You know I write record reviews, but did you know I write them for Beautiful Decay Anthology, the web-based counterpart of Beautiful Decay Magazine?

I didn't think so.

But now you do.

Look for more reviews and stuff to pop up over there every now and again.

Incidentally I've got an expanded and modified review of the same record reviewed above in the works for this site as well. I actually had it finished weeks ago, but upon pushing "publish" Blogger decided to eat it and I lost all my changes, so I've been a little slow in trying to tackle it again. But it should be coming, sooner or later.

...compact discs by artists including OutKast, Notorious B.I.G., Rage Against the Machine, Stone Temple Pilots, Lou Reed and Devo don't fit the state's "standards of decency" and he's had them removed from a stockpile of albums given to the state as part of a nationwide price fixing settlement that were ultimately bound for public libraries because he doesn't want to distribute "objectionable material."

During the late '90s a guy named Jude released a song containing the lyrics "Rick James was the original super freak."

But as of early this morning the "original super freak" is no more.

Legendary funk artist Rick James has passed away. He died in his Hollywood home of natural causes. He was 56 years old.

I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it with my own two eyes, but someone out there is actually auctioning off a date with X-Clan's Professor X on Ebay... with a key... SISSSSSSSYYYYYYYYYYSSSSSSSSSS!

So it's already Wednesday morning and I haven't even gotten around to posting the weekend recap over here. Either I'm slacking off or I've been incredibly busy. I don't know which myself, so I guess I'll just let you be the judge of all that after reading my little wrap up of the last few days events.

Friday night Empress and I met up with our man DJ 12XU, and were surprisingly enough later joined by Ray from Living Art, at Flywheel in Easthampton to check out a show featuring the odd line-up of Nedelle & Tom, Make Believe and Cex. I was really there to hear the angelic voiced Nedelle, who's album 'Republic Of Two' was my favorite release across the board last year. I was also interested in seeing Cex since I missed them when they came through Northampton last fall with Aspera and I Am The World Trade Center. I had never heard of Make Believe, but I'm always open to checking out new shit. Despite the near complete lack of a crowd of any kind Nedelle opened the show and did not disappoint as her and her guitar playin' buddy Tom ran through a number of whimsical tracks from their new collaborative effort. I was hoping she would do some stuff from 'Republic Of Two,' but I love her voice regardless and she's a cutie to boot, so just getting the chance to hear and see her live was satisfying to me. Make Believe were up next with a noisy, sort of arythmic, disjointed, free-jazz influenced take on the disco-punk sound of groups like The Rapture and The Strokes. I didn't dislike them, but their rhythmlessness and broken Wurlitzer got a little annoying by the end of their set. After that Cex came out to set up an array of keyboards, samplers, sound modules and assorted brick-a-brack. They got off to a nice start incorporating hand-drums, live drumming, synths and heavy programmed beats into some really funky tracks complete with bugged out vocals and all type of urban-hipster lyrical trappings. But about three songs into their set they left the beats and funky rhythms behind for some more non-rhythmic, unstructured, ambient jamming that wasn't really my cup of tea. Then they brought out the dudes from Make Believe and the rest of their set was just one big jumbled jam session that became really self-indulgent and unintersting by the time all was said and done. After the show Ray and I both remarked that it turned into a big circle jerk where the folks on stage were basically masturbating for their own satisfaction which really isn't all that cool. Regardless though, it was sweet to finally see and meet Nedelle and Cex managed to drop a couple dope jams before their set degenerated into an electronica tinged version of a Phish show so it proved to be a night well spent for the most part.

Saturday saw Empress and I hitting the record racks for a day of digging, an activity we repeated Sunday morning as well. During our two day digging expedition we hit up Amherst's Mystery Train and a local flea-market where more than a few jewels were unearthed, including joints from Grover Washington Jr., Eddie Drennon & B.B.S. Unlimited, Ohio Players and even Masters Of Ceremony ( Grand Puba's pre-Brand Nubian group from the late 80's ), all for low-low prices because I'm a cheap-cheap bastard. For a full list of this weekends finds, or to post up some of your finds join the official diggin' in the crates thread on our message boards.

Sunday evening 12XU and I decided to roll out to Beantown to peep The Procussions, Time Machine and Edan & Insight as their tour stopped at The Middle East. We ran in to some inexplicable traffic on the pike and wound up being close to an hour late for the show, but to my surprise there was nobody in the place when we got there. Seriously, we paid our cover, walked down the stairs, endured the most thorough frisking I've ever had the misfortune to be a part of and walked through the doors to find the place empty. Well, empty with the exception of our homegirl, Northampton's own Kate "Doomsday" Livingston, that is. Apparently Jayceeoh one of her Beautiful Decay colleagues was djing the event so she and Fubz one of the mag's noted photographers were both in the house to support. After a lengthy set from Jayceeoh on the 1's and 2's a nice crowd had formed and The Procussions finally took the stage. They mixed it up with turntables and live instruments putting on an energetic show. But nothing they performed sounded anything like the songs I remember from their album, so I was kind of lost when it came to their material. Time Machine was up next rocking a show I can only describe as a mixture of vintage EPMD and Nice & Smooth. I know that comparison is probably lost on most of you out there, but folks who remember those artists live show should get the idea. For fools who can't quite figure out what I mean, dude's were a strange mixture of the classic laid-back backpack rapper exemplefied by Eric & Parrish and the grandstanding, pose-striking, dance-move performing showmen of the Nice & Smooth order. It was a crazy scene. But they ripped all the tracks they performed and Mekalek is a beast on the tables so all in all everything came together rather nicely. Finally it was time for Edan and Insight to hold the spotlight. From start to finish these two kids embody everything that's good about hip-hop. They both dj, produce and emcee, and their live show features them both rocking the mic and the tables, often in tandem, when they're not jumpin off the stage and running through the crowd while rhyming that is. One portion of their set featured them tag-team juggling a James Brown break. And another featured Edan rhyming while cutting up Thin Lizzy's "Johnny The Fox" at the same time. And yes, he was rhyming about "Johnny The Fox" and cutting the records in a way that included chopping the Thin Lizzy vocals to create a "hook" between his verses. Shit was incredible. An ode to Bob Dylan and Inxs featuring Edan rhyming about different record covers held up by the crew's man Dagger, a guest appearance from Edo G and an impromptu Soul Train Line later and the duo were launching into their recent jam "Science Of The Two" to close out a "leave 'em wanting more" kind of performance. Whether they're together or performing seperately you need to see Edan and Insight. Almost nobody does hip-hop better.

By that point it was Monday morning and I was just a ride back to Springfield & a few hours away from the start of another week of cleaning dusty records, radio shows, music charts and other nonsense. But that, was my weekend.