During a recent trip to New York City, a friend of mine was reading through the New Yorker and casually noted that McCoy Tyner would be playing at the Blue Note Club the following night. After skipping a couple heartbeats, I expressed to my friend that this was something we should see.
For several years McCoy Tyner had been at the top of my list of performers to see live. I had nearly gotten to see him on a couple of occasions, but had been unable to attend for one reason or another. Anyway, I had always imagined that if I did get to see him, it would be in some giant hall like the Four Seasons Centre in Toronto, where I saw Dave Brubeck in 2007. But the Blue Note Club is a small, intimate venue, and there was McCoy Tyner, sitting at his piano less than ten feet from me. It was an almost surreal experience.
But it was indeed real. The show itself, of course, was wonderful. Tyner was joined by saxophonist Gary Bartz, who he had recorded with in the late '60s and early '70s, and who played beautifully; bassist Gerald Cannon; and a young Cuban drummer, Francisco Mela, who threatened to steal the show. But of course, no one was stealing this show from the man of the hour. Tyner's presence in itself was special, and his playing was as powerful as ever, his left hand a driving force behind the music. It was one of those rare shows where you realize in the moment that you're witnessing something extraordinary.
Ok, so this is going to sound crazy, but I'm not exaggerating when I say that last week I attended what was probably my most anticipated concert ever. I'll start with some back story.
In fifth grade I decided to take up an instrument at school, the orchestra bells. I was the only kid at Plympton Elementary that chose the bells. (I quickly started referring to them them as 'the xylophone' since the aforementioned name was embarrassing for whatever reason.) Being the lone bells player, every Friday during recess became a personal lesson from a guy who must have been one of the best music teachers to ever live: Walter Tokarczyk. He was short, stout, bald, and very tough. He told me that one of his former students named Mike Mangini was a very successful drummer now, so he was going to hold me to high standards. I told my father about the Mike Mangini story that Mr T had told me earlier. I remember my dad responding by telling me stories about how he and his brothers used to hang out with Mike (who they aptly called 'mini-guinea') quite a bit and play music, but that is a story for another time. At any rate, I stuck with the bells for about 3 years before I (regrettably) quit. Then Mr T retired and I couldn't imagine starting back up without him as my instructor. Other students tended to dislike him, but I'm positive that's because he knew very well when kids didn't practice at home. He was openly very hard on those students, often in front of the entire band. Anyway, I look back at my time spent with Mr T very fondly; he wanted to mold me (and all his students) into real-ass musicians.
Over the years post xylophone, I came to know more and more about Mike Mangini, his world records and his overall technical mastery of the drums. When the youtube era rolled in I finally got to see some footage of Mike playing. It was insanity. Inspiring... we had the same teacher goddammit. Why did I quit? Anyhow, it got me into thinking about Mr T again. I Googled him. He had died a year ago, in 2005.
The thought of getting to see Mike Mangini perform was an awesome thought. Here's another one of those rare folks who remembers Mr T as fondly as I do. Hell, I even feel like we share a bit of history, with our childhood music instructor as the medium.
Fast forward to 2011. I hear that a band called Dream Theater had been auditioning new drummers and that Mangini actually won the job. I was pumped. I had been a DT fan since high school and had seen them in concert four or five times. I was not going to miss their next tour stop through Boston.
As a DT fan, I was not impressed with the set list. A lot of their newer songs are just not enjoyable for me. However, they are very technical and fun to watch. The older songs they did play were mind bogglingly good, and really exciting to see and hear with Mangini behind the drums.
As a Mangini fan, I was blown away. The solo they gave him was worth my money alone. The speed, the stamina, the polyrhythms, the showmanship. I might be a bit biased, but I wasn't the only amazed person in the Orpheum.
Its too bad I didn't get to bump into him outside and say something like "Remember Mr. Tokarczyk, man?" I was clinging onto that possibility until we hit the highway on the way home.
"Mississippi Goddam" is one of Nina Simone's more well-known songs, and a classic of the civil rights era. The most well-known and perhaps most striking version was recorded live at Carnegie Hall in March of 1964. Simone opens by introducing it, to what is presumably a mostly white audience, saying "the name of this tune is 'Mississippi Goddam!' And I mean every word of it," drawing a hearty laugh from the crowd. After an opening chorus, she says "this is a show tune, but the show hasn't been written for it yet." A less hearty, slightly nervous laugh. Then, she goes into the verses, which contain some extremely serious civil rights messages, and some palpable anger. After a couple verses she says, "bet you thought I was kiddin', didn't you?" This time, you can almost hear the audience fidgeting. It's horribly uncomfortable and brilliant and really amazing. Not to mention it's a great song.
I've read in more than one place that The Way Out is "another Books album, and that's all you need to know," or something along those lines. It's true that the Books have consistently delivered amazing material every time they've released a record, so it's fair to expect another strong effort from their latest release. It's also true that they have a singular, characteristic sound that makes every Books album instantly identifiable as theirs. However, this is NOT just another Books album. NO Books album is just another Books album. Every record they've released has been unique to the ones that came before it, building and expanding on past elements of their sound, breaking apart other elements, and bringing in new ideas that the band has conceived and encountered along the way.
In the case of The Way Out, one of the most important of these new ideas for the Books is hypnotherapy. At a Books show at Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art in 2009, Nick Zammuto, one half of the band, explained that the duo had discovered and gotten heavily into hypnotherapy, and that this had heavily influenced their forthcoming album. Of course, he meant that they had been listening to recordings of hypnotherapy, not that he and fellow Book Paul de Jong had undertaken hypnotherapy themselves. Their discovery is indeed evident on the album in question, and the recurring spoken hypnosis extracts have a way of making the listener part of the experience. The Way Out is also harder than much of the Books' previous work; there's an edge to it that distinguishes it from earlier Books music, particularly evident on tracks like "I Am Who I Am" and the hilarious "A Cold Freezin' Night."
But whatever can be said about it, all that really matters is that when you sit down and play The Way Out, it's an absolutely amazing listen, a truly moving experience. As always, their music is overflowing with beauty, imagination, humor, and optimism. So yeah...just another Books album.
Another innovative 6 string madman on candyrat records that I would love to see live. There's a small delay effect which gives an echo, but he still picks flawlessly and fast giving it a real trance-ish effect.
So I've written about this before, but it's true: 2010 was an astoundingly good year for music, one of the best in a long time. Here's a rundown of some of my favorite albums of the past year (in alphabetical order for now..if you're wondering, The Suburbs was my number one).
The ArchAndroid - Janelle Monáe Before Today - Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti Black City - Matthew Dear Brothers - The Black Keys Congratulations - MGMT Cosmogramma - Flying Lotus Fang Island - Fang Island Forgiveness Rock Record - Broken Social Scene Hearbeats - Grum Maya - M.I.A. Melted - Ty Segall My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - Kanye West Plastic Beach - Gorillaz Rated R - Rihanna Say It - Born Ruffians Senior - Royskopp Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty - Big Boi Swim - Caribou The Suburbs - Arcade Fire Teen Dream - Beach House This Is Happening - LCD Soundsystem Together - The New Pornographers Treats - Sleigh Bells Under Great White Northern Lights - The White Stripes Volume Two - She & Him The Way Out - The Books Write About Love - Belle and Sebastian
Our review of the year 2000 in music concludes with our top 25 albums of the year (actually 28, since there was a 4-way tie for #25). The album list was compiled in the same way as our singles list, with IMBW contributors submitting point-weighted lists of their favorite albums of 2000 (you can take a look at our individual contributors' lists here). Only albums released within the calendar year of 2000 were counted; greatest hits albums and most other compilations were excluded. A total of 106 albums received at least one mention.
It was fun looking back at the music of 2000, remembering what music was important to us then, and comparing that with what we find interesting to listen to now from that time period. For me, it's really interesting to look at a year in music historically; to see how things have held up over time; to remember things that were sensations of the moment but quickly faded from consciousness; to think about things that were overlooked at the time but gained recognition as time went on; to see how the music of a given year has influenced the music of today.
So, here's our list. You'll find a link to listen to each album in full at grooveshark.com. Enjoy, and Happy New Year!
5. Since I Left You The Avalanches Points: 58 / Mentions: 3 [Listen at grooveshark.com] Since I Left You is one of the premier records of sample-based music. In all, over 900 samples went into the making of this album, and the result is a mindblowing collage, a collection of sounds that together form a whole that is completely unique and something all its own. / David Mickelsen
4. Voodoo D'Angelo Points: 60 / Mentions: 3 [Listen at grooveshark.com]
D'Angelo's first album, Brown Sugar, was an important moment in contemporary R&B and neo-soul. It took him five years to release a follow up, but it was worth the wait: Voodoo stands as D'Angelo's masterpiece, a masterwork of the neo-soul sound. / David Mickelsen
3. Stankonia OutKast Points: 72 / Mentions: 6 [Listen at grooveshark.com] Stankonia is a head-spinning listen, a kaleidoscopic array of sounds that ten years later still reveals something new upon each listen. On top of its sonic brilliance, Big Boi and Andre 3000 are two great rappers in top form, effortlessly delivering rapidfire raps on "B.O.B.," telling heartbreaking stories on "Ms. Jackson" and "Toilet Tisha," and keeping it gangsta on tracks like "We Luv Deez Hoez" and "Gangsta Shit." It's hard not to be disappointed that OutKast only made one great record as a group after this one..but of course, we always hold out hope that they hold something in store for us in the future.... / David Mickelsen
2. Supreme Clientele Ghostface Killah Points: 73 / Mentions: 4 [Listen at grooveshark.com]
Ghostface Killah has been arguably the most consistently interesting Wu-Tang member as a solo artist, and his furious stream-of-consciousness rhyming was at a high point on Supreme Clientele. Numerous excellent guest appearances by much of the rest of Wu-Tang also boost the album, making one of the best of the Wu-Tang solo albums. / David Mickelsen
It seems pointless to try to say anything new about Kid A, since so much has been written and said about it. What remains important is that ten years later, Kid A is still a compelling listen, as stunning and affecting as it was upon its release. Radiohead's adoption of electronics and heavy use of vocal filters, converting Thom Yorke's voice into things inhuman, was and still is sure to be polarizing, but if there were risks involved, they yielded fantastic rewards: an album as adventurous as it is beautiful, as challenging as it is ultimately rewarding. / David Mickelsen
Happy New Year! We begin our look back at the year 2000 with our top 20 singles of the year. The list was compiled using a system modified from the Village Voice's Pazz & Jop poll: IMBW contributors were asked to submit lists of up to 100 of their favorite singles of 2000, assigning points to each to weight them. The maximum number of points any one single could receive was 30, and the minimum was 5; the number of points a contributor had to give out for each list was equal to the number of singles in the list times ten.
Any single released in 2000, as well as any single that appeared on an album that was released in 2000, was eligible for this list. Only officially released singles were considered..with a few exceptions that it seemed wrong not to include. In all, 130 singles received at least one mention.
So, with the math and technical stuff out of the way, it's on to the list. You'll find a widget or link provided to listen to each track. Here we go....
19. "You Can Do It" Ice Cube [ft. Mack 10 and Ms. Toi] Points: 17 / Mentions: 2
Coldplay would go on to be one of the most respected and commercially successful bands of the decade, but they were never better than on their second single, "Yellow." Elements of Britpop, shoegaze, melodic pop, and vocal harmonies came together in a beautiful moment of rock music. / David Mickelsen
5. "Music: Response" The Chemical Brothers Points: 25 / Mentions: 2
Man fucking "Music: Response". when i heard it back in 1999 i was like "this shit is such shit for gay euro clubs". then i fell in love with "Block Rockin Beats" a year later and then i was afraid of "Music: Response": "Music: Response" became the known-uknown for me; the geek i picked on in high school and was now going to be my boss. When I heard it that year, I don't think I really comprehended what I heard. When heard it a year a later, the universe made sense again. Music response was quietly yelling at me, "Do you fucking see? Do you fucking understand how beautiful a song can be using only one note and it's octave? Is your fucking brain melting yet?" / Jeff Kim
5. "I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)" Jay-Z Points: 25 / Mentions: 2
One of the Neptunes' first major hits, "I Just Wanna Love U" features Jay-Z in party mode, with rising star Pharrell threatening to steal the show, as he would with numerous other guest appearances throughout the following decade. This was one of the party songs of the early part of the decade; here, Jay-Z showed a party side to complement his street hustler side. / David Mickelsen
2000 was part of a very long period during which everything Timbaland touched turned to gold; his productions were endlessly creative, and resulted in massive commercial success. For "Big Pimpin'," he sampled the Egyptian composition "Khosara," giving the beat a Middle Eastern feel instantly recognizable as Timbaland's. Jay-Z was also in the midst of a long spell of brilliance during this time, and over Timbaland's beat he, Pimp C, and Bun B told us in typically convincing fashion that they were the shit, three great rappers at the top of their game. / David Mickelsen
Radiohead didn't release any official singles from Kid A, but some songs did get radioplay as promo singles. Of these, "Optimistic" was the one that received the most airtime. This stands to reason; it's probably the most accessible song on Kid A, and the one that would most accomodate fans looking for another OK Computer. These things aside, it's also a beautiful song, the centerpiece to what was one of the great albums of its era; even if Kid A did alienate some fans of their earlier work, it was a stroke of artistic brilliance that would gain them a legion of new followers. / David Mickelsen
It seems only fitting that these two singles, which would prove to be two of the best singles of the decade, by one of the great hip-hop groups of their era, would tie for number one on our list. OutKast were a dominating force in pop music in 2000 (as well as several years before and after), and "B.O.B." and "Ms. Jackson" were two landmark achievements: for the year in music, for the group themselves, and for the entire genre of rap music. / David Mickelsen
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During a recent trip to New York City, a friend of mine was reading through the New Yorker and casually noted that McCoy Tyner would be playing at the Blue Note Club the following night. After skipping a couple heartbeats, I expressed to my friend that this was something we should see.
