A couple days ago somebody on one of the message boards I regularly check out posted up a "late pass" appreciation thread on British soul/jazz vocalist Amy Winehouse, praising her 2003 album 'Frank' and wondering if she had anything new on the way. Being a huge fan of Winehouse's slept-on LP I co-signed her talent and lamented the lack of any new output from her myself. And since it doesn't look like the girl's gonna have a new project on deck any time soon, it pleases me to introduce you all to the next best thing, the soulful and jazzy Ms. Karter, a classy and sassy female vocalist from Seattle, Washington, right here in the good ol' USA!

I was just introduced to the beautiful and talented Karter this afternoon when I found a friend request from her in my MySpace inbox. I couldn't initially tell if she was a beatmaker, a performer or even some group of rappin' dudes who decided to name their group after a chick ( thank you Tanya Morgan ), but when the first song on her page, "Perfect For Me," started playing I had it all figured out. I was immediately struck by the similarity in vocal style and tone, not to mention production style, to the affermentioned Amy Winehouse, and remarked out-loud that with a girl like this making music we don't even have to worry about when the Brit might put out another record.

The track that caught my ear, "Perfect For Me," finds Karter crooning in a laid-back fashion about the perfect sort of guy needed to win her affections over rough hip-hop style drum-programming, deep sub-bass and distinctly Deodato-esque Rhodes notes. It's a sound sure to draw comparisons to the likes of UK acts Amy Winehouse ( duh ), Ms. Dynamite and Break Reform or US neo-soulsters such as Lauryn Hill ( pre-breakdown ) and Erykah Badu. I like it, and I think you will too, so download it and find out.

Ms. Karter "Perfect For Me"

Make sure you add her to your MySpace friends list sometime when you have the chance to as well. Oh, and read her blogs if you've got a spare minute, she's not only beautiful and talented but smart and politically conscious too!

After 13 years with pioneering Left Coast indie-rap act Jurassic 5, and a stint with Latin-funksters Ozomatli, respected crate-digger, turntablist and beatmaker Cut Chemist is branching out on his own by releasing his first-ever solo album. And in case you're wondering, yes, I did just emphasize his status as a record collector over his accomplishments as a DJ and producer. Why? Well, to put it quite frankly, it seems that though his former group may have been firmly rooted in true-school hip-hop truisms, the 33 year-old Los Angeles native has drawn most of his influence for this solo record, titled 'The Audience's Listening,' from his experiences as a world-weary DJ and crate-digger.

“I think this album mirrors the world palate – there’s Brazilian stuff, rock stuff, Eastern European influences and many others,” he notes. “I wanted it to be that way, to kind of give it a texture of, ‘Hey, I go all over the world and buy records!’”

The first single from the album, "The Garden" backed-with "Storm" featuring Edan and Mr. Lif ( which has already been getting significant burn from us on our Urban Alternatives radio program ), certainly reflects that stated aim. The a-side track is an expertly crafted blend of Middle Eastern sounds, Brazilian percussion, Bossa Nova grooves, atmospheric strings, jazzy guitars, haunting Portuguese vocals samples and raw breakbeats, all stitched together with deft scratching and crafty turntablist tricks. While the b-side almost defys description, as Bostonian science-spitters Edan and Mr. Lif spit raw raps over an uptempo robotic drum break that flashes back to the days of disco, '80s new wave and even hip-house, punctuated by jarring scratch stabs and weird electronic noises that give the song the air of a dancefloor-friendly sci-fi rap masterpiece. But you don't have to settle for my feeble attempts at describing the sounds, you can listen to both tracks right now in your choice of streaming audio formats.

Cut Chemist "The Garden"

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Cut Chemist feat. Edan & Mr. Lif "Storm"

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Even more interesting, at least to me, is a really fresh ( and beautifully shot ) video clip of Cut Chemist in Brazil working on "The Garden." The mini-documentary, which seems to be a small piece of the film 'Brazilintime' which is itself a sequal to another film called 'Keepintime', features some great footage of Cut Chemist digging for vinyl, collaborating with live musicians in the studio and out and about on the streets of Brazil. It's pretty fucking breathtaking, and I wish we could get more true-to-life urban-themed documentaries like this that are actually this interesting and actually look this good.

Cut Chemist "Somwhere In Brazil"

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And don't forget, Cut Chemist's debut solo LP, 'The Audience's Listening,' hits stores everywhere June 7th on Warner Brothers records.

You might remember an interview we posted here on Imageyenation last year with a three-man group of Okayplayer messageboard posters known collectively as Tanya Morgan who wear gearing up for the release of their debut album 'Moonlighting.' Well, they finally released that album, via the Loud Minority Music label, earlier this month, and what's more, they even filmed a video for their lead single, the anthemic introduction, "We Be."



What's sort of surprising to me is how original, creative and just plain good the video turned out to be. They built the video around a MySpace theme ( which makes perfect sense since they name-check the popular social networking site in the song ) and the clip features a cleverly re-branded version of the site throughout complete with animated friends in their friend-space and other web-based in-jokes. The result is both strikingly innovative and a throwback to the vibe of great hip-hop videos ( I'm most reminded of the classic computer-themed clip for A Tribe Called Quest and Leaders Of The New School's "Scenario" ) of days gone past. And I can't help but think that if more indie-rap artists put this kind of effort into visualizing their music that popular video outlets would be forced to pay closer attention and underground music would actually have a fighting chance against whatever bullshit is currently dominating the airwaves.

Anyway, when you're done checking out the video don't forget to go log on to the real MySpace and send the guys from Tanya Morgan a friend request of your own.

If you don't know that Imageyenation's favorite group of all time is Hot Chip then you are a big fat dummy. We love these guys. It's been quite some time since a band and their music has captured our hearts like Hot Chip have. It's hard not to continue falling in with with them all over again when then make great videos like the one for their latest single, "Boy From School" (shortened from "And I Was A Boy From School" because some moron said that it was too long of a title), off one of the best albums of 2006 'The Warning.' It was directed by Garth Jennings, the man behind 'A Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy' and who, along with Nick Goldsmith, makes up "Hammer & Tongs" the tag-team who provided videos for the likes of Badly Drawn Boy, Beck and Blur. This video that was cooked up for Hot Chip takes the cake and eats it too. I'm gonna stop typing so I can watch it for the 100th time today. Enjoy.

Hot Chip "Boy From School"

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Oh, and as a bonus here's a "And I Was A Boy From School" rework courtesy of Erol Alkan.

Hot Chip "And I Was A Boy From School (Erol Alkan's Extended Re-Work)"

London has always been known for its progressive rock scene. And now, with the hype over Bloc Party (one of the best bands ever) dying down, there is room for other bands to move in and get a piece of the action.

One such band is The Noisettes.

This trio follows the two-boys-and-a-girl pattern like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but have a sound like the two-girls-and-a-boy band The Gossip. Lead singer and bassist Shingai Shoniwa "sings like Billie Holiday on PCP" and apparently goes crazy on stage. And by crazy, I mean sexy crazy. Guitarist Dan Smith and drummer Jamie Morrison keep up the pace and are probably just about as crazy as Shoniwa.

Their EP 'Three Moods of the Noisettes' was released last August and they've been getting some notice ever since. They were winners of BBC Radio 6's poll for new music and were recently listed in 'URB' magazine's "Next 100" for 2006.

So now, for your listening pleasure, here's a track of theirs. You can hear more at both their MySpace Pages.

The Noisettes "Don't Give Up"

You might remember a review we posted last year on an instrumental hip-hop act from Australia called Mountains In The Sky and their album 'Celestial Sun.' Well, it's just come to my attention that one of the standout tracks from that album, the Jimi Hendrix sampling, RJD2-ish "Noah's Arkestra," has recently been featured in a commercial shown on the ESPN cable network promoting the NBA playoffs. I guess people have been fiending to know what the song in the commercial is and since it's an obscure Australian hip-hop act I'm not surprised that they've been having trouble getting to the bottom of it. I just happened upon a message board post posing just such a question and was happy to not only discover that an act we had championed here at Imageyenation and on our Urban Alternatives radio program had hit the big-time, but let people know who was responsible for this incredible piece of music.

You can watch the commercial, thanks to the reviled but handy YouTube, above. And you can snag the track in MP3 format at the link below.

Mountains In The Sky "Noah's Arkestra"

Emo-rap godfathers Atmosphere's new video for "Say Hey There," the newest single from their stellar 'You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having' LP, premiered on MTVU yesterday. But since there's numerous problems with the MTVU site ( it only works with 2000 and XP, is only compatible with IE, etc... between this and the MTV2 website MTV really needs to step their web game up ) and someone was nice enough to hip me to this YouTube version, it's the YouTube version you're gonna get. And you're gonna like it dammit!

No, really, you're gonna like the video. It's got scantily clad women, a fat guy in a wife beater and cameos from Ant and Blueprint ( who gets in a shower with all his clothes on ). People have been saying it's a pretty weird clip, and I guess it is, but it's another one of those videos I would expect MTV to actually have in rotation if they actually played videos any more. My only complaint is that since Slug let his mohawk grow out he now looks identical to Cage and El-P. Why all white guys gotta look the same yo?

Don't forget that you can still cop Atmosphere's 'You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having' at pretty much any store anywhere in the world on the Rhymesayers Entertainment label.

The video for Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" is nothing short of perfect. It's incredible. It's breathtaking. When Cee-Lo turns into the devil I got fucking chills.

I don't even know what to say other than "watch it!"

Gnarls Barkley "Crazy"

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The number one contender for album of the year ( yes I've heard the album, and it's that good ), Gnarls Barkley's 'St. Elsewhere,' hits stores May 9th on Downtown/Atlantic recordings.

Husband and wife ( that dude is so lucky to be married to such a foxy lady... I hate him ) indie-synth-pop duo Mates Of State's newest full-length LP 'Bring It Back' has been a personal favorite of mine since it dropped a couple months back. One of the main reasons it's found a place in my headphones is the super-catchy first single "Fraud In The '80s," which you might remember I posted about prior to the album's release. The song is just clap-your-hands and sing-a-long good from beginning to end, with it's rockin' backbeat, layers of synths, organs and keys and male/female vocal harmonies. It's the sort of pop song that, if it had a video, would have been all over MTV in it's early days, on '120 Minutes' in the network's middling years and, since the only labels that really release pop music now-a-days are indies and MTV doesn't even play videos, much less indie videos, would go virtually ignored today.

As surprising as it may sound though, there actually is a video for "Fraud In The 80s!" And it's quite a good video if I may say so myself. The concept and setting is really cute, and the jerky photo-animation style fits the song really well. Plus, the clip finds MOS keyboardist/vocalist Kori Gardner looking utterly breathtaking... while playing a microKorg none-the-less! I don't care if she is married to the drummer dude, a hot chick with a synthesizer will almost always strike my fancy. Give the video a whirl, I'm sure she, and the video itself, will strike yours as well.

Mates Of State "Fraud In The 80s"

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Even more surprising than the fact that a video for this song exists at all is the fact that it probably will get played on MTV, or MTV2 at least. At least I assume so, as Mates Of State will be the special guests on this week's episode of MTV2's 'Subterranean.' The show, which is basically a 1-hour version of the afforementioned '120 Minutes' show ( geez I'm old ), airs at 1 AM eastern time.

Mates Of State's 'Bring It Back' is in stores now on compact disc on the Barsuk label and on a vinyl-only pressing on the Polyvinyl label.

Thanks to the four-man-band of emo-hipsters called Phoenix the French can be considered funky because of their musical output, rather than their poor hygeine or their taste for smelly cheeses. And just like we love French Fries, your friends here at Imageyenation love French Funk, so of course we love Phoenix.

After burning their last LP 'Alphabetical' into the ground on our radio show, in our cars and around our homes, we've been waiting for Phoenix to make their return with another dose of smooth, synth-infused pop-funk. And they finally have, in the form of "Long Distance Call," the first single from their forthcoming third LP 'It's Never Been Like That.'

The single will be available for digital download from iTunes or your favorite digital service provider on Tuesday, April 25th, but you can hear it on the band's MySpace page right now. You can also watch the new "Long Distance Call" video, directed by Roman Coppola, in a number of streaming formats right here.

Phoenix "Long Distance Call"

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American listeners can expect Phoenix's new album 'It's Never Been Like That' to hit stores everywhere on May 23rd, via Astralwerks Records.

Just came across this red-hot MP3 download from Providence, Rhode Island's Joey Beats. The Non-Prophets producer and leader of the Joe Beats Trio teams his ill rock breaks and scratches up with vocals from dirty south backpack rappers Cuninlynguists on the "Hellfire Remix" for a head-nod-turned-head-bang hip-hop experience that'll leave your speakers scorched.

Cunninlynguists "Hellfire ( Joey Beats Remix )"

Joey Beats and his Joe Beats Trio ( which includes Gavin Castleton of Add-Mmm's favorite group Gruvis Malt on Rhodes and keyboards and DJ Signify on CDJ ) will be bringing his Indie Rock Blues flavor to the stage alongside Edan and Prefuse 73, May 6th, at The Living Room in Providence, Rhode Island.

Just the other night, during a broadcast of our Urban Alternatives radio program, Emeyesi played a Schneider TM remix of some Solvent tune and asked me "what happened to your boy?" He meant Schneider TM, because apparently my loving his music ( especially his remake of The Smiths "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" titled "The Light 3000" ) makes him "my boy." I had to admit that though I am in fact on the Schneider TM mailing list I hadn't heard jack about what the guy had been up to lately and coulnd't say whether he'd ever put out an other record. Within hours of having this discussion I received an e-mail from the Schneider TM mailing list announcing what else, that he was preparing the release of a brand new full length LP, titled 'Skoda Mluvit' ( which drops today, April 21st, on the Cityslang label ) and there's a cool little Schneider TM e-card with a bunch of audio and video goodies to go with it!

The e-card features streaming audio of the songs "More Time," "Pac Man/Shopping Cart" ( which will be released as a 7'' single in October ) and "Caplets" as well as a zipped MP3 download of "More Time." My favorite track of the three is definitely "Pac Man/Shopping Cart" because, well, it's weird, but it's also funky and kitschy, which is right up my alley. It just so happens that there's also a streaming video clip for "Pac Man/Shopping Cart" as well. So go check it out, and if you'd just like to download the "More Time" MP3 without having to unzip it, here's a direct download for your convenience.

Schneider TM "More Time"

And don't forget that the new Schneider TM LP 'Skoda Mluvit,' which is described as "an album full of lethargic acoustic funk, distorted noise, twisted hip hop, sweet soul melodies and much, much more," is out now on the Cityslang label.

After racking up a #1 hit in the UK with their first single "Crazy," super-duo Gnarls Barkley ( producer Danger Mouse and vocalist Cee-Lo Green ) are finally preparing to launch a full-on audio-visual assault against the American listening public. With "Crazy" finally released here in the states and the release of their debut full-length 'St. Elsewhere' just around the corner DM and Sweet-Suga-Lo are officially premiering a video clip for "Crazy" exclusively on Yahoo! Music this Saturday, April 22nd!

From the press release:

The video for "Crazy" was directed by Robert Hale, known for his memorable work with Nine Inch Nails, The Donnas, Jet, Stereophonics and others. A fully animated piece, the video for "Crazy" is a visually astonishing and darkly psychedelic trip into the heart of the track. Inspired by the song's title (though not in a literal sense), our visual starting point is the Rorschach inkblot test.

There's apparently a snippet preview of the video and a shitty rip of the full length video floating around on the internet, but I haven't seen either one myself. I'd really much rather get the chance to sit and watch the whole thing, in it's entirety, either pristinely on television ( c'mon MTV, don't let us down ) or via a decent Windows Media stream. But if you're just going "Crazy" to see the video you better make sure you click on over to the Y! Music Video Premiers Page come Saturday and prepare yourself for a mental-musical-breakdown.

In the meantime, you can check out a really incredible ( though shitty quality... am I the only one who thinks YouTube's Flash player nonsense sucks and never plays smooth? ) live performance of "Crazy" from the UK's 'Top Of The Pops' television program.



Kinda makes you wanna trek out to one of those crazy music festivals GB's gonna be performing at this summer, don't it?

Singer Mary J. Blige may be a platinum selling recording star, a millionaire, and the pioneering artist of the hip-hop-soul genre, but she's apparently not much of a Biblical scholar. Ya see, despite being a "devout Christian" who credits "finding Jesus" with helping her beat drug addiction, she's evidently unfamiliar with the parts of The Bible that say things like "the meek shall inherit the Earth" or liken a rich man's chances of entering heaven to fitting a camel through the eye of a needle. In a new interview with 'Blender' magazine she expounded upon her scriptural ignorance ( not to mention her lack of humility ) by claiming that her God is in fact a God of egotism, publicity and most importantly bling!

My God is a God who wants me to have things. He wants me to bling! He wants me to be the hottest thing on the block. I don’t know what kind of God the rest of y’all are serving, but the God I serve says, “Mary, you need to be the hottest thing this year, and I’m gonna make sure you’re doing that.” My God’s the bomb!

So does that mean that all the stuff in The Bible about God smiting idolatars, freeing slaves, blessing peasants, condemning exploitative merchants and laying low wicked kings went out the window when the big guy handed the reigns of the kingdom over to Jesus? Yeah, I guess God's all about helping addicts kick the habit and making sure skanky, mildly talented, r&b divas are "the baddest bitch" in their hood now-a-days. Maybe those "wheels within wheels" that Ezekiel saw weren't UFO's after all then? Nope, all those wheels and lights were just the spinning rims on God's Escalade.

More fresh goodies for your MP3 player taken from the stacks of records and compact discs that conspire to make my apartment feel far smaller than it actually is.



The Velvet Teen "Spin The Wink ( Little Cat Version )"

Since Ben Gibbard and DNTEL haven't bothered to put out a new Postal Service record in a couple of years we've got to get our glitchy laptop-produced indie pop from others. California-based trio The Velvet Teen deliver the goods on the vocoder-infused "Spin The Wink ( Little Cat Version )" ( I'm assuming Little Cat, who the liner notes describe as "the bomb ass shit," was involved in producing or remixing the track ) from their 'Gyzmkid' mini-EP on the Slowdance label. The golorified single is apparently a sort of "teaser" for their new full-length album 'Cum Laude,' which is due out this Summer.



Panacea "Starlite"

The Project "Yeah"

The handful of tracks on the promo-only 'Glow-In-The-Dark Records 2006' sampler CD were so thoroughly dope that I just had to include two. First up is Washington DC-based duo Panacea who showcase uptempo, positive, Blackalicious-esque hip-hop that blends jazzy vibes with old-school electro-isms on "Starlite." Then there's some post-modern fastrap throwback party shit in the form of "Yeah" from a crew called The Project who I know absolutley nothing about, other than that their song is fuckin' dope! Look for Panacea's debut LP 'Ink Is My Drink' in stores in June and The Project's as-yet untitled LP in October, both on Glow-In-The-Dark Records.



$martyrs feat. Lord Zen & Los Vegas "Money Doesn't Matter"

Visionaries emcee 2Mex and Shapeshifters member Life Rexall combine as $martyrs ( which I would pronounce "smarters" but which they apparently say as "Money Symbol Martyrs" ) to produce soulful West Coast Latin smart-guy backpack rap. A fresh horn/vocal loop sets the stage for them and guests Lord Zen and Los Vegas to wax poetic ( and name-check "Sex Panther" while they're at it ) on "Money Doesn't Matter," one of the stronger cuts from their new '2Mex & Life Rexall are $martyr' LP, out now on the Cornerstone Recording Arts Society label.



Bald Eagles "Christian Lazer Tag"

What is there to say about a band that apparently features a guy who looks like an emo-Keter and a dude with the most amazing beard since the one in that "Doublmints mints, not gum" ( or maybe the weird Skittles joint ) commercial? Well, not much, except maybe "they fuckin' rock!" Missouri-based Bald Eagles are just such a band, and their brand of noisy punk-funk ( sort of like Test-Icicles, but without the hype ) does indeed rock. Their entire album 'Bacon and Eggs, Dear,' out now on the Collective Records label, is pretty fuckin' hot, and I think the song "Christian Lazer Tag" demonstrates that fact pretty damn well.

And remember, if you like what you hear give the full-length albums these tracks were taken from a chance by spending some dough on them.

Okay, so I've been resisting the hype on Chicago emcee Lupe Fiasco ( pictured above, with skater Tony Hawk ) for a number of months now. Even before he made his big-league debut guest-starring on Kanye West's 'Late Registration' people were talking about him. He was even talking about himself all over the Okayplayer message boards. Then it was announced that Kanye was picking him up and pushing him as the "next big thing." It all seemed rather opportunistic, and in the world of major label hip-hop where big-timer proteges and "great rap hypes" are not only a dime-a-dozen, but rarely even worth a dime, that type of thing just is not something to get excited about.

His guest-verses alongside Kanye didn't necessarily do anything to improve his image in my eyes either. Far from an obvious disappointment he just seemed like another one of Kanye's dudes ( a stable that includes Rhymefest, Consequence and GLC ), a respectable rapper who may or may not be capable of bigger things, but not an immediate "star." And with larger-than-life guests such as Jay-Z and Nas, not to mention the ego that ate Chicago himself, Mr. Kanye West, overshadowing him it was sort of difficult for him to give listeners a vivid snapshot of his style and personality. So, I continued to let Emeyesi mispronounce his name as "loop" and wholeheartedly resisted the hype.

Then I actually heard his debut single "Kick, Push," and everything changed. The production, which wasn't by big-name Kanye West but rather some no-name dude called Soundtrakk, was fuckin' bangin'! Are those samples I hear? Rugged drum programming too? Why, that actually sounds like real hip-hop, not some major-label "big in the streets" radio-rap hip-pop trash! It was like a revelation! Then I actually started paying attention to the shit that Lupe was kicking. I had listened to the song a few times already and sort of hummed along with the chorus... "kick... push... kick... push..." and then it hit me, "is this dude rapping about skateboarding?" Holy shit son! Most of the songs about skateboarding that have ever been recorded are by Punk bands, and to my knowledge the only rap song explicitly about the sport was "Transitionz Az a Ridah," a track off Murs' 'The End Of The Beginning' LP. So, not only is this dude a competent emcee who's willing to keep his hip-hop traditional despite his major label deal ( and not even rely on his mega-star buddy Kanye to do it ) but he's conceptual, original and on some real "urban culture" shit without pandering to "the streets." Well, that's exactly the type of shit that deserves hype!

And believe me, the hype is still in effect. That dope-ass debut single with the catchy horn samples and raps about girls and skateboards? Well, it's got a video. And the video is actually getting airplay on MTV and... hold your breath for this one... BET! That's right, BET's 'Rap City' is actually playing some rap music for a change! It's fuckin' incredible! And in my eyes it's all warranted. Not only is the song dope, and culturally progressive, but the video is a total throwback to what hip-hop videos used to look like. Shit like this makes me feel like it's okay to love hip-hop again, and gives me hope that ( thanks in large part to Kanye's willingness to "keep it real" even as he makes millions of dollars ) real hip-hop still has a chance of flourishing in the face of the trendy bullshit the record industry and media markets as "hip-hop" and "rap music." To that end, you can now consider me a part of the Lupe Fiasco hype-machine. And my first act on behalf of the Lupe hype is to tell you to watch the "Kick, Push" video right the hell now!

Lupe Fiaso "Kick, Push"

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Despite the fact that an unfinished, unmixed and unmastered version of his debut full-length 'Food & Liquor' ( which reportedly features guest-spots from Jay-Z, Pharrell Williams, Jill Scott, Three 6 Mafia and others... but not Kanye apparently ) was leaked earlier this week, Lupe ( and his label Atlantic ) is still looking at a June 27th release date. If anything on the album is as dope as "Kick, Push" I think it'll be more than worth checking out, and personally I'm pretty excited to see what the kid is really capable of myself.

But umm, you think it's too much to ask for a "Kick, Push" remix guest-starring both the afforementioned Murs and Skateboard P? That's the type of shit hip-hop really needs.

I don't think it's a secret that while I love MySpace as a social networking site I'm not the biggest fan of their music or video services. I'm especially not too psyched when they have an exclusive video ( especially since their videos are only compatible with Internet Explorer ) or a full album preview ( disabling the skip forward and skip backward buttons does what, other than make me click the "stop" button and move on to another page, exactly? ) of some artists new record. So, it's with severe reservations that I inform you that if you visit The Streets' MySpace page you can preview 'The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living,' the new album from Mike Skinner, in it's entirety.

The album is already out in the UK and is apparently the #1 album on the charts over there. It hits store shelves here in the states next week, April 24th to be exact, via the Vice Recordings label.

Most folks are probably only aware of bearded foul ( a term I just coined myself, a compound word made up of the words "folk" and "soul" ) singer Ray LaMontagne from a recent episode of 'American Idol' where contestant Taylor Hicks performed a cover of his song "Trouble." But LaMontagne has been a favorite of us here at Imageyenation ( specifically Emeyesi and myself ) since we first heard the afforementioned "Trouble" on the radio for the first time a couple of years back while sitting in a traffic-jam on the West Side Highway in New York City and were left trying to figure out whether what we just heards was a new song, or some old Otis Redding out-take. Oddly enough, the first time we saw Taylor Hicks on 'Idol' we remarked that he should sing "Trouble," but doubted that something like that would ever happen.

I can't say I ever thought a Ray Lamontagne cover version of a Gnarls Barkley song would happen either. But as we know, Taylor performed "Trouble" a couple of weeks back, and just this weekend ( as mind-boggling as it may be ) an MP3 of Ray LaMontagne covering the Gnarls Barkley super-hit "Crazy" surfaced on the Village Indian weblog. And now, as if that wasn't "crazy" enough, you can download it from us, right here and right now.

Ray LaMontagne "Crazy"

It's a pretty straight-forward, no-frills acoustic version of the song. And much like Taylor's rendition of "Trouble," I think LaMontagne could have come a lot more soulful on this than he actually did. But "Crazy" is the song right now ( it's gonna have "Feel Good Inc." or maybe even "Hey Ya" type legs, trust me ) and this is a pretty "crazy" take on the song regardless. Plus, any new Ray LaMontagne is good Ray LaMontagne.

More-so than any dusty slab of worn-out vinyl, no matter how rare it might be, the most sought-after treasure of crate-digging men everywhere is a crate-digging woman. Honestly, making the accquaintance of such a mythic creature is akin in so many ways to discovering the location of the Holy Grail, obtaining the Golden Fleece or embarking on a quest similar in scope and magnitude to that which was undertaken in the Epic of Gilgamesh! Or to put it in more vinyl-centric terms, coming across a woman who knows her way around a used record store, who's just as interested in vinyl oddities as you are is less likely than finding a bunch of sealed David Axelrod LPs. As for finding such a woman and then having her put you up on some ill shit that you've never heard of? Well, that's like finding a copy of that Donna McGhee album in your mom's record collection the day after you see it selling for some ungodly ammount of scratch on eBay.

The "vinyl Gods" must have been smiling on me ( which is more than can be said for poor Gilgamesh ) this week though. Because not only did I chance to meet one of these elusive "record nymphs," but she happened to be an infinitely wise class of "record nymph." One willing to share her wisdom of rare and exciting records ( full of rare and exciting sounds and ideas ) with a dusty-fingered mortal like myself. My first conversation with said "nymph" happened to coincide with my working on a post about Jewish electronic music pioneer Gershon Kingsley for our friend and Imageyenation staff-writer Dafna "Lady Glock" Steinberg's new Jewish pop-culture blog "A Berg Above The Rest." When posed with the usual "what are you up to" type greeting I mentioned the article I was writing, quickly explaining who Kingsley was. This elicited an immediate response from the "nymph" who demanded to know if I had ever heard of a record called 'The Electric Lucifer.' More excited at being introduced to something new than ashamed at my lack of knowledge I had to admit that I did not in fact know of this particular record but that it sounded interesting. Having dropped this small clue she abandoned the subject and moved on to matters less pertinent to this particular blog-post. But that title, 'The Electric Lucifer,' lingered on in my mind, and after a short while I began a quest to learn more of my new lady-friend's "weird" thrift-store find.

A quick Google search brought immediate results in the form of a fan-page with a description of the LP and excerpts from the liner notes ( which the author of the site describes as being quite similar in style and tone to a Dr. Bronner's bottle ), a photo of the album cover ( pictured above ) and the name of the artist responsible for the album's creation, Bruce Haack. I had never heard of Haack, but with the trippy cover artwork and allusions to the album's blend of ahead-of-it's-time synthesizer technology and out-of-this-world philosophical content I was determined to find out more about this mad musical scientist and if I could, get my hands on his only major label release, 1970's 'The Electric Lucifer.' A little more searching turned up a wealth of information which would seem to indicate that Haack, who had a disfunctional childhood in rural Alberta, Canada, was some sort of unrecognized genius-savant. He reportedly showed a gift for music from an early age ( he was giving others piano lessons at age 12 ), played in bands throughout his teens, hosted his own radio shows, earned a degree in Psychology from Edmonton University and eventually attended Juliard on scholarship before ultimately dropping out to compose music ( which incorporated forward-thinking electronics and tape-samples ), build his own instruments and develope his unique socio-spiritual philisophical concepts.

Which is really where 'The Electric Lucifer' comes into play. As a suite of songs it's not unlike the boroque jazz-fusion rock-operas David Axelrod composed both for his solo LPs and his work with the Electric Prunes. What distinguishes Haack's 'The Electric Lucifer' from Axelrod's tributes to William Blake, enviromental warnings set to music and modern reimaginings of Catholic masses though is the fact that Haack's music is almost entirely electronic and far more original in it's immediate social message and universal metaphysical purpose. I know, you're probably thinking "big deal, he made electronic music." But what you're failing to realize is that he made almost entirely electronic music in 1970, a time when things like synthesizers and drum machines were still virtually unknown, and that he did so using synthesizers which he mostly built entirely himself out of cheap commercial components and household appliances! Bruce Haack had no formal knowledge of electronics, yet he built a number of his own, totally unique, electronic instruments bearing such fanciful names as The Magic Wand, The Dermatron ( a synthesizer that allowed the human body to be played as an instrument by leading an electrical current through skin contact with another person ) and the People-odion. He even built and used his own 12-voice polyphonic synthesizer ( it can be heard on 'The Electric Lucifer' ) during a time when the widely available commercial synthesizers other brave musicians were using ( he was using them too ), such as the legendary Moog, were only monophonic. His mastery of these electronic instruments is evident throughout 'The Electric Lucifer' as songs drenched in intricate synth textures, manic keyboard melodies, bouncing analog basslines, sweeping electronic noises, crunchy drum machine beats and liberal use of the vocoder pour out of the speaker awash in dubbed out tape echo, lending the whole project the feeling of some plug-in infused masterpiece of modern day lo-fi lap-pop electronica. The wholly electronic nature of the album's soundscape ( which prefigures everything from Kraftwerk to Zapp, Radiohead to Daft Punk, J. Dilla to Postal Service ) is so thoroughly ahead-of-it's-time that you might actually have a hard time believing it was released before most mavens of up-to-date electronic music were even born. Take into account that some time around 1968 Haack allegedly expressed to a personal friend his belief that there would be "a time when all people would create and share their music ELECTRONICALLY without record company involvement" and the man's ability to foreshadow the future ( which puts me in mind of Nikola Tesla in a lot of ways ) becomes a little scary.

This neo-futurism is reflected in the subject matter of the music found on 'The Electric Lucifer' as well, which blends metaphysics and electronics into an apocalyptic stew which may in fact be the only thing that can prevent war and destruction, not just here on Earth, but accross the universe. The basis of the album is a simple anti-war, pro-love, humanist philosophy Haack called "Powerlove." But it's backed by a slightly more complicated eschatological mythology ( which incorporates traditional Judeo-Christian religiosity, various world religions and mysticism while reaching towards the ideas expressed in the "ancient astronaut" theories of Erich von Däniken and Zecharia Sitchin ) involving "the Lucifer people" being forced out of heaven ( or off of another planet according to the liner notes ) only to reside here on Earth. It's not clear if we, as humankind, are in fact these "Lucifer people;" children of the heavens given a place in space to perfect ourselves only to return to the stars to find forgiveness ( the liner-notes state that through "Powerlove" even "Lucifer, the eternal underdog" will be forgiven ) and unite the heavens through "Powerlove." But that's the impression I get. And the song "Cherubic Hymn," where two voices shout "we will learn that we are one with God and universal man, and then return with understanding to the world where we began," seems to bolster that idea. What's more striking is that Haack seems to think the change in spiritual consciousness that will have such a profound effect on humankind, and by turn "the Gods" and the rest of the universe, will come about, at least partially, through electronic communication, computers ( children are even likened to programmable computers on the song "Program Me" ) and electricity. He talks in terms of universal electronic communication that remind this listener a whole helluva lot of what we know today as the internet. And I can't help but think, if more people used the electronic medium ( whether it be the now commonplace synthesizer music that Haack basically birthed on this album or the universal electronic communication and information sharing tools we have at our disposal in the form of personal computers and the internet ) to spread messages of love, sharing and personal connection as Haack suggested so many years ago that humanity could actually summon a force as powerful and affecting as the "Powerlove" he dreamt of.

In the spirit of sharing, communicating and spreading love I couldn't make a post like this without including a couple of tracks from such an incredible and important vinyl artifact. The all-too-short track "Electric To Me Turn," which happens to be the album opener, is an appropriately attention-grabbing selection featuring an uptempo soul-infused rhythm, funky electro-bass and an incredible vocoded vocal about how the electric power of love drives the universe. The result is a selection that combines the form and idealism of 1960's hippie-rock with what can only be described as IDM style electronic production in a way that has only recently become fully realized. The slightly meatier album track "Word Game" gives the basic blues vamp a computerized makeover via a repetitive rolling bassline, glitched-out electronic noise, undulating synth lines and what the modern-ear would assume are "video game noises" ( even though the proliferation of video games and their memorable sound-effects were still a decade away ) over which another vocoded "robot-voice" plays word association games and spells out associated words to form new meanings. The funky groove and robotic "speak 'n' spell" routine ( where the robot vocalist spells out words like "love," "evolve," "time," and "live" ) strikes me as the most likely source of inspiration for the vocoder breakdown on the song "Over & Over" by Imageyenation favorites Hot Chip.

Bruce Haack "Electric To Me Turn"

Bruce Haack "Word Game"

With eleven more interesting and original tracks to be heard in addition to these two, Bruce Haack's 'The Electric Lucifer' remains an esoteric prize worthy of even the most arduous quest required to attain it. Hopefully it won't take tracking down an elusive female record-crate archeologist to first unearth it before you can get your own hands on a copy though.

While most of you have probably already downloaded the ( radio clean ) MP3 of The Streets new single "When You Wasn't Famous" that Emeyesi posted on this very blog a couple months back, I'm sure there are a couple of you who didn't, and a few more who would prefer the potty-mouth version. To that end, Vice Recordings is finally offering the complete, uncut version of the song as a free and easy MP3 download designed to please you and all your filthy, four-letter word loving needs. So go ahead and download it at the following link.

The Streets "When You Wasn't Famous"

And if you're in the market for some free The Streets related prizes don't forget about our "When You Wasn't Famous Photoshop Challenge" contest. All you've got to do is grab a screen-cap from the "When You Wasn't Famous" video, or just go find any old picture of Mike Skinner ( I just saw one of him licking some guy's head when I did a Google search ) on the interweb via a simple image search, and work your Photoshop magic on it in an effort to display who you think his illicit liason ( as described in the song "When You Wasn't Famous" ) was with. Then just submit your fancy altered photo to us ( at the following address ) for our "When You Wasn't Famous Photoshop Challenge!"

Send submissions to:

keter@imageyenation.com

We'll be accepting entries right up until the April 24th release date of The Streets' new Vice Recordings released album 'The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living.'

So yeah, you might have noticed that I've been missing from the blog for a couple of weeks. I haven't posted anything, much less a fresh MP3 or two. And though my inability to post was totally out of my control I still want to make up for my absence ( and the lack of fresh MP3s ) by hitting you off right with an extra-large dose of MP3s for you to "keep on the download."



Soul Position "No Gimmicks"

Emcee Blueprint and producer RJD2 return to gimmick-free form with raw beats and rhymes on "No Gimmicks" from 'Things Go Better With Rj & Al,' out now on Rhymesayers Entertainment.



About "Stack Of Marshalls">

The ( one-man? ) band About delivers quirky Kraftwerkian post-punk ( think Devo ) influenced pop like the song "Stack Of Marshalls" all over their LP 'Bongo,' out now on the Cock Rock Disco label.



Edgar Allen Floe "The Righteous Way To Go ( Remix )"

Justus League affiliate Edgar Allen Floe flexes over an ill Curtis Mayfield chop courtesy of 9th Wonder on "Righteous Way To Go" from 'Floe Almighty,' out now on Shaman Work Recordings.



Islands "If"

Former Unicorns turned Islands go all weirdo-pop on the sweet, scary and somewhat scientific "If" from 'Return To The Sea,' out April 18th on the Equator label.



The Coup "Ijuswannalayaroundalldayinbedwithyou"

Coming off like Prince, if Prince were a revolutionary pimp, Boots Riley of The Coup kicks power to the people sex raps over a syrupy synth-funk groove on "Ijuswannalayaroundalldayinbedwithyou" from 'Pick A Bigger Weapon,' in stores April 25th on the Epitaph label.



Guillemots "Who Left The Lights Off, Baby?"

The ( seemingly ) hard-to-pronounce Guillemots offer up happy-go-lucky romantic pop that sounds sort of like a blend of Bow Wow Wow, early '80s sad-guy pop and later indie-dance/Britpop stuff on "Who Left The Lights Off, Baby?" from 'From The Cliffs,' out now on the Fantastic Plastic label.



Murs "Murray's Law"

Another 9th Wonder beat backs Living Legend Murs on the indignant "Murray's Law" from the new Murs/9th album 'Murray's Revenge,' which is in stores now on the Record Collection label.

Hope this offers some musical refreshment after the short drought. And remember, if you dig the MP3s go cop the discs they're pulled from.

Well The Flaming Lips (with the help of Traktor) would make a video featuring sexy Asian ladies, donuts, a giant fuzzy hat, a burger jockstrap, shirtless fat guys, cops, choice meats and a...actually...just watch the damn video and find out!

The Flaming Lips "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song"

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The Flaming Lips new album 'At War With the Mystics' hits stores on April 4th. That's tomorrow.