“Gimme Some Truth”- Lennon making Imagine

Stumbled in on a friend peeping this documentary (aired today on ABC2) and thought it was worth viewing… I figured Charlie wouldn’t be too down with me posting up an MJ tribute (we have to maintain our alternative reputation and all…) so I decided that instead I’d try and get away with some stuff from another fallen ‘pop’ idol. “Gimme some Truth” documents the making of John Lennon’s ‘Imagine”, I’m certainly not John’s biggest fan but this definately struck me as some pretty serious stuff in terms of it’s place in the annals. Yoko’s all over it like a rash (infact her level of influence throughout the whole process is rather surprising) but that’s expected I guess. Overall the footage seems pretty candid, highlight for me being legendary producer Phil Spektor’s cameo in the vocal booth with John for the classic ‘Oh Yoko’ (the mix engineer is struggling a little and it’s f**kin’ hilarious watching Lennon get his y-fronts in a bundle while Spektor stands around seemingly unaware of exactly where he is)… Oh and Miles Davis drops in for a brief moment just to show Lennon how much better he can rock an ensemble of tight threads!

Here’s part one and two, the rest become available at the clips end…

Enjoy. Hugh

PS. Thriller was f**ked up, bummer MJ…

Video Of The Week-Dangermouse “Somersault Remix”

Hey guys, it’s my turn to pick the video of the week (I think in my laziness I let a week slip by but hey what else would you expect from me). Dangermouse (or Brian Burton to his mum) is hotter than a French biscuit atm, his production collab with Sparklehorse has generated some serious buzz (not that he needed much more surrounding him, who heard Modern Guilt or Attack and Release???). But (as Im sure you are all already aware) it was his fine sample based work on the Grey Album (Jay-z Accapellas over beats constructed from samples sourced only from The Beatles White Album) that lit the wick on his ‘super-producer’ canon. So as a toast to his fine sample chopping skills, I’ve chosen his Remix of Zero-7‘s ‘Somersault’ featuring his DangerDoom collaborator, the multi-syllable, synonym twister MF Doom. The female vocalist is the very talented, very beautiful, very Aus*fcukin’*stralian Sia Furler!!! Peep her myspace HERE or check some more of the work she’s done with Zero-7 for some seriously sublime down-tempo mood setters…

Anyway here’s the vid (and a copy of the original track, not sure what the deal is with the image in the remix but it’s pretty easy on the eyes, its actually moving if you watch closely too… crazy).
*Notice how Danger seamlessly flips the groove of the original track from a waltz to a 4/4 hand clappin’, hip hoppin’ break, truly a whizz with the sampler!*

Enjoy,

Hugh

Album Review: Jaco Pastorius (Self Titled 1976)

Artist: Jaco Pastorius
Album: Jaco Pastorius
Year: 1976

Jaco Pastorius’ debut solo album is nothing short of a master piece. Each song on the album has a unique feel and with a wide range of influences & themes make it a great ‘Jazz Fusion’ album.
Jaco demonstrates that he is one of the most impressive bass players of all time. His grooves are often fast, funk driven and complex. He creates harmonies with his bass in ‘Portrait Of Tracy’ which will make you wonder if there is a keyboard in the track, but there isn’t!!!
I find many of the tracks on this album mind blowing, the collaborations and compositions are great. ‘Kuru/Speak Like A Child’ which is composed by Jaco and Herbi Hancock has it all. It begins with a fast and encapsulating bass groove, then when Herbie’s piano kicks in it is able to match the sophisticated, funky bass line and compliment the two through out the track. The string sections also match the groove nicely, suddenly dropping in beautiful harmonies to mellow us out for a while and then naturally bouncing us into the groove that pretty much sets the tone for this awesome track. This is just an example of one of the many tracks on this album which I am sure, if it hasn’t already, will stun almost all Jazz and Fusion music lovers, so if you haven’t heard it already you should check it out.

Here’s a video of Jaco playing one of his bass tracks from the album, listen out for the harmonies he creates with his bass guitar.

Enjoy, Charlie.

Why take the bus when you could ride the Spike Jonze bandwagon?

I’m not too sure what gives someone the right amount of cultural capitol that they become what we Gen Y/Echo Boomers like to call ‘scene’ but it seems Spike Jonze has it! I don’t mean to sound bitter and I’m certainly not here to cut Spike’s stem at the poppy flower, I just thought it would be nice to post some of the amazing work he’s done with musicians (rather than jizz over the trailer for Where The Wild Things are… ). If you are unaware of both Jonze and UNKLE this clip is a pretty good introduction to both. UNKLE is the brainchild of British DJ/Producer James Lavelle, here’s a link to their website UNKLE if your digging the sound of this track they’ve got plenty more allstar collab tracks that’ll keep your head swirling in awesomeness (the new album is apparently in the works atm). The footage is taken from the Lakai skate film Fully Flared which Jonze directed, well worth a peep… The vocalist on the track is Gavin Clark from British group Clayhill… To all the anti-“action sports” (for lack of a better term) haters out there be patient with this one it’s pretty incredible, enjoy.

Good evening cyberspace, Hugh here!

My first ever post on our new blog Devotion. How exciting!!! If you told me a year ago I was going to be starting a blog I probably would of painfully severed my arms at the wrists, forever disabling my ability to type (If I’d got desperate I would’ve just asked my Mum to dictate for me, she’s pretty handy… Excuse the pun! Wow that’s one ZING! worthy joke already in the bank for Hugh). Anyway times have changed and now here I am in the process of losing my virtual V-Plates (your rambling, relax Hugh, she doesn’t know it’s your first time…) and I hope for all our sakes this is the longest my pre-post banter gets. Basically, Charlie’s opening post said it best. We’re here to blog about music, music we are feelin’ that we think, maybe, you might too. We’re not claiming to be musicians, critics, cock handlers or writers, just two guys who enjoy putting on headphones. So on that note I move on from this f**king horribly self-involved ‘Carrie Bradshawesque’ monologue to the music, hope you enjoy our posts and find a new song, artist or whatever that makes you happy… Keep listening,
Hugh.

PS. Your probably asking “where the tunes at???”. I’m a few lines into a review as we speak, should be up tomorrow but in the meantime here’s a preview of the new David Axelrod Live DVD. I picked it up a couple days ago but need more time to absorb it before I give you a review, so far though it’s been mind bending (good mind bending of course). Although you may not know Axelrod by title, anyone who’s ever kicked it to Dre’s 2001, bobbed head to some Jurrassic 5 or zoned out to DJ Shadow’s Endtroducing… has probably unknowingly digested some Axelrod funk! Enjoy and be sure to check out Charlie’s Video of the Week, King Crimson wiggin’ balls!

Video Of The Week

Video Of The Week is King Crimson’s Matte Kudasai from in 1982.

Adrian Belew’s sea gull simulation on his guitar is very impressive.
Matte Kudasai means “please wait” in Japanese.

Hello there.

Devotion is a music blog where we will bring you music reviews and articles on artists from the present and the past, nothing from a press kit and nothing main stream.

Stay tuned.