In defense of the sanctimonious women's studies set || First feminist blog on the internet

Category: Entertainment

Sex songs

Lauren recently blogged on sad songs, and the comments section adds a lot more to the list (for the record, I think Nina Simone’s “Ooh Child” is about the most heartbreaking song I’ve ever heard).

So now, a new question: What is the best sex song? (And please, please do not say “Crash” by Dave Matthews Band. Please). My vote is for Led Zeppelin, “Since I’ve Been Loving You.”

Sad Songs

Jeanne and Lynn have recently written about songs that make them cry.

Lynn and I are completely in agreement on this one: “Alone Again, Naturally,” a song that isn’t very compelling, cheesy if anything, but has a line that kills.

I remember I cried when my father died, never wishing to hide the tears.
At sixty-five years old, my mother, God rest her soul,
Couldn’t understand why the only man
She had ever loved had been taken.

Dismay is the worst emotion to witness.

The most recent song I have found that expresses this emotion is “John Wayne Gacy, Jr.” by Sufjan Stevens (right click, save as). I had just downloaded a prerelease of this new CD and listened to it as I was planting my garden this spring. Elbow deep in peppers, I found myself weeping openly. There are several parts of this song that could go wrong, but it doesn’t. Pay attention to the one-line chorus and the last verse.

The CD with this song, “Illinois,” isn’t yet on the market, preorder it for release on July 5th. It is beautiful, Sufjan’s best work, and has an appeal for all kinds of music lovers. In the meantime see it’s sister CD, Greetings From Michigan: The Great Lakes State.

If you don’t feel like listening to sad songs, watch this (via Amanda).

Gigapixl Project

Check out this project:

If you are reading this text on a 1280×1024 computer monitor, a one-gigapixel Gigapxl? image would be 35 of your screens wide and 22 screens tall. A four-gigapixel image is twice as wide and twice as high?that is, 70 screens wide and 44 screens tall. When printed at the highest resolution discernable by the human eye, these images range from 5×10 feet up to 10×20 feet in size. Compared to leading 6-megapixel digital cameras, a Gigapxl? image has between 160 and 666 times the number of pixels. It also resolves an independent color triplet at each pixel unlike Bayer-pattern digital cameras. These images are big and sharp beyond anything you are likely to have seen in your life.

Sez Alex at After School Snack,

A photo of the Bixby Bridge allows one to zoom in on the face of a person sitting on the bridge, too small to see in the full photograph.

I really like the zooms on the shuttle launch.

The Disneyfication of Feminism

Screenwriters may have internalized them, graduate schools may have assimilated them, but contemporary romantic comedy heroines are pure corporate product, a desperately pandering and clueless assemblage of received notions, sexual anxiety and recycled focus-group-think handed down over the years like Grandma’s cheesecake recipe.

and

Romantic comedy heroines aren’t characters anymore, they’re tranquilizers. They provide exactly what love does not, in a way it wouldn’t if it did. They’re designed to fan the fantasies, soothe the disappointment and calm the frayed nerves that come later. And to do that, they must be built to specifications.

via Ms. Musings

“As Fat As Monroe”

She fumes: “I’d ban anything that is too small or too tight, unless you’re slim and toned. I’m sick of seeing flab bulging all over the place…I’d kill myself if I was as fat as Marilyn Monroe.”

I have some choice words for Elizabeth Hurley, but I’ll let you guys take care of this one.

via Mac

Summertime Downloads

In preparation for this summer’s Mixmania!, I’ve been compiling songs that scream summertime to yours truly. I envisioned my playlist as what would make me sing out loud without shame at a stoplight with the windows down. Summertime usually means that three major genres are represented in my CD player: reggae, rockabilly, and synth-pop dance music. Also cue David Bowie and the B52s.

As a charitable service, I thought it might be appreciated if I offered a preview. After all, no one can complain about free music, even if you hate it.

Notorious B.I.G. and Bone Thugs – Notorious Thugs
I genuinely hated rap until one long summer sitting out on a friend’s front lawn watching he and his buddies get drunk on PBR while whooping at people walking through campus. They forced me to listen to all sorts of hip hop, primarily hip hop from the mid- to late-90s, until I finally got it. After many years of resistance, I finally decided that, okay, I’m down as long as it isn’t too commerical.

I offered this song up for download before with some commentary on hip hop, gender, and sexism (this song has very little in comparison with the others in that post), and got this comment from Oshunluv:

How do I feel about them??? hip-hop classics! Bone-Thugs and Biggie was an Oakland classic Back in the day!

You heard it from her: classic. Unfortunately I can’t let myself listen to Bone Thugs out loud in public — they remain relegated to my headphones during walks to and from campus.

Dawn Penn – You Don’t Love Me
This slinky reggae classic gets my hips a-movin’ and head a-bobbin’. Nuff said.

The Dirtbombs – Underdog
This Detroit band is headed by Mick Collins, formerly of The Gories, and features his trademark growling, soulful voice. Detroit has been notable in the last few years for a fusion of garage rock, Motown soul, and punk rock with bands like White Stripes and the Von Bondies. The Dirtbombs are, in my opinion, a far superior choice if that’s a sound you like.

Of Montreal – The Party’s Crashing Us
And now for the synth-pop. This band is cute, but not too cute. Sweet but not saccharine. Of Montreal is thankfully missing the Angst Factor and they make my butt awkwardly move around in the driver’s seat.

Firewater – Mr. Cardiac
A slinky, sultry, cynical song with a female guest singer that furthers my delusion that somewhere deep inside of me is a singing voice fit for the public.

Reverend Horton Heat – Loco Gringos Like a Party (link fixed!)
I maintain that the Rev. is one of the greatest bands for driving long trips down sunny highways with your windows down. This song comes from Lucky 7, my favorite album since Holy Roller, a best-of compilation that unfortunately does not include the classic song “Nurture My Pig.”

Right click, save as, rename.

NOTE: I was looking at my stats to see how many people have downloaded songs and realized that the number 47 comes up every time I upload songs to the site. Forty-seven downloads or less. Is this the same forty-seven people downloading songs every time?

Tanya Stephens

Tanya Stephens has been referred to as “Jill Scott with dick jokes.” Some of her lyrics seem anti-man, some patently pro-woman, and some simply reflect the no-holds-barred stylings of female rappers we are used to in the U.S. What she does best is speak from a personal perspective on heterosexual relationships in which women feel unappreciated.

A listener unaccustomed to listening to Jamaican dancehall reggae (not crap American and British dancehall) will notice several things. First is the repetition of backing music. This isn’t sampling as we know it, but reflective of a producer-based music industry in which artists are vehicles for producer mixes, asartists are not tied down with music labels as in the States. This is changing as dancehall is becoming more of an international interest. The repetitious backing beats are labelled as riddims (rhythms for the painfully white) and are sometimes featured on full-length, ninety-minute CDs where artists lay vocals over them, resulting in ninety minutes of pure repetitive hell. I prefer them as singles rather than laid back-to-back in this manner. DJs, who remain closely tied with producers, often refuse to play new music unless they are highly compensated, reminding of the days of payola in early American rock ‘n roll.

The Jamaican music industry is almost unforgivably misogynistic in this regard. Artists who promote typical patriarchal ideals are highly rewarded, and so are the female artists that go along with it. There are always exceptions to the rule, but the patriarchal system prevails. One of my favorite reggae artists has been banned from the UK for promoting violence against gays and lesbians, even boasting: “I kill sodomites and queers, they bring AIDS and disease upon people.” The greatest shame is that he does so while promoting racial and spiritual unity.

Though the industry is changing, female artists are few and far between. Heavy hitters like Lady Saw and Tanya have been a staple for over a decade, and new artists like Ce’cile and Ms. Thing are up and coming superstars.

Tanya Stephens got quite a bit of flack for breaking from the producer-driven model and releasing an album through a Swedish label. Insiders accused her of selling out and abandoning her Jamaican heritage. Truthfully, the Swedish album is produced in a manner far more similar to American and European music. It sounds cleaner and her accent is less prevalent. But I speculate that the backlash came more from a sentiment she isn’t quiet about: “My goal on this record is to show my diversity not only as a singer but also as a songwriter and also to breakaway from the stereotypical female in Dancehall selling plain old cliche sex.”

If there is one thing about Tanya Stephens, the woman can chant. Some of the backing music is lacking in melody but I have included my favorites here for you. Right Click – Save As – Rename.

It’s a Pity (Doctor’s Darling Riddim)
This single came out shortly after Tanya’s three year stint in Sweden and was not well received by Jamaican critics. It’s a song about a woman lamenting her married beloved. She fantasizes what their life might be like should they actually be able to get together. The greatest strength in this song is the horn section, in part because it breaks from the usual riddim motifs.

Big Heavy Gals (Cuss Cuss Riddim)
This one has been featured before on Feministe in a slew of random songs. An anthem for “big heavy gals” who can still “get material,” it serves as a celebration of female sexuality in all bodily forms, and includes a few swipes at men who just don’t get it. This is one of my absolute favorite songs by Tanya.

Bounce Me (Medina Riddim)
A retrospective look at a failed relationship with a cheater.

What Makes a Gal Come
Self-explanatory — a few pointers for those who remain clueless.

All of the information in this post I have gleaned from various resources over the years. If there are any Caribbean readers who can confirm or deny anything I’ve said here, especially regarding the music industry, it would be appreciated. In addition, if any of these songs pique your interest, I have several more comparable female reggae artists I can feature. Drop a line and I’ll include them in a future download feature.

Enjoy!