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Gavin B. · 05-22-2013, 11:11 AM

Two Recent Releases

Title: Trouble Will Find Me
Artist: The National
Release Date: May 21, 2013

Fans of the National will find plenty to like on the NYC based band's new album release, Trouble Will Find Me even if the sum of it's parts don't add up to the visceral power of previous three albums. Beginning with 2005's Alligator, to Boxer in 2007 and finally with High Violet in 2010, each new album followed a path to a higher evolutionary plateau in the National's musical development. Trouble Will Find Me places the band in a holding pattern and following the same highly successful musical template they used High Violet.

Trouble Will Find Me sounds like it could have been the bonus c.d. in a deluxe edition of High Violet, even so, I couldn't find a single weak song among the 13 tracks on Trouble Will Find Me. I rarely like half the songs on any given album release. With most artists, I cherry-pick the best three or four tracks on a new album because I know I'll never listen to remaining 6 to 8 tracks.

In this digital age where the MP3 single has become the standard currency of exchange, the National is among that rare breed of bands capable using the album format to make a compelling artistic statement. It's really worth your time and money to purchase the entire album with a band like the National because every song stands on it's own merits.

The embedded song Fireproof is a selection from the latest the National album Trouble Will Find Me.

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Title: Some Say I So I Say Light
Artist: Ghostpoet
Release Date: May 6, 2013

After being an early fan of rap music, I lost interest in the genre when the most talented and visionary hip hop artists were shouted down the growing army of self indulgent rappers who were devoted to boasting about their sexual prowess, dissing homosexuals, spewing out profane misogynist epithets, glorifying the thug life & expressing self hatred in manner similar to that of a histrionic juvenile offender with a borderline personality disorder. All of these malignant attitudes were expressed to the dubious cause of the rapper's artistic duty to "tell it like it is." Really?

By the mid-'90s most of first generation hip hop artist like Grandmaster Flash, the Furious Five, Run DMC, Funky 4 + 1 and the Sugarhill Gang had fallen out of fashion. The most innovative crossover rap groups of the early '90s like A Tribe Called Quest, Arrested Development, P.M. Dawn, and the Digable Planets were drowned in the tidal wave of hate spewin' gangsta rappers. Leading the charge to mediocrity was the self hating poseur Marshall Mathers. The Beastie Boys managed to survive because they built a large and loyal crossover audience early on and earned the creative license to expand their musical vision. For his part, white boy wigger Marshall Mathers led a generation of black rappers into becoming minstrel show parodies of themselves. Is it any wonder that Elijah Mohammed referred to white men as "blue eyed devils?"

In 2005, the debut album the London based Sri Lankan rapper M.I.A. rekindled my interest in hip hop music. The UK hip hop scene hip hop scene had it's own unique path of development & it's most creative artists like Neneh Cherry, Tricky & Dizzee Rascal had emerged from a diverse U.K. hothouse of musical styles like trip hop, reggae and uniquely British club music scene. Some of the early British hip hop artist were even influenced by the music of the '77 punk rebellion in the UK.

Nenah Cherry- First UK hip hop star & patron of the early trip hop scene

Neneh Cherry is the Swedish born daughter of renowned jazz trumpeter Don Cherry. While still in her teens Cherry moved from Stockholm to London where she joined the final lineup of punk music's original riot grrrl Rastafarians, the Slits. After the breakup of the Slits, Cherry drifted into the newly emerging early '80s hip hop scene in London. After a couple of career setbacks, Cherry became the first international hip hop star from the UK with her 1989 debut album, Raw Like Sushi. In the early '90s Cherry met the Bristol based group Massive Attack through Geoff Barrow and she became the principal financial backer of the band's efforts record their first album, Blue Lines. In the process, Cherry supplied the venture capital for Barrow to record the debut album of his own band Portishead. The unique symbiotic relationship among the punk, the reggae, world-beat, and electronic music communities in the UK created a uniquely British hip hop community that was highly experimental and infused with a rich blend of musical styles.

Obaro Ejimiwe a.k.a. Ghostpoet

Ghostpoet is one of the emerging stars from the eclectic & pluralistic British hip hop scene. His sophomore effort, Some Say I So I Say Light consolidates the artistic vision he showed on his 2011 debut album Peanut Butter Blues & Melancholy Jam. Ghostpoet's music exudes the same kind of stoned out, sleepy anxiety as fellow rap innovator Tricky. His message is that of a visionary paranoid who managed to get his facts straight.

Ghostpoet raps in a languid and sonorous baritone reminiscent of the great jazz rap innovator Gil Scott Heron. Ghostpoet's music has a minimalist framework but he uses woozy off beat rhythms, dub trickery and dazzling array of ambient electronic effects in the production sound-mix. Some his sound production techniques are associated with dubstep artists like Ikonika & Burial; and many knowledgeable folks might even place Ghostpoet's music within the dubstep genre.

Ghostpoet isn't for everyone, but if you like trip hop, downtempo electronica or dub reggae, he's certainly worth checking out. Embedded below is Plastic Bag Brain, a selection from Some Say I So I Say Light.

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05-22-2013, 11:11 AM	#20 (permalink)
Gavin B. Model Worker Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 1,248	Two Recent Releases Title: Trouble Will Find Me Artist: The National Release Date: May 21, 2013 Fans of the National will find plenty to like on the NYC based band's new album release, Trouble Will Find Me even if the sum of it's parts don't add up to the visceral power of previous three albums. Beginning with 2005's Alligator, to Boxer in 2007 and finally with High Violet in 2010, each new album followed a path to a higher evolutionary plateau in the National's musical development. Trouble Will Find Me places the band in a holding pattern and following the same highly successful musical template they used High Violet. Trouble Will Find Me sounds like it could have been the bonus c.d. in a deluxe edition of High Violet, even so, I couldn't find a single weak song among the 13 tracks on Trouble Will Find Me. I rarely like half the songs on any given album release. With most artists, I cherry-pick the best three or four tracks on a new album because I know I'll never listen to remaining 6 to 8 tracks. In this digital age where the MP3 single has become the standard currency of exchange, the National is among that rare breed of bands capable using the album format to make a compelling artistic statement. It's really worth your time and money to purchase the entire album with a band like the National because every song stands on it's own merits. The embedded song Fireproof is a selection from the latest the National album Trouble Will Find Me. =========================================== Title: Some Say I So I Say Light Artist: Ghostpoet Release Date: May 6, 2013 After being an early fan of rap music, I lost interest in the genre when the most talented and visionary hip hop artists were shouted down the growing army of self indulgent rappers who were devoted to boasting about their sexual prowess, dissing homosexuals, spewing out profane misogynist epithets, glorifying the thug life & expressing self hatred in manner similar to that of a histrionic juvenile offender with a borderline personality disorder. All of these malignant attitudes were expressed to the dubious cause of the rapper's artistic duty to "tell it like it is." Really? By the mid-'90s most of first generation hip hop artist like Grandmaster Flash, the Furious Five, Run DMC, Funky 4 + 1 and the Sugarhill Gang had fallen out of fashion. The most innovative crossover rap groups of the early '90s like A Tribe Called Quest, Arrested Development, P.M. Dawn, and the Digable Planets were drowned in the tidal wave of hate spewin' gangsta rappers. Leading the charge to mediocrity was the self hating poseur Marshall Mathers. The Beastie Boys managed to survive because they built a large and loyal crossover audience early on and earned the creative license to expand their musical vision. For his part, white boy wigger Marshall Mathers led a generation of black rappers into becoming minstrel show parodies of themselves. Is it any wonder that Elijah Mohammed referred to white men as "blue eyed devils?" In 2005, the debut album the London based Sri Lankan rapper M.I.A. rekindled my interest in hip hop music. The UK hip hop scene hip hop scene had it's own unique path of development & it's most creative artists like Neneh Cherry, Tricky & Dizzee Rascal had emerged from a diverse U.K. hothouse of musical styles like trip hop, reggae and uniquely British club music scene. Some of the early British hip hop artist were even influenced by the music of the '77 punk rebellion in the UK. Nenah Cherry- First UK hip hop star & patron of the early trip hop scene Neneh Cherry is the Swedish born daughter of renowned jazz trumpeter Don Cherry. While still in her teens Cherry moved from Stockholm to London where she joined the final lineup of punk music's original riot grrrl Rastafarians, the Slits. After the breakup of the Slits, Cherry drifted into the newly emerging early '80s hip hop scene in London. After a couple of career setbacks, Cherry became the first international hip hop star from the UK with her 1989 debut album, Raw Like Sushi. In the early '90s Cherry met the Bristol based group Massive Attack through Geoff Barrow and she became the principal financial backer of the band's efforts record their first album, Blue Lines. In the process, Cherry supplied the venture capital for Barrow to record the debut album of his own band Portishead. The unique symbiotic relationship among the punk, the reggae, world-beat, and electronic music communities in the UK created a uniquely British hip hop community that was highly experimental and infused with a rich blend of musical styles. Obaro Ejimiwe a.k.a. Ghostpoet Ghostpoet is one of the emerging stars from the eclectic & pluralistic British hip hop scene. His sophomore effort, Some Say I So I Say Light consolidates the artistic vision he showed on his 2011 debut album Peanut Butter Blues & Melancholy Jam. Ghostpoet's music exudes the same kind of stoned out, sleepy anxiety as fellow rap innovator Tricky. His message is that of a visionary paranoid who managed to get his facts straight. Ghostpoet raps in a languid and sonorous baritone reminiscent of the great jazz rap innovator Gil Scott Heron. Ghostpoet's music has a minimalist framework but he uses woozy off beat rhythms, dub trickery and dazzling array of ambient electronic effects in the production sound-mix. Some his sound production techniques are associated with dubstep artists like Ikonika & Burial; and many knowledgeable folks might even place Ghostpoet's music within the dubstep genre. Ghostpoet isn't for everyone, but if you like trip hop, downtempo electronica or dub reggae, he's certainly worth checking out. Embedded below is Plastic Bag Brain, a selection from Some Say I So I Say Light. =========================================== __________________ There are two types of music: the first type is the blues and the second type is all the other stuff. Townes Van Zandt Last edited by Gavin B.; 06-15-2013 at 03:48 PM.