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Pop Rock Nation

Category: People

all-about-musicians-and-the-people-who-help-them-make-music

  • Santogold: What The… Fruit?

    Santi White, who records under the name Santogold, may or may not be the grooviest thing to happen to urban pop – a label I hate to use, but which seems wholly appropriate under the circumstances – since Gnarls Barkley. Like Gnarls, her self-titled debut record is wildly uncategorizable and just as wildly uneven, ranging from catchy new wave inspired pop songs to cosmic hip-hop hallucinations; and while she hasn’t quite acheived market saturation a la “Crazy”, her song debut single “Creator” – which sounds like a spaceship cruise through the Amazon rainforest just before the world ends – is proving to be a licensing bonanza, such to make Moby jealous, most notably used in a commercial for Bud Lime. But while it’s nice to hear “Creator” in heavy rotation, even if it must be in 30 second snips underneath a sports-commentator-style voice-over, it’s nothing compared to seeing her video for the single “L.E.S. Artistes”.

    Mikey likes to talk about “WTF?” moments in music, and here’s one for sure. I first saw this video a couple months ago playing on the Logo Network’s “NewNowNext” show. I had fallen asleep in front of the TV and woke up in the middle of the night and there it was like a nightmare I had only half woken up from – a strange, simultaneous funny and disturbing meeting of violence and whimsy. Do you laugh out loud? Or do you avert your eyes? I’ve watched the video dozens of times – it’s one of the few current videos I actually wanted on my iPod bad enough to pay the two bucks for – and it still retains a sense of confrontation and surprise. Check it out:

    A new “maxi-single” of the song was released on iTunes this week, featuring a pair of remixes and an instrumental version. The XXX Change Mix is my favorite, recasting the song as the kind of atmospheric new wave funk single that Heaven 17 might have put out in 1983.

  • Something Tells Me George Michael Doesn’t Want This Publicized

    Something even more embarrassing than getting caught soliciting an undercover cop?

    A video from the early days of a popular singer/songwriter’s career that finds him sporting a white tee, a leather jacket, and no shoes…RAPPING.

    While I’d been aware of Wham!’s “Fantastic!” album (and have owned it for years), I had no idea that a video existed for the duo’s first single, “Wham! Rap”, until my friend Dave alerted me of the fact a week or so ago.

    If you need some comedy to start off your week, look no further, my friends.

    How sad is it that George Michael circa 1982 raps better than most emcees on the charts today?

    Those of you who are familiar with “Wham! Rap” will also notice that George re-wrote the lyrics for the single/video version.

    Still shaking your head, huh? Don’t say that MHW has never brightened your day.

  • O’Neal McKnight’s “Check Your Coat”: This Has To Be a Joke

    I’ll admit that I’m not much of a TV watcher anymore. Once sitcoms started to suck in the mid Nineties (and I went five or six years without an actual television set), my couch potato days were over. As of right now, my television watching usually consists of sports (or “Sportscenter”), “Law & Order” reruns, “Scrubs” and “30 Rock”. And VH-1 Classic and VH-1 Soul, pretty much the last things anyone over 30 has in terms of music television.

    I was sort of mindlessly watching VH-1 Soul one night two or three weeks ago, when the video I’m about to unveil popped onto the screen. I was talking to a friend on instant messenger as this was playing, and I couldn’t help expressing my distaste (disgust?) to him (his response: “Why does he have two last names?”). There are so many things wrong with this video, from McKnight’s 1980 MJ-meets 1991 Boyz II Men look to the cameo by faded rap star Greg Nice (of Nice & Smooth fame). For a while, I thought this had to be a joke, because no one could have bankrolled or shot this with a straight face. Right? RIGHT?????