Today I've only got time for just a quick post. I like all kinds of music but there's one big current throughout my entire music collection and that's Black Music. I don't fancy a definition of what Black Music exactly is but almost anything that's Afro-American, Afro-Cuban, Afro-Brazilian, Jamaican, ... ethnic or popular, acoustic or electronic ... and that's being made by black people or by those who try to be or sound like it, is just right up my ally.
Among this spectrum of everything black the golden nuggets that go by the name of Rare Grooves are the favorites. I've been trying to prepare a series of posts but because of lack of time this will be something for the near future (let's say a month or so).
For this moment, I'll stick to what I'm listening to right now. I'm a fan of Curtis Mayfield (see right here for more info on Soulwalking).
One of my favorite Curtis songs is Right On for the Darkness from his first album after the Superfly soundtrack. It's from 1973 which is the year I was born in - maybe not a great year for wine but definitely one for the groove. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Silicone Soul sampled the glorious orchestral ending of this song, a couple of years ago, for their dance floor track Right on. It's one of those endings that is just much to short and gives way to an entirely different piece of music. It's a big cherish on top of a delicious cake that deserves a rightful place of it's own. That's what Silicone Soul did. They've created a hypnotic groove based on some smart editing of the strings combined with a vintage WahWah rhythmguitar Curtis Mayfield is famous for.
I've got two versions of it but I can't decide which one of them is the best. They're very similar. I'll just post both of them together with the original song.
Right On for The Darkness - Curtis Mayfield 1973 [Back to the World]
Right on 4 tha Darkness - Silicone Soul 1999 [Soma Quality Recordings - Volume 6]
Right On, Right On - Silicone Soul 2000 [Soma Compilation Seven]
As a way of contrast... somethin' else. Friends know that I'm really into country music and they make fun of me. They don't get it, but I don't care. I know that 99% of it is just plain garbage but I go for that 1% which is as good as anything else on this planet.
A recent discovery is a female singer called Neko Case. She's been around for quite some time now but she's mainly known as a member of The New Pornographers. People who make a living out of it call this kind of music alt. country or alternative country. Basically it's a bunch of young people who rediscovered the qualities of traditional music and handle it with a do-it-yourself punk attitude and they stay far away from the big companies in Nashville Tennessee. She's got a new album out called Fox Confessor Brings the Flood and from this album comes a song.
The Needle Has Landed - Neko Case 2005 [Fox Confessor Brings the Flood]
To end, a song that I don't know anything about but that's been bugging me for days now. It's The Baldwin Brothers featuring Miho Hatori from Cibo Matto with a song called Dream Girl. Enjoy.
Dream Girl - The Baldwin Brothers featuring Miho Hatori
