Wednesday 19 February 2014

Who The Fuck Is Biggie Smalls?!

I was just wondering what people's reactions would be if I pretended I didn't know Notorious B.I.G. was dead, when somebody very close to me - naming no names - made it evident that they don't actually know who B.I.G. was/is in the first place. I don't know whether it's just me being a little ignorant or not, but I was kind of under the impression that everybody knows about Biggie Smalls. If not, I feel like you probably should know, because he's got to be in the top ten of most important rap artists to have ever lived - he's in mine at least.
Born Christopher Wallace in New York City, he spent some time as a crack dealer before making a demo tape that caught the attention of some producers, as it does, and making his way into the hip hop scene. West Coast (California) hip hop was bigger at the time, but Biggie did a lot for East Coast hip hop and, as a result, ended up part of the fighting between the two sides, and ultimately was killed in a drive-by shooting. The murderer and motive are still unknown, but a lot of people suggest it was due to the fighting, which also resulted in Tupac Shakur's death (you may just have heard of him . . .).
As does tend to happen in hip hop, Biggie collaborated with a lot of people in his time, notably Puff Daddy, Lil Kim and Snoop Dogg amongst others - some while alive, some in remastered versions of songs after he died.
"How will I know if I like him?" I hear you ask. Conveniently enough, I've included links to some of my favourite Biggie Smalls songs here. Maybe it's not a very original-sounding selection, but they're some of his more popular songs for a reason:

Juicy

Nasty Girl (feat. Puff Daddy, Avery Storm, Nelly & Jagged Edge)

Big Poppa

Mo Money Mo Problems (feat. Mase & Puff Daddy)

Suicidal Thoughts

Wednesday 8 January 2014

Look, A Band - If You Like To Dance

I do like to dance, normally, I'll admit, but the band name sounds like a bit of a challenge. Are you saying I'll want to dance more when I listen to you? 'Cause that's a challenge, my friend.
Although I'm only one and a half minutes into Sleep, the first song on the soundcloud of these guys - who are apparently based in Manchester (best place to be) and influenced, amongst other things, by 'the wicked ways of women' (I'll choose to take that in the amusing way). I'd say that If You Like To Dance are rising to said challenge reasonably well. I was expecting rock or pop punk or something from the band name, but I suppose this sort of electronic, dancier music is more obvious. It's quite effectively summed up in their Facebook bio - "the sound of two lads with guitars and a laptop". I have only ever heard about thirty seconds of Bloc Party in my lifetime, but so far they've got a similar kind of shouting vocals and slightly frantic feel to the music that makes you imagine training montages or people free-running. Surprisingly enough, Bloc Party are indeed listed as one of their other influences. Who'd have known?

Skin And Bone (above), which they've apparently gotten played on Radio One, is my favourite track so far. It sounds a little bit more melancholy, but melancholy can sound great in a song if you do it right.
They sound a little bit samey at the moment, and perhaps aren't quite my kind of thing, but if you're into alternative dance stuff (had to Wikipedia that), it's definitely worth your time to give them a listen

Looking At Bands

Yeah, I'm back to that. I did want looking at smaller, newer bands to be a bigger part of what I write about, but then obviously I got kind of distracted and all my writing devices died.
However, now I'm back at it, or hope to at least start on it. I'll be working through the bands that have followed me/I'm following on Twitter. This is not a request for you to follow me in return for a post about you, I hate when people do that, it's just where I find the bands usually. However, if you do have some music and want me to write about it (which might take a while because about 60% of the people I follow are bands but I will try) even though this is obviously not a famous blog, you can contact me on twitter (@izzybombizzee) or comment here or email me or something. Yes, do that.

Friday 3 January 2014

I Will Fight Every Last One Of You (A Punk Playlist)

I blame Pax Am Days for this. I got Save Rock And Roll for Christmas off one of my aunts, but in a bizarre stroke of genius, she got me the Pax Am Days re-release version. Normal Fall Out Boy is pop punk, but in Pax, they're so amazingly punk that I have trouble not sitting there quietly screaming whenever I listen to it. It reminded me that, if I'm anything, I'd like to consider myself at least a little bit punk. My tastes may stray to other things, but punk always calls me back eventually. Of course, there may be some of you out there who scoff at what I consider punk - consider that your elitist categorising and pigeon-holing of music is really not punk, and therefore I win. You're just a servant of The Man.
In this spirit, I have created a bit of a punk playlist that I wrote in that cool way people do on tumblr. Some of it's 'proper' punk, some of it's hardcore, some of it's pop punk, some of it might be a little bit metal if it suits. It is, as the title is supposed to suggest, get you up, about and motivated. Please don't necessarily fight anyone. If need be, crumble them to dust with your words, but don't get me for inciting violence. There's fighting The Man and then there's being an arse.

My Chemical Romance - Give 'Em Hell, Kid
Fall Out Boy - We Were Doomed From The Start (The King Is Dead)
Green Day - Letterbomb
All Time Low feat. Vic Fuentes - A Love Like War
Good Charlotte - Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous
Leathermouth - Murder Was The Case That They Gave Me
The Story So Far - The Glass
Blink-182 - The Rock Show
Black Flag - Rise Above
Ramones - My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down
The Used - Put Me Out