Erykah Badu Concert Review

A few weeks ago I attended the Erykah Badu and Friends concert here in Madrid.  I'd heard excellent things about her live performances, and I decided to find out if they were true.  Hit the jump for a thorough review.
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It's Been A Long Time

I was considering using this long hiatus to bring some serious fire your way.  That is to say I was hoping to write something really inventive or insightful that would ignite your interest and set your loins afire.  Alas, I can't boast any stories or theories I wish to share on the world wide web of any respectable caliber.  What I will do is recommend some cuts and briefly mention their finer points.  That's what I'm here for god damn it.
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Shaolin VS The Wu-Tang and Other Assorted Commentary

Raekwon posing with his favorite culture cipher.

For the last several weeks Raekwon's Shaolin VS The Wu-Tang has maintained a stranglehold on my iTunes.  As with it's predecessors OB4CL & OB4CL2, which, especially in the case of the former, are phenomenal albums, Shaolin VS The Wu-Tang boasts classic butter-smooth Chef and top-shelf cameos.  Some place OB4CL2 alongside the first incarnation as one of the great Wu albums ever, and I don't necessarily disagree, however I firmly believe that Shaolin VS The Wu-Tang is better than OB4CL2.
Here's three reasons why:
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Junior Wells & Buddy Guy - Cryin' Shame

Amid an unsuccessful attempt to spark Spanish fifth graders' interest in American music that isn't heavy with the stench of ones J. Beiber or M. Cyrus, I ran across this Youtube gem.  I was struck by the similarities between Wells (harmonica and vocals) and early James Brown, and pleasantly surprised to see what appears to be a heavily drugged Buddy Guy (guitar) melting faces in all of his sedated glory.  Junior Wells's Hoodoo Man Blues is an excellent album that I highly recommend, and, for those with a taste for the acoustic, the Wells/Guy tandem produce some outstanding unplugged sessions on the aptly named Alone and Acoustic.  The former boasts all of the splendor and scintillating harmonica solos of a younger Wells, and the latter showcases the eternal duo's mature, time-mellowed return to the classics.  Hit the jump to peep a cut from each.
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Marcberg: An Endorsement

Roc Marciano supports national high speed rail initiatives and keeping it real as shit.

The last time I touched down in NYC I was banging Blue Eyes Meets Bed-Stuy, but the next time I roll through, Roc Marciano's Marcberg will be my touch-down album of choice.  Marcberg is an LP for those, yours truly included, who have a strong penchant for early nineties New York hip-hop.  It's beats are raw and relatively simple, and they're complemented by Marciano's polished flow and inventive lyrics.
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Multiple-Eurosis & JOTW

Eurodouche

In the last four months of my stay in Madrid I have been privy to a fair number of European house-parties, and just about the only thing I find offensive is their ridiculously shitty music.  Be forewarned, I am a notoriously fastidious hater when it comes to putting up with music I don't like, but in the last few years I have built up certain tolerance, and I can normally hold out until my blood alcohol level induces musical apathy.  Nevertheless, when the only thing played is David Guetta and Tiesto mixes I rapidly get fed-the-fuck-up.  At a fiesta last weekend, the other partygoers encouraged me to put on some "pahty mewsic" that I enjoy, and since I was the only American in the house I decided to go with strictly perennial classics: "Party Up"-D.M.X., "Ain't No Fun (If The Homies Can't Have None)"-Snoop Dogg featuring Krupt and Nate Dogg and "Don't Stop "Til You Get Enough"- Michael Jackson.  If you put one of these cuts on at an American party and someone complains then he/she is an asshole.

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I Hope You Like Jammin'

This week I'll keep it laconic.

Hit the jump to peep the lineup:
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Bawse JAMs

While Rozay maintains he's the biggest boss that we've seen thus far, I'd say he might just barely shave the bottom half of my top 50 all-time favorite bosses.  The criteria for said list being completely arbitrary and erratic, but one thing is certain: Martin Luther King Jr.  would definitely make the top five.

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JAM's Top 10 Jamz of 2010

2010 was the year of the Tiger

Here's ten songs from last year that struck a chord with me; if you feel I left off anything essential you can air your grievances in the comments section and go listen to some dubstep or something.  Comments are appreciated, but remember that this is nothing more than an annual personal recommendation.  It's not some sort of unequivocal manifesto by which I live and die.
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AOTW: Supwitchugirl? JOTW: "Return of the Quack"

I know, I just showed up after weeks of absence and straight jacked AOTW and JOTW. But, it's my blog so fuck y'all, this ain't no got damn democracy. Let's go in:


Brian McAndrew.
Michael Bishop.
Jamie Slade.
Supwitchugirl?

Hit the Jump for the track and commentary (although you might gotta be dumb, deaf and blind to not have heard this shit...or just a bitter ass Huskies fan, word to Jimmy Mahady)

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Pondering Yeezy and Your Weekly Jam

"So you see Taylor, George Bush doesn't care about black people"

When I made the rather brash, yet sincere, comment regarding my apathetic attitude towards Kanye's latest I was largely influenced by a lingering bad taste that 808s and Graduation left in my mouth.   I didn't just dislike those albums, I hated them.  They were fatiguingly overplayed, and didn't deserve the attention they got from the mainstream listening audience, a group with whom I have not identified since I was 11 years old.  After the masterpiece that was College Dropout and Late Registration's solid follow-up, I was dismayed and surprised at Kanye's goddamn whiny, by-the-book, auto-tune laden LPs.

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Curren$y-Airborne Aquarium

I want to just start out by saying Kanye's new album came out last week and I could give two shits.  I am much more interested in Curren$y's latest ganja-jet-fueled project Pilot Talk II.  Pilot Talk I was a pretty solid album, and I feel like Ski and Curren$y's ability to play off of one another is quickly rising to a, dare I say it, Primo-GURU level.
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The Jam: In My Hood. The Artist: Freddie Gibbs.

Freddie Gibbs’s music and persona provide an intriguing perspective on the drab wastelands of the post-industrial Midwestern United States.  He comes from Gary, Indiana.  A city which is perhaps most famous for being a particularly disagreeable dump of a city and being the setting of The Music Man, an abysmal musical to which my mother subjected me as a youth during a time when, I suspect at least, she was trying in vain to raise the daughter she never had. 

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Jamz of The Week: Afrocubism

This past week I was wise enough to check out Afrocubism at the Madrid Jazz Festival.  The group is composed of musicians from Cuba, several of whom were involved in the Buena Vista Social Club, and Mali.  Malian music is, in my opinion, the most accessible of modern African music, and the mixture of instruments creates an incredible portrait of the way that rock, blues, jazz and latin music have been reflected and reassembled in Africa, the land from whence they all came.
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JOTW

Tracy Chapman, a jacked, black lesbian with a voice much more masculine than my own, holds a special place in my musical library.  I have fond memories of car trips with my parents when I was a youngster, and of many a drunken sing-along in my more recent past, in which T-Chap's tunes played an essential part.  "Smoke and Ashes" is one of her forgotten classics.  Soulful as shit, slow, primed with a chorus as apt for clamorous drunken accompaniment as "Talkin' Bout a Revolution" and "Gimme One Reason,"  and a finale nearly as repetitive and powerful as "Kissed by a Rose," (which will forever reign supreme in my personal pantheon of drinkin' cutz) this week's jam may emerge as a serious contender for the latter quarter of your party playlist.   I have no idea why the person who uploaded this song to Youtube chose a slideshow of baby donkeys, but I dig it.


"I said there's fire down below, I said it's only smoke and ashes baby"

P.S.- A cordial welcome aboard to Ndo, that picture of New Edition rocking Pony's is one of the hardest I have seen in some time.

A still.grimey endorsement: Danny Brown

I have been meaning to post something about Danny Brown for quite a while now.  He is, in my opinion, the most creative and versatile of the latest crop of talented emcees that have gained the necessary notoriety to make it to my headphones (Curren$y, Big K.R.I.T., Freddie Gibbs, etc.). Danny Brown came to my attention via the omniscient Jeff Weiss's blog, and for that, I am eternally grateful.

In my opinion, the most striking thing about Brown is his capacity to base an entire song on a theme that doesn't include cars, women or money.  On his most recent release, The Hybrid, he dedicates an entire track to food stamps ("Thank God") and another to his views on prescription pills ("Generation Rx").  He has an affinity for Adderall, and attributes much of the writing from The Hybrid to the procrastinatoRx's best friend.  I sincerely hope any and all who read this post give Danny Brown a chance.  Passion of the Weiss, who shares a similar respect for his work, provides an interview and several downloads that may very well whet your appetite for more.  You should also check out Brown's Blog for an inside look at this eclectic genius.

Here's Danny Brown's "Shootin' Moves" from The Hybrid
 
"Sittin' in the old school, smokin' on some Goku.  Buds like Dragonballs, tequila with the lime juice."

A Quick Thank You.

Before I get into my typical charade of writing some ego-maniacal bull once a quarter, I must give credit where credit is due. My dear friend, and [primary] still.grimey contributor JAM, or fuck it, let's just call him by his god given name: James Adam Mahady, has single handedly held this once shit stain of a blog above water for several months.
On top of that, the music he's been putting up, and the analysis to go along with it is enough to put you and your favorite blogger to shame. Don't think so? Well I suggest you pull your head out of your ass and go read something, anything, he wrote again.

(Go ahead, I'll wait for you...back? And I was right, right? Great, let's get back at it)

Now considering I would wager a good amount that several newspapers and magazines (yes, kids these things still exist...) would love to have him on their staff, because, you know, his prose would give most established writers a half mast at the bare minimum (I would include the ladies here, too, but let's be real, JAM tends to fair on the chauvanistic side of the equation, from time to time), I feel incredibly fortunate to be apart of this venture with him.

Oh and did I forget to mention he's doing this all while teaching English in Spain? Meanwhile I'm sticking to my routine of weekend of Friday benders, Saturday hangovers (with the privalege of going to school where the football team ranks #1 in the nation), and the other days in the library. Advantage: Mahady.


James Adam Mahady aka JAM: A Glorious Man

Hit the Jump to read a truly bromantic note:

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Cinnamon Girl - Prince versus Neil

Prince Rogers Nelson and Neil Young may very well represent polar aspects of my musical portfolio: a skinny, omnisexual, half-black, falsetto crooner with an appetite for dance and fornication, and a neanderthal like Canadian with a penchant for flannel and farm life. At different moments in time, I have considered one or the other to be my favorite artist, and they are forever present in my top 5, a fluctuating mixture of stalwart classics and musical infatuations. I would have to credit the eclectic musical taste of my parents for this baffling combination, as I was heavily exposed to both artists throughout my youth.

Now to the Jams at Hand. The other day as I was making a pass through my iTunes, I was struck by a desire to listen to "Cinnamon Girl" by Neil. As the search completed, I was reminded of the super dope song by Prince, off of Musicology, of the same name, which according to Wikipedia has nothing to do with Neil's version. Nonetheless, I have decided to pit the two against each other. The preference is decided by each listener on a personal basis; I am making no attempt to endorse one in particular at this juncture. Prince hits you with a dance hall ready, politically conscious jam, and, true to form, provides a catchy chorus to further encourage the boogie. Neil's jam is chock full of heavy guitar and a likewise catchy, simple chorus.

Prince

VS

Neil

Big K.R.I.T.-"They Got US"

I promised myself I wouldn't provide a Jam of the Week until I established residence in Madrid. I spent 2.5 weeks in September sleeping on a cot in a tent in my friends' back yard in Seattle, and have been hiding out at my family friend's apartment in downtown Madrid for the remainder of the month. Now that that's taken care of, I hope my fidelity to the weekly Jam stays true until I pull up roots again and travel to a still undetermined destination sometime in the next year. But who knows, ya boi could find a brisket, or end up really enjoying his job over here and have to linger for a while. That is for the fates to decide.

Back to the task at hand, Big K.R.I.T. was recommended to me by none other than Geezy himself. Being that we have referred to Geezy's own father by more or less the same name (BIG C.R.I.T.) since high school, I initially thought the recommendation was an offhand comment about an MC who should be important to me for only that reason. However, en route to the Continent, I had ample time to review K.R.I.T.'s recent venture K.R.I.T. Wuz Here. It reminds me of, and bear with me, Bubba Sparxxx, but of the non-redneck persuasion. K.R.I.T.'s flows are fluid and precise, and K.R.I.T. Wuz Here is much more versatile and pensive than his earlier mix-tapes, which remind me more of Lil' Jon and Lil' Scrappy. Club-bangers we'll call them. Come to think of it, KRIT's abilities as a storyteller remind me of an MC with whom he shares a surname and an affinity for correct punctuation, none other than the Notorious B.I.G. himself. For a visual representation of the world which K.R.I.T. masterfully portrays in his lyrics, check out Ballast, a flick about how fucked-up life in his native Mississippi can be.
Here, for your listening pleasure (because excellent hip-hop seldom begets a mainstream music video in these dark times), is "They Got US".


"Since the recession it's been hard if ya strippin', cuz n***gas pay to get in, but n***gas ain't tippin'. She's short on rent, landlord trippin', tired of eatin' noodles that taste like chicken."

Jamz of the Week

This week I have been listening to a lot of KBCS 91.3 FM, which is an independent radio station based out of Bellevue College. For people who aren't in the know, Bellevue is an affluent suburb of Seattle. In this Neiman-Marcusian morass of affluence and materialism, KBCS shines as a beacon of idiosyncratic hope for a less monotonous future. Hit the jump to peep their program schedule and/or listen to their live feed. I would recommend Zulu Radio (Saturdays 10pm-Midnight), and the Spice Route (Wednesdays 9-11am). You can also listen to playlists and audio archives at your leisure online.

Now to the jamz, which were inspired by cuts I heard on KBCS over the week. The first is from the R&B/Soul artist Solomon Burke. "Valley of Tears" is a powerful soul/gospel ballad which he mercs with the help of Gillian Welch and some unknown white. It's one of those Jamz that some people will love, and others will hate. Give S. Burke a chance. The man may look like Jabba the Hut now, but he was probably knee deep in it in his heyday.

The second JOTW, is from Wiz Khalifa's recent Mixtape, Kush and Orange Juice. I have to admit that some of Khalifa's music is repetitive and bland, but a lot of the beats are agreeable and I like the stuff he and Curren$y have put together. He's one of those emcees that has a theme, in this case the ganja, and pretty much sticks to it, but does so well. "Mezmorized" is, in my humble opinion, the best song on Kush & OJ.