To dislike this song is to dislike sex, music, and life itself.

John Lee Hooker – Doin’ the Shout (right click to download) 3:31 mins/ 320 kbps/ 8.09MB

Listen to any modern r&b playlist and it becomes easy to forget that it wasn’t long ago that soul and hip hop existed as separate genres of music. And while I think both would have benefitted by sticking to their corners, this recent heatwave has exposed a patch of nostalgia that reminded me how exiting it was to watch the transition play out in real time.

Dubbed “New Jack Swing” in a Village Voice interview with the genre’s Godfather, Teddy Riley, who had come up producing artists like Heavy D and Kool Moe Dee, and by creating the classic instrumental for Doug E Fresh’s “The Show”. Riley applied the same production flair and love for the 808 to upbeat popular soul vocals, which married Hip Hop and R&B together forever, for better and for worse.

Nearly a couple of decades later, whether or not the music stands the test of time might have more to do with your level of involvement in the scene. Not since the jazz age has a culture developed such a sophisticated range of formalized dance steps, an involvement that required you to practice beforehand and create choreographed routines, and not just ad lib the moment. Where the original swing kids had Duke Ellington and the Astoria, jars of gin and Zoot suits, we New Jacks had Teddy Riley and wine coolers, Ikeda overalls and polka dot shirts, but those distinctions faded away the first time you ever jumped your own leg, then landed in the splits.

Johnny Kemp – Just Got Paid
Keith Sweat – I Want Her
Hi Five – I Just Can’t Handle It
Boyz II Men – Under Pressure
2 0’Clock – Gotta Get That Girl (12″ Version)
Johnny Gill – Rub You the Right Way
Luther Vandross & Janet Jackson – The Best Things In Life Are Free
Guy – I Wanna Get With U
Ready For the World – Yo, That’s a Lot of Body
Samuelle – So You Like What You See
Bobby Brown – Don’t Be Cruel (Remix)
Tony! Toni! Tone! – Let’s Have a Good Time
En Vogue – Hold On (Edit)
LL Cool J – The Boomin’ System (The Underground Mix)
Bell Biv Devoe – Word to the Mutha! (WBBD Remix)
Another Bad Creation – Spydermann
Wrecks-N-Effect – New Jack Swing
Heavy D & the Boyz – We Got Our Own Thang (Teddy Riley Club Mix)
Raheim – Does Your Man Know About Me
Ralph Tresvant – Sensitivity
Al B. Sure – Nite and Day
Troop – Spread My Wings
Flex – Hard To Say Goodbye to Yesterday

Electric Adolescence – New Jack Swing (right click to download) 60 mins/ 320 kbps/ 109MB

As part of this heatwave induced nostalgia trip I’m on, I also threw together a quick mix of guilty pleasure summer rap hits, hoping that nearly a year running this blog will have finally afforded me enough street cred to put Color Me Bad on a mix.

Candyman – Knockin’ Boots
Color Me Badd – I Wanna Sex You Up (Smoothed Out Mix)
LL Cool J – Around the Way Girl
DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince – Summertime (Remix)
Brotherhood Creed – Helluva (Mo’ Betta Mix)
A Ligher Shade of Brown – On a Sunday Afternoon
Dream Warriors – Ludi (Double Trouble Club Mix)
Marley Marl feat. Heavy D – Fools In Love
The Jungle Brothers – Spark a New Flame
De La Soul – Talkin’ Bout Hey Love
Ghostface Killah feat Slick Rick, RZA, Raekwon – The Sun
Take 6 – Don’t Shoot Me

Electric Adolescence – Summer Rap Hits (right click to download) 30 mins/ 320 kbps/ 68MB

Perhaps some songs are thorough enough that any supplemental text would just be wasting space.

Wire – Heartbeat (right click to download) 3:16 mins/ 224 kbps/ 5.25MB

Jesus loves the Republican party because the Republican party loves Jesus. He loves the Republican party because He believes the second amendment is more important than the first, that military spending is holier than heathcare, and that the government has no right to regulate corporations, but has an obligation to regulate homosexuals.
 
Jesus watches Fox because he likes his news delivered by professional wrestlers. He thinks America was better in the fifties, and can’t understand why so few black people agree. He one of millions who bought Sarah Palin’s book, and one of hundreds who read it. He doesn’t think Glen Beck is crazy. Jesus Christ has a reoccurring nightmare about Michelle Obama’s arms, and wakes each morning with clenched fists and the American Flag he wraps himself in drenched with sweat.

Neu! – Weissensee (right click to download) 6:46 mins/ 128 kbps/ 6.21MB

Fans of their earlier work should be quite pleased of the (currently available for pre-order forthcoming Books Album, The Way Out. While much of the album has the outfit refining a sound cultivated over a series of experimental yet unalienating albums, they forge a new sonic territory somewhere between Sgt. Peppers and Prince Paul.

The Books – I Didn’t Know That (right click to download) 5:10 mins/ 320 kbps/ 5.92MB

The Books – The Story of Hip Hop (right click to download) 4:30 mins/ 320 kbps/ 7.74MB

For those that slept, the first single from the album was included in the Raised In Cassettes mix a while back.

With decades having lapsed since Michel Hutchence’s impeccable hairdo outpaced the 90210 sideburns as the north star of white guy grooming, is seems surprising to regard the sometimes overpolished radio darlings as being ahead of their time, but this lesser known single from the band’s early days could have just as easily been a blog-era hit. A cool reminder that any band that ends with the lead singer killing himself invites a revisit to their back catalog.

INXS – To Look At You (Extended Version) (right click to download) 6:32 mins/ 320 kbps/ 14.9MB

And let’s not pretend we’re too cool to dig the hits…

INXS – Need You Tonight (Mendleston Mix) (right click to download) 7:04 mins/ 320 kbps/ 16.2MB

INXS – Guns In the Sky (Kick Ass Mix) (right click to download) 6:02 mins/ 320 kbps/ 13.8MB