phoenix

and now for a little fun! i'm about to traverse mexico with no set schedule.

first stop: phoenix, arizona.
so i propose: how's a little phoenix for phoenix?

the band is a brilliant french alterna-rock foursome, with four releases to date. the first two here appear on their debut album, united. the last is a pretty remix of a track on their 2009 wolfgang amadeus mozart. and i have yet to hear their live in mexico bonus tracks on the mexican release of their third album, but perhaps i'll pick it up down south.

until then...

phoenix - too young:


phoenix - if i ever feel better:


related or unrelated to this:

• the black keys - busted
  
• payolas - eyes of a stranger
  
• andre désilets - mission apollo
  
• amadou + miriam feat manu chao - senegal fast food

get this at amazon

farewell to the great gloved one

michael jackson - ben

mis treated
mis understood
mis represented

forever missed

ben was a song written about a pet rat from a 70s film... sung so beautifully, you'd never know.

farewell to you, michael.
thank you for leaving your musical legacy.

michael jackson - ben:


you can find this cd at amazon.

related to this:

• nina simone - sinnerman
  
• miriam makeba - malaika
  

une rose noire

so i'm driving along the road heading into work one spring morning, tuned into toronto's few french music radio station and i hear the end of this song...

...and i can't get it outta my head for the rest of the day.

i search around and can't figure out what it is, until a friend finally calls the station for me and finds out (by the way, thanks, this one's for you!).

"une rose noire" is short, upbeat, happy-go-lucky song on an all french album - a first for cargnello, an anglo montrealer who has been described as an acoustic folk-punker. the simple, optimistic tune and lyrics along with the catchy harmonica and guitar riffs make it one of those unpretentious but lovable songs that you suddenly find yourself whistling as you walk down the sidewalk on a sunny day. and i hope you will!

so here's to plenty of sunny days ahead...

paul cargnello - une rose noire:


available at: amazon.

related:

• salty kisses
  
• l'ascenceur pour le ghetto
  
• mission apollo

drum thing in the air tonight

i've always loved phil collins' in the air tonight. mostly its tom tom drum - the dark, ominous beating heart that explodes a good three minutes deep into the track in an angry face off against cowardice and evil.

it's this sound that floats me back in history to when the first people of this land used drums that sound like this to communicate, to signal, to pow-wow, to live by. a skin, broad diameter, pounded steadily with a mallet.

and i can only guess that it's this sound that also caught the ear of house music guru and ifá priest, osunlade. the yoruba records boss polished up the sound and layered polyrhythms over top in his remix release, the backside of which is an instrumental dub.

thanks to jez proctor and his project innersounds, for weaving side b over a with a surprise horn, piano and cymbal-laden crescendo that pours back into to collins' original backbeat before it flies off.

i smile and think that eshu - yoruba god of spiritual justice - should be pleased...

phil collins - in the air tonight (yoruba soul mix) side a/b edit:

put 'em on me

digging this out from way, way, back in the day.

this one is dedicated to my long lost friend jpk. thank you for putting your hands on me... i want more!!

[and before anyone gets any ideas - i'm strictly talking reiki treatments. i'm a new woman! gosh those hands work magic]

so here's to your magical hands, jpk...

sinead o'connor - i want your hands on me feat. mc lyte:

11.0 the payola$ - eyes of a stranger

i do believe the best pleasures in life are simple ones.

cricket-chirping backbeat, pleading voice, haunting lyrics and ska-influenced guitar riffs. trying to capture this feeling in words - and it reminds me of indian summer.

days...
when it's oppressive and hard to breathe. you can feel the air thick and hot. on days like this, you slip out and get ice cream and watch the world go by. when everything, the sidewalk even, seems to be sweating. and what you want most of all is to lie tall green grass under a tree. watch the sky pass and dream your life away.

and at night...
an old fashioned backyard barbecue with colourful lights strung up. you turn the hi-fi system up loud and slow-dance. and to make it last forever - turn off the ac and sleep under a cool sheet with your feet up against a wall.

the payola$ - eyes of a stranger:


related to this...
black keys - busted

6.0 yamasuki singers - aieoa, black blood - aie a mwana, bananarama - aie a mwana

after a little departure from posting music... i've returned with something special. i'm happy to see my folks back from uganda safe and nicely toasted, and to celebrate i'm posting something that was conceived in the '70s, made its way to the african continent and traveled north and west, but kept it's original soul...

the japanese yamasuki singers first issued the track "aieaoa" on their wacky album "le monde fabuleux des yamasuki":


the track then took an african twist when it was reissued by a '70s band from zaire. we used to dance around to this as kids. if i played it for my mom she'd go wild. [edit! they were actually belgian - which explains how the track got play in europe... read on]
black blood - aie a mwana:


three models heard the black blood cover in a paris nightclub and went home to london to record the song on their debut album.
bananarama - aie a mwana:


thanks to wfmu.org

and totally unrelated...

• bill cosby and quincy jones - hicky burr, sargeant pepper's lonely hearts club band
  
• go go golem

1.0 nelly furtado - say it right (quentin harris remix)

i can't remember how i stumbled across this. but it's brilliant and made me decide to start a blog. thank you, quentin harris. he actually renamed the track "i'm impressed when music matters". so apt.

thanks to richard who helped me remember the original sample source - the nightcrawlers, push the feeling on - remix. it was my personal earworm for weeks.


nelly furtado - say it right
(quentin harris mix "i'm impressed when music matters"):


special thanks to saint-bioz

related posts:

• osunlade feat. divine essence - my reflection
• rokia traore - 98 (timmy regisford mix)