I’ve Got Something That’s RED HOT

Thanks to the generosity of Phantroll from Waking Ear, I will now be offering a new set of MP3s every few days for your enjoyment. I’m going to keep this first set up til just before New Year’s, because I know the traffic on this site will be down, and I want to give as many folks a chance to get these songs before I put more up. Once the holiday season is over, I’ll probably be changing the songs every three days or so.

In this first batch of songs, we have “Slowly” by Tricky, which I think is one of the man’s best songs, but is inexplicably only found on the soundtrack to the dreary Sandra Bullock/Ben Affleck film Forces Of Nature. This is one of my great frustrations with Tricky – I don’t think the guy has a good sense of what his best work is. This song is an outtake from the Angels With Dirty Faces LP, which was mostly a murky, tuneless affair; and though I can see how this song could not have fit in with what he intended that album to be, I can’t help but wonder why he’d leave a song so sublime on the cutting room floor. As it stands, “Slowly” is one of the sexiest songs he ever produced with Martina Topley-Bird, and will surely appeal to anyone who is a fan of the Maxinquaye and Pre-Millenium Tension albums.

“Something We Got” by The Minx is an out-of-print funky soul number from the mid-60s, which unfortunately hasn’t been released on cd yet, but is available here for you due to my own craftiness and initiative. It’s just an irresistable song; with an excellent bassline, funky keyboard solos, background party shouts, and a memorable vocal hook. This song is way too good to be obscure. Pass it around.

Another song which is too good to be obscure, but thankfully has been reissued in recent years, is Smiley Lewis’ “That Certain Door”. Lewis was an amazing r&b vocalist, and this is a fine example of the man’s vocal gifts.

Finally, I’ve got a performance of “Jo Jo’s Jacket” by The Jicks in Malmö, Sweden on February 10th, 2001. Stephen Malkmus was in good spirits for this whole show, but I think “Jo Jo’s” is the highlight of the set, with him explaining the origins of the song’s title in the introduction, and a silly approximation of the Yul Brynner sample at the beginning of the song. It’s a very enthusiastic reading of one of the most joyous songs that Malkmus has ever written; and heck, it also includes a couple lines in the middle about Christmas, making it the closest thing he’s ever come to a Christmas tune.

So Merry Christmas, everyone. If you want to, feel free to email me about the songs (or any downloading problems) by emailing the address on the sidebar to the left.