Confession Time

Alright folks, clearly I owe my wonderful readers an apology. My best intentions aside, the commitment to writing a post a day on this blog was as naive as I feared it might be. Now that spring is here and other projects have taken over my life, I am just totally falling down on the job. I'm going on vacation this coming week, and when I return hopefully I'll have a new idea of how to keep this ball rolling in a more realistic way. Until then, if you haven't heard Neko Case's latest album, I'd highly suggest it. I'm a sucker for her voice, and I'll admit that it took me a couple of listens to get into it, but now I'm sold on this album.

Happy spring!

Brazilian Girls - eponymous

I love this album. It's excellent background music when you want to feel chill, maybe dance a little, but just a little, kind of just swaying back and forth, mostly just enjoy hanging out. When I put this album on, I feel like there are instantly a bunch of very cool people in my apartment, being mellow and having a lot of fun doing not a whole lot. Kind of keeps me company. Really good on a cold night like tonight when I just want to stay in, but feel like I'm still having a good Friday night.

I don't know much about the Brazilian Girls. I bought this album a few years ago after I heard one of the singles on the radio, and it's been on top of the cd pile in my house since then. It's a good one to have on standby when you can't think of anything else you want to listen to. You don't have to fast forward any tracks, 'cause they're all good. There's a consistent atmosphere of lots of layers, including a droning keyboard, that all work together, but allow for a nice amount of variation too. The lead singer seems to be comfortable in French, English, and Spanish, which is fun. She's got a nice, sultry voice, but never gets too corny, keeps it light.

If you have kids, I need to warn you that not all of their lyrics are PG - they might invite some conversations that you aren't ready for, or you might find your toddler has memorized lyrics you really don't want him to sing in public. But as long as you keep it to yourself, this is a great album to have around. Let me know if you want it!

A Tribe Called Quest - "People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm"

It's Fall 1991, and I'm a freshman in college. I'm in the other freshman dorm, Barrows. Dozens of us are packed into someone's small, cinderblock dorm room. The lights are off and people are dancing - we're all a bit giddy but trying to play it cool. And then someone puts on this song.....at first it sounds familiar - isn't that a Lou Reed track? But then clearly it's not. It's so good, I have no idea what it is, but everyone else seems to - there are lots of hands in the air, lots of "Oh, shit!" in that particular way that acknowledges an understood coolness.

I feel like we listened to "Can I Kick It?" and "Bonita Applebum" on repeat that night, but that might just be my nostalgia getting carried away. All I know for sure is that hearing those two tracks for the first time that night was the beginning of a big shift for me. At that point, I was still way more into jumping into mosh pits and flailing around than actually dancing to any hip hop or r&b. And I'd never even heard of house music. (That would change, but that's for another post.)

Even after that dorm party, it took me a little while to fully catch the bug and fall for hip hop. By the time I was converted, A Tribe Called Quest had come out with their second album, "The Low End Theory," which I memorized like it was scripture. Then came "Midnight Marauders," which was also amazing. So it was only after playing those albums 'til they started to wear out that I went back to "People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm" to see what else had been on that first album other than those two incredible singles.

It's too bad that this album has such a long title - that's really the only fault I can find with it. Other than that, it is just fantastic - it's fun, it's creative, it's surprising, it's political, and it's silly. Yes, silly. A track called "Ham n Eggs"?! Another called "Pubic Enemy"? Oh, the promise that this album showed when it ushered in the golden age of hip hop (that would be 1990 - 1995, if you didn't know :). It's good to go back to these roots and reflect on all that has come since then. And it's so much fun. You have to have this album in your collection if you love hip hop, as long as you don't need to take it all too seriously. If you don't have it, let me know - once I safely copy and back up the whole thing for posterity, it'll be on it's way to you.

Spoon - "Ga Ga Ga Ga"

My last post got me in a rock sort of mood, so I decided to pick up this Spoon cd and bring it with me in the car this weekend. This band got a lot of hype last year, and so I bought the album. It's a'ight. But really, I don't think it's anything to write home about. I wanted to like it more than I do. I imagine that if I had some nostalgic connection to any of these songs, that would make me more attached to them. Or even if I was from Austin, TX and had watched them try to make it for so long and was proud of them for finally hitting it sorta big.

But neither of those things are true for me, so my verdict is that this is just a totally okay rock album. I can't really say that they hit me in any particular way, or that they have defined a sound that is very distinct. The only song that I really get into is "The Underdog," which I think is trying to be kind of political. Maybe it's their anthem against George W. Bush? But maybe I'm reading into it to justify liking it. It's kind of an indie rock take on Billy Joel. There's lots of clapping and stuff, and it's very reminiscent of "Only the Good Die Young." Why that makes me like it, I don't know. It's just a fun song, and makes me want to get up and dance. Which none of their other tunes do.

So there you have it. If you're trying to build your rock collection, or you have some sort of nostalgic or emotional affinity for Spoon, I would be so happy to send you this album. For now, I'm going to copy "The Underdog" and leave it at that.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Show Your Bones"

Alright, alright, I'm back. For real. The Lo Fi Life Project is officially back ON. We have a new President, the Inauguration was an unbelievable experience, and life is moving on. In many confusing ways, but moving on. I've been struggling to regain momentum for the Lo Fi Life Project, and never thought that a day of being grumpy would do the trick. But here I am.

I've been grumpy most of the day because I stayed up too late watching the Duke v. UNC game last night. Totally worth it, excellent game, and the right team one. But I'm paying for it. So this evening when I had to motivate to cook, I grabbed this Yeah Yeah Yeahs cd and literally threw it on. Oh man, chopping vegetables to this album was really perfect for my bad mood. It worked like a charm.

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs rock. Literally. This is straight up rock, a full court press from start to finish, the intensity never lets up. It's also complex enough to keep things interesting. There are lots of inferences and straight up borrowings throughout, but they're pared down and spliced together in ways that just work. When I first heard the track "Phenomena," I couldn't quite remember where I knew the mantra "something like a phenomenon baby, something like a phenomenon" from, so I texted my sister, and she wrote back immediately: "De La Soul, duh." They throw all kinds of licks in there. And it works.

I've got a short list of bands I wish I'd already seen live, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are up near the top. I've heard that Karen O, the singer and frontwoman of the band, goes nuts on stage. It's not hard to imagine. The hard driving beats and catchy licks that switch up all over the place, and together come out strong and sexy, would lend themselves to a crazy show.

I'll admit that I have some bias toward this band, given that Karen O and drummer Brian Chase met at Oberlin in the late '90s. But that's not clouding my judgment here. At least I don't think so - tell me if you beg to differ. I'm amazed that they've only put out two full albums so far (the next one is supposed to come out this April), because I think they've already established their sound and presence so well. I'm keepin this whole album for sure, and I have a feeling it'll stand the test of time. It's definitely good for screaming along to while chopping onions in a grumpy mood. Let me know if you need a soundtrack for that kind of a day.

Marvin Gaye - "What's Going On"

Today is the official 50th anniversary of Motown. Like so many (I might argue most) people, the music of Motown has had a profound influence on my life. The Temptations, The Four Tops, Stevie Wonder - I'm forever grateful that as a white kid growing up in the south in the '70s, these guys were held up by my dad as people to look up to and emulate. My favorite song when I was a toddler was "Get Ready" by The Temptations. Of course I had no idea what it meant, but I LOVED it, and would do the little Temptations dance that my dad taught me for hours.

Over the years, though I'm sometimes slower on the uptake than others, I've loved diving further into the many layers of Motown. Early on, I was hooked by the rhythms and the joyful melodies. As a teenager, I started catching on to the more contemplative, political side of Motown. Songs that used to just be fun to dance to or sing along to suddenly had deeper meaning. Stevie spoke to me just as much as my political consciousness developed as he had when I was learning to dance.

If there is one album that, above others, stands for Motown's political side, it is, of course, Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On." From start to finish, Marvin takes on the issues of the days in what really is one continuous meditation/anthem. Apparently, Berry Gordy argued vociferously with Marvin Gaye, asking him not to do this album. Gordy thought it would ruin Gaye's career. Up until this album, Marvin Gaye was known for his beautiful love songs and duets. But Marvin was adamant. He had taken a break from music for a couple of years after Tami Terrell, his collaborator and dear friend, died of a brain tumor, and this was the only album he was interested in making.

Thank goodness Marvin Gaye prevailed. This album is as relevant today as it was when it was released in 1971. It's sobering to realize that all of the issues that Marvin so beautifully and painfully illustrates are just as critical today as they were over thirty five years ago. War, the economy, ecology. I'm sure if he were alive today, the world we've created in the last couple of decades would still make him cry "mercy, mercy me."

This week, I'm getting ready to go to the inauguration of Barack Obama. Celebrating Motown's anniversary, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Obama's inauguration all in the same week is certainly significant. Amazing, really. But as centrist politician after centrist politician are named to the Obama administration, I find myself singing along with Marvin Gaye. We've certainly achieved some change, and we've got to celebrate, but we still need a lot of change. Real change. And we've got to continue to stand for that.

So this album is definitely going to be part of the soundtrack of my Obama inauguration experience. Once again, Motown, such a big part of the soundtrack of my life, and the soundtrack of life for so many of us. If you've lost your copy of this album and need Marvin to remind you what's going on, gimme a holler.

Paul Simon - "The Rhythm of the Saints"

I woke up this morning still wiped out from this cold that is lingering. (That's my excuse for neglecting my blog duties yesterday.) I wanted to put on some music that was pleasant and would help me wake up, but wouldn't upset my delicate system very much. "The Rhythm of the Saints" was somehow on top of a pile of cds, though I haven't listened to it in a long time. It was the perfect soundtrack to my sleepy morning.

I have a feeling that Paul Simon is one of those musicians you either like or you don't. I doubt there are many people out there who like one of his albums but not the others. I happen to like most of his stuff, and so I like this album. But I don't think it's worth my time trying to convince anyone who's not a Paul Simon fan to listen to this one.

If you do like Paul Simon, and you haven't heard "The Rhythm of the Saints," or haven't listened to it in a while, I'd recommend it. I'm no expert on his career, but it seems like he spent some time in South Africa, and then put out "Graceland," and then he spent some time in Brazil, and consequently put this album out. "Rhythm" isn't the classic that "Graceland" is, but it's really good. Typical Paul Simon melodies and lyrics, but with some Brazilian percussion to back them up. There are moments when it's obvious that it was recorded in 1989 - the bass slapping at the beginning of "She Moves On" is a dead give away. But overall, it's a really solid album of easy to listen to melodies, thoughtful lyrics and fun rhythms.