December 15, 2021 Playlist

"Sex Packets" by Digital Underground (1990)
CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK
Digital Underground "Sex Packets"  1990 (USA)
Greg Jacobs, AKA "Shock G", "Humpty Hump" and "Piano Man" from the pioneering rap group Digital Underground, was one of several great musicians who passed away this year. He was a unique figure during the "golden age of rap" (1986-1994) when artists were playing with song and album structures much like rockers had done in the late 1960's. An almost ridiculously gifted individual, Greg Jacobs was two of the three lead rappers in this group, as well as the main songwriter, producer, keyboard player, and he even did the artwork for a couple of their album covers. DU added their own characters and stories to the funk mythology begun by George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic 20 years earlier and dialed up the ridiculousness and satire. This week's classic album was the group's debut and biggest seller, including the classic hit singles "Doowutchyalike" and "The Humpty Dance" starring Jacob's unforgettable alterego Humpty Hump (a character reminisecent of Sir Nose D'Voidoffunk and Urkel). This album is also something of a "sci fi concept album" featuring a 15-minute suite of songs about virtual reality sex drugs ("Sex Packets") which might be even more ahead of its time than it seems. Their second album was musically even better and basically a salute to the P-Funk (it also included a new member who would go on to great fame as a solo artist: Tupac Shakur, whose debut album was also co-produced by Jacobs). The third record was also a forgotten classic centered around another heavy concept: The Body-Hat Syndrome (1993) is about condoms that are large enough to protect your entire body (and brain) from all the "viruses" going around (once again, very ahead of it's time!) However, each Digital Underground album sold less then the previous one and their last three albums (1996-2008) were released on indie labels and barely charted. Digital Underground disbanded in 2008 and Greg Jacobs died of a drug overdose in 2021.
On a happier note, here's music videos from the new J-pop heard on the show this week: Yasutaka Nakata's been active with his usual projects -- the duo Capsule put out several singles in 2021 (here's "Future Wave") and my guess is they have a new album on the way soon (their last one was 2015), while Kyary Pamyu Pamyu released her fifth album which includes the 2020 single "Kamaitachi". The happiest jam of the year could be "Love Supreme!", Fhana's theme song for the long-awaited second season of the anime show Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid.
(N) = New Release
   
Artist Song Album Year Country
Night Beats Cream JohnnyOutlaw R&B (N)2021  (Fuzz Club)USA
Acid Dad RC DriverTake It From The Dead (N)2021 (Greenway)USA
TEKE::TEKE Meikyu
("Labyrinth")		Shirushi (N)
("Sign")		2021 (Kill Rock Stars)Canada (Quebec)
/Japan
Goat The Sun The MoonHeadsoup (N)rec. 2012-2020  (2021 Rocket)Sweden
Richard Dawson & Circle PitcherHenki (N)
("Spirit")		2021 (Domino)UK/Finland
Parquet Courts Just ShadowsSympathy For Life (N)2021 (Rough Trade)USA
 
 
Neil Young & Crazy Horse Change Ain't Never GonnaBarn (N)2021 (Reprise)Canada/USA
Neil Young & Crazy Horse Welcome BackBarn (N)2021 (Reprise)Canada/USA
Esperanza Spalding Formwela 5Songwrights Apothecary Lab (N)2021 (Concord)USA
Steely Dan Aja (live)Northeast Corridor: Steely Dan Live! (N)rec. 2018 (2021 Universal)USA
   
 
Digital UndergroundThe Humpty DanceSex Packets
 CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK		1990USA
Digital UndergroundSex Packets
   / Street Scene / Packet Man		Sex Packets
 CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK		1990USA
Madvillain (MF Doom & Madlib)Rhinestone Cowboy (Four Tet Remix)Madvillain Remixes: Four Tet EP2005USA/(UK)
Lee "Scratch" PerryThrow Some Water InThe Upsetter Presents: Roast Fish Collie Weed And Corn Bread1978Jamaica
   
 
The MonkeesPapa Gene's Blues The Monkees1966USA/UK
The BeatlesYer BluesThe Beatles ("The White Album")1968UK
The Rolling StonesRocks OffExile On Main Street1972UK
Charles BradleyChange For The WorldChanges2016USA
Dr. Lonnie Smith Sunshine Superman (with Iggy Pop) (Donovan)Breathe (N)rec. 2017 (2021 Blue Note/Universal)USA
ZZ TopGroovy Little Hippie Pad
   / Heaven, Hell Or Houston		El Loco1981USA
Frank Zappa & The MothersPenguin In Bondage / Pygmy Twylyte (live)Roxy And Elsewhere1974USA
   
 
BABYMETALAwadama Fever
("Bubblegum Fever")		Metal Resistance2016Japan
Momoiro Clover Z
("Peach-colored Clover Z")		Bionic Cherry (TeddyLoid remix)Re: Momoiro Clover Z (remix album)2015Japan
Capsule Future Wavesingle (N)2021 (Warner Japan)Japan
Kyary Pamyu Pamyu Kamaitachi
(name of a mythological creature)		Candy Racer (N)2021 (KRK Lab)Japan
Fhána Ai No Supreme!
("Love Supreme!")		single (N)2021 (Lantis)Japan
   
 
Dempagumi.incBali 3 Kokkyou ("Bali 3 Republic" - sic?)
   / Precious Summer!
   / Kuchizuke Kibonnu ("Kissing Hope" - sic?)
   / Ashita Chikyuu Ga Konagona Ni Nattemo
     ("Even If Tomorrow's Earth Becomes A Young Girl" - sic?) (live)		Cosmo Tour 2019 At Nippon Budokan: Nemu Yumemi Graduation Performance - A New Departure2019Japan
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