I was just raving about his new album Until The Quiet Comes, if you want to see one of the most visionary producers making music right now, make sure to e-mail me at michael[at]meltingpotblog.com by 12noon, Thursday October 25th for your chance to see FlyLo live in Los Angeles!
Maybe Badu will be there…
Or maybe Thom Yorke will be there…
But who cares as long as Flying Lotus is there doing his Astral Plane thang:
Meshell Ndegeocello – Either Way I Lose
Up to my neck with papers to grade, so here is an absolute no brainer…Meshell Ndegeocello + Nina Simone = Perfection! I can’t believe it took Meshell 10 albums to record a tribute to Nina Simone, but let’s all be thankful that she did and hope (despite her own great talents as a songwriter) there’s a #2 and #3 on the way in the future. Hopefully we won’t have to wait for album #20 to see that happen!
Directions – Untitled #1
Directions – Untitled #4
Directions – Untitled #5
It struck me earlier in the week when I decided to pull this record off the wall that I rarely post up any music from what I like to call the “Heroic Years” of indie rock. Though this period of time still falls within my boundaries for this section of “20th Century Vinyl Archeology” for the most part I’m more focused on rare soul, funk and psych. For whatever reason sounds from this album popped into my mind earlier in the week and without a show this Sunday due to a fundraising special I thought I’d share it.
For years and years I always talked about this record as “Directions in Music” when it seems the actual name of the project was simply “Directions” and the album was titled “In Music.” The project featured multi-instrumentalist Bundy K. Brown, well known in post-rock circles for his work with Tortoise and Gastr Del Sol, Doug Sharin, drummer for Rex and June of 44, and guitarist James Warden. Back in 1996 when the album was first released, I was a co-music director at Album 88 in Atlanta and the record seemed pretty enigmatic. There were no song titles, didn’t appear there was a band name, and no lyrics either.
The title “Directions In Music” (a subtitle for Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew sessions) combined with the interesting use of repetition gave the music a very improvisational quality. The music is easily classified in the post-rock vein, but this collection of 8 songs always separated itself from the usually quiet then loud musings of Tortoise, Mogwai, Mono, Explosions In The Sky and other post-rock bands. I enjoy the music those bands have produced, but I’ve never cherised any of the records the way I do this one. I’m not entirely sure why. It is beautiful at times, such as the washes of feedback that begin “Untitled 4,” or the pastoral groove of “Untitled 1,” or the pensive charms that build and build in “Untilted 3” and “Untitled 5.” In addition to the gorgeous sound produced from the interplay of these musicians, there’s just something special about the way they lock into particular grooves and play around with their themes that’s continually drawn me in for almost 15 years. Very pleased to see that Thrill Jockey reissued this record earlier in the year in celebration of their 20th anniversary. It’s not a record a lot of people heard the first time around, and likely few will hear it this time around too, but those that do will find a unique and lovely bit of music that I look forward to cherishing for years and years.
Cheers,
Michael
After a 20+ year hiatus, Australia’s Crime & the City Solution are returning to music and to the stage here in Los Angeles on October 23rd at the Fonda! They began as a post-Birthday Party outlet for Rowland S. Howard and Mick Harvey, along with Harry Howard and vocalist Simon Bonney. Over the years many players have come in and out, but in its latest incarnation Bonney’s deep and dark voice remains along with violinist Bronwyn Adams, guitarist Alexander Hacke as well as Dirty Three’s Jim White and former 16 Horsepower frontman David Eugene Edwards. If you want tickets to see Crime & the City Solution, make sure to e-mail me at michael[at]meltingpotblog.com before 5pm on Monday, October 22nd!!!
It’s been over 20 years so you might need some refreshing, especially since we don’t get new music from the collective until 2013, so here are three of my favorites from the band’s history:
“Six Bells Chime”
One of my favorite “gothic” styled songs, perhaps because it’s featured in one of my favorite films of all-time, “Wings of Desire,” which is where this video comes from featuring Rowland S. Howard careening from side to side on stage, playing as if he’s fighting the guitar and stalking around like a tiger as all that beautiful feedback washes out.
“The Kentucky Click”
More fire from the Rowland S. Howard period of this band, almost a “Tramp” like groove on this one amid all the darkness.
“The Adversary”
My favorite track from the later period of the band, one of the last recordings until their recent re-emergence. Also finds it’s way into a Wim Wenders film, and sounds like pure menace until everything brightens mid-way through.
Flying Lotus feat. Niki Randa – Getting There
Three full-length records into the career of Flying Lotus and while little has changed in his overall style, each successive record still manages to astound. Until The Quiet Comes is his latest masterpiece. While this album shares quite a lot with his previous long players, albums that were best heard as full compositions, the tracks here seem a bit more fragmented. This doesn’t take away from a deep ethereal and dreamy quality to the sounds, perhaps nowhere best represented than on his collaboration with Blank Blue vocalist Niki Randa “Getting There.” My only complaint, and it’s even more pronounced on Until The Quiet Comes than previous albums, is why are these songs so SHORT!!! “Getting There” is one minute and fourty-nine seconds of heaven, I understand we’re not supposed to partake of the heavenly while still here on Earth, but if you’re gonna give us a taste, give us a good sized bite please! Then again, when we were bearing witness to genius this pronounced, can we really complain? I’m just thankful Mr. Ellison continues to build on his already legendary status in the world of electronic music.
Here’s a hauntingly beautiful and terrifying short film created to promote the new record by Khalil Joseph. As is the case with the album, I wish this film wasn’t so short, I would love to see this entire album expanded into a film in line with the images here…nothing short of genius.
Second week of fundraising, not as strong as our first week, but still all told we raised $2,000 for KPFK which has been our best total in quite a while. Morgan Rhodes sat in with me to chat about the music and radio station that we love. Had a little issue with the recording so the second hour had to be spliced together and cuts off at the end. We won’t be on the air next week as the fundraiser wraps up, but will return at the end of October for our usual all-vinyl freeform, perhaps with a special guest DJ. If you didn’t get a chance to support KPFK during our shows, you can still pick up some of our premiums for your pledges if you click here.
Melting Pot on KPFK #102: First Hour
Melting Pot on KPFK #102: Second Hour
Sapo – Been Had
Sapo – Ritmo Del Corazon
Sapo – Get It On
Been hard at work, grading for school and getting ready for the second round of fundraising on KPFK, so here’s a no-brainer. I’ve been on the lookout for Sapo’s lone album for years, since hearing “Been Had” on a Soul Jazz compilation and immediately recognizing those distinctive drums from Jurassic 5’s “Lesson #6 The Lecture.” I’d rarely run into a copy when I was at stores, and wasn’t willing to drop $50 for it, but eventually I ran into a nice copy at Atomic and finally got a chance to hear the whole record. Sapo was a part of the San Francisco latin rock scene that produced Santana and Malo. Singer Richard Bean was the lead vocalist for Malo (singing on their biggest hit “Sauvecito”) and formed this group shortly after leaving that one. Sapo treads in a lot of the same water, upbeat, hard driving, latin based rock music. What sets them apart are the B-boyrrefic drums and conga work from Bobby Gaviola and Raul Rekow. As good as the drums are that start “Been Had” the rhythm that follows is even better. “Get In On” has some similar breaktastic moments. Just tailor made for dancers who know how to rock. Well worth the wait to finally track this one down.
Cheers,
Michael
Whereas most of the artists that came out of the drum’n’bass era have been largely forgotten, Amon Tobin, continues to redefine electronic music and performance. I’ve had great respect for his musicianship from all the way back in the mid 1990s when he debuted under his own name and also under the “Cujo” moniker. Tobin has never made music that sounded like anyone else and his styles have only become more revolutionary over time. His latest project ISAM is a unique audio/visual experience and he’s returning to LA to showcase it, this time at the Greek Theater (his first time ever performing there) on October 12th! If you want a chance to see Amon Tobin’s ISAM Live, make sure to e-mail me at michael[at]meltingpotblog.com by 12noon on Thursday, October 11th. Not nearly as many passes as the Kiwanuka show earlier this week, but I do have a couple of pairs for this one.
Just to give you a taste of what you can expect, here’s some pretty video from a recent performance at Sonar 2012, Barcelona’s festival of Advanced Music and New Media Art:
In addition to his latest tracks, it seems some of the older ones end up in the ISAM project, including one of my all-time favorites from his career 2000’s “Slowly”:
One of several CDs that I’m offerring during this fundraiser at KPFK is this debut from UK singer-songwriter Lianne La Havas. There have been some rather fantastic British imports in the last several years, from Adele to Duffy to Michael Kiwanuka, of them all, Lianne La Havas might have the most talent and potential as an artist. Possessed with a flawless soulful voice (and equally flawless beauty), her debut took a while to make it’s way to me, but I’ve been pretty smitten with it since discovering it late in the summer. Whether stripped down or with full instrumentation and a lot of production, La Havas’ voice rings out and demands attention. There’s an effortless quality to her singing, that matches the breezy nature of her songs, but there’s a great soulful depth to those vocals as well, that makes me very curious for what will come next from this rising star.
It seems Lianne spends quite a lot of time here in LA, having played Amoeba quite a few times and even featuring the legendary “Reggae Pops” in her recent video for Age:
As a consequence of a comedy of errors yesterday at KPFK, I have tickets to see rising star Michael Kiwanuka at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre Tuesday, October 9th!!! The good news is that I do have a few pairs of tickets for this show, the bad news is that there is a very quick turnaround on these tickets, you need to e-mail me at michael[at]meltingpotblog.com by 2pm TODAY!!!
If you’ve been living under a “indie” rock the past 12 months, here are just a few reminders of what a fantastic artist Kiwanuka is:
Song of the Year candidate right here with “Tell Me A Tale” (though techincally it was released in 2011):
Stripped down and striking cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “May This Be Love”:
Nice collaboration with Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys:
Doing a fundraiser by yourself is always a challenge, especially with a reasonably new show that is still finding it’s audience. When you’re sitting in the room all alone, and you have no idea if people are calling (or if you notice phone lines are busy, if they’re actually pledging) it’s just about the most lonely feeling in the world. I spent almost the entire first hour convinced that no one was supporting the show, only to get a flurry of activity at the end of the hour and have everything work out to our second best fundraising show on KPFK! Great music, coming from the various packs and add-ons, we’ll be back at it this coming Sunday with even more goodies, so please if you can tune in, spread the word and support KPFK and Melting Pot!
Melting Pot on KPFK #101: First Hour
Melting Pot on KPFK #101: Second Hour
Dionne Warwick – You're Gonna Need Me
Dionne Warwick – (I'm) Just Being Myself
Dionne Warwick – Don't Burn The Bridge (That You Took Across)
Today in Oakland there will be a memorial for Matthew Africa (with a NOLA style second line no less!), but I won’t be able to attend since I’m here in LA getting ready to raise funds for KPFK (listen in today from 4-6pm and if you can please do support Melting Pot and “Radio Powered By The People”). There’ve been few days since his passing that Matthew hasn’t been on my mind as has music that I now associate with his life. “You’re Gonna Need Me” is a song that is featured on Matthew’s last mix (Matthew Africa Plays 7 Inches), but that I first heard on Oliver Wang’s 5-year Soul-Sides anniversary mix. Prior to hearing it, like virtually everyone else, I hadn’t felt there was any reason to pay much attention to Warwick’s post-Bacharach/David material. It was only after it showed up on O-Dub’s mix that I realized I had heard it before, on J-Dilla’s Donuts, as a track entitled, “Stop.”
“You’re Gonna Need Me” is a really stunning song. The production is not at all what you would expect from a major mainstream star like Warwick, but Hozier, Dolland and Hozier (along with Popcorn Wylie) really created something special on this one. All those psychedelic flourishes, the fuzzy guitars, the heavy as hell drums, and the sweet and somewhat sassy vocals from Dionne combine into one of the best tracks from this period of time. In the years since Olvier’s mix, I really have no excuse for not having this record in my collection until now. One of the consequences of Matthew’s passing is that I feel a greater sense of urgency to get records that I really really appreciate and so here it is.
I was very pleased to find that the album wasn’t just a one-tracker, with quite a few nice songs from Warwick and her production gang. “Just Being Myself” also has sample worthy production and “Don’t Burn The Bridge” seems like run-of-the mill early 1970s soul, but HDH add almost Axelrodian orchestral flourishes that elevate the track. But when a song is as good as “You’re Gonna Need Me” it’s hard not to keep coming back to it. There’s a sense of finality with the song, despite the plea “you better stop and think about what you’re doing” it seems more like the singer is ready to move on, somewhat like HDH moving on and away from Motown. On Dilla’s Donuts the track seemed to be more about preparing for his own demise and how all us would realize how much we needed him. With Matthew’s passing, alot of that same feeling comes across when I hear it now and miss my friend who was taken from us far too young.
Michael
Sureshot Symphony Solution feat. the Mighty Pope – Mr. Fortune & Fame
Way back at the beginning of this year, my friend Soul Marcosa shared this song on his facebook page and I just about flipped my wig (which is quite a feat considering I don’t wear a wig). Everything about the song got me amped to hear more, those horns, the massive break-beat drums, the fuzzy guitar and the gruff soulful vocals. One of the fantastic things about Facebook is being able to often reach out directly and quite easily with artists about their music. Sureshot is a SF based producer and DJ, who I recently learned was behind one of my favorite break LPs, Soundbwoy Super Status Reggae Breaks (with the best version of “Tom Drunk” likely the one sampled for Reflection Eternal’s late 1990s classic “Fortified Live”) and as the Sureshot Symphony Solution, he’s following the path laid down by other accomplished DJs, such as Quantic and Adrian Younge, mixing together original music with sample based material. Within a week of hearing the song, I was able to get copies of the vinyl and learned that later in the year he’d be releasing a full-length album.
“Elegant Aggression” is that album, finally released through Nature Sounds, and it builds on the promise of the earlier EP and singles, featuring a wide variety of guest vocalists and musicians, including Myron & E, Coultrain and Ohmega Watts. As good as the many other songs are (and the instrumentals which are included with the release), I keep coming back to this track featuring The Mighty Pope on vocals again and again. Very proud that we’ll be able to offer this fine collection of music during our upcoming fundraiser on KPFK…don’t sleep on this one.