MANGIEDI MAWANGU, EDM PIONEER, IS GONE

It’s sad to hear that Mangiedi Mawangu, the innovative Konono N°1 founder from Congo who demonstrated to the music world the sonic possibilities of a proto-Techno electric likembé plus ensemble, has left this planet. Konono N°1’s four decades of “Congotronic” music undoubtedly fits in my personal Afrofuturism soundtrack, but the style has also grabbed the […]

WHEN YOU BREAK THE NYPD’S ‘NO SNITCHING’ RULE

Forget about any so-called Hip Hop Nation’s version of the No Snitching campaign you’ve ever heard – the NYPD’s version works so lovely where the only successful prosecution from Eric Garner’s asphyxiation death at the hands of the NYPD 269 days ago has been Ramsey Orta, the citizen who digitally snitched on the police when […]

AURAL DIVE: “BELIEVE” BY ANNABEL (LEE)

By the sea, annabel lee, aural dive, music reviews, independent music, electronic music, aural dive

AN ALBUM (OR TWO) IN MY HEAD (0062)

JOSÉ JAMES YESTERDAY I HAD THE BLUES: THE MUSIC OF BILLIE HOLIDAY BLUE NOTE 2015 An interesting personal but peripheral observation: I couldn’t immediately come up with a list of male baritone Jazz vocalists whom I listen to on a regular basis. My personal prejudice probably relegated baritones to R&B or Country-Western music, I’m not […]

ANOTHER MIND-MELTING DETAIL ABOUT THE MLK ASSASSINATION

Wrongful Death Since today marks the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s assassination, I want to bring up a highly intriguing detail from court transcripts of the King family’s 1999 wrongful death lawsuit against the federal government, City of Memphis, and State of Tennessee. The next sentence will likely blow the minds of the […]

WHEN ‘RELIGIOUS FREEDOM’ BECOMES A WEAPON OF SOCIAL DESTRUCTION

Aside from the implications of the bill Indiana Governor Mike Spence signed into law that allows businesses to refuse service to gays as a weapon to fight against government civil overreach, you have to be amused by the way lawmakers across America create jacked-up pieces of legislation, and then dress them up to sound promising […]

AN ALBUM (OR TWO) IN MY HEAD (0061)

If you’re new to this series, be warned that my musical taste is all over the map, and many of the albums you’ll see here will not be covered by mainstream media. Kendrick Lamar, an artist whose album is featured this week, represents an exception. Linda Sharrock — unfairly remembered as only the wife of avant […]

HATE IS STRONGER THAN LATTE

I’m reminded of the time during my fourth or fifth year on this planet where my Brother and I thought we made a new friend, a white kid about my age, who soon after called both of us… … We had no reaction since we didn’t know what that word meant… … Which makes me […]

THE TRAGIC EDUCATION OF MARTESE JOHNSON

I wonder if Martese Johnson’s exclaimed “I go to [the University of Virginia]!” plea synonymous with “I’m not like the others!” “The others,” of course means other people who could be more deserving of the beating Johnson took from the Virginia’s Alcoholic Beverage Control agents after Johnson was denied entry to the Trinity Irish Pub […]

CREFLO THINKS THE BIBLE WAS WRITTEN ON PLATINUM PAGES

My editorial policy initially informed me to make no mention of millionaire clergyman Creflo Dollar—known from this point in my post forward as reverend Cash-Flo’—since everyone else seemed to do a cool job of ripping him a new orifice after he announced the need for a 65-million dollar jet plane to help support or advance […]