Jaded, My Tummy

To say now that America was right, and England wrong, is exceedingly easy. Everybody can say it; the dastard, not less than the noble brave, can flippantly discant on the tyranny of England towards the American Colonies. It is fashionable to do so; but there was a time when to pronounce against England, and in favor of the cause of the colonies, tried men’s souls. They who did so were accounted in their day, plotters of mischief, agitators and rebels, dangerous men. To side with the right, against the wrong, with the weak against the strong, and with the oppressed against the oppressor! here lies the merit, and the one which, of all others, seems unfashionable in our day. The cause of liberty may be stabbed by the men who glory in the deeds of your fathers.

Let me stay on Africa for a little bit with these Black Music Month posts. This music here, highlife—West African dance/funk/pop medley galore—is what Fela grew up on. As did I. Prince Nico Mbarga was probably the most popular of the genre ("Sweet Mother" was his biggest song and, I believe, highest selling record by an African artist.... don't quote me on that). "Simplicity" is one of my favorites.

Societies never know it, but the war of an artist with his society is a lover’s war, and he does, at his best, what lovers do, which is to reveal the beloved to himself and, with that revelation, to make freedom real.

I'm still behind on my reviews (please forgive me OKP!), so I'm still posting up already published pieces for the time being. This is one of my favorite reviews. For Okayplayer, I reviewed the Fela compilation The Best of the Black President, which was released around the start of the incredible Broadway play Fela!. I would give more info on what Fela's music, Afro-beat, is and whatnot, but I introduce those things in the review. I'll have some more Afro-beat related posts coming too, which will fit in nicely with the whole black music month thing. Enjoy!

Fela Kuti - The Best of the Black President (2009)

There are several labels that have been ascribed to Nigerian Afro-Beat king Fela Kuti: visionary, trailblazer, misogynist, revolutionary, genius, etc. However, "prolific" has to be the most indisputable. Timed with the Broadway debut of the biographical musical Fela!, Knitting Factory Records will remaster and reissue nearly all of Fela’s back catalog...

I was all types of broke when I was in college, but somehow I still managed to collect all types of CDs and occasionally vinyl. Now, I'm all grown up, and I'm broke..... but I'm broke for real. In no particular order, I want to share my list of albums that I'm still eager to cop, despite how late I am on picking them up. If anyone who reads this has more suggestions, please post them up.

Esperanza Spalding - Radio Music Society

I love me some Hope, i.e. Esperanza, although I find myself frustrated that I lean more towards her R&B-leaning cuts than her pure jazz tracks. She's a badass bassist and interesting composer/improviser, so I would like to see more of that. However, if the Algebra Blessett duo, "Black Gold," is indicative of this "radio" album, then it's going to be more of the former. Still, can't be mad at that.


Big K.R.I.T. - Live from the Underground

MC of the hour right here..... at least for me anyways. I won't say too much here, because I'm working on a write-up for him (á la BBNG).


Killer Mike - R.A.P. Music

Since I've already given this project props, I should already own this. But alas, I do not. I still believe it MUST be good. There's no way it's not.


Alabama Shakes - Boys and Girls

A new garage-y rock band on the scene. I see you all's collective eyes roll, but this band is special. They are heavily influenced by the Stax, Memphis, and Muscle Shoals soul sounds, and the lead singer Brittany Howard's voice is painfully wonderful (think female Otis Redding). I want to marry her love it. The band is based out of Athens, AL, which is about an hour's drive from that legendary soul-recording city, Muscle Shoals. The few tracks I've heard on Spotify of this debut LP have me a little discouraged, but I still want to check this out.


The Black Keys - El Camino

I'm embarrassed to say I've yet to pick this up. When did this come out? Anyways, The Black Keys seem to be one of the biggest bands in America right now (ironically maybe?), so I don't need to say much about this.


Georgia Anne Muldrow - Seeds

Now, all these albums are good picks, at least in my opinion, but this might be the most intriguing album of all. I'm not a full-fledged fan of the cerebral, post-neo-soul of GAM, but mainly because I simply just don't understand many of her otherworldly projects. Every now and then, she releases a track or album where I recognize her brilliance, be it her atmospheric production or lyrical creativity. Seeds is entirely produced by Madlib, and I've heard too many good things about this to pass it up. So, I'm definitely going to cop this. Problem though? It's not something you can find at Best Buy or major retail store—but also, apparently, some local record shops, as I've failed to find it at my usual spots. I still like the feeling of going into the store and buying it, but I may cave and order it online.

I was playing an old Bob Marley mix CD I made in college, and this popped on. I used to love this song so much, and now realize that I still do. I can't even explain why. I'm definitely not religious at all, let alone Rastafarian, but this song always spoke to me. Maybe it's because it's about perseverance or having strong faith in the face of despair and opposition. Wikipedia has some interesting things to say about the song. I know now why I never found this on an actual album. Enjoy.

One good thing about music, when it hits you feel no pain.

I just learned via Wikipedia that Black Music Month was established by President Jimmy Carter in 1979. How executive of him, haha. Anyway, for my blog, I wanted to dedicate the month to those extremely talented artists who we tragically lost, either too soon (Jimi Hendrix, Marvin Gaye, Amy Winehouse [I know she's not black, so hush]) or still had time to make another impact (Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Don Cornelius). These artists all suffered from some form of mental illness, some combined with drugs, and it's something that I think about constantly.

But, one artist who I regard so highly and suffered from mental illness was Donny Hathaway. He is someone who I believe, unlike fellow keyboard prodigy Stevie Wonder, whose singular brilliance was never fully recognized on wax. While alive, he was mainly famous for the softer, simpler duets he did with Roberta Flack. I just happened to be listening to his song "To Be Young, Gifted, and Black," a cover of Nina Simone, around Whitney's passing, and it makes me think of all these artists. Aretha Franklin and a few others also did a cover, but Hathaway's is the best and arguably better than Simone's original. This month, though, I want to post up some artists and music I like that are outside the triumvirate of black music-hip hop, R&B, and jazz-that will be tagged "black music month." So enjoy.

"To Be Young, Gifted, and Black" from Everything Is Everything (1970)

Ok. Ummmmm.... Wow, did I not see this coming. I stayed "Stanning" Ms. Badu even when she tripped out into left field with the brilliant, in my opinion, album New Amerykah, Part 1: 4th Wold War (2008). I didn't think too much of her second installment, Return of the Ankh (2010), but I felt like I began to understand her artistry more clearly than ever with those last two albums, believe it or not.

Well, in this VERY NSFW video, she performs a static, hazy noise-rock cover of one of my favorite Roberta Flack songs, "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face," with experimental alt-rockers the Flaming Lips. You must see the video for yourself, but it's disgusting. And I'm not talking about the nudity, so just watch. Note that I had to get this from the Perez Hilton site, because it was taken down by YouTube and many other sites. It was taken down by Perez Hilton too, so I found another link. I try not to get too wrapped up in the image of musical artists. I like to focus on the music. With that said, I'm not really feeling this cover.

UPDATE 6/10/12: Ok, so there's been some developments, which I'm as usual, a little late on. Badu went to Twitter and blasted the band for this leaked version, originally by Pitchfork, and Flaming Lips man Wayne Coyne issued a formal apology: OKP News: Erykah Badu’s Statement On “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” Video.

Since I've been working on some overdue reviews (sorry OKP lol), I'm laying back on blog posts with original writing, so check out this folk album I reviewed for Okayplayer. I am not at all well versed in roots music, though I'd like to be. So, this was a challenge. I relied a lot on what the music made me feel in order to critique it, so I thought it came out pretty good, though not necessarily my best writing.

The Spinning Leaves and Hezekiah Jones - Hezekiah Leaves and the Spinning Joneses (2011)



















Founders of the Philadelphia Folk Parade, flagship folk acts The Spinning Leaves (Michael Baker and Barbara Gettes) and Hezekiah Jones (aka Raphael Cutrufello) have done a great deal to establish the City of Brotherly Love as a sustainable scene for roots music. Here on Hezekiah Leaves and the Spinning Joneses, they merge their progressive minds to weave together stories of the everyman, sorrow, nostalgia, whimsy, and deep reflection. Their poetic songs evoke the intended emotions best when they stick to bare-bones arrangements and colorful, acoustic instruments....

Duck Dunn's passing earlier this week was really sad news to me. During the '60s and '70s, he was the in-house bassist for Stax Records which, in my opinion, was the greatest soul/R&B label that ever existed. Their in-house band, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, are arguably the best in soul music as well, and so you can guess Dunn played a big part in developing that signature Stax sound. Some of his classic contributions are for the songs "Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding, "In the Midnight Hour" by Wilson Pickett, and "Hold On, I'm Comin'" by Sam & Dave.

He originally was pretty bad at playing guitar. His schoolboy friend who lived down the street from him in Memphis, Steve Cropper (another very important name/musician to know in the Stax lexicon), formed a local band called the Royal Spades. Duck didn't want to be left out, so he decided to buy a bass and learn how to play. He did leave the Royal Spades, which turned into the Mar-Keys when initially recording for Stax, but then morphed into Booker T. & the M.G.'s. The band also released instrumental records, most notably their "Green Onions" (1962) single which reached Top 5 of the Billboard pop chart. Duck came back to work with Booker T. Jones and Cropper after that hit around 1964, replacing bassist Lewie Steinberg. Hip Hug-Her (1967) and Melting Pot (1971) are two of the band's classic instrumental LPs which feature Duck.

Anyway, I could go on and on about Stax and find more tidbits on Duck himself, but basically everyone should know the music of this label: Otis Redding (my favorite vocalist, period), Sam and Dave, Isaac Hayes, Mavis Staples, Albert King, Johnnie Taylor, and many others. Once you discover the greatness of their music and become obsessed like me, I recommend these two books, Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom by Peter Guralnick and Soulsville, U.S.A.: The Story of Stax Records by Rob Bowman. I actually wrote a mini-review of the latter over at Goodreads (http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/114774756) a while back, if you're interested.

Rest in Peace, Duck.

This is one of my more interesting bios. I'm extremely proud of this one though, because the writing came together so well, especially considering I wasn't too familiar with that underground, folktronic music scene. Yeah, that sounds a hot mess, but just read the bio. In the picture below, Bunny Rabbit is on the left, and her producer Black Cracker is on the right.

Bunny Rabbit
Adopting the surrealist imagery of the avant-garde folktronic scene, Bunny Rabbit's devilishly erotic art-raps sent New York hipsters and critics reeling when she debuted Lovers and Crypts in 2007. The contrast of Bunny Rabbit's innocent-sounding, light voice and her actual lyrics was already a little disturbing, but her producer (and lover) Black Cracker, the dynamic drive behind this 2 Live Crew-meets-Goldfrapp project, provided the eerie soundscapes of dusty electro-crunk and trip-hop that clinched the album together....

Fuck Yo Blog (think Dave Chappelle haha)! A new, new leak from Childish Gambino (aka actor/writer Donald Glover from NBC's Community). I haven't taken the time to check him out yet, though it must be because I just considered him an "actor wannabe rapper." But, each song I hear from him gets me rolling, plus his flow is actually kinda bananas. So nimble. He's an awkward, nerdy, sarcastic black dude. He uses obscure references (you see that Louis Armstrong shout out right?). I mean that's me hahaha. I should be all over this. I was listening to the streaming playlist at ThisIsRealMusic and this just popped on. His verse is last. I could've done it without the anti-gay/sexist remarks though. Listen.

This collaboration between indie rapper/producer El-P and Dungeon Fam member Killer Mike has Hip-Hop Album of the Year written all over it. But, it also has just as much potential to be a hot mess. Either way, this is really worth checking out (I am hearing it's closer to the former though). For many, this collaboration seems so unseemly, because the two exist in very separate realms of hip-hop music. However, the exact opposite is just as true too. El-P's cacophonic melting pot of electronica, hip-hop, and prog-rock has been described as being like the Bomb Squad of the 21st century, while Killer Mike blends an early '90s Ice Cube/pro-black style with that dirty Dungeon Family funk-rap. The Bomb Squad, if you don't already know, was the production squad behind Public Enemy's classic albums, but more importantly, they also produced Ice Cube's classic solo debut, AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted (1990). See where I'm going with this?

I'm waiting to grab the CD, but you can listen to a stream of the entire album, plus read a detailed explanation for each track by Killer Mike himself, over at the Spin website: "Hear Killer Mike's Fiery 'R.A.P. Music': The MC Runs Us Through His New LP." Haha, cheers. Album will be released May 15.

Rock & roll is dying because people became ok with Nickelback being the biggest band in the world. So they became ok with the idea that the biggest rock band in the world is always going to be shit—therefore you should never try to be the biggest rock band in the world. Fuck that! Rock & roll is the music I feel the most passionately about, and I don't like to see it fucking ruined and spoon-fed down our throats in this watered-down, post-grunge crap, horrendous shit.

Here's some quotables from the Irish Film and Television Network (IFTN) source:

The feature film will be written and directed by John Ridley, who is best known as the writer of ‘Three Kings’ and ‘U-Turn’. The project is currently in pre-production in Wicklow, with principal photography set to begin in three weeks time in Dublin and Wicklow. The shoot will last six weeks in total.

The film will be set in 1966 and 1967 and cover the period in which Hendrix was discovered in a New York club by Rolling Stone guitarist Keith Richard’s then girlfriend Linda Keith. She subsequently introduced Hendrix to manager Chas Chandler who brought Hendrix to London in 1966, where he recorded his debut album ‘Are You Experienced’ and had his first taste of success. Over that period – 1966 to 67 – Hendrix went on to formulate some of the greatest guitar-driven records ever made.

Well, 3 Stacks is my man, and this is probably a near-perfect casting job, assuming that he nails this. I'm not sure if this is the same set of people who were doing the earlier project that got canned—the one where they were deciding between him and Lenny Kravitz to play Hendrix. I'm hoping the fact that it is being made in Ireland with some Irish filmmakers/producers there lends more credibility to the biopic. It might be a bit more interesting and not overly romanticized, since the Experience's recording career started in Britain.

Adam Yauch, aka MCA from the Beastie Boys, passed away yesterday from cancer complications. My heart goes out to his family and the group. I was never a huge fan of the Beastie Boys—well, at least from the '90s onwards—but I know that their importance to hip-hop is monumental. Licensed to Ill (1986) and, my personal favorite, Paul's Boutique (1989), are G.O.A.T. rap albums hands down. I was playing two of my favorite Beasties tracks today and thought I'd share.

"Brass Monkey"


"Paul Revere"

From Billboard news article, "D'Angelo To Give First U.S. Performance in Ten Years at Essence Music Fest":

D'Angelo is making his comeback: The reclusive singer will give his first U.S. performance in 10 years at the 2012 Essence Music Festival. [He] will perform during the festival's opening night. It runs from July 6 to July 8 in New Orleans and also features Trey Songz, Aretha Franklin, Mary J. Blige and many others.

Surprisingly, I didn't think I'd be excited at the prospect of D'Angelo returning to the music scene. 10 years without any product or effort to produce one can put a real damper on your fandom, even if said artist has an immense talent. But, I'm secretly (I guess no more) geeked to see what D'Angelo might produce for us. I'm more likely to go see him live in concert though than buy his next, supposedly Jimi Hendrix-influence LP. But, either way I'll be paying attention.

I'm a little late with this posting, though mainly because I didn't have a blog yet. Anyways, this biography of James Brown, The One: The Life and Music of James Brown by RJ Smith (a senior editor for Los Angeles magazine and staff writer for Spin), was issued last month in March and has been on my wishlist since a month before it came out. I recently read a few critics' quotes, and they've got me excited:

"R.J. Smith, a Los Angeles-based music journalist and author of the new book The One: The Life and Music of James Brown, may have come closer than anyone to understanding how James Brown became James Brown."

"The imperatives of biography are to record, to correct and to carve out historical significance, and Smith’s lively account succeeds on all three fronts."

This New York Times review, "Say It Loud: Soul King Explained," is the best one I've read so far. It's the one that got me hyped to buy this in the first place. Janet Maslin, the author, talks about why The One was chosen for the title:

"For starters Mr. Brown’s theatrics will explain why 'The One' is this book’s title. It describes but doesn’t come from Mr. Brown’s stature. Instead it denotes his signature emphasis on the first beat in a four-beat measure. 'The upbeat is rich, the downbeat is poor,' Mr. Brown said, explaining that tactic in typically cryptic but catchy fashion."

So, this is the same "Goodie Mob" (yes I had to use quotations... I took it there) that made "Dirty South" and "Black Ice"??!! I know I'm a little late on this, but I'm heartbroken, as are many other classic Dirty South hip-hop fans who saw them perform their new track, "Fight to Win," on NBC's The Voice. To be honest, as a pop track, this is cool and listenable with Cee-Lo on the hook, but this type of track shouldn't ever find the light of day from a group like Goodie MoB (Remember? The Good Die Mostly Over Bullshit). They mixed spirituality with street tales, crunk with boom-bap, southern bounce with dirty soul-funk.... not this. No, the MoB didn't get the mainstream props that their Dungeon Family brethren OutKast did, but their legacy and influence in developing the Southern hip-hop music is also monumental. Oh well....smh HARD.

The integration of jazz and hip-hop has appeared any many forms the past few decades. A whole crop of them were hot in the early-'90s hip-hop heyday with A Tribe Called Quest being the most notable (but remember Digable Planets and Resurrection-age Com Sense?). Even today, there are a new crop of young, innovative jazz heads who incorporate hip-hop into their music. Blue Note pianist/composer Robert Glasper is the first to come to mind (Karriem Riggins, Stefon Harris, Jason Moran...).

 Well, these three, under-21, Canadian knuckleheads are named BADBADNOTGOOD (BBNG), and they're a jazz band that reinterprets notable hip-hop songs à la El Michels Affair, except they play a whole lot more types of tracks. Recently, BBNG has been in the music news for their performance backing Odd Future at the Coachella Festival in California. One thing I really I like about their covers is that they don't feel so obligated to recreate the track in every way. They leave room for improvisation and exploration. Although their sound is real fresh and organic and I love some of their cover choices, I can't say I'd want to buy an album from them. But, luckily we don't have to, because they offer all their music for free here: http://badbadnotgood.bandcamp.com. Check out digital releases BBNG (2011) and BBNG2 (2012) where they cover Nas, Gucci Mane, Joy Division, the Zelda soundtrack, James Blake, and A Tribe Called Quest. I got word of them from The Revivalist blog (definitely worth checking for) over at Okayplayer. Here is their video for "Electric Relaxation" (A Tribe Called Quest):

Rating:
from the forthcoming Summer 2012 album What We Play Is Life

I hate to admit this, but my knowledge of the contemporary jazz scene is embarrassing. But, at the same time, much of it doesn't move me like Mingus or Monk. Well, this new track, "Groove," from trumpeter/composer Lee Hogans and his band, Pursuance, doesn't dissuade me from feeling this way. It's actually an enjoyable, head-nodding groove with some exciting improvisations, but the track as a whole doesn't really capture my imagination.

Hogans, who developed his chops backing the likes of Jay-Z, Jill Scott, Diddy, and others on their respective tours, is clearly of the hip-hop generation. The rhythmic foundation of "Groove" - a steady, bouncing hip-hop/funk jamfest - is securely held down by the chemistry and interplay between bassist Kellen Harrison and drummer Jerome Jennings. It's real easy to get lost in that groove. In fact, so much so that it somewhat bears down on the vitality of the music. What does capture my attention, though, is how lyrical Hogans approaches his solos. His effective, punctuated phrases reminds me of a hip-hop MC who skillfully manipulates syllables to fit the rhythm of the beat. It also reminds me some of Freddie Hubbard's jazz-funk classic Straight Life (1972)—but only just a little. At best, "Groove" is nice, jamming background music, but nonetheless, I still look forward to hearing what he's cooked up for the rest of his What We Play Is Life album.

For more info on Lee Hogans: http://www.bachbrass.com/artists/profile.php?aid=342

As I stated before, I really want to exercise and train my writing technique on this blog. And so, I plan to write reviews, op-eds, articles, etc. just for this blog. In particular for reviews: for songs, I plan to use the standard 5-star system, but for albums I'm going to steal Pitchfork's 10.0 point system in order to give me more flexibility and nuisances for rating LPs or a more substantial body of work. I'm still working on the graphics for the rating systems, so bare with me. Enjoy.

Even if I had a really good figure, I don't think I'd get my tits and ass out for no one. I love seeing Lady Gaga's boobs and bum. I love seeing Katy Perry's boobs and bum. Love it. But that's not what my music is about. I don't make music for eyes, I make music for ears.

Hot off the presses here. My most recent review, put up last week, is of battle-rap Monster Iron Solomon. He’s got all types of videos on YouTube.

Iron Solomon - Monster (2012)



















We’re all very familiar with this infamous rap list: Canibus, Jin, Serius Jones, etc. These are the many gifted, hungry MCs who could light up freestyle cyphers for large cash prizes but never could build that into a successful rap career or, sometimes, even get one started. Battle-rap beast and champion Iron Solomon similarly paid his dues on that circuit, dominating competitions such as Braggin’ Writes, Scribble Jam, and Fight Klub….

I wanted to post this, because I love Chrisette Michele. I loooooove her. Top flight talent. Anyways, this is one of my somewhat better bios. But, I’m really not feeling where her career is going right now, plus her last 2 albums were bleh or just so-so. I want to see her live again though (I saw her in Detroit in 2006).

Chrisette Michele
In a very short span of time, R&B singer/songwriter Chrisette Michele shot from small-time performer up to one of Def Jam’s most promising talents, purely based on her unique instrument — a gorgeous and effortlessly versatile singing voice colored with Billie Holiday-esque inflections of vocal pop and jazz….

This review I wrote for Allmusic.com. It’s one of better reviews and an example of something I didn’t like so much. I get a little bit funny on this one too. Hee.




















Many would expect that a rap album from a man who destroyed a TV camera at Madison Square Garden and sparked the infamous brawl at the Detroit Pistons-Indiana Pacers game to be nothing but hard-to-the-core beats and rhymes, and nobody would dispute his credibility, either…

Watch for Kendrick Lamar. This track doesn’t reveal his lyricism as well as his O.verly D.edicated mixtape or Section.80 (2011), but the track is hot. Apparently, Scoop Deville is making better Dre beats than Dre these days. The link is to Okayplayer.

Ok, so Jennifer Hudson is an amazingly good singer. Amazingly! I mean why else is she the one chosen to tribute Whitney Houston at the Grammys? Is always in the discussion of who should play Aretha Franklin in her inevitable biopic? Etc. etc…… But the real question is why on earth does she keep making substandard albums of her own??!!! It’s fucking ridiculous! I never know how much I can blame the artist or label or A&Rs or whoever, but some blame can go all around, I’m sure. She doesn’t need to be doing songs with T-Pain or Ludacris (now Luda’s my dude, I ain’t trying to diss). Now granted, I’ve heard good things about her 2011 album which I haven’t heard yet, so I’m going to have to check that out, but I still needed to rant. Anyways, the purpose of my rant? Like Aretha, I think Hudson needs to find her Jerry Wexler, a producer/trailblazer/A&R who knows how to tap into her soulful talents.

Well I’m starting this blog mainly as a writing exercise tool. I write music reviews, mostly hip hop and R&B, and things of that nature. I wrote for The Michigan Daily (University of Michigan student newspaper), the music database site Allmusic, and also Okayplayer so far. I’m using this blog to help me get back into freelance writing. I will post up album reviews as if I were submitting them to a magazine or paper, but also will write some in a more journal-like, free-flowing way. Because I think randomly, I of course will post about random shit, mostly related to music, but might be other things that matter to me. I don't consider myself much of a tastemaker, but I hope to y'all to some new music or ideas or way of thinking. If you come across this blog and you get bored, my bad. I guess this is mainly just for me. Also, I had started this blog at http://jadedtummy.tumblr.com but apparently nobody can reply to posts there. Dumb shit. So, you might see some reposts from over there to over here before "over there" gets deleted.