![DVS Mindz: The Twenty-Year Saga of the Greatest Rap Group to Almost Make It Outta Kansas [book review]](https://pages.vassar.edu/musicalurbanism/files/2024/07/DVSMindz-290x290.jpg "DVS Mindz: The Twenty-Year Saga of the Greatest Rap Group to Almost Make It Outta Kansas [book review]")
DVS Mindz: The Twenty-Year Saga of the Greatest Rap Group to Almost Make It Outta Kansas [book review]
How might sociologists engage the music biography genre? Biographical works can shed light on an important concern: the career as outcome of life-course sequence, social reproduction patterns, formal and informal status attainment, and larger contexts that enable and constrain advance through social fields.
M+M – “Someone Else’s Shoes” b/w “Million Dollars” (WAKE 16)
“Someone Else’s Shoes” b/w “Million Dollars” Current/RCA Records WAKE 16 (Canada) Released probably in winter 1986 Produced by David Lord, Mark Gane and Martha Johnson “Someone Else’s Shoes” is another pop-funk number featuring the Tinker Barfield/Yogi Horton rhythm section. Structurally it’s similar to “Song In My Head” — two chords with variation on the pre-chorus...
M+M – “Cooling the Medium” b/w “Big Trees” (WAKE 8)
“Cooling the Medium” b/w “Big Trees” Current/RCA Records WAKE 8 (Canada) Released in summer 1984 Produced by Daniel Lanois, Mark Gane and Martha Johnson All album versions for this single… although apparently there’s also an alternate Canadian 7″ of “Cooling the Medium,” even with the same WAKE 8 catalogue number, that swaps out the album...
Martha and the Muffins – “Suburban Dream” b/w “Girl Fat” (DIN 21)
“Suburban Dream” b/w “Girl Fat” DinDisc Records DIN 21 (UK) Released August 29, 1980 Produced by Mike Howlett This is the second single that Martha and the Muffins issues in advance of their second album Trance and Dance. Upon its release, the lineup it features had already begun disintegrating with the departure of Martha Ladly...
Martha and the Muffins – “Paint By Number Heart” b/w “Copacabana” (VS 1115)
“Paint By Number Heart” b/w “Copacabana” Virgin/DinDisc Records VS 1115 (Canada) Released probably in summer 1980 Produced by Mike Howlett Like the rest of the world outside the UK, Martha and the Muffins’ home country Canada took longer to embrace “Echo Beach” for the simple reason that Virgin proposed a wait-and-see approach and delayed the...
Martha and the Muffins – “Insect Love” b/w “Cheesies and Gum” (DIN 4)
“Insect Love” b/w “Cheesies and Gum” DinDisc Records DIN 4 (UK) Released on November 3, 1979 Produced by Mike Howlett Once more, with feeling: Martha and the Muffins re-recorded “Insect Love” for their first release on DinDisc Records, a boutique label established by Carol Wilson under the Virgin UK umbrella. What a difference a producer...
the shape of the Vassar College music scene: guest blog by Nicole Lipman
[Nicole Lipman has been my undergraduate research assistant for three years and has helped me immeasurably by transcribing interviews, scanning and indexing press clippings, and doing other work that my book project needed. Nicole is also a musician and music writer, so before she graduated in May, I asked her to update me on the...
how the Queen Street West scene began, pt. 2: OCA bands
How did a bunch of kids in suburban Thornhill ignite a Toronto music scene and bring new energy to Queen Street West, now a hip urban neighborhood? My last post introduced the key players and forgotten bands in the so-called Thornhill sound, but their network, activities, and energies would need to relocate and expand in...
how the Queen Street West scene began, pt. 1: the Thornhill sound
THE EVERGLADES are ambassadors of the Thornhill Sound, a sound long fermenting in the rec rooms and condo apartments just north of STEELES AVE. Among its proponents include: Martha and the Muffins, Johnny and the G-Rays, the B-Girls, and the now defunct Dishes, Cads, E-Static and the legendary Oh Those Pants! Even Canada’s songbird Anne...
how to teach Musical Urbanism in three lectures
Thought I would share this for teachers and academics: a guest lecture section that I just gave in an undergraduate Introduction to Urban Studies course taught by Lisa Brawley at Vassar College. Readers are welcome to incorporate or adapt this material into their own teachings. Day 1: Theorizing the post-industrial city Readings: Richard Lloyd...
metro music: creativity, place and alienation in the career of Martha & the Muffins
[Presented at the University of Toronto Department of Sociology on May 1, 2015. Thanks to Judith Taylor and John Hannigan for this opportunity.] It’s a pleasure to speak today on a new research project I’m working on. In anticipation of this talk, I had a couple of other topics I could have lectured on with...
scenes in the 10.0 era: a conversation with Pitchfork editor Mark Richardson
On April 15, the Musical Urbanism seminar brought Mark Richardson, editor-in-chief at Pitchfork, to Vassar College for an informal conversation about independent music, online journalism, and the relevance of places and scenes in an era of digital music. With hardly any effort made to publicize the event, the lecture hall was packed with Vassar students....