I heard this track quite a bit over the last month, and then stopped hearing it, as DJ's moved on to other songs from her new album, "Is Your Love Big Enough?" But this one was in my head allllllllll morning. Lianne La Havas is an amazing singer/songwriter from London, who really solidified her place in my heart with "Forget." This is one of very few artists whose lyrics actually stay with me. I NEVER pay attention to lyrics. My brain doesn't process them, for some reason, but rather groups the melody of the voice as part of the overall musical piece. So this is a big deal.
Another thing I can't stop praising is Lianne's guitar playing and great arrangements to accompany her insightful, somewhat melancholy take on love and ex-boyfriends (I watched her performance on this year's iTunes festival and she attributed a whole segment of the show to her ex). I absolutely love the guitar intro of this song (kind of reminds me of this), and would love to make a re-edit of this if I can make some time in the near future. Lianne La Havas is in town this November at The Roxy. I highly recommend you see her. I'll definitely be there vibing out!
This one was in my head when my eyes opened this morning. I often don't get down with some of the more vocal jazz fusion of the mid to late 70's. it tends to get a little soft for my palette, with a couple of exceptions: anything by George Duke, Flora Purim, and Herbie Hancock. This Alphonso Johnson album features a pretty heavy lineup of musicians:
Alphonso Johnson : Bass & Vocal
Philip Bailey : Vocals
Diane Reeves : Vocals
Grover Washington Jr : Tenor Saxophone
Patrice Rushen : Electric Piano
Lee Ritenour : Guitar
Mike Clark : Drums
Sheila Escovedo : Congas
David Foster : Organ
Ian Underwood : synthesizers,
The vocals by the amazing Diane Reeves are really what drew me in to this record. I can't even remember where I bought this LP. I'm almost positive it was a dollar bin purchase, maybe $3. Did I get it at a thrift store? Amoeba? Endo? Either way, what's important is that I share it with you. Hope you like it.
I always wake up with a song in my head. I spent about a month waking up to Amy Winehouse for some reason. It usually lingers until the afternoon, or until I bombard myself with music to distract me (that doesn't always work). This morning was Twin Shadow. This dude is oozing 80's movie cheese, on some Richard Grieco tip, which works if you're scoring an 80's movie (based in the present OR future), and that's what it seems like he's doing.
This first single, titled "5 Seconds," from his recently released "Confess" album were built for an 80's flick, and all the official videos that are available are revolving around a story that was written by the artist, I believe. Dig the villains' cool headpieces, though! I can critique this all day, but, at the end if the day, you have to recognize that he totally nailed the sound he was aiming for (a la top gun video montage), and the fact that I've had it in my head all day. At least now I can visualize those Jason Voorhees looking dudes running through the forest after the guy riding the bike with really fancy shoes on (he's the leader of a gang?).
