Never thought I'd do it!!

All-

This weeks food review post is brought to you courtesy of my lady love Sugarduck! I promised her this week that we would try the infamous Gingerbread Latte from Starbucks. Now now for those who know your Uncle Tom, Starbucks is generally off limits. Often times too bitter to even look at let alone consume your Uncle Tom tries to avoid any intestinal distress related to coffee consumption. But a promise is a promise and it is too hard to say no to the one that you love. We found a local Barnes and Noble/Starbucks in Rockville, made our order and it was then that I was able to try this famed concoction. ONE WORD..... DELICIOUS AND AMAZING (okay that's two words, but it's that damned good I tell you). The gingerbread flavor mixed with the milk was perfect. I can certainly see how it can become addicting, especially if you happen to live near a Starbucks and unless you live in Appalachia there are at least 217 Starbucks located within 2 miles of your home. If you do live in Appalachia, can you tell us more about the Blue People? I would accept any sort of information that you can pass on. Since I am left without my usual work companions this week, I don't know if I will get to any other food review. I hope that you all had a great Thanksgiving!!

-Uncle Tom

Beck.com

The revamped Beck.com features four new songs on a snazzy Flash boombox. They're worth checking out, especially "Untitled Song 2," but Beck isn't meant to be played on tinny computer speakers. Well, okay, yeah, he is, but he wasn't meant to be played solely on tinny computer speakers. I saved the audio to burn a CD for my trip to Pennsylvania tomorrow. Yes, that means I'll be away (again) for several days. Until then, here are a couple of tinny Beck mp3s:

Beck - Untitled Song 2 (mp3)

Beck - Shake Shake (Black Tambourine) (adrock remix) (mp3)

Also, preview the remix album, Guerolito, here.

Beth Orton - Conceived

I heard Beth Orton's new single, "Conceived," twice today - on WRNR (Annapolis) this morning, and on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic online stream this evening. Something about Beth Orton's music grabs me. Maybe it's her unique voice, with that mysterious accent. Maybe it's the straightforward melodies, always pure and clean. Whatever it is, it cuts through the pop clutter and sounds new without coming off as trying to be avant-garde. I may or may not have been Soulseeking her forthcoming album, "Comfort of Strangers," due February 7th. I haven't found it yet. Too bad, because I have a feeling the winter would be a lot warmer with it.

Download "Conceived" at Some Velvet Blog.

Ohhhhhhh, The Weather Outside Is Frightful, Christmas Music Is Not Delightful...

...but Vince G is always welcome at the holidays

Tired of Holiday music already? Tempted to grab some of the nearest gift ribbon to strangle that person in the next cubicle who keeps playing Jessica Simpson's or Garth Brooks' Christmas album?

Let me offer two ways to preserve your sanity along with your sexy:

1. Fast-forward to New Year's Day, 12" style:

U2 - New Year's Day (12" wave remix) (mp3)

2. Next time someone asks, "Don't you have any Christmas music?" play this, only this, over and over:

Daniel Johnston - Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree (mp3)

It's weird, it's fun, and the food is amazing.

Here at the Smudge, we love pho. As you can see on the right. So to brighten up our Monday, from Khoi Vinh's account of his recent trip to Saigon:

I was born here but I left when I was three and a half. So just being back, in the midst of the quotidian and the unremarkable, is profound in a very private, intimate way. It's more than just being a visitor to a place one cherishes; it's like playing tourist in another course of events, sightseeing the attractions of a life I might have led if it weren't for, you know, global politics and war and all. Everywhere and everything is a could-have-been for me, superficially strange and foreign but, in an emotional way, also deeply familiar. It's weird, it's fun, and the food is amazing.

No recipes. A link to photos on Flickr though.

http://www.subtraction.com/archives/2005/1123_first_day_ba.php

Please enjoy.

Prince's 12 Inches

Since I'm going to be away until around Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, I'm going to sign out with a couple of impressive mp3s for your long holiday trips, and wish our U.S. readers/downloaders a Happy Thanksgiving.

We are thankful for each other, and for you.

Prince - Little Red Corvette (12")

Prince - Raspberry Beret (12")

Antonio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim

Elis Regina

When it comes to bossa nova, it's often sexier when you don't understand the words.

From Fotografia: Os Años Dourados de Tom Jobim, a compilation of the best of bossa nova legend Antonio Carlos (Tom) Jobim, released yesterday.

Águas de Março - Tom Jobim, Elis Regina (mp3)

Só Tinha de Ser Com Você - Tom Jobim, Elis Regina (mp3)

Fotografia - Tom Jobim, Elis Regina (mp3)

Lunch Time Review

Well, it's been awhile since your Uncle Tom has been a part of the smudge so today I am going to try something different. We here at the smudge enjoy the occasional dining out experience and by occasional I mean up to 4x a week. So with that being said, I am going to try and be a good blogger and post my review of the restaurant of the week. This week it was Hard Times Cafe in Bethesda. Since Canowine's Maryland Terrapins were playing yesterday in beautiful Maui and it was a locally televised game, we were expecting a crowded restaurant. We were pleasantly surprised that no one else was there and were ready for some fast service so that we could return to work defending our great Nation. We started with some appetizers of Texas Hot & Spicy chicken fingers that were excellent and had just the right amount of heat to satisfy the pallet. We then moved on to the entrees with RC666 and myself ordering Frito Chili Pie with Terlinqua Red sauce, Canowine ordered the Chili Bubba with Cincinnati Red and Terlingua Red. The Frito Pie turned out perfectly. The moist chili sauce softened up the fritos so that they were tender and not too crunchy. Canowine commented that his cornbread was the same with the sauces accenting the sweet cornbread superbly. Speaking of the Terrapins, they pulled off a 98-69 win over Chaminade whose name brings me back to a great little skit from The Muppet Show. Here is a link to a video clip for your enjoyment. Keoki found this orginally for us on the smudge so lets take the time to thank him for that. Canowine and the rest of the Terps will be playing Arkansas today so we wish him luck and we hope that his flight back from sunny Maui is pleasant (please bring us back some kick ass souvenirs). This is the first of what I hope to be many reviews of your local dining establishments, so if anyone has any suggetions for us, let me know and we will be happy to try out your requested restaurant. I will also be giving food and culture reviews from and about Korea when I will become a temporary resident starting in April 2006. Enjoy folks!!

-Uncle Tom

When The Adults Cry

In the Year Of Our Lord Nineteen Eighty Something, the hard-rockin' White Lion tamed their monster sound a bit and shat out this ballad, which, as you may remember, was about the plight of crying children. They touched the world with their social conscience.

This song kinda makes you want to cry, doesn't it?

Great White, er...no, White Lion - When the Children Cry (mp3)

Grave Nick Cave

If you've seen Nick Cave play, you know how sinister and dangerous he appears on stage. And you know how his music eats away at you, claws its way into your mind as you resist its dark truths. Listening to him is like sinning.

These creepy, minimalist mp3s are from his movie, The Proposition, a violent western set in Australia, starring Guy Pearce and Emily Watson. The OST will be released in the U.S. early next year.

Nick Cave & Warren Ellis mp3s, from The Proposition:

The Rider #2

Down To The Valley

Not My Experience...Not Even Ribbon

They say
the first love's most important.
That's very romantic,
but not my experience.

Something was and wasn't there between us,
something went on and went away.

My hands never tremble
when I stumble on silly keepsakes
and a sheaf of letters tied with string
— not even ribbon...

-excerpt from First Love, by Wislawa Szymborska, taken from Poetry Daily.

Levitating the Furniture

Listen as you read:

Idil Biret - Chopin - Polonaise-fantaisie in A flat major, Op 61 (mp3)

...When he listened to music, he listened with his whole body, as longingly as a condemned man aches for the sound of distant feet perhaps bringing news of his release. When spoken to, he didn't hear. Music dissolved the world around him just as it dissolved the laws of artistic unity, and at such moments Konrad ceased to be a soldier.

One evening in summer, he was playing a four-handed piece with Henrik's mother, when something happened...They were performing Chopin's Polonaise-Fantaisie and Henrik's mother was playing with such passion that the whole room seemed to shimmer and vibrate...It was as if music was levitating the furniture, as if some mighty force were blowing against heavy silk curtains, as if every ossified, decayed particle buried deep in the human heart were quickening into life, as if in everyone on earth a fatal rhythm lay dormant, waiting for the predestined moment to begin its fateful beat. The courteous listeners realized that music is dangerous. But the duo at the piano had lost all thought of danger. The Polonaise-Fantaisie was no more than a pretext to loose upon the world those forces that shake and explode the structures of order which man has devised to conceal what lies beneath. They sat straight-backed at the piano, leaning away from the keys a little and yet bound to them, as if music itself were driving an invisible team of fiery mythical horses riding the storm that circled the world, and they were bracing their bodies to maintain a firm grip on the reins in this explosive headlong gallop of unshackled energies. And then, with a single chord, they ended...

...The Officer of the Guards...said, "Konrad will never make a true soldier."

"Why?" asked his son, shocked.

...calmly, with the assurance of an expert, he said, "Because he is a different kind of man."

-from Embers, by Sandor Marai (Knopf)

Quote of the Day #2: Sergeant Kaplan

It's [Robert Kaplan's Imperial Grunts] about stories of individual soldiers and Marines—not generals and colonels, but sergeants and corporals. They don't lose morale, they don't get discouraged. On the ground, American soldiers and Marines speak a common language where they communicate very directly without nuance. It's a world of practicality, of mechanics, of doing things. It's not about thinking or imagining, it's about doing. What I've found is, never ask a sergeant what he feels; ask him what he does and he'll talk for hours...

Look, once we're fifty, all of us wonder, What would it have been like if we had done something different? That's very normal. I've been very satisfied with being a freelance writer for the last third of a century. I've had a great life. But if I were forced to choose an additional life, being a career soldier certainly would be something that would appeal to me. I think I would have enjoyed it better as a non-commissioned officer.

-From Warriors for Good, an Atlantic interview with Robert Kaplan

Field Music - If Only The Moon Were Up (video)

Field Music's latest UK single, out Monday, is "If Only the Moon Were Up."

Here's the super rad video: .mov / .ram

Quote of the Day: Welcome to the (sex) machine

"Here I am, this divorced Christian guy, not promiscuous at all, and here I am with a sex machine...I will require anyone ordering a machine from me to provide proof of marriage and a signed statement of intent to use only within that marriage. Kind of like a gun dealer that requires proof of age and proof of passage of a firearm safety test before selling someone a firearm. Sexual arousal is a doorway to a person's very soul and isn't to be messed with lightly."

-Jon Traven, a sex-machine inventor, as quoted in The Sex Machines Next Door, in Wired.

Friday Live

Here are today's Friday Live mp3s:


Fiona Apple - Never is a Promise (live on letterman)

PJ Harvey - You Said Something (live on letterman)

Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime (live extended mix)

Quote of the Day #2: Stud Farmer

"I am opening up a stud farm," Fleiss declared from her Hollywood home overlooking the Sunset Strip. "I am going to have the sexiest men on earth. Women are going to love it."

-From Heidi Fleiss plans 'stud farm', from CNN.com

Quote of the Day: On Rootkits

"Most people don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?"

- Thomas Hesse, Sony BMG's president of global digital business, in an NPR interview on Sony's copy-protection scheme. From Real Story of the Rogue Rootkit, in today's Wired.

The Sounds, Live on Carson

The Sounds have finished their new CD, to be released in Spring 2006. They played one of the new songs, "Queen of Apology," on Carson this Tuesday.

This is what it looked like:
Sounds - Queen of Apology (Live on Carson) (.avi video)

And this is what it sounded like:
Sounds - Queen of Apology (Live on Carson) (mp3)

The lines and the hiss are from too much signal amplification on my cable. But you get the idea.

You can listen to the album version on their myspace page, or a low-quality webripped mp3 here. If you liked their debut CD (you should have), you'll like this song.

The Sounds are playing tonight at the Hiro Ballroom in NYC.

The Quote of the Day is from the Washington Post's Micro-Porn article

"I don't have one gay friend who would not have the new iPod," he [Michael Lucas, founder of Lucas Entertainment Inc] said. "Gay people are much more technologically advanced."

- From "Mini-porn could turn into mega-business," in Monday's Post.

Elliott Smith's Blues

Unreleased Elliott Smith material has been popping up here and there lately, including live unreleased songs at Elliott Smith B-Sides, as reported by Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands.

Last Thursday, someone posted this concert on the Live Music Archive, which includes this cover (mp3) of the Beatles' "Yer Blues." It's chilling when he sings:

The eagle picks my eye
The worm he licks my bones
I feel so suicidal
Just like Dylan's Mr. Jones
Lonely wanna die
If I ain't dead already
Ooh girl you know the reason why.

Black cloud crossed my mind
Blue mist round my soul
Feel so suicidal
Even hate my rock and roll
Wanna die yeah wanna die
If I ain't dead already
Ooh girl you know the reason why.

Weekly Cheese

I tried to post a crap song yesterday, but the one I was looking for, which shall remain unnamed, is apparently so bad that it has disintegrated from cyberspace and left no trace.


Donny Osmond, Captain of Cheesy Cliche

So, I'm left with no choice but to leave you with this shiny gem from a teen idol and role model extraordinaire: Donny Osmond. If being a great role model correlated with making good music...well, if only. He is a rebel, though, and he has a heart made of stone. That's how these awesomely original lyrics go, anyway:

So you heard that I'm a rebel with a heart made of stone.
I got a restless spririt that nobody can own.
If a picture tells a story won't you listen to mine,
I'm searching for the answer but it's so hard to find.

You'll see much deeper when you read between the lines,
'cause there's a fire burning in my eye.

Like a thief in the night, who can't get enough,
I am willing to fight,
'cause I'm a soldier of love.
Like a shot in the dark when the going gets rough,
I'ts a state of the heart
when you're a soldier of love.

I'm willing to fight.

The lyrics speak for themselves, and so I have nothing to add, except for the mp3, for your listening pleasure.

Donny Osmond - Soldier of Love (mp3)

It's About To Get A Whole Lot Harder

This track from The Films' The-Films EP is a damn good straight-ahead rock song that doesn't try too hard to be one. Complete with hand claps and genuine guitar solo.

The Films - Black Shoes (mp3)

The Junco Partner EP

Here are seven takes on a blues staple, from James Wayne to James Booker to the Hindu Love Gods to Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros, each with its own personality & soul.

Junco Partner mp3s, by:

James Wayne) (Sittin' In With Harlem, Jade & Jax, Vol. 1)
Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five (Let the Good Times Roll - The Anthology 1938-1953)
James Booker (Junco Partner)
(Live) - Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros (Give 'Em The Boot IV - VA)
Dr. John (All By Hisself: Live At The Lonestar)
Professor Longhair (Rum and Coke)
Hindu Love Gods (Warren Zevon with REM's Buck, Mills & Berry) (Hindu Love Gods)

Not Q & Not U

It was sad to see Dischord's Q & Not U disband, but I'm excited about the new projects - drummer John Davis is working with Laura Burhenn, and Chris Richards, a.k.a. Ris Paul Ric, has released the excellent, challenging Purple Blaze.

In a concert review, Popmatters said:

In talking with Richards, you realize how humbling it is to tour like this: a man, a car, a map. Completely free of rock star posturing, Richards is doing some serious soul searching on this go-round. The same can be said of his music. He is touring to support Purple Blaze, a quiet and haunting affair recorded and mixed earlier this year.

Armed with his black, duct-taped guitar, Richards opened the set with one of the strongest songs in his solo repertoire, "Valerie Teardrop" -- a compelling number that brought to mind Gary Jules' cover of "Mad World" in its emotional resonance and delivery. The psychedelic freak-outs that were the one-two punch of "Hanging from the Grapevines" and "Up in My Window" dissolved into a fascinating (if troubling and noisy) collage of sound.

Dusted magazine recently reviewed Purple Blaze, and concluded:

Purple Blaze has the material and the determination to become a dorm room classic, but the intelligence and restraint shown here lead to far more. It’s sentimental, explicit pop for people who don’t need their own pimply emotions whined back at them, and if Richards keeps up this level of quality on future releases, the world is his, ready to take.

It's one of those albums that you listen to, and it does something to your psyche, but you're not sure exactly what. You are sure, though, that you want to hear it again, now. So you pop it back in, and it's as challenging as it was the first time. Richards assaults your psyche with his acoustic guitar, incisive songwriting, and some subtle, organic effects via Tim Hecker. Once they get hold of you, you're theirs.

Ris Paul Ric mp3s, from Purple Blaze:

Purple Blaze

Valerie Teardrop

Ris Paul Ric is playing at the Black Cat tonight.

Final Fantasy Does Bloc Party

Owen Pallett and his drummer played a violin & drums version of Bloc Party's This Modern Love a couple of weeks ago. This very kind fellow posted a video of it here (megaupload). If you haven't had the chance to experience the energy of his live shows, this video will amaze you.

Here's the mp3:

Final Fantasy - This Modern Love (Live Bloc Party Cover, 10/25/05)

Please don't download the mp3 without also checking out the video. You won't quite get it if you don't see it.

Also, the Final Fantasy live performance on WFMU is here.

The tracklist is:

1. Spell for a Weak Heart
2. The CN Tower Belongs to the Dead
3. If I Were a Carp
4. What Do You Think Will Happen Next?
5. This is the Dream of Win & Regine

Remains of the Day

A while back, Keoki posted the two best tracks from the Corpse Bride soundtrack, the moving Victor's Piano Solo and the playful The Piano Duet.


You might try to hide and you might try to pray
But we all end up the remains of the day
-from "Remains of the Day"

Those tracks motivated me to see the movie and buy the soundtrack. It's fantastic, and does what a good soundtrack should - enhances the movie and keeps it in your mind long after you've seen it.

Here are two more of my favorite tunes, both darkened with warped humor.

Remains of the Day (mp3)

Tears to Shed (mp3)

The Weekly Poo: Jamie Walters

Nearly every day, I have to listen to this guy Randy urging me to bring back the weekly Shittiest Shit Ever Shat feature. So today I resurrect the poo.


Jamie Walters: Teen Idol 4-Eva!

If you browse your local record store's Teen Idols Bargain Bin, you might come across a Jamie Walters CD. Today's poo, How Do You Talk to an Angel (mp3), is from the soundtrack to The Depths. I mean The Heights. Jamie Walters was clearly influenced by Richard Marx. You can hear it in the please-shoot-me-now lyrics, the musak sax, and the guitar licks that you hear the-guy-who-still-sports-a-rattail playing in Guitar Center. I'd say he's just a notch below the Marx-man, and maybe just a notch above Don Johnson. Yes, I'd say he's nestled comfortably between the two. Picture that, Gay Men Of The World Who Are Stuck In The 80's.

Speaking of rattails, the one thing he has going for him is his uncanny resemblance to everyone's favorite Padawan, Anakin Skywalker, played by Hayden Christensen. I only mention Hayden because acting-wise, he's just a notch below Jamie Walters.


How Do I Talk to a Padme? Not very well, if you ask Anthony Lane.

Anyway, back to Jamie Walters. Where has he gone? Perhaps he, like many before him, has taken a sabbatical to ponder the meaning of that unnatural space between Tori Spelling's boobs, as they existed when he was on Beverly Hills, 90210.


Tori's terrain features.

P.S. Don't come looking for me when you find yourself humming this tune this afternoon.

Bloodshot in Earshot

For 11 years, Bloodshot Records has been home to no-nonsense acts who record beautifully jacked-up tunes. Bloodshot sums up that tradition in their new compilation, For a Decade of Sin: 11 Years of Bloodshot Records.

As Popmatters put it,

What's to be made of Bloodshot Record's 11th anniversary compilation, For a Decade of Sin? It's not a retrospective, culling seminal tracks from the first decade of the self-proclaimed "insurgent country" label's releases, but rather all new/unreleased music. And a good chunk of the 42 artists represented on this compilation aren't even members of the Bloodshot family! Not that these facts makes the album any less enjoyable, but still: Weird.

The weirdness lives on.

The Meat Purveyors' Little White Pills (mp3) starts as a southern rocking foot-stomper, but gets groggy when the the lyrics turn to the pills:

(allegro)
I was always tired
I was always blue
I found something that'll cure my ills
I'm talkin' about those little white pills

(adagio)
Those little white pills got me feelin' fine
They hurt my stomach and sharpen my mind...

Porter Hall, Tennessee lament fallen friends in a cover of Jim Carroll's People Who Died (mp3):

Teddy sniffed some glue, he was 12 years old
Fell from the roof on East Two-Nine
Kathy was 11 when she pulled the plug
on 26 reds and a bottle of wine
Bobby got leukemia, 14 years old
He looked like 65 when he died
He was a friend of mine

Those are people who died, died
They were all my friends, and they died

And Nora O'Connor's Two Way Action (mp3) is simply gorgeous.

It's available at Amazon.com for 13.99...that's 42 songs for 14 bucks. At 33 cents per track, it's a steal.

Humping Hard

Definition 2(a) for "humping" is "to exert (oneself)," on Dictionary.com.

Here's something to motivate you as you hump hard this Monday morning.

Sky's the Limited - Humping Hard (Pt.2)
The Maskman & The Agents - My Wife, My Dog, My Cat


From Superfly Soul: Riding Through the Ghetto (First Class Funk and Capital Grooves)

Annoying Word of the Day - Colour

The word colour spelled by a British or Canadian: okay.

The word colour spelled by an American: Drop the "u." It doesn't make you sound any smarter.

But, Soft! What Light Through Yonder Window Breaks?

It is Higher (mp3), the new single by Soft.

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend them your ears!

Soft make good rock music, cleanly played. Ever heard a song and thought, "this would be a great song to hear live?" Higher is one of those songs. I hope that when they go on tour again, you'll sing this one along with me.

From the self-released Soft EP.

Annoying Word of the Day

I'm pleased to announce a new feature on the Smudge: The Annoying Word Of The Day. It will be an adjective (most of the time) that is likely trendy and overused, and ought to be stabbed and sent directly to The Big Lexicon in the Sky. Words that might make you want to gag yourself. Words that that guy who says "in a nutshell" or "modus operandi" in office meetings might use.

This feature might not last long. In fact, today might be the first and last edition.

Suggestions are always welcome.

Today's word is:

twee

As in:

Ooh look, it's turning into Indie Pop Day here at Pitchfork News! Rose Melberg's back in action, the Clientele are spicing up their vinyl with free MP3s, and now twee gods/goddesses Belle and Sebastian have announced a tour in support of their forthcoming album, The Life Pursuit. Alas, only British and Irish dates have been scheduled as yet, so us B&S fans across the pond will have to keep tugging on the sleeves of our cardigans in anticipation.

(from Pitchfork)

This feature is inspired by Slim Clady, who went on a quest for adjectives to replace "awesome" earlier this week.

Friday Live - All Beck

Last month, Uncle Tom, Sugarduck and I saw Beck in Camden, New Jersey. Heavy rain, flooding, and Tom's broken down car almost ruined the night. They were stranded in the rain as the roads closed around them, and as the minutes passed, the waters rose. Luckily, they made it to the show, and warmed up with a beer and dry concert tees (fittingly, this one):



I hope that their wet memories fade and the dry ones remain, especially the memories of these songs. Maybe the surrealism of the night will permanently burn the entire experience into our neurons. One thing is for sure: the dinner table percussion during Golden Age and Clap Hands was unforgettable.

These mp3s aren't from the Camden show we attended, but they sound pretty much the same.

Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime/GoldenAge/ClapHands-Live in Japan 7-30-2005 (mp3)

Do You Realize? (Flaming Lips Cover) - Live in Detroit 9-22-05 (mp3)

He's A Mighty Good Leader/Hotwax - Live in Detroit 9-22-05 (mp3)
Lost Cause - Live in Detroit 9-22-05 (mp3)

Kiss Me

It's about to get real hot in the room you're in. Private Show bring summer back on Departure Lounge - World Grooves:

Private Show - Kiss Me (mp3)


Ive Mendes can make the coldest of hearts sweat, with just a bossa nova whisper.


Ive Mendes - A Bierra Bar (Sao Benitez Lush Mix) (mp3)

Divorce Movie Music

...I'll take it over TV teen drama music anyday, though sometimes it can be hard to tell the difference...


From The Squid and the Whale (OST):

Dean Wareham/Britta Phillips - Family Conference (mp3)
Blossom Dearie - Figure Eight (mp3)

Impressive Jazz Reworks

On this collection, remix and reverence co-exist comfortably. After all, Impulse never held preservation as a primary directive. It prioritized new sounds and new technologies, and treated all of its musicians as innovators, as revolutionaries in their own right. Perhaps that’s the label’s true calling card, the real reason behind the continued reverence. From the most challenging jazz to the most traditional, Impulse made it all sound equally, eternally modern.

- From the Spectremusic review of Impulsive! Revolutionary Jazz Reworked

II B.S. (RZA's Mingus Bounce Mix) (mp3)

Iconic bassist and composer Charles Mingus' output on Impulse Records remains his most alive, his most soulful and his most contemplative. "II B.S." not only showcased Mingus' lyrical bass-playing (especially its momentous intro), but also the rebellious, fiery nature that colored Mingus' life. The RZA is the production mastermind behind the Wu-Tang Clan, the Staten Island collective that turned hip-hop on its head with their gritty, grimey street-reared albums over the last decade. RZA, who has become a masterful composer in his own right (check his score for Jim Jarmusch's "Ghost Dog," or Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill" movies), turns Mingus' original inside out, playing with the windblown horn stabs and chopping up the song's rhythms into a playful jazz-bounce.

-from vervemusicgroup.com

Mizrab (Gabor Szabo / Prefuse 73 remix) (mp3)

Gabor Szabo's free-wheeling, self-taught guitar style, personified the limitless creative palette that jazz had appropriated in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This composition, from the 1972 album of the same name, was one of his most astounding. The gorgeous, original "Mizrab," has become a favorite of many jazz-heads through the years, so it is no surprise that Prefuse 73 aka Scott Heren, chose to remix it for his contribution to Impulsive. Prefuse 73, who splits his time between Atlanta and Barcelona, has a wonderfully experimental sensibility when composing music, using electronics, samples and new ideas in sound compression to create formed, melodic mosaics. Here, he replicates Szabo's passionate guitar playing with his own fractured electronic melodies and the result is pure elegance.

- from vervemusicgroup.com