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Music

Perlich’s Picks

Rating: NNNNN


Beck’s battleship earth

A Beck single that’s actually good? There’s headline news! It appears that Interscope is leery enough of the negative sales impact of his moniker to leave Beck’s name off the first single release in advance of his Dust Brothers -produced Guero disc, due March 29. The four-track Hell Yes EP is out as a white-label 12-inch distinguished only by a sticker of the Gameboy rocker in the top corner. That’s a telling clue, because the fab remixes of the four album tracks – Paza and 8-bit supply two apiece – make upfront use of video game sonic effects in a densely layered approach that recalls Beck’s early work with Carl Stephenson . Can’t wait to hear how Scientology got him back on track. John Travolta and Isaac Hayes collabos sure to follow.

Kelis vs. Nas (the remix)

The second volume of the white-label Rebtuz remix series was topped by Will Holland ‘s funky reggae revision of the Nas banger Get Down – although Phy Life Cypher MC Life did a nice job of Rasta-ing up G-Unit ‘s Stunt 101 – but it’s a different story on the just-released volume three. Holland comes out strong with a horn-hyped take on Beyoncé ‘s Work It Out, but the real reason you need to hunt this 12-inch down is TM Juke ‘s hard-whumpin’ overhaul of the Kelis joint Trick Me, which gives you an idea of what the Milkshake gal would sound like if she married Lee Fields instead of Nas. Beyondjazz ‘s Nadav Ravid also attempts to salvage Yazoo ‘s Don’t Go with a broken-ragga revamp that’s actually just as pointless as it seems. The Trick Me remix is the business.

Funk kings?

Considering the RZA ‘s stellar Wu-Tang production jobs, you’d think that someone who goes by the name Robert Diggs would have serious crate-robbing experience. If he does, it’s not apparent from the embarrassingly obvious tracks he selected for his end of the new Kings of Funk (BBE) double-disc set. There’s no question that Sly Stone ‘s Small Talk, Ohio Players ‘ Climax and Booker T & the MGs ‘ Melting Pot are great tracks, but not at all the sort of hard-to-find cookers we’ve come to expect from BBE. DJ Keb Darge goes deeper on the second disc, dusting off Mad Cliff ‘s magnificent You Can Make The Change, Anna Raye ‘s Will You Love My Child and Mighty Generation ‘s The MG Beat, but dropping MFSB ‘s overplayed Philly anthem Family Affair into the mix is a bit of a puzzler. Hopefully, he’ll bring the rare goods for his Movement gig at Supermarket Friday (February 18).

Rhodes schoolin’

By now most people are aware that Madlib has more eclectic tastes than your average hiphop home producer. Assembling one mix disc wasn’t going to cover it, so instead he’s just released two volumes of his Mind Fusion mix, the first focusing on his remixes of hiphop tracks by M.O.P. , Method Man, Common and others, while the second deals with what’s called “jazz, funk and soul.” However, those expecting to hear free improvisation, rugged beats or deep testifying should be advised that what you get is actually mid-70s Fender Rhodes-based fusion from George Duke, Azymuth and Cortex, not unlike the grooves Madlib puts down with Yesterday’s New Quintet. Some swell Ocampo sampling for the sleeve to boot.

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