Music for 4/17/20!!! Bassel and the Supernaturals, Hip Hop Hoodios, The J&B Kings, Rina Sawayama

@@@ Bassel & The Supernaturals: Smoke (Six Degrees, 2020)  Out today, this was the pre-release single for the record.  It’s a smooth funk experience, a cousin of Earth Wind and Fire.  Full ensemble — horn section, two guitars, background singers, the whole schlemiel.  The singer here is solid but he doesn’t carry the track the way the EWF singer did.  As we mention with metal and hard rock all the time there’s a bit of contradiction between smooth production and the genre in which it is employed.  Really hardcore funk (Funkadelic for example) can be quite raw and therefore the energy is much higher.  The smoothness of the production here lowers the energy.

@@@ Hip Hop Hoodios: Turn Back the Clock (Hip Hop Hoodies, 2020) Today’s listens come off this week’s WRIR playlist email and here the Hip Hop Hoodios go for a en Espanol retro hip hop/disco thing.  Way back like Grandmaster Flash and bell bottom pants and it’s a party track.  Get the party started, turn back the clock, that’s the hook here.  I like it all right.

@@@ The J&B Kings: Congo Conga (7 Arts, 2020)  More funk, it’s funky Friday!  Multiple guitars, tight drums and driving horns but done in a tighter more stripped down funk style.  I do like instrumental funk but I also dig a funky singer so I (and you) will have to satisfy ourselves with a few brief solos on top of this old school groove.  Again, solid business, better than the smooth funk of the first track and this one is for the gringos who can’t identify with the second track.

@@@ Rina Sawayama: XS (Dirty Hit, 2020) I saw this artist in the new music section on the Apple Music.  I would call this pop singer/songwriter while Apple Music has it slotted as alternative.  As it unfolds it gets poppier and the production gets more complex and excessive (in a nod to the title).  It’s got an abrasive but not completely convincing power chord segue that pops up too often.  I don’t know what friggin’ Einstein decided to pop this track out while everybody is locked down but the possibility of excess is limited here, isn’t it.  Is it the vibe we’re going for here?  Be easy on the Amazon delivery people, don’t go nuts with the sex toys and the vaping equipment.

YTD recordings listened to: 286
Good music, not list worthy: 154
Not good music: 126

 

Best: 0
Honorable Mentions: 0

Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, Slidhr, The Chewers, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Luther Dickinson, Graeme Barrett, Fast Asleep, Goldlink, Cavanaugh, Satoko Fuji, Moken, Juan Atkins, Lantern, Twin Peaks, Djelimady Tounkara, The Oh Sees, Denny Zeitlin, MILF, Unfun, De La Soul, Carl Sagan’s Skate Shoes, Noname, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, RAM, Fiver, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Portal, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Moskus, Kendl Winter, Tkay Maidza, Barro, Daniel Khan, Tallawit Timbouctou, Sumac, Tropical Fuck Storm, Harriet Tubman, Ammar 808, Anais Maviel, Chaka Khan, Pom Poko, Fried Egg, Tarek Atoui, Saicobab, General Purv, Shipping News, Big Thief, Mariachi El Bronx, Pour Me a Grog, Sudan Archives, Lakou Mizik, Moodymann, Pharmakon, Alefa Madagascar, Janjao, Luge, Wiki, Mick Jenkins, Jeremiah Jae, Fera, Gambian Griot Kora Duets, Drama, Beatrice Dillon, Mass Worship, mmmonika, Les Deuxluxes, Tony Allen, Fra Fra, Nihiloxica, Hailu Mergia, Pokey LaFarge,

Music for 3/27/20!!! Queen Herby, Dua Lipa, Run the Jewels

@@@ Queen Herby: Check (Checkbook, 2020) I got to this Missy Elliott inspired single via a music publicist email.  As you can see from the video below this tune is a mad clam bake and the lead MC is all right but the sounds do not have that Missy funk to them.  Also we must respect Missy’s sophisticated rhythmic relationship to the sounds that percolate beneath her singing.  Energy is high, rhymes pretty standard, sounds need to get to the gym but they can’t cuz ‘rona!

@@@ Dua Lipa: Break My Heart (Warner, 2020) Off today’s Apple Music hot tracks section.  What tune is she biting with that riff?  Damn you slow hard drive!!!  Ms. Lipa has a pretty impressive resting bitch face and a huge voice in this track but, fuck it’s a permutation of Another One Rides the Bus.  Whoever did these sounds (prolly not Dua Lipa) spent some time filing this big ass disco tune smooth and polished — every hair in this eyebrow is plucked.  Great production sounds, arrangement is okay but points off for biting another tune so hard, I like her voice but they make her a tad too diva-ish, and the lyrics well these lyrics wouldn’t hold together as toilet paper unless you wipe super gently.

@@@ Ooh La La: Run the Jewels (BMG, 2020) Comin’ in crooked with a demented piano sample before the beat and the fat bass enters.  I like that.  Tradin’ verses sittin post-retro they get into some high quality microphone work.  Lyrics are raw but not super pornographic, a few political references tucked in.  I like the space they made for the turntable but the hook is meh.  I’m a fan, not a hater, callin ’em as I see em.

YTD recordings listened to: 220
Good music, not list worthy: 124
Not good music: 95

Best: 0
Honorable Mentions: 0

Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, Slidhr, The Chewers, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Luther Dickinson, Graeme Barrett, Fast Asleep, Goldlink, Cavanaugh, Satoko Fuji, Moken, Juan Atkins, Lantern, Twin Peaks, Djelimady Tounkara, The Oh Sees, Denny Zeitlin, MILF, Unfun, De La Soul, Carl Sagan’s Skate Shoes, Noname, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, RAM, Fiver, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Portal, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Moskus, Kendl Winter, Tkay Maidza, Barro, Daniel Khan, Tallawit Timbouctou, Sumac, Tropical Fuck Storm, Harriet Tubman, Ammar 808, Anais Maviel, Chaka Khan, Pom Poko, Fried Egg, Tarek Atoui, Saicobab, General Purv, Shipping News, Big Thief, Mariachi El Bronx, Pour Me a Grog, Sudan Archives, Lakou Mizik, Moodymann, Pharmakon, Alefa Madagascar, Janjao, Luge, Wiki, Mick Jenkins, Jeremiah Jae, Fera, Gambian Griot Kora Duets, Drama, Beatrice Dillon, Mass Worship, mmmonika, Les Deuxluxes, Tony Allen

 

Music for 10/28/19!!! The Avengers, Ghost Funk Orchestra, The Sali Wanga

@@@ The Avengers: The American in Me (N/A, 1979)  I got to this pre-Sex Pistols but produced by the Sex Pistols’ guitarist.  I’ve never heard it so there ya go, a peep it shall be!  As you would expect from classic punk it sounds like classic punk!  It doesn’t have the Johnny Rotten snarl but that’s fine.   Very punchy sound (ah the tape machine era!) the track is both bouncy and dark with the following lyrics:

“Ask not what you can do for your country
What’s your country been doing to you?
Ask not what you can do for your country
What’s your country been doing to your mind?”

It’s the lyrics that drew me to the tune but the music sounds more like a Go Gos track.  It sounds so tame compared to much of today’s music, and that’s neither good nor bad.

@@@ Ghost Funk Orchestra: A Song for Paul (Karma Chief, 2019) I got to this record and the one below via the weekly email from the music venue National Sawdust in Brooklyn.  The intro track (it’s called Intro) is a blend of jam band, psychedelic sounds, and a wee bit of jazz.  We shall see what unfolds.  The second tune brings a distinct funk vibe to the sounds so don’t be fooled by the psych guitar.  I think these are jazz cats trying their hands at making a psychedelic record.  I appreciate that it’s not as stark and tripped/speeded up/out as classic psych and there’s an abundance of rhythms here that you wouldn’t find on classic psych records.  I would, however, dig some more of that crazy ass psych vibe so the balance doesn’t quite work for me.

@@@ The Wali Sanga: Big Ears (Self-released, 2019)  From the same National Sawdust email.  This first tune, Remember My Name is rooted in late ’70s/early ’80s funk disco a la Earth, Wind and Fire and early Prince.  I’m agnostic on the singer and the lyrics, I like some of the sounds but the first two tunes make me appreciate early Prince as his addition of rocking guitar to balance out the synth pop vibes is genius to my ears.  The fourth tune, the Blink of the Eye is the best of what I heard as it moves backward and is more EWF.  I like it without loving it.

YTD recordings listened to: 560
Good music, not list worthy: 330
Not good music: 190

Best: 0
Honorable Mentions: 0

Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, Slidhr, The Chewers, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Luther Dickinson, Graeme Barrett, Fast Asleep, Goldlink, Cavanaugh, Satoko Fuji, Moken, Juan Atkins, Lantern, Twin Peaks, Djelimady Tounkara, The Oh Sees, Denny Zeitlin, MILF, Unfun, De La Soul, Carl Sagan’s Skate Shoes, Noname, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, RAM, Fiver, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Portal, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Moskus, Kendl Winter, Tkay Maidza, Barro, Daniel Khan, Tallawit Timbouctou, Sumac, Tropical Fuck Storm, Harriet Tubman, Ammar 808, Anais Maviel, Chaka Khan, Pom Poko, Fried Egg, Horndal, Wyxz, Tarek Atoui, Hawktail, Saicobab, Shannon and the Clams, General Purv, Shipping News, Big Thief, Emma Louise, Andre Bratten, Nathan Corder/Tom Weeks, Oli XL, Buzzherd, Logistic Slaughter, The Muslims, Tobe Nwigwe, Saint Abdullah, Bug Martin, Kaleta and the Super Yamba Band, Toko Telo, Brittany Howard, The Garifuna Collective, Mariachi El Bronx, Bonnie Baxter, Danny Brown, clipping.

 

Music for 7/6/18!!! Parcels, Disclosure, The Internet

@@@ Parcels: Tieduprightnow (Because, 2018)  Some white boy indie disco funk the Guardian has declared a song of the summer.  It’s a pretty standard arrangement but it is my misfortune not to dig the singer.  He does not signal funk to my brain.  Is it dicky for me to recommend Prince’s tune Lady Cab Driver or DMSR (also off 1999) over this track by some Australian white boys.  I’m sure they’re perfectly nice gents/gals/trans but this is music we’re talking about and I take my music seriously.

@@@ Disclosure: Ultimatum (N/A, 2018)  I can’t get put the label here as I once again suffer from shit interwebz so I have to stream this Guardian song of the summer off the ill sounding GooglePimpTube.  This is a modern dance floor banger with some chill lounge vibes an African female vocal sample stacked and popped on top for maximum funkiness.  If you took the white boy and put him on top of this beat I would denounce him but she’s got flow and correct energy.  It’s a pretty simple affair — open a can of unt-tss and put some keyboard vamp on that and chop and dice her singing.  Much better than the last track for sure.

@@@ The Internet: Come Over (N/A, 2018)  The last of our listens today and I have to throw in that I think naming your band/group The Internet is not only dumbass, it’s stupid.  This is another Guardian song of the summer and they have gone big time for Prince influenced funk.  Straight four on the floor, falsetto vocals and a B- guitar vamp.  To quote a previous review:  Is it dicky for me to recommend Prince’s tune Lady Cab Driver or DMSR (also off 1999) over this track by some outfit called The Internet.  I’m sure they’re perfectly nice gents/gals/trans but this is music we’re talking about and I take my music seriously.

YTD recordings listened to: 388
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 203
Not good music: 173

Best: 7
Honorable Mentions: 4

Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, Slidhr, The Chewers, Toxic Holocaust, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Janelle Monae, Luther Dickinson, Graeme Barrett, Fast Asleep, Goldlink, Cavanaugh, Satoko Fuji, Moken, Juan Atkins, Lantern, Twin Peaks, Djelimady Tounkara, The Oh Sees, Denny Zeitlin, MILF, Unfun, De La Soul, Carl Sagan’s Skate Shoes, A Tribe Called Quest, Noname, Gouge Away, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, Forro in the Dark, RAM, Fiver, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Converge, Open Mike Eagle, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Tal National, Portal, Hernan Sama & Marcelo von Schultz, Jean Grae and Quelle Chris, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts

Music for 12/6/17!!! Les Amazones D’Afrique, Powerdance, Cloud Nothings

@@@ Les Amazones D’Afrique: Republique Amazone (Real World, 2017)  I heard the single from this record but I never peeped it til now as it’s in the top 50 Guardian records of 2017.  This first tune is great with fat bass, trippy vocals and some righteous hand drumming added to the main beats.  I like this second tune as it relaxes into a betwixt slow and midtempo groove.  I don’t usually like the records with tons of guest vocalists but these are all women and the tracks are tight and unified.  I would contrast the funkiness of this record with the African record with the Kronos Quartet strings on it.  This is a mash as well, but it’s less uptight and high end with a high funk quotient.  This record will end up on my year end list, check it out!

@@@ Powerdance: A Safe and Happy Place (Powerdance, 2017)  A white boy disco banger off the Guardian’s top 50 of 2017)  It definitely does not have the funk of the Les Amazones record but it’s aimed at the Wonder Bread crowd.  Four on the floor, big simple vocals and a propulsive guitar line.  It’s a pretty skeletal arrangement and I don’t think the vocalist has the chops to get it airborne.  Check for yourself.  It pumps harder at the outro but that energy should have been moved forward.

@@@ Cloud Nothings: Life Without Sound (Carpark, 2017) Pop punk off the Guardian list.  I usually associate the pop punk with uptempo sing-a-long business but this first tune is not full on and it sports some more reflective chord progressions.  I like it.  The second tune does bring more tempo and classic pop punk but it’s not mindless without going straight to emo.  I’m not a huge pop punk guy but this is a good specimen for the genre.  The singer is pretty straightforward — sometimes the singer is so popped out I want to beat ’em with a 2X4 but this guy plays it straight — neight overwrought, nor too ironic, just songs with no bullshit sauce.

YTD recordings listened to: 779
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 419
Not good music: 322

Buys: 9
Honorable Mentions: 7

Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, The Ballantynes, Slidhr, The Chewers, Toxic Holocaust, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, Lenguas Largas, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, Leviathan, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Janelle Monae, Luther Dickinson, Graeme Barrett, Fast Asleep, Goldlink, Cavanaugh, Gentleman Surfer, Satoko Fuji, Moken, Juan Atkins, Lantern, Twin Peaks, Djelimady Tounkara, The Oh Sees, Denny Zeitlin, MILF, Unfun, De La Soul, Carl Sagan’s Skate Shoes, Magrudergrind, A Tribe Called Quest, Noname, Gouge Away, Anna Hogberg, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, James Brandon Lewis, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, J.I.D., Oddisee, Forro in the Dark, RAM, Fiver, Dona Onete, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, American Lips, Sudan Archives, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Benjamin Booker, Irreversible Entanglements, Converge, Boubacare Traore, Les Filles De Illighadad, Curtis Harding, Les Amazones D’Afrique

3/4/16: Sizzle, Nightwish, Joe Gorgeous, Brooklyn Funk Essentials

@@@ Sizzla Kalonji: 876 (Judgment Yard/J-Vibe, 2016).  Some conscious reggae with modern touches.  Super thick bass but a more modern drum sound.  Mr. Sizzle has a loose singing style, a tad liquid (and possibly baked).  A little prescient on that as the second tune is called ‘Leave My Ganja Alone’.  He’s quite passionate in his desire to have others leave his ganja alone.  I was making fun of Mister Kalonji in his ganja anthem but he puts out a lot energy on the microphone and I really appreciate.  I don’t like the synth horns a ton but he’s got a good thing going.

@@@ Nightwish: Endless Forms Most Beautiful (Nuclear Blast, 2015).  Some poppish metal with synths that I got to via the indie music blog Indiepulse.  Female singer, lots of power chords and I don’t know why I can’t take metal with synths seriously.  It sounds bad to my ears, I think there’s something wrong with me.  There must be as this video below has close to 5 million hits on the GooglePimp/Youtube.

@@@ Brooklyn Funk Essentials: The Funk Ain’t Ova (Dorado Records, 2015).  Some funk off this week’s CFUV weekly playlist email.  This is more your late ’70s disco influenced funk than your late ’60s stripped down and harder Black Power funk.  I prefer the latter but these guys have a big party vibe pumping on the opener.  They got a little quiet storm -esque thing going on the third tune but what I checked is party party and mo party.

@@@ Joe Gorgeous: How Bruce Lee Died (Joe Gorgeous, 2016).  A mainstream rock single I got to via a music publicist.  Mostly guitar centered but with some occasional synth garnish for cuteness.  If you like Weezer but prefer a slightly glam vibe over the nerd vibe Weezer offers then you might dig this tune.  Catchy but pretty minimalist.

Stream it up over here.

YTD recordings listened to: 218
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 122
Not good music: 76

Honorable Mentions: 4
Buys: 3

Possibles: Chris McGregor, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Dave Arner Trio, MAKU Soundsystem, Zomby, Retox, Jessie Mae Hemphill, Bone Dance, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, The Ballantynes, Debruit, Slidhr, The Whammies, The Chewers, Alexander Hawkins, Toxic Holocaust, Equal Stones, Comeback Kid, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, Lenguas Largas, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Fofoulah, Lozen, Erase Errata, Dawn Richard, Mastery, Leviathan, Xibalba, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Akitsa,  Janelle Monae, Luther Dickinson, Destruction Unit, Graeme Barrett, Fast Asleep, Goldlink, Cavanaugh, Gentleman Surfer, Satoko Fuji, Mystic Braves, Matt Walker, Divanhana, Troum, Unrestrained, Carrie Rodriguez, Moken, Ghostlimb, Michael Daves, Los Hacheros