An Album or Two in My Head (0065)

SAOUL TWATEAU 2022 SELF-RELEASED To my American friends — consider how most of you were recently asked, multiple times, to choose between a woman’s womb and the price of bacon in Walmart, while others remain willing to convince themselves that a bulky football legend wearing a post-domestic-violence court suit and possible brain damage can be […]

Album in the Crosshairs: Saoul — Paint the World | 2021 | Self-Released

A lovely place to begin, if you’ve been waiting for 17 months to restart the party … Hey, don’t fret We’re gonna make you sweat Don’t forget The funk’s within you, the funk’s within you — “Splash”, performed by Saoul I call Paint the World the must-listen sequel to SuCcumb, Saoul’s previous album. Where SuCcumb […]

Album in the Crosshairs: Saoul — SuCcumb | 2020 | self-released

Get LIQ’d, y’all. It’s 2020 … At the start of 2019 — yeah, feels like a decade ago given the constant azz-whoopin’ 2020’s been handing to us — multi-instrumentalist Saoul gave us his made-for-the-party Seldom Oddity album that instantly made me think of how he can relate to writer James Baldwin’s admonition to “taste the […]

Album in the Crosshairs: Saoul — Seldom Oddity EP | Special Edition | self-released | 2019

Saoul wants you to taste the bread. And be sexy while doing it. Plus, he has a new release, Seldom Oddity, to help you along … The unsuppressed, sensual funkiness of the multi-instrumentalist’s EP mirrors writer James Baldwin’s admonition to view sensuality — despite the unequal and on-the-brink times we live in — as a […]

Album in the Crosshairs — Annabel (lee): I Came Across a Dreamer; Youngbloods, 2018

Three dreams, guided by a polaris of better times, but for the most part pursued by somber realities while awash with indulgent compositions, vocals and lyrics. Count Richard Ellis and Sheila Brown Ellis of the group Annabel (lee) among the shortlist of creatives who can solidly deliver on such an angular approach to storytelling. Their […]

Album in the crosshairs — Patsy Moore: What Surprises Us (2018)

In 2018, music of the flesh thrives hard while its more soulful counterpart ironically gives up more of its ghost, leaving the responsibility of holding down what remains to a shrinking handful of singer-songwriters like Patsy Moore, who reverently treat music as the spiritual nexus of mind and body. Moore’s latest album, What Surprises Us, […]

An album (or two) in my head 0066

I listened to Harriet Tubman’s latest album again — it’s crazy Deep Space Blackout, where the all-so-dope trio sees our Colson Whitehead and raises it with an ion thruster. Spaceways, Inc. is smiling all the way from Saturn. I’ve also been getting my sway on with a dancefloor-friendly release of vintage Metal, blended into Afrobeat. […]

Album in the Crosshairs: Saoul — The Juice (Independent Release)

I dig songwriter-musician Saoul Bumbu’s latest album, The Juice, for a reason similar to why I have a problem with much of modern Pop music recordings: the songs — even the ones performed by highly competent musicians — sound like the artists are simply playing by the numbers. And you then wonder if the culprit […]

Album in the Crosshairs: Annabel (lee) – The Cleansing (Youngbloods)

Learning that I received an opportunity to hear Annabel (lee)’s sophomore release — The Cleansing on the Youngbloods label — resulted in a feeling similar to what happens after visiting your parents and they present you with one of your favorite meals on your way out the door, wrapped and ready for you to enjoy […]

9 PRINCE ALBUMS I PLAY THE MOST

About a year after the release of Prince’s Dirty Mind album, Music industry publication Billboard attempted to answer the question “What is Black music” by creating a Black Singles chart. Reductionist tactics like Billboard’s are worthy of a lengthy post, but I’ll say only this for now: Black creatives and their output over the years […]