Donkey Kong Country promotional artwork.

Singing that part of "everybody loves the sunshine" but in a Borat voice like "my wife, my wife , my wife , my wife" , just being the worst possible human i can be.

They finally made the milk from that hotel

Pet’s name with a gif

Perfect storm of Real Life Stuff landed me in a position to play Mario Kart World on launch night. You know what, world of chaos? I can’t even be mad. Forces I can’t understand are guiding me. Let’s get it.

Sure Happy It’s Thursday! What song is stuck in your head right now? #EarWorm

And yeah, I did share some Studio Ghibli AI slop. Normally I wouldn’t but it was that picture of Kenny G and Miles Davis and I couldn’t help myself. Sorry Mr. Miyazaki it won’t happen again. 😞

At the gig drinking an NA beer, thinking about playing Xenoblade when I get home. Sober 30s are kinda a vibe lol.

Every time a video of Jaco comes up on the timeline, it invites the most brain dead musical takes of all time. I don’t listen to a lot of his stuff anymore, but still feel compelled to jump in and defend the guy. Go listen to Hejira.

First heard this in a 9th Wonder samples DJ mix years ago (blended into Junior Mafia obv.). No track listing so I had no idea what it was until much later, but that “hey hey uh huh” stuck in my memory that whole time like something from a dream. The groove! Man!

While we’re at it, Sylvia Striplin - “Give Me Your Love” b/w “You Can’t Turn Me Away” is the best 12” ever released. Perfect peak hour dancefloor banger + perfect end of the night slow dance jam. I played both sides at my last gig and I will probably play both sides at my next gig. 11/10 no notes.

Roy Ayers created the syntax of modern groove-based music. Deep house, boom-bap hip-hop, neo-soul, & contemporary jazz funk don’t exist or don’t sound the way they do without him. He’s that important. Huge loss. Rest well, king. 👑

Roy Ayers. What else can I say that hasn’t been said? Groove king. Changed my life as a teen getting hip to his music. Just gonna post some joints here. Byron Miller is crushing on this shit BTW.

#MWE done. Had fun listening to some new (to me) music. Now I want to pivot hard back into listening to old favorites because TBH the most enjoyment I got out of recreational listening this month was running Yes - Close to the Edge again for the millionth time in my lifetime. That album rules.

#MWE Day 28 A compilation of various Thelonious Monk sessions from the early-mid 50s, a couple cuts of which feature Sonny Rollins. Man. Sonny Rollins is a master of melody - a seemingly endless wellspring of ideas. I just want to say that we’re all lucky to be living at the same time as him.

#MWE Day 27 Gritty Midwestern soul meets silky Philly elegance (Gamble & Huff! Thom Bell! Vince Montana!). You can hear the emergent strains of what would become disco in a few years, but it’s really about the ballads and slow dance numbers here. They don’t make slow jams like they used to. Word.

My Tooth? Spooky.

#MWE Day 26 Generally, more of the kind of material present on the first LP with slightly better recording quality. What I said about Take One applies. “Reverend Lee” is a huge stand out- vivid storytelling with her voice contorting to match every lyric and an all-timer Chuck Rainey bassline.

#MWE Day 25 A ballad-heavy set that exemplifies Flack’s steadfast elegance. What would be saccharine in someone else’s hands is graceful in hers. My favorite moments are the more groove-oriented tunes. Ron Carter absolutely holds it DOWN on “Compared to What” and “Tryin’ Times”.

I’m so tired of jazz album cover design that’s an inferior rip-off of either the Blue Note or ECM graphic design aesthetic. We need more arch-top guitars on Mars.

My Cheer? Blue.

My Mole? Matching.

My Machine? Soft.

#MWE Day 24 Kool & the Gang’s early brand of jazz-inflected funk speaks for itself. I just have one question: Is “Rated X” the greatest funk Mellotron performance? It’s kinda running unopposed unless we count the outro of “Mercy Mercy Me”. Still though, love hearing Mellotron outside of prog.

The Thai spot where I grab lunch on work days sometimes has the illest smooth jazz playlist. Got that Harry Styles grown and sexy cruise version going right now 💥💥💥

#MWE Day 23 Scarface casts a cold, unflinching gaze towards 90s street life. There’s a darkness underpinning everything- even the escapism afforded by sex, weed, and drink. Vivid and soulful, every word carries the greatest possible weight. How’d it take me this long to get around to this?!

#MWE Day 22 A precision engineered missile of angsty rock aimed squarely at 13-year-olds from ‘94 til Infinity. Basically immune to critique- it is exactly what it aims to be. No more and no less. The album that launched a million power chor

#MWE Day 21 Noodly. Not necessarily in a bad way. Has the vibe of a live-focused group attempting to consolidate their sound into a studio recording. The LP makes me more curious to seek out a live bootleg. National Health, this group’s heir apparent, got it right tho. For nerds and completists.

#MWE Day 20 Honestly? Went into all of these albums expecting to dislike them and maybe get a dunk or two off. Coming out of all of them not necessarily loving everything, but deeply appreciating that a guy as open and curious as JC can be successful. Good for him.

#MWE Day 19 You know what? I went in expecting to really detest this album but I don’t. R&B JC isn’t my favorite, but this could be a lot worse. I don’t need to hear him rap ever again tho. Sidebar: sometimes I wish music school students never found out about Dilla tbh.

He’s in it for the quiche/ you might as well not ask him for no free shit, capiche?

In doing a Jacob Collier deep dive I’ve realized something: If he were born like 45 years earlier, he’d probably have lead a Canterbury/ prog type group somewhere along the lines of Hatfield and the North or Gentle Giant and it would rule. We’re in the wrong timeline.

#MWE Day 18 Kind of a nice surprise! When JC slightly dials back his maximalist approach, he’s capable of moments of subtle beauty and charm. The folk orientation works better for his voice. A bit long, and stumbles towards the end, but I found myself enjoying this much more than anticipated.

#MWE Day 17 What happens when you put Hiatus Kaiyote, Bo Diddley, and Hideki Naganuma in a blender? Track 3. It’s… a whole lot. I can kind of appreciate the boundary-free exploration of styles but the phrase that kept coming to mind: Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.

#MWE Day 15 The embryonic beginnings of a distinct regional rap sound developing on the West Coast. Much of this album has more than a passing resemblance to contemporary East Coast styles (Juice Crew, Run DMC), but “Just Clowning” feels distinctly LA. Solid 80s rap LP that suggests the future.

#MWE Day 15 There are many recordings of Ahmad Jamal playing “Poinciana”. It’s astounding that it never seems perfunctory- there’s a palpable joy that exudes from every performance. He was happy to sit in that tune, explore it a little more, and share that with folks for his whole life. Message!

#MWE Day 14 Black Milk is a producer with few true peers as a technician. Rather than give us the full baroque treatment here, he strips it back to the loop. “Drumless” maybe, but masterfully executed with Fat Ray’s charismatic stink pink gator Detroit flow as a perfect complement.

#MWE Day 13 When I was a child, my mom would occasionally return home from the import store with some small instrument. I would sit around with it, tapping out rhythms or plucking notes and sitting with the reverberating sound. This album reminds me of those times innocently exploring sound.

#MWE Day 12 I love Phil The Agony. He’s like the snotty, raw Phife Dawg of the Strong Arm Steady/ Likwit Crew continuum. Whenever he pops up on a record, it’s a high point for me. This is labeled as an album but it’s really a mixtape- a 2004 mixtape. Kinda a mixed bag, but again… Phil rules.

#MWE Day 11 The post-Chronic 2001 checklist: Dre, Nate, Snoop, & Em features ✅ Mel-Man, Scott Storch, Battlecat, & Quik production ✅ Brickwalled to the point of slightly clipping mastering job ✅✅✅ Extremely of its time, but still a pretty fun listen. A step down from the last LP to me tho.

A lot of turntablist videos come up on my feed where the DJs are cutting over the most un-funky, straight 1/16th notes with no syncopation ass beats in existence. Why?! What happened to swing?!

#MWE Day 10 It’s the bigger, more expensive sounding sequel record that so often falls flat on its face but here… doesn’t! Well, a couple regrettable choruses and beats don’t kill it anyway. A marvel of engineering- this sounds HUGE. I want my future records to knock like this.

#MWE Day 6 Todd Rundgren - A Wizard / A True Star sat in my crates for years as I raided it for synth squeals to sample. A pity I never paid full attention. Its dreamy bombast sounds today-current. “Camp Around” thru “Flamingo” and “Zen Archer” stopped me cold. If prog was as smart as it thought.

#MWE Day 9 Hard rhyming on dusted beats. This record is the platonic ideal of a good mid-90s rap record. Nothing is blowing my mind conceptually, but it hits exactly the way it should. Also, E Swift deserves more acclaim as a producer. That man’s sound is incredible.

People who like rap are generally pretty stoked on the halftime show. People who don’t like rap generally are not. Big surprise!

Kendrick performing new verses at the Super Bowl is incredible. The new shots at Drake in said verses are icing on the cake.

#MWE Day 8 Today I’m switching it up with a good rap record that I didn’t have to force myself to finish! Blu and Evidence craft a love letter to the ugly beauty of their hometown. It’s a study in contrasts: grime & glamour. “LA has a dark side” has been explored before, but this does it well.

Talking Book, Innervisions, Fulfillingness’ First Finale, Songs in the Key of Life or 3 Feet High and Rising, De La Soul Is Dead, Buhloone Mindstate, Stakes Is High

Happy Dilla Day!

Man… the CD era of rap albums produced so many bloated records with brutally unfunny skits. Getting through a whole Ja Rule album was TOUGH.