Feist-The Reminder

Leslie Feist (Feist) has been writing and recording music for over 16 years. Her experience as a songwriter and musician has propelled her to a level that many solo pop artists won't achieve in their lifetime. Feist isn't new though; she's far from a gimmick. And she'll probably be around for a long time. Her album, The Reminder is lush with electro-jazz and britpop textures.

"1,2,3,4" is vibrant with bluegrass, choirs, horns, and Feist's spirited vocals. "My Moon My Man" is geared more as a Indie Rock song with a Britpop direction while "So Sorry" is a study in complexity and restraint, little to no instrumentation; very minimalistic. The album trades sensitivity and complexity back and forth with ease. As the album progresses, the songs gradually build in intensity like "The Limit to Your Love" which harnesses the lucidity of Feist's voice with lush guitars, timpani, and strings or fall back into "Sealion" a song patterned after Nina Simone.

Feist is an intelligent pop singer, and she is making the kind of music that Carly Simon, Carole King, and Joni Mitchell (yea, like that) would be composing if they were young woman in our era. With a few more albums and a little more experience, she will be making music that not only stands the test of time but also transcends the candy-coated playfulness of today's pop scene. The Reminder is a big step in reinventing the wheel.

Van-Go Tha Hustla

Greatness All Around Us: Jon Brion

What does Kanye West's Late Registration, the movie, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Punch Drunk Love have in common besides being masterful artistic works? It's as simple as looking up at the title above or the picture. But, just judging from the picture above you'd think he was a run-of-the mill caucasian man. Truth be told he's more like a musical genius. Jon Brion is multi-instrument musician, a producer and a composer. He started doing his thing around 17 when he dropped out of school to pursue music professionally. His mom was a jazz singer, and his father, a band director at Yale and both siblings heavily involved in music; even a dunce could see what the future held for Jon Brion.

He's worn different hats throughout his career. He's been a band member of The Bats (early 80s), Til' Tuesday (late 80s) and The Grays (mid 90s). He's also done the solo thing with a brief stint on Lava/Atlantic. During that time he released Meaningless, (97) his solo album. He played various instruments on Sam Phillip's LP Omnipop; produced albums for Fiona Apple, Rufus Wainwright, Eleni Mandell, Rhett Miller and Evan Dando. Brion also composed movie scores for Hard Eight, Magnolia, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Punch Drunk Love, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, I (Heart) Huckabees and The Hard Break-Up. I can't speak for all of these movies but the score for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Punch Drunk Love are nothing short of incredible. The combination of the overwhelming visual aesthetic and the audio accompaniment combine to compel you to FEEL. I know it seems awkwardly phrased but watch and listen to either of those movies and you'll understand perfectly. I almost cried watching Eternal; no punchline intended thats simply the truth. Later in his career, he's moved on to production which seems like a natural transition. Besides the list above featuring the likes of Fiona Apple and Rufus Wainwringht, he played a major part (executive producer) on Kanye's opus, Late Registration, and his upcoming release Graduation. He's currently working with Dido, Spoon and The Section Quartet. The guy's resume is nothing short of official. Still not convinced, the guy had tendonitis in his hand and performed his regular set of covers and original works at Largo (LA club) with one hand. If you're not impressed with that then you're either half god or a robot. Here's some tracks to preview.

Jon Brion-Eternal Sunshine Theme

Jon Brion-Punch Drunk Love

Aimee Mann-One

Kanye West ft. Cam'ron and Consequence-Gone

J. Burnett

Horace Silver

I found out about Horace Silver on accident. I found myself in the place that feeds my information addiction (the public library) looking at the documentaries and stumbled upon A Great Day in Harlem. The film was about the creative birthing and execution of photographer Art Kane's black and white picture of 57 of jazz's greatest musicians taken in 1958 on the steps of a brownstone in none other but Harlem, New York.

The most entertaining aspect of the documentary was the interviews of the still-living musicians interwoven with the tale of how it all came to be. I never would have known Dizzie Gillespie was hilarious and I wouldn't have found out about electric pianist Horace Silver, the man who helped create "hard bop", a branch of jazz that combines components of R&B and gospel.

I found his 1972 Blue Note Records release All (Phase III), a weird, new-age devotional album with song titles like "My Soul Is My Computer" and "How Much Does Matter Really Matter?" Now it might seem anachronistic to say something created in the seventies was "new-age" considering that it's a late 20th century movement (around the 1980s) but consider this: these people had Psychedelics. Need I say more?

On this particular album, Silver enlists a few vocalists to sing over his compositions and even sings on a few himself. Sounds like a gem, right? Not exactly. A friend listening to the album with me said that it almost sounded like Christian lounge music. Terrible, I know. But, the second-to-last track named 'All' stood out. Silver sang a swanky sort of melancholy melody layered over his deliberate but lighthearted playing that I remember listening to a lot at the end of long, frustrating days. That was enough to send me on the chase.

Since then I've heard seven of his releases and two of them seem to stick out in my mind as better than average. The first is his 1968 album Serenade To A Soul Sister. The record jacket has an average quality picture of what you could almost imagine was just a picture of Silver's friend that he decided to use for the cover. But, the casualness of the photo really sets the tone for the informal sound of the rough-around-the-edges production of the album (keep in mind that I'm talking about the vinyl album, not the re-mastered CD). It begins with "Psychedelic Sally", a song just over seven minutes that starts quickly with a chorus of happy, blaring horns and continues through with every track building on the last to end with a slow, sentimental song called "Next Time I Fall In Love." On this song Silver plays with a sincerity and pace that reminds me of Monk's "Ruby, My Dear."

My favorite thing about this album is the chorus of horns. I could be wrong, but it sounds like every time they appear on a track they are notably crisp and layered with two octaves being played simultaneously. The entire album is energetic and maybe a little more funky than I think most people would categorize traditional jazz to be.

His 1999 release, Jazz Has A Sense Of Humor, sounds something like you would imagine an album with that kind of title would sound like without being too boring or predictable. It starts real sultry with silky, upbeat horns over Silver's whimsical playing. The tone of the album is consistent even though the tempo speeds up in "The Mama Suite, Pt. 1: Not Enough Mama" but never drops below mid-tempo. My favorite track on the album has a few different angles to it. On one hand "Ah-Ma-Tell" almost sounds like Silver's jazzier interpretation of the songs that could be found on 1964's "A Boy Named Charlie Brown" soundtrack by Vince Guaraldi. Yet at other times portions of it sound like and sometimes evoke the same listening experience of "It's Your Thing" (the Jackson 5 version, not the Isley Brothers'). If it had horns, that is. Like a much faster, less funky version. Sometimes it even sounds like it could have been a James Brown song. Call me crazy...or simply comment and disagree with me. It won't hurt my feelings.

Here are a couple tracks from Jazz Has A Sense of Humor:


Satisfaction Guaranteed

Ah-Ma-Tell

Kristian

World Meet Fela Kuti

Fela was returning from the [United] States circa the Black Nationalist movement back to his native, Nigeria, with his band the "Nigeria 70." It was a promoter that dimed him and his band out; citing the fact that they were in the US without proper documentation that sent him back prematurely. Upon returning to Nigeria, Fela did two things. He renamed his band the "Africa 70" and erected the Kalakuta Republic, a recording studio and a commune for the band. It was Fela Kuti's independent state in the heart of the motherland. His enterprise continued with the emergence of two clubs: the Afro-Spot & the Shrine. The popularity of Fela and his music in Africa as well as his growing political awareness rose simultaneously. This put him in direct opposition with the ruling faction who terrorized the Kalakuta Republic with suspect search warrants and unwarranted intrusions. Fearful of Fela's growing popularity, the government intended to incriminate him by planting a joint of cannabis on his person or in the premises. He discovered the plot and ate the joint. Police responded by taking him in custody and waited until he moved his bowels to examine his excrement. Fela was able to secure the feces of another inmate/supporter and with no evidence of Fela being guilty, the government freed him. The result of this whole ordeal was "Expensive Sh*%," a track describing the whole story.

Most tracks don't have such colorful anecdotes behind them, but we're dealing with an extraordinary character. Fela was the creator of Afrobeat (a fusion between jazz and West African highlife), a fervent human rights activist, multi-instrument musician, composer and "political maverick." My words don't do justice to this man's legacy. Read about him here. Check out Expensive Sh&% and He Miss Road below.

Fela Kuti-Expensive Sh@! & He Miss Road

Quantic: Off The Beaten Track

I always like to know who I'm listening to when I'm enjoying music I haven't heard before but when I'm genuinely intrigued by what I'm hearing I want to know names, dates and more. So, you can imagine how distracting it was to have a friend casually drop a gem in my lap on a CD-R with no track list, no album title, no nothing. Just one word scrawled on it: Quantic.

Quantic is Will Holland, a man who lists both Fugazi and James Brown as influences. That should give you a pretty good idea of the range he possesses and one listen to "Tell It Like You Mean It" from his album An Announcement To An Answer will drive that point home. The song begins with slow, warbling horns alternating between two notes over some extremely subtle lo-fi fuzz before launching into an almost cuban-sounding drumloop. He quickly molds it into an electronic song while still holding onto the same sentiment before bringing you back right where you started. And he does it in less than five minutes.

My favorite thing about this guy? The man loves vinyl. And probably obsessively, if his album Off The Beaten Track is any indication. The album was limited-print CD released almost exactly two years ago of 25 rare soul/funk/afro-cuban/jazz tracks from his 45 collection. The album starts with someone lightly tapping on a snare, barely grazing a cymbal and gently keeping time with a bass drum. The reason I use "someone" is because the official track list for the album might not exist anywhere except on the actual CD insert. Not only is this album no longer for sale anywhere (unless you find it used), but Quantic doesn't even have the track list available on his website. Not even my most trusted vinyl source, Dusty Groove America Dusty Groove could help me out. Interestingly, I found the name for most of the tracks on Vinyl Vulture's Vinyl Vulture message board from a bunch of music geeks who, I must say, had some pretty impressive knowledge. But that was only about 75% of the album they could decipher.

The whole album is flawless, in my opinion, but here are the tracks that made my ears perk up (luckily, I found the titles of them):

Let's Make it Funky

Why Don't They Leave Us Alone

Kristian

Hip Hop is in the Building

I'm not going into some long-winded spiel about how stale rap and Hip Hop is right now as that's the diatribe du jour that's been on repeat for about 6 months now, thanks to your boy Nas. But, instead here's a bit of respite from the trite/tired Hip Hop is Dead cliches that have been provided by blogs, websites, mags and even myself at times.

I think emcees and rappers are starting to get the picture. Major record labels and their multi-million dollar marketing budgets are not going to jolt fans out of their album-copping hibernation; neither are pre-orchestrated or spontaneous beefs that spur from nothing more than a passing whim. What's going to get people excited about Hip Hop again is the same thing that got people excited a decade ago or two decades ago: quality music. A recent trend has emerged on the net; one that is pleasing to my taste and my slim pockets. Emcees are leaking their own music and not just the crap were they throw a bunch of feckless rhymes together and say something along the lines of "what do you expect, it's just a freestyle" but they're actually putting out tracks of considerable substance. And the ironic thing is that the person who started this trend is none other then the one who underground enthusiasts consider to be the anti-christ of all that is Hip Hop, Lil Wayne. However, I'm not going to go down that route as that's another discussion for another day on another site. With that said, below you'll find some links for FREE mixtapes of artists who leaked their own music that's actually...well, kind of dope.

SkyZoo-The Cornerstore Classic


Naledge-Naledge is Power


Chamillionaire-Mixtape Messiah pt. 3


Sean Price-M.a.s.t.e.r. P


J. Burnett

Betty...Ms Davis If You're NASTY

Before Lil Kim was even old enough to gurgle her first sexually-explicit phrase through the bars of her crib, Betty Davis was making jaws drop with her straight-forward sexuality and indisputable talent.

Even if given only a quick listen, the music from her albums paint grand pictures of her live performances but it's the lyrics that provide even more vivid ideas of what her on-stage persona must have been like. Imagine, if you can, what the music entertainment landscape must have looked like when she appeared.

It's 1973. The top three songs getting rotation on African-American radio stations are Marvin Gaye's 'Let's Get It On', Stevie Wonder's 'Superstition' and Gladys Knight and The Pips' 'Neither One of Us (Wants To Be The First To Say Goodbye).' Now, even though Marvin's song sounds like cotton candy compared to most of the music made today, it's true that for that time it was probably one of the more comparatively vulgar songs getting played. However, one glaring fact remains: Marvin was a man and, let's face it, it's never been incredibly shocking for males to express their sexuality or make their erotic intentions public information especially in the music industry. So, when an overtly sexy woman comes along singing a song called "Shoo-B-Doop and Cop Him" about how she 'can't help herself', you can imagine the stir it might have caused. Let a few more lyrics digest:

"I'm going to do it 'til the cows come home/
I'm going to do it 'til the chicken crows/
I'm going to move it slow like a mule/
I'm going to do it, yes, I'm going to do it"

You couldn't expect much less from a woman who was able to intensely influence the personal and professional life of Jazz giant Miles Davis whom she was married to for only one year. Aside from appearing on the cover of his 1969 album Filles de Kilimanjaro which also featured a song entitled "Mademoiselle Mabry (Miss Mabry)", she also served as the link between soul, jazz and rock. Not only did she introduce legends Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone to Miles Davis, she also found herself sonically supported by a number of impressive musicians. From Sly and the Family Stone and Tower of Power to the Pointer Sisters contributing to the tone and texture of her music, Betty was obviously a powerful performer if she could garner not only the respect but the help of artists of that caliber.

Sadly, history swept soul's sexy sweetheart's artistic endeavors beneath the proverbial rug and hid a true gem that defied the era's social and artistic expectations. Her self-titled album was released in 1973 and although it included all the big names, it still did not gain any commercial success. The same was true for the following two albums. It might have been due, in part, to her overtly sexual persona which drew protests and boycotts to her live performances and got her music banned from radio stations across the country.

But, to the glee of music geeks and vinyl vultures everywhere, her first two studio albums were re-released on May 1st by Seattle label Light in the Attic Records proving true talent is truly timeless. Do yourself a favor and purchase her music. It's worth pulling your wallet out.
Keep your ears open for the masochistic tune rumored to be about innovative guitarist Jimi Hendrix on her second album They Say I'm Different. Yes, she said 'turquoise chain.'


Kristian