In the first months of my living in London, which is to say the first quarter of 2006, I met a reggae bassist and singer-songwriter named Daniel Bowskill. He was very sweet, talented and seemed to be on the up, with a new recording contract and a&r men all over him. He informed me that he had recently gone into the studio to play a bass session for my all time favorite diva, the one, the only… ladies and gentlemen, the divine Miss Grace Jones.
Such was my excitement at the news she was recording again after her nearly 2 decades-long hiatus that I plied him with questions, which were useless, as for all his talent, he was the least specific/analytical person I’d ever met. In any case, one thing was sure: Grace was at it again. With no news of the sessions coming to fruition over the following 2 odd years I began imagining she’d shelved the project permanently but, I’m glad to say that, praise be, last week’s UK release of ‘Hurricane’ has proven me wrong.
The first single, ‘Corporate Cannibal’ is the album’s weakest song by far, and was treated to a creepy, sub-par black and white video. So let’s skip it. The album’s strength lies in songs like ‘Williams Blood’, a gorgeous and quite personal song for Jones, which pulsates with her signature dark bossa-tango-reggae ryddim here, rocks with an pseudo-industrial guitar ladden chorus there and scintillates with uplifting female choir vocals at its best moments.
It’s a stunning song, and along with ‘This is Life’, ‘I’m Crying(Mother’s Tears)’ and ‘Devil in my Life’ it forms the better part of an enjoyable whole. Songs like “Well Well Well” and “Love you to Life” could have been lifted off 1981’s ‘NightClubbing’ but shit, I love ‘Nightclubbing’, so I’m not about to fault them for it. It’s song like the aforementioned ‘Corporate Cannibal’ and ‘Hurricane’ (her collab with Tricky) that leave me cold with their try-hard attempt at a gritty industrial throb, which while meaning to bring Jones into the now, come off more like lackluster nineties trip-hop b-sides than anything else.
I’ve had the album on repeat for a few days now (with ‘Cannibal’ unchecked in my playlist). My hopes for a new Grace Jones record were high, though my expectations were shaky. It’s hard for an underground icon to come back gracefully (no pun intended). A great deal of picky aesthetes count her among their most admired musicians, divas and personalities. And we all know how tough y’all bitches can be.
But thankfully for us, Jones, at age 60, still manages to be more creative, cleverer about who she works with, and a more interesting star than any other would-be cult personality re-emerging from the haze of their 80s glory. And now Ladies and Gentleman, heeere’s Grace…
With all the hip hop superproducers (Timbaland, Kanye, Pharrell) having ascended to chart-topping pop success producing beats for themselves and the Mariahs/Britneys/Gwens of the world… it’s been a while since I’ve happened upon a really fresh electronic hip hop sound that still sounds close to the street. The moody, tech-soaked, micro-dramatic sound of Black Milk’s most recent offering is hands down the most interesting hip hop I’ve heard in years. ‘Tronic’, the rapper/producer’s sophomore(?) LP, gives us ‘Bounce’, which I can honestly say is like nothing I’ve ever heard before. Simultaneously dark and hopeful, radio polished but blog-fave gritty, it’s got mass appeal and a surprising amount of stand-up-to-the-rest integrity.
Check it, buy it: BOUNCE.
Getting back to the aforementioned headliners, in their ivory towers of early millenium superstardom: Kanye West can do no wrong by me. 808s and Heartbreak has so far proved a polarizing album, and while I understand his fan base reacting to his change in sound (the singing, the auto-tune) I simply see this as K-dog producing a pop record for himself instead of in the service of yet another scantily clad diva. He can afford to, and by god, he’s hit it on the nose. It sounds like Akon, but better and it’s not about showering strippers with money, so it gets points in my book. Love lockdown was a masterpiece of a pop song and I recommend hitting Kanye U to check the sleek , subtle toned bauhaus/africanist influenced video he shot for it. I leave you with this beautifully animated clip for the album’s latest single, Heartless.
Gorgeous art direction. I’m seeing a pleasantly dark bent in a lot of the better videos coming out right now. The Presets took a little while to win me over, but this year belongs to them and Kid Kudi as far I’m concerned.
This is where Santogold goes from being one of the year’s most interesting independents to being one of the decade’s most interesting majors. This is a clip from her appearance on Late Night with Conan O’Brien Jools Holland. It’s thrilling to see how far she’s come since last year. She’s gonna be HUGE.
I’m really into what little I’ve heard of Lykke Li. Her sweet, distant little Swedish voice plus Bjorn Yttling(Peter Bjorn and John)’s clever, quirky production make a winning combination out of soul, twee pop, lo-fi electronic and a little bit of that early 80s brand of “small voiced girl” hip-hop. Highly listenable.
THE VID: Lykke’s simple, mesmerizing perfomance and a truly masterful editing job make this video near perfect in my book. The overexposed lighting and herky-jerky cuts keep us from ever getting a full glimpse of her face, while she quite ably gets down and gives us a sweet, distant little Swedish stare. Check it!
Though I had been aware of him because of his work with Peaches, I first truly fell for Gonzales when I heard his brilliant, and aptly named 2004 release “Solo Piano”. Writer, singer, producer, Canadian, currently lives and works in France. His new album SOFT POWER looks like going to be a slightly tongue-in-cheek tribute to the saccharine pop days of the 50s & 60s, flavored with an urban twist and high notes of classic 70s pop radio balladry. Brian Wlson, Burt Bacharach, Stevie Wonder, but with something else, a little irony… and more handclaps fer sherz. I’m completely in love. Seeing him when he comes.
Live acoustic Parisian loft party performance of one of 07’s best songs: ‘2080′ by Yeasayer. An impromptu bit of genius, fabulously well shot for Blogothèque’s ‘Concert à emporter’ (Take Away Show) series. Props to Gorilla vs. Bear for keeping us informed.
Mad chillin! Went to José Gonzalez, whom everyone knows for his gut-rending acoustic cover of the Knife’s ‘Heartbeats’, on Friday. Totally killer live. Like a soft haze over the whole room. People rapt in awe. He’s an unbelievably still performer, free of any guile or artifice. He played most of ‘Veneer’ his massively popular first LP, and some tracks from his 2007 release ‘In our Nature’ including a WICKED cover of Massive Attack’s ‘Teardrop’ I did not see coming. A thoroughly worthwhile venture in my opinion.
Next up, (conversely) Chromeo! Then it’s Boyz Noize/MSTRKRFT the next day. Fuck Justice, they’re playing at bloody CEPSUM, and on a sunday night to boot. Not cool. No thanks.
Mad radness!!! Favorite song this week: ‘Chalo’ by Esau Mwamwaya. He’s a Malawian artist who’s made the cover of Fader, and also does an awesome vocal redub of Paper Planes that’s impossible not to like. Dubbed the ‘African Phil Collins’. That’s really funny. But seriously check this shit out. It kind of reminds me of one of my fosho all-time faves, Marianne Faithful’s ‘The Ballad of Lucie Jordan’.
