Jaded, My Tummy

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.