As I prepare mentally for my trip in November to Africa I have found myself listing and looking for more African based world music. This had me thinking about what music from this gender started my enjoyment of this style. It started with Stewart.
The Rhythmatist was the gateway of learning of African music to a boy from a New England town (me). Hearing it for the first time in about 20 years I remember all the rhythms that I liked in it. How corny it could be in parts and how it reminded me of the soundtrack to the Equalizer. It is a very 80’s CD with lots of signature Copeland drumming parts that helped me start listening to different music. For this reason alone I will always enjoy this disc.
To the David Sylvian fan’s out there here is a rework of a classic. I really like the samples that are used in this track. David, we need this on a CD…
We’ll Never Turn Back is a Mississippi blues gospel CD, full of faith and strength. It is a great reminder of the work of the civil rights movement and the work that still is need to be done.
This is a fantastic set of songs with a great ability of visual story telling thru music. Simple songs with messages that are graced with the help of Ry Cooder on guitar and producer.
I think one of the hardest things about writing about music is finding a complete CD that you can make a fair comment on. The new / reissue Jenny Owen Youngs CD “Batten the Hatches” leaves me in the flux of trying to find a balance of very bad and really create music.
In the middle of this CD there are three very nice creative tracks (Voice on tape, P.S., Bricks) these tracks at times sound like Joni Mitchell with lyric writing that could take twist like Robyn Hitchcock. They are three very enjoyable folk pop tunes that I am happy to have in my collection.
But regretfully, the rest of the tracks seem deep in the youthful disfunction angst of relationships gone south and the desire to try to create some sort of shock, slim. That just turns the CD into a lost set of pop tunes that fall short.
The Clientele has always had a great talent of creating pop music that sounds as if it came from another time period. I have made comparisons to the songs on there latest CD “God Save the Clientele” as something that sounds like a lost Monkeys / Davy Jones and the Zombies.
I have to say that I have not enjoyed this recording as much as I enjoyed there 2005 recording “Strange Geometry”. That being said it still makes good background music in the kitchen that will not horrify the kids or guests.
I blame NPR. This is dance / house music and for the most part I don’t like this type of music, but the NPR reviewer made similarities to Talking Head, Bowie and the Pixes and I had to find out more.
First off, there are a few songs that are so repetitive I just can not stand them and the title track is so poor that it is just frustrating to listen to. Thought there are a few enjoyable tracks that stick out, Us V Them, Someone Great, Watch The Tapes and North American Scum, they stretch between of retro 80’s synth music to a more raw a scream.
This is music that you really have to be in the right mood for and sometimes I wish there was just radio versions of the songs.
There are times that you buy a CD with no knowledge or understanding of what you are purchasing. This is one of those CD’s for me and I very surprised on how enjoyable it has been. Mr. Watson has a raw jazzy feel to his work that has been working very nicely with my enjoyment of “The Good, The Bad, The Queen.” This selection of songs may have some dark undertones, but not depressing and has a great ability of create some real amazing transitions and crescendo of musical enjoyment.
I make mix CD’s, lots of them. I guess it is a function of spending so much time in a car and listening to music on my ipod. I am in the constant search of the perfect summer, winter, new music, international, mix.
Over the years I have taken to the process of listening to my music on shuffle and if I feel like I hear a song that would work on a mix I would mark the track with a star. I Currently have three concepts mixes going on on my ipod. The one star tracks are songs for the summer mix, two stars is the International mix and three is new music.
At home I have itunes set up with smart play list, a play list that collects only tracks marked with one star, another for the two stars and the third for three. Now when I sync my ipod I have play lists that I can work with and create, hopefully better mixes.
Well, to my surprise today, I noticed, that Apple some time in the last year has added a really great feature that allows the smart play lists to dynamic change on the ipod. This means that I do not need to sync the ipod to itunes to have the play list updated. If I mark a song one star it goes into the one star play list immediately.
Now I can edit my mixes and play around easier with sound combos creating that monster summer mix. Keep mixing, keep listening…
When I first heared Funeral by Arcade Fire, I was struck by the music, listing to it over and over again. Then one day it struck me on how sad and depressing the songs were lyrically. Arcade Fire’s new CD Neon Bible is a bit jarring and striped down if you compare it to Funeral. There is a lot less hiding of themes and is a little more in your face. It is a brilliant work of music, that sonically simpler, darker and seems to challenges the political climate and the religious extremes of today.
