Friday, February 29, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
New General Elektriks Remixes
General Elektriks has produced a bunch of new tracks for their 2nd full-length record, release date not yet announced. But in anticipation of the new album, Good City for Dreamers, GE is making available an exclusive, download-only, mixtape dubbed Pocketful of MCs. These remixes will not be on the new record but are available as free downloads from the General Elektriks website.
The first was released in September with the intention of releasing one track each month leading up the official release. This didn't happen in the coming months but looks to be back on track. Last month a 2nd track was released with the word of a 3rd coming soon.
Notable New Release
Yeah, Erykah has a new one coming out in 2 days. The Black Crowes new one is set to release a week later. And Jill Scott just released a live cd/dvd combo. But you probably know about these already, right? Really don't need me to hype these major artists.
While I am excited about hearing new music from all of those artists, I'm looking forward to March 25th for an upcoming release from one of my favorite, lesser-known artists. I've mentioned him here before, saxophone player John Ellis.
His new project is called John Ellis & Double Wide. It features Gary Versace on organ, Matt Perrine on sousaphone and Jason Marsalis on drums.
Though Ellis is currently based in Brooklyn, this new release is heavily influenced by the city of New Orleans, where Ellis previously resided. Without hearing most of the the tunes, the presence alone of New Orleans heavyweights Perrine and Marsalis makes this evident. A few tracks can be heard now though, with "Three Legged Tango" and "Dream and Mosh" up on his myspace page. The name of the record is Dance Like There's No Tomorrow. There's a nice write-up over at All About Jazz that breaks down the music and discusses the title and inspiration for the project.
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Among other things
And just like that its been 2 months without an update. I've tried to limit this blog to music-related content, but as an individual I'm finding that just talking about new (or old) music is not always what's most important to me. It's time I finally widen the scope a bit and lift my self-imposed restrictions for what appears here. So while soundbetter.net will always represent a pursuit of better music, the blog itself will now be a pursuit of better music... among other things.
Miles Davis, 1962
Not sure why I've been holding on to this for so long. I've had this interview with Miles saved for posting for months and have been waiting for the right time to put it up. Over 5 months later I still haven't done it.
Stumbled across it one day and found it incredibly fascinating. It's as much a look at race relations in 1962 as it is a discussion of the jazz scene. Here's a sample grab that touches on both topics.
PLAYBOY: Are there any particular places or clubs that you don't like to play?
DAVIS : There are plenty I won't play! I won't take a booking nowhere in the South. I told you I just can't stand Jim Crow, so I ain't going down there in it. There's enough of it here in the North, but at least you have the support of some laws.
I won't play nowhere I know has the kind of audiences that you waste your breath to play for. I'm talking about them expense-account ofays that use music as a background for getting high and trying to show off to the women they brought. They ain't come to hear good music. They don't even know how to enjoy themselves. They drink too much, they get loud, they got to be seen and heard. They'll jump up and dance jigs and sing. They ain't got no manners -- don't pay their women no respect. What they really want is some Uncle Tom entertainment if it's a Negro group on the stand. These are the kind will holler, "Hey, boy, play "Sweet Georgia Brown!" You supposed to grin and play that. I hate to play in a place full of those kind of squares so bad that if there wasn't nobody else to play to, I'd invest in some more property and just stay home and collect rents. I can't stand dumb-ass people not respecting the other customers that have come to hear the music. Sometimes one table like that has bugged me so that when I get home or to my hotel, I walk the floor because I can't sleep.
The complete interview is well worth the read.
Wow. Just came across this NPR Tribute which can be downloaded free. Listening to it now, it's steady music behind Miles' life story. Plenty of interviews and anecdotes... good stuff.
Been meaning to check out this NPR music site for awhile now (and post about it too.) It hasn't been up long but it has a ton of great stuff. In fact, this is the song of the day featured on the homepage as of Sunday night. I'll have to get over here a little more often.
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