BrightStuff

Ode to Caribbean beaches

2007-11-23T08:51:00.001-08:00

Photographic Ode to Old San Juan

2006-07-13T11:17:00.000-07:00

This Blogger has gone to the Caribbean

2006-04-20T07:02:00.000-07:00

But I leave you with Linton Kwesi Johnson's soothing, bass-heavy, Caribbean-inflected voice rolling over languid dub-reggae grooves. This is the magnificent 2 CD set Independant Intavenshan: The Island Anthology, minus the dub-cuts (the echoes and repetitions tend to get on my nerves).

http://www.sendspace.com/file/vb34bh

When mango ripe, ee muss drop!

Back in June...

Dubuffet and his brutal art

2006-04-17T07:31:00.000-07:00

Tapiès' Cloud and Chair atop the Tapiès Museum in Barcelona

Great, another mystery solved!!! Another band's name clarified, another overt reference finally picked up on. After The Cloud Room who named themselves after an Art Deco bar in the Chrysler Building, who is the lucky one this time? Art Brut. Taking their inspiration from an art movement initiated by Jean Dubuffet, they have now staged a marvellous coup d'état, by out-googling their inspirators! What's the deal with the picture at the top? Well, I took it in Barcelona, at the Tapiès museum. And his name was recently linked to the Art Brut movement (in a newspaper article I read) and so, we come full circle again. More serendipity! Grrrrreat (see post 7). But to bring an end to the chain of connected events, here is a non-sequitur. Serge Gainsbourg's collection entitled Initials S.G.

http://rapidshare.de/files/18233592/SG-I.S.G.rar.html

The '97 archives: "Een eenzame stem in de woestijn"

2006-04-10T13:47:00.000-07:00

(Love Bug Starsky mixes with Busy Bee and Grand Master Caz 1980 c/o Charlie Ahearn)

“Why Hip Hop sucks in ‘96” legde DJ Shadow uit met het gelijknamige nummer op zijn grensverleggende CD Endtroducing..., uitgebracht bij onafhankelijke platenlabel Mo’ Wax. Slechts 42 seconden heeft hij nodig om zijn standpunt te verkondigen. Over een melancholieke loop voegt hij drie woorden toe: “It’s the money”.

Daar vinden we, in een notendopje, de strijd die Hip Hop tegenwoordig met zichzelf voert en waarmee het zichzelf ten gronde richt. Verdwenen zijn de de lyrical en turntable skills, ervoor in de plaats gekomen zijn niemendalletjes om de massa de laten dansen. Uitzonderingen daargelaten (Common: “I (w)rap like a mummy,/ Not for the money / I could have sampled Diana Ross a long time ago”) worden de principes van Hip Hop op grote schaal overboord gegooid uit eigenbelang en zakkenvullerij.

Het lijkt er soms op dat de trouwe volgelingen van de Hip Hop-voorschriften zullen verdrinken in de inspiratieloze ledigheid om hen heen, maar dan staat er weer een originele ziel op die hen een zwemvest toewerpt in de vorm van een sonisch meesterwerkje. Josh Davis aka DJ Shadow is zo’n bron van inspiratie voor de ware liefhebbers. Hij leerde zijn kunsten door urenlang op zijn zolderkamer te scratchen op één draaitafel, totdat hij genoeg geld had voor een tweede. Toen hij bij een plaatselijke radiostation mocht draaien was zijn toekomst bepaald.

Voor DJ Shadow zijn melodie en ritme de belangrijkste componenten van Hip Hop, vandaar dat in zijn composities rap ontbreekt. Zijn muziekale landschappen vormt hij door een collage te maken van allerlei geluidsfragmenten die naadloos bij elkaar en de sfeer van het geheel aansluiten. Hij neemt je mee op een reis door je innerlijk; omdat iedereen de melodieën verschillend interpreteert, wordt de beluistering een persoonlijke ervaring. Eén ding hebben alle nummers gemeen: ze hebben een unieke panoramische kwaliteit, zodat ze een soort soundtrack vormen van wat er in je hoofd omgaat als je naar de muziek luistert. Nu maar hopen dat alle gemakzuchtige artiesten de strijd met Shadow’s originaliteit aandurven. Slijp de degens en ... keep it real!

Rough English translation: I like DJ Shadow.

Here's a link to Excessive Ephemera, the second CD of the double-disc reissue of classic Endtroducing, as you probably all have the original CD already.

http://rapidshare.de/files/17685929/SHAD-EE.rar.html

Good bite!

Sup a little Aesop Rock

2006-04-10T13:43:00.000-07:00

Most of the time, I don't know what the hell this guy is rapping about, I find many of his beats and musical backgrounds pretty lacklustre and uninspiring, but boy, does he know how to package his shit! I bought his EP Fast cars, danger, fire and knives solely for the artwork of the CD and the beautiful booklet that came with it. I peruse it every now and then, while listening to something completely different like Franz Ferdinand or Vitalic. Sorry Rock. But for all the people who would beg to differ, here's a taster...

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=E8ZRSRSL

Payback

2006-04-02T16:18:00.000-07:00

Joost gets his revenge for post number 11/12, although I honestly meant nothing by the (admittedly unhappy) juxtaposition of a smiling Joost and the heartbreaking defeat his football team suffered at the hands of mine... Still, props to Jean and thanks for the contribution!

Open letter to Jens Lekman

2006-03-25T15:05:00.000-08:00

Oh, you're so spell-binding Jens, and I must apologize for still not having bought your album. I did however take the time to download all the mp3's up for grabs at your site, I did go and see your show in Rotterdam with two friends (and was stunned into glowing silence) and I did play your music so doggedly and so tactically, that my girlfriend has really started to like your music as well. Not a bad score eh? Unfortunately, I have little else to offer you, although you are more than welcome to check out the Crow Lost Tapes of course (see below, any musical accompaniment more than welcome). That, and extend you a warm invitation to the luscious little city of Leiden, next time you hit the Netherlands on tour. And please, keep that brass section, they are magic.

Work of Art in the World of Football

2006-03-25T14:54:00.001-08:00

You should have seen it. It beggared belief.

Celebration!

2006-03-25T14:35:00.000-08:00

(Joost is just as happy as I am)

Having safely navigated my way through ten posts (and one sort of disclaimer post which I am excluding from my tally), I am in a jubilant frame of mind as you can well imagine, my dear reader. So ecstatic in fact that I came very close to printing T-shirts with the following:

BRIGHTSTUFF = 10 POSTS OLD! But seriously though: I will be celebrating this occasion by going to see the infamous Infadels (no typo!) on Thursday evening in the Patronaat (Haarlem). Why not join me?

As a sign of the coming of age of this blog, I shall from this day forth dispense with the annoying habit I was in the danger of acquiring, that is of affixing a number (spelled out of course: how different, how... artistique) to every post. No, from now on, the posts will stand alone, independent of their illustrious/pathetic ancestry.

And what better party music than that of Goodtimes, a Hong Kong outfit, who are notoriously anonymous on internet, but producers of a startling and disturbing brand of pop-rock-disco. Thanks to Hylknikkop for enlightening me in the summer of 2000 (Remember the Hoegaarden Grand Cru, the quarry, the femurs and the Kung-Fu fighting Hell's Angels...).

http://rapidshare.de/files/16707821/GT-HB2.rar.html

Cheers!

Ten: "Checkin' out some Fromm, some Sartre, Camus"

2006-03-25T14:20:00.000-08:00

(with apologies to Cartier-Bresson and an anonymous photographer)

Aaaaah yes... With the air now tinged with April warmth, birds' cat-calling from the trees and just the slightest promise of good times ahead, I can't help but turn to one of my favourite feel-good rap-albums, with the ridiculously presumptuous title "Reachin' A New Refutation Of Time And Space". Yes, it's the Digable Planets or DP's, heralding from an era when that acronym didn't immediately conjure up wild, triple x-rated shenanigans. From the jazzy basslines and hard drumbeats to the laidback, smooth delivery of uniquely literate lines, this music never fails to put a smile on my face. And even after ten years of listening to the album, I am still finding little nuggets of information throughout: my recent discovery of Erich Fromm's name being dropped in "NY is Red Hot" being a case in point. I must admit, the whole revolutionary, class-struggle theme underlying DP's work was entirely lost on me at the time as well, and knowing it now only serves to enhance my esteem for the music.

So, if you need a break from the tedium of whatever you should be doing at this moment, check the album below and check this page, just to find out what Fromm would think of you, were you to land on his couch one early Spring morning.

"And we out, out, out..."

http://rapidshare.de/files/16226220/DP-REF.rar.html

Nine: Crow Lost Tapes

2006-03-21T11:30:00.000-08:00

According to this website, Ted Hughes was a very good reader of his own work and that of others. I haven't had the opportunity of listening to recordings of Hughes reading out loud his own work, but was recently privy to a number of recitals of several Crow poems and had the good sense to record them. Here are all the important facts surrounding this momentous occasion:

Venue: De Burcht (serre)
Time: Sometime after 20
Date: Monday 13th February
Assembly: Raymond, Luc, Iris, Laura, Joost, Jimmy, Angus, Pepijn and Alistair
Poems recited and recorded: Examination at the wombdoor, Lineage, The Kill and Two Legends
Sound quality: pretty mediocre, but it will have to do

This is not the place for an elaborate discussion on Crow, if you are really interested in that or other Hughes work, you shuld really take a look here.

Now then, for your enjoyment, the Crow lost tapes:

http://rapidshare.de/files/16083309/CrowHughes.rar.html

Eight: Disillusionment

2006-03-15T14:55:00.000-08:00

And all my admiration for people using those wonderful letter-banners just flew right out the window. Yes, I seriously believed that people were spending hours trawling the internet for photographs of letters of the alphabet, cropping them, arranging them etc. etc. But no, of course it's all bloody automated isn't it? So, just to get things off my chest, take that:

And that:

And these two for good measure:

There, bored now. God, I can hardly bear to look at the poncy things anymore.
Actually, my admiration has now shifted from the people who adopt these banner-thingies, to the people who programmed the software that assembles them. Well done!

Seven: GO LOMO!

2006-03-15T13:37:00.000-08:00

(no homo, LOMO!)
Sorry, had to drop that, so that I could link to the explanation of a phrase that had mystified me these past months)

"What a waste of money!"
That was the pretty much identical reaction of the two most important women in my life to my new toy, the Lomo LC-A camera.

"I've got to have one of those!"
The reaction of the other 95% of my circle of acquaintances.

While I have a long way to go yet in convincing my two beloved skeptics (they know who they are), I am already thrilled with some of the results, and am inspired by the thousands of better photographs being taken by fellow LOMO-heads every day. So, assembled above, a slightly dull collage of photos taken at home and in Dusseldorf. Some of the snaps exhibit those groovy faults like blurriness, vignetting, tight focus and the effects of the colour flash I bought with the camera. I know, I know, Magnum won't be knocking on my door just yet, but give it some time...

What, you're still not convinced you need one of these gorgeous Russian works of craftsmanship? Head over to the LOMO site, then zip over to ebay, pick one up at a fraction of the price (clever Daan), lock and load and snap your heart out!

Six: Kinski and Brando in Dusseldorf

2006-03-15T12:30:00.000-08:00

“Every grey hair on my head I call Kinski”

When Werner Herzog finished the script for 'Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes' or 'Aguirre, the Wrath of God', he immediately sent it to Klaus Kinski, with whom he had never worked before, although they had lived in the same boarding house when Herzog was a child, and Kinski a little older. Herzog said of their meeting, “At that moment I knew it was my destiny to make films, and his to act in them.” Later, Herzog said he did not know the dialogue he was going to shoot in Aguirre until almost the moment the camera rolled: “The shoot was very tough, and every day, Kinski could see the problems I was having. Yet, he continued to throw tantrums, create scandals, or simply scream if a mosquito appeared.” Herzog conceded that Kinski was “probably the most difficult actor in the world to deal with. Working with Marlon Brando must have been like kindergarten compared to Kinski.” He would shriek at the cinematographer to keep the camera only on him. “We had mutual respect for each other, even as we both planned each other’s murder.” It is rumoured that Herzog threatened to kill Kinski during the filming of Aguirre. Herzog confirmed that Kinski’s habit of walking off shoots made the threat necessary. “The press later wrote that I directed Kinski from behind the camera with a loaded gun, a beautiful image. Sure, the man was a complete pestilence and a nightmare to work with, but who cares? What is important is the films we made together.” (Herzog on Kinski, director's audio track, DVD 'Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes')

Sorry about the long intro, but it explains the significance of the otherwise rather dull photograph I took in Dusseldorf recently. Walking along, I stumbled first upon a portrait of Kinski hanging in the window, followed by one of Brando. As a fan of both, I took a quick snapshot and thought no more of it. Flash forward about a month and here I am, perusing some of my scribblings for a lecture on the film Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes, when I find to my surprise both Kinski and Brando being mentioned in one sentence by the movie's director Herzog. Isn't life just full of serendipitous coincidence?

Five: Krush Groove (199...)

2006-01-20T10:03:00.000-08:00

Quarter past midnight, and we’re late for the concert. Luckily, the Effenaar is too (true to form), so as we arrive, the doors are just swinging open. The crowd surges in, bubbling with enthusiasm and excitement. Once inside, I’m taken aback by the massive crowd already milling about the place. The size and high spirits of the audience are reminiscent of the Return of the B-Boy extravaganzas. The warm atmosphere slowly rolls over me. My limbs loosen, my head starts bobbing to the vibes DJ Deen is unleashing onto the dancefloor. A large number of people squat on a makeshift platform, resembling a stand. Anticipation builds up.

Suddenly, a second figure materialises behind the wheels of steel, a Japanese man with blonde hair. DJ Krush has taken to the stage. Over the dying strains of Deen’s records, Krush starts cutting in a ghostly sound backed up by a sharp clacking rhythm. The crowd freezes and turns to face the stage. Most expect Krush to commence a cut and scratch show, exhibiting his majestic turntable skills. But this is where Krush distinguishes himself from his colleagues. He doesn’t put himself in the spotlight, rendering attention to himself by rendering the music unlistenable. Instead, he respects the songs he’s spinning, pays homage to them even, by adopting a completely unselfish and un-selfcentred role. All that occupies Krush is keeping the discs jocking and providing the perfect party soundscapes. The crowd loves it and is even wrong-footed when Krush flips on an 80’s disco tune (who said Japanese don’t have a sense of humour?).

Towards the end of the set comes the biggest irony of the whole performance. The Great Adventures of Grandmaster Flash Behind the Wheels of Steel. More scratches in two minutes than we’d heard in the past two hours! I wonder what DJ Krush was saying with that; was he paying tribute to the pioneer, underlining the contrast between himself and conventional DJ’s, or was he ridiculing the Father of Hip Hop for his exuberant, macho style?

Whatever the reason, contrary to De La Soul’s teasing lyrics “My DJ gave a scratch, yours was flawless”, with hardly a scratch, Krush proved himself to be greater than many of his peers.

DJ Krush - Milight (1997)

Four: Bring the Ruckus or, a tribute to "indie"-labels

2006-01-15T11:31:00.000-08:00

I love it when hip hop gets namechecked by non-rap artists that I really respect. I encountered it twice last week: first in listening to Jens Lekman, the somewhat melancholy but ever-melodic bard from Sweden, who intones "I still remember Regulate with Warren G, could that have been back in the sweet summer of 1993" in the great track Another sweet summer's night on Hammer Hill. Wrong year, but he hits the nail on the head nonetheless; that track evokes strong memories in a lot of people. Listen to this and more on his lovely CD "Oh you're so silent Jens" and check out some other songs of his here. Secondly, I read an interview excerpt in the Daily Telegraph of Tom Waits giving hip hop artists props, because he dug rap music's realness and immediacy (ok ok, the interview was from a 1988 Playboy, but hey...).
But that is not what this post was supposed to be about: it was actually intended as a tribute to some of the small, impressive labels in hip hop, in this particular case Rawkus and Stones Throw. Not sure what Rawkus Records is up to right now, but they sure commanded plenty of respect and attention (including mine) between five and ten years ago. For me, their role has recently been usurped by Stones Throw, whose amazing artist rostrum and sonicscapes have blown me away. Here is a sample of their music... the King is dead, long live the King! Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah!

http://rapidshare.de/files/11350826/ST101.rar.html

Three

2006-01-13T07:40:00.000-08:00

A. took a glance along the beach to see whether Childe, D. Litt, D.SC., F.B.A was still standing in the shade. The syncopated pounding stopped. The professor was still there.

Two: Legends

2006-01-12T13:14:00.000-08:00

Thelonius Monk and John Coltrane. Two of my favourite jazz musicians. When they pair up... take cover. Or just close your eyes and zone out. I know nothing about music: can't read notes, don't understand complex melodies, and therefore am probably only appreciating a smidgeon of what is going on when these two play. I don't care though, I like it, that's enough for me. Been reading about when these two played together in 1957. Turns out they spent a seminal 4 months or so playing together. The day would start with John dragging Thelonius out of bed and over to the piano, upon which rehearsals would start. Evenings consisted of gigs at The Five Spot. At this time, they cut a record that appeared as "Thelonius Monk with John Coltrane ". And that was apparently the only testimony to the great sound of these legends paired up. Until all of a sudden Voice of America recordings were discovered of a Carnegie Hall performance from the same period. According to the experts, all kinds of interesting conclusions can be drawn from a comparison between the two sets (read the booklet after buying the CD :)), but who cares? It's all good, period. Check it out for yourselves below...

http://rapidshare.de/files/10970987/TMQ-JC.rar.html

One: The Average White Band

2006-01-10T16:17:00.000-08:00

I didn't really know these guys' music until I got my rapidshare-hands on their Very Best collection. I did know that some of their stuff had been sampled by hip hop artists but I couldn't remember which songs/artists etc. So what a pleasant surprise to hear within the space of 15 minutes two ultra-recognisable samples: YZ's Thinking of a Masterplan (from the AWB track Person to Person) and then, four tracks later, Eric B. and Rakim's Microphone Fiend (from the AWB track Schoolboy Crush)! And that's just the ones I picked up on... It reminds me of when I used to listen to hip hop cd's in the record stores, and as soon as the headphones were in place, it was time to leaf through the cd booklet, to find out A: whether the lyrics were reprinted, B: who had produced the track and C: what samples had been used. Except that now, some ten years later, I am finally getting round to the original music itself, rather than just the "obscure" samples... And I suppose I should round off this post by giving you a link to the music, but I am still working on that, so, patience please!

http://rapidshare.de/files/10840761/awb.rar.html

Zero

2006-01-10T15:28:00.000-08:00

First post ever. This is really just so I can see for myself how this all works and what the blog looks like. I'll try and come up with stuff that would actually be of interest in future...