Fwak Grab Bag

Cool Jamaican Album Art Badges

Check 'em out!  Etsy :: Off Centre Label.

And a website! --> http://jamaicanlabelart.com/

Fun on the Dark Side

BBC: The Devil's Music
(West Side Story's "Maria"! Who knew?)

Via Rebecca's Pocket:- How To Dance Gothic
(...and achieving the proper level of angst)

WHICH WAY IS THE EXIT? Put your arms out to both sides, like you’re being crucified or something. As you do, swirl around once or twice, but remember to do it slowly, not quick like a little kid trying to get dizzy. If you do it right, this one can have some of the feel of time wheeling onward, the spin of the earth around the sun, and so on. It can also come in handy in case some weirdo DJ puts on Dead or Alive’s “You Spin Me Right Round, Baby”. (“Right ’round like a record, baby, right ’round, ’round, ’round.” Oh, yeah.)

Variations: This is one the most personalizable of all the moves here. You don’t even need to put both arms out; you can keep one in front of your body (ready to do some other move), or put it behind your back, or you can put it up to your forehead to show how angst-ridden you truly are.

"Eephing"

We have always been fans of the Evolution Control Committee , supreme pioneers of "Mash-up". Their latest offering is pretty awesome.

Listen: NPR : Jimmie Riddle and the Lost Art of Eephing.

The eccentric Southern tradition of "eephing" is best described as the hillbilly equivalent of the hip-hop human "beat box" vocal style -- a kind of hiccupping, rhythmic wheeze that started in rural Tennessee more than 100 years ago.

Related link: HUMAN BEATBOXING.

Amen Break

Link: Amen break - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

"This fascinating, brilliant 20-minute video narrates the history of the "Amen Break," a six-second drum sample from the b-side of a chart-topping single from 1969. This sample was used extensively in early hiphop and sample-based music, and became the basis for drum-and-bass and jungle music -- a six-second clip that spawned several entire subcultures. Nate Harrison's 2004 video is a meditation on the ownership of culture, the nature of art and creativity, and the history of a remarkable music clip."

QUOTE: "Overprotecting intellectual property is as harmful as underprotecting it".

Two-Tone

Via Tony Tye's 2-Tone website:

It would be cool to see this.

Related link: Wikipedia definition  of Two-Tone.

I posted The Specials: "Message To You Rudy" music video on this blog a few days ago. It really belongs in this entry so I'm moving it over here.

Where The Girls Are

There is a lot of information on Rude Boys and Teddy Boys (eg, Dick Hebdige), but rarely do you read about or see Rude Girls and Teddy Girls on the web or in books. Coincidentally, this week we found two interesting websites...

RUDE GIRLS: www.getupedina.com

 An awesome website for the Jamaican-music-lover. Read "Dont' Know Much About History" by Joanna Wallace. And lots of links to record labels, sites with apparel, accessories and cool stuff.

TEDDY GIRLS: www.teddygirls.co.uk
Essay and photoseries by Ken Russell. Gallery HERE.

 

"Yet, just as much as the boys, the Teddy Girl was creating a new world for herself. It may be that the Teddy Girl was difficult to see because fashion was naturally considered a female sphere. Working class boys suddenly wearing their own distinctive but rapidly changing fashions were noticeable, but girls changing styles was simply taken for granted. The Teddy Girl, however, is clearly not simply following a male fashion for Edwardian garb. Instead, she wore a variety of personal styles. Cameo brooches and other accessories hark back, but the fact that these girls wear trousers is very interesting. Most surprisingly the younger girls even wear jeans. As the boys look back for inspiration to a bygone era, the girls seem to be looking forward to modernity, out towards the future." (essay)

Musical Oddities

Musical Prototypes Via Ektopia:

[Notewriter]

[Old School Portable Beat Machine]

For the Real Deal, some cool online galleries:

--> Audio Playground Keyboard Museum
--> IEEE Virtual Museum - Songs In The Key of E
--> Raymond Scott Studio Pictures
--> Oddmusic Gallery

This is not to say that I personally have any idea how these work or what makes them historically/conceptually special. They just look very cool.

[Fairlight]

[Stylophone]

[Wall of Sound]

[classic theremin]

[Riday T91]

 

• Ondes Martenot
• Stylophone
• Mellotron
• Videola

 

We Got Soul!

Pop music has always had shows like American Bandstand to sing its praises, but R&B music had to wait a while for its own major weekly showcase. Just the same, Soul Train proved to be well worth the wait when it hit the airwaves in the 1970s. This weekly extravaganza, which showed off the latest and greatest in soul music and dance moves, became a national sensation in the mid-1970s and became a pop culture juggernaut that broke new ground for African-American entertainment. - tv.com

A geroovy video clip from Soul Train 1974! (via Milk and Cookies.com)

And here's another great Soul Train Line video - Boogie Fever - from the 70's. ...cool moves and attitude.

Northern Soul

Two Minutes of Bliss: a Weblog about the Northern Soul movement in the UK.

Wow. Once Upon a Time In Wigan is a play/stage-show about the Northern Soul movement... and what it was like to be there in that time.. It is a shame they are not touring the USA... What a cool idea.

Related Links: (with realplayer audio)

• Northern Soul tunes
• Solid Hit Soul

Audio --> Visual

These customized keyboards by Mr. Ugly are funny and cool. Via GetLofi.com.

Kickin' It Old School

 

"Back In The Days" has been on our wishlist since it first came out. Now with the release of sequel: "A time Before Crack", we went searching for book #1 and it's already gone from the local bookstore and out of print on Amazon! (thank god for eBay) There is some awesome, fun and superstylish photographic reference here, for the early days of hip hop.

Related Links:

• Jamel Shabazz website
• Photos from Back In The Days
• Photos at Artnet
• Indepth Artnews: Under One Groove
• New York Times video: Rap's Early Days