Coil’s second album, “Horse Rotorvator”, was created during the AIDS epidemic. Then member Stephen Thrower said in a recent interview that the album was absolutely a reflection of those horrendous times for LBGTQ+ people. “We felt that other gay artists weren’t really getting to the dark heart of it, and the sheer horror of what was going on. But we had a toolkit to confront it.”
A B-Side for a single released just a year before was for their cover of Soft Cell’s cover of Glora Jones’ “Tainted Love”. Whereas Soft Cell had turned the R’n’B number into a synthpop classic, Coil opts for a funeral dirge interpretation. The desperate theme continues through the music video which features a cameo from Marc Almond, the singer for Soft Cell.
Sons of Kemet are a London based quartet of saxophone, tuba and two drummers. With this unique lineup they create an alchemy of West Indian funk jazz reggae. Their jams are self-propulsive with effortless grooves. Their momentum has been so great that they have to break up. Drummer Tom Skinner is now playing with Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood in The Smile. Tuba player Theon Cross just released his own solo LP. Saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings continues to amaze with his numerous projects, all of high quality. Long live the Sons of Kemet!
Tim Maia was a Rio de Janiero based singer-songwriter known informally as the James Brown of Brazil. The majority of his musical life was devoted to marrying US funk and soul with Brazilian music. In this early tune he even writes and sings in English. While the lyrics may not be an exact replica of what rock ‘n’ roll songs sounded like at the time, the music mimics what was popping off in the dancehalls for teens in the States during the early 60s.
Anthony Johnson achieved great fame in Jamaica and beyond with his dancehall hit, “Gunshot”. Before that he spent time with Rastas on Selassie Drive in Kingston. Him, Les Clarke and Balvin Fials sang songs of righteousness as the Mystics Eyes. They recorded an album worth of songs for Linval Thompson and this golden nugget at the Black Ark for Lee ‘Scratch” Perry. Happy tax season, one and all. Oh, and burn down babylon while you’re at it!
Here’s a slice of audio alchemy courtesy of US electronic wizards Phoenecia. In addition to running the Schematic Music Company, Joshua Kay and Romulo Del Castillo make beats that seem to depict an alternate version of the swamplands of their native Florida. While deploying very digital techniques, they manage to create natural sounding transitions between sounds and grooves. Every layer sounds filtered, adding to the murkiness as well as adding a sense of mystery. Get in the boat and get lost in the abstract tones!
Alabaster dePlume is a saxophonist, guitarist, bandleader, poet, activist and all around good person. He is a true advocate for inclusion and kindness. Amongst many nuggets of wisdom he can lay on you, this piece has some of the best.
Laetitia Sadier has always made her Marxist mentality obvious. Her lyrics for McCarthy and Stereolab never shied away from anti-Capitalist messaging. Stereolab songs like “Ping Pong” would occasionally provide a tonal counterbalance with a poppy arrangement. Here, in a song from her second solo album, she opts for a lush and more somber tone for her pleas to humanity to ride on. The result is even more emotionally engaging and beautiful.
The 90s were a great time for women in Rock music. The alternative rock scene saw several all female groups emerge: Luscious Jackson, L7, Bikini Kill and the supergroup The Breeders all came about in the original Lollapalooza days. After achieving great success with their second album “Last Splash”, The Breeders needed a break. However, Kim Deal had an itch to record more songs. She changed her nom de plum to Tammy Ampersand and recorded an album with a different group of musicians called The Amps. “Pacer” has all the unhinged drive of any other Kim Deal record and provides further proof of her musical prowess. As off-the-rails as Kim’s version of rock can veer, she can also write some pretty and sweet stuff too, as “Dedicated” illustrates well. Long live Rock ‘n’ Roll and Kim Deal!
No other footwork artist has done as much to expand the possiblities of the genre as Jlin. On top being one of a handful (at best) producers in a male dominated field, her music has been incorporated into other modern dance performances than that which the form is named after. In addition to the above example, she has also collaborated with British choreographer Wayne McGregor. The Metropolitan Museum of Art chose her for their Sonic Cloisters series, as well:
Finally, the modern string ensemble Kronos Quartet chose one of her tunes to interpret in their unique way:
Big up Jlin! Taking footwork into more and more cultural spaces!
Here is Otis Redding and his band hipping the 1967 hippy crowd onto some serious funk. Closing out the second night of the Monterey Pop Festival, the Stax Records crew proceed to wreck shop. Otis closes the set out with a fiery version of one of his best songs. D.A. Pennebaker catches the sentiment of the song and wraps up the flim about the festival with a montage of tender moments, and then rolls credits. There is no way to follow a perfomance that soulful! Indeed, the performance ended up being one of Otis’ biggest. Six months later he would tragically die in a plane crash.
Sly and the Family Stone provided a soundtrack to the societal changes happening in the late 60s. They achieved stardom with a balance of good time tunes and politically charged songs. The turn of the decade into the 70s brought lethargy, cynicism and decadence into a musical scene that had been charged with hope for a better tomorrow just a few years prior. Sly Stone was no exemption to this trend. He stopped recording and began abusing cocaine and PCP. What recording he would do involved very few other people. Early drum machines replaced drummers. He was said to have recorded his vocals lying in bed with a wireless microphone. Taken from the resulting album “There’s A Riot Goin’ On”, “Space Cowboy” does seem to be evidence of this methodology. Where his previous songs were brimming with life and energy, this sounds sludgy and mired in a downward inertia. Apparently these unconventional techniques resonated with the public sentiment as the album went on to be a smash hit. What may have seemed paranoid and gratuitous was actually quite contemporary, and it’s vibe still manages to resonate today.
As far as I’m concerned, if Madlb produces a whole album for you, you must be a badass. Georgia Anne Muldrow is certainly proof positive. She is as brash and funky as they come. She also is quite the producer herself. Witness the heavy, otherworldly vibes she crafts below. Big up Georgia! Keep the funk flag flying!
Sam Cooke was an incendiary singer and perfomer. No further evidence is necessary for that argument than this recording of him doing his classic, “Bring It On Home To Me” in front of a very receptive audience at the Harlem Square Club in 1963. The interplay between the band and Sam leads to an amazing crescendo of SOUL.
On top of inventing the reggae subgenre of Lover’s Rock, Neil Fraser aka Mad Professor created one of the classic “come down” albums of all time. Taking the multitrack recordings from Massive Attack’s album “Protection”, Fraser crafts long dubwise jams that take you on a psychedelic journey. This was definitely the soundtrack to many after rave or club sessions in the mid to late 90s and still stands as an electronic classic. Spark one up and feel the groove!
Bacao Rhythm and Steel Band are a German act that brings steel band culture into modern times. Steel bands are known for interpreting others’ compositions. Classical, blues, soul and Cuban are all well-worn territory for the steel drum band repertoire. After visiting Trinidad and Tobago and studying steel drum bands, Bjorn Wagner had a drum made for himself and started working the steel drum sound into his hard funk. For his interpretations, Wagner chooses Hip Hop and R’n’B of more recent memory. Here is his take on a Erykah Badu ode to Hip Hop, “The Healer”, orginally produced by Madlib in the 00s.
