TAG: Positive

Sep13

E.S.Q. & Chikaramanga – The Succession (Review)

ESQ & Chikaramanga

The Succession

Released by TRES Records


What do you get when a Japanese beatsmith and an emcee from Chicago meet in Los Angeles through the celestial power of hip-hop music? You get a versatile and aurally delicious hip-hop record much like The Succession, a hard-hitting, timely album from TRES Records integrants E.S.Q. & Chikaramanga. The flavors sprinkled throughout this debut showcase the talents of E.S.Q. as an artist of the spoken word as well as TRES co-founder Chikaramanga’s skills with the technologies of the MPC (especially the MPC60 and the S3000). Their musical chemistry is ...

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Mar19

Broken Bells @ The Troubadour 3/14 (Review)

James Mercer and Brian Burton's sold out LA show 

Creating a complete and engaging live musical experience is a tough feat. Having only about forty minutes of material to draw from greatly complicates the situation. “Would it be wrong?” Not for Broken Bells.  For Broken Bells, also known as Brian Burton (typically known by his alias Danger Mouse) and James Mercer (lead singer of The Shins), this was effortless.  Broken Bells have built upon their musical efforts on their self-titled Broken Bells at the Troubadour in Los Angeles this past Sunday 3/14 with a lively, entertaining and thoroughly enjoyable performance.  As their final show on their mini-tour which included London, Paris, and New York (next they’re headed to SXSW), Broken Bells have put on a moving and memorable performance that highlights the creative possibilities of this so-called supergroup formed during the collaborative work by Burton and David Lynch (which …

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Feb27

Black Man’s Cry: The Inspiration of Fela Kuti (Review)

Various Artists

Black Man's Cry: The Inspiration of Fela Kuti

Released by Now-Again Records


To begin describing the epic importance of Fela Kuti is to write a doctoral thesis on the history of African music from before his birth to the present day. To understand the impact the music of a person such as Fela is to consider the history of struggle, prejudice, racism, and political disenfranchisement as an understandable whole.  In the music of Fela Kuti, we see these positive undercurrents of political awakening, consciousness, activism, empowerment and liberation.  These values are what make the messages embedded in the work of Fela ...

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