Camp Lo-Fi

A wonderful band named When Saints Go Machine recently released their Fail Forever E.P. just a few days ago.  Outside of being rather obsessed with the title track, this would be another reason why they get the “Ones To Watch in 2011” seal of approval from me.  Can’t wait for these guys to release their full-length this year; the E.P. is KILLER…

a very important lesson that i learned in 2010:

never give permanent importance to that which is ultimately temporal.  and never confuse a resource as your source.  for me, that temporal resource was music in 2010.

i strongly believe that music is a gift from GOD.  but i spent so much time obsessing over music that i ultimately edged GOD out of the picture.  and i became severely burnt out from music in the process, overextending myself with various reviews, podcasts and otherwise.

i should be willing to sacrifice much more for GOD than i do for music.  there are nights that i forsake sleep to write reviews and edit podcasts, but i won’t give GOD five minutes of my time.  how did i not expect to get burnt out when i refuse to put Him first?  how can i complain about not being able to deal with music during daytime hours as a way to earn a living when GOD knows that He can’t give me that life right now, especially when i’m not willing to put music aside to put Him first?

what i’m saying is this:  music didn’t die on a cross for me.  and i can no longer afford to love the gift more than i do the Giver.  it doesn’t mean that my podcast is coming to an end, nor does it mean that i can’t write reviews anymore.  what it means is that music as a whole has to play second fiddle in my life to GOD.  i want to get to a place where i want to know more about Jesus Christ than anything else…including music.  that’s a place i’ve never been before.  and this is the challenge that awaits me in 2011.

i’m getting to the place where i can honestly say that if you didn’t die on a cross for me and you didn’t get up and wreck your own funeral three days later, then i really don’t owe you a damn thing.  i couldn’t say that around this time last year.

and that’s how i know i’m doing the right thing for once…

Whereas other remixers visited the break on a record, Walter Gibbons LIVED in it.  It’s no wonder that he got props from hip-hop DJs back in the day.  It was all about the percussion.  Check his remix of Double Exposure’s “Ten Percent” for further proof of that.  The deliriously happy tambourine, the way the drums were moved from the background to the foreground, the fact that the chorus doesn’t kick in until almost three minutes into the song.  It’s a vastly different version from Tom Moulton’s mix, which is probably the one that most people are familiar with.  Moulton touches upon most of the original’s elements, though:  verses, chorus, breaks, everything.  The Gibbons Mix is just a different beast altogether.

He may not be as well known as Tom Moulton, Francois Kevorkian, or Larry Levan, but few put it on the line as regularly as Gibbons did, especially when it came to remixes.  The Strut label released a collection of his remixes during the summer called Jungle Music, a term used to refer to his wild style of extended mixes and percussive break workouts.  The easiest one to spot:  “Set It Off” by Strafe, but for kicks they throw in the cover that Gibbons recorded as Harlequin Fours (with Barbara Tucker on vocals).  I’m quite partial to “It’s A Better Than Good Time” by Gladys Knight and the outsider soul of Arthur Russell (“See Through”).  Apparently, Gibbons was one of the only remixers that Russell would trust with his work.

Why babble on incessantly about this man’s work when you can hear it on your own?  Respect due to Disco Sonitus for mixing up the remixes into a 70-minute journey through Walter Gibbons’ work.  And if that’s not enough for you, hit the YouTube clip to hear Tony Smith and Danny Krivit speaking on Gibbons…

Walter Gibbons Jungle Music Mix By Disco Sonitus by Dj Still Life on Mixcloud

I’ve been on a David Lynch kick lately.  I checked out the bonus material from the Definitive Gold Box Edition of Twin Peaks and now I have to watch Season Two again.  Plus I have both Eraserhead and Inland Empire in my Netflix queue. 

So I get home today and I’m browsing through blog updates and what appears on the RCRDLBL site?  A cover version of “Falling.”  How weird is that?  I should know that things like this tend to happen whenever I’m in a David Lynch state of mind.  At any rate, the cover’s done by a group called Girls Names.  It’s more of an indie rock treatment.  While I don’t think it can hold a candle to the angelic tones of Julee Cruise, I don’t hate it either.  Hey, if you dig it, go cop it…

My thoughts are far from the protests that will happen today.  Instead, they’re with the families and throngs of those affected at Ground Zero, the Pentagon, and Shanksville, PA.  They’re with my wife and the tears that she has already shed this morning as she reflects on what she saw that day in the Wall Street District and the lives that were lost at her company and others.  As for me, I’m bypassing the rising tide of conspiracy theories regarding what did or didn’t happen that day, sidestepping the vitriol disguised as patriotism, and turning towards the only truth that matters on a day like this and any other day:  God’s truth.

Outside of that, I’ll offer up some sentiments written shortly after the 9/11 attacks and one written on the one-year anniversary.  Take care, be safe, and stay hopeful…

eleventh

glimpses of heaven

They’re called Wild Nothing.  I found out about this band through the RCRD LBL site.  Reminiscent of guitar-led moments from The Cure, The Smiths, and other melodies of that nature.  That and it makes my late-thirties self want to pogo.  Not many things have that effect on me these days…