I once again had problems recording my radio show last night, so screw it, I'll upload the songs anyway. No radio improvisation, but I'll do my best to recreate it w/ commentary below.
Download here.
Set List:
1) Curtis Mayfield - Right on for the Darkness
2) David Batiste & The Gladiators - Funky Soul Pt. 1
3) Salt - Hung Up
4) Pamoja - Ooh Baby
5) Lee Fields ft. The Expressions - Honey Dove
6) The Clipse - Mr. Me Too (Z.A.K. Remix)
7) De La Soul - Itzoweezee (HOT)
8) The Stepkids - Cup Half Full
9) Wu-Tang Clan - Hellz Wind Staff
10) Anti-Pop Consortium - Dead in Motion
11) Mr. Lif ft. Insight - Iron Helix
12) Mr. Lif - Earthcrusher
13) Mr. Lif ft. El-P, Jean Grae & Akrobatik - Post Mortem
14) Josef Vobruba se svym Orchestrem - Preludium Cis Moll
15) Elias Rahbani - Dance of Maria
16) Troupe Majidi - Essiniya (Nass El Ghiwane)
17) Blackbyrds - Wilford's Gone
18) Lee Hazlewood - It's Nothing to Me
First off, The Stepkids released their debut album last Tuesday, and it is very good. Here's their most recent music video, featuring a cameo from The Daily Show's Wyatt Cenac!
On the show I played my favorite song off the album, Cup Half Full. The album can be purchased online at www.stonesthrow.com, and also ordered in to CD Alley.
The 3 Mr. Lif songs I played form a triptych that closes out his near-perfect album, I Phantom.
(From the liner notes) "Iron Helix is a synopsis of colonization in which Insight plays the role of a tribesman, or anyone who may not be privy to the modern world. My [Mr. Lif's] role is as the voice of the modern world. At first, Insight is steadfast about his lifestyle, but as he continues to interact with my character, he loses sight of his old values, and way of life. By the end of the song, he is fully converted into the ways of the modern world, and there is no difference between his views and mine. Ultimately, we are both the voice of man's desire to control and conquer all that exists."
The song ends with a nuclear holocaust beginning, which is described sweeping across the globe in the next track, Earthcrusher.
The final song, Post Mortem, are the final thoughts of 4 people as they look into the light of the nuclear blast, played by Mr. Lif, El-P, Jean Grae & Akrobatik. Every verse is stellar, but Jean Grae steals the show. For my money she's the best female MC out there, and I'll let her lyrics back up that statement:
"Convert to atheism/denounce god/pronounce religion dead/faith in nothing/trace my wrist with razors/I refuse to wait for the blaze to erase my spirit/death, faced with it/run to it/not from it/swallow all the pills in the medicine cabinet/chase it with a bottle of 151/hug mommy/head outside to smash windows and trash my hotel lobby/break the grip off/if time allows/I'd finally get to him/I wish I'd done more sin/and got a strap-on, run up in some women/lay in the middle of a highway/wait for pain to hit me/steal a camera/people lootin', screamin'/'come and get me'/find the nearest pawn shop/biggest gun/crowded street/blow my brains to hell/I'm gone/and let the devil come for me"
The last song I wanna talk about is Essiniya (Nass El Ghiwane) by Troupe Majidi. This is off a record called Ecstatic Music of the Jemaa El Fna. Jemaa El Fna is a bustling market in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh, know for its performances by snake charmers, fortune tellers, musicians, etc. Sounds like an awesome place. The record was recorded live by Hisham Mayet, who, according to this Independent article, gave a talk and screened two of his documentaries at The Open Eye Cafe in December '07. Any of y'all go to that? Anyway, the song Essiniya (Nass El Ghiwana) is a great embodiment of the powerfulness of live music. Much of what makes the song so intense is the audience clapping, chanting, and cheering along.
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