Three full-length records into the career of Flying Lotus and while little has changed in his overall style, each successive record still manages to astound. Until The Quiet Comes is his latest masterpiece. While this album shares quite a lot with his previous long players, albums that were best heard as full compositions, the tracks here seem a bit more fragmented. This doesn’t take away from a deep ethereal and dreamy quality to the sounds, perhaps nowhere best represented than on his collaboration with Blank Blue vocalist Niki Randa “Getting There.” My only complaint, and it’s even more pronounced on Until The Quiet Comes than previous albums, is why are these songs so SHORT!!! “Getting There” is one minute and fourty-nine seconds of heaven, I understand we’re not supposed to partake of the heavenly while still here on Earth, but if you’re gonna give us a taste, give us a good sized bite please! Then again, when we were bearing witness to genius this pronounced, can we really complain? I’m just thankful Mr. Ellison continues to build on his already legendary status in the world of electronic music.
Here’s a hauntingly beautiful and terrifying short film created to promote the new record by Khalil Joseph. As is the case with the album, I wish this film wasn’t so short, I would love to see this entire album expanded into a film in line with the images here…nothing short of genius.
Second week of fundraising, not as strong as our first week, but still all told we raised $2,000 for KPFK which has been our best total in quite a while. Morgan Rhodes sat in with me to chat about the music and radio station that we love. Had a little issue with the recording so the second hour had to be spliced together and cuts off at the end. We won’t be on the air next week as the fundraiser wraps up, but will return at the end of October for our usual all-vinyl freeform, perhaps with a special guest DJ. If you didn’t get a chance to support KPFK during our shows, you can still pick up some of our premiums for your pledges if you click here.
Been hard at work, grading for school and getting ready for the second round of fundraising on KPFK, so here’s a no-brainer. I’ve been on the lookout for Sapo’s lone album for years, since hearing “Been Had” on a Soul Jazz compilation and immediately recognizing those distinctive drums from Jurassic 5’s “Lesson #6 The Lecture.” I’d rarely run into a copy when I was at stores, and wasn’t willing to drop $50 for it, but eventually I ran into a nice copy at Atomic and finally got a chance to hear the whole record. Sapo was a part of the San Francisco latin rock scene that produced Santana and Malo. Singer Richard Bean was the lead vocalist for Malo (singing on their biggest hit “Sauvecito”) and formed this group shortly after leaving that one. Sapo treads in a lot of the same water, upbeat, hard driving, latin based rock music. What sets them apart are the B-boyrrefic drums and conga work from Bobby Gaviola and Raul Rekow. As good as the drums are that start “Been Had” the rhythm that follows is even better. “Get In On” has some similar breaktastic moments. Just tailor made for dancers who know how to rock. Well worth the wait to finally track this one down.
Whereas most of the artists that came out of the drum’n’bass era have been largely forgotten, Amon Tobin, continues to redefine electronic music and performance. I’ve had great respect for his musicianship from all the way back in the mid 1990s when he debuted under his own name and also under the “Cujo” moniker. Tobin has never made music that sounded like anyone else and his styles have only become more revolutionary over time. His latest project ISAM is a unique audio/visual experience and he’s returning to LA to showcase it, this time at the Greek Theater (his first time ever performing there) on October 12th! If you want a chance to see Amon Tobin’s ISAM Live, make sure to e-mail me at michael[at]meltingpotblog.com by 12noon on Thursday, October 11th. Not nearly as many passes as the Kiwanuka show earlier this week, but I do have a couple of pairs for this one.
Just to give you a taste of what you can expect, here’s some pretty video from a recent performance at Sonar 2012, Barcelona’s festival of Advanced Music and New Media Art:
In addition to his latest tracks, it seems some of the older ones end up in the ISAM project, including one of my all-time favorites from his career 2000’s “Slowly”:
One of several CDs that I’m offerring during this fundraiser at KPFK is this debut from UK singer-songwriter Lianne La Havas. There have been some rather fantastic British imports in the last several years, from Adele to Duffy to Michael Kiwanuka, of them all, Lianne La Havas might have the most talent and potential as an artist. Possessed with a flawless soulful voice (and equally flawless beauty), her debut took a while to make it’s way to me, but I’ve been pretty smitten with it since discovering it late in the summer. Whether stripped down or with full instrumentation and a lot of production, La Havas’ voice rings out and demands attention. There’s an effortless quality to her singing, that matches the breezy nature of her songs, but there’s a great soulful depth to those vocals as well, that makes me very curious for what will come next from this rising star.
It seems Lianne spends quite a lot of time here in LA, having played Amoeba quite a few times and even featuring the legendary “Reggae Pops” in her recent video for Age:
As a consequence of a comedy of errors yesterday at KPFK, I have tickets to see rising star Michael Kiwanuka at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre Tuesday, October 9th!!! The good news is that I do have a few pairs of tickets for this show, the bad news is that there is a very quick turnaround on these tickets, you need to e-mail me at michael[at]meltingpotblog.com by 2pm TODAY!!!
If you’ve been living under a “indie” rock the past 12 months, here are just a few reminders of what a fantastic artist Kiwanuka is:
Song of the Year candidate right here with “Tell Me A Tale” (though techincally it was released in 2011):
Stripped down and striking cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “May This Be Love”:
Nice collaboration with Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys:
Doing a fundraiser by yourself is always a challenge, especially with a reasonably new show that is still finding it’s audience. When you’re sitting in the room all alone, and you have no idea if people are calling (or if you notice phone lines are busy, if they’re actually pledging) it’s just about the most lonely feeling in the world. I spent almost the entire first hour convinced that no one was supporting the show, only to get a flurry of activity at the end of the hour and have everything work out to our second best fundraising show on KPFK! Great music, coming from the various packs and add-ons, we’ll be back at it this coming Sunday with even more goodies, so please if you can tune in, spread the word and support KPFK and Melting Pot!
Today in Oakland there will be a memorial for Matthew Africa (with a NOLA style second line no less!), but I won’t be able to attend since I’m here in LA getting ready to raise funds for KPFK (listen in today from 4-6pm and if you can please do support Melting Pot and “Radio Powered By The People”). There’ve been few days since his passing that Matthew hasn’t been on my mind as has music that I now associate with his life. “You’re Gonna Need Me” is a song that is featured on Matthew’s last mix (Matthew Africa Plays 7 Inches), but that I first heard on Oliver Wang’s 5-year Soul-Sides anniversary mix. Prior to hearing it, like virtually everyone else, I hadn’t felt there was any reason to pay much attention to Warwick’s post-Bacharach/David material. It was only after it showed up on O-Dub’s mix that I realized I had heard it before, on J-Dilla’s Donuts, as a track entitled, “Stop.”
“You’re Gonna Need Me” is a really stunning song. The production is not at all what you would expect from a major mainstream star like Warwick, but Hozier, Dolland and Hozier (along with Popcorn Wylie) really created something special on this one. All those psychedelic flourishes, the fuzzy guitars, the heavy as hell drums, and the sweet and somewhat sassy vocals from Dionne combine into one of the best tracks from this period of time. In the years since Olvier’s mix, I really have no excuse for not having this record in my collection until now. One of the consequences of Matthew’s passing is that I feel a greater sense of urgency to get records that I really really appreciate and so here it is.
I was very pleased to find that the album wasn’t just a one-tracker, with quite a few nice songs from Warwick and her production gang. “Just Being Myself” also has sample worthy production and “Don’t Burn The Bridge” seems like run-of-the mill early 1970s soul, but HDH add almost Axelrodian orchestral flourishes that elevate the track. But when a song is as good as “You’re Gonna Need Me” it’s hard not to keep coming back to it. There’s a sense of finality with the song, despite the plea “you better stop and think about what you’re doing” it seems more like the singer is ready to move on, somewhat like HDH moving on and away from Motown. On Dilla’s Donuts the track seemed to be more about preparing for his own demise and how all us would realize how much we needed him. With Matthew’s passing, alot of that same feeling comes across when I hear it now and miss my friend who was taken from us far too young.
Way back at the beginning of this year, my friend Soul Marcosa shared this song on his facebook page and I just about flipped my wig (which is quite a feat considering I don’t wear a wig). Everything about the song got me amped to hear more, those horns, the massive break-beat drums, the fuzzy guitar and the gruff soulful vocals. One of the fantastic things about Facebook is being able to often reach out directly and quite easily with artists about their music. Sureshot is a SF based producer and DJ, who I recently learned was behind one of my favorite break LPs, Soundbwoy Super Status Reggae Breaks (with the best version of “Tom Drunk” likely the one sampled for Reflection Eternal’s late 1990s classic “Fortified Live”) and as the Sureshot Symphony Solution, he’s following the path laid down by other accomplished DJs, such as Quantic and Adrian Younge, mixing together original music with sample based material. Within a week of hearing the song, I was able to get copies of the vinyl and learned that later in the year he’d be releasing a full-length album.
“Elegant Aggression” is that album, finally released through Nature Sounds, and it builds on the promise of the earlier EP and singles, featuring a wide variety of guest vocalists and musicians, including Myron & E, Coultrain and Ohmega Watts. As good as the many other songs are (and the instrumentals which are included with the release), I keep coming back to this track featuring The Mighty Pope on vocals again and again. Very proud that we’ll be able to offer this fine collection of music during our upcoming fundraiser on KPFK…don’t sleep on this one.
It was my great pleasure to use the occasion of our 100th show on KPFK to pay tribute to one of my all-time favorite bands, the incomprable Dirty Three. I’ve been a fan of the band since 1996, when their album Horse Stories was released. At the time, quite frankly, I just wasn’t prepared for the unique sound of the Dirty Three, and this led to one of my greatest regrets. As a Co-Music Director at college radio heavyweight WRAS Atlanta, Album 88, we passed on the album and didn’t add it to our influential playlist. No music related decision has haunted me more before or since and I’ve tried to atone for that mistake by playing the band liberally while at KALX Berkeley, KCRW Santa Monica and now at KPFK Los Angeles. For this tribute show I chose my 3 favorite tracks from the their past 6 albums, Horse Stories (1996), Ocean Songs (1998), She Has No Strings Apollo (2000), Whatever You Love You Are (2003), Cinder (2005) and Toward The Low Sun (2012).
As good as the band is on record, they are an absolute revelation live. In addition to recording their first album in 7 years, the band is currently on a US tour, which concludes here in Los Angeles on October 8th at the Bootleg Theater. Dirty Three’s performance in Atlanta, all the way back in September 1996, was one of the most singular and unique musical experiences I’ve ever had, with many of the details still indeliably marked in my mind. If you’ve never seen them perform, here is a taste, some recent video of the band, performing two songs from “Towards The Low Sun” while at the Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona.
Who knows when they’ll be back, could be next year, could be never…don’t take the chance they’ll be coming back, see them now and thank me later:
Playlist: 09-30-2012
{opening theme} Booker T & The MGs – Melting Pot –7” (Stax)
~~~~ Break ~~~~
Dirty Three – 1,000 Miles – Horse Stories (Touch and Go)
Dirty Three – No Stranger Than That – She Has No Strings Apollo (Bella Union)
Dirty Three – I Offered It Up To The Stars and The Night Sky – Whatever You Love, You Are (Anchor & Hope)
Dirty Three – Rising Below – Toward The Low Sun (Drag City)
~~~~ Break ~~~~
Dirty Three – Flutter – Cinder (Touch and Go)
Dirty Three – I Knew It Would Come To This – Horse Stories (Bella Union)
Dirty Three – Black Tide – Ocean Songs (Anchor & Hope)
Dirty Three – Lullaby For Christie – Whatever You Love, You Are (Touch and Go)
Dirty Three – Long Way To Go With No Punch – She Has No Strings Apollo (Bella Union)
~~~~ Break ~~~~
Dirty Three – Great Waves – Cinder (Touch and Go)
Dirty Three – Restless Waves – Ocean Songs (Anchor & Hope)
Dirty Three – Sue’s Last Ride – Horse Stories (Bella Union)
Dirty Three – Some Summers They Drop Like Flies – Whatever You Love, You Are (Touch and Go)
Dirty Three – Rain Song – Toward The Low Sun (Drag City)
~~~~ Break ~~~~
Dirty Three – Ashen Snow – Toward The Low Sun (Drag City)
Dirty Three – Sister, Let Them Try And Follow – She Has No Strings Apollo (Anchor & Hope)
Dirty Three – Deep Waters – Ocean Songs (Touch and Go)
~~~~ Break ~~~~
{closing theme} Dirty Three – Ever Since – Cinder (Bella Union)
Since today would have been Tim Maia’s 70th birthday, I thought I’d say a few words about this collection, which will be released next week by Luaka Bop. Tim Maia (pronounced “Chim Mie-Uh”) is generally regarded as the Godfather of Brazilian Soul music, and with good reason. From the artists he directly worked with such as Roberto and Erasmo Carlos, Elis Regina and Eduardo Araujo to those he clearly influenced like Toni Tornado and Gerson Combo, as both a songwriter and performer his influence looms large over funky music out of Brazil in the 1960s and 1970s.
This collection brings together music from the nine albums he cut in the 1970s, as well as assorted singles during that time. Luaka Bop spent close to 10 years working on this comp., primarily working to secure rights for some of the more obscure tracks from his discography. As a cross-section of Maia’s career, this is a good start, but inexplicably tracks from his first two, and arguably strongest, albums is completely missing. As far as I can tell, the earliest track comes from his 1972 self-titled record (almost ALL of Maia’s records are self-titled, which can be frustrating, but as long as they’re before 1979 you’ll be in good shape). “Where Is My Other Half” is featured twice on that album, in Brazilian portuguese as “Lamento” and this English version. It’s a nice example of Maia’s bittersweet soul side, communicating a deep sadness about love lost. Much of Maia’s early focused on affairs of the heart, though much more often focused on the happier side of things. In some cases, perhaps best represented by 1973’s “Over Again,” my favorite English language song from Maia, we get both sides, a bit of the heartbreak as well as the hope that new love will be eternal. His first two records are full of songs that communicate this, in addition to absolute burners that would perfectly fit the “world psychedelic” label of the Luaka Bop series. Since there are other tracks from his Polydor years, you’d think that rights issues couldn’t have been the reason for leaving them off. My copy doesn’t include the liner notes, which I’m sure clear things up (I’ll update this review when I find out the deal), but the omission is glaring for those who already know Maia’s amazing catalog.
What IS here is a lot of music that is insanely difficult to find, now available with beautiful pristine sound, especially the multiple tracks from Maia’s own Seroma record label, including work from the legendary Racional albums. During the mid-1970s, Maia joined a cult and began making music in line with the ideology of the group. The music from his “Racional” period is some of his most funky and most bizarre, and also most rare, with copies of either volume of Racional fetching upwards of $500 on Ebay and elsewhere. No less than 6 of the 15 tracks come from the Racional period, including what seems like the single version of “Que Beleza.” The 12 minute long “Rational Culture” has been a favorite of mine for years (currently being used on one of the Melting Pot IDs at KPFK), with it’s easy mid tempo beat, and the anthemic chant “We are gonna rule the world, don’t you know, don’t you know…got to put it together.” It’s easy to fade it on out after 4 or 5 mins, but worth listening to all the way just to her Maia preach a little bit about “the most important thing that you ever heard in your life.” Just the snippet of the Racional ideas (both here or in the very short acapella song “You Don’t Know, What I Know”) sounds pretty batty, but Maia is so sincere in his insistence that you “read the book,” that I almost want to get a copy just to see what it’s all about.
Also included in this set are a number of Maia’s late 1970s output, also quite rare to find in Brazil and impossible to find here in the states. “Nobody Can Live Forever” has always struck me as being far too short, but for the 3 minutes it’s on, it’s mesmerizing. “Ela Partiu” released as a single and also featured on a collection of music featuring Maia and other artists on the Underground label has a serious Curtis Mayfield vibe, an artist that Maia is often compared to. For me, the artist that most resembles Maia, both artistically and physically would have been Buddy Miles. Both men were larger than life characters, absolute monsters on the drums and possessing big, gigantic voices with soaring falsettos. Even though it’s not as complete a collection as I would have desired, Luaka Bop deserves massive credit for bringing together all of the many facets of Maia’s artistry together in a single compilation. Their previous collections for Os Mutantes and Shuggie Otis really turned on a lot of people (including me) to work that should have been more recognized when it was recorded. Part of me almost wishes that Maia could stay a well kept secret for those in the know (especially when I think about how his already pricey rare records are likely to see a spike in prices with increased demand), but I sincerely hope that now that his music is more widely available, more people will be able to bear witness to what a fantastic singer, writer and performer Tim Maia truly was. Absolute recommended listening for everyone with ears to hear and a heart to love.
…Just as an added bonus, for both new and long-standing fans of Tim Maia, here are my top five choices for songs that aren’t on the collection but I really wish had been:
“Nao Vou Ficar”
Roberto Carlos recorded “Nao Vou Ficar” first, but Maia wrote it and while his version doesn’t have that massive breakbeat in the middle, it does have a little more oomph musically.
“Voce Fingiu”
Great mix of swirling organ, heavy drums and stinging guitar topped off with Maia’s trademark vocals, so over the top that they seem to be over the top of over the top.
“Um Dia Eu Chego Lá”
Maybe my favorite upbeat dancer from Maia, from his 1971 album that also features one of his most beloved songs “Não Quero Dinheiro.” I just love the sound of this one, though I never seem to have much success getting anyone other than me to dance to it when I’ve played it out in LA, maybe it’s the strings…
“Voce”
From his 1971 album, this one starts all slow and sweet and then positively explodes at the chorus. So over the top, so soulful and so funky…simply quintessential Maia.
“Idade / Do Your Thing Behave Yourself / Tell The Truth”
Seeing Maia perform brings everything about his music into focus. Dude really was larger than life and he clearly knew it, just check that strut as he performs “Do Your Thing.” But what I was really hoping is that somehow someone had tracked down a recorded version of the song he begins playing at the end of this clip, which I’m just calling “Tell The Truth” since those are the only lyrics I can make out. Before seeing this it hadn’t occurred to me that all those Buddy Miles comparisons were even more apt since Maia is likely playing the drums on many of his tracks. Seeing this clip also makes me wish that in addition to all this fantastic music, there was a video component so we could see Maia in his prime performing as soulfully as anyone in the game.
Ran into this one at Groove Merchant a little while ago and since I’m a sucker for hand claps, how could I resist? I’d always thought of El Gran Combo as a Salsa group, had no idea they’d even cut a boogaloo track, let alone a record with 6 Boogaloos, but here it is. While the Boogaloo tracks are solid, it’s those early “Salsa-ish” Son styled songs that really drew me in, including “No Saben Del Son” and “Monte Escondido.” Tough to track down but well worth it.
With all those giveaways from last Sunday, I almost forgot one of the best shows coming to town, The GZA will be at the El Rey this Saturday, September 29th performing his classic album Liquid Swords…who knows what guests will drop in, you can let us know if you win the tickets and see the show courtesy of Melting Pot. I have a few pairs for this show, so make sure to e-mail me at michael[at]meltingpotblog.com by 3pm Friday (tomorrow!) if you want a chance to see the show!
So many classics on a classic album, “Shadowboxing” is certainly a personal favorite:
“4th Chamber” is, in my opinion, one of the best Wu-Tang related productions. Clearly Geoff Barrow of Portishead agrees with me, cause “Elysium” sounds almost like an alternate take from the RZA and GZA of “4th Chamber”:
