and Pacific Rim is next level visually. We finally get giant robots after all this time.
Going into a Godzilla-esque/Giant Robot film expecting Solaris is silly.
Theyve tried to make a "Real Sci-Fi" Godzilla film and that shit always fails.
Keep the shit movin' and give us the action.
Im hopin for 2014 to get closer to embracing the 90's and shed the 80's Boogie, FauxHawks, and the Goldbergs.
Batmon,
Upstream Color fucked me up!!!! Crazy! Visually amazing. Was a huge fan of Primer (have probably watched it 4 or 5 times). Writer/Director really respects the audience's intelligence.
The joy to be had in pulling out nasal hairs with the tweezers. So good. It's a game of diminishing returns; first couple of tugs yield multiple thick 'uns, then a Pareto-esque foray into the fine blonde tundra will o' the wisp nether regions of the deep nostril bowl.
2 CDs of self-led stuff kindly supplied by the boards very own Shears and Neil Something. A constant delight on the in-whip CD player this year.
The recent pix of Nigella. First got to get past the unsavoury political associations attached to this dame, but then...
Still unsure which Nigella is most worthy of lust.
The Prozac n coke happy voluptuous version in fetish footwear and licking her fingers suggestively, or the recent ice maiden pouting post-court vision of silent fury and perfect styling.
Goodness at the end of 2013:
My wife got 2 tickets to a show by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band here in Ottawa last week , they brought the house down. It was - 35 degrees celsius outside but they had the crowd on there feet and sweating inside. Best show of the year by a mile.
Approached the year with some trepidation as I knew the axe was coming at work, as HP look to move all work to the cheapest countries with the internet. It arrived a few months late and the spectre of a career flipping burgers began to moan in the distance. However, my tactic of unsolicited cage-rattling paid off and two weeks later, I was back working direct for the old client, on better money doing more interesting work. So in that respect, I am truly grateful. I am told I am dodging the client's next axe-swinging round, too. The game seems to be about volunteering to action their shittiest messes.
Home-wise the kids still eat up most of the spare time but most of the things we needed to fix on the house are done and if I can keep it rolling until the Summer, we can cross off all but the most expensive job. We're still short on room but the area is good and the neighbours are fantastic. Going to have to build some kind of Skel-esque Wizzardz Lair for storage and convert the garage into a room. We could have less shit, of course, but my shit is useful (as it's bikes and guitars). The garage was always too small for a real car anyway.
We waved goodbye to the last of the Saabs after 13 years and 170K miles. It's not gone too far, the neighbour's dad bought it so we see it every weekend. The wife misses it but every time I hear its alarm going off at random, I think "Thank f*ck it's not mine anymore". I could walk over and tell him how to fix it, but it'd be like walking over with a marshmallow on a stick while their house is burning down, no? And perhaps I'd feel some obligation to do it. Sack that. I left the f*cker my Focal component speakers, what more does he want? Best to pop a cold one and move on.
Health-wise I am in good shape, as a result of being knocked off the bike and breaking my collar bone. I realised I wouldn't be riding for a couple of months and so started to eat and drink less to mitigate the inactivity. I have kept that up, even now the riding is back in full effect. I've lost some weight. I am also looser with time during the day and have been able to ride a whole heap of new trails during lunchtimes. I can do what is asked of me in the timeframes I am given. They need not worry about how this is achieved.
I think me and drink have to see less of each other, because despite feeling fine off it, I feel like shit after a big night. Must be getting old/too grown-and-sexy ... Speaking of which:
skel said:
nasal hairs
As an official Old Man, one found oneself becoming more hirsute in places previously pubescent. Nose, ears, shoulders... Man was going out like a Clarence Beaks. Ergo, I got me some of them little scissors and bushwhacked both nostrils this time last year.
Mistake.
Soon as I did a bike ride, the frigid air shrivelled my sinuses to f*ck. Infection. F*cking awful. So, they are there for a reason, it would appear, and nowadays I just try and keep them from peeping over the parapet.
Shears and Neil Something.
I would also like to clock the work of dem Brits. I have heard the efforts of the one Something before and the boy can play. Hit a mug up on t3h pms?
Which Nigella.
The Fury. I seem to like a challenge when it comes to bird and bird. Not the airborne pots-and-crockery type, but I will ride for a venomous twinkle all day.
Wishing you all a solid 2014. I know many Strutters have fallen to the moves of the Real World...
[A small pause as we remember those... YES JUNIOR I INCLUDE YOU...]
... but nothing else on the interwebs is seeing this place for Breeze-Shooting.
I can confirm the boy Junior is alive and well, going through a few fin de si??cle moves and commencing a few new ones; but when dust has settled, man will return, Phoenix-like and sans ennui.
Wow - 2013 was a crazy year for me. unlucky 13 for real.
Started out with a kitchen fire (oil + spark = woosh) in my house that couldve ended the whole house, but thankfully, thanks to an old retired baker drinking a beer in the bar next to my house, he went back inside with me when the smoke was already so thick we damn near had to crawl - and put that shit out with the quickness with a big ol extinguisher - being used to fires from his bakery days. In the end had the house redone the way we always wanted it, and insurance covered it all - thankfully all together it was just just the kitchen and some smoke damage in the end. so it turned out for the best but on the night itself i thought id lost all my shit - inlcuding all my records. There was a weird vibe in the air then and boy did it materialise
There was a lot of death around me - including a close personal homey from the graff days who decided to end his suffering from MS, and another really close friend who lost his wife in a f*cked up traffic incident - two days aftre spending a lovely day with me on a sunkissed beach - leaving him behind with 2 young kids - were all still dealing with that on a daily basis - and my lovely neighbour across the street who also passed.
Work became a bitch thanks to a borderlining manager folding under pressure - so I just now quit my - indefinite contract type - job to take on a new one allowing me to spend more time with my fam, and be more in tune with what really interests me instead of what pays. taking a leap there but its a question of better life over security so fuck it.
So much new and old great music came my way, too much to mention - making everything easier to cope with.
2014 is going to be off the hook i hope - hopefully more travelling with the kids.
My concluding motto for 2013 - never bitch out, no matter how tough it gets - god knows i came close to a nervous breakdown more than once.
??? DJed more gigs than ever: 31 in October, 30 in Nov and 33(!) this month.
??? Found the perfect balance between private parties/weddings/corporate gigs, my 4-times-per-week gig DJing cardio classes at a local dance studio and my dream gig, a successful weekly I built from the ground up 3 years ago with an open format (music-wise) and a crowd that appreciates the wide variety of music me and my guest DJs play. Plus we have a taco grill open 'til 2a AND as of this weekend, an actual factual record store open on the premises! (also open 'til 2a)
??? Started a monthly roller skating jam with a friend at the local rink. Awesome place that's like a time warp to the 80s and 90s. Had two different local papers interview me about it when they found out via word-of-mouth. And I don't even know how to skate!
??? Started another open-format weekly at a new spot that's trying to change their image from a punk/goth/lesbian bar. I'm honored that they approached me to help bring in a new crowd.
??? Won my first ever DJ competition hosted by the local Clear Channel station. Scored some Beats By Dre headphones and a Rane 61 which I promptly sold. (Already had my beloved 15 year old Sony 7506s and a 62.) Had to go against my best friend/DJ partner in the finals. I opened that final round with dialogue from the classic cholo prison movie American Me. ("You know me, carnal. I'll do anything for La Eme...anything. But I'm asking you please..take my brother's name off the list. They want me to kill him!" followed by the scene where Big Puppet strangles Lil' Puppet saying "Don't look at me! Don't fight! Pleeeease don't fight! Just....die!") In all honesty, most of the guys I competed against are friends of mine who are MUCH better DJs than me in every single way, but I was the only one who spent time preparing for it and it showed.
??? I was booked to DJ an all-vinyl night in Sweden, all expenses paid. Spent a little over a week out there and I loved it. Hoping they bring me back in 2014.
??? Visited Tokyo for the first time ever and, of course, scratched Tokyo Disney off my bucket list!
Unfortunately, this year was not without its' bumps and bruises cuts and stitches. Caught a bad one at my gig this past weekend. Was sucker punched, well actually, sucker hit-with-a-bottle by some random drunk motherfucker. I was literally caught in the middle of someone else's drama and for some reason the dude decided to crack my head open. I noticed a commotion, turned around, saw some big ass fool in front of me and the next thing I know I'm stumbling around with blood pouring down my face. Doc said the cut went down to the bone.
I don't drink. Never had alcohol in my life. I guess instead of hitting the bottle, the bottle hit me. I've since added then crossed off "bar brawl" to my bucket list. Ha ha.
Funny thing is... I had finally scored a vintage '94 Polo Indian Head sweater after years of searching. Wore it out for the first time that night. The first thing I said was "My sweater!" and carefully took it off and handed it to someone so I wouldn't bleed all over it. Shit cost me $400!
and Pacific Rim is next level visually. We finally get giant robots after all this time.
Going into a Godzilla-esque/Giant Robot film expecting Solaris is silly.
Theyve tried to make a "Real Sci-Fi" Godzilla film and that shit always fails.
Keep the shit movin' and give us the action.
Im hopin for 2014 to get closer to embracing the 90's and shed the 80's Boogie, FauxHawks, and the Goldbergs.
Batmon,
Upstream Color fucked me up!!!! Crazy! Visually amazing. Was a huge fan of Primer (have probably watched it 4 or 5 times). Writer/Director really respects the audience's intelligence.
and Pacific Rim is next level visually. We finally get giant robots after all this time.
Going into a Godzilla-esque/Giant Robot film expecting Solaris is silly.
Theyve tried to make a "Real Sci-Fi" Godzilla film and that shit always fails.
Keep the shit movin' and give us the action.
Im hopin for 2014 to get closer to embracing the 90's and shed the 80's Boogie, FauxHawks, and the Goldbergs.
Batmon,
Upstream Color fucked me up!!!! Crazy! Visually amazing. Was a huge fan of Primer (have probably watched it 4 or 5 times). Writer/Director really respects the audience's intelligence.
Yes. Fave of the yr. even copped the vinyl OST.
i found this film less than amazing
ost is ok
i don't understand all the love
Nice Herm, I have the exact same scar, though mine was due to too much yagermeister and the iron leg of a bar table. It happened 12 yrs ago, and now you can hardly see it unless the light is right. Skating home at 4:30 in the morning after being stitched up by an intern was one of the trippiest rides of my life.
I had a baby in February, family is healthy, went back to the Old Continent for my moms b-day party, ate some amazing food this year including a visit to NOMA in Copenhagen, bought and sold more records than ever before and had a really strong year doing the freelance bid.
Some bad stuff probably happened but I try not to focus on that stuff.
Nice Herm, I have the exact same scar, though mine was due to too much yagermeister and the iron leg of a bar table. It happened 12 yrs ago, and now you can hardly see it unless the light is right. Skating home at 4:30 in the morning after being stitched up by an intern was one of the trippiest rides of my life.
Damn. I'm wondering how mine will end up. Doc told me to keep it out of the sun as much as possible to minimize scarring. My lady is a seamstress so she watched the whole process. She could definitely relate. Doc was trying to flirt with her and I'm like "I'm numb, foo', not unconscious!" Ha ha.
Low point - Two more teenagers I work(ed) with got shot this year
High point - Becoming an aunt for the first time. My nephew is a wonder, my brother and his GF are superstars that inspire awe in their teamwork and parenting
Mid point - Relationship roller-coaster made totally worthwhile by huge learning curves and personal growth
from Me, to You - Have a wonderful Christmas and Holiday, Soul Strut. I love you like cooked food and you drive me crazy just like family.
Big_Stacks"I don't worry about hittin' power, cause I don't give 'em nuttin' to hit." 4,670 Posts
Hey Bassie,
You remain the 'first lady' of Soul Strut. I thank you so very much for gracing the 'Strut fraternity with your class, wit, grit (I like how you mix it when necessary), and serious record knowledge. This place is better because you're here. :real_headz: Maybe, one day I'll have the privilege of making your esteemed acquaintance.
- Eric Copeland???s Joke In The Hole. The first time I listened to this straight-ahead, I kinda wrote it off as another pasty noisenik???s well-meaning stab at a Donuts-style sketch collection. But then I put it on in the background while I was doing something else, and every time I poked my ears up, it was doing something as interesting and as fucked-up as the pocket would allow. Since then, it???s kept rewarding.
- Side Two of Potions??? MIDI Jazz Bass. A less-satisfied Yellow Magic Orchestra. I can dig it.
- Ducktails??? Wish Hotel EP
- Pusha T???s My Name Is My Name. I spend a lot of time saddened by the fact that I mostly lack what I think it takes for an aging whitey such as myself to enjoy good rap in 2013--namely, 1) an enchantment with (or at least a sustained tolerance for) youth and their youthfulness and 2) the capacity for a certain kind of racial and cultural vampirism--but every once in a while something like this breaks through my crust. Pusha???s voice seems to be narrowing--it feels like he uses that rapping-through-gritted-teeth voice (the one he used to save for the third verse) all the time now--but I still find his particular mix of great generosity and utter deadness both darkly absorbing and depressingly relatable.
And while this may not be important in any real way, I also appreciate the fact that he???s still trying, however desperately, to fuck with the youngsters and to crack wider culture in all its voluptuousness and corruption, rather than treading water and making quitters??? records for Real Heads.
(Bonus Beat: In the block-letter paste-up ads I was seeing around town when this came out, I kept reading it as "Pus Hat." Letter spacing can be a mother. Like the time I embarassed myself in college by asking my friendly record-store clerk Eric if he knew what was up with this here "Bicka Nickel" record. Him: "Oh, that's 'Bikini Kill.'" Oops.)
- Classixx???s Hanging Gardens. I sometimes eat at McDonald???s, too.
- Darkside???s Psychic
- JDeep & DCastillo???s Dead As Disco 003. Shout out to Skateland USA in Anderson, South Carolina, and their Spy Hunter game that was up on risers and had a massively oversized gas pedal so you could play it without taking off your shits. This heavily textured record represents similarly deep huffs from the heart of the carpeted-wall narcotic. Is that a slow-ass filter pass, or just the tidal sound of your head finally filling up? Yes. Housey in its obsession and repetition, it unfolds at a pace that has less to do with leisure than with the Midwest???s quiet but hard refusal to reveal too quickly or to give you anything more than what you absolutely need. When that two-note riff opens up, after countless minutes, into two and a half notes, it feels like a fucking gift. Syrupy jacking for all my people for whom the spectre of maybe not getting out of here alive is tempered by the realization that they have work tomorrow. Shout out, too, to old ghosts everywhere.
- Inc.???s No World
- The Jai Paul leak
- Pete Rock & Camp Lo???s 80 Blocks From Tiffany???s Mixtape Part 2
- Mines??? Just Another Thing That Got Ruined. Correspondence-course Todd Rundgren overreach, punctuated by some truly supernal tremolo moments. It???s all fuzzed, phased, and messed-up, but I can tell there???s something in there for me.
New books I really enjoyed this year: Dave Hickey???s Pirates And Farmers and Rusty Morrison???s After Urgency (okay,the latter is from 2012, but still).
Old book I really enjoyed this year: Joy Williams???s The Changeling. One of the two or three best books of my adult life.
Song that I was happiest to hear on the radio: AWOLNATION???s ???Sail.??? I know this song is a couple years old, and that there???s some new ???roided-out remix of it that they???re using to sell Red Bull or some shit, but I???m not talmbout all that. I spent a lot of time in rental cars this past summer, and I don???t know what it was like wherever you were, but in the half dozen states between Illinois and South Carolina, the original mix of this song was all over the radio???like, they were playing it two times every hour or something. In, like, fucking two-lane Tennessee. And while the proverbial white block of cheese from New Zealand that is ???Royals??? has in the months since made for a nice little oasis, ???Sail??? is utterly lacking in anything resembling that song???s easy appeal; ???Sail??? seems way too proggy and fucked-up to get as popular as it got, which to me makes it far more compelling. I mean, musically it???s maybe not necessarily for me, and I don???t know how it got so popular years after the fact (was it in a movie or a tv show or something?), but it was thrilling to know that pop radio still has room for a song as squawkily incantatory, as dystopian, as long (shit???s like four and a half minutes???that???s like two hours in radio time), and as fucking weird as this one.
Musical non-moment I thought about a lot this year: Listening to Daft Punk???s ???Touch,??? I so badly wanted the song???s three parts--Paul Williams???s amber waves of American-corn heartbreak, the banjo-led Muppet-funk breakdown, and the choir???s qualified paradise of ???Hold, hold on / If love is the answer, you???re home???--to intersect (that is to say, touch) in some way, any way. Honestly, soulstrut, I can???t think of the last time I wanted so badly for a particular musical thing to happen???I???m pretty sure that at least once I stared at the rotating record, straight-up trying to will that shit to happen.
(For a little while I tried to convince myself that ???Get Lucky,??? the song immediately following it on the record, was meant as the full-hearted resolution of the needs and desires realized in ???Touch,??? but you know what? No.)
I can???t decide whether the fact that none of the three parts is ever permitted to touch either of the others, never allowed to address or heal or to deepen them, means that Daft Punk really knows what they???re doing or means that they really fucked up. But I know I???ve thought about it a lot.
Lyrical moment I thought about a lot this year: Superchunk???s ???Me And You And Jackie Mittoo??? is basically about the lives and relationships of the members of a touring rock band, and after singing about all the time spent in the van and on stage, Mac McCaughan sings, ???We were always together / We were never the same.???
I???ve thought a lot about the ambiguity in that line, not knowing if he means that all the time they???ve spent together has transformed them forever, and/or if he means that despite being together so much and for so long, they never really had that much in common.
??? Started another open-format weekly at a new spot that's trying to change their image from a punk/goth/lesbian bar. I'm honored that they approached me to help bring in a new crowd.
Why did they think booking you would change their image?
b/w
Hope you are feeling better, messed up that the nicest guy in the bar is one that got hit.
Still putting my best of list together, so I'll get the worst out of the way.
Only one thing comes to mind, which is that the Migos was pretty much unlistenable from beginning to end.
Not terrible but disappointing was Lil Herb and Lil Bibby's 'Heir Apparent' - great production but the lyrics were so fucking annoying...and you know I have a really high tolerance for meaningless blah blah blah.
Can knock off best five tracks of the year now, too, actually.
Pusha T - Numbers on the Board
Pusha T/Kendrick Lamar - Nosetalgia
Gunplay - Bible on the Dash
ASAP Ferg - Didn't Want To Do That
Gucci Mane had a good grip of tracks off different tapes this year, I can't really pick one so I'm going to cheat and list them all under my fifth. You can report me to the Top Lists Committee as you see fit.
Traphouse 3
Mama
Hell Yes
Use Me
It's Not a day
Cinderella
Activist
That Pack
And the rest...I made an effort to keep a running list this year, I hope I got it all.
SONGS
Naturally Born Strangers - The End
Naturally Born Strangers - Tie Breaker
Worldwide Ft Kydd - Too Thoed
Assassin aka Agent Sasco -Tell Uno
Hodgy Beats - Alone
Hodgy Beats ??? Years
Jessie Ware ??? What You Won???t Do For Love
ASAP Ferg ft Waka Flocka - Murder Something
Busy Signal/Major Lazer - Watch Out Fi Dis
Cam'ron, Grafh, Hell Rell - From the Bottom
Chance The Rapper - Acid Rain
Shlohmo Ft. Jeremih - Bo Peep (Do U Right)
Cham Ft O - Bend Down
Macka Diamond - Dye Dye
TallBlackGuyProductions - Make Life Better (Nights Over Egypt remix)
French Montana - Lay Low
Fat Trel - Deep in the Game
Chevy Woods Ft. Chinx Drugz - Hold Up
Jungle - Lucky I Got What I Want
QQ Ft. Venomous ??? One Drop
Bunji Garlin - Differentology
(these last two songs were the soundtrack to my Labour Day New York trip - every store, car and party was blasting these - ended up defining the summer)
FULL LENGTHS, TAPES, EPs
Jim Jones - Vampire Life 3
Ghostface Killah - Brown Tape
Cam'ron - Ghetto Heaven Vol.1
Nipsey Husle - Crenshaw
Starlito - Attention, Tithes & Taxes
Starlito - Cold Turkey
Pusha T - Wrath of Caine
Ka - The Night's Gambit
Jai Paul - s/t
Spark Master Tape - The #SWOUP Serengeti
Rockie Fresh - The Birthday ep
Gunplay - Cops&Robbers;
Problem - The Separation
Honourable Mention
Jahlil Beats ??? Legend Era 3 (fantastic production but a whole lot of mediocre rapping)
got to travel a lot due to the success of my book, saw my name on stage at the Louvre in Paris, was able to land a few more good jobs and got to work with great people. Wow. one of my best years. Was able to bring my daughter to some awesome places before the school started... one of it was Sapelo island and Little St Simonsin GA. I could stay there for months.
Didn??t discover too much new music, but finally understood what the Blues is all about and became a fan.
Thank you, whoever to thank to.
And thank you to the Strut, for being teh strut.
Comments
Batmon,
Upstream Color fucked me up!!!! Crazy! Visually amazing. Was a huge fan of Primer (have probably watched it 4 or 5 times). Writer/Director really respects the audience's intelligence.
The joy to be had in pulling out nasal hairs with the tweezers. So good. It's a game of diminishing returns; first couple of tugs yield multiple thick 'uns, then a Pareto-esque foray into the fine blonde tundra will o' the wisp nether regions of the deep nostril bowl.
2 CDs of self-led stuff kindly supplied by the boards very own Shears and Neil Something. A constant delight on the in-whip CD player this year.
The recent pix of Nigella. First got to get past the unsavoury political associations attached to this dame, but then...
Still unsure which Nigella is most worthy of lust.
The Prozac n coke happy voluptuous version in fetish footwear and licking her fingers suggestively, or the recent ice maiden pouting post-court vision of silent fury and perfect styling.
starlito - mixtapes
charles bradley- victim
autechre - exai
there's more
oh that and i built a world class post / foley/ adr studio and i am part owner of that joint
get paid in 2013
music production don't pay as steady
http://www.mixcloud.com/breaknchill/tracks-of-the-year-2013-selected-by-brownswood-recordings-fan-mix/
What a lot of shite.
My wife got 2 tickets to a show by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band here in Ottawa last week , they brought the house down. It was - 35 degrees celsius outside but they had the crowd on there feet and sweating inside. Best show of the year by a mile.
Home-wise the kids still eat up most of the spare time but most of the things we needed to fix on the house are done and if I can keep it rolling until the Summer, we can cross off all but the most expensive job. We're still short on room but the area is good and the neighbours are fantastic. Going to have to build some kind of Skel-esque Wizzardz Lair for storage and convert the garage into a room. We could have less shit, of course, but my shit is useful (as it's bikes and guitars). The garage was always too small for a real car anyway.
We waved goodbye to the last of the Saabs after 13 years and 170K miles. It's not gone too far, the neighbour's dad bought it so we see it every weekend. The wife misses it but every time I hear its alarm going off at random, I think "Thank f*ck it's not mine anymore". I could walk over and tell him how to fix it, but it'd be like walking over with a marshmallow on a stick while their house is burning down, no? And perhaps I'd feel some obligation to do it. Sack that. I left the f*cker my Focal component speakers, what more does he want? Best to pop a cold one and move on.
Health-wise I am in good shape, as a result of being knocked off the bike and breaking my collar bone. I realised I wouldn't be riding for a couple of months and so started to eat and drink less to mitigate the inactivity. I have kept that up, even now the riding is back in full effect. I've lost some weight. I am also looser with time during the day and have been able to ride a whole heap of new trails during lunchtimes. I can do what is asked of me in the timeframes I am given. They need not worry about how this is achieved.
I think me and drink have to see less of each other, because despite feeling fine off it, I feel like shit after a big night. Must be getting old/too grown-and-sexy ... Speaking of which:
As an official Old Man, one found oneself becoming more hirsute in places previously pubescent. Nose, ears, shoulders... Man was going out like a Clarence Beaks. Ergo, I got me some of them little scissors and bushwhacked both nostrils this time last year.
Mistake.
Soon as I did a bike ride, the frigid air shrivelled my sinuses to f*ck. Infection. F*cking awful. So, they are there for a reason, it would appear, and nowadays I just try and keep them from peeping over the parapet.
I would also like to clock the work of dem Brits. I have heard the efforts of the one Something before and the boy can play. Hit a mug up on t3h pms?
The Fury. I seem to like a challenge when it comes to bird and bird. Not the airborne pots-and-crockery type, but I will ride for a venomous twinkle all day.
Wishing you all a solid 2014. I know many Strutters have fallen to the moves of the Real World...
[A small pause as we remember those... YES JUNIOR I INCLUDE YOU...]
... but nothing else on the interwebs is seeing this place for Breeze-Shooting.
Started out with a kitchen fire (oil + spark = woosh) in my house that couldve ended the whole house, but thankfully, thanks to an old retired baker drinking a beer in the bar next to my house, he went back inside with me when the smoke was already so thick we damn near had to crawl - and put that shit out with the quickness with a big ol extinguisher - being used to fires from his bakery days. In the end had the house redone the way we always wanted it, and insurance covered it all - thankfully all together it was just just the kitchen and some smoke damage in the end. so it turned out for the best but on the night itself i thought id lost all my shit - inlcuding all my records. There was a weird vibe in the air then and boy did it materialise
There was a lot of death around me - including a close personal homey from the graff days who decided to end his suffering from MS, and another really close friend who lost his wife in a f*cked up traffic incident - two days aftre spending a lovely day with me on a sunkissed beach - leaving him behind with 2 young kids - were all still dealing with that on a daily basis - and my lovely neighbour across the street who also passed.
Work became a bitch thanks to a borderlining manager folding under pressure - so I just now quit my - indefinite contract type - job to take on a new one allowing me to spend more time with my fam, and be more in tune with what really interests me instead of what pays. taking a leap there but its a question of better life over security so fuck it.
So much new and old great music came my way, too much to mention - making everything easier to cope with.
2014 is going to be off the hook i hope - hopefully more travelling with the kids.
My concluding motto for 2013 - never bitch out, no matter how tough it gets - god knows i came close to a nervous breakdown more than once.
??? DJed more gigs than ever: 31 in October, 30 in Nov and 33(!) this month.
??? Found the perfect balance between private parties/weddings/corporate gigs, my 4-times-per-week gig DJing cardio classes at a local dance studio and my dream gig, a successful weekly I built from the ground up 3 years ago with an open format (music-wise) and a crowd that appreciates the wide variety of music me and my guest DJs play. Plus we have a taco grill open 'til 2a AND as of this weekend, an actual factual record store open on the premises! (also open 'til 2a)
??? Started a monthly roller skating jam with a friend at the local rink. Awesome place that's like a time warp to the 80s and 90s. Had two different local papers interview me about it when they found out via word-of-mouth. And I don't even know how to skate!
??? Started another open-format weekly at a new spot that's trying to change their image from a punk/goth/lesbian bar. I'm honored that they approached me to help bring in a new crowd.
??? Won my first ever DJ competition hosted by the local Clear Channel station. Scored some Beats By Dre headphones and a Rane 61 which I promptly sold. (Already had my beloved 15 year old Sony 7506s and a 62.) Had to go against my best friend/DJ partner in the finals. I opened that final round with dialogue from the classic cholo prison movie American Me. ("You know me, carnal. I'll do anything for La Eme...anything. But I'm asking you please..take my brother's name off the list. They want me to kill him!" followed by the scene where Big Puppet strangles Lil' Puppet saying "Don't look at me! Don't fight! Pleeeease don't fight! Just....die!") In all honesty, most of the guys I competed against are friends of mine who are MUCH better DJs than me in every single way, but I was the only one who spent time preparing for it and it showed.
??? I was booked to DJ an all-vinyl night in Sweden, all expenses paid. Spent a little over a week out there and I loved it. Hoping they bring me back in 2014.
??? Visited Tokyo for the first time ever and, of course, scratched Tokyo Disney off my bucket list!
Unfortunately, this year was not without its'
bumps and bruisescuts and stitches. Caught a bad one at my gig this past weekend. Was sucker punched, well actually, sucker hit-with-a-bottle by some random drunk motherfucker. I was literally caught in the middle of someone else's drama and for some reason the dude decided to crack my head open. I noticed a commotion, turned around, saw some big ass fool in front of me and the next thing I know I'm stumbling around with blood pouring down my face. Doc said the cut went down to the bone.I don't drink. Never had alcohol in my life. I guess instead of hitting the bottle, the bottle hit me. I've since added then crossed off "bar brawl" to my bucket list. Ha ha.
Funny thing is... I had finally scored a vintage '94 Polo Indian Head sweater after years of searching. Wore it out for the first time that night. The first thing I said was "My sweater!" and carefully took it off and handed it to someone so I wouldn't bleed all over it. Shit cost me $400!
Hashtag Frankenherm / Hermie Potter
Yes. Fave of the yr. even copped the vinyl OST.
i found this film less than amazing
ost is ok
i don't understand all the love
Nice Herm, I have the exact same scar, though mine was due to too much yagermeister and the iron leg of a bar table. It happened 12 yrs ago, and now you can hardly see it unless the light is right. Skating home at 4:30 in the morning after being stitched up by an intern was one of the trippiest rides of my life.
Some bad stuff probably happened but I try not to focus on that stuff.
I wish everybody a great 2014!
Dude also jumped on a drumkit and made beats to add to his songs. And he was wearing a a glitter jumpsuit onesie thing.
Damn. I'm wondering how mine will end up. Doc told me to keep it out of the sun as much as possible to minimize scarring. My lady is a seamstress so she watched the whole process. She could definitely relate. Doc was trying to flirt with her and I'm like "I'm numb, foo', not unconscious!" Ha ha.
High point - Becoming an aunt for the first time. My nephew is a wonder, my brother and his GF are superstars that inspire awe in their teamwork and parenting
Mid point - Relationship roller-coaster made totally worthwhile by huge learning curves and personal growth
from Me, to You - Have a wonderful Christmas and Holiday, Soul Strut. I love you like cooked food and you drive me crazy just like family.
You remain the 'first lady' of Soul Strut. I thank you so very much for gracing the 'Strut fraternity with your class, wit, grit (I like how you mix it when necessary), and serious record knowledge. This place is better because you're here. :real_headz: Maybe, one day I'll have the privilege of making your esteemed acquaintance.
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
Yes, one of these days I hope to cross paths and share drinks.
All the best to you and yours.
Hey Bassie (I almost typed 'Ms.' from back then),
Thank you very much! I wish the same to you and yours, happy holidays and a wonderful 2014!!!
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
- Eric Copeland???s Joke In The Hole. The first time I listened to this straight-ahead, I kinda wrote it off as another pasty noisenik???s well-meaning stab at a Donuts-style sketch collection. But then I put it on in the background while I was doing something else, and every time I poked my ears up, it was doing something as interesting and as fucked-up as the pocket would allow. Since then, it???s kept rewarding.
- Side Two of Potions??? MIDI Jazz Bass. A less-satisfied Yellow Magic Orchestra. I can dig it.
- Ducktails??? Wish Hotel EP
- Pusha T???s My Name Is My Name. I spend a lot of time saddened by the fact that I mostly lack what I think it takes for an aging whitey such as myself to enjoy good rap in 2013--namely, 1) an enchantment with (or at least a sustained tolerance for) youth and their youthfulness and 2) the capacity for a certain kind of racial and cultural vampirism--but every once in a while something like this breaks through my crust. Pusha???s voice seems to be narrowing--it feels like he uses that rapping-through-gritted-teeth voice (the one he used to save for the third verse) all the time now--but I still find his particular mix of great generosity and utter deadness both darkly absorbing and depressingly relatable.
And while this may not be important in any real way, I also appreciate the fact that he???s still trying, however desperately, to fuck with the youngsters and to crack wider culture in all its voluptuousness and corruption, rather than treading water and making quitters??? records for Real Heads.
(Bonus Beat: In the block-letter paste-up ads I was seeing around town when this came out, I kept reading it as "Pus Hat." Letter spacing can be a mother. Like the time I embarassed myself in college by asking my friendly record-store clerk Eric if he knew what was up with this here "Bicka Nickel" record. Him: "Oh, that's 'Bikini Kill.'" Oops.)
- Classixx???s Hanging Gardens. I sometimes eat at McDonald???s, too.
- Darkside???s Psychic
- JDeep & DCastillo???s Dead As Disco 003. Shout out to Skateland USA in Anderson, South Carolina, and their Spy Hunter game that was up on risers and had a massively oversized gas pedal so you could play it without taking off your shits. This heavily textured record represents similarly deep huffs from the heart of the carpeted-wall narcotic. Is that a slow-ass filter pass, or just the tidal sound of your head finally filling up? Yes. Housey in its obsession and repetition, it unfolds at a pace that has less to do with leisure than with the Midwest???s quiet but hard refusal to reveal too quickly or to give you anything more than what you absolutely need. When that two-note riff opens up, after countless minutes, into two and a half notes, it feels like a fucking gift. Syrupy jacking for all my people for whom the spectre of maybe not getting out of here alive is tempered by the realization that they have work tomorrow. Shout out, too, to old ghosts everywhere.
- Inc.???s No World
- The Jai Paul leak
- Pete Rock & Camp Lo???s 80 Blocks From Tiffany???s Mixtape Part 2
- Mines??? Just Another Thing That Got Ruined. Correspondence-course Todd Rundgren overreach, punctuated by some truly supernal tremolo moments. It???s all fuzzed, phased, and messed-up, but I can tell there???s something in there for me.
New books I really enjoyed this year: Dave Hickey???s Pirates And Farmers and Rusty Morrison???s After Urgency (okay,the latter is from 2012, but still).
Old book I really enjoyed this year: Joy Williams???s The Changeling. One of the two or three best books of my adult life.
Song that I was happiest to hear on the radio: AWOLNATION???s ???Sail.??? I know this song is a couple years old, and that there???s some new ???roided-out remix of it that they???re using to sell Red Bull or some shit, but I???m not talmbout all that. I spent a lot of time in rental cars this past summer, and I don???t know what it was like wherever you were, but in the half dozen states between Illinois and South Carolina, the original mix of this song was all over the radio???like, they were playing it two times every hour or something. In, like, fucking two-lane Tennessee. And while the proverbial white block of cheese from New Zealand that is ???Royals??? has in the months since made for a nice little oasis, ???Sail??? is utterly lacking in anything resembling that song???s easy appeal; ???Sail??? seems way too proggy and fucked-up to get as popular as it got, which to me makes it far more compelling. I mean, musically it???s maybe not necessarily for me, and I don???t know how it got so popular years after the fact (was it in a movie or a tv show or something?), but it was thrilling to know that pop radio still has room for a song as squawkily incantatory, as dystopian, as long (shit???s like four and a half minutes???that???s like two hours in radio time), and as fucking weird as this one.
Musical non-moment I thought about a lot this year: Listening to Daft Punk???s ???Touch,??? I so badly wanted the song???s three parts--Paul Williams???s amber waves of American-corn heartbreak, the banjo-led Muppet-funk breakdown, and the choir???s qualified paradise of ???Hold, hold on / If love is the answer, you???re home???--to intersect (that is to say, touch) in some way, any way. Honestly, soulstrut, I can???t think of the last time I wanted so badly for a particular musical thing to happen???I???m pretty sure that at least once I stared at the rotating record, straight-up trying to will that shit to happen.
(For a little while I tried to convince myself that ???Get Lucky,??? the song immediately following it on the record, was meant as the full-hearted resolution of the needs and desires realized in ???Touch,??? but you know what? No.)
I can???t decide whether the fact that none of the three parts is ever permitted to touch either of the others, never allowed to address or heal or to deepen them, means that Daft Punk really knows what they???re doing or means that they really fucked up. But I know I???ve thought about it a lot.
Lyrical moment I thought about a lot this year: Superchunk???s ???Me And You And Jackie Mittoo??? is basically about the lives and relationships of the members of a touring rock band, and after singing about all the time spent in the van and on stage, Mac McCaughan sings, ???We were always together / We were never the same.???
I???ve thought a lot about the ambiguity in that line, not knowing if he means that all the time they???ve spent together has transformed them forever, and/or if he means that despite being together so much and for so long, they never really had that much in common.
Why did they think booking you would change their image?
b/w
Hope you are feeling better, messed up that the nicest guy in the bar is one that got hit.
And the rest...I made an effort to keep a running list this year, I hope I got it all.
SONGS
Naturally Born Strangers - The End
Naturally Born Strangers - Tie Breaker
Worldwide Ft Kydd - Too Thoed
Assassin aka Agent Sasco -Tell Uno
Hodgy Beats - Alone
Hodgy Beats ??? Years
Jessie Ware ??? What You Won???t Do For Love
ASAP Ferg ft Waka Flocka - Murder Something
Busy Signal/Major Lazer - Watch Out Fi Dis
Cam'ron, Grafh, Hell Rell - From the Bottom
Chance The Rapper - Acid Rain
Shlohmo Ft. Jeremih - Bo Peep (Do U Right)
Cham Ft O - Bend Down
Macka Diamond - Dye Dye
TallBlackGuyProductions - Make Life Better (Nights Over Egypt remix)
French Montana - Lay Low
Fat Trel - Deep in the Game
Chevy Woods Ft. Chinx Drugz - Hold Up
Jungle - Lucky I Got What I Want
QQ Ft. Venomous ??? One Drop
Bunji Garlin - Differentology
(these last two songs were the soundtrack to my Labour Day New York trip - every store, car and party was blasting these - ended up defining the summer)
FULL LENGTHS, TAPES, EPs
Jim Jones - Vampire Life 3
Ghostface Killah - Brown Tape
Cam'ron - Ghetto Heaven Vol.1
Nipsey Husle - Crenshaw
Starlito - Attention, Tithes & Taxes
Starlito - Cold Turkey
Pusha T - Wrath of Caine
Ka - The Night's Gambit
Jai Paul - s/t
Spark Master Tape - The #SWOUP Serengeti
Rockie Fresh - The Birthday ep
Gunplay - Cops&Robbers;
Problem - The Separation
Honourable Mention
Jahlil Beats ??? Legend Era 3 (fantastic production but a whole lot of mediocre rapping)
got to travel a lot due to the success of my book, saw my name on stage at the Louvre in Paris, was able to land a few more good jobs and got to work with great people. Wow. one of my best years. Was able to bring my daughter to some awesome places before the school started... one of it was Sapelo island and Little St Simonsin GA. I could stay there for months.
Didn??t discover too much new music, but finally understood what the Blues is all about and became a fan.
Thank you, whoever to thank to.
And thank you to the Strut, for being teh strut.