Musical Selections

I got a chance to listen to a lot of stuff this week.

Common's Finding Forever, which is out now, was something I really enjoyed. His stuff isn't as thugged out as most rappers, but then he's no noodle either. I think he's positioned himself just right. Kanye West produced it (or most of it) so its got a really unified sound. I'd pick up the instrumentals from the album, because they would be of interest in their own right. Kanye along drops some guest verses as well. I thought his last release Be was really good, I'd have to say that I like this a little more. Overall, I'd have to say this is one of the best new releases so far this year.

In a more instrumental vein, there's Blockhead's Uncle Tony's Coloring Book. For those of you who aren't familiar with Blockhead, he's a DJ -- and a very good one. I'd have to say that he's at the caliber of DJ Shadow, or perhaps even better. I have a few of his other releases and I like them. This one is at least as good as the other ones, although the vibe is a lot different. I think a lot of hip hop producers get stuck in a rut because they have to have a sound. Blockhead is different. Each of the tracks on the album is different, but its not like the album feels really disjointed. I might be because he mixes styles and genres within each of the tracks, so you have a little of this and that on each track so somehow they all have a link to each other -- even though they're different. If that makes any sense? (Just listen to this and you'll see what I mean.) Take nyc bounce, it kind of starts of with something like a short french horn loop and then you get the drums coming in with this driving bass line. The french horn loop then continues to appear. There are a few vocal snippets in there as well. Parts of it have a psychedelic fuzz rock feel, but then there's almost an '80s feel to part of it . All this is sampled and programmed and the guy really has it going on. After listening to this album, you can imagine how big his record collection must be, because he knows a lot of music. I highly recommend this one.

Also in an instrumental mode, there's Oh No's Dr. No's Oxperiment. Oh No is Madlib's little brother, so he comes from a good gene pool musically. While Blockhead's album is more like full length compositions (3-5 minutes), Oh No's album is a collection of shorter pieces (1-2 minutes). In a way, its kind of similar in format to J Dilla's Donuts, although the vibe is a lot different. I have some of the other stuff Oh No has released and I never really warmed to him. However, this release is really good. I was really impressed. He would be better off if he dumped the guest rappers and only worked on instrumental albums like this from now on. Overall, this has a real eastern flavour to the sound. There a lot of hints of '70s soul/funk to it. I'd recommend this one as well.

It's unfortunate that the white man has almost completely associated reggae with Bob Marley's Legend compilation, but shit happens i guess. My reggae collection is a lot deeper and richer. This week I pulled out something I haven't listened to in a while, Jacob Miller Who Say Jah No Dread . This is kind of slow and mellow, it would be deep roots reggae for those that are familiar with the terms. It alternates songs and the dub versions. My favourite is Baby I Love You So, which also has Augustus Pablo appearing on it. The dub version, by King Tubby, is brilliant. This is a great album. It's too bad that most people don't know about this sort of stuff. I'd like to get an Jacob Miller or an Augustus Pablo t-shirt, but I don't think that they would even think of making one because no one really knows who they or the other great reggae guys are. Oh well, ....

I've been nibbling on John Coltrane's Prestige Box Set. This is a huge collection -- 15 CDs. Really good listening, a little on the mellow side. I also listened John Coltrane's A Love Supreme. This is just like a wow album for me. The structure of it; the background rhythm work; McCoy Tyner's piano playing; the chanting of a love supreme; and, the 'Trane's playing. I thought of this one this week when I was checking out the Supreme website. In their random section, they used to have a short skateboarding movie set to the first track on a love supreme. Those guys have really good taste. (Maybe the supreme guys will put out an augustus pablo t-shirt.)

While we're on the supreme line, I didn't get through the whole album but I kind of got into the Beatnut's Supa Supreme off of Stone Crazy. Even the instrumental is really cool. These guys really knew how to put together beats. Another really cool instrumental off that album is Finger Smoke.