Search Results for: riddim method

Nothing Ever Ends

Last weekend Rebecca’s grandfather, Seymour, passed away. It wasn’t a total shock — his health had been on a slide for the last few years, worsening in recent weeks — but he wasn’t hospitalized at the time, and you can never really prepare for the still sudden-seeming void left by a loved one who leaves. […]

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Reggaeton Roundup

pa que tu lo sepa / pero lo sabía If you haven’t heard it yet, I want to recommend that you check out Afropop’s recent show re: reggaeton, Reggaeton Roundup: New Moves in Latin Youth Music. Here’s their blurb — When Daddy Yankee released his hit single “Gasolina” in 2005, nobody suspected what was about […]

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Re:Wine Wine Wine Wine Wine Wine Wine (We Like It)

As things ramp up for carnival, the strains of soca seem increasingly in the air (& my inbox). Believe it or not, there actually is a likkle soca in the air here in Boston. One key source projecting the strains of carnival into the city’s soundscape is BIG CITY FM, my fave “pirate” reggae/soca channel […]

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Holidazeeee

It’s that time of year again, even if the incongruously balmy weather suggests otherwise. So, this past weekend Bec & I made another set of black cakes. This time, in anticipation, we started the fruits soaking in black-strap rum and Manischewitz a couple weeks in advance. And man, did they come out sweet. To vibe […]

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Guitar Bots

I asked a while back if there were any generous erstwhile shredders out there, hoping to score a guitar for a friend’s studio in Botswana. I received enthusiastic responses from several people, a few of whom offered to send other things or, when shipping proved insanely cost prohibitive, carry an instrument to the continent (if […]

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Critical Distance, Por la Ventana?

¿Qué reflexiones? Tonight in San Fran, DJ /rupture — never one to let his critical eyelids slack — will be digging thru his kumbia krates alongside the Zizek gang. Yesterday, Carolina @ Sound Taste framed her excitement around the neo-cumbia thing (coming soon to NYC) by noting that her “critical distance has gone out the […]

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Kool Herc: A Biographical Essay

Marshall, Wayne. “Kool Herc.” In Icons of Hip Hop: An Encyclopedia of the Movement, Music, and Culture, ed. Mickey Hess, 1-26. (Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2007). Few individuals can claim a life story that so closely parallels hip-hop’s narrative arc as Clive Campbell, better known as DJ Kool Herc. Often considered the movement’s founding father, an […]

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Snodaze

Happy solstice, happy shoveling ! It’s hard to believe that winter’s only now finally here — in the technical sense — considering that we’ve already gotten more snow dumped on us here in Boston in the last week or so than we had during the entire season last year. I mean, fa Chrissakes, I can’t […]

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Tons o’ Tons, or Distributed Reading #5382

I tagged a “raï-ggaeton” video over at my linkythinky a while back. A bit o’ chutney-ton, too. Both seemed interesting to me as rather explicit examples of the localization of global pop (and rton in partic), if not terribly compelling as specific things &, yeah, rather steeped in the odor of novelty. That’s not the […]

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From Scratch to Sprinkles

A couple remixes I cooked up are now available (again) for listening and/or other forms of consumption — and in context at that! 1) Mick Sleeper continues his deeeeeep Scratch Perry podcast with an episode collecting a number of remixes of Scratch recordings, including my mashy take on “Bird in Hand,” which brings together a […]

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Houston So Surreal

best dj screw gif evar by 893 of course Mattsoreal posted a 5 part bizarre, comic, yet rather reverent&informed (&informative) documentary on Houston rap (c/o vbs.tv). It’s quite something. This’s Part 1 — audiyoga :: c/o w&w [audio:http://wayneandwax.com/music/ww-screw36-68.mp3] mo’ audiyoga :: c/o Christhecat (hear, esp, halfway thru) [audio:http://www.wordthecat.com/images/WordTheCat_April07.mp3] Incidentally/apropros! — if you’ve checked the “play” […]

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Uppy Earthday, Bob

As you may know, today is Bob Marley’s birthday (or “earthday” in Rasta parlance). As you may have noticed, I write very rarely about Bob Marley for a guy who writes about reggae. Not because I don’t find him worthy of consideration, celebration, and critique, but b/c he so thoroughly dominates the reggae literature (perhaps […]

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imeem, i’m sayin

Talk about too much music. Was readying a post on all the pods I cast (or subscribe to, that is), but then I get pointed to a Soca 2k7 playlist on some mysite called imeem — The soca 2k7 are verrrrrry r and b. I thought it would be interesting for your work. The soca […]

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Linkthink #4082: Music Things

MP3 for Africa ! (cross-posted) — the snappy, statty hook: If every American would buy 10 songs by African Artists, we would DOUBLE the amount of money the US is currently sending to Africa. (also germane) (also ghislain) the Boston Typewriter Orchestra (thx, mr.twink) Claire Chanel offers up another triple-slow screw: this time, Ciara’s “Promise” […]

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It’s Later Than You Think

I still want a hula hoop Hittin’ the eggnog a lil hard these days? Well, if too much Holiday Cheer® has you in a Houston state of mind, try (again) some reverse-engineered Chipmunks, ever the better to appreciate the deliciously cloying crawl to Christmas — [audio:http://riddimmethod.net/music/ww_chipmunks-screwed.mp3] Ah, but tonight we feast. And that’s nothing but […]

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Another Crunk Genealogy

Considering what a solid series it’s been so far, I’m quite proud to present — Blogariddims ¡Blogaritmos! 11: “Another Crunk Genealogy” crunkyclave / dembowsalsa / raggyton / bhangrabounce subscribe to series | download mp3 (60:54 | 83.6mb) Of course, given the all-around excellence of the contributions to date, never mind the massive mix Heatwave dropped […]

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Are These the Breaks?

Last week there was a message posted to the dancecult list, which, in the process of recommending a couple of Nate Harrison’s fine videos, asserted, not uncommonly, that the Amen break was “the most sampled rhythm ever, the very foundation of most rap, techno and jungle.” Now, undoubtedly the Amen break is one of the […]

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For Unawful Canal Knowledge

Some linkythinky things: Peter Scholtes just wrote an extensive piece on reggaeton for City Pages. Rather than simply rehearsing the well-worn narrative, Peter brings in the voices and stories of performers and enthusiasts in the Minneapolis/St.Paul reggaeton scene, giving new texture to a story whose contours have become all too familiar. He includes a large […]

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Hawaii Highlights (SEM 2006)

It’s that time of the semester when things get extra crunchy, so I figure I better get this post up before it all becomes ancient history (even if it means I won’t be able to offer as texty a reflection as I’d like). Our panel was first thing Thursday morning (and I mean first thing: […]

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Boston Jerk

Recorded between Kingston and Cambridge over the course of 2003, Boston Jerk was my attempt to create a critical ethnographic recording, a sonic version of my dissertation — or, as I put it in the liner notes, “the synthesis to my analysis.” Below you’ll find the full audio, the liner notes, and a brief explication […]

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