http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQMlWwIXg3M
Happy April 30th, everybody.
Showing posts with label justin timberlake. Show all posts
Showing posts with label justin timberlake. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Monday, March 11, 2013
Suit & Tie — Justin Timberlake
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsUsVbTj2AY
When you have a hammer...
This music is candy. So I was thrilled and disjointed at the 2:32 mark on his SNL performance, when the song breaks momentarily into... another song. The horn riff is only four notes long, and somehow it implied a whole other song. I think it's a 1970s funk song, but I checked all the ones I'm super familiar with. I checked the funk compilations I have, I checked with other people with musical memories, I checked everywhere. It sounds like the start to the platonic ideal of a 1970s song, but I don't know if it really exists...
And the song rushes on. Later, listening to the real version, not the SNL version, I recognize the riff as something only his voice does; that's where I was recognizing the horn riff from. The song was copying itself, and my ear heard it as copying something more original. I was totally wrong — it was JT the whole time.
I think that's a high form of compliment.
When you have a hammer...
This music is candy. So I was thrilled and disjointed at the 2:32 mark on his SNL performance, when the song breaks momentarily into... another song. The horn riff is only four notes long, and somehow it implied a whole other song. I think it's a 1970s funk song, but I checked all the ones I'm super familiar with. I checked the funk compilations I have, I checked with other people with musical memories, I checked everywhere. It sounds like the start to the platonic ideal of a 1970s song, but I don't know if it really exists...
And the song rushes on. Later, listening to the real version, not the SNL version, I recognize the riff as something only his voice does; that's where I was recognizing the horn riff from. The song was copying itself, and my ear heard it as copying something more original. I was totally wrong — it was JT the whole time.
I think that's a high form of compliment.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Unwind Yourself — Marva Whitney
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym7IOodKeWI
I like rap. No, no apologies. I love rap. But normally I love rap for the poetry of its lyrics; I'm a fan of De La Soul and The Pharcyde and Das Racist and Aesop, for their lyricality. It's the largest modern source of poetry there is, and it's relevant and clever and unique.
I was listening to History of Rap, and they played the song Let Me Clear My Throat — DJ Kool. What caught me here weren't the lyrics, it was the sample. ?uestlove and The Roots were imitating (live) a sample used in the 1996 song (which was recorded live) which used a sample from The 900 Number — The 45 King, a mid-80s sampling artist, who took a sample from the instrumental behind Marva Whitney's Unwind Yourself, a 60s funk track.
And yet the original shone through, translated three times. It hadn't lost its rhythm, it hadn't lost its tonality, it hadn't been desecrated in any way. I wonder for how many other oft-sampled riffs the same is true.
I like rap. No, no apologies. I love rap. But normally I love rap for the poetry of its lyrics; I'm a fan of De La Soul and The Pharcyde and Das Racist and Aesop, for their lyricality. It's the largest modern source of poetry there is, and it's relevant and clever and unique.
I was listening to History of Rap, and they played the song Let Me Clear My Throat — DJ Kool. What caught me here weren't the lyrics, it was the sample. ?uestlove and The Roots were imitating (live) a sample used in the 1996 song (which was recorded live) which used a sample from The 900 Number — The 45 King, a mid-80s sampling artist, who took a sample from the instrumental behind Marva Whitney's Unwind Yourself, a 60s funk track.
And yet the original shone through, translated three times. It hadn't lost its rhythm, it hadn't lost its tonality, it hadn't been desecrated in any way. I wonder for how many other oft-sampled riffs the same is true.
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