January 2019 Playlist

It's taken almost all month, but here it is; my first post for 2019. Happy new year to you all, by the way. 

I feel good about the year to come. The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades. The shades also stop the scorching, Australian sun from burning my eyes out. Seriously, it has been so freaking hot. Temperatures of the likes we've never seen before. No such thing as climate change, my arse!

So, the Roxy talks Music January Playlist has a very positive vibe. It wasn't intentional, it just turned out that way. But it's definitely reflective of my current outlook. It's crazy that it's taken me so long to put some Roxy Music on a playlist, but I really have been listening to them a lot lately, and I have to say, there's no better way to start the year. Aaaaand.... Weezer's version of TLC's 'No Scrubs' from their recently released Teal album of covers makes me laugh. 

December Playlist

I took the last couple of months off from Roxy talks Music to recharge my batteries, binge on Netflix and try to make sense of this crazy thing called life. But now I'm back with a fresh new playlist for the holiday season. Of course it includes Run DMC's 'Christmas in Hollis' because, well duh.

On the subject of 'the holiday season', it can be a complicated time. Sometimes sad, sometimes joyous, sometimes riddled with anxiety. I'm getting some freaking awesome Lego this year, so colour me excited! Also, I suspect there may be a record or two waiting for me under the tree. Fingers crossed one of them is Juliana Hatfield's 1995 album 'Only Everything' recently repressed and released on coloured vinyl by Run Out Groove.

During my break from Roxy talks Music, I managed to catch the Mystery Lights at one of my locals. That's amazing for three reasons; one: I already knew and loved the Mystery Lights, two: they are a freaking fantastic garage rock band all the way from New York (which is worlds away from my regional Victorian city), and three: it only cost me ten bucks to see them live. Wow did they rock! They were super high-energy with a somewhat 1960's psychedelic, Westcoast sound. They sounded great, the crowd was pumped and it felt very much like an intimate jam session at times.

On a more sombre note, legendary Buzzcocks frontman Pete Shelley passed away this month. The Buzzcocks were hugely influential pioneers of pop punk. In Shelley's honour, I've included everybody's favourite Buzzcocks song 'Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)' on the Roxy talks Music - December Playlist. I hope you enjoy it.

August Playlist

It would be remiss of me not to acknowledge Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, who sadly passed away this month. My first experience of Frankiln was in the 1980's with Eurythmics song 'Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves'. Being a young girl under 10 years old, and a Eurythmics fan to boot, I remember thinking she must have been someone pretty special to be singing a duet with Annie Lennox. How right I was! Growing up when and where I did, I'd have to be living in a vacuum not to know who Aretha Franklin was. She was hugely influential on most of the artists I was listening to and in addition to the impressive number of iconic hits she had throughout the 1960's and 70's, she sang duets with huge stars like George Michael and Whitney Houston. After I saw Franklin in the 'Blues Brothers' for the first time in my teens, I knew she was legendary.

We also lost another music great this month, with the passing of rock guitarist and songwriter Spencer P Jones. Jones has played in a hell of a lot of bands since the 1970's, but my absolute favourite is Beasts of Bourbon (I freaking love that band!). He was a fantastic guitarist and he will be missed.

The Roxy talks Music - August Playlist is a bit of a mixed bag. Both Franklin and Jones are represented, as is the always controversial Madonna, who celebrated her 60th birthday this month. Happy 60th Madonna! Keep expressing your bad self!

June Playlist

As we Melburnians hurtle towards the depths of winter, I'm starting to notice those nasty winter blues seeping into my psyche like so much mildew. It would be so easy just to give in; put on some Radiohead and cry into my pillow. But no! I'm not going to do that! Screw you winter, take your Radiohead and shove it!

The Roxy talks Music June playlist is a collection of songs that warm the cockles of my heart and make me feel good. There's nothing new on here, but that's okay. Sometimes all you need is the company of old friends to remind you that life can be pretty good.

P.S. Gabriella Cohen's new album Pink Is The Colour Of Unconditional Love is a freaking delight. It's indie pop at it's finest, with a refreshing and diverse range of styles from 60's pop to psychedelic jazz rock to bossa nova and beyond. Give it a spin, you won't regret it.

Albums That Opened My Mind

Everyone has those artists, songs or albums that opened up their minds a little bit. You know, when someone says ‘I never really listened to hip hop, but then I heard De La Soul,’ or, ‘I don’t like country music, except for Johnny Cash,’ or, ‘you won’t catch me listening to disco … unless it’s the Bee Gees’ (has anyone ever said that???)

Well here are a few albums that opened my mind to the possibility that maybe I’m not satisfied just listening to ‘what I know I like and I’m happy not to listen to anything else, thanks very much.’

KRS-One - I Got Next (1997)

I Got Next was the first hip hop album that blew my mind. I hadn’t actively listened to hip hop much, aside from the fact that I owned a copy of Cypress Hill’s Black Sunday, but my brother was a mad hip hop fan and he used to play it loud, day and night. That’s how I got wind of KRS-One; hearing his jazzy beats and catchy rhymes blaring from my brother’s shitty ghetto blaster through the closed bedroom door. Deciding this was hardly the best way to experience KRS-One, I borrowed my brother’s CD copy of I Got Next. It completely changed the way I thought about hip hop. Seventeen year old me had always dismissed hip hop as gangsta. As a woman, I found it offensive. But KRS-One was political and preached empowerment. And he was funky. ‘The real hip hop is over here!’ rapped KRS-One and I was down.

Carole King - Tapestry (1971)

My dad loved Carole King. He had a bunch of Carole King records, but Tapestry was the only one I ever played. After Dad taught me how to use his record player, I played Tapestry constantly. Dad had other records too, and sometimes I’d spin one or two of those, but I always came back Carole. It’s not the kind of album I’d usually play back then. I was all about Jane’s Addiction or Sonic Youth or The Cure. I might have listened to Tori Amos once in awhile, but not seriously. But to me, Tapestry was beautiful and sweet and soulful. These days Tapestry is still just as beautiful to me, but it's bittersweet too. Because it reminds me of Dad, who passed away last year. I have his copy and I still play it often. And I thank him for teaching me the joy of music. All music. And also Carole King.

Autechre - Chiastic Slide (1997)

I was given a copy of Chiastic Slide for my birthday one year in my early 20’s. Up until then my experience of electronic music had been limited. Aside from the electro new wave of my youth, it was whatever house music or dark drum and bass had been playing at the last rave or club I’d been at. And Aphex Twin, of course. But I had no idea electronic music could make me feel the way Chiastic Slide did. It was completely lovely with all of it’s gorgeous, intricate sounds. Like listening to clockwork. And so I discovered Intelligent dance music (or IDM for short) and artists like Squarepusher and Beefcake. In fact IDM resonated so much with me that I made my own IDM music under the name Twinkle Noodle Star a few years ago. Although I don’t listen to it much anymore, every now and then I revisit Chiastic Slide, or Squarepusher’s Go Plastic when I’m feeling a little nostalgic.

March Playlist

We're only halfway through March and already there has been so much fantastic new music released since I last blogged. A couple of brilliant tracks from Janelle Monae's forthcoming album Dirty Computer, a rocking new album from Albert Hammond, Jr., new music from The Kills and a mind-blowing new album of previously unreleased recordings by Jimi Hendrix.

But as much as I've been listening to new music, I've always got time to revisit the classics and uncover old gems that I've previously overlooked. Aside from the 1980's revival I've been enjoying this month, I also discovered Otis Junior and Dr. Dundiff's incredibly cool, smooth hip hop album from 2017, Hemispheres, which I can't get enough of and thoroughly recommend. Check it out if you're not already familiar.

And now, without further ado, here's a sample of my March sounds for your listening pleasure....

February Playlist

As much as I love writing about music, I love making playlists. Finding just the right combination of songs that sound awesome together to convey a particular mood or message. And it's another great way to share the music I love with the world.

So, I'm trying something new: Roxy talks Music monthly playlists. Once a month I'll post a collection of songs that mean something to me. Whether it's new music I've been listening to lately, old favourites I listen to all the time, or something that is particularly significant to me this day for whatever reason.

So I hope you enjoy the very first Roxy talks Music playlist, specially designed for the month of February. Happy listening!

The Punk Rock/Hip Hop Alliance: A Short History

The connection between hip hop and punk music may come as a surprise to some, but it is one that runs deep. Both movements were a reaction to commercialised music and the social climate of the time and embody the same anti-establishment ideals; championing free-thought, rejection of the corporate mass culture, and non-conformity. So when punk rock merged with hip hop in early 1980’s New York, it was a natural progression.

By the mid 1970’s, rock and roll had lost touch with the people. It had become commercially-oriented, radio friendly and increasingly inaccessible to the masses. Successful rock bands were playing at larger venues to tens of thousands of fans with increasingly elaborate set ups and ‘arena rock’ became the norm. The backlash to this began in Britain with the pub rock movement and was led by musicians like Elvis Costello, Joe Strummer and Nick Lowe, who played in bands at small pubs, reverting back to a raw sound that rejected commercialism and spoke to the disaffected youth. Punk rock came soon after.

Times were tough in Britain. Unemployment among young people was high, and dissent among the working class was rife. A number of protest marches and strikes lead to clashes with police, and police racism seemed to be at an all-time high, which lead to rioting and a widening class divide. From this social climate, punk rock was born. Bands like the Sex Pistols and The Clash played in small, poorly lit clubs to crowds who became less like spectators and more like active participants.

Punk rock was also gaining traction in New York in the late 1970’s. Rock and Roll had become tame and sentimental, and punk rock was a move back towards rock in its more rebellious form. Music journalist Robert Christgau described it as ‘a subculture that scornfully rejected the political idealism and Californian flower-power silliness of hippie myth’. Punk music’s ‘DIY’ culture emerged; promoting the idea that anybody could make their own music. Many bands were self-recorded and self-produced. Punk gave music back to the people.

Hip hop also stems from a ‘DIY’ culture. It began as an African-American movement in the economically depressed inner city South Bronx neighbourhood in New York City in the late 1970’s. Hip hop music was only one element of the movement, which also encompassed graffiti art and ‘B-Boying’ also known as breakdancing. Like punk music, hip hop music was a reaction to the creeping opulence in popular music; the disco scene particularly. Disco had infiltrated the mainstream by the late 1970’s and was playing in all the New York nightclubs. Studio 54 had opened in Manhattan and was the place to be seen for celebrities. It was a subculture characterised by extravagance and decadence and discotheque-goers often wore expensive, extravagant and sexy fashions.

The disco scene was a contrast to the reality of life in the Bronx. Property values were at a record low, crime and unemployment were high and poverty was widespread. DJs began to play at block parties, sampling percussive breaks of popular songs using two turntables and a DJ Mixer to create ‘breakbeats’. Soon afterwards, rapping developed and MCs would accompany DJs with their lyrical stylings. Artists like DJ Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa were some of the pioneers of hip hop.

The similarities between hip hop and punk did not go unnoticed. In the late 70’s/early 80’s, ‘b-boys’ from the South Bronx were rubbing shoulders with new wave/punk kids in downtown Manhattan. Acts like Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa started playing at clubs like the Mudd Club or the Roxy, which were popular with new wave and punk kids. There was a cultural exchange going on. While hip hop was starting to get played in the punk/new wave clubs, punks were given safe passage to the Bronx. This was a big deal and marked the mutual respect between members of both subcultures.

The influence of both subcultures on each other was beginning to be heard in the music. In 1980, while The Clash were in New York recording their fourth album ‘Sandinista!’, Mick Jones and Joe Strummer caught the hip hop bug. The album’s third single ‘The Magnificent Seven,’ with its funky beats and Strummer’s rap about the human machinery of capitalism was one of the first rap songs produced by a rock band, and one of the first instances of a hip hop song with socio-political content.

Blondie’s ‘Rapture,’ which debuted in 1981 and is featured on their album Autoamerican, was ground-breaking for being the first rap video ever broadcast on MTV. Set in the East Village section of Manhattan, the video portrays Blondie frontwoman, Debbie Harry, at a ‘b-boy’ party where Grandmaster Flash is playing. In the song she performs a rap in which she expresses respect for Grandmaster Flash and rapper Fab 5 Freddy, another of hip hop’s pioneers.

Soon afterwards, Afrika Bambaataa collaborated with John Lydon (of the Sex Pistols and Public Image Ltd) on the socio politically charged ‘World Destruction’ and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were opening shows for The Clash. After hip hop group Run-D.M.C. broke into the mainstream in 1984, things really took off. Ex punk band Beastie Boys released the first rap album to hit number one on the Billboard album charts with ‘Licensed to Ill.’

Meanwhile, on urban radio and in the hip-hop clubs of New York, new wave hits like Thomas Dolby’s ‘She Blinded me with Science,’ David Bowie’s ‘Let’s Dance,’ and Devo’s ‘Whip It’ were getting plenty of play. Producers from the new wave and punk scenes like Thomas Dolby and Rick Rubin were trying their hand at hip hop production. Both the hip hop and punk/new wave scenes were mixing in a big way, which would break ground for the ongoing influence each would continue to have on the other.

Examples of the fusion of hip hop and punk can be seen going forward. The band Bad Brains mixed reggae, rap and punk to become one of the most influential punk bands of the 1980’s. In 1990, hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest sampled proto-punk Lou Reed’s 1972 classic ‘Walk on the Wild Side,’ for their breakthrough hit, ‘Can I Kick It?’ Most notably, Rage Against the Machine has combined punk and rap to produce some of the most prominent politically charged music of the 1990’s-2000’s. We saw the rise and fall of nu-metal, which combined elements of heavy metal music with hip hop, alternative rock, funk and grunge. It was popular in the late 1990’s, but petered out by the mid 2000’s due to the oversaturation of nu metal bands. More recently we’ve seen bands like Death Grips, who’s experimental brand of hip hop blends elements of punk rock, electronic, noise and industrial music.

The commercialisation of hip hop has led to the overshadowing of its original message by a money hungry, capitalist system. It has become the very thing it began as a reaction against. The richest hip hop stars in 2016, Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, Andre ‘Dr Dre’ Young and Shawn ‘Jay Z’ Carter, are all worth more than $600m each, with holdings that include a clothing line, a television network, real estate portfolios and a music streaming service. The same can be said of punk to some extent. The richest punk artist is Blink-182 drummer, Travis Barker, clocking in at a net worth of $85m. Incidentally, Barker had a lot of crossover success in hip hop, starting punk rock/rap group, The Transplants with Tim Armstrong from Rancid and Operation Ivy.

Nowadays, the crossover between hip hop and punk tends to be one sided. Writes journalist and hip hop historian Davey D, ‘It’s one sided in the sense that you have rock oriented outlets with a predominantly white audience embracing Hip Hop. However, you will not see similar attempts in many urban outlets that target African American audiences.’

Before they became commodities, when both the hip hop and punk movements were new and fresh and embodied the same anti-corporate ideals; collaboration was natural. It happened organically. It would be good to see that happen again. To see both movements come full circle and rebel against their own commercialisation. Together in a grass roots, unifying movement. Just like back in 1980’s New York.