Saved by Mega 95.5...again!

Another long drive from PA to WI and that 294 route around Chi-town is always killer. Thankfully Mega's rush hour show pulled me through the snarling traffic. Here is another video to satiate no one until I (someday) revitalize this long-suffering and ever neglected blog. I guess I can take heart in the fact that over 80% of blogs are abandoned.

Anyway, of all the songs I heard this one stuck in my head. Monchy y Alexandra, the first Bachata group to actually chart in the U.S., bring a mellow pop tune that even us gringos can enjoy. I just hope that everyone in this country actually starts hanging out with each other so I can go to my kids' wedding and hear stuff like this and then some music I can't yet imagine, then a hip-hop song, then a soul tune, then a bluegrass song; and finally stop having to listen to those same tired 'wedding' songs that I've labored through over the years.

Unfortunately my poor Spanish may mean that I don't realize that this song is about marital infidelity and be completely inappropriate for a wedding--until then I'll dig it, regardless of the lyrical context. Enjoy before youtube is forced to take this down for legal reasons.

Why I still love music

Yes, ANOTHER youtube video!!



All this digging around the net for old Congolese music made me wonder if there was much Gospel from either 'then' or now. Well, I didn't get a clear answer, but I found out about Makoma, this awesome group of 7 (6 brothers and sisters), formerly known as Nouveau Testament, began in the DRC and later moved to the Netherlands. The lead signer went on to release a slew of solo material, and later appear on the TV show Dutch Idol. All of that is rather trivial compared to this overly saccharine, happy, fun music; the stuff I listen to to smile and realize that trees and people and sunsets really are beautiful. Corny? Perhaps. But if you don't like it you are only 1
click away from a million other angrier artists.

This rather dated video give you that impression of some sort of fantasy-land Europe that existed prior to the riots in France in 2005 and Fortress Europe The Dutch aren't exactly in love with immigration either, but this is the 21st Century and building walls will not help any of us.

Then again, simply listening to music by those around us might not help either. Who knows. I just know that this song makes me happy, and makes me remember why I like music.

Perhaps I have found that elusive pot of gold

Having just 'discovered' Israel Kamakawiwo'ole for myself, I feel like Rip van Winkle emerging from his epic nap. How did I ignore this guy for so long? Those years wasted listening to esoteric Spanish Ska bands and 2nd rate power-pop are haunting me. Now that I have finally heard IZ, a man with an incredibly beautiful voice, over a decade after his death, I am beginning to wonder where I was getting my music news from, what rock I was living under, and what sick and evil persons out there set-out to hide such a talent from all of us. Perhaps there is an evil conspiracy afoot. Either that or musically I was lost in a sea of youthful ignorance. Whatever the case may be, I am happy to have shed the talentless and elitist Maximum Rock+Roll and other subcultural clutter from my life and allowed my ears to be opened to something so lovely.

IZ is no stranger yuppie cultural excavators such as myself, often still charting high among 'world' music sales. so there is a good chance you've heard him or heard of him. Whether you have or have not, I recommend you take (another) break from that long day of "work" (ie. net surfing) to listen to IZ.

Perhaps Joy is Still Alive

You've all heard the song "Last Night a DJ Saved My Life" once or thrice. Granted there are other things that might truly 'save you', but often times music can be incredibly healing, I think that is why we are all so obsessed (or just plain bored).

Lately, to cure my own doldrums, not really all that bad by the world's or even my own standards, I've stumbled upon a few old-skool Congolese Rumba records that are blowing my mind. The rumba was the precursor to another Congolese form, soukous. I don't claim to know much about soukous, and really can't comment intelligibly on any African music. However, I can claim that the soukous and rumbas I've heard make me very happy in a way that nothing else is! (musically I mean)

This concept is not new and travel writer Frank Bures wrote on soukous' joyful qualities in an article titled The Sound of Sunshine, an excerpt:

It was a dark time, and looking back on it now,sometimes I think the only thing that saved me was soukous, a sound I had brought home with me from Tanzania. On bad days in that room, when I hadn’t seen sunlight for what felt like days, I would put my headphones on, put on Dalle Kimoko, or Kanda Bongo Man, or Pepe Kalle and be lifted up to a place where the sun was shining, a place that was green, a place where people were laughing.

Perhaps my enjoyment of such retro-genres is some sort of romanticized Afro-escapism, and it very well may be. And this time, for once, I do not care. Everyone else is into such romantic escapism; they dream of early 80s NYC, Havana in the 50s, or some glamorous hip-hop life. I don't wish to be living in a 1950s Congo or to live in a hippie fantasy of global harmony (though that'd be nice). I just like good music, music that might be very foreign to me and my upbringing and which isn't played much anymore. I don't care.

There's been a dearth of musical reissues as of late, primarily non-Western, now that all the classic rock and soul records have been reissued. However, there remains thousands of old albums from across the globe that are still new to our ears. Haven't you noticed all the compilations of Nigerian Funk from the 1970s, 1960s Thai Go-Go, or Ethiopian Jazz? So far I've been very resistant to these reissues because they seem kind of absurd and nostalgic. But, I realized that I might be absurd and listening to old esoteric recordings from some far flung place I may never go to maybe isn't all that bad. If I can truly enjoy the music for the music and not some 'escape' into a palm tree and exotic girl laden fantasy, then it is a-okay. In fact, maybe, just maybe, listening to 'world music', current or not, will open minds and foster dialogue and understanding across borders. Again, I'm being idealistic here. Maybe music can heal, or maybe it is just going to further slanted National Geographic-esque exotic fantasies. What I do know, is that this stuff is very joyful, something lacking in most music (across the globe) today. ENJOY this video from Kekele, a super group of classic rumba players. These are the cats that laid the groundwork for soukous, and the rest is history. Enjoy!

CIVILIZATION'S DYING!

The more I read about anything, the more I feel like this title is true. Did anyone see Paul Krugman's Opinion piece today? Well, it should anger you too.

To make me feel better (or worse) I keep playing this old Zero Boys track, old-school Indy Hardcore! This is an old song that first came to love during those poser rebellious days when I was 16, but it still rings true.

But what makes me hopeful is SANTOGOLD!!! Yes, me, and every other person on the planet are going crazy for this new album, But her music is so good, fun, and chaotic enough to resonate w/our mad times.

...so bittersweet

The other day a friend, who works with 'at-risk' youth in Wilmington, DE, and I were driving around listening to Tupac. We both can't stand the derogatory stuff Tupac had to say about women and his lust for violence. However, there is no way to ignore the urgency and prophetic nature of his music. I am not suggesting that anyone glorify Tupac's rather insane, and perhaps underutilized, life. But we'd all be stupid to ignore what he had to say. Some of the urgent cries for help and change in his music speak directly to our brokenness. I often think that his music is some of the most direct messages of man's 'fallen nature' that there is. Unfortunately, I don't think Tupac had enough answers as to how things could change and he (like most of us) chose death (in behaviors not exactly literally) as an alternative to the world's evil. And you and I can do the same, we are given the choice to pick between life and death each day. Seeing the pain out there in and around us and continuing to live in (and even embrace) that evil as an escape is no escape at all. But it is often the only option that we see.

This brought up an earlier blog idea I'd not yet posted. Many moons ago (October) I set out on my own personal odyssey from Los Angeles to San Francisco via the arid Central Valley and spent a night in the tourist haven of Fresno. Fresno is somewhat of a backwater and the Central Valley is considered the back alley or at least 'armpit' of the magical and mythical California. Having lived 4 years in Jersey I wasn't too worried about this, in fact I was embracing it in order to see where all of our food comes from and see something beyond the surfing fantasy of The OC or The Hills. Whilst driving, somewhere past Bakersfield in an incredibly arid, smoggy and flat terrain surrounded by agriculture on all sides-I heard a new(er) Wyclef song and it hit me, hard. Now I don't care too much for Mr. Jean or the rest of the crew on this cut (Lil Wayne, Akon, Nia) but that isn't the point, I can rag on them later. Despite not being a big fan, they did a heck of job with the track "Sweetest Girl" from Wyclef's new cd Carnival II: Memoirs of an Immigrant. The song deals with a girl's struggle and decline and sonically is very cinemeatic. The singing and production on this great track is perfect for going 80 through the desert.

Having spent the earlier part of my day driving aimlessly through LA and thinking too much about what 'it' (SoCal, America, suburban, multiculti life) means, hearing this track touched me. "Sweetest Girl" is such a great song to the point where it makes you joyful, but in such a tragic way. Here is a track about something so beautiful and so damaged that it hurts so much it almost makes you feel better.

Like some earlier Tupac work, "Sweetest Girl" is again speaking to the brokenness of the human experience. Akon's re-singing of the old Wu-Tang line 'Cash rules everything around me' from the classic song C.R.E.A.M. is a little derivative, but it speaks a rather nihilistic point that our lives are completely controlled by money and this drive for cash causes us to do all sorts of debased things. In essence it is true, though I don't think it is just money that is 'the root of all evil' as Massive Attack once claimed. Money can surely be evil, but sin in man is the root of it, and man did not start to perform evil once money was invented or capitalism was coined. No, it all goes much much deeper than that.

This song speaks about our contemporary world. And driving through California, the so-called bell-weather for American culture in all its decadent glory was an interesting place to imagine this tune. As I listened to the lyrics, driving through a bleak landscape and imagining teenagers of all shades growing up in a suburban California where who you are is defined but how you dress and the money you have and the car you drive, the song came alive. Sure it's about hookers, but the message of life being defined by money is the essence of the American experience. Sadly 'Clef and company had no new answers for us as to how we should get out of this truly American dilemma, but I feel like he or I or God should give some alternatives to these teenagers in California or wherever they might be. Our life on earth DOESN'T have to be defined by these material things and such superficial pursuits. We can have a different life here on earth.

As the Bible states in Deuteronomy 30:19, "This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him."

This is the alternative; we can have another life, there can be heaven on earth. This song doesn't need to ring so true. There is hope!

The video below isn't anything official as the real one by Wyclef is some stupid thing about refugees that doesn't seem to go with the song, I like this homemade thing.

Just listen to it and think about our country, our young people, our future, and what an alternative can be and IS.

...the only band that matters.

Yes, it is winter here in Mil-town. Cold as, snowy as, and I, like everyone else, am pining for sunny climes. But there is relief, even if it is merely in the form of another musical offering. Who is that you ask? The supremely talented, but highly under-rated group, Los Lobos. I've been meaning to blog on them for a while, not merely about their musical prowess, but about how they really are a talented group that might justify musical 'escapism'. I'm sad to report that not one of my peers is interested in this magical group. Maybe it's the Chicano roots (we're all prejudiced in one way or another) or maybe it is the link to La Bamba way back in 1987, or maybe they're all too swayed by this hipster/pitchfork/indie nonsense and can't see the light beaming from a group of 50 year old guys who have been at this game for 30+ years and seem to hardly loose any steam, in fact, they continue to grow. On top of that Los Lobos (the Wolves) are perhaps one of the finest live bands around. I hate to evoke the term "jam band" but they are the quintessential jam band, though lacking any of the annoying suburban trustafarian hippy elements. Point is they can groove with the best of them and do it with a maddeningly refreshing mix of R&B, rockabilly, blues, funk, reggae, norteno, cumbia, soul, rock, and anything else they feel like throwing in the mix. Their meshing of so many styles and evocation of the American Southwest, makes me want to proclaim that if they are not the best, they are at least the MOST American band ever; and I'm not using "American" as an insult as I normally would. I mean they celebrate the American experience for the beauty that it is (despite our flaws).

A reviewer somewhere called Los Lobos a 'living repository' for all forms of American music. I think that may be a true statement. If you want to know where the hell all of your music came from, you must listen. The best part about Los Lobos is that, despite this slew of musical styles, it is all filtered through backyard parties and bar-band roots making their music some of the most accessible stuff around. They have the power to keep you up at night thinking about your lover, crying, dancing with abandon, or simply nodding along to hypnotic grooves. Some folks out there say that David Hidalgo and Cesar Rosas are better than Lennon and McCartney

But on to the substance of this blog. How it relates to me, and the mini sun that I am to myself? Living through what are increasingly long and dark and depressing winters I wonder how the hell I am going to stay afloat. This band is one way. Repeatedly they come back to my attention in the depths of the winter and have the ability, both musically and poetically, to take me from my dreary surroundings. Yes, I would probably negatively call this 'escapism' but it isn't just that. This is a band that is so positively engaging that it is easy enough to not dwell on your problems and to just listen. They evoke place and time in a way that few novels can even do, and their at-times heartbreaking lyrics can sooth you and move you in almost any situation you might be in. Again I hate escapism, to the point where my friend Anto and I dismissed world music because it became more about evoking some exotic island vibe than having anything to do with appreciating the music. But not with Los Lobos, they do help you escape, but not to a fantasy world, more towards reality.

Case(s) in point. Many years back in mid-February I was in a very down state for reasons I'll not go into. A friend had an extra Lobos ticket and I went just for fun having always heard they were that good. They did not disappoint! That 2 hour show blending every genre I mentioned, jamming at length, and getting all of us to dance the whole show and even back to car was something else-perhaps the best live show I've seen. It was then that I realized WHY I love music again, that joy it gives is like nothing else.

I went on during that dark time to find a copy of Kiko, unbenownced to me, their finest album to date, a heady, groovtastic and experimental record to which songs like "When the Circus Comes to Town" and "Two Trains" takes me back in time. In a sense that record, by both taking me away from my surroundings and making me embrace them (good and bad) got me through a dark time.

Later I found a copy of the prior lp, The Neighborhood, again it was January, in Wisconsin this time, but the grooves and lyrics of hope sustained a flame inside of me that few bands or forms of art ever do. This, I think, is why I need to preach about Los Lobos. They are so good, and even in their sad songs, they evoke the fragile depths of humanity and still keep you clinging to hope. Now, they aren't all the melodrama I'm talking about, like I said before, this is a party band, and you must see them live to understand what I'm saying.

All this came about because the new lp The Town and The City came out about 18 month ago but I didn't bother to find it till this winter, and again...yeah you know it, repeat: I'm down, this lp lifts me up. Yes! I won't review it for you, but I'll recommend it and anything they've done, it is all brilliant.