Songs of the Times - Antipatriarca

While this is a music blog and I don't feel competent enough to write about politics in depth, sometimes, being a citizen means you have to express yourself. I'll try to keep it focused on music as I usually do, but I have a feeling there may be more of a creep in of social and political issues in here. I'm going to try to post on songs that fit specific issues or moments that come up, so I can relate it back. Here's my first attempt at a song of the times.

Like most sane individuals with a knowledge of history and an ounce of compassion, I have been freaked the fuck out since November. This past weekend it all came to a head when the Alternative President was sworn in before a crowd of hundreds and he hasn't disappointed, signing a barrage of those executive orders Republicans were hysterical about when the supposed evil tyrant monarch Obama signed a few. And that's fine, it's his job. But already women's reproductive rights, health care and the fucking planet are in jeopardy. None the less, this weekend also gave us history with the largest protest ever in the US, and possibly the world. Millions of people marched all over the world lead by and in support of rights for women and all people, really at Women's Marches on all 7 continents. Seeing those crowds, especially from people I actually know that were out there in their respective cities, was hugely encouraging and inspiring to say the least.

There are many songs I could pick from to mark this moment, this movement. Many of them could be from this same artist, but how could it not be "Antipatriarca" by Ana Tijoux?

I could go into details about why this song is perfect, but I think it all speaks for itself with the most relevant verse to the march and the current need for this movement:

"Yo puedo ser jefa de hogar, empleada o intelectual

Yo puedo ser protagonista de nuestra historia y la que agita

La gente la comunidad, la que despierta la vecindad

La que organiza la economía de su casa de su familia"

"I can be head of the household, worker, or intellectual

I can be the protagonist of our story and she who incites

The people, the community, she who wakes up the neighborhood

She who organizes the economy of her house, of her family."

Anti-patriarchy means many things. On the simplest level it's about the liberation of literal women from literal, physical oppression, but that's only the most basic level. It's also about the symbolic oppression that systems designed based on narrow gender roles have entrenched in most, if not all, world cultures. And, ultimately, because of that, it's not just about literal females, but rather the female perspective - the feminine aspect of everyone.

When Prince died, I changed my profile pictures on social media to his Love Symbol which merges male and female. I have purposely not changed it and have no intention of doing so. It's a reminder that, as Prince sang, we are all 50/50 girl. Anti-patriarchy is about accepting that and empowering the female side of ourselves in everything we do. This song is a celebration of the first level of that acceptance and liberation and letting the feminine lead us. That it's also by a Chilean artist who always sings about the oppressed, anti-colonialism and more so-called revolutionary topics. only adds to the mix. It's the perfect song to highlight the march this weekend and I look forward to a revolution that is centered around this idea. It's not their fight, it's our fight. All of us, even if you disagree with it, will benefit from it.

Best Albums of 2016 - 14 through 11

It begins. . .

14. Coconut Oil by Lizzo:  I put on Lizzo's EP Coconut Oil on the drive home one day after a long day at work and immediately felt great. "Worship" is basically Prince level funk, which makes sense since she is based in Minneapolis. It's no surprise I would love it. But then something strange happened. You see, the next song, "Phone," is something I shouldn't like. It's not my typical type of thing at all. But something about the way she says "How I'm 'posed to get home?" or I don't know what, just charmed the fuck out of me. So much joy and fun in this short collection of songs. "Scuse Me" is body positive sexy, doesn't lose the fun and doesn't get vulgar while remaining naughty. These are all club cuts, with heavy bass. I can't stress enough how out of my wheelhouse this is, and yet there's something Lizzo brings to them that pulls me in. I can't put my finger on it, but the word I keep thinking of is joy and it's sorely needed.

13. Durand Jones & The Implications self titled: It's old school soul and R&B that sounds like it was recorded in the early 60s, so of course it's going to be on my list. Any other year, this would be way higher (although, honestly, I wouldn't put too much stock in my rankings). It's a smoking band and the songs are funky, soulful and smooth. I don't know if this was recorded live or not, but it sure feels like it was. Hell, it feels like it wasn't recorded at all, but is rather played live, on demand, every time you hit play. It was recorded in Ohio, where the group is from, but it could have been Mussel Shoals. Just listen to "Groovy Baby," which is like James Brown and Curtis Mayfield, complete with their bands are dancing on your face, and you're loving it.

12. Let Them Eat Chaos by Kate Tempest: I'm going to say this again later, but I'm not normally one to listen to hip hop. Kate's work is something else to me, though. I mean it is hip hop, but it's not at all what you think of as hip hop, most likely. She's a poet and a story teller in a more traditionally European sense: telling tales of common people and their day to day struggles (that's actually pure hip hop, isn't?). This is at once hip hop and Shakespearean and it blends in ways that are futuristic and urban with a very distinct voice that's kind of classical. So, in essence, Kate is likely the most hip hop artist around. She has internalized the best ideas of the genre - the wordsmith, (hu)man on the street, telling it like it is, the passion - and made them her own in the most unique way possible. On this album, which is an extended poem she tells the story of a few residents of a particular street in London, while speaking to how all our current world issues affect them. This is important and challenging without being preachy or impenetrable. I'm not sure you can easily draw a line from her to any of her influences, but they are there. She just isn't regurgitating them. Even the beats are unique - unexpectedly atmospheric and haunting. This is how the genre grows.

11. The Altar by Banks: Electronic music can be a lot of things. Some would say it's easy for it to be cold and calculated. I would add that, recently, what I've heard, mostly ends up being too quirky, but I could be wrong. Maybe there are other artists like Banks. But I doubt they are as raw as she is. All her songs, even now, far removed from her homemade recordings, sound like they were recorded in her bedroom. Not because they are lo-fi, or amateurish (they never were), but because they are so full of pulsing personal angst and sweaty sexuality. "Fuck With Myself," by the way, is the second song about masturbation mentioned on this list (see Lizzo) and both are appropriately sexy and empowering in their own way. Though I think Banks brings in a level of angst that leads to alternate interpretations of her lyric, "I fuck with myself more than anybody else." Interestingly, both Lizzo and Banks are artists who, on paper, I shouldn't like. But both elevate what they do beyond any stereotype of their genres by making it raw. And that totally is my thing.

The Roots at Sunfest 2016

I knew The Roots were playing Sunfest for months and considered going early on. But I don't normally like big outdoor festivals like this because the sound is never great and you don't get the intimate experience I like. So I went back and forth on whether or not I would go for months. Then, just by coincidence I wound up reading Questlove's book and got all hyped up to see them, no matter what. I'm glad I did.

By now, anyone that's into watching late night TV is probably at least aware of what a wide range of talent there is in The Roots. I don't watch the show, but I'm sure what they bring to Late Night With Jimmy Fallon is unlike any other band in the history of late night talk shows. I'm sure if your not familiar with what they do it would seem odd to have a hip hop band as the house band for a show like that, but The Roots are - well, it's not that they aren't hip hop or that they are more than just hip hop, as much as that they are about the real foundations of hip hop, not the false stereotypes that often dominate popular culture. They are about music, pure and simple. And just how hip hop beatmakers might sample records from any genre, The Roots as a band will play music from any genre as well. And while that doesn't necessarily make a band talented on it's own, the way they do it, the way they can make it all fit - jazz, R&B, funk, rock, hip hop, blues - is really something that needs to be seen live to be truly appreciated.

They hit the stage and it was instant funk with "Me and Baby Brother" by War. Right off: the bass. We were right up front and I felt the bass in my chest, in my gut, and my hair was like a field of grass being rustled by the low end breeze. And yet, it wasn't over everything else like a shitty trunk rattling car on the street. It was all loud and crisp. Any concerns I had about the sound at a festival were gone. "Me and Baby Brother" flowed into Bobby Byrd's "I Know You Got Soul" and two things ran through my mind: 1. Holy shit this is awesome and 2. Black Thought is not just a rapper or even an MC: he's a funk frontman also. I came to the show because of the musicians with instruments: the band, if you will. I knew Black Thought was talented, don't get me wrong. But man, watching him spit ridiculously complex rhymes, intelligibly in a live setting, singing, dancing and generally working the crowd without ever seeming out of breath was a revelation to me. The energy level never dropped and I was just wondering if this dude who I believe is a few years older than me would come on the mic gasping for air. It never happened.

The whole band was insanely awe inspiring, really, but a special mention MUST be made for Damon Bryson, AKA Tuba Gooding, Jr. This man was jumping around with a fucking tuba on his shoulder like, well, nothing I've ever seen really. He was matching everything Capt. Kirk Douglas was doing, down to jumping off the bass drum at the end, but Douglas was just holding a guitar. And of course, there was Questlove. He tells a story in the book about how, because his parents didn't let him listen to Prince, he'd listen on headphones while practicing his drums. Except, to throw them off, he'd listen to Prince while playing something different on the drums. He says this like it's nothing in the book, completely blowing past the point of how hard that has to be to do and how that had to have either taught him or developed his sense of rhythm and flat out multitasking in  a way that is unheard of. I've sat behind a drum kit and granted, I have no training, but the coordination it takes to just be adequate is beyond me. At the level he's playing at, which isn't flashy, it's an act that seems magical, really. 

The momentum did drop for one moment in the middle when they let Jeremy Ellis do an extended DJ/beatbox beat that included a tribute to Prince. I don't want to take anything away from Ellis. What he does seems like it's not a lot, but it absolutely is not that simple. I get it. It's a talent. But after a couple of minutes it felt like a DJ club set and I just wanted the band back on. Once they came back it felt like some of the momentum had been dissipated and it took a little bit for them to get it back. At the same time, it was hot and they had been playing nonstop so I imagine it's a good time to take a break so they can catch their breath.

It was a little weird to be out in the heat watching what I kind of wish had been a club or at least small theater show. We were right up front by the stage, but it being so high up and with the phenomenon of concert goers growing taller in recent years*, it was still a lot of neck strain and discomfort and being old. None the less, it really says something that I would do it again for The Roots. I'd see them anywhere now that I really know how they are live. And I would recommend not missing them any chance you get. You don't like hip hop, you say? Well, see them anyway. Trust me. In the meantime, a close approximation is the complete set from Saturday, shot by CHeeSeHeaDPRoDuCTioNS.

*I'm thinking of doing a study to prove how concert goers are not only getting taller, but how a tall fucks level of tallness is directly correlated to their level of being a rude asshole who stands in front of people as if they weren't even there. Science!

Prince

On the way home yesterday I put the actual radio on in my car. I can't tell you the last time I heard the radio. Has to be at least 15 years. But something about yesterday made me want radio specifically and although it didn't last thanks to Miami's shitty DJs, for a brief moment, listening to Prince over the actual airwaves, communally, took me back to when I was 10 or 12 and taped his songs off the radio on my boombox. I used to make legendary mix tapes this way. Prince was on a lot of them.

I really don't have much to say about it beyond that without getting into everything we all know: he was likely the greatest musician of the 20th century and I'm not sure anyone is ready to take that mantle in the 21st. I've seen comments about how he was more than just the hits, which is true. But the thing is, those hits were brilliant, uncompromising and groundbreaking as well. The fact that some of them were even played on the radio defies logic, never mind becoming hits. "When Doves Cry" is an infamously bizarre song when you think about it. And that is exactly what makes it the perfect hit it is, but nobody else could have ever pulled that off.

Prince never stopped reaching for something.He made about 39 or so albums and maybe not all of them were perfection, but damn it if they aren't at the very least interesting. They may not all be your cup of tea, most aren't mine either, but you can't honestly find fault with any of it. He wasn't lazy about his art. He was never commercial for the sake of being commercial. He was true to his art, to his fans and to himself, without compromising any of those for the sake of the other.

Yeah, that's about all I got. As the news was breaking yesterday, before it was confirmed, I was furiously, nervously, checking twitter and news feeds and everything I could think of to get confirmation that it wasn't him. That someone else had been found in his estate. Maybe someone died after hearing his latest funksterpiece because he had finally reached some actual cosmic energy with his music and it was too much for human ears. Maybe they didn't die though, but instead merged with the funk and became eternal. Maybe that's exactly what happened. I'm still not ready to listen to "Purple Rain" though.

Music Book: Mo Meta Blues

As much as I love music of all kinds and actually know a little something about a lot of it, I'm not as hardcore as I wish I was sometimes. It's mostly because I just didn't have the access I would have liked growing up, but also I just have too many other interests that have sucked me in from movies to comics so I haven't been as single minded on any one thing, though music is the closest. But as a result, I have always had a bit of a hero worship thing of true music connoisseurs. I would love to be able to rattle off random, obscure facts about rare records and songs. I can do it a bit, but not enough. But what I don't like are music snobs. What I aspire to be is the type of music lover that truly gets the point of music, all music: the connection to humanity and the expression of that which cannot be expressed. For some time, I've recognized that knowledge of records that is beyond just nerdy obsession in Questlove of The Roots and his book, Mo' Meta Blues: The World According to Questlove is proof that he embodies that my ideal.

Quest's early life was somewhat unique and set up to develop a music nerd from the start. For starters his parents were both performers. But on top of that, and almost more importantly, his parents, sister and aunt were all record collectors who were constantly buying and playing all kinds of music around the house. Much of the first half of the book is framed around specific records he remembers from those early years and how his memories are all just tied to music. That part absolutely made this sing for me as I've mentioned how my parents would play records, mostly on Sundays. How that evolved for Quest is a bit different than for me though. While I also had the musician itch from early on, having a guitar and an organ and later keyboards around, I never had lessons or any sort of discipline around any of it. I think missed out on that to this day. Now in the house we have guitars, drums, keyboards and even a piano and my daughters are free to experiment, but there will be more formal lessons at some point soon.

The book has a meta level to it, hence the title, in which there are conversations with his editor, his manager, himself and others about the book, the events being discussed, and everything. Several times the idea that memory isn't an objective document of the truth comes into play, but it's all framed by the music of that moment. And once we get to The Roots existence as a band and the success that follows, in fits and starts, we get some great behind the scenes stories with a unique perspective. There are a couple of Prince stories, who was quite likely Quest's biggest hero. It's interesting to me that while he never really loses that fan perspective of Prince, he also is quite balanced when talking about him.

All in all, I really loved this book. Aside from just connecting with it because of a shared love of music with a guy that I probably don't have much else in common with, it's got me reevaluating and rediscovering a lot of hip hop and R&B I overlooked or forgot about for reasons I can't even explain.

Perfect (Cover) Songs: A Case of You

Drink the whole thing, dust and all.

It happens often that the first time I hear a song it turns out to be a cover, I dig back to the original and wind up liking the cover better. Sometimes, the opposite happens, though. And sometimes, they're pretty even. Sometimes I'll hear yet other versions and find some that stand on their own, bringing something new to the mix and I'm left unable to decide which is better because it really depends on what you're in the mood for. But at the end of the day, the strength of the song itself is what stands, and practically any version will do. I haven't heard every single version as I'm sure there must be millions, well, maybe not that many, but a lot, but I think Joni Mitchell's "A Case of You" is in that league where you can have a, uh, case of different versions to choose from. I'm saying it's a perfect song with several perfect covers.

The first time I heard it was Tori Amos' version which is a B-Side from Under the Pink's "Cornflake Girl" UK single. If you were ever into Tori, you sought these things out. It's the version I first hear in my head since it's ingrained deeply. I played this thing over and over again, obsessed with the melancholy longing to want to get completely drunk on someone. There's a sense of morbidity in love that is rarely talked about explicitly, but I often hear in the best love songs. Tori's take on the song seems to drown in that submission and it's captivating. But eventually, I had to hear the original.

Remember that Janet Jackson song, "Got Til It's Gone" where she sampled Joni Mitchell and Q Tip kept saying "Joni Mitchell never lies"? Yeah, he wasn't lying either. Though her's is not my favorite, I think it's interesting that her's seems to lean a little more towards the defiant joy of a complicated, sometimes combative and maybe even slightly abusive (?) relationship. I mean it's her song, she knows what it's about so it makes sense her performance seems to stay closer to the emotion of the lyrics. And again, it's entirely possible the difference between these two versions is all in my head. But it is what it is and it's what this song is to me. So, then there was Prince.

Only Prince can do that. He takes it to a level that is at once true to both of the other two versions but amps up the sexy to the point that this is a bedroom jam. It's candle light and satin sheet music and it somehow fits perfectly. I don't normally go for this type of R&B, but this is just so different from the original that it's hard not to appreciate what he's done here. I'd mention the fact that it's coming from a male point of view when the song seems to be coming from a much more traditionally feminine perspective, but the truth is, Prince has never been tied to any gender and that fact also manages to add another layer of depth to this. Because at the end of the day, what does gender have to do with it? It's a direct challenge to preconceived notions that while now a days is beginning to seem obvious, wasn't always so. Anyway, one more to round this out, which I just discovered, can't stop listening to and I think has become my favorite.

Ana Maoura's fado version is absolutely perfect to me. It's a no-brainer to take this song of longing and do it in a style that is all about longing. This really brings the atmosphere of someone drinking a case of bittersweet memories of their lover in a lonely tavern to life in a way none of the other versions do. I could feel all of these, but I can really see this one. I'm in that room. I'm drinking with her. I get it in a way that can't be explained. That's perfection and I could drink many cases of that shit.