week 2:
for love of mixtapes; god is a dj (and his name is fred); wyclef returns; A-HA RETURNS (!); the twenty greatest songs ever scientifically determined by a three man panel consisting of me, myself and i; oh, and, boobs.

week 3:
get drawn to the magnetic fields; three movies that are grossly overrated; some of the greatest movies...ever; xtc murders love...again; james brown breaks out in a "cold sweat"; morrissey and springsteen...separated at birth?; i bare my soul...again; and MORE!

week 4:
gladiator slays me, eminem and xtc reviews, a new look!, i poke fun at my own writing, the inmates take over the asylum, and MORE!

other blogs i like:
(because they're out there, you know)
nylpm
blue lines
josh's blog
westernhomes
log.nu
skykicking
pearls that are his eyes
catherine's pita
public blog
i drank WHAT?
cultural artifacts of the moment
frytopia

JAMES BROWN - "COLD SWEAT"

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last week, i'm sure you remember that i put together a list of my twenty favorite songs ever for that particular week. well, today, you'll notice that "cold sweat" has made its way onto my mixtape, and if i was doing a countdown this week, it'd be a shoo-in for the top 20.

what i try to remind myself every time after i listen to james brown is how every instrument, every element, is devoted to the beat, and every time i put him on again, i'm still astonished at how rhythmic his music is -- "cold sweat" may very well be the apex of this approach. even with "out of sight" and "papa's got a brand new bag" presaging it, i don't think that anyone was quite prepared when this song hit the streets in 1967.

people often attack james brown for not being able to write a proper song, but "cold sweat," even without its embellishments, is a killer, particularly that pre-chorus. with all of the rhythmic elements, it's a stone-cold classic. for starters, listen to the guitar. now, do you hear an actual tone being played by the guitar? no, the percussive sound it's making is almost similar to that of a woodblock -- something so simple, and yet something so incredibly clever.

props to the band, while i'm at it: j.b. may very well be the greatest dancer i've ever seen. not to take away from his accomplishments, but anytime i put on his music, i feel like dancing up a storm, no matter where i am. it may not necessarily be pretty, but the music makes it difficult to contain yourself. the guitar, i mentioned above; the drummers created classic break after classic break; the bass swooped in and out, ducking and dodging in; besides the classic horn solos, the horns as a group were immensely percussive. they had more than enough skill to make you think that all songs should be eight minutes long, and it really didn't seem to matter who the personnel were: with band after band, replacement after replacement, everything was always on the one and, in my eyes, it was never clearer than on "cold sweat."