This is episode 15, the "Season Finale," which means that I'm probably going to be taking a break from music writing. I've been getting into other interests lately. But who knows, I could be back soon. Thanks for reading, hope you've enjoyed it!
These are all songs that I intended to turn into their own post, but they are either too unique or I was too lazy to make it happen.
1. Nas & Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley - "Africa Must Wake Up" (2010) (YouTube)
The intro is enchanting. The piano, the strings, the percussion, the deep bass, Damian's greeting, you feel like you're at home, and then...one of the most magical choruses I've ever heard. The lyrics, the melody, the flow (the hesitant pronunciation of "yes-terday"), Damian's rastaman vibe.
"Africa must wake up, the sleeping sons of Jacob
For what tomorrow may bring, may a better day come,
Yesterday we were kings, can you tell me young ones,
Who are we today?"
It's the sentiment of "things are going downhill, can't you see that?" which I think is ever-present. Nas' rapping is solid. And Damian's bridge is sweet too: "What's a tree without root, lion without tooth, a lie without truth?" Toward the end, the distorted guitar feels like a shot of adrenaline or a taser, urging someone to do something.
2. Land of Talk - "It's Okay" (2008) (music video)
This song is like a dream, with the almost phantom guitar and breathy vocals. The drums are at just the right pace where they feel like they're in slow-motion. "Maybe when I die, I get to be a car. Driving in the night, lighting up the dark." The lyrics give you just enough to make you think you understand them, creating a perfect kind of surrealism. As the vocals remain consistent, the guitar and drums work in concert to build the intensity throughout the song, ending with the drummer epically slamming his crash cymbals along with a guitar melody that I can only describe as awesome.
3. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - "Almost Cut My Hair" (1970)
If you were to ask 6 billion people to sing the opening lyric, "almost cut my hair," (without first hearing this song) you would probably only get about three or four that could make it sound so important. This is an outstanding rock song. The two lead guitars dance a beautiful tango throughout, without the need for a rhythm guitar. But what really makes this song special are the vocals and the lyrics. At first glance the subject may seem superficial, but if you think about it, cutting your hair (not a standard 6 week haircut, more like shaving long hippie-style hair - the 'freak flag') can indicate (or perhaps cause) a significant mental shift, which is the same as an identity crisis. And then he says he didn't cut his hair "cause I feel like I owe it to someone," which I don't completely understand but I'm going to assume it's pretty deep. Here are the rest of the lyrics.
4. Jack Johnson - "Rodeo Clowns" (2003)
This episode would have been about the term "tight," which is when the timing of everything is right on point. And everything in this song is on point - the percussion, the acoustic guitar, the bass, and most notably, Jack Johnson's super-tight, clearly-annunciated vocals, which when aligned with the percussion, take on a life of their own.
5. TLC - "Creep" (1994)
It's a lot like a stage play, where the instruments act as the lighting. The intro starts out with some horns, and drops in to a stellar beat. The singing is perfect for the song. The simple, repetitive guitar notes are right on. But there's a special ingredient: if you notice right at 0:10, as the drums come in, the producer adds subtle strings (like a violin) in the background. Can you hear it? The strings serve two crucial roles in the song. If you were to isolate them, they would sound really... creepy... so they are the instrumental connection to the message. But also, they create a certain drama that sets a scene, which can then be pulled back to spotlight other aspects. Right at 0:30, the strings drop out, and the drums drop out, and when the drums come back, they sound clear and hit hard because the strings aren't stealing attention. This change of emphasis is repeated several times in the song and is influenced largely by the strings during the intro and chorus. Producers do this kind of thing to refresh the beat and prevent it from getting stale.
6. Aaron Embry - "Raven's Song" (2012)
You're falling through the sky, partially-clowdy, clear enough to sometimes make out the turquoise reef and surrounding forested islands. Drifting back-and-forth as if hanging from a parachute, but there is no parachute. But you're not worried, you feel warm and soft and loved. The 3/4 waltz time and rolling piano of "Raven's Song" makes you feel as though you can never quite hold on, and the lyrics are not enough to make the difference. But free-ness is refreshing. Eventually you land on the beach on a heap of pillows with all the things you like, minus the one you like most.
7. Broken Social Scene - "Cause = Time" (2002) (on vinyl)
One of my all-time favorite songs, so I'll elaborate.
The theme of the song, as it seems, is the vague futility of young people supporting a cause. If you think about the lyrics, occasionally you can make the connection, but the magic of them is that they transcend the theme to the point where each line is like an independent poem. This could be said about a coherent story as well, but the lack of coherence forces your brain to process the lyrics a few words, or at most one line, at a time, and so rather than a stream-of-consciousness, it becomes a stream of stinging emotional responses due to the lyrics that feel like a little zap in your brain. I'll give you example responses to each line of the first verse. I don't think about this consciously as I'm listening, it's just the feeling I get.
"You come in, check my time" -- vague introduction of relationship / possible conflict
"You got fornication crimes" - I don't know what that means but it sounds like we're in trouble
"I've seen your hope on television" - sad, probably the most concrete connection to the theme
"Where you've been, wore my word" - vague nostalgia / mystery
"They've got tricycles in skirts" - intrigue - and reminder that I shouldn't be thinking
"This is a mouth that needs religion" - opinionated, condescending, controversial
So you go through all of these (only marginally related) feelings every few seconds, and you don't even realize it. Other lines are curious/adventurous ("Little pistols and companion halls"), shocking and confusing ("We've got a menstruating disguise") or vaguely offensive ("Kill the white within the bliss"). You may only consciously recognize a handful during the whole song. But on top of the vocal melody, there is a silent, magical instrument, which is your transient emotional connection to these phrases.
As far as what stands out musically:
On structure: normally a song goes something like Intro, Verse 1, Chorus, Verse 2, Chorus, Outro, or something like that. And within each verse there is usually a cycle of chords that repeats, like (G-A-C-D)-(G-A-C-D), for 2 or 4 or however many times. Of course it varies, but usually the duration of each chord is fairly balanced in the cycle, like you'd strum each chord 4 times. It's very unusual for one chord to take up almost the entire cycle, which is what's happening here. They stay on a single chord for about ten seconds at a time, then go down for a second, up for a second, and back again. So you could say it's hypnotic because of the repetition. And the distorted, I would call "slang" lead guitar, perfectly matches the lyrics and everything else, as it constantly zings you with it's short, sharp bursts of intensity, which, like the lack of a coherent story, also lack a coherent melody. Even the solo around 4:05 is sort of meant to leave you hanging. So the beauty of this song is both what it is and what it's not. Also, the drums kick ass like they do on every Broken Social Scene song.
"oooohhhh baby...oooohhhhh baby.... oooooooooohh baby"
9. Mulatu Astatke - "Yekermo Sew" (1969)
Too many drinks, only a few hours before dawn, nobody else on the streets (at least no one you remember). You glance to the right and see a narrow, cobblestone alley, with a single iron table and a single iron chair, with an un-encased lightbulb hanging overhead, and you think maybe it's a little restaurant or something, because you're drunk, so you go check it out. A man leans out the window and says something you don't remember, but you sat down, and eventually it smelled like burning tobacco. You stand up and lose your footing on the cobblestone, seeing darkness and smoke in both directions. Anyway, this is the sound of Ethiopian jazz. See also "Tezeta." Ethio-jazz was born from Mulatu Astatke's incorporation of Ethiopian themes with American jazz.
10. Rolling Stones - "Heaven" (1981)
The last great Stones album. I just think this song has some of the coolest, grooviest rhythm guitar I've ever heard. When I first heard this I thought wow, Keith Richards is a genius, but it was actually the bass player who played this. Normally when you play rhythm guitar, you strum up and down at a steady pace, and the only variation you get is whether you play or don't play each stroke. Most of the strums here are down (meaning they begin with the deepest string and move up), and are not on any regular timing, so there is a good deal of just "feeling" the right time to strum, and unlike a lot of music, I don't think there is any looping, so it's subtly improvised throughout, and every measure feels very organic. It's just so good. The whole second half of the Tattoo You album incorporates this kind of treble-y easy-going chord progression, with "Waiting On A Friend" standing out thanks to a truly sublime, dynamic sax performance from jazz great Sonny Rollins.
11. Esperanza Spalding - "Unconditional Love" (2016)
Esperanza recently released an album, Emily's D+Evolution, that defies definition. The idea is that she's taking on an alter-ego called Emily, which is her middle name, to try to tap into the sense of wonder we all had as children, which disappears as soon as we start concerning ourselves with our ego and our career and in her case, the music industry. In an interview, Esperanza expressed disgust (and gratitude) that her physical beauty automatically puts her ahead of less-appealing contemporaries, and she addresses this in this album. "Unconditional Love" has, right off the bat, one of the coolest choruses I've ever heard. Have you ever heard a vocal melody like that? It manages to be soulful, jazzy in the pitch changes and use of falsetto, and poppy in it's catchiness. I'm not going to even attempt to explain what's going on musically, but this song, and this album in general, although very complex, have more mass appeal than much of her previous work. Also check out "Rest In Pleasure."
13. Kat Wright and The Indomitable Soul Band - "All About You" (2013) (live)
She's got it, and her and her band are so god-damned cool. Those facial movements in the video - those aren't for appearance. You can physically see the care and detail and emotion she puts into her singing. She holds back most of the time, but when she opens up for just a second here and there you can hear her power. They sound so good because they're not trying. Everyone's chilling like they're doing it on accident.
I'll leave you with this: Kat Wright - "By My Side". Apparently nobody dislikes this song.
Also, this is a nice live recording with covers of "Lovely Day"(Bill Withers) and "Tell Mama" (Etta James)
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