August 2012 Pick of the Month: JANELLE MONAE "ArchAndroid"

DAVE MATTHEWS BAND: Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King 

Dave Matthews Band has always produced music that I've enjoyed, however, it wasn't until my time in Japan in which I really began appreciating their music.  I played with some colleagues, the groups name is "High Maintenance" (because it was comprised of maintenance/facility workers), and the number one tune to jam out to was the Dave Matthews Band tune "#41" off of the album Crash. This prompted me to go back and check out the album in it's entirety. I had listened to the singles from the album on the radio, but had never listened all the way through the album. I had no idea what I was missing. The band comes off as a close group of friends who truly understand each other and love to make music with each other.  I'd be remissed if I didn't give special mention to the drummer, Carter Beauford. He's an exceptional drummer and has an incredible feel for the instrument.  If you haven't heard the album you should check it out as it may be the bands best work. That being said Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King may challenge it for that distinction.

In August 2008 LeRoi Moore, saxophonist for the Dave Matthews Band, died as the result of an accident while four wheeling.  A year later the band released this album as a memorial to Moore.  The album actually goes beyond that already strong emotional pull and deals with questions of the afterlife and struggles of understanding death and God. Tracks such as "Shake Me Like a Monkey" and "Why I Am" contemplate their departed member. Even the closing track "You and Me" seems to be a love song with two purposes, almost as if it was rewritten from a standard love song to incorporate additional meaning for LeRoi Moore. Other tracks such as "Lying In the Hands of God" and "Time Bomb" show the struggles the band has faced in dealing with the death of their comrade. "Time Bomb"  especially is an emotional venting session for Matthews where, towards the end of the album, he begins exclaiming in an almost yell:

Baby when I get homeI want to pick up those piecesHammer in the final nailAnd lean me up against Jesus
Baby when I get homeI want to believe in JesusHammer in the final nailHelp me pick up the pieces
Baby when I get homeHelp me pick up the piecesHammer in the final nailI wanna believe in Jesus

The album is an experience. Each member of the band does exceptional work, but what stands out the most is easily the memorial to LeRoi Moore and the emotions surrounding it.

PETER TOSH: Legalize It

For those of you who don't know, I've got brothers and I'm pretty sure each one would be fairly disappointed that I'm not more familiar with Peter Tosh and his body of work.  This summer while visiting my brothers I was reminded of Peter Tosh and how much I enjoy reggae music. Peter Tosh was one of the original members of THE legendary reggae group Bob Marley and the Wailers along with Bob Marley and Bunny Wailer.  While Tosh found success with the group, it only lasted until 1974 at which point he began focusing on his solo career and produced this album, Legalize It.  Tosh's death came in 1987 at the hand of gunmen who had been in some sort of dispute with Tosh's girlfriend. In total six people died that day.  Throughout his career Tosh had become an outspoken person on political and social issues and rarely held his tongue when faced with injustices he saw in his homeland and abroad. It was announced this month that he would be awarded Jamaica's third highest honor, the Order of Merit, along with former band member Bunny Wailer.

The album, Legalize It, isn't just what one might assume if unfamiliar with reggae music.  Yes, there is album gets it's name from the first track on the album and yes, it has become the marijuana anthem, but there is much more to the albume to it then that.  As you listen through the album a couple of things become apparent. One, Peter Tosh is deserving of his title as a legendary reggae musician and two, he's very direct with his messages in his song and isn't hiding anything. He is a Rastafarian and that message comes through very clear throughout the whole album. Legalize It is well produced and a nice change of pace from everything else I've blogged about so far. It's worth your time.

ROBERT GLASPER: Black Radio

For those of you who have ever listened to rap/hip-hop artists like: Talib Kweli, Q-Tip, Kanye West, Erykah Badu, and Common and thought to yourself "That's some solid keyboard on that track" then  you were referring to Robert Glasper.  Technically I first heard Glasper on Kanye West's Late Registration, but I didn't have that moment of revelation until I heard Q-Tip's album, Kamaal the Abstract, which is fantastic by the way. The work on the album was amazing and when I recently found out it was Glasper on the album and that he had a new album coming out, I had to check it out.  

Black Radio, while categorized as a jazz album, is not a jazz album in the purest since, and that is what Glasper wants. In a downbeat article you can read here he says, "I've gotten bored with jazz to the point where I wouldn't mind something bad happening. Slapping hurts, but at some point it'll wake you up. I feel like jazz needs a big-a** slap." Those are some pretty strong words that are very important to understand before listening to the album. The title of the album has dual meaning. First is a reference to the black box in airplanes that survive the crashes and tell the story of how the plane went down. The second is more of what you probably assumed in that it's a reference to the black artists featured throughout the radio across a variety of genres.

You won't here much technical playing or solos on Black Radio. Glasper and his bandmates, the group is called Experiment, instead choose to operate in a more ambient manner that interacts with the vocalists and highlights the music surrounding the lyrics. To this effect they show great ability and just how good of jazz musicians they are.  The ability to play around a soloist (a vocalist in this case) and still express yourself is a difficult one to grasp, and especially difficult to master as is displayed on this album.  

In the aforementioned article, Glasper mentions that the greatest jazz musicians of the past haven't been complacent with their jazz. Instead they've been the black boxes of jazz, being different survive the crash of the other musicians around them and carry the music on to something new.  Glasper hopes that Black Radio is a black box for jazz. In all honesty I don't think it will be, but then again, I'm not psychic.

Pick of the Month: JANELLE MONAE: ArchAndroid

This is another artist I've been delayed in becoming acquainted with. My brother played her for me while driving in the car this summer and it made enough an impact that I remembered the hours later when I was finally able to look into the album for myself.  Janelle Monáe is an immense talent that I think is maybe plagued by two things: first is her desire to cover a wide genre of music, and second is pop music itself.  I'll come back to this.

The album itself is rather....diluted with random influences and a track order that can be a little jarring. Let me break it down for you. The first track, "Suite II Overture" is a continuation in an idea from her first EP entitled, Metropolis: Suite I (The Chase). It's not at all what you might be expecting, but it's well written, mystical, and a little exciting which is perfect for an opening track. It sets the stage for the next three tracks which are much more of one might expect in a Hip-Hop/R&B/Dance fusion album. (For the record I place those labels very hesitantly and would rather not do it). However after those three tracks we're thrown into the indie alternative, 1950's reminiscent track "Sir Greendown". This track, like the whole album is well produced, but it's still a jarring contrast to the rest of the album up to this point.  The next track, "Cold War" is yet another shift of direction for the album that stirs up thoughts of Gnarls Barkley. It's not done poorly, but still a shift from the previous song with out much warning.

I could continue on going through the rest of the album in such a manner, but there are twelve more tracks to get through so I'll just bring up the few tracks that stand out. The single from the album, "Tight  Rope" is one of the better songs on the album (the video is below) and features Big Boi laying down a solid verse. The song is good, the video is better, so check that out.  One song that just drives me up the wall is "Make the Bus", which features Of Montreal, an indie psychedelic pop rock band. The track is such a juxtaposition to everything else on the album that it makes it hard for me to listen all the way through. In the context of an Of Montreal album it would make sense to me, but not on this album.

Finally, I've come to the one song that I've been addicted to since I heard it, the last track on the album, "Babopbye Ya". The track is orchestrated for full orchestra, which I absolutely love, and is well written for the orchestra. On the track Monáe shows us just how great of a voice she truly has.  She encapsulates her inner Ella Fitzgerald and unleashes a level of diva not shown on the rest of the album. The track is classy, sexy, seductive, edgy, anxious, mesmerizing, smooth, and confident.  It doesn't hold back. It takes you for a ride and you love every minute of it.

That'll do it for this months picks.  September has got some album releases that I'm really looking forward to including: Lupe Fiasco, Mumford & Sons, and No Doubt on Sept. 25th and Ben Folds Five the week before! I'm excited.

If you have any recommendations or comments please don't hesitate to let me know what you think.

Until next time, take care and God bless.