Scott Johnson : John Somebody, part 1

"You know who's in New York?  Remember that guy... J- John somebody?"  Ahhh, a sentence that is, quite literally thanks to Scott Johnson, music to my ears.  I first ran across this record in the hallowed halls of WRUW-FM Cleveland where I did an electro-acoustic and experimental radio show for seven years or so.  John Somebody, on Nonesuch Records I think, was a staple of that show.  I actually own the LP.

The entire piece is based around speech samples.  Scott takes a tiny bit of speech, or maybe a laugh or an "uh", and loops and splices it.  Then he builds a piece from the natural rhythms and tonal qualities occurring in the speech, and plays counterpoint against it, primarily with electric guitar, but there's some horns on the record as well.

It's an impressive piece of work, really well done.  But the other thing to remember was that this was created in 1982, well before the introduction of the sampler into the common musical vernacular.  That means this entire piece was done with tape.  Yeah, that means he sat there in the recording studio with a razor blade, a reel-to-reel and bits of scotch tape and built this entire thing by repeatedly bouncing the samples from tape to tape, cutting and splicing at exactly the right place, and overdubbing like a madman.

Today, we'd use a sampler, and it'd still be an awesome piece.  But to pull this off back then was beyond astounding, into the realm of the unthinkable.  The sheer amount of dedication and work to bring it about is just unfathomable.

The greatest thing about it is, the average person can enjoy to it.  It's not some extreme, wacked out, cold, classical-based electro-acoustic piece.  It's very jazzy, a little funky, almost poppy, and extraordinarily listenable.  If he had thrown some drums under it and managed to put a video together for MTV, I bet he would have had a top 40 hit, it's that accessible.  Well, I listen to some fucked up things, so maybe I'm not a great barometer for what's accessible, but I'm telling you, you could play this for your mom and she'd probably dig it.

The full piece, which is really more a suite of studies than one continuous piece, is nearly 30 minutes long.  I'm only giving you 'Part 1', which is how it's tracked on the CD.  The original John Somebody LP was released in 1982, but in 2004, Tzadik released a new remastered version on CD which includes two other pieces that are just as great.  Enjoy!

[You can listen to Scott Johnson's "John Somebody, pt. 1" by navigating to the post "Song064" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

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MC 900 Ft Jesus : Falling Elevators

MC 900 Ft Jesus is an interesting cat. Yes, his name comes from Oral Roberts, who said he was personally contacted by a 900 ft. Jesus. He's ostensibly a rapper, and he does rap on this album. But he's not very good at it. He's got that whiny-white-guy problem that most white rappers have, but the real problem I have with his lyrics, which are about serial arsonists or serial killers or surrealistic wordplay, are actually pretty sophomoric. They sound like a high-schooler's idea of Lynchian depravity. (Although he did pen the awesome, "Everybody shut up and leave me alone, I'm going straight to heaven", so, props for that.)

But he has two things going for him in my book. First, the music is good. Nice and funky, with deep bass and a driving rhythm. Second, he's got the turntable wizardry of DJ Zero, which, while criminally underused, is still astounding. I still regret I missed the one opportunity I had to see him live. Apparently, he performed a set completely on his own, and he was amazing.

"Falling Elevators" itself isn't so much a rap song as... Well, it's not a rap song at all. Really, it's a rip-off of Bitches Brew/On the Corner-era Miles Davis, with Mark (that's the MC's real name) uttering some decent spoken word over the top. But those are great Miles albums, and this is a near perfect tribute, with a driving bass line, hyper-syncopated dueling drum kits (yay!), a bass clarinet (more yay!), bongos, organ noodlings and just about anything else you can think of that would make it cool. There's even a couple of interludes where a trumpet floats in like a wraith, dominates, then dissipates into the emptiness. It's an aggressively laid-back funk jam and a thing of beauty.

Anyway, I do really dig this album, it's one of my favorites, but I find I tend to listen through the lyrics rather than to them and just hear the music. If you can do that while digging the funk, it could be right for you. "Falling Elevators" comes from MC 900 Ft Jesus' second album, 1991's Welcome to My Dream.

[You can listen to MC 900 Ft Jesus' "Falling Elevators" by navigating to the post "Song034" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

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Propellerheads : History Repeating (ft. Shirley Bassey)

For some reason, the Propellerheads only put out one album, but it's a great one. Arriving on the scene in the middle of the 90's lounge resurgence and around the same time as Austin Powers, the album is acid-jazz-soaked electronica, chock full of bass and horn-driven funk riffs with a twist of 60's spy themes. In all, it's a potent cocktail that should get your bootie shaking regardless of what sort of mood you're in.

Highlighting the set is "History Repeating", which features the astoundingly dynamic vocal talents of Shirley Bassey. You might remember her from such incredible numbers like "Goldfinger", "Moonraker" and the almighty "Diamonds Are Forever". The old dame still has it, and she belts the tune like it's the theme to a long lost Sean Connery-era James Bond flick. The song has it all, a shag-worthy rhythm section, a funky organ groove, a killer horn line, and of course Shirley's sterling vocals. Gotta love it.

If you're interested, and you should be, you can find "History Repeating" on the awkwardly titled Decksandrumsandrockandroll. (When I wrote this, Amazon had it for 2 bucks, plus shipping and handling. Delivered to your door for five bucks? Sold!)

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