Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Friday, March 09, 2007
Monday, February 12, 2007
Jamiroquai High Times DVD
High Times: Singles 1992-2006
So i bought this last week afters years of lamenting the fact that they never released a DVD of their music videos, many of which are just really visually pleasing.
I can't say it's great, simply because this reeks of laziness; of the label wanting to rush out a dvd to go along with the release of the singles collection. No remastering, which means the sound is inconsistent from video to video especially when you transition from the low budget days of Emergency Planet Earth to the more polished videos of Traveling Without moving.
But I can't really complain: it's 25 videos, a couple i have never seen, and a couple i only have low-quality mpegs of. Plus a multi-part interview with Jay Kay
Thursday, January 25, 2007
The Voice that is Alice Russell
From the UK and white. Says a lot about Us RnB genre nowadays or lack thereof
Friday, January 19, 2007
Jeffrey Daniels - MJ's secret muse?
Some people have claimed that Michael Jackson stole his moves from this cat. You be the judge. He was also part of Shalamar.
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
J Dilla's "Won't Do" Music Video
This video is circulating all over the net.
His brother looks a lot like him. I almost did a double take.
Thursday, December 14, 2006
My Top Ten List from 2002
This was my first and only list I ever made. Maybe I will finaly do a new one this year. And looking at this list. There are albums on there that i wouldn't have put on it today, including Cody.
Here it is
From 2002:
This a first for me. Compiling my list of favorites for the year. It was a bit time-consuming, but it brought back memories of my days of writing for magazines. The difference this time is that I am not hampered by the needs and wants of an editor who really has to appease the publication they work for. Anyway, here's my favorites, the almost-made-its, and the disappointments. Please feel free to comment. -- R.L.
Cody Chestnutt
The Headphone Masterpiece
Buy Here
One of the most over-hyped new acts of 2002, This Southern breed singer/musician made low budget look and sound cool with his lo-fi (supposedly, he recorded the whole album in his bedroom studio) double CD debut, which some hated, but many embraced.
Headphone was tongue-in-cheek ("B**th I'm Broke"), bizarrely cocky ("Look Good in Leather"), and filled with a bucketload of earnestly-written songs that ranged from 30 seconds to five minutes.
And on top of that, Cody manages to pack 36 Tracks under two hours. A feat in itself in these times of single disc albums bloating in over 70 minutes.
Common
Electric Circus
Buy Here
And the hate continues...
the colorful thrift shop outfits...
the supposed desertion of his pure hip-hop background...
and that dang ?uestlove & Erykah Badu...
All have been fuel for dedicated fans to say that Chicago rapper Common has lost himself or his mind. And his fifth studio album did not help to dissolve the hate/confusion.
More together and cohesive than his last (and first gold) record, Like Water For Chocolate; Circus is Common embracing and at the same time spittng on hip hop conventions-- and doing it well. Electronica, soulful, psychedelic rock, and of course hip-hop joined in this spectacle; as do Bobbi Humphrey, Nicholas Payton, Prince, Omar, Mary J. Blige, Zap Mama, and a host of others.
Don't complain, cause a true Common fan saw it coming years ago. If you're still scared to test it out check out "I Am Music" (featuring Jill Scott) and "Aquarius."
Plus one of my pictures made it onto the album cover. :)
Badly Drawn Boy
Have You Fed Fish
Buy Here
Damon Gough is supposedly this drunken Brit who will play his guitar out in public if given the chance, like some crazed maniac. Include his scraggily beard in and trademark wool hats, and you have the entity known as Badly Drawn Boy who's remarkable debut, The Hour of Bewilderbeast, sat in my hands for about a year before I decided to listen to it and got floored.
This led to my purchase of the About A Boy Soundtrack, and Gough still showed his patent for layer -filled alternative/ rock pop music. And with his second album, Fish, he is a little happier and goofier. His two-part suite "I Was Wrong" and "You Were Right" is a lovely pseudo-ballad simultaneously honoring dead music legends and a personal relationship. While "40 Days, 40 Fights" and "All Possibilities" are just plain fun to listen to.
Kenna
New Sacred Cow This is a sad story...
A young twentysomething Ethiopian Virginia native had aspirations. Word of him being signed to Fred Durst's imprint spread online. There was hope a black artist doing music that wasn't considered black music would slip through the cracks due to the dude's association with the Neptunes and Durst.
The magazine profiles steadily appeared -- Vibe, Billboard. A date was set (April 2002) and it came and went -- no album and a video that only got play on MTV2 sporadically. Fortunately, Kenna has survived (in spirit) online through MP3 trading and fan sites.
Having received this album from his label, I can say this album is special for it's ability to merge New Wave, electronica, Euro-rock and Bjork and make it sound uniquely dope. And on top of that the songwriting on tracks like "Freetime" and "Hell Bent" are so close to my heart.
Here's hoping he comes out someday. Anyone curious about him please contact me.
Zero 7
Simple Things
Buy Here This is me cheating. Though this album came out in 2001 and I might have purchased it in the same year, I steadily played it throughout 2002.
The cats behind Zero 7-- two white dudes from the UK with a electronic background-- banded together a few musicians and vocalists, including my favorite Australian singer, Sia Furler, and put together one of the best lounge-out albums to come out in years.
Lewis Taylor
Stoned Part 1
Buy Here To the ones who know, Lewis Taylor is a god send and I am once again dipping into the British well. He is multi-instrumentalist whose career spans more than a decade, but began his solo path in 1996. He disappeared for a while, reappearing in 2000 with his second album, Lewis II.
I was never too fond of his follow-up but this year he came back with a new fire. A new album filled with everything that made his debut special plus some new tricks (multiple layers, beat change-ups and breakdowns) and still that melancholy, yet catchy songwriting. I dearly love "When Will I Ever Learn (part 1)" (and its reprise) and "Sheneverdid."
Various Artists
Red Hot & Riot
Buy Here
Tribute albums are like meeting an attractive woman with good referrals (from one of your trusted friends) but then you realize she has no personailty. That's the risk you take when buying an album full of remakes of a legendary artist.
However, Red Hot's series of tribute albums tend to fare better than most. And their latest, dedicated to the late Nigerian Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti is probably one of their best. Although D'Angelo, Femi Kuti, Macy Gray & The Soultronics (feat. Nile Rodgers & Roy Hargrove) do nothing special with the classic "Water No Get Enemy," Dead Prez, Talib Kweli, Jorge Ben and Bilal maintain"Shuffering & Shmiling's" upbeat political edge with a splash of sharp hip hop lyricism.
If you don't buy this album for its collaborations, including the 10-minute concluding opus with Taj Mahal and Baaba Maal, at least buy it for its AIDS-related cause.
Vikter Duplaix
International Affairs
Buy Here
This album is supposed to come out in the US next year, but who cares. Vikter has taken long enough. The Philly singer, international DJ, and producer (with James Poyser) had told me back in 2000 he was on a mission to create progressive soul music for the world.
Though his debut album was not as broken beat and house driven, like many of his popular singles, he made his point with songs like "Morena" and "What We Want." The first half does make you want to dance and the rest makes you wish you had "someone".
Jazzanova
In Between
Buy Here Besides the fact it features Vikter Duplaix on two tracks, this just a plainly a great debut. If you want an introduction to what the Germans have been doing with electronica and jazz listen to this collective's grooves.
Bjork
Family Tree
Buy Here
This one is a farce really. I haven't listened to this box set in depth at all. I am still geeked by the packaging of it all: a pink plastic CD case, 5 three-inch CDs, one regular-sized disc of her greatest hits, a lyrics booklet, and a bunch of unique holders fro the smaller discs. This alone puts it on this list.
Here it is
From 2002:
This a first for me. Compiling my list of favorites for the year. It was a bit time-consuming, but it brought back memories of my days of writing for magazines. The difference this time is that I am not hampered by the needs and wants of an editor who really has to appease the publication they work for. Anyway, here's my favorites, the almost-made-its, and the disappointments. Please feel free to comment. -- R.L.
Cody Chestnutt
The Headphone Masterpiece
Buy Here
One of the most over-hyped new acts of 2002, This Southern breed singer/musician made low budget look and sound cool with his lo-fi (supposedly, he recorded the whole album in his bedroom studio) double CD debut, which some hated, but many embraced.
Headphone was tongue-in-cheek ("B**th I'm Broke"), bizarrely cocky ("Look Good in Leather"), and filled with a bucketload of earnestly-written songs that ranged from 30 seconds to five minutes.
And on top of that, Cody manages to pack 36 Tracks under two hours. A feat in itself in these times of single disc albums bloating in over 70 minutes.
Common
Electric Circus
Buy Here
And the hate continues...
the colorful thrift shop outfits...
the supposed desertion of his pure hip-hop background...
and that dang ?uestlove & Erykah Badu...
All have been fuel for dedicated fans to say that Chicago rapper Common has lost himself or his mind. And his fifth studio album did not help to dissolve the hate/confusion.
More together and cohesive than his last (and first gold) record, Like Water For Chocolate; Circus is Common embracing and at the same time spittng on hip hop conventions-- and doing it well. Electronica, soulful, psychedelic rock, and of course hip-hop joined in this spectacle; as do Bobbi Humphrey, Nicholas Payton, Prince, Omar, Mary J. Blige, Zap Mama, and a host of others.
Don't complain, cause a true Common fan saw it coming years ago. If you're still scared to test it out check out "I Am Music" (featuring Jill Scott) and "Aquarius."
Plus one of my pictures made it onto the album cover. :)
Badly Drawn Boy
Have You Fed Fish
Buy Here
Damon Gough is supposedly this drunken Brit who will play his guitar out in public if given the chance, like some crazed maniac. Include his scraggily beard in and trademark wool hats, and you have the entity known as Badly Drawn Boy who's remarkable debut, The Hour of Bewilderbeast, sat in my hands for about a year before I decided to listen to it and got floored.
This led to my purchase of the About A Boy Soundtrack, and Gough still showed his patent for layer -filled alternative/ rock pop music. And with his second album, Fish, he is a little happier and goofier. His two-part suite "I Was Wrong" and "You Were Right" is a lovely pseudo-ballad simultaneously honoring dead music legends and a personal relationship. While "40 Days, 40 Fights" and "All Possibilities" are just plain fun to listen to.
Kenna
New Sacred Cow This is a sad story...
A young twentysomething Ethiopian Virginia native had aspirations. Word of him being signed to Fred Durst's imprint spread online. There was hope a black artist doing music that wasn't considered black music would slip through the cracks due to the dude's association with the Neptunes and Durst.
The magazine profiles steadily appeared -- Vibe, Billboard. A date was set (April 2002) and it came and went -- no album and a video that only got play on MTV2 sporadically. Fortunately, Kenna has survived (in spirit) online through MP3 trading and fan sites.
Having received this album from his label, I can say this album is special for it's ability to merge New Wave, electronica, Euro-rock and Bjork and make it sound uniquely dope. And on top of that the songwriting on tracks like "Freetime" and "Hell Bent" are so close to my heart.
Here's hoping he comes out someday. Anyone curious about him please contact me.
Zero 7
Simple Things
Buy Here This is me cheating. Though this album came out in 2001 and I might have purchased it in the same year, I steadily played it throughout 2002.
The cats behind Zero 7-- two white dudes from the UK with a electronic background-- banded together a few musicians and vocalists, including my favorite Australian singer, Sia Furler, and put together one of the best lounge-out albums to come out in years.
Lewis Taylor
Stoned Part 1
Buy Here To the ones who know, Lewis Taylor is a god send and I am once again dipping into the British well. He is multi-instrumentalist whose career spans more than a decade, but began his solo path in 1996. He disappeared for a while, reappearing in 2000 with his second album, Lewis II.
I was never too fond of his follow-up but this year he came back with a new fire. A new album filled with everything that made his debut special plus some new tricks (multiple layers, beat change-ups and breakdowns) and still that melancholy, yet catchy songwriting. I dearly love "When Will I Ever Learn (part 1)" (and its reprise) and "Sheneverdid."
Various Artists
Red Hot & Riot
Buy Here
Tribute albums are like meeting an attractive woman with good referrals (from one of your trusted friends) but then you realize she has no personailty. That's the risk you take when buying an album full of remakes of a legendary artist.
However, Red Hot's series of tribute albums tend to fare better than most. And their latest, dedicated to the late Nigerian Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti is probably one of their best. Although D'Angelo, Femi Kuti, Macy Gray & The Soultronics (feat. Nile Rodgers & Roy Hargrove) do nothing special with the classic "Water No Get Enemy," Dead Prez, Talib Kweli, Jorge Ben and Bilal maintain"Shuffering & Shmiling's" upbeat political edge with a splash of sharp hip hop lyricism.
If you don't buy this album for its collaborations, including the 10-minute concluding opus with Taj Mahal and Baaba Maal, at least buy it for its AIDS-related cause.
Vikter Duplaix
International Affairs
Buy Here
This album is supposed to come out in the US next year, but who cares. Vikter has taken long enough. The Philly singer, international DJ, and producer (with James Poyser) had told me back in 2000 he was on a mission to create progressive soul music for the world.
Though his debut album was not as broken beat and house driven, like many of his popular singles, he made his point with songs like "Morena" and "What We Want." The first half does make you want to dance and the rest makes you wish you had "someone".
Jazzanova
In Between
Buy Here Besides the fact it features Vikter Duplaix on two tracks, this just a plainly a great debut. If you want an introduction to what the Germans have been doing with electronica and jazz listen to this collective's grooves.
Bjork
Family Tree
Buy Here
This one is a farce really. I haven't listened to this box set in depth at all. I am still geeked by the packaging of it all: a pink plastic CD case, 5 three-inch CDs, one regular-sized disc of her greatest hits, a lyrics booklet, and a bunch of unique holders fro the smaller discs. This alone puts it on this list.
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