comments...


june@tough.com
Sat, 4 Dec 1999 21:51:37 -0500 (EST)



(((contact me at june@tough.com )))

 hello people,

 a few comments about these last days stuff
on the list, if you see what i mean...this
whole US vs UK music scene just makes me feel
bad. The only thing that is just true, on a
math based trick, is that UK just seems to
produce a lot more of "interesting" stuff than
anywhere else. how many people in the UK? now,
how many in US? seems a basic thing to me.

 Now, another thing, quite clear : indeed,
hip hop came from the us. they got an advance
for many years about producing and about how put
"in your face" lyrics when UK & rest of the
world's rappers tryed to start it too. That's a
good reason for staying number one ; just let see
all the rawkus stuff (on the typical old school
based -but still kickin'ass, for sure- kind of
rap), but don't forget the rest of the scene :
while guys like Mighty Mi or Hi-Tek are producing
some of the best tunes on the east, the other coast,
the same one who played that big g-funk joke
(urgh), offers us, at last, some real stuff with
what i call the shadow posse (blackalicious,
latyrx, etc..), who are there for a while now
(check out the solesides first productions, as
the first latyrx lp, available on Mo'wax too...

 Another thing too : don't surestimate the french
hip hop level. it just sucks ! while some of the
productions, on a simply musical side, are quite
fine, don't try to understand the lyrics, you must
be afraid... i'm french and it didn't took me too
long to jump into the beginning of the french rap
scene. it took me not much more to feel ashamed...
us's style oriented lyrics, gangsta shit from some
nice place people... there's some real good ones,
but they're so underground that i don't think it
will be on a worlwide distrib', ever... a slice
of typical -and i mean typical- french sounds hip
hop? as anybody knows, just check out the stuff
from La funk Mob (these stupid Zdar & BoomBass
prefer doing dollars with Cassius now, too bad...),
on uk's mo'wax or the french Source label, dj cam
(even if there's a lot of copying stuff -same dj
premier loops, for example), etc...

>>>...what is the state of downtempo music saleswise?
    who realy cares? in europe, there's this big
thing by now, thanks to compost, jazzanova, k&d,
etc... but i'm not sure it will be that long ;
the guys, even if i'm deep into their shit,
seems to quickly walking in their own footsteps ;
but don't get me wrong, you can track down all
the german/austria/etc... stuff as the so called
west-london scene : for many years a few guys are
doing their stuff, and even if it's a kind of
hundred pressings (or so) , it will grow up,
for sure. the guys? Bugz in the attic, a crew
with afro based guys (the nice IG Culture -check
his wife, Kate,doing the vocals on the Laws of
Motion's new lp from Neon Phusion), some drum'n'bass
guys (the one and only Seiji, a big player who
deserve a bigger audience, just check his work on
4 hero's reinforced), and many, many more. Modaji
is becoming huge too, thanks to the parisian label
Yellow prod (still on the top, for a french label),
as Mustang, half of the famous swiss Bel Air Project
(Future Talk, Talkin'Loud, Corn-Flex) & half of
Catalyst (one of the best tracks of the year, on
french Versatile's sister label, Future Talk)...

 Anyway, a lot of stuff is coming and groovin'
in europe at the moment, but if you forget Grand
Central, Jazz Fudge (Vadim kick ass, dot) or one or
two others (somebody tell me why Waywan LP didn't
sells better?! it's great, no?), hip hop looks
really poor aside US scene...

>>>...anyone have any idea of an island blue discography anywhere?
 damn, it could be great, as even the guys who
do the promotion job around here (i'm in france,
it's not that far from uk's blue, uh?) can't help
me! but only with such titles as "eve", we wait
for others things than the wondeful Spacek or the
mighty Underwolves... they do a great job, don't
ya think? but let's have a closer look to the indie
labels (blue will get coverage) as Far Out, 2000's
blacks (Dego's label), People, Laws of Motion
(Chris Flemming's inprint), Sirkus (his brother
Rob's inprint,what a pair of twins!), and many
many more...

>>> ...i love the Moloko CD single "SING IT
>>>BACK" I LOVE IT !!!
   i would like to know how many mixes of this
song exists? for now, my favorite one is the
first Herbert rework, who is a dancefloor instant
filler without the filter disco loops cliché.

>>>...Beanfield:
 for my part, even if i'm into a lot of the
JCR/Compost/Sonar Kollectiv shit, the last tracks
i've heard about didn't impress me that much.
I'll wait to have a closer look at the LP, but for
now, Michael Reinboth's project makes me feel it
more like a "i've made money, let's do my thing
now!". Just kidding.

>>>...Karma 6 on Groove Attack
 Groove attack is a german distributer/saler who
do a great job, i would like to say that even in
France, a lot of shops are working with them.
they've got a website so it's must be something
like www.grooveattack.com ...

>>>...Alot of Public Enemy, X-Clans and Brand
>>>Nubians songs will make just as much sense
>>>to a kid in South Africa or France as to
>>>someone in Brooklyn
 i don't agree with this. french have got one
the baddest language education, shame shame shame
on us. and if the hip hop sales are pretty well
here, believe me that not a listener on 5 dig the
whole lyrics side. and for me, hip hop is 50%
music, 50% lyrics. and 0% lyrics is, do your
choice, french rappers ("yes yo it's lik'dat yo
yesss ...") or... abstract! dj Vadim president!

 i'm out of here, gotta do this ACID JAZZ LIST
DECADE POLL before it's too late...
to y'all, peace from france!

*************************
june@tough.com
current sounds on the following sites,
just check the playlist corner...
http://www.multimania.com/bituca/
http://www.multimania.com/hiphouse/
http://www.calm.cjb.net/
**************************

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