Author Archives: Black
Don’t Sleep
When I was still in college, I had one of the more terrifying dreams I’ve ever suffered. We were on some kind of break and school wouldn’t let us stay in the dorms until a specified date so I was crashing with a friend, napping on a couch at his house. The door to his [...]
One’s Not Enuff
It’s been a busy week. I will once more pull the bizarre video card. Here’s one that may trump the VW video I posted a few weeks ago. It’s for the standout track on the new Yeasayer album and it’s called “O.N.E.”. I see this video as operating on two principles, one that is T2 [...]
Come On, Tower Crane Driver
Despite enjoying the twilight of my twenties, I am occasionally surprised to miss out on a whole class of music I would describe as “adult music”. It is not anything like “adult movies” (sexually explicit music ultimately sounds juvenile more often than not). It is vaguely yuppie. I’d characterize it primarily as inoffensive and I [...]
Posted in mp3s Tagged Elbow, The Loneliness Of A Tower Crane Driver, The Seldom Seen Kid Leave a comment
Fore & Aft: Echoplex II
A few weeks ago, I wrote what might have been an overly academic piece about a musical dialogue between The-Dream and R. Kelly. Soon after, I went in search of tracks on which the two might have collaborated. The most pertinent of what I found is the first track on “The Demo”, from R. Kelly’s [...]
Quelque Chose
Many apologies devoted readers. I’ve been distracted this week with a post I’ll have to deliver next Wednesday. Instead, you’re going to have to deal with this wackjob cameo-stuffed Vampire Weekend video for the super-glossy “Giving Up The Gun”. A ringed-out RZA refs in Matrix-garb. A scruffy Jonas loses gracelessly. A drunk Jake Gyllenhaal threatens [...]
Posted in Videos Tagged Giving Up The Gun, Jake Gyllenhaal, Joe Jonas, Lil Jon, RZA, Vampire Weekend 1 Comment
My New Theme Song
I’m 6’5″. Sometimes that’s neat. Other times it’s obnoxious. At the amusement park, for example, I can’t ride certain rides because I just can’t keep my limbs and head safely out of harm’s way and my spine isn’t short enough to sit comfortably in those harnesses that clamp down over your shoulders. And all those [...]
Fore & Aft: Echoplex
“Ella-ella-ella-ay-ay-ay”. Or so goes the biggest line of the biggest single of 2007. The deviously catchy delivery tactic of that echoing artifact sunk its hooks in so deeply that over the last few years, we’ve heard its success replicated far and wide by both the original songwriting team of The-Dream and Christopher “Tricky” Stewart and [...]
Posted in Fore & Aft, mp3s Tagged Bed, Beyonce, Echo, J Holiday, Kelly's 12 Play, Put It Down, R Kelly, Single Ladies, The-Dream 5 Comments
Gentlemen’s Fisticuffs
For Robert…
Senseis Are Standing By
I wasn’t as enamoured with The Ecstatic as everyone else appeared to be. First off, the mix sounded really strange to me, the same kind of strange that the Q-Tip album sounded. It had sloppy production on the beats end with flat sonics and not much frequency range, so the vocals sat on top of [...]
Muscle Cars