Assemblog: December 6, 2013

Spring

New this week on Popshifter: I review the bizarre time capsule that is Saâda Bonaire and have some constructive criticism for Sebastian Grainger after his latest solo release, Yours To Discover; Paul discusses where R&B is now and where it’s heading with Toronto musician Jhyve and explains why Purple Snow: Forecasting the Minneapolis Sound is a labor of love; Brad reviews an underrated classic (Body Bags) and a new could-be classic (Bounty Killer); and Jeff waxes nostalgic and gloomy with Depeche Mode’s “Black Celebration.”

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Blu-Ray Review: Bounty Killer

By Brad Henderson

Exploitation is a term that isn’t used with newer films, although every so often we get a film that looks like it’s from today but has the throwback feel. Bounty Killer is one of those films. However, Bounty Killer never claims that to be a throwback and that’s what I really enjoyed about it. If you are mainly inspired by older films and want to really hit hard with the audience who loves that type of thing, do not call your film a throwback. It ruins everything.

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Interview With: Toronto R&B Musician Jhyve, Part Two

By Paul Casey

About a month ago, I had a conversation with a talented musician from Toronto. Jamaal Desmond Bowry goes by the name Jhyve and makes modern R&B. He also has a touch for Rap. His latest album, Supermegafutureshit, resulted from a collaboration with producer Soul. The album is an atmospheric thing and another sign of how the genre is regaining its standing with listeners and musicians. Get low, change the tone, push through a whole bunch of compatible influences.

I spoke with Jhyve for about an hour and our conversation covered many things that I feel are important, especially right now. While we discussed Jhyve’s history and how his music has developed, we also got to talk about how R&B has changed over the years and why it is that so many unfairly reduce its ability to address human problems. Read Part One of the interview.
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Waxing Nostalgic Connecting The Dots: Depeche Mode, “Black Celebration”

By Jeffery X Martin

The doom and gloom of Eighties music, which arguably began with the appearance of The Smiths (see last week’s article), stayed relegated to the underground for most of the decade. Bands like Bauhaus and The Damned morosely swayed around the borders of the Alternative Nation, not gaining widespread recognition in America until much later. Depeche Mode, a four-piece band from Essex, managed what seemed at the time to be impossible; not only did they gain the respect of the Goths and Gloomers of the time, they also achieved mainstream success through the heavy rotation of their music videos. The reason for this was simple.

They were pretty.

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Blu-Ray Review: Body Bags (Collector’s Edition)

By Brad Henderson

John Carpenter has blessed us with many great flicks and inspired a limitless amount of people. He continues to do so even today. Still, Carpenter has a few underrated flicks and Body Bags is one of them. The whole film wasn’t directed by The Horror Master himself, but he directed a segment and more importantly, he nailed it as the host of this anthology. Body Bags might not be the best thing ever but it is a blast. (Don’t take me too seriously when I say it may not be the best thing ever; I mean that in a very positive way, actually.) Now, Scream Factory has given us a pristine looking Blu-Ray.

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Music Review: Various Artists, Purple Snow: Forecasting The Minneapolis Sound

By Paul Casey

Purple Snow: Forecasting The Minneapolis Sound collects music from many musical outfits that helped shape the sound of the title. While the title is a nod to the importance of that miniature-sized and prodigiously talented man, the collection assembled by Numero Group has a broader interest. This is a work of love and commitment. It is a history lesson for those who think great artists are created in a vacuum. Everybody who has sat back and had a sob over the genius of Prince, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, or Alexander O’Neal and assumed they came out fully formed, should have a listen to this compilation.

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Interview With: Toronto R&B Musician Jhyve, Part One

By Paul Casey

About a month ago, I had a conversation with a talented musician from Toronto. Jamaal Desmond Bowry goes by the name Jhyve and makes modern R&B. He also has a touch for Rap. His latest album, Supermegafutureshit, resulted from a collaboration with producer Soul. The album is an atmospheric thing and another sign of how the genre is regaining its standing with listeners and musicians. Get low, change the tone, push through a whole bunch of compatible influences.

I spoke with Jhyve for about an hour and our conversation covered many things that I feel are important, especially right now. While we discussed Jhyve’s history and how his music has developed, we also got to talk about how R&B has changed over the years and why it is that so many unfairly reduce its ability to address human problems.

Just because you have grown up to believe that one genre is THE STANDARD, it does not mean this is everyone’s experience. Just because Rolling Stone tells you that the only worthwhile R&B is that one Marvin Gaye record they heard at a party that one time, don’t assume this is all the genre has to offer. Not all sex songs are vacant. Some have a lot to say about the human problem. Sex is not all R&B has to be, either. Things are changing, and hopefully soon R&B can encompass all manner of concepts and ideas. What will remain is its fearlessness and passion.

I have tried to present the conversation as close as possible to how it happened. I have edited and cleaned it up to make for a more pleasant reading experience but the meaning and the order of chat are the same. Part Two will be posted on Wednesday, December 4.

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Music Review: Sebastien Grainger, Yours To Discover

By Less Lee Moore

Sebastien Grainger’s first album post-Death From Above 1979 included a band called The Mountains and established a distinctive musical style far removed from his work with Jesse F. Keeler (review). Five years later, Grainger has something new to offer—this time without The Mountains—and he’s expanded his palette considerably, while still retaining some of what made that first solo debut so compelling.

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Music Review: Saâda Bonaire, Saâda Bonaire

By Less Lee Moore

There’s a lot to be said about the decidedly bizarre time capsule that is Saâda Bonaire. They weren’t so much a band as an experiment, but one that definitely pays off.

In 1982, Bremen DJ Ralf Behrendt, a.k.a. Ralf von Richthofen, embarked on a musical project that he hoped would replicate something akin to the influence Caribbean and Indian music was having on British pop. Behrendt had an exposure to and fascination with Turkish music due to his work in the German government’s immigration department. He enlisted local Turkish and Kurdish musicians, as well as his then-girlfriend Stephanie Lange and her friend Claudia Hossfeld (who both wrote the songs), to create Saâda Bonaire.

Thirteen tracks were recorded for EMI in Kraftwerk’s Studio N with producer Dennis Bovell, including “You Could Be More As You Are” as the intended single. But then, it all hit a snag.

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ICYMI: November 29, 2013

New this week on Popshifter: Less Lee takes a look at the experimental School Daze from Hi-NRG pioneer Patrick Cowely and urges movie superfans to donate to the Kickstarter for the “Twenty-Four by Thirty-Six” documentary; Melissa is educated and entertained by the crossover between Jewish and Latin music called It’s A Scream How Levine Does The Rhumba; and Jeff describes the flashes of genius in An Evening with Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer and reminds us of what it was like being a depressed teen in this week’s Waxing Nostalgic.