Axelrod

I was having a music discussion the other day with my friend as to what constitutes the "coolest" music. Of course the silly conversation produced no definitive answers because the nature of the topic itself is so subjective that there will never be total agreement. The person who thinks that it is "cool" to blast Eminem from their Accord while driving through Ocean City, MD is not going to be convinced that seeing Steven Malkmus play a private show in a small bar is "cool." The abstract of the word "cool" itself is too broad and vague to really make for any meaningful musical debate.

But I'm talking specifically about the music. What are the songs that make you feel like you are fucking James Dean as you listen to your Ipod and walk down the street, the songs that you put on at the start of the party while everyone is sober and they start to question their choice in outfit because they do not know if they belong in such a hip presence, the songs that you play while you stare at yourself in the mirror, choke yourself, and masturbate.

I'm talking "Inspiration Information" by Shuggie Otis; "La Femme d' Argent" by Air; "Ghostwriter" by RJD2; "Corcovado" by Stan Getz, etc.

Anyway, the album that I'm posting this month, "The Edge" by David Axelrod is super cool. David Axelrod was an American producer/musician that bounced around between a bunch of different labels back in the 60's and 70's. This is a compilation of some of his greatest work while at Capitol Records. David Axelrod is by no means mainstream, nor is he really obscure. In fact, he is a big name among hip-hop heads as a lot of DJ's have sampled his work, Dr. Dre, DJ Shadow, Madlib, etc. I had originally heard of his when he made a brief appearance in the indie-lounge scene with having "The Edge"(written by actor David McCallum and produced by Axelrod) on a Morcheeba compilation. This song, which you will instantly recognize and have to hold yourself back from screaming "Dr. Dre Motherfucker!" appears on this album as well. Anyway, he wrote half the songs and produced the others (which include contributions from David McCallum [actor in The Great Escape], Lou Rawls [cool soul guy, though had gotten cheesy through the years], and jazz workhorse Cannonball Adderley.

I was going to post a different Axelrod album that wasn't a greatest hits compilation, but this one is more soundtrack in feel to it and actually flows better than some of his other work. Listen to it while driving home late at night in your car or while making dinner for that chick that you met with the pierced thing below her bottom lip. It's mellow, it's jazzy, it's freaking cool man. Enjoy.