Thursday, July 27, 2006

Music and stuff

I've been on a big new-music spree lately. I've been messing around with the new layout for last.fm. It's pretty nice. I've been looking through and selecting recomendations it gives that seem interesting.

I'm shocked that I haven't listened to his stuff before, but I am loving Gil Scott-Heron. His spoken word stuff is incredibly clever and I can't help but love it even if it isn't necessarily something that my generation or background is supposed to identify with. They're always backed by a catchy jazz beat that matches his dialogue perfectly. His songs are just as poignant and beautiful. He bounces from folk to soul to jazz to funk and blurs the lines between them. It is great stuff.

I've also finally taken the time to really give John Coltrane a good listen. I really love the great improvizational and free jazz and it is shameful that I don't put more of my time into listening to it. I'd heard it over and over again that Coltrane's rendition of "My Favorite Things" is brilliant. I listened to the whole album and I love it. I need to start picking up more stuff by him.

I'm also loving Miles Davis's "Sketches of Spain." It isn't something I've just started listening to, but it warrents mentioning anyway. It borders on classical music (it is in fact a remake and expansion of a far older piece) but with enough of Davis's improvization to justify it as jazz. It's an album that you really need to listen to without other audible distractions. The strongest notes of the piece are the quietest. It really wouldn't have the power it does if it weren't for those low volume notes that emphasize every section of the music. It's absolutely beautiful.

I've got some other Miles Davis, some Sun Ra, and some Thelonius Monk on my to listen to list. I really need to get deeper into the genre.

At Steven's recommendation, I listened to Justice's new album "Waters of Nazerath." I had kind of been drifting away from the House genre but the title track of this album is to great to ignore. A steady beat of static bursts make sure this song stays at the forefront of your thought processes while listening to it. You can not ignore it. I think part of the problem I was having in the house genre was because I had been ruined by Diplo and Low Budget into expecting faster transitions between song sections in my dance music. A lot of house featured a standard beat for two minutes and it can't keep my attention the way the constantly shifting beats of Diplo can. Justice doesn't fall into this trap it shifts it's melody throughout while still keeping with a core theme. DJ Funk's remix of "Let There be Light" is purely about dancing. It's mantra of "Bounce that Ass" isn't exactly lyrically brilliant, but thats not the point. He wants you to "Bounce" to the rhythm and this music is perfect for dancing.

I've been on a Stones Throw spree of sorts lately too. I've long been a fan of Madlib, but I hadn't been keeping up on his exploits all that well since Madvilliany. Fortunatly I decided to see what he's been up to, or else I might not have listened to Dudley Perkins "Expressions." The thing about Dudley Perkins is he can't really sing. But he has this beautiful and unique crooning style that works so well with his introspective and spiritual lyrics. Its my understanding that sometime before he released this album Perkins had some sort of religious experience. He is devoted to dicussing his faith through music and despite my strong anti-religion beliefs I can't help but love his passion and language if not completely his message. Perkin's casual lyrical style combined with Madlib's perfectly disjointed production style makes me feel more personally connected to the artist then any other album I've ever listened to.

If you enjoy Madlib's beat production I also recommend you pick up Madlib The Beat Kunducta's latest beats album "Movie Scenes Volume 1 and 2"

-Brandon