Afros make you rock harder

If there were ever a completely objective measure of how hard a musician rocks, it would probably be the afro.  Well, either that or how many live chickens they’ve bitten the heads off of.  I want to take a second to commemorate some of the most awesome afros in rock music.

Let’s start with the most famous afro of the 20th century: Jimi Hendrix.

Taking it back to the mid-to-late 60s… this is the afro that started it all.  Wielding left-handed guitars is almost as awesome as a kick-ass ‘fro.  Burning said left-handed guitar after unleashing a wall of feedback, and simulating masturbation with the whammy board?  Yeah, that might be on par.  Whether or not you’ve seen it before, it’s always worth another look:

If you want more, take a look at his rendition of ‘All Along the Watchtower.’

Coming up next?  Why, the MC5, of course.

Making white-boy ‘fros awesome since the 60s, this band was all about harnessing hair power at its most radical.  A seminal protopunk band, this group has had an incredible amount of influence on the music we hear today but is rarely given the props they deserve.  Energy like this only comes from afro-laden attitude:

In the later 70s and 80s, afros became much less a part of the rock scene and really shone in the Funk, R&B and Soul departments.  Nothing against those genres, but we’re looking at rockitude here–and therefore they don’t apply.

Reemerging in the 90s, we have a new wave of Afro-sporting badasses.

While Zach de la Rocha of the 90s band Rage Against the Machine is much more famous for his dreadlocks, I always knew he had it in him for a killer latino-fro.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that when Rage reunited recently, he decided to ditch the ‘locks and rock the ‘fro.  However, his antics are a little toned down for this reunion, so maybe there’s something to be said for dreadlocks after all…  check it out here:

It could also be argued that boy-scout uniforms infuse you with guitar prowess.  Perhaps we’ll investigate that at a later date…

Moving on…

The Roots are a hip-hop group, but their focus on using live instruments instead of sampling (or at least not as much sampling) during their live shows puts them on the list, in my opinion.  Their drummer, ?uestlove, has one of the best afros I’ve seen in a while.  He definitely lays it down, and you get some good clips amongst the talking in this interview:

I’m sure Neil Peart secretly  has an afro.

This next band has so many afros in their midst that they almost collapse under the collective awesome.  However, the frantic energy that is stored in their ‘fros is more than enough to keep them going.

I’m talking, of course, about The Mars Volta.  Formed in 2001 out of the ashes of post-noise-rock-screamo-punk-etc. rock band, At the Drive-In, this band is chock-full of spastic craziness which takes its roots from prog rock, math rock, latin-beat, jazz, and punk rock.  It’s not often that you see a band with this much energy any more.  The two front men, Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar A. Rodriguez-Lopez, are the oft-focused upon members for their ‘fro frantic style.  However, their ex-drummer, Jon Theodore, was known to sport a good set of hair in their later years.  Anyways, here’s a video which exemplifies the power of this afro-powerhouse:

Now, we have come to the modern day.  Carrying the torch for the latter 2000s, we have Brooklyn-based TV on the Radio.

Not many people can boast 2 ‘fros at once.  Kyp Malone of TV on the Radio does exactly that by not only sporting your usual head afro, but he’s got one coming off his chin as well!  His calm demeanor, however, betrays a secret build-up of energy–stored in his hair, of course.  Take a look:

Well, that’s it for now.  Trust me, I’m well-aware that there are many fantastic ‘fros that I’ve skipped over, but I wanted to give some examples how a specific hairstyle can be measured up against behavior (in this case, being awesome).

Same as it Ever Was (third installment)

So, if  you’ve been following my blog with any consistency, you know that I’m in the process of writing a short story.  I’ve posted two other sections (1 and 2) which may or may not be in the order that I ultimately want them to be in.  I’ve already made some changes to both of those sections, but am always open to feedback.  Let me know if there’s anything that you feel is awkward or just doesn’t really work.  I hope to finish this before I leave Singapore, but I have to get more motivated!

The persistent drone of the alarm clock was reminiscent of an asthmatic infant wailing in the middle of the night: short-breathed, incessant, and never coming when you have the patience or clarity to deal with it effectively. As such, Christian mustered up only enough strength to rise up and slam his palm down on the snooze button before he flopped back down on his bed like a dead fish. Christian and his bed were similar in many ways. They both looked like someone had made a very half-hearted attempt to dress them—Christian always wore his pants to bed, but no shirt, and the white sheets on his bed barely covered the mattress. Furthermore, some of the stuffing from the mattress was creeping out over the seams and, well, Christian’s stuffing had a tendency to make its way over the waistline of his pants in a similar fashion.

The second time the alarm clock’s serenade began, Christian managed to wake himself enough to turn it off and remain standing. He knew from plenty of experience (and many missed classes during college) that if he lay back down his feet wouldn’t feel the hardwood floor again for three or four more hours. He scratched his stomach and walked into his bathroom to brush his teeth. As much as he disregarded most aspects of personal hygiene, he was always sure to brush his teeth right before he went to bed and just after he woke up in the morning.

Christian took a very minimalist approach when it came to interior decoration: he liked to be able to pack up all his belongings within a few hours. It’s not that he moved around much; he just didn’t see the value of managing one’s environment past the bare essentials. He owned a few bowls, plates, glasses, and some silverware, but nothing matched. Besides, most of the time he ate out at a local Mexican restaurant where he could buy burritos the size of his head (claiming that this would last him all day).

The morning routine was designed to ensure the maximum amount of sleep time with the minimum amount of hassle. Even though he slept with his pants on, Christian managed to don a new pair of underwear each morning (to the great relief of his colleagues), and he had cut showers back from two days a week to one. He was very happy to point out to people that recent studies had shown benefits for one’s immune system from leading a less antibacterial lifestyle. He generally skipped breakfast, preferring to eat a large lunch. He owned several different outfits which mixed and matched very well (according to him) so that he could wear them interchangeably. He always managed to be out the door of his three-room apartment by 7:15 so he could catch the 7:30 bus—allowing him to arrive at work by 8:10 (which was within the realm of clock-difference). If he had ever shown a knack for mathematics, he would’ve been a fantastic economist.

Today, however, something was different.

“Letting the days go by… water flowing underground.”

Sitting next to Christian, a young man in a hooded sweatshirt was singing along to music that was pouring into his head through a pair of headphones that seemed to feed directly into his ear canals. Christian couldn’t imagine that this was very healthy. More importantly, the noise made it hard for him to think..

“Hey, would you mind keeping it to yourself?” Christian asked, turning towards the man. He looked a little startled and took one of the speakers out of his ear. Christian could hear the music faintly playing now that it was directed out into the open air. Same as it ever was… same as it ever was… same as it ever was…

“Sorry, what?” the young man asked.

“You’re singing out loud. It’s kind of distracting. Do you think maybe you could keep it to yourself?”

“Oh, yeah… sorry,” he said, returning the speaker to its cradle of skin and cartilage, and once more bobbing his head along to phantom beats. Holding a pen in his hand, Christian looked down at the open day-planner in his lap. Empty pages stared back.

Spank Rock has a special place in my heart

So, generally speaking, I’m not much of a hip-hop guy.  I’m usually much more interested in lyric-based rap than dance music.  Perhaps that’s the white-boy-with-no-rhythm in me speaking, but I can’t do much about that.

However, recently I haven’t been able to stop listening to Spank Rock.  The lyrics are trashy (although sometimes quite good) and the songs are all about dancing and girls, but the production is really outstanding and refreshingly different from your clubbing mainstays.

The beats, of course, are pretty generic, but something different that you’ll hear in Spank Rock’s cuts are these really intense noise swells that seem to come out of nowhere.  They serve as perfect transitions between sections of a song, they often lead into some pretty fast rapping (and sometimes mark the point where Amanda Blank often comes in with her verses):

Something tells me that having a white girl with attitude as your tag-team MC garners you tons of cred with the hipster crowd.  It’s new and different and… well, she’s pretty cute.  Not only that, but she spits like a beast.

I think my favorite thing about Spank Rock, however, is how sarcastic they are.  They are well aware of how ridiculous the club scene is.  They know that they’re putting out club music and they know that they’re doing it better than everybody else.  Maybe they’re not as famous as other outfits, but the quality of their music, the fun and quirky style they evoke, and the trashy humor that they keep in their lyrics put them way ahead of the rest in my book.  Not only that, but it seems like their shows are a riot:

Anyways, I’ll definitely be including some of their stuff in upcoming mixes for any parties that I’m DJ’ing.  I’d suggest that you check out some of their stuff (their singles especially).

A Year in fun Videos

While youtube is hardly a new phenomenon at this point, the amount of time that I’ve spent browsing it has grown exponentially in the last year and a half or so.  I thought I’d take a second to list some of the more memorable ones:

1.  This is a great clip from Les Amants Réguliers (The Regular Lovers) set to The Kinks‘ song, “This Time Tomorrow.”  While I’ve never seen the movie, the clip is of a bunch of people having a great time with what seems like pretty reckless abandon (set in the ’60s).  It fits the music pretty perfectly once it gets going, I think.

2.  I love cats.  I’ve never owned a cat, but I think we get along very well.  I’m lazy, they’re lazy… we both like string…  Anyways, this is a pretty funny video that just showed up in the last month or so. The best part is near the end.

3.  I still can’t tell if this is real or not…

4.  Continuing with a sports motif…. (this one gets me rolling every time… I think I’m a bad person)

5.  Muse performing Stockholm Syndrome off of the HAARP DVD.  I really wish I owned it so that I could hear this played on a nice sound system.  As it is, however, this performance rocks all kinds of socks.  Even some footy pajamas.

The Intro w/ Knights of Cydonia is pretty great too.

6.  Lightning Bolt.  Need I say more?

7.  This is a really amazing video that an artist (Blu) did of a wall-graffiti coming to life to wreak havoc on the streets of Buenos Ares.  Well, maybe that’s not exactly what this is, but it’s the best short description I can give it.  Watch.

8.  Here is a video that I showed to some of my students in order to get them thinking about different areas which are showcasing innovation.  In this case: architecture.  Just get past the 2001 opening and it starts to get really cool in how it describes the new rotating skyscraper being built in Dubai.

9.  At the Drive-In playing Arc Arsenal at the Big Day Out concert in ‘01.  We really don’t get that energy and intensity in musical performances anymore.  After seeing The Mars Volta in ‘03, my friend, Bill, commented that they must store it in their hair.  I wonder what a ginger-fro looks like… (Ahhh!! Carrot Top!! Get away!!!)

10.  Best white-guy-church-dance ever?  Very likely.  Watch the whole thing.

Of course there are plenty of videos I neglected, but these were the ones that came to my mind first.  Enjoy!