From: owner-find-your-mind-digest@smoe.org (find-your-mind-digest) To: find-your-mind-digest@smoe.org Subject: find-your-mind-digest V10 #19 Reply-To: find-your-mind@smoe.org Sender: owner-find-your-mind-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-find-your-mind-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk find-your-mind-digest Friday, March 2 2007 Volume 10 : Number 019 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: find-your-mind popmatters City Beach review [mykepm@aol.com] Re: find-your-mind popmatters City Beach review [AGENTCLPT@aol.com] find-your-mind Blog critics Jill Cunniff interview ["Schneider, Sara" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 01 Mar 2007 14:44:00 -0500 From: mykepm@aol.com Subject: Re: find-your-mind popmatters City Beach review Wow. Unnecessarily harsh. Clearly written by a guy who desperately misses the big city defiant edge that the early LJ albums had. Truth be told, I miss it too. But Jill seems to be in a different place in her life now, and she shouldn't have to defend it. Being a mommy is a different mind set than being a teenager/twentysomething with a chip on your shoulder telling off the jerk boyfriend you dumped. And Jill doesn't have to go back there to make good music. It's OK for the guy to not be into the album, but like or dislike it for what it is, not what it's not. I'm surprised the guy didn't take a cheap shot about LJ working on a kid's album. On another note, did anyone get instructions for downloading the 2 bonus tracks that were offered for pre-ordering the album? I haven't heard anything about it (although I'm a little careless about deleting what looks like junk mail without opening it). I contacted Zambooie and they told me I had to go directly to The Militia Group -- who never responded to my email. I'm bummed. I wanted more cool grooves! - -Mike M. - -----Original Message----- From: joly@dti.net To: find-your-mind@smoe.org Sent: Wed, 28 Feb 2007 8:49 PM Subject: find-your-mind popmatters City Beach review http://www.popmatters.com/pm/music/reviews/11549/jill-cunniff-city-beach/ Jill Cunniff City Beach (The Militia Group) US release date: 20 February 2007 UK release date: Available as import by Dave Heaton Do you remember Luscious Jackson when In Search of Manny was released, or even Natural Ingredients? Their music seemed a natural sort of hip-hop-influenced pop music. With its old-school vibe, in-the-moment freshness, and life-in-the-city lyrics, it sounded like young New Yorkers singing (and half-rapping) about the world they knew. They seemed in line with the memory of grassroots music groups of decades past, from doo-wop-ers gathering on the corners under streetlights to punk rockers banging their music out in lofts and other impromptu practice spaces. By the time of their final album, 1999s Electric Honey the group had slickened up, and softened, their sound immensely, but retained much of their original style, the NYC grit/diversity of their music. This was truer, though, of the songs written and sung by guitarist Gabby Glaser than those by bassist Jill Cunniff. Cunniff always had more of a soft-pop side to her singing than Glaser, who always seemed like more of the hip-hop singer of the two. So it shouldnt be a complete surprise that her first solo album City Beach pushes further in that direction. As the title indicates, City Beach tries to portray city life with the mood of the islands, the mood of relaxation. The songs are as a whole softer and gentler than even the most relaxed Luscious Jackson songs. Yet the lyrics continually reference New York City, and within the music she occasionally tries to evoke the city as well. The soft-pop sideand, to be honest, this music contains the most generic tropes of that genre of easy- listening love balladryis what dominates throughout, though. It often feels like New York City is fighting a battle to stay within Cunniffs music, and losing. Its hard to resist comparing the Muzak-ization of Cunniffs music with the gentrification and Disney-fication of New York City itself. City Beachs opening songs try hardest to keep NYC (and, by relation, the legacy of Lucsious Jackson) in listeners minds. Lazy Girls has beats and a occasionally intruding rough guitar/synth riff which push in that direction. But the tune and the lyrics are both deathly dull, and Cunniff sings lyrics about relaxing and enjoying life in a style that seems straight-jacket-ed with seriousness. Theres nothing lazy about it in the sense she means. Similarly, Happy Warriors aims for a uptown in Harlem block-party vibe, with vaguely Latin, meant-to-sound homemade percussion, horn bursts, and lyrics like when it gets dark down in the park / the party starts. But she sings these words like shes about to take a nap. She gives the phrase dont give up the ultra-serious tone of a political folk song. NYC Boy is meant as a loving portrait of a rebellious hip-hop/graffiti kid, but it sounds so removed from that setting. It feels like an awkward anthropological study, not a song by a New Yorker herself. Later on, Future Call tries hardest to funk the album up, with a reggae/ska sax part and an almost aggressive energy. But the song is a mess, with a grating, repetitive melody and an all-too-busy style thats hard to figure out. The ambition of the song is likable, but that doesnt make it feel any less like a belly flop onto concrete. As the album proceeds, you can hear the city vibe getting weaker and weaker, often smothered completely by mundane, heard-them-a-million-times-before soft-pop styles. The music sounds less and less related to Cunniffs roots, more and more similar to a slew of interchangeable soft- pop songs, of the type youre likely to hear in a doctors office or a grocery store. The way she sings a line like you could be one of the of the beautiful people / youre eye candy (on Eye Candy"), it doesnt sound like celebration or sarcasm; it sounds like lifestyle marketing. What does it mean that love is a luxury, the chorus to the song of the same name? Does it mean more or less when its followed by the lyric you are enough for me, turned into a we have love and thats all we need sort of love song. Love is a main topic throughout the album, but its used in such a bland, vague way that the references to it seem less about love as a concept, or as a day-to-day reality, than about love as the hallmark of soft-pop music, love as the word that hooks mainstream America into this style of song. With its recurring life-in-the-city lyrics set inside overly genteel balladry, City Beach seems to be going for a continuous slow-motion city snapshot, one of these scenes: youre walking down the avenue in a crowd of people and the sun gleams off the skyscrapers just right as you hear a multitude of people speaking different languages. Or youre at an impromptu multi-cultural late- night party, grooving with friends and strangers of all stripes, and time seems to stand still. Instead the dominant feeling is this: youre in a suburban shopping mall, looking at rack after rack of bland, made-in-China clothes, and from the speakers above you become vaguely aware of a voice you recognize, singing I dont know why we let love die so easily, her voice almost lost within generic soft-pop sounds, and you think, isnt this whats her face from Luscious Jackson? No, it couldnt be. And the thought fades as soon as it arrived, once you notice that jeans are on sale. - --------------------------------------------------------------- WWWhatsup NYC http://pinstand.com - http://punkcast.com - --------------------------------------------------------------- ________________________________________________________________________ AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at AOL.com. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2007 14:53:19 EST From: AGENTCLPT@aol.com Subject: Re: find-your-mind popmatters City Beach review In a message dated 3/1/2007 2:52:07 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, mykepm@aol.com writes: On another note, did anyone get instructions for downloading the 2 bonus tracks that were offered for pre-ordering the album? I haven't heard anything about it (although I'm a little careless about deleting what looks like junk mail without opening it). I contacted Zambooie and they told me I had to go directly to The Militia Group -- who never responded to my email. I'm bummed. I wanted more cool grooves! I have them if you need them! Mike


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AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at http://www.aol.com. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2007 12:05:06 -0800 From: "Schneider, Sara" Subject: find-your-mind Blog critics Jill Cunniff interview Here's a better review/interview to make up for that popmatters crap. http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/03/01/124756.php On a side note, working with Jill to get a bit of a contest under way. Waiting for the Luscious Jackson Greatest Hits cds as well as some Jill merch. Delved into my archives as well, unfortunately don't have much left these days. Should have something up and running within 2 weeks. Plan to have 5-6 winners as well. Did some behind the scenes updates on the site, tried to put some spam control on sign up for the forum, was getting 2-5 bots each day. Will upload the work I've been doing and do some more this weekend. Once again if anyone has anything to add to the site, old concert tickets, personal photos, or photos of rare lj merch or clothing please send them to me at sara@lusciousjackson.net. Sara www.lusciousjackson.net This e-mail, including attachments, may include confidential and/or proprietary information, and may be used only by the person or entity to which it is addressed. If the reader of this e-mail is not the intended recipient or his or her authorized agent, the reader is hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail, including its contents and attachments, is prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender by a "reply to sender only" message and delete this e-mail immediately and destroy all electronic and hard copies of the communication, including attachments. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 01 Mar 2007 22:19:45 -0500 From: "sara superhero" Subject: find-your-mind repost for chuck in regards to the popmatters review i'm resposting this for chuck, for some reason it bounced Cruel review. Really harsh. Jill's not 25 anymore. She's in her early 40s, as am I. People look at life from a different perspective once they have families. Personally, I think it's the most consistent album of NEW music I've heard in some time, and my wife loves it too. To each. ~cc~ sara http://lusciousjackson.net - -------------------------------------------------------- and i'm certain, if i drive into those trees, it'd make less of a mess than you've made of me. --rainer maria _________________________________________________________________ Mortgage rates as low as 4.625% - Refinance $150,000 loan for $579 a month. Intro*Terms https://www2.nextag.com/goto.jsp?product=100000035&url=%2fst.jsp&tm=y&search=mortgage_text_links_88_h27f6&disc=y&vers=743&s=4056&p=5117 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2007 22:29:47 EST From: Botoxica@aol.com Subject: Re: find-your-mind popmatters City Beach review In a message dated 3/1/2007 3:03:05 PM Eastern Standard Time, AGENTCLPT@aol.com writes: In a message dated 3/1/2007 2:52:07 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, mykepm@aol.com writes: On another note, did anyone get instructions for downloading the 2 bonus tracks that were offered for pre-ordering the album? I haven't heard anything about it (although I'm a little careless about deleting what looks like junk mail without opening it). I contacted Zambooie and they told me I had to go directly to The Militia Group -- who never responded to my email. I'm bummed. I wanted more cool grooves! I have them if you need them! Mike The same thing happened to me. I spent a week going back and forth with Zambooie who were actually surprisingly rude and insisted that the offer expired when my receipt clearly states I purchased the pre-order deal. How could I have purchased something that isn't available? Anyway, Militia Group still has not responded to me. :( This has been the only to put a damper on this Jill-a-thon of releases. Matt


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AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at http://www.aol.com. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2007 22:40:24 EST From: AGENTCLPT@aol.com Subject: Re: find-your-mind popmatters City Beach review If anybody wants the tracks, toss me an email and I'll send em over. When I ordered the CD, there was a link to DL and thankfully (from the sounds of it) I did so immediately. Mike


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AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at http://www.aol.com. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 01 Mar 2007 21:51:07 -0500 From: WWWhatsup Subject: find-your-mind Pitchfork Greatest Hits review http://pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/41282/Luscious_Jackson_Greatest_Hits Luscious Jackson Greatest Hits [Capitol; 2007] Rating: 5.8 The first record by another band on the Beastie Boys' Grand Royal label was a nifty EP called In Search of Manny by their East Village pals Luscious Jackson. If you're still able to enjoy funky boho Mellow Gold- Gen- Xisms, In Search of Manny is an overlooked gem, and Luscious Jackson never lived up to its promise. They sounded cool and even a little dark back then on dense tracks like "Daughters of the Kaos" ("Insane and unknown is my only creed/ Enjoy, destroy, then set you free"). Word was the band's drummer used to be in the abysmal hardcore version of the Beastie Boys before they found hip-hop, so the "Beastie Girls" tag stuck with Luscious Jackson for a time, which was forgivable given the history and some other parallels. They were middle class, they knew their NBA references, they rapped, and, most important, they had an inside track on hip New York culture from the 1970s and 80s, which in those days was hard to come by. By the time they released their full-length debut Natural Ingredients in 1994, it was clear that Luscious Jackson were on their own trip. The grooves found on the first five tracks of their EP-- created by Jill Cuniff and Gabby Glaser alone-- were built from samples and mirrored the blunted Bomb Squad-by-way-of-Muggs style so prevalent at the time. But Natural Ingredients was clean and bright pop-rock with only the barest hint of wise-ass sass, and it pointed the way for the rest of their career. Like so many alt-pop groups in the 1990s, Luscious Jackson focused on positivity, writing songs about respect, inner strength, and "the state of the world" (which, in retrospect, was pretty great). They weren't preachy, exactly; more the cool older sisters who had their shit together and were always around to remind you to keep your eye on the ball. Two more albums followed, and Luscious Jackson's profile bumped a notch higher. Some time after 1999's bland Electric Honey they called it quits to pursue other projects, and now comes their first career overview. I'd like to say it collects the highlights, but that's not quite accurate-- those first few songs on In Search of Manny are their peak, and only one of these, "Let Yourself Get Down," is represented here. Still, the best of the rest are present, even if some tracks sound pretty weak today. The clean and dinky roller-rink pop tune "Here" hinted at disco but didn't have the courage of its convictions, possibly because the old school downtown club sound was far from mainstream in 1994. And the limp affirmation "Strongman" can in no way be considered a highlight ("It takes a strongman/ To stand by a strong woman/ Yes, it does"). Even so, Luscious Jackson managed a few good singles. "Naked Eye" successfully integrated rap for the first time since the debut, and the chorus hook rules. "Deep Shag" was one of the few times the soul-loving Jill Cuniff was able to inhabit a song in an earthy way, and I wasn't surprised to find it on one of the zeitgeist- defining mixtapes mentioned in Rob Sheffield's book Love is a Mixtape. And "Ladyfingers", though it sounds a million miles from where they started, delivers the uplift they always promised (love to hear Pink cover it). A few OK remixes by the likes of Thievery Corporation and Kut Masta Kurt round out the set. Taken as a whole, this Greatest Hits set works more to stoke memories than as a musical artifact in its own right. It's very hard to imagine a 20- something hearing these songs for the first time and wondering where this band has been all their lives. Luscious Jackson, for their handful of good songs, seems to represent one of the 90s musical dead ends, when a band with a few qualities in tune with the times-- a good record collection, blandly sunny politics, a willingness to embrace the concept of an alternative nation-- could for a moment seem edgy and attain some modicum of popularity. Still, though, In Search of Manny... - -Mark Richardson, February 27, 2007 - --------------------------------------------------------------- WWWhatsup NYC http://pinstand.com - http://punkcast.com - --------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ End of find-your-mind-digest V10 #19 ************************************