After a summer spent devouring experimentalists from the 70's, my tryst with the thoroughly pop-driven Guided By Voices was all the more refreshing. In 1994, they released Bee Thousand, a lovable lo-fi masterpiece, blending the best of 60's British invasion with 90's garage rock to create the most listenable sonic mess since Jesus and the Mary Chain. There's a lot of genre hoping, though it is most consistently a garage rock album, and like the experimentalists of gone ages, Guided By Voices put musical quality before sound quality. That means a lot of crackling, fuzz, low-grade drum kits and oddly cut tracks, a style of production with a history of alienating potential fans. But do yourself, and me, a favor; if you aren't sure garage rock is your thing, or if you're unsettled by the thought of a record where you hear the musicians fussing with their instruments, set aside your biases long enough to hear "I Am a Scientist," which exemplifies Guided By Voices at their most listenable. Then, try out "Gold Star for Robot Boy," a more traditional, washed-out GBV song. If those do nothing for you, I'm surprised, but I've got one last track: the always charming, 60's inspired "Echos Myron."
We here at Phatfellas hope you're having a winter break of epic proportions!
Our thoughts and prayers go out to Aretha Franklin and her family as she now battles an advancing form of pancreatic cancer. On this day of merriness, let this serve as a reminder to appreciate our health and recognize the fragility of life.
This is really sad news Phatties. Avant-garde rock giant Captain Beefheart, best known for his landmark 'Safe as Milk' and 'Trout Mask Replica' albums of the late 1960's passed away this afternoon from complications of multiple sclerosis at 69. While his music was always viewed as challenging and never sold particularly well, his avant-garde music, based in blues rock conventions, has influenced generations of musicians, and his records are consistently rated as among the greatest ever made by adoring rock critics. Legendary DJ John Peel called Beefheart perhaps the only true rock genius, and John Lennon called 'Safe as Milk' his favorite album of 1967, displaying two bumper stickers with the album art at his Weybridge home. Influencing everyone from R.E.M to Devo to Tom Waits, Beefheart was truly one of a kind. Captain, you will be missed.
A story about Beefheart was related to me by Terry Shaddick, singer/guitarist of great British band Tranquility and co-writer of Olivia Newton John's smash 'Physical', who toured alongside Beefheart's Magic Band. Apparently, Beefheart would record in a seperate building from his band, without headphones to hear what they were playing, accounting for some of the odd time signatures and off-kilter sounds of his classic out records.
I always though the Rolling Stone's 1969 classic 'Gimme Shelter' was their best tune. Tight, nasty, funky, and downright mean, this was the satanic cool of Jagger/Richards at its height. What made the tune so majestic however, were the co-lead vocals of gospel singer Merry Clayton who banshee-wails 'Rape, murder, is just one shot away'. Really chilling stuff. Clayton is a much better singer than Jagger, and for me, it was she who sold the song. As such, her 1970 solo version is a revelation. Think the Stax-Volt horns with a plodding funky-rock groove and a soul diva wailing about the storm threatening her very life, and rape and murder being just a shot away. Killer stuff this is.
And here is the legendary extended Stones version that really extends the groove. Listen for Merry's vocals, and where her voice cracks.
Hey Phatties! As the year comes to a close, we here at Phat Fellas would like to highlight some of the more exemplary releases of 2010. As tough as it would be to decide on a favorite, as there have been some truly exemplary releases this year, as close as I have to a favorite album of 2010 is Authenticity by the Foreign Exchange.
The Foreign Exchange are a remarkable R&B/Hip Hop collective featuring Phonte of Little Brother fame, producer Nicolay, and frequent guests Zo!, Darien Brockington, and YahZarah. Furthering the signature sound of 2008's all-time classic 'Leave it All Behind', the smooth production of Nicolay blends elements of Stevie Wonder-influenced R&B sophistication, electronica, hip hop, and acoustic pop. As hard an act 'Leave it All Behind' was to follow, the Foreign Exchange succeeds admirably, by making another record in the vein of the aforementioned classic, yet as opposed to sounding like a clone of 'Leave it All Behind', 'Authenticity' comes across as more of a downcast companion piece.
The mood of the album is distinctly more detached, icy and cynical than 'Leave it All Behind'. Indeed, on the first cut, the brilliantly sophisticated and layered 'Last Fall', a multi-tracked chorus of Phontes despair, "Love is at worst an excuse/at best it's a truce". If 'Leave it All Behind' was the sweet love, 'Authenticity' is the hungover breakup, which makes it a harder album to instantly love. Initially, I was disappointed with the downcast mood of the record; only 'Last Fall' jumped out. However, further listens revealed the entire album to be a brilliant and concise statement on love, loss and vulnerabiliy. Think a musically successful version of the vision of Kanye's '808's and Heartbreaks' executed by musicians who can actually sing (no, offense Kanye, we Phatties love you anyways). The title track explores the theme of selfishness in love, and is representative of the downcast lyrical mood of the record. However, we always have the smooth sound of Nicolay's pads and electric-piano to sooth our love torn souls
The harmonies are thicker and stronger this time around, and Phonte's singing is more assured. Additionally, Nicolay's increased use of live instrumentation, such as the guitar solo on the Prince-like 'Authenticity', and the almost entirely acoustic 'Laughing At Your Plans' gives the album a different sound. 'Authenticity' concentrates less on guest appearances and is more focused on Phonte and Nicolay than the previous release, although two of the albums highlights are collaborations, the carpe-diem smooth-dance anthem 'Don't Wait', featuring Darien Brockington on unbelievably smooth vocals, and the incredibly gorgeous 'This City Ain't the Same Without You' (must be heard to be believed), with a sultry lead from the sexy YahZarah. Nicolay's inventive technique of placing the snare hit slightly before the beat is used to great effect to give the anthemic 'Maybe She'll Dream Of Me', which in an ideal world would be a huge club R&B and hip hop hit, a creative, off kilter quality setting it apart from the pack. However, at under 40 minutes, the record leaves you wanting more, expecially after the chilling 'This City Ain't The Same'.
Phonte and Nicolay's move towards the smoothest realms of musical creativity remains a thrilling journey, and combined with the emotional longing in the lyrics of Phonte, 'Authenticity' truly is a rare thing; a smooth R&B/hip hop album with heart, soul, and authenticity.
I have seen these guys live twice, and have spent time with Phonte, Nicolay, and Yahzarah, and I highly recommend supporting the artists at their exceptional shows.
30 years ago today, in New York City, John Lennon was gunned down, but his dream and artistry still lives on today. The Beatles are the most influential and greatest musical group of all time, representing a promise of youth and changing the world through sound. Leaving behind a legacy of peace advocacy, art, love, and a constant striving for freedom and redefining of his role in life, John was a complex, not alway likeable, but alway real man. He was really the jealous guy, who sang I'm a loser and cried for Mother; He was the dreamer who imagined a world of peace; You could count him in (out) of a revolution, singing power to the people right on!; he was a househusband who was so devoted to his children, his beautiful boy Sean and his Jules; in the middle of a bath he called Oh Yoko!; he was the Walrus; he was Beatle John. All of these characteristics make John Lennon a complex and beloved figure who inspired, and continues to inspire us all. We miss you John, as much now as ever.
Sunday Night at Royce Hall promised to be a brilliant night of improvisational music as a tribute to the late great Alice Coltrane. Pianist, Harpist, and wife of John Coltrane, Alice did much to further Indian spiritual and musical influences in the world of avant-garde jazz. However, Sunday's show was truly a mixed bag, as much of the tribute failed to live up to the high bar of Coltrane's legacy . At best, as during Nels Cline's flowing and masterful set and McCoy Tyner's the freely improvised Jazz explorations were beautiful and inspiring, yet at worst, the indulgent noodling of some of the players seemed amateurish and lacked any sort of focus. “When it rains, it promises an auspicious event,” announced Rhada Botofasina before launching the concert with aa prayer of the Hare Krishna religion that Coltrane was so devoted to. Performed by Botofasina on harp and vocals, accompanied by a pianist and the great Miguel Atwood-Fegueson on viola, the combination of jazz influences and gospel stylings with Indian sacred music was appealing, yet the pentatonic harp arpeggios and block piano chords lacked the spark that made them unique in the hands of Alice Coltrane. Botofasina was followed by free-jazz violin luminary Michael White, whose fiery improvisation was excellent; his performance, however, was marred by the extraneous presence of Leisei Chen, a vocalist who can best be described as a jazz hybrid of Bjork and Yoko Ono. Free-jazz saxophonist Daniel Carter improvised on a theme for solo saxophone that showed off his excellent, almost Paul Desmond-like, cool and breathy tone. Carter was followed by Kyp Malone of TV on the Radio and jazz guitarist Nels Cline of Wilco fame, who played a remarkable Jazz rendition of a Hare Krishna prayer, accompanied by a bassist and a drummer. Cline is a remarkable player, taking risks and playing out yet firmly grounded in the jazz tradition of chord melody. Malone, on the other hand, sounded frightfully amateurish, frequently hitting what sounded like wrong notes; it made me wonder if this was indeed the same gentleman who was responsible for TV On the Radio's brilliant 'Dear Science'. After some spacey incidental music, Coltrane's nephew Stephen Ellison- aka Flying Lotus- walked on stage to warm applause. Presenting a monologue of Coltrane's on various religious and spiritual topics accompanied by a video montage taken on a trip to India with his Aunt, Flying Lotus was highly underwhelming; his ambient knob twiddling behind the video was barely noticeable and added no valuable texture, and the electric harpist played the same pentatonic arpeggios that failed to inspire when first played by Rhada Botofasina; Miguel Atwood Fergueson's viola was this piece's only saving grace. At this point the Nels Cline group, featuring Alex Cline on drums, harpist Zeena Parkins, bassist Todd Sickafoose, violinist Jeff Gauthier, a tamboura, and a cello in addition to Cline's guitar, provided a magnificent rendition of Charlie Haden's 'For Turiya ' that reached the sublime cosmic sound that Coltrane pursued throughout her career. The swirling blend of strings, percussion and guitar engaged in a group improvisation that eventually coalesced into a swinging groove, anchored around the bass. Great Stuff. After intermission, Dutch free jazz dummer Hans Bennick provided the comic relief with a slapstick performance that involved a snare drum, his shoe, the stage, his cheek, and a whole bunch of drum sticks. He was followed by Kyp Malone and company, who preformed a god-awful rendition of 'Govinda Je Je' that lacked all sense of structure, time, and musicality and would have been more at home on the Venice Beach boardwalk than at the esteemed Royce Hall. Ouch. Following that disaster, Jazz deity McCoy Tyner graced us with fifteen minutes of the most sublime music that I have ever heard. Commanding an orchestra of sounds from the Steinway grand, Tyner's coaxed a wash of pure sound in block chords, fast runs, and sensitive and sophisticated chords and melodies. It seemed that Tyner was acknowledging the subpar quality of the performance when he failed to show up on stage when Michelle Coltrane beckoned for the closing rendition of 'A Love Supreme' that featured incredible viola from Miguel Atwood Fergueson, but was utterly ruined by Michelle Coltrane's miserable tambourine playing of. Overall, the Alice Coltrane tribute paired the transcendent with the lousy and resulted in the most mixed-bag evening of music I have ever attended.
Here is a guest review from my amiga Sophie Pennes, who was fortunate enough to have been at the November 30th show of 'The Wall' at Staples Center:
It was last Spring when I was anxiously sitting in the Milken library, waiting for the clock to turn to exactly 10 AM so I could be the first to purchase presale tickets for Roger Waters next Winter at the Staples Center. The first few years of my high school career were filled with teenage angst and what I thought to be super intelligent philosophical ideologies, but nevertheless, it was also the period of my greatest admiration for Pink Floyd in all of its beauty. So, I had been dreaming of seeing Roger Waters perform for years, and after foolishly passing up the chance to see him at the Hollywood Bowl in 2007, and then being unable to see him at Coachella in 2008, I knew I had to be at this concert. Though this edition of The Wall wouldn’t include former Floyd members, Gilmour, Barrett, Mason or Wright-Waters carried on the show fabulously, accompanied by a live band. As Waters said, it had been exactly, “30 years, 9 months, and 17 days” since he had last preformed The Wall in Los Angeles. Someone from the audience then shouted “Thanks!” to which he graciously replied, “No, thank you.”
Despite Waters overarching theme of the corruption major corporations and the government have on our lives, intermission was full of mass-consumption of overly priced tank tops and commercialized pizza sold at 9 bucks a pop. The irony…
The second act began with Hey You followed by Is There Anybody Out There? Eventually, he got to Bring the Boys Back Home, a song so extremely pertinent to Americans today, concerning our country’s current contention over the issue. While he sang, I, along with most of the audience, was in tears watching the emotional videos of children reuniting with their parents who had finally returned from war overseas. Waters also had his famous giant pig floating around the audience with the slogan “Everything will be okay. Just keep consuming.” He continued in ridiculing consumerism and American naivety as logos were flashed on the screen, as well as videos of Barack Obama and then George Bush, comparing him to infamous world leaders such as Mao and Stalin. After the continuous songs of anarchy and destruction, he played Comfortably Numb- obviously a very nostalgic crowd favorite.
During the time of The Wall’s inception, Waters poked fun at his fans and their dedication to celebrities, himself included. He commented on this at the end of the performance, saying that although he didn’t appreciate his fame and following as a younger man, he does now. Reading another review of the night, I came across a quote saying that, “There’s something about the sheer spectacle of a bloody great brick wall collapsing before your very eyes that immediately justifies whatever bullshit you had to put up with in order to get one of the expensive tickets.” There is no question in my mind that every single person in the audience felt the exact same way. The evening was absolutely spectacular and it was worth every struggle along the way- even tirelessly waiting next to my computer and refreshing the webpage, to purchase these tickets almost half a year ago. Honestly, the performance deserves a 20/10. Absolutely incredible.
This is one righteous cut, O My Brothers! Sampled to great effect by A Tribe Called Quest on 'Electric Relaxation' and Madlib on 'Mystic Bounce', this tune by the great Ronnie Foster stands on its own as a really funky example of the brilliant soul Jazz coming out of Blue Note in the late '60's. The bass line is classic, the guitar chords are out of this world, the organ is virtuoso status, the melody is a simple and catchy pentatonic riff, and the whole thing is very street, very gritty, and yet as smooth as butta. This is the bedrock of hip-hop. Make your day brighter with this:
John McLaughlin is an interesting figure. On one hand a self professed Jazz snob who's life was forever altered by Coltrane's 'A Love Supreme' in 1965 and a favorite of the aging Fillmore/Woodstock/paisley set, McLaughlin's technically impeccable and flashy guitar playing made him a household name in the fusion world with the Mahavishnu Orchestra, the closest Jazz ever got to metal, and Shakti, the closest Jazz ever got to Raga. On Wednesday night, McLaughlin and his band were in fine form for a 2 hour extravaganza of chops, chops and more chops at UCLA. Flanked by Etienne M'bappe on bass, Mark Mondesir on drums, and Gary Husband on keyboards and drums, this well oiled fusion machine was loud and fast, yet firmly based their improvisations in the modal tradition of Coltrane and Miles (McLaughlin made his name on Miles Davis' groundbreaking 'In a Silent Way' and 'Bitches Brew' releases). McLaughlin's simple setup (one guitar and petal board, no amp- just PA) allowed for a great opportunity to see, in its purest form, the legendary finger work that made him a master in the first place. However, the lack of an amp also gave his guitar a slightly cold, digital and processed tone that left one wishing for the return of the warm amp driven distorted tone of old. This is not to say he wasn't loud and distorted though; some of the old-gaurd season ticket holders in the front rows seemed appropriately offended, and exited before the encore.
McLaughlin played fast, of course, but with sensitivity, confidence, and a whammy bar, which added a Jeff Beck like touch to his playing. The odd time signatures seemed natural to the band, who can play 11/8 with just as much ease as 4/4. M'Bappe was featured on 'Recovery', which displayed him to be one of the best and more versatile bassists working today. Husband, whose keyboard washes and synth lines were prominent throughout the night, doubled on drums and engaged, during 'Mother Tongues', in by far the best drum battle I have ever heard, live or on record. Mondesir's and Husband's differing approaches to the instrument contrasted nicely, and both played highly musically and inventively throughout, with fills ranging from bossa nova to all out chaos.
The night of incredibly intense music ended with a peaceful and zen encore, 'Light at the End of the World', befitting McLaughlin's spiritual worldview.
Overall, an amazing night of loud, complex, spiritual and inspired music.
Setlist:
1. Raju
2. Dissident
3. Recovery
4. Fine Lines
5. New Blues
6. Senor
7. Sully
8. Hijacked
9. To The One
10. Mother Tongues
Burial is truly an enigma. His music aside, we know almost nothing about him; after years of media pressure and invasive questioning, we finally got his name-William Bevan-and that's about it. Burial wants as little personal media attention as possible, and it's not because he finds obscurity fashionable; as far as I can tell, he's just a shy guy that likes to craft beats. In a world where celebrities are so frequently faced with overexposure, it's nice to see at least one guy stepping out of the spotlight. His second album, Untrue, was released to universal critical acclaim in 2007. Burials music, especially on his sophomore effort, is dark, grimy, and it's got drums like trashcan lids from the alleyways of hell ( try it in a car with the base turned up). Not for the faint of heart I guess. Labeled "dubstep," it's really a powerful mix of ambient and bass/percussion driven pieces with a lot of notable vocal samples, synths, and strings thrown in. Do yourself a favor and check him out.
Alas, not phat in appearance, but rather in opinion. Culture! Cuisine! Couture!
This blog is the brainchild of:
JayKay, spiritual advisor and soul brother #1: "I stand alone in the eye of the storm," Jeremy Grey, manager and leader of the pack: "I live life in the fast lane", Asher Shasho Levy, literary editor and cultural snob: "Love is a battlefield", Zack D. Maleh, Kid Cudi-intern-in-resident, recipient of the coveted 2010 Cudi Prize: "I tell it like it is", Josh J. Dassa, The kid: "I'm just here for the free food"
