Friday is Fresh, and Partially Exclusive?

NINJA 5
Grimace Federation
[Download]
more songs & information available at www.grimacefederation.com

THE HORSE
Sound Directions
The Funky Sound of Life 2005
[Download] [Purchase]

AQUARIUS/LET THE SUNSHINE IN
The Moog Machine
Switched-on Rock 1969
[Download]

TRIAL AND ERROR
Acoustic Ladyland
Last Chance Disco 2005
[Download] [Purchase]

AFTERNOON LOVE-IN
Prefuse 73
Vocal Studies & Uprock Narratives 2001
[Download] [Purchase]


I'm back. I have my reasons for being away, and I'll wrap them up in some kind of coherent post on Monday. Rest assured I'm healing, getting better, and hopefully soon it'll all be behind me. Let's keep things upbeat into the weekend and the good weather, and all will be explained soon enough.

On to the tunes -- first off, kudos to Silent K for keeping the homestead humming along with some quality music over the last 10 days or so. I couldn't keep quiet any longer, so here's a pumped-up quintet of fresh fresh piping hot goodness (with one exception, something I posted a long-ass time ago that needs and deserves another go around).

The hot weather has definitely kept the hot jazz/funk front-and-center on the JT MusicStage. Who can say no to that?

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First off, some young whipper-snappers from the Philly region who are so new I almost want to pat myself on the back. But I won't, because these cats deserve it more. A 5-piece ensemble comprised of double-drummer-brothers, whose lines and licks overlap perfectly from what I've heard, a nutty-good guitarist, steamy fretless bass and superb vibraphones/keys (speaking of the v-phones, where are you Monty Stark? Come back to us!), they have a great groove and a great future. There's a touch of some early Charlie Hunter in there (the album "Return of the Candyman" with Pound for Pound), and their whole sound is agreeable, moving and boundary-pushing in the same beat.

Check them out around Philadelphia if you can (I know I'll be at their next NYC show, Dec. 17 @ Pianos), and fingers crossed for wider touring from there. They're still growing, but they remind me of some other top-notch bands like the Slip and Stereolab to name but two. Bravo, Grimace Federation, yr today's number 1 draft pick.

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Everyone knows this song. This song has been flogged about and chopped around that just about any other track out there, but goddamn it, if Madlib wants to have another turn, who can say no? In the producer's chair, Madlib oversees a fine set of session musicians, all of whom have (and still do) enjoy success in some of the finest bands I can think of right now (Breakestra, The Dap Kings, Antibalas, the Keystones), as they flip-tip-top-bat it around for 3 glorious minutes. I remember going to see a Conan O'Brien taping some time ago, and I'll be damned if Max Weinberg and his chamber group didn't kick off the show with this song.

Madlib's crew do it better - the rhythm pounds, and the horns are crisper than my momma's Sunday breakfast bacon. It jives with an edgier sound thanks to Madlib's signature tap-on-the-shoulder. Nothing is wrong with this cut, well, except for the minute of silence at the end. Sorry listeners.

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I've posted and written about this song before, but I love it so. Something about listening to a ton of Galt McDermott lately that brought this song back to the fore. Go here to learn a little more about the outfit and the track itself, hard to find as it is, and let's keep moving along.

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Acoustic Ladyland is another find recently. Touted as the "British Medeski Martin and Wood", a parallel I don't think I'll agree with, these guys have a ballsy, scrappy, aggressive approach to jazz. It's hard, it's stubborn, it's hard not to agree with.

The band hammered through raunchy tenor licks over rumbling drum'n'bass sounds, trancelike dance-floor hooks blurring into free-sax howls, power-chord rock, briefly dreamy episodes for soft horn-playing, jingly keys and Rochford's lazy slow-funk pulse, and a Coltranesque lament. On this evidence Acoustic Ladyland will be one of the big stories of 2005.
The Guardian

I think I'll defer to UK paper the Guardian on that one. That pretty much sums them up for me. Listen, let me know what you think. I'm not sure they'll have the stateside explosion for some time, but their music is worth it nonetheless.

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Finally, a song whose title encapsulates what I want to do with the rest of the day. Who can go wrong with some P73 to round things out as FridaybecomesSaturdaybecomesSunday? Fingers crossed on the love-in.

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ALSO, in other important news. Soon, probably in the next 2 weeks or so, Silent K & I are probably going to slowly comb through the archives and begin deactivating links. It's only fair; now that we have readers and an audience beyond that of immediate friends, it's important not to let all that music sit there for a long, long time, when we're here to merely share the tracks as previews to open eyes and ears to music outside their regular sphere or grasp. It's not fair to the artist, and while we're still figuring out how to go about it (read: we're insanely lazy, myself especially), expect to see some links become inactive over the next month. So, start going back now to find old, hidden gems before they become FMGT-extinct. Post notice of the fact.

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Back on Monday with the scoop on my absence. Enjoy the weekend.