New Yorker's top 100

dert

Well-known member
Hi guys

Would anyone would be interested in a top 100 from me. It's a dyed in the wool house list which I feel strongly about. I've been reading a bunch of the threads here for the first time since a couple years ago and I'm inspired by the energy of the debate. I used to listen to a lot of UK stuff until some formative experiences listening to soulful music, on high end sound systems on LSD. I think the attitude towards that sound here could use some refreshing or some abuse of me, dert.

Here's number one. Heard this for the first time on a rooftop during a Bushwick evening in summer. The production can't get any better than this and good luck finding a more plaintive vocal experience. The good thing about this kind of song is that the message develops through the whole course of it, and Francois uses the entire frequency range to communicate his ideas about rhythm and structure. That's not the kind of thing you'd be aware of while first listening to it, but after 10 minutes and it feels like 2 or 3, you're in a very different place than you were at the start. Took me a couple months to find a good copy.

 

luka

Well-known member
We've cancelled soul here. Officially cancelled. Banned. So make the list but be sure to accompany it with polemic. Make a case for this terrible drippy music we have officially cancelled. Push back against the dissensus consensus.
 

luka

Well-known member
From my perspective it's far far worse than soul music proper because it embodies this gross self-satisfied property. There's no anguish as in soul proper. There's no struggle. There's no violence. I think it's hideous. The worst of the worst.
 

dert

Well-known member
2. Tamiko Jones - Can't Live Without Your Love

Arrangement by Randy Muller - what a time he must have had adding the synth sound effects to a mature Tamiko Jones delivery - no more sweet soul young woman, at this stage in her career, age 34, helped by a beefed up vocal treatment, she's rendering an ecstatic tribute to fatuous lust - Muller takes it totally over the top, this is a hard hitting record. I watched the 12" sell for $20 to a 57 year old carpenter with missing teeth, so I try to buy every copy I see of it. 7 minutes of bliss. Props to the other guy for including it near the top of his list too.

 

dert

Well-known member
3. Gas - Pop 2

Rainforest noises, rainforests exist in North America too. Foggy valley bottoms on the Olympic Peninsula, tops of redwoods disappear into the mist. An album for special occasions. Utterly synthetic though, the traces of German classical and pop utterly erased. A friend of mine ruined this song and Pop 1 for me for a while cause he said it sounded like typewriters. I'm not really ok with the black and white connotations of a newspaper factory...yeah, I like trees.

 

dert

Well-known member
4. Ron Hall & The Muthafunkaz ft. Marc Evans 'The Way You Love Me' (Tom Moulton Philly Re-Grooved Mix)

Tom Moulton back from disco Olympus to deliver his magnum opus 30 years after he laid the groundwork for the extended disco mix. Reflecting on everything he learned over the years, he set forth this thesis of the heights of romantic love. Did you hear that harp solo? Some people in the business can still really play. The chorus sounds about as good as a group of people singing can. If you understand the confidence it took to lay down this twelve minute dance music symphony, you'll understand why Tom often answers the door to his apartment wearing briefs and a bathrobe.


 

dert

Well-known member
5. Melba Moore - Standing Right Here

Cooling out for a second - Melba of "You Stepped Into My Life" fame (The Bee Gees' version is better) sends in one of the calmer disco anthems - utter relief, it's like a full body massage after several years of neck tension. The chorus is singing to win. I'm here for you.

 

dert

Well-known member
6. 280 West feat. Diamond Temple - Love's Masquerade

Whew, long one. Wearing the mask - this one goes down well at costume parties. You can sort of disappear into the illusion, both that the beloved one is everything, and that this song is going to go on forever. Temple singing directly to you heightens the participatory aspect, then the vocals drift into pure rhythm and energy, a well timed breakdown, and the shifting whispers come back to seal the deal.

 

dert

Well-known member
7. Andrew Chalk - Blue Field

I heard this one for the first time sitting in a friend's hot tub at night. I thought it was about 14 minutes long, turns out it's actually 4 and a bit. Something about how the drones overlap renders the passage of time meaningless, especially if you're in hot water up to your armpits and barely managing to keep the spliff dry. I like songs like this that sound like they're having the last word, and make conversation impossible. Very careful approach to tension and release here from Mr. Chalk, he buried the organ so deep in reverb it belongs to an entirely different timeline now.

 

dert

Well-known member
8. Francois K - Hypnodelic

Easily Freddie Turner's best moment, where the hell did that performance come from? Another perfect mixdown from Kevorkian, thank god he had almost 20 years to practice in the studio before people started making house proper. Totally authoritative melody on the keys, and the balance and synergy between the vocals and his instrumentation like they're two limbs on the same torso. Right after I heard this for the first time, a big guy knocked one of the speakers over, most likely on accident. Utterly jarring.

 

dert

Well-known member
My main objectives for this list include:

How fun is it to dance to? I find the loopy stuff is too predictable, and just keeping time (counting) with my body is less interesting, and doesn't occupy enough of my attention. When breaks in the grid occur, it's a delight to follow them - the same goes for structure, how does the song develop over time? Flourishes and stuff are ok, but distinct sections are very nice, adding and subtracting elements in various ways. Are we building towards something?

Also, does it make me smile? I told a friend once that I'd had fun at a party, but I was dancing without a smile on my face. He asked, "Is that even possible?"
 

dert

Well-known member
9. Alfredo de la Fe - My Favorite Things

Extreme Latin psychedelia, and we all love a standard. Pretty novel execution here, the violinist as bandleader thing is hard to pull off. I'd say he does it even better than Michael White, whose records are good when White holds back, contributing only here and there. It's a sonata-like song, expertly arranged, cosmic melody. The drummer here, Paul Kimbarrow, does a pretty damn good job. The various sidenote style passages amp things up considerably, my anticipation can hardly get more piqued. Someday I'll do an ice-skating routine to this jam.

 

dert

Well-known member
10. Leonin - Messe du Jour de Noel (performed by Ensemble Organum)

The supreme vocal recording, if you've ever considered converting to Christianity, give this one a spin. The voices float in a sort of crystal sphere, and some of the harmonies are sweet enough to crack through any emotional shell - but it's primarily an elevating sound. Sunday mornings are the optimal time to hear it.

 

dert

Well-known member
11. Wagner - Das Rheingold (Prelude) conducted by Georg Solti

Famously used in Malick's The New World, this piece has a building, explosive quality very much in demand, by me. Again, the crossover drones that we heard in Chalk's "Blue Field", with a little more pace to them, and ultimately more development. If I could wake up every morning to this, I would, and probably can, if I can configure my alarm clock correctly. The subsequent part of this opera does not transition well from this introduction, unfortunately.

 

dert

Well-known member
12. Noni - Be My Friend

Another quality I like to consider in music is, how specific is the emotion being communicated? The greater variety and range you can understand in music, the better you'll be able to tell a story. There's a crossover here between the romantic ideal and the platonic. Piano stabs underscore the urgency of Damier's need for a friend and the rest of the instrumentation keeps things rolling along just at the edge of the vocal delivery. Very easy to get locked in to the feeling here, and easy to picture yourself on both sides of the friend-wanting equation. I always opt for the original mix on this one.

 

dert

Well-known member
13. Bobbi Humphrey - Harlem River Drive

Utterly serene soul jazz. Revolving around the theme of Harlem River Drive, a major thoroughfare in Manhattan, which can be used to get from Brooklyn to the beautiful Catskills for example, this recording exults in the mind-reading capabilities of each musician, with preternatural variations in the energy level that dip and dive like a flight of swallows. Nice playing, Bobbi. Another choral vocal here that delights in variations on the theme, swapping "Going for a drive" out with "Slow it down to forty-five". Ordinarily a disaster on the road, we can for once savor the slower speed of 45 miles per hour along with the laid-back drumming style. Truly cohesive.

 

dert

Well-known member
14. Norman Connors - Once I've Been There

Almost aggressive with the horns and all! Must have been at least 12 musicians involved here. The guitar taking its rightful place as just another rhythm instrument in the playbook. Philip Mitchell on vocals. The lyrics have a wonderful double meaning, Mitchell is talking about love and a relationship in general, but on the dancefloor, he's reminding you that you can get back to seamless convergence with the sound at any point, as easy as closing your eyes. No idea what the musicians here had for breakfast, but I think it was just the right amount of eggs. Recorded in Hollywood, CA. Wow! Has all the energy of a Philadelphia jam.

 
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