An Album (Or Two) In My Head 0069

A 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 […]

Aural Dive: “Perfect Day” by Al Green

Last 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 […]

Album in the Crosshairs: Saoul — Popsicle | 2023 | Phreakyamind Inc

Saoul’s Popsicle may be one of the most sobering groovalicious parties in your ear this summer — a satisfying album in the face of “cookie-cutter” celeb culture and politico worship that have packaged themselves to become a new phallic north star for unicultural market appeal. Had enough of unhealthy celeb admiration, and public debates about […]

Album in the Crosshairs: Annabel (lee) — “Live Covers”; Further Out Recordings (2023)

Fiercely creative musicians like Sheila Ellis and Richard E — collectively known as Annabel (lee) — will always grab my attention. And the group’s ability to show the world another unfamiliar property of their musical superpowers with every release made me ask a near-rhetorical question a few months ago: “What’s next?” Live Covers, the duo’s […]

Aural Dive: ‘Moving to the Light’ by Division X

It’s a war out there. Make this song part of your 2021 armor … With the first 12 days of 2021 shaping up to be a sequel to the perfect American maelstrom 2020 has proven to be for many of us — pandemic death spiral, mass unemployment, coup attempts, imminent threats of White terrorist violence […]

Celebrate women and listen to ‘Misa Justa’ — a beautiful, 39-minute symphonic poem set to Jazz, Classical and liturgy

A Jazz mass, composed by Eduardo Gutierrez del Barrio; lyrics by Patsy Moore; vocal solos by Dianne Reeves; conducted by William Henry Curry; and performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic. After several listens, I remain bewitched by “Misa Justa”, or “Just Mass” — a spiritual harmonic and poetical review of women and their parallel roles […]

Aural Dive: Jamal Dixon – ‘Africans on Warren Street’ EP (2020, Nylon Trax)

A timely release for the summer. And our times. Thanks to Jamal Dixon and his Africans on Warren Street EP, I’ve found pandemic living room club songs for my summer playlist. On the heels of his debut Brick City smasher, the New York area DJ and producer’s creative lion has been fiercely roaring in the […]

Aural Dive: “Maxine” by Saoul

Funk as a music genre is far from dead. For the moment, it’s spending time in the worthy hands of multi-instrumentalist Saoul in the form of “Maxine”, the funkiest track I’ve heard so far this year. What makes Saoul’s Funk so unique for 2020 is that he moves beyond the basic, lower-shelf grooves and immerses […]

Aural Dive: Jamal Dixon — Brick City EP 2020

Coronavirus pandemic be damned, this is Jamal Dixon’s time to fly. Somewhere and somehow between sets during his busy NYC-based Standard Hotel residency, DJ and producer Jamal Dixon released his Brick City EP earlier this year to the world — and the results have the power to connect with nightclubs far outside of America. The […]

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 […]