breakwater [old music]

Look at that album cover, and you might be thinking, "What the fuck?" What the fuck, indeed.
The short answer: this track is the sample source for Daft Punk's stellar "Robot Rock."
The short response: oh, how interesting. They lifted those riffs wholesale. The Daft Punk track is still pretty great, though.
The long answer: not only are Daft Punk brilliant producers with their ears permanently glued to the dancefloor, they're also extremely savvy crate-diggers who managed to unearth this gem in spite (or perhaps because) of this ridiculous album cover. It's moot that they lifted the synth riffs wholesale; had you not been informed as to the sample source, you never would have known. That's the art behind the French masks.
Nor is it right to ignore the standalone greatness of the original track here. Existing somewhere in the overlap of hair metal, the heaviest Tower of Power funk, and Edgar Winter's "Frankenstein," "Release The Beast" is a call to arms. The titular beast is the ever-elusive "funk," or "Da Funk," as Daft Punk themselves might put it, and don't you want to get up out your chair? Do it, release the beast, and thank Breakwater later for it. On the music snob tip, Breakwater was a funk band from Philly, active in the 70s, with at least eight members. That's about all I can tell you. Oh, and Wikipedia makes a point of mentioning that "'Release the Beast' features the sound of an oscillator sync patch on an analog synthesizer." Word.

Breakwater - Release The Beast [from Splashdown, 1980]

retta young [old music]

[Short post this week. Business is a little hairy here in Los Angeleez.]

A homie commented to me that a previous post was "venom-filled." I take umbrage at that; I am an admittedly arrogant music snob, but I vowed to Michael Plus that this blog would ascribe to Believer ethics: enthusiasm for all things I write about, ignoring the negativity--the Polyphonic Spree of criticism, a more academic version of "if you can't say anything nice..."
Kids, let me clarify and recapitulate. I merely wanted to point to the roots of what is currently hip (my favorite thing to do). If you love T.I., you should also be listening to mid-90s UGK, for instance. Related to that post, then, let me give you a lovely slice of the purest disco.
I know absolutely next-to-nothing about this Retta Young lady. She was married to Al Goodman from the Moments, recorded for the All-Platinum label (Sylvia Robinson's pre-Sugar Hill foray), and she scored a UK chart hit with "Sending Out An SOS" (not the ABBA song) in 1975. I do, however, know that this song is disco brilliance. Deliciously breathy vocals, sweeping washes of strings, chromatically rising vamps, and that fat, luscious backbeat. From the bottom of my heart, enjoy.

Retta Young - You Beat Me To The Punch (Disco Version) [12", 1976]

relaunch + rolling stones [old music]

Los Angeleez has joined the Yes + iverse and on an auspicious occasion...35 years ago today was the release of the insta-classic album Exile on Main Street. Suffice it to say, this post will be a placeholder until the real "hypetastic" music criticism comes online, as I enjoy the new Sarkozy administration in a chateau in the south of France while railing lines of Keef's dad. For those of you that are new to the house of Angeleez, I post mp3 links via yousendit, broke-ass style, and my music criticism is not always uber-current. E.g., I will go buy the new Bjork album tomorrow, when it's released, but probably not post on it for a week or two so that it may properly digest in my brain and heart.
I suggest you get rip-roaringly drunk on good red wine and/or Kentucky bourbon. Then, as the sun is rising the next morning and your bender tips over into hangover, let that not-so-attractive-anymore person that you're with lead you into the bedroom and let it loose; let it all come down (so says Mick).

the Rolling Stones - Let It Loose [from Exile on Main Street, 1972]