Tuesday 12 January 2010

White noise

I picked this up at Oxfam this afternoon for a mere £1.99. I already had the track below and I don't think any of the others on the album will nudge it from the top spot, but one never knows. Besides I love the sleeve art - it reminds me a bit of Blue Note. And he's smoking a pipe - swish.

"What a Bringdown" is pretty close to a perfect track - everything about it seems light. I'm not a big fan of samples, they usually strike me as clumsy, but the woman's voice on this is great: strange and distracted, possibly a bit stoned. It reminds me of Sissy Spacek in Badlands or "Little Fluffy Clouds". I did some detective work (the internet is a powerful tool) and it's from an album called "Motor-Cycle" by Lotti Golden.


MC Honky: What A Bringdown

9 comments:

  1. I likes it - very spring/summer.

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  2. Never heard this before and i second Mondo's position.

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  3. It's great isn't it. Despite the air of wistfulness it's somehow very uplifting.

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  4. Great job in checking into the sample! So cool that you found it's the voice of Lotti Golden, from her "Motor-Cycle" LP that's gaining a pretty big following online. (Atlantic hasn't yet reissued the LP on CD.) Mark Oliver Everett of the Eels is a genius, and it was a stroke of brilliance to use Golden on the track. I'd love to see Everett and Golden work on a project!! (Golden's voice is amazing and so are her lyrics.)

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  5. Hello, thanks for leaving a comment. Mr E is dead good isn't he, and so prolific. I've got a couple of Eels albums and I keep meaning to pick up the others but I keep getting distracted.

    As you say Golden's voice is amazing, but very full on - the sample doesn't really give you a taste of what you're in for. I meant to mention Susan Christie in the post as well, her vocals are more like the sample - a bit languid.

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  6. Love "What A Bringdown" by MC Honky. Lotti Golden's voice used as a sample (she's talking) sounds very cool. Golden, in fact, sounds so relaxed, her voice reminds me of a Brazilian Carlos Jobim samba, like the matter of fact, ultra mellow Astrud Gilberto vocal on "Girl from Impanima" ---only Golden is talking--not singing. "What A Bringdown" a very cool track brought to us from E in disguise. What a great idea to use Golden's voice!

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  7. Hello Anon, I hadn't thought of Astrud Gilberto, but now I am. So thank you for that.

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  8. This is near perfect! Mark Everett's genius is in play as he builds "What A Bringdown" around Lotti Golden's amazing spoken voice. Her vocal sample is from "Gonna Fay's" a song on her 1969 epic LP "Motor-Cycle" (Atlantic). Tiny Mix Tapes describes Golden as the Velvet Underground meets Motown.

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  9. Yeah, I hear a bit of Astrud Gilberto too--. It's amazing that Lotti Golden's spoken voice can have such a hypnotic, mesmerizing effect, but it sure does, and Mark Everett uses her vocal sample brilliantly in "What A Bringdown." Golden's original songs, from which the sample is taken (Gonna Fay's) was posted on YouTube recently.

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