Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Items of Note on the Interwebs

2 notes of Frenchtouch delight (or disgust, depening on your perspective):

· Kristin from Showtrotta pointed out a link on Kidz by Collette to a recording from the LA show of the Falcon/Braxe tour at the Viper Room. If you were able to catch this tour of the cousins Quême, you know it was one for the ages.

· Secondly, and I'm sure more controversially, there's a new Daft Punk sampler in town, and it's Janet Jackson.

Janet Jackson - So Much Betta [RIGHT-CLICK TO DOWNLOAD]








In the circles in which i find myself, there's been a lot of hating on this track, and the artist performing it. I must say though, i think there's a certain level of elitism going on (and perhaps closet racism?) in the backlash against Hip-Hop's love affair with Daft Punk. I have taken nothing but joy in seeing the worship of my heroes by the Neptunes, Kanye West, Busta Rhymes, and now a Jackson, and while some might argue (fairly) that some of these artists are jumping late onto the Robots' bandwagon (and money train), I simply see it as testament to the timelessness and unstoppable appeal of Daft Punk. The fact that the sounds from Daftendirekt (as in Janet's "So Much Betta") and Around The World (as in Will.I.Am's "I Got It From My Mama [Remix]" [Link Here]) still sound as fresh as they did more then a decade ago, and are being appreciated by a Hip-Hop audience that is certainly more far-reaching then House has ever known. This is not theivery, but rather a continued coronation of the greatest musicians of their generation.

And for the record, I think Janet's the shit. She can do whatever she wants, she's the Queen. The track's great. Let the debate begin...

20 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks for the Falcon/Braxe link i look forward to listening to that once its downloaded (200MB :O)

i don't like the Janet Jackson track but i think its mainly because i don't like Hip Hop. Fair enough. But i don't see racism coming into its criticism at all, i see a clash of musical tastes people who like House it appears don't like Hip Hop and Hip Hop is mainly a Black form of music but House seems to cross all boundary's due to the facelessness of most of its musicians. If we didn't have the Internet shoving photos in our face we wouldn't know at all what our favorite musicians look like

Anonymous said...

I can't believe you like this track.
It's just business, making money with a daft sample. Maybe she enjoys Daft Punk's music, but, in the case of "So much betta", there's no tribute or whatever, it's clearly BUSINESS, like the remixes of "Thriller" by Will I Am and others.
All these "artists" forget the most important : M U S I C.

Besides, I like Stronger by Kanye West, and also its remix by A-Trak.

Ethan, please stay in House music, don't fall into business ! And don't mention this stupis gy who runs Kidz by Colette : he's only copying other blogs without mentioning them.

New post on WDPK webzine

Have a good day.

John Stortz said...
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Solid Goldberger said...

What can I say? I dig the track, but I've been enjoying Janet's new sound of the past 4-5 years anyway. If you listen to the past 3 albums of hers, the singles certainly reflect this sound, in in that light, "So Much Betta" is not a money grab, but rather a legitimate extention of her craft. If you dont enjoy her sound, thats fair enough, but I do.

I knew that i was gonna piss off a lot of my readers with my opinion here, but fear not, you ain't losing me to hip-hop any time soon.

e.

John Stortz said...

i feel a heavy hearted bit of elitism i suppose, mainly from all these new fans of daft that washed up right around when Kanye's Stronger came around. i love and cherish the fact daft are making a huge comeback, a decade after their first conquest on the musical scene, but feel a certain apprehension to embrace all the newer fans. first off, this most likely stems from my seething hatred for "Stronger" and most everything Kanye's literally decimated just by rapping over it. no, it's not closet racism or a dislike of rap, as i'm quite fond of it. he's just pretty awful at keeping a decent melodic or rhythmic rap over any sample, though his samples are incredibly well executed. oh... so back to the new-fans-of-daft. i guess it's some residual feelings after everyone in the music reviewing scene hated daft's Human After All, and then some huge resurgence happens after Alive (which is to be understood) and all the critics are holding their tongues and acting as if they've always been in their golden age. again, this essentially proves asshole-music-elitism.

Unknown said...
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ViciousJams said...

Its ironic how Daft Punk sampled MJ's Billie Jean for Daftendirekt. now to see his sister use the sampled version of his trak sorta creates a vicious circle...

Solid Goldberger said...

Is that really true? Does Daftendirekt sample Billie Jean? If so, thats awesome.

Also, i just wanted to add that i'm not calling you a racist if you dont like this track.

e.

Unknown said...

Just wanted to add an anecdote from maybe 10 years ago, I saw Janet on MTV Live (before there was TRL) promoting whatever album she was releasing at the time. The interviewer questioned her about her inspiration for the album and she responded "Basement Jaxx," much to my house-loving delight and the VJ's confusion. That leads me to believe she has been a house fan for a long time.

That said, I'm not really feeling this track, but it doesn't seem like too egregious a money grab to me.

To clarify: this is not the same Sam as the top comment

ViciousJams said...

yeah, if u listen to her earlier stuff such as "Together Again," "All For You" ect. you can tell that theres a house influence on these songs...

Unknown said...
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Unknown said...

It's funny how we're all sensitive to Daft Punk and they're turn to hip-hop, when in fact the Daft one's themselves have a love for American Hip-Hop.

It's a money business Daft Punk held out for 10 years to have this untouchable image and to be able to have some of the most respectable names in hip-hop sample them GO FOR IT.. hip hop needs it just as much.. how much more 50 Cent wannabe gangster beats can we take? and do we need another Souljah Boy (Guilty Pleasure)?

I'll admit I like Kanye's music but don't like how he self-proclaims himself as the one to invent it or the 1st to do so.. on that note A-Trak's remix KILLED IT!! It's way better than most remixes/remakes that bedroom/electro DJ's hammering everyday in the blog world today..

on that note please stick to French House!!! I love this blog for that reason.. But more importantly your right Janet can do whatever the f*ck she wants

Richard Jones said...

Is the Braxe & Falcon mp3 totally messed up for anybody else? The first ~30 minutes sound to my ears like the end of Falcon's set and part of the Braxe interview is repeated at the end. Also, the beginning of Falcon's set is overlayed onto the end of his interview.

Additionally, the tags on the Braxe/Falcon mp3 say that it is Scion Radio 17. I put "Scion Radio" into google and got this: http://www.scion.com/broadband/. If you click on "Scion Radio 17" it gives some interview with a group called TTC and I cannot find any mention of Braxe/Falcon. Anybody have any more details on where this came from?

Spaceman Spiff said...

I love Janet but that track is just trash.

Mrs. Gency said...

First I just want to thank you for posting all these great house tunes and introducing me to Cryda Luv! Great blog.

As far as this track is concerned, I think it's absolute garbage, regardless of whether or not it's an attempt to "cash in" on the duo's success(which I doubt). I think all the tracks that have sampled them so far are. Hip hop + house should be stuff like Parris Mitchell and Wax Master, not BUSTA RHYMES. I can only think of one other track that I loved that Janet Jackson's producers sampled(Herbie Hancock's "Hang Up Your Hang Ups"), and they mudered that, as well. I guess I just hate pop, so sue me.

I honestly don't think I'd like the tracks even if artists I liked sampled Daft Punk. How can you sample a sampler? Honestly.

Anonymous said...

== JAY SEZ: ==
First: Janet is the QUEEN!! YEAHHH!! She can really use a (Daft Punk) sample and make it totally FRESH!!

Kanye and Busta, them too... ;)

To those hatin': YOU try and use a Daft sample and make a song, OK?

Second: If I ever do a mixtape with Daft Punk in it, you KNOW I'll give 'em PROPS ALL DAY!! :)

Keep rockin' Ethan!! You are FIRE (not FIRED), baby!! You know where I'll see ya... on the FLIPSIDE!! LOL

~JK~

majormike said...

well, house was started by gay black dudes so i don't think it's really racism, just a differece in genres.

Jean Moustache said...

"So Much Betta" is a bad song.... how Daft Punk could accept the contract?


RIP Janet

ChocolateCake said...

Daft did not use a billy jean sample for daftendirekt. It is bangalters voice slowed down and a filter. Just play the record faster and you can hear his voice clearly.

Fr said...

How could they accept the track? Easy answer she's the sister of Michael Jackson. Even our superheroes have heroes.