SwankExpress

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Member Since: 12/3/2006
Total Mixes: 11
Total Feedback: 37

Other Mixes By SwankExpress

CD | Theme - Romantic
CD | Theme - Romantic
CD | Theme - Romantic

On the Book Corner: ...HEAD EXPLOSIONS!!! (3 CDs)

Side A
Artist Song
[Disc one] Nurse with Wound  This Piano Can't Think 
Bobby Byrd  I Know You Got Soul 
The Jimi Hendrix Experience  Spanish Castle Magic 
The Mahavishnu Orchestra  Noonward Race 
London Sinfonietta  Ionisation, for 13 percussion instruments [Edgard Varese] 
Ex Orkest  Kokend Asfalt 
Ritmo Flamenco  El Ritmo 
The Meters  Little Old Money Maker 
David Bowie  Sound and Vision 
James Brown  Give It Up or Turnit a Loose 
The Lounge Lizards  Do the Wrong Thing 
Virgil Moorefield Ensemble  Funk Trouble 
Aceyalone feat. Mumbles  Human Language 
The Clash feat. Allen Ginsberg  Ghetto Defendant 
Linton Kwesi Johnson  Independant Intavenshan 
The Flaming Lips  One Million Billionth of a Millisecond on a Sunday Morning 
Wayne McGhee & the Sounds of Joy  Fire (She Need Water) 
[Disc two] Archie Bell & the Drells  Tighten Up 
Betty Davis  Git in There 
Funkadelic  I Got a Thing, You Got a Thing, Everybody's Got a Thing 
Stevie Wonder  Do Yourself a Favor 
Aiyb Dieng  Boka Devotion 
Side B
ArtistSongBuy
Miles Davis  On the Corner/New York Girl/Thinkin' of One Thing and Doin' Another/Vote for Miles 
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band  Electricity 
Simply Saucer  Mole Machine 
Rudimentary Peni  Imps of the Perverse 
Randy California  I Don't Want Nobody 
Toots & the Maytals  Funky Kingston 
Eddie Bo  Check Your Bucket 
Derek Bailey & DJ Ninj  Dnjbb (Cake-Mix) 
[Disc three] Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou Dahomey  Minsato Le, Mi Dayihome 
Earth, Wind & Fire  Serpentine Fire 
Barry Adamson  The Snowball Effect 
JUNEXXON S  Ananvoice 
Jack Kerouac & Joe Strummer  MacDougal Street Blues 
Tom Waits  Diamonds on My Windshield [The Early Years, Vol. 2] 
Butthole Surfers  Bar-B-Q Pope 
The Fall  Hip Priest 
Sonny Sharrock  Promises Kept 
Albert Ayler  Truth is Marching In 
CAN  I'm So Green 
John Coltrane  Mars 
The MC5  Starship 

Comment:

Hello all, Rob Conroy here (again). As SwankQueen is indisposed at the moment, her liner notes will follow at a later date. This is the second in our series of monolithic mixes assembled for the venerable Niagara Falls, NY institution, The Book Corner. (See our last mix for the first--pre-ellipsis!--portion of the title and for more of an explanation.) When we last spoke with Jeff (the store's proprietor), we asked what types of mixes would most interest him. He mentioned that his favorite music was funk after activating the dancing/singing James Brown doll that he had just received as an early Christmas present (this conversation, freakily enough, occurred three days before the holiday/day of James' death). We told him that we could supply him with a mix that would be funky in more ways than one and here is the result. Like our winter mix, this isn't an "alternating DJ" mix in the strict sense--it's the product of weeks of planning/discussion/debate, and none of these songs appears here without the full approval of both SwankQueen and myself. I can, however, safely say that both of us have been so obsessed by the results that neither of us can listen to much else right now, and I want to sincerely thank SwankQueen for making this mix what it is--without her input, ideas and contributions, this mix wouldn't be one-quarter the mix that it is. Enjoy!

Note from SQ:
The Aiyb Dieng track features Bootsy Collins on space bass and Bernie Worrell (Pharoah Sanders & Bill Laswell also work their rhythmagick on this record). Thanks to Toronto's own Ritmo Flamenco, featuring the violin stylings of Sir Laurence Stevenson. I included Hamilton's Simply Saucer, wondering if Jeff would remember them. The Rudimentary Peni track, in addition to being about an author (H.P. Lovecraft), is a rather cat-friendly tune -- my sister's cats loved that entire CD when I played it for them -- and as the Book Corner is home to many stray kitties, I wanted to include a few tracks just for them! We were going for a G-rating with Squawking Brass warning, but the lyric "they shot the pope/they shot his ass" appears as an in-joke on disc 3. Oh, and Tom Waits sings, "colder than a well-digger's ass" on the same disc. I don't think we'll achieve a truly "clean" mix until we do one for Shauntae's apparel store (the owner, Ore Lean, was kind enough to give me a bonus pimp hat many years ago). Hope it's adequately funky!

Additional note from R.C.:
Jeff also mentioned a particular fondness for New Orleans R 'n' B, hence the presence of the Meters (who would obviously be here under any circumstances), Eddie Bo and that particular Albert Ayler track (which incorporates "When the Saints Go Marching In" and sounds even more like a New Orleans street band than he usually does). Also, that particular Stevie Wonder track was picked as much for its educational message ("Educate your mind!") as it was for its incredibly funky groove. That Randy California song is here because it is a James Brown cover and because it really rocks. And lastly, the Sonny Sharrock tune (for those of you who are not familiar with it) features Pharoah Sanders on sax and Elvin Jones on drums.

Feedback:

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anthony lombardi
Date: 1/21/2007
wow. monolithic is an understatement; this is cataclysmic, this is epic, this is catastrophic -- most of all, this is just unthinkably fucking good.
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hemizen
Date: 1/22/2007
And what a great thing this is.
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mither
Date: 1/22/2007
blimey, this is - huge. excellent work.
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ofthaltned
Date: 1/22/2007
If you two are expecting me to make any insightful (okay, let's not be unrealistic - make that a "halfway coherent" instead) comments, you'll have to come up with something a little bit less impressive next time. If having me stare at the computer screen in disbelief was the reaction you were aiming for, then by all means, carry on.
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Mark Petruccelli
Date: 1/22/2007
Holy Crap!!! Unbelievab;e effort here....so many highlights the Meters/Bowie/JB/Lounge Lizards stretch ... the Kerouc/Waits/Surfers/Fall run ... Eddie Bo, Hendrix, Clash, Funkadelic, EWF, Toots.... Killer stuff kids!
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Sean Lally
Date: 1/22/2007
wow!
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Mesh
Date: 1/22/2007
Nothing to say except...WOW!!!!
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sammyg123
Date: 1/22/2007
Yes, a new mix from the SwankExpress. Fresh and Funky. Personal faves include pretty much everything, but bonus points for the meters, Beefy, Mc5....
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bufo alvarius
Date: 1/22/2007
*Jaw drops,hits the floor* Whoah, guys. Staggeringly, mind-blowingly great!! Hard to pin down a favorite moment here, but the whole of disc 3 just might be my favoritest thing I've seen in a loooong time. Long live Rob and SwankQueen!!
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sport !
Date: 1/22/2007
Incredible stuff, I can't wait to hear it!!
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Jenergy
Date: 1/22/2007
Holy majoly!'

I can't even find the words.
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brad32
Date: 1/22/2007
this is great - a masterpiece! look forward to hearing it myself...
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Mixxer
Date: 1/22/2007
I got it, 2, 3, the next one will be a 5 CD set because you took advice from Mark and are following the Fibonacci series.

A lot of good stuff here.
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plushpig
Date: 1/22/2007
In-flippin'-credible!!
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2old2matter
Date: 1/22/2007
Ditto the rest of the gang. Oh my God, yes. The link, please, the link!
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G-Sphere
Date: 1/22/2007
Lots of great picks... all over the funky place.
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princess snip snip
Date: 1/22/2007
this is beyond words wow is all i can say thank you
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tornadoZ
Date: 1/22/2007
I would love to hear this, Rob. looks incredible. a good friend of mine once won a highly competitive James Brown dance contest during Mardi Gras in New Orleans (before the flood, when there were people there). think I'll have him over for dinner, put this thing on and watch what happens.and who the hell is princess snip snip.
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jonpoi
Date: 1/23/2007
Nice looking.
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Sidney P
Date: 1/25/2007
Doing 3 discs would be an excuse for sloppiness in most cases but this is so so so so tight...Damn your good! *slopes off to wonder if mixing is worth it anymore*
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Siobhan
Date: 1/28/2007
This is amazingly good. Funky, tight, eclectic, smooth - now I've run out of appropriate adjectives, but you get my drift. You guys are quite the partnership!
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tornadoZ
Date: 3/2/2007
finally took this crazy thing downtown. it's up to your usual high standards. especially like the London Sinfonietta to Ritmo Flamenco bit, as well as the Aceyalone feat. Mumbles and Jack Kerouac & Joe Strummer tracks. Also loved the crazy-shit jazz right there near the end. Wonderful!