ben kenney: conception + the funeral

dope track from former roots member/current incubus bassist, ben kenney. came across his solo work way late, but i love it! have a listen.



visit his website (www.benkenney.com/) for more.

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chemical brothers: let forever be

this video is somewhere near the top of my favorite videos. it's trippy as hell and the choreography is timeless. enjoy!

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așa: fire on the mountain

i purchased așa's latest self-titled album this afternoon. her video for the album's first single, 'fire on the mountain' is dope.



visit her website (www.asa-official.com)

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Oren Lavie: Her Morning Elegance

A lovely gem I found on the front page of MySpace (who knew?).

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Arthur Lewis: Far Side of Town

Arthur Lewis' first single, Far Side of Town has been on repeat for most of the evening. The rest of the EP is pretty good too. You can listen to more on his space (www.myspace.com/arthurlewis). Enjoy.


Arthur Lewis: Far Side of Town

Visit his website (www.arthurthefourth.com/)

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José González: Time to Send Someone Away

I'm way late to this artist, but I'm happy I've stumbled across him. He reminds me of Nick Drake, who I'm quite a fan of. I found this live acoustic clip while searching for footage of Yukimi Nagano--they are a couple and she, along with the rest of Little Dragon, contributed to his 2007 release In Our Nature. Enjoy.

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Nina Simone: Four Women

Four Women is one of my favorite songs by Nina Simon. The song has been swimming in my head for some time; I want to make something with it. I found the following interview, among others, on The Protest Anthology. In it she discusses people's varied reactions to her music.


Nine Simone: Four Women Interview


Nina Simone: Four Women

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Little Dragon @ Le Poisson Rouge

Yukimi Nagano, originally uploaded by lettuce_move.

I'm a loyal fan Little Dragon. All the stars were pointing in the right direction last night. I caught them last night at Le Poisson Rouge in the Village. Its a gorgeous place. Little Dragon and their fans are mad cool. Yukimi Nagao's voice is seamless and she sings effortlessly. It's incredible how many mediocre, talentless performers there are out there. They played music from their album and two new songs that were so much fun! I'm excited for the new album whenever that's coming.

I caught my favorite song Twice on video.

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Davka: Xan

Xan is on Lavy's Dream by Davka. I've been listening to this song on a loop during my morning commutes. Enjoy.


Davka: Xan
Photo by RonAlmog

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Kevin Micheal: Love Letter

I know I'm way late, but I ♥ this track by Kevin Michael. While the rest of his album is so so, Love Letter stands out as my favorite. Enjoy.


Kevin Michael: Love Letter

Visit his space (www.myspace.com/kevinmichaelmusic)

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Darwin Deez: DNA

Jared Grimes choreographed a fun little number to a song by Darwin Deez at last month's Broadway Underground Showcase. The song is called DNA and I cannot stop listening to it. His music makes me smile and bounce around. Please enjoy!


Darwin Deez: DNA

Visit his space (www.myspace.com/darwindeez)

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My Brightest Diamond: Inside A Boy

A sweet and funny video by My Brightest Diamond

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Drumadics: Constructing a Masterpiece

I met Will of the Drumadics at the first Broadway Underground I lite. Will is a bucket percussionist and Musical Director of the Drumadics. He invited me to his show at the American Theater for Actors. I caught the concert on Thursday night, opening night. This is weekend's show was the first of three phases that will eventually become a full evening work that will comment the diverse arts community in New York City as a microcosm of America with dance, theater and live music.

This evening's show was about the music. The Drumadics is essentially a "Band of Buskers". So, it doesn't really matter that the stage was bare (Will sited a technical mishap for the lack of planned visuals to accompany the music) or that the theater's lighting options were practically nonexistant and could hardly capture to essence of the sound. And I won't mention that a smaller stage would have been more appropriate for this kind of thing because black box theater with narrow riser seating isn't really condicive to shaking your ass. The music is vibrant and funky and you just want to dance to it. Even the musicians couldn't help by one-two-step the whole evening.

I remember the first time I heard them at BB Kings, I had a blast! I threw up oranges and reds, made it hot like the music. Oooohweee! I wish this youtube clip did them justice.



Two thumbs up! Go forth and listen!

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The Movie Music of Spike Lee @ NJPAC

Naturally, this was an incredible event. Composer Terence Blanchard hosted an evening of music he created for some of Spike Lee's greatest films, including Malcolm X, Girl 6, Jungle Fever, and Miracle at St. Anne. The evening featured the Terence Blanchard Quintet, Patti Austin, Raul Midon, Bilal and the NJPAC Orchestra. Spike came out at the beginning to say a little something. Clips from the films flashed on a large screen as the musicians played. It was a powerful evening. It's nights like this that I wish I had a date. I do enjoy going out alone. But this would have been a lovely event to have enjoyed with a companion.

There was an Artist Chat afterwards that wasn't very interesting, but the food was on point! Sangria has found its place again at the top of my list of the few drinks I'll drink. They had these little cheese quiche things and these tiny little chicken pie jawn... yummmm. I wish I had the forsight to bring a little baggie. Then Bilal let me take a picture with him. Scrumptious.



Two thumbs way up.

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On: Pandora Radio + Muxtape

So... a friend at work put me on to Pandora Radio, personalized online radio created by the Music Genome Project. It uses some 400+ characteristics or genes of a song, like tempo, genre influences, vocal harmony, and syncopation, to find other songs like it. I used to be a huge fan of last.fm but it seems that it's been suffering from more frequent hiccups and brain farts since it's fancy upgrade, so I was super keen on finding an alternative.

A bit disappointing: searches for Fela, Muhsinah, J*Davey, Afrodizz, and a whole bunch of what I'm listening to lately, were met by blank stares from my computer... ahahah. The social networking aspect is kind of impersonal, or maybe I don't get it. The adverts are large (taking up half the page) and flashy, but if I opt to pay about $40 a month, I can access the ad-free version of the site. And for some reason, the site has a strange habit of asking you to reload your browser due to program updates... about every 30 minutes of so.

Even with it's limited catalog, it actually fared better with soul, jazz and classical music, creating some pretty dope playlists... as well as some pretty boring ones. I think the best playlists and mixtapes I've ever received or created were the ones with a single string connecting an otherwise motley mashup from all corners, brand new along side throughbacks, maybe an instrumental thrown in for good measure. I found that Pandora's groupings with many similar songs weren't as interesting...

...segue...

I stumbled across Muxtape a minute ago and uploaded a Summer Commuting playlist [listen]:

Golden Brown, Better Daze
Twice, Little Dragon
Summertime, Brodsky Quartet + Björk
The Eraser, Thom Yorke
Track 01, Elliptical Ferns
Forever, Little Dragon
Reconstrut, Muhsinah
Four Corners, Digable Planets
Elliptical, Me'Shell Ndegéocelo + Sy Smith
Heartbeat, Nneka
Creator (vs. Switch and FreQuency), Santogold
Going On, Gnarles Barkley

What's on your summer mixtape/playlist?

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Gnarls Barkley: Going On

Gnarls Barkley: Going On

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Nneka: Heartbeat

Nneka showed up on my last.fm playlist and immediately peaked my interest, so I share her with you. Her lyrics are quite beautiful, particularly in this song. Intensely poetic and her voice is raw like... reminds me of Tina Turner circa "Proud Mary". Enjoy.


Video for Heartbeat.
Visit her space (www.myspace.com/nnekaworld)

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On: Jonté, the people's talent

One of my favorite people in the world, no matter how big Jonté gets, he never loses genuine interest in how you're doing and always takes time to at least acknowledge your existence. I first met this fly young cat many years ago at Ailey and I remember being blown away by his sheer energy and performance style. He's so incredible to watch! Plus he's hilarious! And I find out now that the kid's got a great voice too! This video right here floors me every time! Check out the rest of Jonté's videos on his youtube channel.

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Little Dragon: Forever

I first heard Yukimi Nagano sing Summer Sun on Koop's 2001 record Waltz of Koop. Searching for more of her and her beautiful voice, I stumbled across Little Dragon. The album is currently playing on a loop in my iPod. Enjoy.


Little Dragon: Forever

Visit their space (www.myspace.com/yourlittledragon)

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I woke up with this song...

trapped in my head this morning. Enjoy!


General Public: Tenderness

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