With my girlfriend out of town this weekend, I listened to a fair bit of music. Here are some highlights:

- the surf guitar chorus of Girls Aloud’s "Sound of the Underground"
- The Last Emperor - "Karma", which uses a sample from Morcheeba’s greatest achievement, "Over and Over." This is from the album Palace Of The Pretender, a sick hip hop album from Jamal Gray, who suffered label problems in the late 90s which prevented him from putting out an album until recently. This appears to be the UK release, as allmusic.com claims that his only release is Music, Magic, Myth, which has most of the songs also on Palace . ..



- James Brown and the crowd exchanging attempting to outdo each other as they scream "Ow" on the monumental "Lost Someone" from the reissue of James Brown Live At The Apollo (1962) Expanded Edition. The liner notes suggest it's the greatest live album ever. After only a couple of listens, it's hard to disagree.
- "Hello? Is This Thing On?" by !!! (from the forthcoming Louden Up Now) which is highlighted by singer Nic Offer losing his mind at the end, coming off as an unexpected outburst in the studio. Unbelievably good.
- Skylab’s #1 – found it used for $2, and it’s a great ambient recording from 1994 by Howie B., Mat Ducasse, and Love TKO. High on ideas without getting too busy with electronics. Highly recommended.
- Wiley – Treddin’ On Thin Ice – 2-Step? Gayrridge? Uhbin? Never really cleared up on "Wot U Call It", the killer first single, but that’s no worries. The whole album is AMAZING. And happy to see that "Reason," his collab. with Dizzee Rascal that’s been floating around the net for a year, made it onto the album. (by the way, I’m told that this album will most likely come out in North America, so unless you’re desperate to hear it, you may not have to order an import copy).
- Gunther and the Sunshine Girls – "Ding Dong Song" – the club anthem of the decade? Or funny kitschy song that will be forgotten tomorrow? I'm thinking the latter, because the Aqua-esque song becomes grating after about a minute, but it’s hard not to love the opening line: "Oh, you touch my ta la la" with a vocalist sounding like . . . well, exactly as you would expect from a guy named Gunther. Find the lyrics here.
- Candi Staton – Candi Staton - Download, buy, steal, whatever. You need to hear this album!! Unbelievably good 26 track compilation of Staton’s Muscle Shoal sides (from approx. 69-74) before she went disco. Staton displays the vocal power and control that’s comparable to Aretha Franklin’s best work.
- Squarepusher’s Ultravisitor – finally gave this a closer listen this weekend, and though some of the more difficult tracks will take some time, the more lush, jazzy songs are gorgeous. Definitely an album I expect to love more with each listen.



- Eluvium's "The Well-Meaning Professor" - from the gorgeous piano-only album Accidental Memory In The Case Of Death, this song opens with a simple, pretty melody that slowly builds into a race between Matthew Cooper's hands. An amazing finish. Everyone's a winner (except maybe Cooper's fingers, which are likely exhausted).
- Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind soundtrack - especially Beck singing "Everybody's Got To Learn Sometimes" and the 26 second closing instrumental, "Elephant Parade" (which is reminiscent of music from Beck's Sea Change).

So in other words, a really great weekend for music (though I finally listened to the new NERD album, which is really bland).

posted by Jonathan