time cuz i was completely insane, of course. when's this supposed new album coming out anyway?!