He’s Just Like A Penguin In Bondage!

by John M. Ellison IV

Not another Adam Lambert posting!” Well, yes and no. For those who aren’t aware. American Idol winner and openly gay artist shocked “Middle America” with a sexually charged BDSM themed AMA performance. I saw it and was kind of impressed but I saw room for some real controversy. In this case, the focus is on a guilty pleasure that a good amount of people enjoy, BDSM.  BDSM is short for Bondage Domination and Sado-Masochism. Whether we like it or not, BDSM imagery and/or fetish fashion has always been influential in fashion and pop culture. Like the say, actions speak louder than words…

In retrospect, it’s confusing.  Fetish imagery isn’t really that new in pop culture.  So, what’s so stunning about the next logical progression?

Xenophanes by Omar Rodriguez Lopez

Xenophanes by Omar Rodriguez Lopez
Review by John M. Ellison

It’s been awhile since I’ve heard some great guitar albums outside of the realm of Tony MacAlpine, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and all of the other virtuosos that I’m fond of. At first listen, I thought “this is a great guitar album.” But after repeated listening, I noticed there’s a lot more to it than just a “guitar album.” Lopez is reminiscent of Frank Zappa. In Lopez’s case, he’s a composer that is versatile in a variety of styles. Both composers used the guitar as a tool to communicate musical ideas but neither considered themselves “Guitar Gods.” In fact, Omar has stated that he “hates guitar.” Omar Rodriguez-Lopez is known for his work with bands such as “At the Drive In”, “The Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Quintet” and “The Mars Volta.” His 12th album Xenophanes is a Spanish language experimental rock/progressive rock album with fusion overtones.

This album is very reminiscent of Weather Report, Frank Zappa’s fusion era and in some cases Atheist’s “Elements” album.

This album has an amazing rhythm section comprised of Juan Alderete de la Pena on Bass, Thomas Pridgen on Drums, Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez on percussion and keyboards and Mark Aanderud featured on Additional Keyboards. This also features Ximena Sarinana on backing vocals. This band understands the art of blending virtuosity, songwriting and jamming. De la Pena’s slap bass and melodic fretless playing reminds me of Larry Graham and Les Claypool and at times reminiscent of Jaco Pastorious as well. Thomas Pridgen’s timing and amazing drumming makes even the oddest of time signatures seem effortless. Marcel and Mark’s keyboard work mixes melodic and synthesizer sounds that brings this band of virtuosos together like audio embroidery.

Every track on this album is great! Even thought the first track “Azoemia” is kind of minimal, it builds into something.

A few tracks that caught my ear were…

“Mundo De Ciegos” a heavy slap bass, odd time signature workout that sounds like the “pump up music” for two lab

technicians about to engage in fisticuffs over chemicals.
“Amarita Virosa” another odd time signature slap bass odyssey that reminds me of Les Claypool doing an intimate show at a Quinceañera.

“Desarraigo” This is one of the more atmospheric tracks. What caught me with Desarraigo would have to be the hooky melody. I could see this as a single.

With “Xenophanes” being in Spanish, this album proves that strong music transcends language barriers and really is a language of its own. Although I’m familiar with the work of At the Drive-In and The Mars Volta, this is the first time I’ve sat down to really listen and experience the compositional magic of Omar Rodriguez-Lopez. You can find this album about anywhere, whether through his website, iTunes and now in the U.S. wherever great music is sold.

• Omar Rodríguez-López – producer, guitars, vocals
• Juan Alderete de la Peña – bass
• Thomas Pridgen – drums
• Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez – percussion, keyboards
• Mark Aanderud – additional keyboards
• Ximena Sariñana – backing vocals

The Brown Note

by John M. Ellison IV

*Dragnet voice* the names have been changed and/or modified to protect the innocent.

To keep my musical skills sharp and find potential musical collaborators, I’m a part of a jazz ensemble program.  I’ve been doing this for awhile, at first it was for a grade.  But the way it’s set up, I just audit the class now so, it’s just for fun.  Well, there have been a few moments that are quite memorable.  In this case, this story is about professionalism, respect and dignity.

The jazz ensemble consists of the jazz standbys, rhythm and brass.  The rhythm section consists of bass, guitar, drums and keyboards.   The horn section consists of pretty much every brass instrument you can think of.  Anyway, the rhythm section and the brass section were cooking on a classic Jazz composition; we usually get a 10 minute break after playing for like an hour.  It’s fairly intense.  This is nothing unusual, but enough to recharge ourselves from playing tunes like “Footprints”, “Speak No Evil”, ”Sing, Sing Sing”, basically a lot of head tunes and big band arrangements.  When the break started…I noticed a foul smell.  Whenever there’s a 10 minute break, I’m usually waiting it out in the rehearsal space, but this smell was too intense for me.  Bottom line: I had to evacuate.

I met up with one of the guys, one member who played drums, that we’ll call “Todd” said with a shocked look and said “dude, what is that smell?”  I responded “I don’t know.  It smells like G.G. Allin’s ghost visited and wanted to see how we were doing.”  Todd laughed.  I knew Todd would get the reference because he was a rocker.  I remember when I first met him, he was wearing a Bad Brains T-shirt and about the band and even there incarnation as “Mind Power.”  Todd wasn’t just some run of the mill “coat hanger” who got some gear half off at Hot Topic.

Later on, the guys that played in the rhythm section were all outside of lobby of the music department.   We were all trying to catch the chilled fresh air.  After a minute, we addressed the elephant in the room and all ended up playing the childhood favorite “Guess That Smell.”  Another gifted guitar player, that well call “Reid” guessed “I think someone hit a sewer line.”  Another band mate by the name of “Hawk” walked out in true “Hawk fashion” with that surprised look and said “Dude shit himself!” One of the older members shit himself!” We were all shocked, thought it was funny.  In retrospect, Reid was actually the closest guess.  Oddly enough, one of the guys started eating a Swiss Roll.  I said “Dude!  How can you eat a Swiss Roll knowing someone shit themselves no more than 5 minutes ago?  You ever thought of what a Swiss Roll looks like?”  We all got a laugh out of this.

Later on, the band director, who we’ll call Prof. Dean, came out and explained what happened and what the smell was.  Prof. Dean said that the smell was actually the leaking of the musician’s colostomy bag.  It seems the musician in question acquired a colostomy bag from a life threatening surgery many years ago.  The mood went from playful teasing to empathy for our musical brother.   We honestly felt bad about this. Prof. “Dean” said, to us “if you think you feel bad.  Think about how embarrassed he feels.”

After talking about this, a group of kids that might have been around 8 or 11, walked up to the door.  Another guy in the jazz ensemble, we’ll call him “Craig” for this story said to the kids “Hey!  There’s a Go-Go band in there bringing the funk!”  One kid with a bright look in his eye went “Really?”  Since I was behind “Craig” I shook my head and motioned for the kids to scram!  Not to scram, in a bad way, but in that “Run to safety!”  There’s something bad in there” kind of scram.  The kids caught on and briskly walked off.  We kind of got onto “Craig” for the attempted prank and projected the quasi-false outrage to him.  “Craig” felt bad and said karma was going to get him.  Well, in a way it did.  He had to go back inside the room and get his instrument.  But, it all kind of got us, because all of our instruments were still inside the room and we had to get them out!  Luckily I could hold my breath and I had my stocking cap on.  So, I could just breathe into the cap as a filter.  Looking back, I guess its better it happened now than at the upcoming performance.

Thing about it is, “Prof. Dean” was there the whole time dealing with the stench and assessing the situation.  I’ve always admired “Prof. Dean”, I mean his credentials are impeccable but this was something that solidified his professionalism in my eyes.  Moral of the story: Everyone deals with crap, but it takes a strong person to deal with real shit.

Bigots and Racists Douches Dukin’ It Out!

In Phoenix, AZ— A skirmish ensued Saturday when members of the National Socialist Movement (or in other words Neo-Nazis) found themselves shut out of an anti-immigration Tea Party protest at the Phoenix capitol. American Citizens United, who organized the Phoenix Tea Party rally, told the Neo-Nazi group that their presence was not welcomed at the demonstration. The Neo-Nazi’s left, but two returned, standing defiantly on the sidewalk that borders the designated protest area. When one of the Neo-Nazis tried to unfurl and Adolf Hitler flag, one of the event organizers became enraged and tried to rip the flag from the Neo-Nazi’s hands. The other Neo-Nazi was holding a Confederate flag and a sign that read, “Bring our soldiers home, and put them on the Mexican border.” The other Nazi with the Hitler flag responded by shoving the organizer, sending him tumbling to the ground several feet away. Police quickly intervened and no one was hurt.
The Phoenix rally was one of the dozens of similar demonstrations hosted across the country today by American Citizens United to voice opposition to immigration reform legislation that could be introduced into Congress as early as next month.

Here’s some footage of these “fascist follies”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dawn-teo/video-scuffle-ensues-when_b_358152.html

Police estimated that more than 200 protesters attended the rally.

Okay, here’s the deal…some would say that this proves the “American Citizens United” isn’t a racist group. Uh no, it isn’t proving that. If anything, this group, the “American Citizens United” realized the importance of good and bad press. They’re aware that any allusions to and/or usage of blatant fascist imagery would hurt their cause regarding “anti-immigration” and other issues that can be considered racist/fascist. People like this work on “the technicality” and get hostile if you blow their cover and get defensive regarding their agenda. So, this doesn’t prove anything to me. Really this whole “teabagger” thing is just an excuse to bring out the worst in a person and label it as patriotism.

Brenda Banks, The First Female Black Animator

In light of the release of Disney’s “The Frog Princess”, I thought I’d mention an actual black animation first, Brenda Banks. Brenda Banks is the first black female animator in history. She and 10 other black animators worked with controversial cartoonist, Ralph Bakshi. Bakshi’s know for the loose adaptation of Fritz the Cat, the semi-auto-biographical feature “Heavy Traffic”, “Wizards” and countless other features and shorts. But, like Bruce W. Smith and other cartoonists in general (black, white or Martian) haven’t gotten enough credit for their accomplishments. If anyone has any more information of Brenda Banks like photos of her, send it to Ghettopunkrocker (at).Gmail.com

http://www.fandango.com/brendabanks/filmography/p158251
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0052105/http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0052105/

Working on a bunch of new articles…

Hey, I’m working on a ton of new articles. One as an addendum to “The Jazz-Punk Connection” article by Jason Gross, a few music reviews and some essays.  I’m looking to update this site twice a week and Saturday if time permits.

Tae-K’s Arcade Mixtape

by John M. Ellison IV

Mash-up: A mash up/blend bootleg remix is when an artist/remixer combines two or more vocal or instrumental tracks and fuses them together into a new track. The can be traced back to the audio experiments of Xenocrony by Frank Zappa and before that.

Video Game Music or “VGM”: VGM is the background music that’s heard in video games. Video game music was originally, based off of a few audio channels and based off of the sine wave of a synthesizer. But, with the development of gaming technology, sound and graphics have become a lot more sophisticated. As of recently, “VGM” has been gaining a following of its own. In fact, OCremix is a community of people that remix video game music. In most cases, the re-arrangements are done and are well received.

Washington, DC’s Tae K is a mash-up artist has compiled his VGM-driven rap remixes into the “Arcade Mixtape.” This isn’t a surprise, at some points gaming and hip-hop isn’t that far from each other. Using samples and music from Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat, Legend of Zelda and the Mega Man series he creates a fun and in some cases nostalgic atmosphere that combines some of rap’s coolest verses with 8 and 16-bit sine wave synthesizer sounds.
The tracks on this mix are…
01 Wu-Tang Clan – Da Mystery of Chessboxin TKRMX II
02 Busta Rhymes & Brand Nubian – Let’s Dance TKRMX
03 Beastie Boys – Triple Trouble TKRMX
04 Lil Wayne – A Milli TKRMX
05 T-Pain, Huey, Bow Wow – Pop Lock N Drop It TKRMX
06 Clipse – Mr. Me Too TKRMX II
07 50 Cent – Hustler’s Ambition TKRMX
08 Lupe Fiasco – I Gotcha TKRMX III
09 Blackalicious – Make You Feel That Way TKRMX
10 DR. WILY II [young jeezy - and then what TKRMX]
11 CHARGEMAN [kid sister - pronails TKRMX]
12 HARDMAN [t.i. - rubberband man]
13 FIREMAN [dead prez - hell yeah TKRMX]
14 SNAKEMAN [dmx - get it on the floor TKRMX]
15 BOSS [biggie - gimme the loot/sucidal thoughts/going back to cali]
16 50 Cent – Amusement Park TKRMX
17 Eminem, Lloyd Banks, 50 Cent – Warrior TKRMX
18 Fort Minor – Remember The Name TKRMX
19 Game – One Blood TKRMX II
20 Cee-lo & Timbaland – Call Me TKRMX

I really enjoyed track 15 entitled “BOSS.” “Boss” combines three boss themes of the Mega Man series with three verses from “Gimme the Loot”, “Suicidal Thoughts” and “Goin’ Back to Cali“by Notorious B.I.G. The best blend on this track is the one that features a verse from “Gimme the Loot.”
With this project, I see the potential of an insurgence of video game driven or “Chip tune” driven rap productions and video game driven pop. In fact, with songs like “Icebox” produced by Timbaland and with “Game Over” by Lil’ Flip using sounds from Pac-Man. Also in the rock/pop world, aside from “allegedly” borrowing from “If I Could Fly” by Joe Satriani, Viva La Vida is supposed to be inspired by music from the Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. In retrospect, it’s already starting to happen.
The only downside about this is when it comes to the music used on this project, I noticed some of these tracks aren’t directly from the game themselves; some of these are remixes and not the original track. But, with the tracks that do use the original music. I noticed that they’re additional drum patterns and drum loops so the tracks can keep time with the vocal. The additional production work is simple, but glues the tracks together well. Aside from the remixed tracks that can be somewhat dodgy at times, for gamers, fans of mash-ups and hip-hop, this is worth the space on your MP3 player.

Tae-K’s Myspace page
Tae-K’s Blogspot

Controversy Creates Ca–Wait, Bischoff Already Used That

Well folks, wrestling’s favorite douche bag Chris Jericho is in some deep shit again after making racist and homophobic slurs.  As of late, it seems that wrestler Chris Irvine better known as Chris Jericho might be falling into the pitfalls of many wrestlers before him by believing that he’s the more “Anton Chigurh”-inspired variant of the Chris Jericho persona as of late.  Interesting enough, a friend of mine was at the Sacramento Horror Film Festival Jericho made an appearance to promote the horror film “Albino Farm” that he stars in.  She was a part of a costume contest that Jericho and someone from Suicide Girls was judging.  She didn’t win the contest because she wasn’t “showing enough skin” according to Jericho and the representative from Suicide Girls.  Her costume was a zombie nun, go figure.  Anyway, that was around Oct 24^th. As I checking e-mail and the TV was arbitrarily on as ambient noise, TMZ happened to be on.  They featured a story with video of Chris Jericho with him at the Sacramento Horror Film Fest making racial and homophobic slurs as he sipped on glass of what was assumed to be alcohol, but he claims it was apple juice.  He repeatedly refered to host/moderator Mr. Lobo as Hadji.  Chris also made a jab at Paris Hilton…which I don’t mind.  But calling someone Hadji, c’mon Chris!  If this is a work, then kudos by convincing TMZ and the other “sycophants” you’re a heel.  Well in recent developments, it seems that we’ve been punked, folks.  Here we have Mr. Lobo poking fun at the incident by cutting a really bad promo.

Leila Adu-Dark Joan

Leila Adu's Dark Joan

When listening to Leila Adu’s “Dark Joan,” one word describes the album, “theatrical.” At first listen, it sounds like the soundtrack to a sleeper indie film that ends up making it big within the first week of it’s release. Singer-Songwriter, Leila Adu reminds me of solo artists such as Nina Simone, Regina Spektor, Bjork and Tori Amos. “Dark Joan” is produced by Steve Albini and for those who aren’t aware, he is a veteran producer, journalist and musician. Some of his first notable work is the Chicago Post-Punk/Noise Rock drum machine driven band Big Black, Jon Spencer’s Blues Explosion, the Nirvana classic “In Utero” and countless other projects but this is an interesting departure from his recordings in rock. In this case, “Dark Joan” is a stripped down album that’s predominately keyboard, Leila’s vocals and natural room ambiance. Albini’s familiar recording techniques are still heard. For example, the usage of “analog hiss” adds a subtle organic texture giving “Dark Joan” the feeling that you’re hearing the album being recorded at that exact moment in front of you.

“Helfire” is the a capella opener that displays Leila Adu’s haunting operatic vocals.
I noticed throughout the album that her keyboard technique is about conveying a mood to complement the lyrics. For example, on “Ode to the Unknown Factory Worker” Leila’s usage of distorted electric keyboard (possibly a Fender Rhodes or a patch that emulates it) accentuates the subject matter of equality and mutual respect by giving it more of an edge. Her control of dissonance, usage of diminished chords and choice of minor key melodies is quite complementary to lyrics that invoke a certain intensity equally displayed in other compositions such as “Wolfmen,” the title track and the haunting anti-individualism number “A Moment of Peace.”

Within seven tracks, Leila Adu takes you on an aural journey that most progressive rock albums could only attempt to do. I see this album as a future classic.

“Dark Joan” will be released November 9th, 2009. Pick it up and enjoy the journey.

John M. Ellison IV

Well folks, I’m a published and cited reference now…

After logging online to check my mail, my longtime friend/mentor Boston Fielder alerted me to the fact that my review for Leila Adu’s solo album “Dark Joan” on UrbAlt has been re-tweeted by the artist herself and many of her fans! To describe what I’m feeling as excitement would be an understatement.

Here’s the review, Dark Joan Review