Office du Niger Fields – Segou
Women bringing food and water to fieldworkers at lunchtime
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“Friction” by Morcheeba
Part of the reason I’ve always loved the UK is it’s music scene. It is home to some of my favorite artists/bands: Tricky, Portishead, Jamiroquai…the list goes on and on.
“Morcheeba” belongs to that elite list of bands that have developed a cult-like following over the years. Their sound is part trip hop, part RnB, with an infusion of classic Reggae. Their arrangements are lush and usually organic, meaning that they produce mostly music that has a “live feel” to it. I can only imagine how great they must be on stage…
On Friction, the band takes a political stance against the country’s legal system and admonishes the relative ease with which citizens get prosecuted. “Friction turning to fire” highlights how efficient the “system” is at stifling any opposition.
“Men in high places, Can’t understand
How to end trouble in this broken land
They have no idea and no feelings for love
Just send in the dogs and they stand well above
Friction is turning to fire, Friction is burning much higher”
The name “Morcheeba” actually means “ the way of Marijuana”. Let’s just say this is meant to be consumed in a “stress-free” environment…
Chill……
Title: Friction
Artist: Morcheeba
Album: Big Calm, 1998
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“After Love” by Clazziquai
I find it unfortunate that for practical purposes we are often forced to categorize music. The expression art is influenced by such a wide range of sometimes unrelated factors that it’s hard to pinpoint or measure exactly where the influences are from and to what extent they impacted the final product. In terms of music, this translates to a complete absence of boundaries stylistically speaking.
Case in point: Clazziquai. A South Korean experimental band that combines acid jazz, electronica and pop in the vein of Jamiroquai and Craig David.
“After Love” has been one of my favorite songs since I stumbled onto it on one of those random afternoons spent at a CD store, sampling everything I could put my hands on. My initial creation was so positive towards the music, that it took me nearly the entire duration of the song to realize that most of the lyrics weren’t in English. Great melodies, very smooth vocals and a gorgeous Spanish guitar on the hook.
Somebody please throw some marketing dollars at these guys………
Fresh.
Title : After Love
Artist: Clazziquai
Album: Instant Pig, 2004
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“Real” by Macy Gray
Sometimes it pays to stick around for the ending credits of a movie. Apart from being a great flick, ‘Domino’ (Keira Knightley, Mickey Rourke, 2005) provided me with what has become my favorite Macy Gray song.
What makes her vocal performance on “Real” so special is how honest she sounds. You get the feeling that you are listening to someone who had been repressing her feelings for a long time and finally breaks down, letting everything out:
“I feel so breathless, All this running around
Tender traitor, With my cruel crown,
My cards are on the table, I need, Real love, Not some fabrication, Real love, not just indication
Tell me how you want to make me feel, I took the rules down, put away that game
Kinder distance, to the love we made, And I’m building up the fire, I need, I need, I need,
Real love, not some fabrication, Real love, not just indication”
On first listen, I simply couldn’t understand why in the world Macy Gray would only give us 2 minutes of this gem. This is like meeting that perfect person on the last day of your vacation in a place you’ll probably never come back to. You spend an incredible day together, and just like that…………..it’s over.
Short….sweet…..beautifully cruel.
Title: Real
Artitst: Macy Gray
Album: “Domino” Soundtrack, 2005
Loading ...“Roberta Flack” by Flying Lotus
It’s late at night and you’re sitting on your couch just chilling at the end of a very long day. Remote in hand, you’re just flipping through channels and TV sucks as usual but you don’t despair because when all else fails, there’s always Adult Swim on Cartoon Network. Nothing like some “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” to take the edge off..lol. So you tune in and of course 30 seconds later it’s already time for a commercial break and this only adds to your current dissatisfaction with “TV these days”. You’re about about switch channels to avoid the commercials (which never works by the way…lol) when suddenly you get hit by the most incredible beat you’ve ever heard in your life! You scramble to turn the volume up but it’s too late: it’s already gone…..
The above scenario has happened at least once to pretty much every hip hop fan who tunes into Cartoon Network’s “Adult Swim”. They have the “nasty” habit of giving you tiny 10 second clips of some amazing music.
One of such incidents happened to me about a year ago with “Roberta Flack”. After a bit of research, I tracked the song down and found out it was from this incredible experimental dj/producer called Flying Lotus from California who had already gotten critical acclaim with his debut album “1983”. How music like this stays under the radar is beyond me……
“Roberta Flack” is hiphop production in the vein of J Dilla, with incredible sampling, booming bass lines and a touch of electronica. Dolly’s vocals add color to an already incredibly rich canvas.
Fresh.
Title: Roberta Flack
Artist: Flying Lotus
Album: Los Angeles, 2008
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Ssidy is what my friends call me. I was born in Senegal of Malian parents (hence my Mali nationality). I grew up all over the place…Bamako, London, Accra, Cape Town, before I went to college in Miami and finally got a job in Sydney where I’ve been living since August 2008.
When I’m not working on The Timbuktu Project, or as a financial analyst (full-time), you can usually catch me somewhere on a football pitch or involved in anything music related. Music is everything to me. Whatever mood I am in, there is always a song that captures the moment perfectly. Anyone who has spent more than 10 minutes around me will probably attest to this: I listen to all types of stuff.....possibly because no single genre holds enough songs to quench that musical thirst of mine... 