Pimp Trick Gangsta Clique

Sunset offa the Suisun Bay

I dunno bout you but, something about the Summer sun makes me loosen up and open up my musical tastes a little bit. Perhaps it’s a natural reflex to the repetitive droning of this year’s summer singles coming from every single radio station. Whatever the case, I find myself humming the tunes to shit that I never woulda been caught dead listening to a few months prior.

With this musical journey, I’ll introduce you to a few songs that snuck up on me, an all-time favorite song of mine, and a remix of it from an artist that I never imagined I would ever listen to. Ever.

YA Dope Album Cover

Sunglasses – Stand Fast

If the seagulls that squawk in the beginning don’t tip you off, this song’s gonna go sky high.

Stand Fast is a summer-tinged hipster soundscape that I can’t help but smile to. From the “all together now” hand clap, which makes you wanna join in on whatever shit they’re smokin’, to the surfer/stoner-brah drawl(1) on their lyrical delivery, (“Don’t dwe~~~~~ll!)” throughout the whole song, Sunglasses stays keepin it cacophonous.

The amalgamation of all the sounds invokes the crazy & colorful hyper-mess on the album cover, toeing the border between gaudy and “crazy enough to work”. In any other season, Stand Fast probably would have annoyed the shit outta me. Hit or miss, ya gotta love art students man. OR hate them.

Dawn Landes – Young Folks

You’ve heard the Kanye version. Hell you might have even heard the original Peter, Bjorn & John version(2) (Check the video, it’s tight, in the way only airline tutorial influenced ids can be). But to me, this is the way the tune is meant to be played!

Dawn chooses to replace the aloofness of the original version’s characteristic whistle with some good ol’ Americana fiddle strings, giving the whole song way more heart & soul. And the play between the distance of the sole female voice & the pollyannaish chorus of male voices rounds out the depth of the song.

I really never listened to too much “Country” music, but one of these days I’ll hafta travel down that dreaded path, in search for gems such as this. I’ve always had a spot in my heart for some of that bluesy-grassy-honky-tonky shit.

Erykah Badu – Agitation

What a Day…

This has been my one go-to tracks for when I’m in a funk & just need to push the reset button. Even though normally I hate these small neo-soul skits, this one really got to me.

The Chorus break right in the middle is what it’s all about; For better or for worse, Erykah doesn’t allow you to settle in with this track, it just builds & builds, then all of a sudden, just stops, like those bursts of adrenaline when inspiration hits ya smack dab on the face.

I dunno wtf she’s talkin’ bout after that, but when she ends with a “Thank You”, it reminds me that my own shit ain’t too bad, & that there is indeed hella much to be thankful for.

Radiohead – Kid A

Kid A has to be one of my favorite Radiohead songs ever. I’ll never forget the fucking chills that ran down my spine when I heard it live so many moons ago. It starts off sounding like a UFO came to touch down upon our Terra to play some kinda looming music box for us, along with some heartbeat bass drum.

When the UFO reveals it’s passengers, you hear some robotic alien whatsit speaking some crazy accented Engrish. WTF!?!? (3) It’s no secret that Kid A (and Radiohead in general) is not quite the most accessible music in the world.

Hell, it took music critics almost 10 years to classify it as the paradigm-shifting classic that it is. That is why anyone who does a cover of their tracks, and pulls it off deserves a head nod in my book. Which leads me to…

His White Privilege is a Wonderland! - Jay Smooth

John Mayer – Kid A (Radiohead Cover)

…THIS GUY. I never really cared for John Mayer. At first, I didn’t really pay attention to him, even back in ’02 when you couldn’t escape this guy and his damned Wonderland. But then he started saying some stupid shit. Repeatedly. His words turned my subtle annoyance into a not-so-subtle disdain. But then I found this glorious cover.

Despite using only an acoustic guitar, Mayer nonetheless manages to capture the ominous, yet welcoming tone of Yorke & Greenwood’s full arrangement of glockenspiels, noise & steady bass. But perhaps what is most surprising(4), is the depth of his voice. Though the jackass finds himself struggling at times to keep up with the weird-ass computer voice of Yorke, he not only holds his own, but calmly stakes his own claim & distinguishes himself from Yorke’s own vocal variations.

So I guess, all in all, racist rants aside (oh P.I.W.), I’ll give some props to the guy. As an artist. When it comes to anything else though, he should just STFU. (5).

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1. you San Diego types know the sort.↑
2. ↑
3. I remember my first year roommate swearing that instead of “I swept on a little white lie”, Yorke was saying “Let’s smoke some marijuana”. Who am I to disagree?↑
4. at least to me, someone who refused to listen to anything that came out of his mouth↑
5.  And leave it to Jimmy Rebel & Uncle Rukus (No Relation). (NSFW, or For Anything, really)↑