The Shining

I was looking for some peace in my day and remembered this classic, gorgeous track from Badly Drawn Boy. It takes me somewhere calm and is my song of the day.

Albums of the year

My picks for my favorite albums this year:

Blue Scholars
Bayani

This album has been rocking my world. Really lovely, conscious, thoughtful hip-hop. The song Morning of America is my favorite of the year - alas can't find it online for the link. Enjoy however Back Home, a powerful if a little on-the-nose anthem, NorthbyNorthwest, a delightful self-introduction and Ordinary Guys, a cute alternative to aggrandizement. Their first album is great, too.


Brother Ali
The Undisputed Truth

Incredible album for the albino rapper - Truth Is, sadly bleeped, makes me feel like I'm already free. I also love Daylight and his intro to Uncle Sam Goddamn quotes Nina Simone's classic line "this is a show tune, but the show hasn't been written for it... yet" and that made me very happy.


The White Stripes
Icky Thump

You already know about this one, unless, you know, you don't rock. Rag and Bone is my favorite track.

The Cat Empire
So Many Nights

Great third (and a half) album from The Cats. No Longer There is a beautiful song, Fishes is up there with their classic good time tunes like Hello Hello, but for me the best track is The Darkness, which is clearly Harry-led and shows the influence of his work on the Jackson Jackson album. I need to figure out how to host mp3s.

Feist
The Reminder

Talking of triumphant Nina Simone covers. Feist makes me happy.


Bruce Springsteen
Magic

Girls in Their Summer Clothes, to blatantly steal from the Onion Avclub, is the best Magnetic Fields song Bruce ever wrote. And Living in the Future stops me fretting about all this happening yet. His live in Belfast album, also out this year is also good news, it's all his classics but redone in the Seeger Sessions folk style.

Dinah

I've been taking a jazz history course, which involves watching lot of the Ken Burns Jazz documentary, which reminded me how much I love hearing Wynton Marsalis talk, which led me to an interview with him and Burns on Charlie Rose, which led me to this classic recording. Like the man say, he's Mr. Armstrong, and they're going to swing one of the good old favorites for you. Then he swings it. He swings it good. Want to know how good? Then you should listen to Wynton Marsalis explain just how he swings it, 24 minutes into the video.

I like the frenetic tapping feet of the hot seven, and the hilarious audience reaction shots. They love when the man swing it.

For playing what you heard him play, Dinah is the song of the day

Love Me Or Leave Me

The town of Tryon, North Carolina were so impressed by Eunice Waymon's skill at the piano they chipped in to buy her lessons - taking her all the way to Juilliard.

She grew up into Nina Simone and recorded Love Me Or Leave Me on her 1966 album "Let It All Out."

It was money well spent, because I think Love Me Or Leave Me features the greatest piano solo ever recorded. Sorry, Thelonious.

Let It All Out is an incredible album. It has Mood Indigo, Little Girl Blue, the dirty dirty Chauffeur and the devastating Images

She does not know

Her beauty,

She thinks her brown body

Has no glory.

If she could dance

Naked,

Under palm trees

And see her image in the river

She would know.

But there are no palm trees

On the street,

And dishwater gives back no images.

For being like Bach but with Soul, Love Me Or Leave Me is my song of the week.

One (remix)

First of all, since I don't own the album, I don't know if there exists a "One (not remix)." I assume so. But I've never heard it.

I just find myself listening to this song again and again. Perhaps it's that he calls Paul Wolfowitz a motherfucker in a really satisfying manner. I never get tired of that.

He is Immortal Technique, the album (which as I mentioned, I haven't heard in full) is Revolution, vol 2. Does there exist a Revolution, vol 1? I could look up both these questions on the internet, but I prefer the mystery.

I've found myself in the mood for radical hip-hop recently. Specifically, I've been really enjoying Dead Prez who are delightful mix of revolutionary and adorable. It makes me feel mostly fantastic and energized, but a little bit like Jon Stewart's pedantic character. You know the guy with the whiny voice who puts up one finger to make his quibble. Well, that's how radical hip hop makes me feel. I love Black Star
"Still mo' blacks is dyin, kids ain't livin they tryin
"How to Make a Slave" by Willie Lynch is still applyin"
but um... excuse me... did you know Willie Lynch is an internet hoax?
I love Dead Prez... but the fbi aren't really listening to you through your radio... I love immortal technique, but Bush didn't actually orchestrate 9/11.

You know the feeling? There's some great links in the above paragraph. I'm not sure how I feel about the youtube. On the one hand, it's so easy. And it's a great method of exploration. Like I just listened to a bunch of black ice on def jam from that above link. On the other hand, you end up with bizarre videos like the vegan dancing to Dead Prez. Or awful videos like the text of the lyrics on One. And then I want to comment on the videos. So I guess I feel it adds something, and detracts something, from the purity of my blog. Ha ha, I'm worried about the purity of my blog.

I got distracted. For going out to Mumia, One is the Song of the Week.

But I Feel Good

Groove Armada are one of those bands which I'd like to be too much of a snob to love. But alas, Love Box is one of my favorite albums. It has some wailing guitars, crowd pleasing beats, cute british rapping, and it tops it all off with a deliciously upbeat dancehall-lite final track "But I Feel Good"

Other great tracks from Love Box include "groove is on" (life is slow when the groove is on,) "hands of time," "purple haze," (it all made sense until the shrooms and the purple haze), "madder" (great example of how adorable the british are when they rap), and "final shakedown" featuring none other than Mr Red Rat, who is the height of class in Jamaican music.

I do like to think the track "But I Feel Good" has a slight edge to it because of that "but." It's, y'know, this cheerful song about feeling good and feeling high. But "but" what? It's never explained. It sounds to me like everyone was having a great time, only to have the carpet pulled out from under them. Like mum just came home and turned off the music. "Aw, but I feel good, but I feel high." Or maybe it's a comment on the miserable fucking state of the world, life, and existence. The human condition sucks goat balls... but I feel good, but I feel high.

For that, But I Feel Good is my song of the week

You Can't Go Home Again

I'm minding my own business in 2002, when someone walks in with dj shadow's 2nd album (2nd and a half, if you count unkle) "The Private Press," says "you have to hear this song" and plays You Can't Go Home Again, a phat retake on El Condor Pasa.

Believe it or not, that was the less cheesy of the videos I found for El Condor Pasa. I recommend just not looking. It makes it look like a song about condors or something. Also, apparently every Peruvian on youtube considers it their patriotic mission post that this song is not, infact, Bolivian. Er, go Peru! (warning: Llamas) Anyways, it's one of those songs which is beautiful if you can forget how cheesy it is. Don't think about pan pipes.

Which brings us to your favorite dj savior. This is just one of those instantly likable bouncy tunes with a great choice of sample and it all comes together real nice. For that, it's my tune of the weekend.

Also, I had a mind blowing musical experience a month ago listening to the dj shadow essential mix. Seriously, I told like everyone about it. You can get the torrent. It's two hours long. And like the file says, it is amazing. A musical journey, if you will. And he scratches John Peel, which is cute.