Red Bull Music Academy – Video Archive – Theo Parrish.
“Fuck house music. Fuck any moniker that tries to limit music.”
As anyone who has experienced a Theo Parrish the work of this consummate architect of sound envelopes the listener, and transmits new perspectives on club sonix. Theo’s musical expression fuses the rhythmic, disco-based pulse of Chicago house with the modernist motorik soul of Detroit techno; at the same time pointing to a lineage in black music that runs directly from Sun Ra to Sound Signature. “Jazz spawned house music, jazz spawned hip hop, jazz spawned funk and they all reflect back into that,” says Theo. So if you want to see the future via the raw, soulful and black roots of house music, then you’ve come to the right teleporter.
Tracks explored include:
Stevie Wonder – As
(where Theo explains the song lyrics as Stevie being God, singing to Man)
Mr Fingers – Can U Feel It
(the first tracks that really turned Chicago on to house music)
Marvin Gaye – Funky Space Reincarnation
(Understanding the importance of the mix itself, and James Brown as the GodFather of House, not just Soul – or hip hop even)
Herbie Hancock – Sleeping Giant
Lil’ Louis & The World – I Called U (Why’d U Fall)
(“It’s not house music, it’s Jazz!”)
Theo Parrish – Lake Shore Drive
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti
We were introduced to Ariel Pink on holiday last week. Sounding like they were taking inspiration from Brian Wilson surf music, 80s cock-rock and 70s prog and lo-fi folk.
New album is called Before Today and is fantastic, but you should also download the Greatest Hits. Not a bad place to start when trying to learn about a band that has released 100s of songs over the last 10 years, but you’d never before heard of.
The Guardian write:
It’s new music day at TheScrapBook clearly.