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White people shit · by Sach O
I’m gonna catch hell for this post title. I can feel it.
It’s no small irony that my Hiphop listening was in a downward spiral before I started blogging at Ohword. I’m not a particular fan of modern rap from any region so I’d found refuge in everything from rare Brazilian music to obscure psychedelic rock to today’s indie pop. Of course, when you have to write about rap every damn day you tend to listen to every track you can get your hands on for the sole purpose of having something to talk about. Sometimes the results are flavor (Method Man, The Roots, Rick Ross, Wayne) and sometimes I really wonder how the hell this stuff finds an audience (Young Dro, “new” Outkast, every current NY mixtape rapper). On the other hand, indie pop/rock is impossible to absorb as a whole unless you’re one of those people who plays guitar, wears thick rimmed glasses and studies art-history in college. Since I study film history, can’t play a lick and prefer to slowly go blind rather than wear specs, I’m obviously not cool enough and must pick and choose any pop rock that makes it past my carefully designed filters. It’s more or less a crapshoot and I’m probably missing out on some great music, but even the recommended stuff occasionally turns out to be a shit sandwhich and there’s enough guitar playing rockers out there to dwarf unsigned emcees. Thankfully, I’m here to help y’all out by highlighting the cream of the crop, so without further ado, here are 5 non-Hiphop songs that I’ve been bumping recently.
Guillemots – Trains to Brazil
Guillemots’ album got a few glowing reviews in the indie press so I decided to give it a shot and was pretty disappointed, on a whole it’s less than engaging and packed with far too many melodramatic strings and crooner moments for it’s own good. The single Trains to Brazil on the other hand pretty much distills everything that’s GOOD about the band/album and leaves the lesser influences at the door. Backed by a huge stomping beat and weird rewinding tape loops, Fyfe Dangerfield sings his heart out about the stress of modern life and love in terror infested times, ultimately wondering if this whole existence is even worth it. The song will probably never become as ubiquitous as Melle Mel’s Message, but I’d love to see it in the opening montage of a Spike Jones or Wes Anderson movie.
Lily Allen – Everything’s just Wonderful
I never recommended Lily Allen’s album on Ohword when it dropped and for the life of me I don’t know why. Easily surpassing the skanky Nelly Furtado and over-singing Christina Aguillera as the white girl of my affections for 2006 (Premo came through for Agui though), Lily’s Alright Still may be the perfect summer album. Dave Chappelle noted that people will listen to anything as long as it’s sung by a pretty white girl and Ms. Allen uses this rule to her advantage: from crime in the city, to revenge on her ex to her weed smoking wigger brother, her subject matter is a cut above the putrid lovey dovey clichés that dominate the pop charts. Everything’s just Wonderful may be my favorite moment on the album: seemingly a breezy pop song, Lily’s actually singing about just how fucked up society has gotten in 2006. Fun, smart and backed by hard hitting pop-ska, this is easily my guilty pleasure of the year.
Cee-Lo Green – Ophidiophobia
Obviously Cee-Lo Green and Organized Noize aren’t “white people shit”, but a fair part of the Dungeon Fam contingent seems to have snubbed their noses at the Goodie Mob member since he hit pop-gold as half of Gnarls Barkley. That’s a damn shame though since unlike Andre 3000, Cee-Lo’s got the pipes to pull this kind of shit off and his balls-to-the-wall pop attempts haven’t missed yet. Ophidiophobia is probably the only listenable song on a terrible soundtrack which should have included Cypress Hill and predictably, it follows the Gnarls Barkley blueprint. Rico Wade manages to inject a little added soul to the proceedings though and his funky guitar and bass work give the song an extra kick to push it past a soundtrack throwaway. As for the subject matter, Cee-Lo singing on Snakes on a Plane pretty much sums up 2006’s pop landscape in a nutshell and this may be featured on VH1’s I love the 00’s 20 years from now.
The Raconteurs – Blue Veins
Jack White’s studio must be the most awesome place ever. On the Raconteur’s Broken Boy Soliders, he manages to put together enough old pre-amps and mics to perfectly imitate the sound of a half-dozen 60’s and 70’s bands ranging from Al Green to Led Zeppelin to Emerson Lake and Palmer. It’s the album finale Blue Veins that steals the show however as White synthesizes his influences into a blue eyed Stax balad on acid. From the druggy reversed verse to the heavy drums to the thick bass and Animals aping vocals, it’s hard to believe that it was recorded this year. Aside: Rza should really record with Jack White. Their shared fondness for Stax alone ensures that any beats recorded together will be keepers and Bobby Digital already hangs in LA with the Chili Peppers and System of a Down so we know he’s down to work with rock musicians.
DJ Shadow – This Time
The Outsider stands as a total mess to me, lacking cohesion despite a clear attempt to build tension from light hearted hyphy through blues to a final section of indie rock (with a terrible pop-rap conclusion). It would have been ok as a mixtape but will please no one as an album. The irony is, most of the tracks are fairly enjoyable in and of themselves, with Hyphy fans latching onto 3 Freaks, backpackers loving Phonte’s contribution and his instrumental fans digging the last section. For my money, the album’s first song This Time is the best example of Shadow’s classic approach merging with his new found desire to hit pop gold. Sure it’s a little on the fatboy slim side and could fit snuggly in a car commercial, but turn off the cynicism blinkers and it’s solid slice of Philly soul that will find its way onto my own personal tapes even if Shadow’s own album might only get limited play.
Comments for "White people shit"
who from dungeon has snubbed their noses at cee-lo because of gnarls? all i’ve witnessed is suppport and excitement.
— jb Aug 24, 03:27 PM
Dungeon Fam fans. A lot of people are mad that Cee-Lo ain’t rapping
— Sach Aug 24, 03:28 PM
what happened to the nifty in-site mp3 players rafi usually uses?
also, some more white people shit that’s dope:
TV on the Radio – Return to Cookie Mountain
Islands – Return to The Sea
Liars – Drum’s Not Dead
— pr Aug 24, 05:49 PM
Unfortunately, the nifty mp3 player only works when we actually host the files ourselves. Problem is, 5 new tracks at a time is mucho bandwith so filesharing sites have to pick up the slack.
— Sach Aug 24, 06:00 PM
I co-sign all your pts…everyone at Stylus went wild for that Guillemots album…it put me to sleep. And that Lilly Allen is good pop music, a sentence I never thought I would write again….I don’t know who listens to that other shit, but she’s a funny girl and a good writer. Great post you should do this stuff more
— Jeff Aug 24, 06:16 PM