Blazin'

Just what are you trying to tell me, Myspace targeted ads? P.S., there is no such thing as "The Funniest Drug Comedy Ever." Besides, I didn't even celebrate 4/20 this year, I mean it's just gotten so commercial.

People Under the Stairs - Acid Raindrops (alt link)

This track perfectly sums up all of my largely positive feelings on the power of self-medication. If yoga, a hot bath, or valerian root can help you turn your brain off enough to sleep at the end of the day, good for you. Consider me jealous.

Lil Wayne - Kush (alt link)

Devin the Dude ft. Odd Squad - Til It's All Gone (alt link)
A few more of Devin's paeans to stonerdom: "Nothin' to Roll With," "Reefer and Beer," and "Sticky Green."

RBL Posse - Don't Give Me No Bammer (alt link)
One of these days I'm going to do a post on all the West Coast rappers I'd never even heard of til I lived in the Bay Area. Not sure I've ever met someone who knows RBL who isn't from Cali, but this one is an anthem for the ages.

Collie Buddz - Come Around (alt link)
A pro-weed reggae song is total department-of-redundancy-department, but I couldn't resist. "Come Around" is what smoking in the middle of a sunny day sounds like...wow, I'm full of good ideas this morning.

Time to Tear It Up

"Sorry bro, can't hear you over these sick jams. Yo, these traxx are dangerous! Where's your lifejacket!?"

ABX - Takin' Over In the Morning (DJ Khaled vs Junior Boys) (alt link)

Twista feat. Pharrell - Give It Up (alt link)

Spank Rock feat. Amanda Blank - Loose (DJ Ayres' Potion rmx) (alt link)

Aaron LaCrate feat. Amanda Blank - Get Um Girl (alt link)

Does It Offend You, Yeah? - We Are Rockstars (alt link)

*that's my childhood friend Debi's kid, and she is already way cooler than me.

A. Fucking. Men.

Oh ok, so it's not just me.

For the umpteenth time: I would love to be more excited about Obama, as soon as someone can finally, adequately explain to me why I should be. And I'm not looking to canonize Hillary, she's not bulletproof, I know she's got her problems. It's about the vitriol, it's about the language used to disparage her. We're all gonna have to agree to disagree on this, and I have been. It's just nice to know I'm not the only one who feels this way. Valerie Solanas I am not.

Previously, on GPB: Miles to Go. Miles.

two weird-peas in a pod

From Contact Music: "Outkast hip-hop star Big Boi has a surprising musical hero - eccentric British singer Kate Bush. The 'Miss Jackson' rapper - real name Antwan Patton - credits his teenage musical development to Bush, and he's still so infatuated with the reclusive star he wants to track her down and get her to produce songs for his duo's next album. He says, "My uncle introduced me to Kate Bush's music when I was about 14 years old, and that shit opened my mind up. The first one I got was The Kick Inside, then I bought Hounds Of Love, then the The Sensual World. She was so bugged out man! But I felt what she was talking about in the songs. Mother Stands For Comfort, Running Up That Hill. My uncle would explain what the songs stood for. Like The Man With The Child In His Eyes and all that shit. I thought, Wow! she's so f**king deep! I was infatuated with her, still am. I gotta track her down! I just found out that she was producing all that shit herself! She's so f***ing dope and so underrated and off the radar. So hopefully on the next record you're going hear Outkast and Kate Bush do at least two or three songs." (source)

I would really, really, really like to hear that collabo. Kate Bush is magic. MAGIC. And lest someone be put off by Kate's voice — I love it, but I find Joanna Newsom's warble unlistenable, so I get the aversion to a kind of witchy sound — here's three covers that showcase what an amazing songwriter she is.

The Futureheads - Hounds of Love

Maxwell - This Woman's Work

Chromatics - Running Up That Hill

Kate Bush - Hounds of Love
Kate Bush - This Woman's Work
Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) (buy)

Ladies Inna Di Dancehall

Just a few more hours til I go drink me wages! Dancehall and I are (dangerously) in love again, so here's four more on heavy rotation, special all-girl edition.

Ms. Thing - Jump Up & Rail

Michie One - Rich Girl
You suck, Gwen Stefani. Shame on you too Dre.

Worl-A-Girl - One In A Million

Lady Saw - Bed Noise

Previously: Five Classic Dancehall Gems, Plus One

Rock, brah!

The audience for the Spoon show at Terminal 5 last night could best be described as a veritable buffet of brosephs, bankers, and the women who love them. Oh well, cheers to Spoon's success. They played a long set with two encores, and sounded pretty much perfect. Actually as Rachel noted, if anything they sounded slightly too perfect and clean to be completely riveting. It wasn't until about seven songs in that they started sounding like a full-on rock band, but then that might have more to do with the grit of "Nefarious" and other pre-"Girls Can Tell" Spoon. Anyway, hearing this song was the #2 highlight of the night for me. The #1 was when we saw two dudes jump in the air and double high-five each other when the band did "I Turn My Camera On" as the final encore.

Spoon - Nefarious
(buy)

Sorry, I Didn't Dreamcatch That.

My friend Jenny just returned from a trip to the Southwest, and she brought me back a miniature dreamcatcher. It called up memories of another life, seven years ago, when I briefly found myself living in a house in Katonah New York with three dreadlocked hippies and two dogs named Irie and Chakra. It's amazing what you can overlook when you're in love. Despite the fact that my personal style and general worldview greatly differed from that of the company I was keeping, I can recall only one instance of wondering exactly what I was doing there (it involved stonedly observing an earnest drum circle). That is because I was sex-notized. Hormones let me overlook things like the dreamcatcher swinging from Mr. Buffalo Soldier's rear-view mirror — the exact same one Jenny just gave me — and hormones kept me from putting up a fight when he insisted on hanging a much bigger dreamcatcher in our bedroom. I may not ever hang my new present up, but I will treasure it for its inherent funniness, and as a reminder that for all the joking my friends and I do about 'deal-breakers,' sometimes love is blind to things like feathers and dangling beaded strips of animal hide.

Cut Copy - That Was Just a Dream (alt link)
from 2004's Bright Like Neon Love (buy)

Scanners - In My Dreams (buy) (alt link)

Cat Power - Dreams (Everly Brothers) (alt link)

Sunset Rubdown - Shut Up I Am Dreaming of Places Where Lovers Have Wings (alt link)
(buy)

Mixed-Bag Friday

I'm a little burnt this morning, so without comment here are the songs I listened to the most this week. It's Friday, you ain't got shit to do, etc.

WW is What I'm Into These Days:
White Williams - Fleetwood Crack (alt link)
White Williams - Violator (alt link)
(myspace)

Nu Shooz - I Can't Wait (Long Dutch Vocal Mix) (alt link)

Clipse - Mr. Me Too (Neon Coyote rmx) (alt link)

Cam'ron - Hey Ma Remix (alt link)

The Rapture - Echoes (alt link)

The Black Keys - Set You Free (alt link)

What Would Trina Do?

It's one day til Hump Day, but isn't every day Hump Day for Trina?

Trina feat. Missy Elliot - I Got a Bottle (buy)

So last Saturday a friend and I went out dancing to cheesy dancehall, as it had been way too long since that happened. The scene: A Lower Eastpacking District restaurant/bar. The time: Around 2 a.m. We were both three drinks in over the course of four hours, which (shamefully) puts me at still-fairly-sober. A man of about 45 with terrible facial hair and weested-eyes zeros in on me and comes over.

Creepy Drunk Goateed Uncle-Type Dude: (tries to take my hand)
Me: (pulls hand away)
CDGUTD: It's okay! (?)
Me: (tries to ignore CDGUTD, keeps dancing)
CDGUTD: (leans in way too close) Are you alright? Do you know where you are?
Me: What? Yeah I'm all set. (grabs friend, moves several feet away)
Rachel: Did that guy ask you if you knew where you were? Maybe he roofied someone earlier, but he forgot exactly who.
Me: Don't talk that way about the man I love.

Trina probably would have thrown her drink in his face and made him buy her a new one, but my tack of waiting until security eventually threw him out worked too.