When You’re Done, Just Give Me A Call

Sugar Minott “Love And Understanding” – When I hear this song, my mind is flooded with images of Brooklyn at night. Montague street, covered in snow and lit by streetlights. Fulton Street Mall, over to Borough Hall and down Court Street; the pavement slightly wet and reflecting colored lights from the storefronts. The view of the Manhattan Bridge from Washington and Front Street. Dots of car lights skimming along the Brooklyn Bridge as seen from the common space of my old apartment. All of this is lovely but totally inexplicable. I never heard this song before this week, and I wasn’t exactly listening to a lot of reggae when I lived in that area. (I was, however, listening to a lot of downbeat hip hop and a smattering of dub, so that’s some kind of explanation.) Ultimately, I don’t think that there really is any one specific thing about this song triggering all of these vivid visual memories. I suppose that I just associate mellow, bass-heavy music in general with a sort of late night urban serenity by default. (Click here to buy it from Soul Jazz Records.)

Lo-Fi-FNK “A.D.T.” – Maybe I’m getting crazy, but I’m fairly certain that this sound would sound best if played at a disco on a cruise ship, with everything lit by pastel neon lights. I am so certain of this that I wonder if on some level, it is what Lo-Fi-FNK had in mind when they wrote the song. Much like “Unighted,” this has a light, clean, cheerful quality to it, and a bassline that I’m dying to hear on something other than my cheesy headphones and weak computer speakers. (Click here to visit the official Lo-Fi-FNK site.)