I wasn’t planning on writing a “Best Of” list this year, seeing as no one asked me to (What’s up with that?) Fine, I’ve never been all that interested in these things anyway. But as I’ve read list after list these past few weeks, I noticed that few of the albums that impressed me this year were being acknowledged by other folks. Since I don’t get to write about other music styles as much as I get to write about rap, I thought I’d throw together a list of my favorite albums without any rapping on them. I’m not saying these are the best records of the year, in this order: they’re just the ones I listened to and enjoyed on a regular basis. I wouldn’t want to altogether leave hip-hop out of the discussion so I’ll be back with a shorter, all-rap list shortly. (Click on album titles to stream music)
Hypnotic, the world’s best post-hip-hop family brass band, has had a number of full-length, slim-case CDs for sale for years, but, until now, they’d never made a proper album. Recorded in several days for Damon Albarn’s Honest Jon’s label (Hypnotic are said to be featured musicians on Albarn’s next Gorillaz LP), this 11-song LP finally captures the majesty of their remarkable live performances on record. With the group having reportedly put their street performance career to bed, it’s a much-needed document. Read the rest of this entry »
Listen, pal, I’m having a smartly soundtracked existential crisis here
While preparing this piece about Karin Dreijer Andersson of the Knife’s Fever Ray guise, I came across someinterviews where Andersson cites Miami Vice as one of her primary influences for the project. I had what Oprah might call an “aha” moment. The perpetual tension, the melancholy, the sense of impending doom—the songs on the Fever Ray LP do create a feeling akin to Miami Vice’s music video-style sequences: those overly melodramatic moments where Sonny (and sometimes Tubbs) get to look cool while sulking over some mistake (usually someone they were trying to protect getting shot) to the sounds of an emotionally overwrought ’80s power ballad handpicked by music supervisor Jan Hammer. Among them are some of the coolest looking montage scenes ever committed to film, in my opinion. Read the rest of this entry »
Took this shot of Yukimi at Little Dragon’s NYC show at (Le) Poisson Rouge in November. Might be the only worthwhile nighttime photo I’ve taken on the iPhone.
Been meaning to throw up some work I published between the time I left my old site for dead, and started the blog. This feature on Little Dragon ran in XLR8R’s December issue (It’s also online here; scroll down a bit to find it), though I actually wrote it much earlier in the year.
(Click to enlarge)
Somewhat randomly, I was first introduced to Little Dragon’s music by Rashad Smith, the guy who produced “Woo Hah!!” for Busta, LL’s “Doin’ It” and late-model Eric B. & Rakim. While trailing Jay Electronica for the URB cover story I did on him last year, I spent some time at Electric Lady as Erykah Badu was working on her epic New Amerykah, Pt. 1 LP. Rashad was there and when he found out I was a music writer, he asked if I knew of Little Dragon, which I didn’t. Erykah actually walked in when he was playing some tracks from their Myspace, and she gave it a very enthusiastic co-sign, which was interesting ’cause Yukimi sounds a bit like her. Odd how that worked out, too, ’cause I think the Little Dragon LP and New Amerykah were my two favorite full-length pickups last year.
I have no doubt that this new album, supposedly titled Berlinmaster, will be a monster of the most subtle variety. Here’s a clip for the first single, “Fortune.”
