BOOKER T. AND MUGGS VS. BOOKER T, ME AND SD50 (AND MUGGS)

Here’s some rap and break record nerd-ery that didn’t amount to much but was nevertheless entertaining and pays tribute to the cut-up some how I'm sure, rearranging audio recordings in an effort to decode the material's implicit content, hypothesizing that such a technique could be used to discover the true meaning of a given composition. William S. Burroughs also suggested cut-ups may be effective as a form of divination saying, "When you cut into the present the future leaks out."

It all started when I was listening to “Lickshot” produced by the SD50s on the b-side of Grand Puba’s “Ya Know How It Goes” 12” from 1993. I misinterpreted the main loop as a chop of Booker T and the MGs “No Matter What Shape” off their 1966 Stax album “And Now!” When I got out my Booker T record and rocked it, I realized that “Lickshot” must’ve have been made with a different record because it sounded only slightly like “No Matter What Shape.”

Then I remembered that Grandmixer Muggs had used “No Matter What Shape” for his Main Mix on House of Pain’s “Shamrocks and Shenanigans” remix 12” with that Butch Vig monstrosity on it. Upon listening to the HOP plate, I was reminded that Muggs had been lazy and simply snatched the first bar of the groove after the vamped intro and then let it loop (the most obvious use of the break—the Main Mix and the Booker T song are the exact same bpm an’ e’rythang). Muggs definitely didn’t chop it and speed it up like I thought the SD50s had done for “Lickshot” even though as it turns out I'm pretty sure*** they didn’t do anything of the sort, though my stoned curiosity remained undaunted. So I decided to use GarageBand and my below rudimentary knowledge of breakbeat editing to chop the Booker T break to resemble what I wrongly thought the SD50s did on “Lickshot.” I stole Muggs' drum loop from a breakdown in his Main Mix to expedite the process, and what resulted sounded nothing like “Lickshot,” but perhaps you can tell how I tried to rearrange Muggs' straight forward Booker T loop in an attempt to make it sound stimulated dummie-esque by jankily incorporating the snare in the intro just before the one of the groove drops instead of letting the guitar stab double up in the second half of the measure. No great feat, I know, just a noteworthy subtle nuance. A waste of time? Perhaps. Muggs’ production is vastly superior to mine, and I never should’ve thought him lazy (his loop is flawless and those horns that come in on the chorus make it deluxe). Yes, perhaps it does sound like a waste of time to some, but I’m addicted and for me it beat the shit out of updating my Disgracebook status so my cyber “friends” could be informed as to the consistency of my last bowel movement or some other banal tid-bit concerning my worthless existence. Listen in order and literally time travel at the speed of implicit thought… decoded.

Booker T and the MG’s “No Matter What Shape”

Grand Puba “Lickshot” LP version

House of Pain “Shamrocks and Shenanigans (Muggs Main Mix Instrumental)”

Here Comes the Break (No Matter What Sham-Lick Death Edit)

***= if I'm wrong and the SDs did use parts of "No Matter What Shape" for "Lickshot," please correct me... but maybe you should just whisper it to me, 'cause it's not listed as a cleared sample in the liner notes and we don't want to snitch on anyone and get them busted now do we? Shit, now I gotta go back and make sure I didn't just snitch on Muggs... in the modern world where music is essentially free these sampling laws seem stupider and stupider don't you think?... praise the edit, cut shit up and reuse it, to hell with the man and his law, it's the only way we'll get to the future.

VENOM OF CERRONE

This eery as all hell Arsonists 12" isn't listed when you look them up on Wikipedia. This record was released under the host of the White Rapper Show's label (Serchlite) in 1998. These tracks are off the (A)rson side of the record; the (B)urn side features the song, "Seed" (not uploaded here, 'cause we want y'all to dig! lol) The recording and mix engineer on "Venom" is listed as the assistant engineer on such classic hip hop records like Gangstarr's "You Know My Steez," Jeru's first two albums "The Sun Rises in the East," "Wrath of the Math," and Smif-n-Wesson's "Dah Shinin'." His name is Max Vargas. He's part of that Eddie Sancho, Norty Cotto, Luis Tineo (is he related to Ju Ju-aka Jerry Tineo from the Beatnuts? anybody know?), etc. D&D crew when David Carpenter was manager-- the guys who Premier relied on so heavily throughout the years. These guys perfected the science of creation for the grimey underground rap 12" anything they're involved with usually results in the listener back-slicing a Swisher with their thumbnail. Q-Unique produced this joint by liberally lifting the very end of the Cerrone superjammie, "Supernature" like a muhfuckin' g.

Cerrone is a trip in and of hisself. Wiki his ass and find out. Here's a snippet from it concerning this song, making this record kind of even more of a must have now:

The song "Supernature" has a sci-fi theme: it's about the rebellion of mutant creatures — created by scientists to end starvation among mankind — against the humans. It also featured "Sweet Drums", a three-minute-and-ten-second drum breakdown. The original French album cover was again different, having a gatefold opening with nudes in the centre.

But as of now I don't have it, so I have to rely on Seeqpod's search engine to show y'all what Q-Unique did. Go to the end of the drum breakdown and you'll get the gist.

Basically (and I mean that in the best way possible), he flips between the two loops of tinkling stuff that run consecutively right after the drums verb out. The simplicity of the programming/sequencing allows the dudes at D&D (Mr. Vargas in this case) a lot of room to perform their voodoo, which is evidenced in the embedded nuances that you don't notice at first like the subtle delay on the heartbeat-type kick in the intro. I don't know if that was Vargas' or Q-Unique's idea as the latter is given a co-mixing credit, but whoever it was is a sneaky fucking genius 'cause it's pure dope.

"Show fright and prey gets swallowed in one bite."

VENOM

IDRIS MUHAMMAD MEETS KRAZEE KALI STYLEZ

Drummer Idris Muhammad (aka Leo Morris) is probably best known to beatheads for his concoction of one of the illest breaks of all time, Bob James' "Nautilus". That and his contribution (along with fellow beat king Bernard "Pretty" Purdie) to Galt MacDermot's HAIR soundtrack. "There were certain guys who couldn't pick up on what I was into. And there were certain ones who did. The ones who did, I used - like Billy [Butler] and Idris." If you're a drum minded cat, flipping a sleeve over and spotting Idris' name typically results in that record coming home with you. When you start digging beats, you cut your teeth on CTI and Kudu releases and Idris slowly becomes and old friend who'll always drive you home when you've done a little too much. His 1974 debut Kudu release as leader, "Power of Soul", contains the epic "Loran's Dance" which while it has been sampled by the likes of DJ Shadow, Beastie Boys, Fatboy Slim(e), etc. ain't no drop the needle for 4 bars and jet track. In all it's glorious 10+ minutes, "Loran's Dance" is basically a live band playing a hip hop instrumental. Before Breakestra, before white dudes with dreads wanted to rap over a live band and before The Roots put that ridiculous notion into their heads, Idris was laying down the sound that would eventually be ringing in producers like Primo's ears at D&D in 95 (check Group Home's "Inna City Life").

Loran's Dance (Kudu, 1974)

Here are two 90's tracks from the Bay Area that both draw their source material from "Loran's Dance":

First up is Various Blends with the title track to their 2nd single, "Krazee Madeo Stylez". Producer/MC Friz-B deftly lifts portions of Bob James' Rhodes intro to create a loop that is instantly recognizable as "Loran's Dance" yet manipulated enough to make you wonder just where the chop starts and stops. A great example of what we at ROBME like to call complex minimalism. Lyrically, Eb.F and Friz-B trade verses about their home town San Mateo, CA while both DJ Rasta Cue-Tip and DJ Apollo share time on the scratch. Oh from New Medina Project is working on a more in depth Various Blends piece that will be running here in the near future. Stay tuned.

Krazee Madeo Stylez (Baraka Foundation, 1999)

I never really knew very much about City Side Crew other than the obvious fact they were from the Bay and that they eventually released a 2nd 12" that I'm still looking for (is it as good as this one?). Both tracks on this record are dope, but for the sake of this post we'll focus on their ode to the best dankweed in the states, "Kali". While Various Blends pulled back on their copy of "Power of Soul" after a couple bars, City Side Crew was too busy prepping the blunt and didn't notice anything worthy of their sampler till the kali hit their systems about 7 minutes and some change into Idris' jam. Another great exercise in the K.I.S.S. aesthetic, the uncredited producer sticks to the loop and an 808 kit. Perfection.

Kali (Sound Judgment, 1996)

[RS link]

LIBRARY SCIENCE: THEMES FOR DRAMA, MYSTERY & WEIRD

Another book post? Yep. Seems like recently I've been able to spend more time reading books than I have been able to spend listening to records. My homie Jake Won just hooked me up with an early b-day gift - a copy of Jonny Trunk's book, The Music Library (Fuel Publishing, 2005), which is a really slick looking hardcover that serves as a primer for the world of sound library LP's. For those not in the know, sound library records were created for use in the film, television and radio industries featuring music performed by various studio musicians for all types of moods. Because they were never issued for retail sale, they are very rare and often go for big bucks on the ebay machine (especially for us in the states since most of the heavy library labels based in Europe). Stories of Euro diggers stumbling upon boxes sitting out for trash have been the stuff of many sweatily read record nerd message board threads. Check out this article from the SF Weekly for a nice background on sound libraries. The book is organized alphabetically by label and each label gets 1-2 pages (some of the heavies like De Wolfe and Chappell have bigger spreads) with full color cover scans. While the book's primary focus is on the cover art, there are some basic notes on each label and it comes with a 17 track CD sampler of some rare library cuts. Check out some of the covers:




Master Won also threw me a copy of Luke Vibert's "Nuggets" CD which is a collection of his favorite library jams. Here's a small sampling of tunes from both these discs:

Richard Demaria - Next Episode

Midas Touch - Intimations

David Holland - Zouche Drums 3

Raymond Guiot & Guy Pederson - Flutes Ad Libitum

Jean-Jaques Debout - Pop Bazaar

Guy Pederson - Kermesse Non Heroique

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Bonus for latecomers (when do you ever see that?), complete rips:

NUGGETS

THE LIBRARY MUSIC