So…I’ve been away for quite sometime, mostly because of personal matters and a wicked case of the flu. To make up for time lost, I some rather lovely tickets. One of my favorite contemporary performers and songwriters will be here in Los Angeles playing a “Church Session” on Saturday March 8th, Mark Kozelek aka Sun Kil Moon. For the last several years Kozelek, former frontman of the Red House Painters in what feels like it was a lifetime ago, has been focused on playing nylon guitars and writing deeply introspective songs. I’m not sure if he’ll be here with a full band or just by himself with his guitar, but however it goes down, if you’re a fan you don’t want to miss this performance at the First Unitarian Church here in Los Angeles (2936 W 8th St. Los Angeles, CA, 90005). If you want a chance to go courtesy of Melting Pot, e-mail at michael[at]meltingpotblog.com by 12noon Friday (tomorrow)!
This clip for Urban Explorers might give a sense of the possibilities of Kozelek performing at a church:
Here Mark performs “Mistress” with the Roots on Jimmy Fallon’s “old” show:
{If you are in LA next week, the folks at Funky Sole are having a free event, Grand Park’s Gotta Funky Sole, on Friday February 14th, consider it a Valentine’s gift to the city of LA, over at Grand Park (Between Grand and Hill in DTLA) featuring Orgone, the mighty Breakestra and Miles and Clifton on the decks!}
It was truly an honor to return back to Funky Sole last night. As I mentioned the first time I was a guest DJ there, Funky Sole remains for me one of the best raw soul/funk night in the world, definitely the best in SoCal. The top shelf selection from residents Music Man Miles and Clifton aka Soft Touch (with Chico and Mean Mr. Mustard providing tunes in the “funk yard” patio out back) certainly is a major reason for this. For me, the thing that sets apart Funky Sole from most every other place in LA is how ready and willing the crowd is to dance. The place is packed every single week, line down the block for hours, with a diverse bunch of folks, very few of which are just there to stand around and take up space (which you see entirely too much in clubs these days). This crowd loves to dance and it continues to surprise me just how far you can take it and still have a full dance floor.
The set I put together for last night was a mix of classic breaks, rare cuts and a few more oddities than the last time. The only song I repeated from my previous trip was Franciene Thomas’ “I’ll Be There” which is kind of a signature song for me. There were a number of things that I was interested to hear on that beautiful loud sound system and a few that I was really interested to see what they would inspire on the dance floor. One of those tracks was something I just ran into this past week while digging through a mess of 45s, Jean Kassapian’s ‘The Snake,” a big beat belly dance song with snake-charmer flute. I had no idea what would happen when I played this, but to my surprise there was actually an audible cheer when the track started and everybody just kept on grooving. Early in the night I noticed that there seemed to be more B-boys in the spot than have been in recent weeks. If I had known they would be there I might have thought a bit differently about the set, though many of the last several songs in the set (from the B-Boy classic “It’s Just Begun” to “The Champ”) were played exclusively for that bunch and they did not disappoint. Seeing the joy spread on the B-Boy’s faces when they heard the horns of “Just Begun” and all of the routines they did to these songs was one of the best moments I’ve been responsible for as a DJ.
Last night also gave me the chance to pay tribute to my friend Matthew Africa, who I so dearly miss. For much of the time since his death, some 17 months now, I couldn’t bring myself to go knowing I’d hear many tracks that we all used to dance to at Soulvation in Oakland, or tracks that he turned me onto, but after a really rough end of the year, I made the resolution to get out to Funky Sole more often, to dance and remember good times of the past. One of the ways I honored Matthew was by making a dub plate of one of the last edits he did, a fantastic club designed and minimalist edit of the Ohio Players’ “Ecstasy.” In addition to the B-Boy cuts, this one was one of the ones that went over the best with the club-goers, several of which gave me some daps mid-set in appreciation.
Below you’ll find the set I played last night, especially for those of you who missed it, along with the tracklist. Unlike previous times, I stayed all the way to the end and got a chance to play a couple of extra tracks with Miles and Clifton, trading off from record to record, including Horace Silver’s “Acid, Pot or Pills,” and what turned out to be the next to last song of the night, Tim Maia’s “Ar Puro.” Such a night. I can’t say thank you enough to Miles, Clifton, Nancy Arteaga and the whole crew for having me down again…y’all are most definitely appreciated. Until the next time, I’ll see the rest of you on the dance floor at the Echo, each and every Saturday night.
Funky Sole Guest DJ Set: 02-08-2014
Miguel De Deus – Black Soul Brothers – Black Soul Brothers (Underground)
La Clave – Latin Slide – La Clave (Verve)
The Latin Blues Band – I’ll Be A Happy Man – Take A Trip Pussycat (Speed)
Jean Kassapian – The Snake – 7″ (Kassap) Cumbia En Moog – Cumbia De Sal – El Disco De Oro Vol. 2 (Eco)
James Brown – My Thang – Hell (Polydor)
Ohio Players – Ecstasy [Matthew Africa Edit] – 7″ (Dub Plate)
Di Melo – Se O Mundo Acabasse Em Mel – Di Melo (Odeon)
Bo Diddley – Hit Or Miss – Big Bad Bo (Chess)
Mary Jane Hooper – Don’t Change Nothing – Psychedelphia (Funky Delicacies)
Alvin Cash & the Registers – The Philly Freeze – 7″ (Mar-V-Lus)
The Buena Vistas – Soul Clappin’ – 7″ (Marquee)
Franciene Thomas – I’ll Be There – 7″ (Tragar)
Pacho Alonso – Ven, Ae, Ae – Pacho Alonso (Arieto)
The Jimmy Castor Bunch – It’s Just Begun – 7″ (Kinetic)
The Jackson Sisters – I Believe In Miracles – 7″ (Mums)
Juice – Catch A Groove – 12″ (Greedy)
The Mohawks – The Champ – 7″ (Sir JJ)
A.C. Reed – Talkin ’bout My Friends – 7″ (Nike)
Johnny Tolbert – Check Your Battery – 7″ (Jasman)
Hank Ballard – I’m A Junkie For My Baby’s Love – 7″ (Chess)
I’ve been sitting on this record for years. Every know and again I’ll give it a spin and flip out over it all over again and promise myself to post it up here. But clearly I hadn’t done it. After playing it on this past Sunday’s all-vinyl edition of Melting Pot I just had to make sure I put it up here.
Aorta were a psych group from the Chicago area. In the years before they became Aorta and cut this record, perhaps surprisingly (or not surprisingly depending on your perspective I suppose) they originally had Peter Cetera in the band before he left for the ultimately greener pastures of the Chicago Transit Authority. That’s definitely for the best cause I can’t imagine his falsetto with this group, would have wrecked their whole vibe. Instead what we have here is a nice bit of fuzzy psych loosely built around a bunch of heart related themes. Virtually all of the songs run into each other, many feature either heart sounds or heart references (such as “Main Vein”). I’m so fond of how the songs are mixed together that it just didn’t seem right to break them up. So I’ve kept a few of them together, along with the interesting sound effects that work as bridges between the songs. The sonic trickery that leads off “Strange” is particularly interesting, because to my post-Hip-Hop ears it sounds like a turntablist got transported back to 1969 just to cut up a little routine before this track. There’s some real talent on display here, one of those instances you rarely get anymore, an imaginative group given free reign in the studio with the chance to do whatever they wanted. It’s a shame the band didn’t really go anywhere (if you believe what you read on Wikipedia apparently someone slipped them some bad acid just before a major industry showcase at the Fillmore East and their reputation never recovered). They were able to release a second album in 1970, simply titled Aorta 2, but I’ve never heard anything from it and it seems even more obscure than this one. If I run into it, I promise I won’t take years and years to post that one up.
I don’t know about you, but I feel pretty overwhelmed by the amount of new music that comes out on this planet these days. While the vast majority of the music that gets recorded is bad or mediocre at best (thanks for putting that phrase in my mind permanently Richard Sherman!), even when you’re just dealing with the quality, it seems like the sounds are just never-ending. It’s saddening, maddening and thrilling all at the same time. That sentiment reminds me of the sound of Los Macuanos, a DJ collective out of Tijuana who’s album El Origen has so many different styles mashed up together that I won’t even try to come up for a term for it all. Virtually every track sounds different from the last, but they all have a distinct style to them linking them together. “Pasado y Presente” has a bit of trip-hop feel to it, alluring while also a bit ominous. EL Origen doesn’t sound like a debut, it sounds like Los Macuanos have been at this for some time, thankfully for us they’ve only just begun.
First end of the month all vinyl affair of 2014, and though I plan on bringing in quite a few guest DJs for most of the year, it was nice to start out the year with a big bag of vinyl and no idea where we were going to go from song to song. With these shows all I plan is where I begin, in this case with the H.P. Riot album I just highlighted here. It’s always interesting to see what develops from there, and there are quite a few things that I’ve had for a while and just hadn’t had the chance to share with you guys on air or on the blog. At the top of the second hour there’s a short set foreshadowing my guest DJ set over at the legendary Funky Sole in Echo Park on February 8th featuring Toni Tornado, Mary Jane Hooper, Sugar Billy and more. I’m not sure if I’ll even play any of these tracks (I’m going to be working that out probably right up until I leave on Saturday the 8th) but I think you’ll enjoy the teaser nonetheless. Probably my favorite set is in the first hour with some cinematic sounds from Jun Mayuzumi, Ennio Morricone, Nancy Priddy and Albert Ayler. Then again, I’m really happy with how all of these sets came together. Sometimes I leave these vinyl freeform shows with a bit of regret, “I wish I’d played this there” or “Dang, that would have been perfect in this set,” but not this show. This one is super solid, I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed putting it together. I won’t be on the air this Sunday, it’s Super Bowl time, but don’t you fret, I’ve left you in the very capable hands of Mr. Sean Osborn aka Seano from KPFK’s very own Soundwaves!
Playlist: 01-26-2014
{opening theme} Boris Gardiner – Melting Pot – Is What’s Happening (Dynamic)
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H.P. Riot – Gotta Go (The Chant) – H.P. Riot (Concept)
Juan Pablo Torres y Algo Nuevo – Con Aji Guaguanco – Super Son (Arieto)
Jorge Ben – Xica De Silva – Africa Brasil (Phillips)
Howlin’ Wolf – Built For Comfort – The Howlin’ Wolf Album (Cadet Concept)
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Jun Mayuzumi – Miracle – Angel Love (Capitol)
Ennio Morricone – La Lucertola – Una Lucertola Con La Pelle Di Donna (Dagored)
Nancy Priddy – Mystic Lady – You’ve Come This Way Before (DOT)
Albert Ayler – Heart Love – New Grass (Impulse)
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Aorta – Main Vein II/Sleep Tight/Catalyptic – Aorta (Columbia)
Santana – Eternal Caravan Of Reincarnation/Waves Within – Caravanserai (Columbia)
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Toni Tornado – O Jornaleiro – Toni Tornado (Odeon)
Maceo & The King’s Men – Got To Getcha – Doing Their Thing (House Of The Fox)
Carl Sherlock Holmes – Black Bag – Investigation No. 1 (CRS)
Sugar Billy Garner – Keep Movin’ On – Super Duper Lover (Fast Track)
Tim Maia – Um Dia Chego La – Tim Maia (Polydor)
Mary Jane Hooper – You’ve Got What I Need – Psychedelphia (Funky Delicaces)
The Meters –Cordova – The Meters (Josie)
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Jimmy Smith – Root Down (And Get It) – Root Down Live! (Verve)
The Lat-Teens – Soulful Thing – Buena Gente (Cotique)
Oscar Milito E Quarteto Forma – Podes Crer – O Primerio Amor: Trilha Sonora Original (Som Livre)
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Gato Barbieri – India – Chapter One: Latin America (Impulse)
Fernanda Y Bernanda Utrera – Mi Malo No Tiene Cura – El Cante De Fernanda Y Bernanda De Utrera (Hispavox)
Rotary Connection – We’re Going Wrong – Songs (Cadet Concept)
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{closing theme} Dungen – C. Visar Vagen – Tio Bitar (Kemado)
School recently started at Long Beach (which is the main reason I’ve been M.I.A. once again) and I got a big surprise on the first day. As I was checking my mail, which because of the winter break, often includes a textbook or two, I noticed an LP sized box with my name on it. My first inclination was that someone had sent me a textbook in a record box. Granted, there is no reason anyone would send me a textbook in a record box, but it seemed more likely that someone sending me a record at school. When I got back to my office I opened it up to find this record. Shock gave way to the certainty that someone had sent me a record by mistake. After all, records don’t just materialize out of the blue, and especially not at school. Turns out an old friend of mine from Berkeley, Cesar “El Che” Rodriguez had sent it as a thank you gift for an academic related assist from me. It’s a tough thing to do, buying DJs records, but he chose a record that I dug and didn’t own and that was mighty cool in and of itself.
Turns out the record was pretty damn good. This was actually a record I remember seeing at Groove Merchant years ago and for whatever reason I didn’t pick it up then. It’s not something that you generally just run into. The “H.P.” in H.P. Riot stood for Hunter’s Point, a neighborhood in San Francisco where the band came from. Strangely they were signed to a Canadian record label, likely a by product of their touring and probably being “big” in Canada. H.P. Riot had a lot of Bay Area flavor to their sound, with pretty clear influences from Sly & the Family Stone. Just the kind of funk I needed here at the start of 2014. Best first day of classes ever!
This record has been out forever and a day, but part of the new year is making amends for the things that I missed in 2013. Joanna Gruesome is a noise pop band out of Cardiff, with girl/boy vocals and loads of energy that remind me ever so much of the Delgados, though grittier, noiser and with much more attitude. Safe to say I love them very much and one listen to “Sugar Crush” should show you why. As a bonus, here’s the band performing for Break Thru Radio. “Secret Surprise” is the song that I originally wanted to post, just cause of the lyrics, which somehow make “I dream of pulling out your teeth” and “I’ve been waiting to crush your fucking skull” seem charming. It’s all in the delivery, and it’s something that comes across much better while watching the band perform:
Really didn’t think I had this much new material until I’d picked all my songs and realized I’d have needed a whole extra hour to play everything. New tunes from the Soul Jazz Orchestra (covering Gary Bartz!), Dum Dum Girls, Hurray For The Riff Raff, Miles Tackett, Joanna Gruesome, Chicano Batman and King avriel. Quite a few classics thrown into the mix, as you should expect. We’ll be on all vinyl this coming week which will likely feature a number of tracks I’m thinking about putting in the mix when I do a guest spot at LA’s venerable Funky Sole February 8th.
Playlist: 01-19-2014
{opening theme} Booker T & the MGs – Melting Pot – Melting Pot (Stax)
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SCLC Operation Breadbasket Orchestra – Precious Lord, Take My Hand – The Last Request (Chess)
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. – The Good Samaritan – Free At Last (Gordy)
The Soul Jazz Orchestra – Celestial Blues – Inner Fire (Strut)
Gary Bartz NTU Troop – Sing A Song – Follow, The Medicine Man (Prestige)
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Chicano Batman – She Lives On My Block – Cycles Of Existential Rhyme (El Relleno)
Tempo 70 – En Una Tarde Gris – Tu y Yo (Mericana)
Hurray For The Riff Raff – St. Roch Blues – Small Town Heroes (ATO)
The Electric Flag – You Don’t Realize – A Long Time Comin’ (Columbia)
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Miles Tackett & the 3 Times – Just What I Need – Single (milestackett.bandcamp.com)
Big Star – O My Soul – Radio City (Ardent)
Bart Davenport – Wearing The Changes – Physical World (Burger/Lovemonk)
Bobby Timmons – One Down – Got To Get It! (Milestone)
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Joanna Gruesome – Candy – Weird Sister (Slumberland)
Swervedriver – Deep Wound – Single (swervedriver.bandcamp.com)
New York Dolls – Who Are The Mystery Girls – Too Much, Too Soon (Mercury)
Girl Trouble – Wrecking Ball – Hit It Or Quit It (K Recs)
Tom Jones – Looking Out My Window – 7” (Parrot)
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Michael Dixon & J.O.Y. – You’re All I Need – Purple Snow: Forecasting The Minneapolis Sound (Numero)
Jessy Lanza – Against The Wall – Pull My Hair Back (Hyperdub)
Dum Dum Girls – Rimbaud Eyes – Too True (Sub Pop)
Real Estate – Talking Backwards – Atlas (Domino)
Jef Gilson – Ballet Lycra 1 – The Archives (Jazzman)
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The Step Brothers feat. Rakaa & Blu – Tomorrow – Lord Steppington (Rhymesayers)
King avriel – Prelude – Single (Self-Released)
Warpaint – Go In – Warpaint (Rough Trade)
King Crimson – Exiles – Larks Tongues In Aspic (Atlantic)
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{closing theme} Dungen – C. Visar Vagen – Tio Bitar (Kemado)
Just saw a list of Hip-Hop records that are going to be celebrating a 20th anniversary here in 2014 (which strangely now I can’t seem to find again) and saw the cover for the Beastie Boys Ill Communication. 1994 was a formative period of time for me. I’d just finished my first year in college and first year at Album 88. Like most of the Beastie Boys records, Ill Communication featured some fantastic production work. At some point in 1994 I started making the transition away from CDs and into digging for vinyl. Searching out the samples on that album and others from that Golden Era of Sampling fundamentally changed my tastes and habits connected to music.
I first ran into “Root Down” at the Atlanta Record Swap. I can distinctly remember thumbing through the crates of a dealer by the name of Bill Wolfe, who I’d never seen there before, and there was just gem after gem after gem. Running into this album took my breath away. In those pre-google, pre-Discogs, pre-Ebay days, you didn’t get records over the internet and you couldn’t find information about out-of-print records. You either found them, someome told you about them or someone gave them to you. I just remember being in disbelief that I actually ran into this record and that so much of the original song was in the sample for the Beastie Boys “Root Down.” It was a prized possession until the big sell-off in 2004. It’s only fitting (since I sold him my copy) that I ran into this album again at Groove Merchant via trades with Cool Chris. “Root Down” is the funkiest thing Jimmy Smith ever laid down, “Slow Down Sagg” is almost a more upbeat version of “Root Down” and just as funky. This version of “After Hours” is still bluesy, but it’s a funky blues, though not in the way we generally use the term. So classic, and still takes my breath away every time I drop the needle on it.
Here at the beginning of the year I’m often making up for records that I didn’t play nearly enough in 2013. Sometimes that’s because I just slept on something, more often than not it’s simply because it took me time to get the release. Most of the new music I get is from labels or promo people and since KPFK doesn’t really have a working library, I have to hustle for everything. Though I’m always proud of the “Best Of” shows I do, as soon as I’ve broadcast the show, I know there’s going to be something that I wish I’d put in there (I do make amends during the “Best So Far” show in July, but it’s not quite the same). The thoroughly enjoyable Purple Snow collection from Numero is the first of many echoes of 2013 you’re likely to hear and see on this blog. The collection shines a light on music recorded in Minneapolis before Prince broke out and put that sound on the map. Here (as with Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis) Prince is still a teenager and only a bit player on a few of the tracks, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t plenty of quality, interesting and distinctive sounds on this collection. “You’re All I Need” is maybe my favorite of the bunch, one of the most slyly funky Gospel songs you’re ever likely to hear, with some spacy organ, hand claps and a chorus of kids. Without a doubt I’ll be making amends most of this year and playing selection after selection from this collection on the radio show.
First shows of a new year are often difficult to produce for a show like this. The beginning of the year generally doesn’t have a lot of new releases, so there’s not a lot of completely new sounds to share. Lucky for us all, 2014 already has a few very strong records upcoming in these first two months of the year, including Swervedriver, Sharon Jones, Spain, Bart Davenport and Chicano Batman, as well as more than a few things left over from 2013 that didn’t get quite the amount of shine they deserved on my program, such as Juana Molina, Jessy Lanza and the fantastic Purple Snow collection put out by Numero. This first show also features a couple of tributes to artists who passed recently, including the criminally under-rated Kermit Moore and the incomparable Amiri Baraka.
{opening theme} Booker T & the Mgs – Melting Pot – Melting Pot (Stax)
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Amiri Baraka – Who Will Survive America? – Listen Whitey: The Sounds Of Black Power 1967-1975
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – She Fell Away – Your Funeral, My Trial (Mute)
King – Go Slow – Red, Hot & Fela (Knitting Factory)
Andrew Hill feat. Kermit Moore – Illusion – One For One (Blue Note)
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Juana Molina – Ferocisimo – Wed 21 (Crammed Discs)
Jessy Lanza – As If – Pull My Hair Back (Hyperdub)
Los Macuanos – Iglesia de San Miguel Canoa – El Origen (Nacional)
The Avalanches – Diners Only/A Different Feeling – Since I Left You (Modular)
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Bart Davenport – Fuck Fame – Physical World (Burger/Lovemonk)
Swervedriver – Deep Wound – Single (Self-released)
Willie Colon – Eso Se Baila Asi – The Hustler (Fania)
Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings – You’ll Be Lonely – Give The People What They Want (Daptone)
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94 East – If You See Me – Purple Snow: Forecasting the Minneapolis Sound (Numero)
Mind & Matter – I’m Under Your Spell – Purple Snow: Forecasting the Minneapolis Sound (Numero)
Aura – Taste Of Love – Purple Snow: Forecasting the Minneapolis Sound (Numero)
Haze – I Do Love My Lady – Purple Snow: Forecasting the Minneapolis Sound (Numero)
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Chicano Batman – El Frio II – Cycles Of Existential Rhyme (El Relleno)
Miles Tackett & the 3 Times – Just What I Need (Self-Released)
Erasmo Carlos – Sorriso Dela – Sonhos e Memorias (Polydor)
Sun Kil Moon – Micheline – Benji (Caldo Verde)
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Spain – To Be A Man – Sargent Place (Glitterhouse)
Songs: Ohia – Hold On Magnolia – Magnolia Electric Co.: 10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (Secretly Canadian)
Yusef Lateef – Live Humble – The Diverse Yusef Lateef (Atlantic)
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{closing theme} Dungen – C. Visar Vagen – Tio Bitar (Kemado)
Here is the final post in this week long look back at 2013’s year in music on Melting Pot, focused on the best songs I heard last year. As is usually the case, four of these songs were absolute no-brainers. That fifth spot always seems to give me a little bit of trouble. It would have made sense to include one of the several fantastic retro soul tracks that I frequently played at home, on the road or on the radio, but when I thought about overall pleasure derived from listening to this music all throughout 2013, I found that I was more drawn to other varieties of soul music this year. So, without further adieu, here are my picks for the top five songs I heard in 2013.
***Honorable Mentions: Frootful feat. Mazen Bedwei – “The Road,” Myron & E – “If I Gave You My Love,” Amatorski – “Never Told,” Boogaloo Assassins – “No, No, No,” Golden Grrrls – “Past Tense,” Rhye – “The Fall,” Bosq feat. Mendee Ichikawa – “Never Feel Cold,” King – “In The Meantime,” Fat Night – “Things You Do,” Quadron – “LFT,” Nicole Willis & the Soul Investigators – “On The Eastside”
5. Toro Y Moi – “Grown Up Calls” – Anything In Return (Carpark)
Perhaps no other song put a smile on my face as much as “Grown Up Calls.” Lyrically there’s not really a reason for that, since the song could best be described as a bittersweet love song, seemingly about the effects of distance on a relationship between two young lovers. Instead it’s about the sound of the song, the lovingly crafted homage to 1980s/1990s R&B style, moving far and away from the chillwave he was associated with. I don’t know what kind of dancer Chaz Bundwick actually is, but every time I hear this song, I can’t help but envision him doing heavily choreographed moves somewhere in between Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” and Bobby Brown’s “Every Little Step.” Part of me really wishes that Chaz could have broken out this year with this album and this song (and the accompanied dance moves in a very slick video) to have been a major star challenging Justin Timberlake, Usher and the like. Part of me is MUCH happier that Toro y Moi received sustained acclaim all year long from just the right outlets and stayed just on the cusp of stardom. As is the case with so much of the music I play, you want as many people as possible to hear it because it truly deserves to be heard, but you also know how widespread, mainstream approval has a way of changing artists and changing sounds rarely for the better. I have a feeling that the next Toro y Moi record will sound nothing like this, but whatever Chaz has in store for us next, just based off of all he’s done so far, we’ll be more than willing to go wherever he wants to take us.
4. Valerie June – “Shotgun” – Pushin’ Against A Stone (Concord)
Murder Ballads are a time honored tradition in the blues, but I’m not sure there’s ever been one quite like “Shotgun.” Here’s what I (and Ms. June) originally had to say about this track back in September:
“It’s remarkable simply because it’s so rare to hear a murder ballad where the woman is not only the narrator but also not the victim. It’s sung in a way that you could almost be forgiven for not recognizing that she kills this man with a sawed-off shotgun at the end, but that’s a testament to her talents as a singer and songwriter. Recently she did an interview with NPR and said this about how the song came to her: ‘I was seeing this field, this prairie in the middle of America, I guess. The wheat was over-my-head high, almost, and it was blowing back and forth. And there was this old house with white vinyl siding — almost falling off, like a haunted house — and a screen door, and it was flapping in the wind. There’s a song [the blues standard ‘Baby, Please Don’t Go’] that goes, ‘Baby, please don’t go / Don’t go down to New Orleans.’ Well, this woman, she was like, ‘No, don’t go! Don’t leave me! Don’t go down to New Orleans!’ And the man had other ideas for what he wanted to do. So she decided that she was upset about it, and she wanted to get her sawed-off shotgun and do something with the relationship that was gonna make him hers forever.'”
Even if it wasn’t a murder ballad, the song would still be a stunner, just for the stark and haunting beauty of June’s vocals. The fact that it IS a murder ballad makes it even more stunning, more haunting, as if it’s not simply a murder ballad, but one that’s sung from beyond the grave. The violent, unexpected rushes of slide guitar only reinforce all those feelings. On a record of great performances, “Shotgun” still stands all on its own.
As one of my favorite records of the year, there were several tracks from Rhye that could have found their way into this list, but “Last Dance” is here because it’s the best of the bunch. From the ace production from Robin Hannibal, with all the various elements perfectly balanced and spaced in the mix, to the way Mike Milosh’s ethereal vocals soar, swoon and caress each and every single syllable if the lyrics, “Last Dance” is absolutely flawless.
It’s very rare for me to include singles in my year end shows and lists. Part of the reason is that eventually there’s a full-length that comes out and that LP will often feature the song that I was originally most enamored with or something even better. Every now and again though a single is all there is, or when the album comes out the song you love has been tampered with and changed into something lesser or even more rarely (as was the case with another favored track from this year, Fat Night’s “Things You Do”) the album will not feature the single that sparked the love to begin with. When I made the decision that there was no way I could leave “Worst Enemy” out of my Best Of 2013 show, I knew it also would have to be on this list. No other song in 2013 had the power to truly transport me from where ever I was and whatever I was feeling and send me into a blissful space away from the rest of the world. The production from Toddla T is largely responsible for that in the clouds feeling, but it’s Shola Ama’s vocals that really got me floating. It took a single listen for this one to get it’s hooks in me, and also only one listen to convince me that the slowed down (seemingly ubiquitous) rapping in the song simply had to go. I can understand why they are there, but they were so distracting, so completely unnecessary to the vibe of the song that I just had to edit them out. All apologies to the band, but please know that it was done out of sheer love for this track and for Shola’s vocals. If not for that little cut I’m not sure I would have even played this on my show. Instead it became the song that I listened to on repeat the most in 2013.
If “Worst Enemy” was the song that I listened to most in 2013, “Nakamarra” was by far the song that I sang most, in the car, on the way to class, in the shower, to my wife, to my dog, at the gym, just walking around, at the supermarket, essentially everywhere, which is strange since it’s such a personal love song. One of the real highlights of the year was having the band do a stripped down session for us at KPFK and getting a chance to talk with them about “Nakamarra” because it cleared up any possible misconceptions about the song. As singer and principal lyricist, Nai Palm, explained in our interview:
“…there’s so many different ways to love people, in music it’s usually only focused on the romantic side of things. The song was written about a friend of mine, she was an artist and she moved to the central Australian desert to work with indigenous artists…for a woman who was the same age as me, and in this amazing city (Melbourne)…It just really struck me. The song is about just how proud I was of her to make such a strong move in her life at such a young age, but also spending a lot of time out in the desert, it’s my homage to that space, the land out there and the people.”
“Nakamarra” doesn’t simply reference a particular person, but it simultaneously contains very specific references to Australia. The title is in reference to a tribal name that was given to Nai’s friend, one that is a name of kinship and one with specific ties to Aborigine culture and particular spaces in the Australian desert. The song then works as an expression of love in a variety of different ways, lyrically as the deep affection between two friends, and musically, with it’s references to the production styles of the Soulqarians, most specifically Hip-Hop’s most sanctified producer, J-Dilla. All those many layers of love shine brilliantly through in the finished product, unquestionably the best song I heard in 2013.
All week long here on Melting Pot we’ve been taking a look at the year in music for 2013. Today’s post focuses on the best new releases I heard in 2013. More than any other year in recent memory I’ve felt distinctly overwhelmed by how much music is out there in the world. It’s getting to the point where I almost feel like there is too much music out there. My favorite records are often out of step with mainstream and underground lists, but this year in particular I felt a bit more disconnected. It wasn’t that I hadn’t heard records that other people felt were the “best,” I just wasn’t feeling them. The following are the records that I most definitely felt in 2013.
***Honorable Mentions: Boogaloo Assassins – Old Love Dies Hard (Sicario), Nicole Willis & the Soul Investigators – Tortured Soul (Timmion), Dom La Nena – Ela (Six Degrees), Jaimeo Brown – Transcendence (Motema), Toro Y Moi – Anything In Return (Carpark)
5. Myron & E with the Soul Investigators – Broadway – Stones Throw
2013 was the year of Retro Soul, with seemingly every Soul act of worth releasing an album. The most anticipated for me was this album from Myron & E with backing from the Soul Investigators. I’ve spent the better part of the last three years playing 45s from the group, almost always mentioning that the full-length was coming soon. This year that became a reality and the boys did not disappoint, building off of their singles and including a variety of new songs showcasing their distinct vocal harmonies and top-shelf grooves from the Soul Investigators (who also did exceptional work with long-time collaborator Nicole Willis). Hopefully we won’t have to wait quite as long for the follow-up.
4. Valerie June – Pushin’ Against A Stone – Concord
Valerie June has been making music for quite some time, initially gaining some notice in the group Bella Sun and her own solo work. 2013 was the year she fully got the recognition she deserved via Pushin’ Against A Stone. As a native southerner with roots in West Tennessee there were a lot of aspects of June’s album that I felt a connection to. Few recent artists have as deftly moved from genre to genre in the space of a single album and made it all sound as fluid, natural and authentic as Valerie June. Production work from Dan Auerbach certainly helped, but as was clear from the many live performances June graced us with over the year, the woman doesn’t need anyone’s help. All she needed was for people to pay attention and listen.
3. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – Push The Sky Away – Bad Seed LTD
After almost 20 years as a fan, it’s quite possible that I’m genetically predisposed to love virtually everything that Nick Cave puts out. In my book the man hasn’t made a “bad” album despite being one of the more prolific artists in the last several decades. Push The Sky Away doesn’t have quite the same amount of menace as his recent work with Grinderman, or the latent grooves of the last Bad Seeds album Dig Lazurus Dig!, but what it does have in abundance is deep soulfulness musically. Lyrically, much has been written about how Cave looked for inspiration online, jotting down ideas from Wikipedia entries and google searches. All told it’s an exceptional listen. Perhaps more so than any of the other records on this list, Push The Sky Away is an album that deserves to be heard from start to finish and back again.
I’m not sure if this is a cop-out or not, but I went back and forth between these two albums and eventually just gave up trying to chose one and decided they’d share the top spot. A major reason why they share this position is because of the sterling production work from Robin Hannibal. In a year that was marked by more of the theft side of “love and theft,” Hannibal was able to pay respect to his inspirations without sounding as if he had just wholesale ripped them off (yes, I’m talking about you Robin Thicke and Pharrell!). As with his previous work, you can hear elements of artists he’s clearly been influenced by, on Quadron’s album Rod Temperton era MJ and on Rhye’s debut, most prominently, the vibe and sound of Sade, but they stay just that, influences. Hannibal has produced an instantly recognizable, highly referential, sound, but it also a singular sound, special and distinctive in its own regard. Having both of these releases in the same year provides a fair amount of symmetry, but also interesting juxtapositions. Both vocalists Hannibal is paired with, Coco O. in Quadron and Mike Milosh in Rhye, have a bit of ambiguity in their voices. For some Milosh’s voice has a feminine quality to it, not unlike Little Jimmy Scott, that seemed to trick quite a few listeners. While a lot has been said about Coco O’s marvelous voice, it doesn’t seem that many people pick up on just how much she sounds like Little Michael Jackson. Where both vocalists excel is in conveying extraordinary tenderness in their performances. While their songwriting has its merits, it almost doesn’t matter what they are singing, so much is communicated simply in the way they sing. In a world filled with distraction, each song on these albums commands your attention and creates a space you don’t easily want to relinquish. For all these reasons, I feel they are most deserving of sharing the top spot on my list this year.
