Music Is Love

Haruki Murakami and Listening to Music While Running

 

Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami is a favorite of both of ours.  His new book, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, is a work of non-fiction: a memoir about his experiences as a runner over the past two and a half decades.  In particular, it's about how the runner's temparement, and all the skills that come into play when training for a marathon, is much the same as that of a dedicated novelist.

What does this have to do with music?  Well, Murakami is a huge music fan as well.  Check him out in the photo above in front of his wall of wax!  He used to work in a record store, and he owned a jazz club, and he includes lots of musical references in his books.

You'd think that a guy who's so passionate about running that he devotes a whole book to it would be opposed to disturbing the purity of the act by listening to music while he runs.  But no, turns out he loves to combine his two hobbies and rock out with headphones while he runs!

And his musical taste is pretty damn hip for a guy in his late 50s.  He listens to Beck, the Gorillaz, Red Hot Chili Peppers.  Some 60s stuff too: Creedence, the Beach Boys, Lovin' Spoonful (?)  And, err, John Mellencamp (but we won't hold that against him).

Bob in Brooklyn

 

Dylan in Prospect Park??  We couldn't pass that one up.  You gotta understand, this is like our back yard.  For the last twelve years, we've been there almost every week, usually a few times a week.  Of course, we see lots of shows at the park's Bandshell, but we definitely felt something special being there with Bob, in the same physical space, under all those familiar trees.  We know it sounds cheesy; he's just another human being.  But c'mon, we're talking about the greatest songwriter of the twentieth century, standing meters away from where we've spent countless hours lazing around in the sun, having a picnic, throwing a Frisbee.

The show itself was, well, it was what it was.  It's become cliched over the years to complain about how Bob stubbornly refuses to give the people what they want, the songs we all know and love, the way we want to hear them.  He did play tons of classics at Prospect Park.  But he sucks a lot of the power and intensity out of songs like "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" and "Blowin' in the Wind" when he reinterprets them and performs them in such weird ways.  You often don't even recognize the songs until half way through.  And he never plays guitar anymore, just keys (which you can'treally hear).

But we don't mean to sound so negative.  The show definitely had its high points.  "Masters of War" was intense.  And it was nice to hear him pull out the harmonica a couple times.  And someday we can tell our grandkids that we saw Bob in Brooklyn.

Goodies: This is one of his most famous songs, "Tangled Up in Blue," but we included it here because of the line about living on Montague Street (Brooklyn Heights).

RIP Isaac

 

We feel so lucky to have seen Isaac Hayes perform in Brooklyn just a couple of months before his passing.  Isaac was the man - he has never been as widely recognized for his enormous influence and musical legacy as he should be, but he's every bit as much a part of the soul pantheon as Al, Curtis, etc.

Goodies: Maybe this is unoriginal, but it's only appropriate that we end this post with Isaac's version of "Never Can Say Goodbye."

Radiohead at All Points West festival

 

We're huge RH fans but, amazingly, until this concert we'd never seen them live.  Man, have we been missing out!  The show was part of an all-day outdoor festival in Liberty State Park near Jersey City, and there were lots of other bands on the bill.  But really it was all about the mighty Radiohead.   That's who everyone came to see.   They performed a two-and-a-half hour set, with two encores, in front of 40,000 people, adorned by a stunning laser light show - and the most pristine sound quality we've ever heard at a concert anywhere.  Seriously, it was like listening to raindrops pitter-patter on a crystal chandelier.

Or maybe we just noticed the sound because there was so little audience noise to compete with it.  It was crazy - 40,000 people and you felt like you could hear a pin drop.  Are RH concerts always like that?  Not that the audience wasn't into it.  Exactly the opposite: Everyone just seemed frozen in an awestruck trance, gazing at the beautiful musical spectacle in front of them.

Radiohead played every song on their new record, In Rainbows, and we were as happy hearing the new stuff as the old.  That's how good the new material is.  What other band can you say that about?  It's been 15 years since their debut and 11 years since their masterpiece OK Computer - and they're still at the top of their game.

Goodies: Check out their soulful new single "House of Cards."

 

"Music Is Love" Hot SONGS of the Week

A while ago we wrote here about our deep love for female reggae artists, from Marcia Griffiths to Lady Saw.  In that spirit we wanted to highlight some new tracks we're feeling...

"Somebody Come Get Me" by Melanie Hall aka Syren, from Reggae Gold 2008.  The chorus goes: "Somebody come get me, before I kill this man / Somebody come get me, take this knife out my hand."  MC is becoming a bit alarmed by how much AW likes this song.   If you don't see another post here in the next week or two, MC requests that you call the police.

"Like the Stars" by the Easy Star All-Stars, from the Until That Day EP.  The singer is Tamar-Kali. This is the same collective that did the slamming Radiodread and Dub Side of the Moon albums (reggae tributes to Radiohead's OK Computer and Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon).  If you have doubts about whether their original songs are as good as their covers, just listen to this!

Seun Kuti at Central Park

"FELA LIVES"

We could go on for pages about why Fela Kuti was such a towering figure in music and in the world.  He absolutely deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Marley, Dylan, Lennon.  Or as Mos Def once said: "Fela Anikulapo Kuti was James Brown, Huey Newton, Rick James, Bob Marley, Duke Ellington, and ODB all rolled up in one black African fist.  The protest artist as a real live, awake and hungry human being.  Africa's original rock superstar."

But of course words mean nothing compared to hearing that blistering Afrobeat groove.  And experiencing it live is something else altogether.  Fela's shows at his nightclub in Nigeria were legendary sweat-soaked marathons, and he toured the States in the late 80s/early 90s -- but we were both pretty young then and not in-the-know.

Which is probably why the show at Central Park felt so special.  It was as close as we could possibly get to the real thing -- the same smoking band, Egypt 80, now led by Fela's youngest son Seun.

Our friend and guest photographer Eric really captured (in the pictures above and below) how Seun was channeling his father.

Goodies: "Many Things" is our fave song from the brand new debut album by Seun Kuti & Egypt 80.

Salif Keita in Prospect Park

Over the last year or two we've been getting into some Malian music, in particular the blind husband/wife duo Amadou & Mariam and the late blues guitarist Ali Farka Toure (and his son Vieux).  But best of all, in our opinion, is Salif Keita, who is Malian music royalty (he is literally of royal heritage).  He has a gorgeous, unique voice.  And the band killed at Prospect Park.  They had an ill lead electric guitarist, lots of African instruments, lots of drums and percussion, female dancers.  It was a joyous spectacle.  At the end of the show they brought a bunch of people from the audience on stage to dance with them.

Goodies: For some reason we don't seem to have any Salif in our iTunes at the moment (CDs are in storage), but we promise we'll have more African music for you soon.  In the meantime, here is Vieux Farka Toure doing U2's "Bullet the Blue Sky."

Isaac Hayes in Prospect Park

We've been going to these shows in Prospect Park for eleven years now -- and the series itself has been running for thirty years!  It's just such a beautiful scene.  You always bump into people you know.  You see Rastas, you see hipsters, yuppies, Park Slope yoga types free-dancing.  You see old and young, lots of little kids running around.  It almost makes us want to procreate just so we can have our own little bugger to bring along to these concerts.  (Parents: If you're reading this, don't get too excited.)

This was the first show of the season, and a great way to begin.  At first Isaac seemed subdued, and it was a bit sad and surreal to see this once hyper-masculine chain-vest-wearing self-proclaimed Black Moses looking old and shaky as he took the stage, guided by a stagehand.  But then the band launched into "Walk On By" and suddenly there was an electricity in the air.  We moved to the front so AW could take some photos and we thoroughly enjoyed the songs that came next: "Do Your Thing" and "Never Can Say Goodbye."  MC was bummed he didn't get to hear one of his favorite Isaac joints "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic," but one can hardly complain.

Goodies: Isaac is an interesting figure in that he is well known as both a songwriter (along with partner David Porter he wrote all those Sam & Dave hits for Stax) and also as a brilliant interpretive artist (what is often considered his best song, "Walk On By," is a spaced-out reworking of a Burt Bacharach standard).  Here's another cover version of Isaac's that we really like, his interpretation of the Beatles'/George Harrison's "Something."

Roots Picnic at the Festival Pier in Philadelphia

A few weeks ago we road-tripped with some friends to Philly to see an outdoor music festival hosted by our faves the Roots, who invited a bunch of their faves including Gnarls Barkley, Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, Deerhoof, the Cool Kids, and more.  (Santogold was supposed to be on the bill but had to cancel at the last minute.)  It was 100-degree heat that day, but we didn't let that stop us.

And no one cared about the stifling heat whatsoever once Sharon hit the stage.  She was so blazing that she made it feel cool out.  Corny metaphors aside, she really, really knows how to rock a crowd.  We've been raving about her for years now.  But it's still so gratifying, when she starts performing, to see the looks on the faces of people who are unfamiliar with her.  You can just see in their expressions the evolution of their thought process -- from stiffly reserved (I don't think this is really my kind of music, it's so old-fashioned) to slightly more open-minded (I'm not really one to dance, but they do have a tight groove) to happily accepting (OK they got me, this chick is fierce!) to giddily euphoric (Cotdamn, did someone slip an E pill in my Poland Spring?)

As much as we love the Roots, we thought they'd have a tough time following the Dap Kings' ridiculously energetic set.  But nope, ?uest and Black Thought and co. ripped it, they tore down the house (err, pier).  It was the best performance we've seen from them in a long time (we've probably been to at least half a dozen Roots shows just in the last year or two).

By the time Gnarls (headliners) came on, we were kaput.  We had to leave.  But to see back-to-back sets by two of our favorite live acts -- the two best live acts out there today, we would argue -- was more than enough to keep us with big goofy smiles on our faces.  (And there wasn't anything in the Poland Spring.)

Goodies: As usual, we want to give you something unexpected, so instead of songs off the last Sharon album, here are two Dap King cuts from the brand new Daptone 7-inch Singles Collection, Vol. 2 . . . "I Just Dropped In To See What Condition My Condition Is In" and "How Long Do I Have To Wait For You (Instrumental)"

Lazy Hazy Summer Goodness

At the end of a long sunny day this past weekend we were lounging out on our balcony.

Then we found the perfect music to match our mood.   A record that we hadn't heard for a while, an overlooked gem from last year.  Don't know much about this project really.  It came out on Ubiquity Records and it sounds to us like Pharoah Sanders meets Fela Kuti.  That whole spiritual Love Supreme vibe is not something you encounter much these days.  And yes there is something a little silly and time-warp-y about these songs.  But whatever, we think they work!

Apparently Jimi Tenor is from Finland and has a techno/electronica background (don't let that turn you off).  The record is some sort of collaboration between these Finnish jazz dudes and the West African rhythm section (Kabu Kabu).  We know, it sounds weird.   But check out these tracks and see what you think...

"Anywhere, Anytime"

"Sunrise"