This week’s blog subheader comes to you care of Dogs In Ecstasy, who just put out a collection of demos, the standout of which is a pop rocking tribute to Gordon Ramsay*, sung from the perspective of the man himself. The song was written, the band notes, long before the success of The Bear, a show that to me has always felt incongruent with the current zeitgeist. I associate inside baseball accounts of foodie culture (and, while we’re at it, stand-up comedy) with the hazy days of the second Obama term. Shows how much I know!
DJ Phatt & Slimesito “Master P”
Every couple of months on John’s Music Blog, I have to stop and mention how much music exists in our deranged world. There are popular rappers and punk bands and techno producers that I should know about, but I don’t, and that’s one of the pitfalls of paying attention to multiple scenes at the same time like a goddamn jackass. I’m not exactly sure where I’m going here, but I will say that Slimesito sounds good rapping over the “I’m Bout It, Bout It” beat.
79.5 “B.D.F.Q. (Jubilee Remix)"
Fresh off of her banging Essential Mix, Jubilee takes a victory lap in the form of a tranced-out electro cruiser of a remix for New York City disco band 79.5. She turns the spooky slow-mo original into a glowsticker’s delight. Look, it’s been a minute since I’ve mentioned the middling A24 rave movie I’ve been writing in my head, and I’m sorry about that, but this tune would be a major contender for the credits sequence—a drone shot over Orlando at night.
Lil Kevo 303 “Treefolk Vomit Crusher 214iv”
We’ve talked a lot about Family Guy samples in contemporary rap. But how about Family Guy samples in contemporary breakcore? There’s one here, and it sits in the mix with gabber kicks and ragga jungle samples and all that other stuff. Seth MacFarlane went to RISD in the ‘90s. Anyone know if he ever hit a gig at Fort Thunder?
I’m bad with birthdays. I can’t remember the last time I’ve thrown a party—I don’t think it’s happened since I’ve reached legal drinking or even smoking age—and I often forget to hit up others. It’s a source of inner turmoil, and though I’ve tried to take steps to remedy it, I know there’s something buried deeper that holds the keys to why I act the way I do. TrDee has no such problems. In under two minutes, the ShittyBoyz member pens a chaotic tribute to his own ideal celebration. “You ain’t tell me happy birthday last year / I ain’t forget.” I’m sorry!
MIX OF THE WEEK: DJ George Costanza “The Monster In Me”
DJ George Costanza has been teasing the release of a butt-rock mix for years now, most recently in an interview I did with Extreme Animals, his longstanding collaboration with Jacob Ciocci. Well, I’m happy to say that it is finally here, and it is a doozy. “The Monster In Me" is an exploration of post-grunge American hard rock, and it sits in a larger body of work with a pop punk mix, a ska mix, and a country rap mix—all essential genre studies done by a guy who lowkey has a PhD in music composition. And boy does that education show here. Listen closely to the layering techniques utilized when he throws his signature DJ George Costanza drop on top of the soothing sounds of “So Far Away” by Staind. Study how airhorns enhance “Blurry” by Puddle of Mudd. Take notes as the DJ mixes “Boom” by P.O.D. into “Click Click Boom” by Saliva. Masterful!
*Featuring Tony D on bongos.
Kevo Heads rise up
all-time great report this week