Musical Connections

[alan nagsworth]

A little something I wanted to try out for a while but didn't know how to go about doing it, so here's my best attempt.

In certain reaches of music there are artists who collaborate on certain projects or songs or even production work on fellow artists' music. This is sort of like that show Comedy Connections, branches stretch out far and wide until you finish with an artist or band that is in no way related to the starting artist... if you get me. I'm trying to make it so it's not just one person showing a long chain of connections, instead it's meant to be something we can all participate in.

For example, I could start by saying "The Smiths, highly influential Manchester-based group , moaned a lot, generally seen as tongue-in-cheek by fans" then someone else quotes me and follows up with "Johnny Marr (Smiths guitarist) formed a band called Johnny Marr & The Healers, a supergroup featuring menbers of Kula Shaker and Cavewaves, as well as Ringo Starr's son on drums." This could then be followed up with someone else saying "Johnny Marr also went on to write music for and play guitar on the latest Modest Mouse record, 'We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank'."

Something like that anyway. I reckon it could be fun if we try and keep it interesting. Usual stuff like a brief synopsis of the artist's career or a recollection of their more popular hits, or whatever.

Right here's an easy one to get you going:

Blur.

[buttgammon]

Blur:

Important 90s Britpop band led by Damon Albarn, most famous for such hits as the cheeky Cockney 'Parklife', the Club 18-30 disco of 'Girls and Boys' and Oasis-beating hit single 'Country House' and for being the arch-rivals of the Gallagher brothers throughout the battles of the mid 90s.

Albarn formed the groundbreaking animated band Gorillaz at the turn of the twenty first century, famous for their revolutionary use of multimedia and for such hits as 'Clint Eastwood' and 'Feel Good Inc'.

[alan nagsworth]

Also, this isn't meant to be one straight line from one artist to the next, if you see an artist in the middle of a chain which has other musical connections which haven't been mentioned, feel free to branch it off wherever possible. It'll most likely end up as one big glorious mess, but keep the chain of artists in your post so people know where you're coming from.

Albarn formed the groundbreaking animated band Gorillaz at the turn of the twenty first century, famous for their revolutionary use of multimedia and for such hits as 'Clint Eastwood' and 'Feel Good Inc'.

Blur > Damon Albarn > Gorillaz > Deltron 3030

Gorillaz, a "digital band" comprising solely of Damon Albarn and visual wizkid Jamie Hewlett, also feature many guest performers on their albums. The style of their first record was notably described as 'zombie hip hop' and the guest producer for this record was pioneer of all that is cool and sexy about hip hop, Dan 'The Automator' Nakamura. Two of the album's tracks, 'Rock The House' and 'Clint Eastwood', featured guest vocals by Del Tha Funkee Homosapien.

Del and Nakamura have since collaborated together on their own hip hop project, Deltron 3030, also featuring scratch-happy turnrtablist Kid Koala. The self-titled album was a concept record in that it painted a brilliantly detailed view of life in the year 3030, and the various songs touched on subjects of world war 3, mech robots, and saving independent music from the evil clutches of capitalism.

[jaydee81]

Oooo... can I talk about the song 'Every Which Way But Loose' from the Clint Eastwood film of the same name?

[alan nagsworth]

Er.. it's not really a connection since there's no similarities except the name Clint Eastwood, but if this song has interesting connections to other music/musicians, feel free to start your own chain thingy.

[marwood]

Deltron 3030

you just bumped deltron 3030 to the top of my mind for the first time in years! Thanks.

And even better, I have just learned that there is supposed to be new deltron 3030 coming out this year as well.

Anyway...


Blur > Damon Albarn > Gorillaz > Deltron 3030 > Handsome Boy Modeling School

Handsome Boy Modeling School was a collaboration between Dan the Automator and Prince Paul, sometime producer of influential rap trio De La Soul.

Handsome Boy Modeling School has been described as a conceptual hip-hop duo that parodied and acted as a commentary on vain, crass, materialistic, and self-absorbed members of upper class society, such as supermodels and people from old money. The pair often satirized upper class snobbery and perceived beauty.

Actually, that's a lame description. Sorry.
There was some good music involved though, anyway.

Blur > Damon Albarn > Gorillaz > Deltron 3030 > Handsome Boy Modellng School > J. Dilla

Legendary producer J. Dilla made his name in the 90s working with De La Soul, Pharcyde, A Tribe Called Quest and many others. Solid production work on tracks such as De La Soul's "Stakes is High" helped to cement Dilla's nascent reputation as '"the Producer's Producer".

Blur > Damon Albarn > Gorillaz > Deltron 3030 > Handsome Boy Modellng School > J. Dilla > Four Tet

RE: As Serious as Your Life 12-inch (2003)

My record company asked me if I wanted to get any remixes for my album Rounds. I instantly suggested Jay Dee, thinking it was deeply unlikely. Domino tracked down his manager, sent him the music and a few weeks later we heard back saying he was up for doing it (for a very reasonable fee). A couple of months passed and no remix showed up so we chased his manager. He came back saying that Jay Dee had been quite sick recently. Not knowing how serious his illness was, we decided to just wait and see what happened. Then one day I got a call from Domino saying a CD has turned up in the post and the remix is wild: it has Jay Dee singing on it and some guy called Guilty Simpson rapping. He had made the heaviest beat from the sounds and him and Guilty were rapping amazing lines all over it, stuff about saxophone reeds and Eddie Murphy's pants. The way he had made the title of my instrumental track into this huge vocal hook was just too good. "As Serious as Your Life" a reference to a book about '60s free jazz, so to hear Dilla sing about something that I associated with Coltrane and Ayler was especially deep for me. - KIERAN HEBDEN