Muppetpastor 3.0

It`s the day after Easter, and a rather dismal looking day besides. What better way to spend it than curled up by someone special and listening to the most romantic songs you can find, right?

Wrong. (Actually, right, but since I`m unable to do that, you`re getting slightly angry songs that may or may not have a political slant this week . Deal with it)

The first song this week comes from Atmosphere. As ganked from MTV, Atmosphere is a hip-hop group from Minneapolis that centers around rapper Slug (aka Sean Daley). The son of a black father and a white mother who divorced when he was a teenager, Slug became entranced with hip-hop, graffiti, and breakdancing, and formed the Rhyme Sayers Collective with two high school friends — Siddiq Ali (Stress) and Derek Turner (Spawn). After some early gigs as Urban Atmosphere, where Slug DJed behind Spawn’s rhyming, the pair hooked up with producer Ant (Anthony Davis), as well as like-minded locals such as MC Musab, Mr. Gene Poole, and the Abstract Pack, forming an underground hip-hop clique dedicated to freestyling, clever and complex lyrics, and anti-gangsta positivity. In 1998, Atmosphere released its debut album, Overcast!, which quickly became regarded as an underground hip-hop classic thanks to Slug’s deeply personal, poetic musings, as well as Ant’s bare bones — but inventive — production. The next Atmosphere album was titled Sad Clown Bad Dub II, a 2000 set originally sold while the group was on tour. (Now out-of-print, it’s a highly sought-after collector’s item). A year later, the group released Lucy Ford: The Atmosphere EPs, a collection of three EPs built around the theme of Slug’s complicated relationship with his ex-girlfriend, the lost love of his life. The group has toured consistently, both at home and overseas; while Ant usually doesn’t accompany the group on the road, Mr. Dibbs of the group 1200 Hobos often joins in behind the turntables and Slug is usually assisted on the mic by young rappers like the teenaged Eyedea. In June 2002, the group — down to the duo of Slug and Ant — unleashed God Loves Ugly, an 18-track effort that returned to previous themes (”F*@k You Lucy”), but also contained the group’s most pop-friendly single to date, “Modern Man’s Hustle.” In 2003, Atmosphere returned with his fourth album, Seven’s Travels.

Now that I`ve stolen a rather informative bit of information, I`ll actually get to the song. Taken from the Lucy Ford EPs, here is:

Atmosphere - Aspiring Sociopath

Track two this week comes from Vanilla Ice. Quit laughing. In 2001 Vanilla Ice released his latest album, a fusion of the nu-metal form from his previous effort “Hard To Swallow” and some..ahem.. gangsta/crunk rap as well. Titled “Bi-Polar”, it was an interesting musical experience to say the least. I`d take some bits from his official website, but I found mostly it`s more than your usual load of self-serving pap. This particular song is about as far from the “Ice Ice Baby” Vanilla Ice as you can get, especially with members of Slipknot, Soulfly, and Sepultura as the backing band.

Vanilla Ice - Molton

Track 3 comes from two legends in the odd-punk/rockabilly sound. Jello Biafra (formerly of the Dead Kennedys) and everyone`s favorite redneck role model, Mojo Nixion. 1994 saw the release of their album, “Prairie Home Invasion “…and is an album I`ve been looking for for a while, and Amazon.com is just too easy. CD searching is a pastime, not 5 minutes on a computer. I`m digressing. This particular track has been banned at my house due to blasphemy, the using of the melody of a hymn, and content. This means it`s solid gold in my opinion.

Jello Biafra & Mojo Nixon - Will The Fetus Be Aborted?

Final track this week, and we`re taking yet another left turn to visit probably one of the best known entertainers in the world, playing one of his all-time biggest hits, and a song that a lot of Americans think is probably perfect. However, this version (taken from a live concert) is radically different than the album version, and in my opinion far better. Less proud than mournful, with blues more predominant…..Oh, let`s just listen.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band - Born In The USA (Live from New York)

Next week, we`ll have word on a new addition….a podcast from our new sister site, OM: SonicTerrorism as well as a new multi-writer blog.

Until then, same Muppetpastor-time, Same Muppetpastor-channel….