Three new albums from artists from the Stones Throw label:
Madlib - Madlib Medicine Show #8: Advanced Jazz [CD]
Available here on CD
Madlib has always called himself a DJ first, producer second, with jazz music as his first love and inspiration. With that in mind you might say this is what he does best.
The title card of Madlib Medicine Show No. 8 reads: Imagine an 80-minute music history course talking place in a dusty, hazy studio with wall-to-wall jazz vinyl - records from the past 40 years – jazz, fusion, funky, obscure. This course will not be graded. There will be no lecture. Madlib’s at the turntable. Class is now in session.
The front & back cover is the painting Jazzcats Crossing the Hudson (info). CD contains an 8-page booklet.
Aloe Blacc - Good Things [CD]
Listening Clips:
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I Need A Dollar |
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Green Lights |
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Hey Brother |
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Miss Fortune |
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Life So Hard |
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Take Me Back |
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Femme Fatale |
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Loving You Is Killing Me |
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Good Things |
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You Make Me Smile |
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If I |
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Mama Hold My Hand |
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Politician (Reprise) |
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“My purpose for music is positive social change,†says Orange County, California native Aloe Blacc. “Even if the music itself does not explicitly express anything that may signify positive social change, the product of the music will.†He is speaking in general terms regarding his career, but more specifically about the circumstances surrounding his upcoming album, Good Things, co-written by the versatile vocalist and songwriter in conjunction with the in-house production team at Truth & Soul Records.
Good Things marks a shift in methodology from personal to political for Aloe, who refers to the project as his report on present conditions—joblessness, homeless, the misappropriation of wealth, pillaging of resources, and a universal lack of compassion from the capitalism at-large under which we all function, but some struggle to survive. Song titles such as “You Make Me Smile†and “Miss Fortune,†coupled with airy, ethereal production from Truth & Soul’s Leon Michels and Jeff Silverman mask a foreboding undercurrent in which Aloe crafts lyrics both thoughtful and thought-provoking. Nowhere is this more evident than on lead single, “I Need a Dollarâ€â€”commissioned by HBO as the theme music for the series How to Make It in America—because ultimately, that is how to make it in America.
Dam-Funk - Adolescent Funk [CD]
“New†album recorded 1988-1992, available here now
Dam-Funk, to many, is a new name from the past year or two, but what we see and hear from him is a great deal more interesting than a new and emerging artist with a sound influenced from the golden era of electro-funk. Dam-Funk is the real deal. He has been recording for himself for two decades, developing his work to his own taste, and using equipment like the Korg M1, Linn Drum, and Casio SK-1 since the days when many other musicians considered them novelty electronics rather than instruments.
At the request of Peanut Butter Wolf, Dam went through many of these recordings, all made on cassette, going back to his teenage years. As Wolf tells it,
“Dam told me, ‘this is your project Wolf. Do whatever you want with it. I leave it in your hands. I don't even wanna see it til it's done. Have fun.’â€
The result is Dam-Fun's Adolescent Funk, a 14-track album recorded between 1988 and 1992.
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