Daily Archives: January 5, 2012

5th January 2012

Jay Electronica* – Mind detect heart 

As I mentioned earlier in the week finding a new artist every day was becoming too demanding, so after completing my year of new artists I began 2012 by revisting some of my old favourites. However, as I move forward I want to keep the spirit of new and varied music alive. To do this my plan is to post an artist that is new to the blog each Thursday. I may do this on other days also but I intend do it without fail on New Artist Thursdays.

I have been listening to this guy, a rapper from New Orleans quite a bit this week. He first grabbed my attention when this tune began with a sample of an impassioned preacher thundering the following:

You got a hell of a nerve! If my rhetoric is too strident, who better to correct me than my brothers and my sisters?…

My only response to that was wow! His rhymes are strong too, clever and nuanced. Overall it is just refreshing to hear something a bit different from a hip hop song. 

RjK

*Artist #366

7 Big (re)discoveries of 2011

1) Radio – Rediscovered the simple joy of listening to the radio, predominately over the interned. Particularly WFMU, thanks to a good tip from my buddy. In particular Mudd Up! and Downtown Soulville. Also 6music and Tom Ravenscroft and the 6mix. Both are a treasure trove of good music.

2) World Music fascinates me – This was a big surprise. It started when I revisited Rhythm of the saints and was staggered by it and continued through the rest of the year. I would never have imagined how much pleasure I would find in Malian music.

3) I like Electronica a lot more than I realised – For a good portion of the year I had posted more Electronica than soul, which was a big surprise.

4) Blogs and blogging – This blog obviously. It was a good cultural outlet for me and I liked the discipline of posting once a day. But I also enjoyed reading other blogs like The sartorialist, Awesome tapes from Africa. Also, I finally “got” Twitter.

5) I feel fatigued reading about the “crisis in the eurozone” – One more article about the Greek economy and I might throw up (boke).

6) Blueberries – The fact that they are utterly delicious had somehow escaped my notice before last year.

7) Mad Men – Don Draper? What a beast.RjK