Drank Up All the Kool-Aid at the Block Party

As an apology for the prior unpleasantness I thought I'd share some good feeling warm weather music. No, these aren't Cabbage Patching knee-blowout tunes on the order of Fresh Prince's "Summertime", rather they are rooftop BBQ jams for when the sun's so hot the shingle tar starts to melt under your feet.

Kelley Pollar Quartet - Hammer/Anvil
*Buy it from GEMM*

Kelley Pollar's string arrangements have graced many a Metro Area classic, but on this recording he heads off into a parallel yet original sound. A too sexy groove is intiated with vintage synthesizer bass samples and a distorted organ belching queasy loops. Just when you think the song has built to all the climaxes it can muster, the strings kick in and a pensive melancholy settles upon the arrangement.

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Rinocerose - Music Kills Me (The Rapture Remix)
*Buy it from Amazon*

Not so much a remix than a reworking in all actuality, 2002's "It" boys The Rapture sunk their teeth into the work of floor filler Rinocerose. 'Tis a shame Blogger can't handle umlauts and all those special characters, because you're missing out on some wonderful squiggles in Rinocerose's name.The Rapture put down the cowbell and looked inside themselves to "remix" a quiet, moody cover that yearns for something more than next season's asymmetrical haircut. Seacrest out.