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Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Jack White is turning into Michael Jackson....


 ...and I think he knows it, cuz Jack's contemplating cutting off his face. Which he's done before, and with good cause. Jack knew when it was right to put White Stripes down, "preserving what is beautiful and special about the band." He made greater strides behind the boards (Loretta Lynn, Wanda Jackson), reinventing himself as an all encompassing, Rick Rubin style, genre spanning producer, cranking out countless one off singles and live albums on the fly from his Nashville based Third Man Records. Jack started two other bands, The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather. He even worked with Insane Clown Posse. 

Yes yes, Jack needed to forge ahead his separate identity free of the past, never forgetting it, yet rising above and beyond it. However, in all that time Jack never released any music under his name proper.  

That changes on April 23, 2012 when Jack White will release his solo debut, Blunderbuss.




We got the first 7" single in this week at Jackpot Records.
 

'Love Interruption' is cold gospel soul, minimal in arrangement and sparse with instrumentation. Backup vocals by Ruby Amanfu add fire to White's seething declaration that "he won't let love disrupt, corrupt, or interrupt me."

 

 



B-Side 'Machine Gun Silhouette' gets back down to business with a full band attack, going off on a hard driving country blues jam. Great drums, great recording. 

I'm looking forward to the full length now. I anticipate a raw record with slightly more refined influences.  But if those influences turn out to be associated with Quincy Jones, the 'Scream' video, and vitiligo, don't say I didn't warn ya.



    

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Off The Wall - Record Explorer's Club


We have a lot of great records at Jackpot, the best of which we display on the wall. But what's the point of keeping a record on the wall when it should be listened to and appreciated? Sometimes the records have to come.........(wait for it).........off the wall.





Part Poetry reading, part stand up barf bag drunken bastard...Charles Bukowskis' 1980 recording made at the Sweetwater, in Redondo Beach, California is filled with swarthy swagger and dumpster intellectualism, a brutal zen exercise filled with bile tongue, audience taunting, contempt, degradation and humor. Comprised of one 60 minute set (30 minutes each side), Buk reads poetry and pontificates upon gambling, sex, drinking, love, hate, death...the usual fun stuff.  For all his legendary status of being a filthy fuck, Charles voice has a timber of sweetness, a forgiving quality...he was born into this, he can't help it. But if you want to watch him "perform" a one of a kind poetry, and possibly puke on stage, Charles will gladly take your money for spending on whores, liquor, and horses.

This bit was one of my favorites:






Obviously one of the first things that grabbed me with this album was the cover...particularly the album title. Beastie Boys copped this shit hard.



This music is very reminiscent of Raymond Scott electronics, although tape loop manipulation and live instrumentation augment these recordings. Fun, light, cartoonish...probably not something to listen to all the time but its relevance as one of the first commercially successful electronic albums has to be appreciated.







Holy god! Where has this album been all my life? In a way its been with me for a long time...Madlib sampled THE FUCK outta this album for The Unseen, especially on 'Come One Feet.' This 1973 soundtrack to the acclaimed animated French film is one killer orchestral jazz funk psych masterpiece. Between this album, Daft Punk's Tron Soundtrack, and the new Air soundtrack for Le Voyage Dans La Lune, I gotta say the French got sci-fi music on lock.

La Planete Sauvage is available to watch online





It's funny this record came in as I have been going through an early Slayer thing via River's Edge. This album sounds fucking sweet comin' off the Technic. I've come to the conclusion that it is essential older metal be appreciated on vinyl, which is to say, the nuance of speed and thrash, blasts better loud in analog. Everything sounds better analog, I know...but when you've never had the chance to really get into old Slayer vinyl you notice the difference.

Here's a couple sweet tracks.
Die By The Sword

 Black Magic