Social media friend “Bart” — I’ll leave it at that since I don’t know how much he wants y’all to know about his kind and generous self — hit me with a Bilal vocal performance video that features Questlove playing drums, Robert Glasper on piano, and Burniss Travis keeping the pocket fresh with bass duties. […]
Read More Scene & Heard: Bilal — Live With Robert Glasper, Questlove, and Burniss TravisReflecting on the Flour Massacre Israel starved the Gazans, and then murdered scores of them two days ago for starving. The Israeli military’s version of the story is that the unarmed Palestinians’ desperate rush towards the humanitarian aid trucks posed a threat to the soldiers on the ground. And US President Joe Biden still ships […]
Read More Why Gaza’s Latest Unchosen Trauma Reflects a Sad Day in AmericaIf poverty in America was treated like an invading Russian army, how much lethal aid would the poor receive to eliminate it? If former President Donald Trump is elected president of the US again, Should current President Joe Biden flee the country as if it were Haiti? Should Vice President Kamala Harris leave? If Trump […]
Read More Questions in JanuaryA rocker who sounds Alternative by being traditional; and 1970s Astral Jazz from the African diaspora. sabattaknow my nameSelf-released2014 Deep in the recesses of your grandparents’ record collection lies the murky, smelly, swaggalicious style of Rock and Roll that managed to bend genres while still making you understand Rock’s reason to exist. I don’t call […]
Read More An Album (Or Two) In My Head 0069“Sounds influenced by George Benson” was my commentary after hearing Jazz-Funk guitarist Vladimir Cetkar for the first time more than a dozen years ago. Cetkar has excellent taste in influences, by the way. His high-energy Post-Disco “Ocean of Love” track from the 2007 OM Vibes, Vol. 1 compilation remains a pleaser, and I’ve kept an […]
Read More Scene & Heard: “A New Day” by Vladimir CetkarAn ode to crypto — and other modern-day shibboleth Richard E’s “To the Moon” is a tripped-out, timely metaphor of building a digital stairway to success riches — built on Atridean cobblestones, while escorted through the star lanes by at least five decades of savory musical flavors. Richard also mentions on his Bandcamp page that […]
Read More Aural Dive: “To the Moon” by Richard E (EP)As the Palestinian death toll in Gaza from Israeli military strikes rises to more than 10,000, according to the Palestinian Gaza health ministry — with an estimated 4,000 of the dead being children — there’s a question to be asked among Israeli and US government officials that I doubt will yield any straightforward answers. How […]
Read More The One Question No One wants To Ask (Or Answer) About the Current Gaza WarI’m listening to fresh-from-the-factory Soul Jazz that hits from another decade and planet, and a Fania release from even further back … Nicholas PaytonDrip2023Paytone Records Payton pulled off transtemporal travel when his album took it back to ‘79 — peace be unto O.D.B. I plead to the headz: let’s not re-ignite debates about Jazz purity, […]
Read More An Album (Or Two) In My Head 0068The show started streaming on Hulu last night. Those with eyes have witnessed this real-life story before: people guilty of working while Black in White spaces while the latter thinks it’s trying sooo hard to decriminalize the former’s daily identity that the outcome can be outrageously funny. And simply outrageous. You can replace “Black” with […]
Read More “The Other Black Girl” Floored Folks in Book Form, and It’s Now a TV SeriesLast week, I digested my weekly two-hour assortment of new tracks to possibly like. I always listen to all of them at least once, except I stumbled upon Al Green’s “Perfect Day”. And when I say stumbled, you can probably interpret it more like “I goofily tripped”. I was like, “Is that Al Green?” It’s […]
Read More Aural Dive: “Perfect Day” by Al Green
mentalunrest.com 