Daryl Hall is such a boss. Here he is inviting Chromeo’s P-Thugg to swim in his 1700s farmhouse with the baller indoor pool before launching into Chromeo’s Tenderoni with the crew.
Strong music and a great moment for the talkbox. Oh, and salute eighties musicians who put in work with a big glass of red wine.
Here is “No Can Do” from the same session.
Filed under dance, funk & soul, music
Salute to E-40! Nice dance-heavy video to get things going for the day, but the song is great. The beat has that Bay area clap, snap and slap sound while 40 Water’s flow just disrespects the beat.
Anyone know who made this beat?
Okayplayer has a slightly obtuse review of the live performance of The Roots new album. The album is called . . . And then you shoot your cousin. Here is a snippet from the review by Eddie “Stats” which highlights the use of performance to make some interesting arguments:
Questlove is at the decks now and as the lights strobe a massive avalanche of balloon animals suddenly falls on the stage, a Jeff Koons flood of meaningless forms, falling in the framedrop slo-mo created by the flash of the strobe. A doo-ragged character enters the stage, humming, holding a gigantic red balloon like a kite. There’s something clownish in his dancerly movements, he has his mouth absurdly open, recalling at once a mime, Flavor Flav in wop-mode, the broom-wielding enforcer of the Apollo as he sweeps balloons away in the wake of his feet. In silence his dance picks up in intensity and his movements resemble Flav less than legendary b-boy choreographer Pee Wee Danz. As he steps and swims through balloons, the pop of dying inflatables echo like gunshots. We are fully in Fluxus territory now, improvisation colliding with a wickeder kind of randomness to create an ‘anything could happen’ tension in the room.
via The Roots chop up their new LP into art live (photos + recap) Okayplayer.
The Roots performing live among some balloon animals. Photo by Mel D. Cole taken with respect from Okayplayer.
Filed under art, communication, dance, hip hop, music, race, representation, resistance
Brilliant breakdown of twerking and bodily representation. Smart insights from Kimari Brand about power and the significance of the dance form (film by Irma L. Garcia). Brought to me by the ever-on-point Feministing. Good preview of the video by Sesali Bowen in Feministing:
Utilizing multiple experiences — including a course on performance, feminism and social justice, a trip abroad to study Afro-Caribbean culture and politics, and her experiences as a Black girl at an institution of higher education that prioritizes white supremacist “credibility and status” — Brand has reframed the dialogue about twerking.
via “Twerk It Girl” examines twerking for autonomy and resistance.
I think twerking is at the heart of a lot of the moral panics about young women’s sexuality. More particularly the moral panic attached to twerking is represented along racial and/or sexual and/or class lines depending on the expected audience (Miley Cyrus). Worth discussion and re-presenting which Brand and the filmmaker Garcia do really well.
Filed under academics, art, class, cultural appropriation, dance, documentary, feminism, hip hop, race, representation, resistance, rhetoric
Longreads suggested the tell-all essay on so-called molly and Electronic Dance Music festivals written by Shane Morris. It is a good read with snappy prose and a strong argument that the EDM festivals are locations where lots of people seek drugs from one-time drug dealers who may sell them almost anything.
But I’m more taken with his follow up essay where he not only answers many of the criticisms and also suggests a series of solutions.
Much of what he suggests is harm reduction – trying to make risky behavior (of almost any stripe) less likely to result in damage. But it is also a sincere plea for bystander accountability and a change in the culture of drug-users and those promoters who make money on festivals.
I’m only saying that it’s time the EDM community starts acting like the family it espouses itself to be. No more secrets. No more “turning around and pretending you didn’t see that happen.” No more fearing what might happen if you ask for help. No more pretending people aren’t getting hooked on Molly. If everyone in the EDM community collectively decides to help themselves, rather than bending to legislation, we can fix this. If we advocate a culture of safety, health, and honesty, we can correct the course of this ship before it maroons itself on the rocks.
Part I. We need a return of safe, “cool down” areas to EDM events. If we all acknowledge that people are going to do drugs, and it’s just something that happens, then we should also be able to acknowledge that every person deserves to be safe, healthy, and well. If you’re not feeling OK, there needs to be a place you can go and sit down, chill out, drink water, maybe even get a bag of ice and put it on your head.
via Finding Molly: Reconstructing Dreamland | Bro Jackson.
Morris also suggests people “call out the idiots promoting overconsumption,” and for transparency (including drug testing kits for prospective users). He also commits to making his own music events more safe and offers up “safe word” as the catchphrase for a campaign of communication:
Here is his explanation:
In BDSM circles, using a safeword means things have gotten too much for you to handle, and you need to stop, without judgement. In that regard, I feel its purpose is well served here as well. If you’re at an event, and things have spun out of control for you, a friend, or perhaps a stranger you’re just looking out for–you should be able to remove yourself from the situation and know your safety is the primary concern, without fear of repercussions or judgement.
via Finding Molly: Reconstructing Dreamland | Bro Jackson.
Filed under communication, dance, do-it-yourself, drugs, health, music, punishment, vulnerability
Jody Rosen writes:
And, well, there’s a cat. It’s a nice-looking cat, of the gray-and-black tabby variety, and while I assume it’s Joni Mitchell’s pet, I hope it was a Hollywood stunt cat, because Mitchell subjects the poor thing to a series of spine-wrenching contortions not seen since Ferdinand II of Aragon sent my converso forbears packing off to the strappado. She dances a kind of pas de deux with the cat, see, which sounds cute, but in practice involves stretching and distending the feline’s extremities, twirling it in circles, lifting it overhead, etc. I can’t decide whether to contact the ASPCA about the statute of limitations on animal torture, or to make a bunch of GIFs and ROTFLMAO. In any case, I think we all can agree that “Dancin’ Clown” is the worst song ever, and the greatest video ever made. And that Joni Mitchell has no business owning a cat.
via Rosen on Joni Mitchell’s Worst Song — Vulture.
Thanks to Soul-sides for the link.
Ohhhhhh!
There are a bunch of good videos that came out in the last two days, but this is the video I’ve got on repeat.
Bounce. Simply bounce.
Howzabout Big Freedia on Jimmy Kimmel?
Star. Power.
Thanks to Okayplayer for the link.
Life of refinement 