Fela Kuti -- The Best Of The Black President, vol. 2

So I once was fortunate enough to be working at a used record store in Phoenix when someone traded in 10 CDs by Fela Kuti, each a "two-fer" (two albums on one disc).  I knew enough about world music then to know I needed these, so I bought 'em all ... and then promptly forgot about them for several years.  Fela Kuti was a Nigerian musician active between the 1960s and his death in 1997 whose music was uncompromisingly radical in its socialist, anti-colonial and anti-military politics.  Once I finally got around to listening to Kuti, the experience was every bit as exciting and satisfying as many critics have described his music. I've since gone on to collect several more CDs by Kuti (and I love 'em all), so I was most intrigued by the copy of Best Of The Black President I saw at the library one day....

David Bowie Returns

David Bowie is back. The legendary innovative British musician and actor has a new album and it is available now from the library. It has been nearly impossible to avoid David Bowie's presence as an iconic artist for the past 40+ years- he has been on the radio, on music videos, in movies and in 1995 to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Bowie's new album is "The Next Day" and will only add to the some 140 million albums he has already sold

Cyndi Lauper - Coming to a Fox Theater Near You

So get this, Cyndi Lauper's upcoming June 23rd show at Tucson's Fox Theater takes place one day after she turns 60 years old.  How is this possible?  Still, despite her advancing years, according to the name of the tour, she is Still So Unusual.  Read on for more information on her career and her most recent album Memphis Blues.

I'm Lovin' It Right Now...

 After a bit of a hiatus, Pima County Public Library is again purchasing music cds. Yay! Here's some stuff I've been listening to and am excited about...

Old Yellow Moon, Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell: First off, some history: I had been aware of Emmylou Harris since I was a kid but always figured she was just a country artist who did some albums with Linda Ronstadt. I picked up Wrecking Ball way back in 1997 because Daniel Lanois was the producer. He also produced two of U2's biggest albums, The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby, so I was interested to see what he had done with Emmylou Harris' sound. Wow!  I loved this album when it first came out and listened to it quite a bit. I went through an Emmylou Harris phase for awhile and picked up some of her releases after Wrecking Ball, but slowly I lost interest....until now. I heard an interview with Rodney Crowell on NPR about Old Yellow Moon and checked in to see if Pima County Public Library had any copies, and we do! I'm really enjoying this one and some of my favorite tracks are Invitation To The Blues, Open Season On My Heart, Black Caffeine (I get the feeling she's not just singing about coffee!) and Bluebird Wine.

Peter Gabriel: New Blood

My parents first turned me on to Peter Gabriel. They had a couple of his vinyls in their record collection and I remember the fear that one particular album cover instilled in me. It was Peter Gabriel's #3 aka "Melt"and features a black and white photograph of Peter Gabriel's face melting. It also stirred such curiosity in me that I had to pick up the record and play it. Songs like the cool and creepy "The Intruder" and the catchy whistle of "Games Without Frontiers" immediately hooked me in. Peter Gabriel to this day stands alone in creating a category all his own in the world of alternative music that never been rivaled.
I noticed that many of the songs from that record are on a recent Gabriel album called "New Blood". The record consists of orchestral re-recordings of past hits from the Peter Gabriel discography.  Please read on to learn more about it.

Daft Punk - Get Lucky!

Daft Punk is one of those musical groups that everyone loves. And for good reason: who can resist two dance-crazed robots who fill our lives with glorious electro-disco-synthpop? As the two members of Daft Punk (French producers Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter) tell it, "We did not choose to become robots. There was an accident in our studio...when we regained consciosness, we discovered that we had become robots." And luckily for us, these robots did not want to enslave the human race in a cycle of pain and misery (I'm looking at you, Skynet)...instead, they only want us to dance. With a dash of disco, a scattering of funk, a pinch of groove, and a whole lot of electro love, Daft Punk have created over sixteen years of dance hits for the world to enjoy.

And after much too long, they are back.

Loving the Local Music Scene

I'm still floating from the great time I had at the Tucson Folk Festival last weekend - so much so that even though I typically write about books I was inspired to write about music! If you have never been, this event is held the first weekend in May every year downtown - this year expanded to 5 different stages ranging from the Courtyard of the Pima County Courthouse to the main Plaza stage, over to La Cocina and then two stages at the Art Museum. The entire event is free - an entire weekend, at least 8 hours each day of fabulous free music - almost, but not quite music overload.  More details can be found by searching for Tucson Kitchen Musicians Association on the web.

Back to the 90's with Trip Hop

There are sensations that always seem to evoke certain feelings or memories when you hear them. It is often surprising what you associate with a certain taste, feel, or sound. Recently I heard "In the Waiting Line" by Zero 7 while listening to Pandora Radio and I was sent back to an afternoon in high school, talking about boys and life as I shared a pair of headphones with a friend. 

Afterwards I reflected on how much I still love the mellow beats of performers like Zero 7, a band riding on the tail end of the music genre known as trip-hop. Trip-hop is an electronica off-shoot which tended to feature slow beats, female vocals and was influenced by soul, funk and jazz. One of the most influential trip-hop groups of the 90's would probably be Morcheeba who featured beautiful vocals and creative (sometimes hilarious) lyrics. Other popular trip-hop groups include Badmarsh & Shri, Moloko, Flunk and Supreme Being of Leisure. The influences of trip-hop can also be heard in more contemporary music groups, like Thievery Corporation and the Gorillaz. 

For those interested in this genre, or want to try something new, I compiled a list of albums in our catalog which were a part of the trip-hop movement, or whose music has been influenced by it:

Le voyage dans la lune, by Air
Further, by the Chemical Brothers
We Are the Night, by the Chemical Brothers
Details, by Frou Frou
The Fall, by the Gorillaz
Plastic Beach, by the Gorillaz
Singles Collection, by the Gorillaz
Heligoland, by Massive Attack
Third, by Portishead 
Culture of Fear, by Thievery Corporation
The Garden, by Zero 7
Simple Things, by Zero 7

Trip-hop is also available on Freegal, which can be found by browsing under the genre tab or by searching for specific bands. I was able to locate music by Morcheeba, the Supreme Beings of Leisure, the Chemical Brothers, Thievery Corporation and Zero 7 with the search bar on the Freegal homepage.

Happy listening!