I have landed in the middle of Canada's music epicenter, the amount of music I have access to every week is staggering and let me tell you... I haven't seen any of it. Wow! Sorry for the anti-climax there, it will hopefully start to improve with the Canadian Music Fest 2009 taking place in the T-Dot next weekend. $50 gets you a 5-day pass to a Sled Island type festival. Headliner is oddly not Canadian, but they are Awesome! Bloc Party will be headlining playing two nights. Very exciting stuff. You know what else is exciting? New music! And well what a couple weeks of no new posts will naturally lead to some new music, the question is - "Dave, is that new music any food?" Well Kids! Let's find out!
CD REVIEW:
K'Naan - Troubadour
When I first heard K'Naan is was a refreshing voice in rap music, he wasn't so much a rapper as he was a very skilled storyteller. On his debut disc, he told us the story of how he grew up in Mogadishu, Somalia, he entrance into rap music and well as all rappers do why he is so much better then other rappers infamously calling out 50 Cent - "If I rapped about home and got descriptive, I'd make 50 Cent look like Limp Bizkit". His live performances are truly skillful as he flows flawlessly into talking to the crowd to beginning his songs seamlessly.
Troubadour came out after a lengthy delay, working with the Marley's and having guest vocals by Mos Def (white people love him...or so they say) and Adam Levine (Thanks K'Naan I feel like I am back in 2005 when anyone actually cared about this guy). This album doesn't flow the same way Dusty Foot Philosopher did. I like this album in a very different way, it still tells a story, naturally there is a progression to having main stream tracks. The storytelling is still done in a slightly different matter and other then a few tracks it is a wonderful sophomore release.
Let's begin with the tracks you can avoid. "Bang Bang" is the track with Adam Levine, I don't think I have to go into this one too much should be pretty obvious what makes this song passable. Next is Kirk Hammett's guest appearance on the rock version of "If Rap Gets Jealous" this was one of the best tracks on K'Naan's debut, however this is the worst track on the album.
Now let's finish with the positive. This album has amazing tracks that far out shadow the ones that should never have been put on this album. My highlight tracks are "Fatima" a gripping story of his days in Somalia. "Take a Minute" is by far my favorite track, it has a steady flow and amazing lyrics. The shocker for me is "15 Minutes" a song about getting money transfers from Western Union, more so getting support when you strike out on your own and the difficulties that are there, I can't help but cycling back to this song a least once a day.
Buy It - It's a solid purchase for your music collection.
Various Artists - Dark Was The Night
Red Hot Organization raises funds for HIV and AIDS through pop culture such as a bad-ass compilation. 31 Tracks from indie heavyweights such as Stuart Murdoch, Yo La Tengo, Bon Iver, Grizzly Bear & Feist, David Sitek and Sharon Jones. I could keep going, the line up would be a fairly amazing festival line up. The album starts off pretty typically indie with the Dirty Projectors and David Bryne with a great track "Knotty Pine". This album is fool proof, with the collection of talent on board it would be near impossible to not have a great album. The one downside to the album is that it doesn't have much up tempo and is mainly chill out music.
There are some wonderful tracks laid down my bands that I haven't listen to much and other's that surprised me with their contribution such as "Feeling Good" by My Brightest Diamond, a wonderful jazz vocals, a tremendous song to relax with. I have a confession to tell my NMT readers....I am not a big Arcade Fire fan, they are alright but they never blew me away like they did to many others. Well, one of my other favorite tracks on this album is "Lenin" by...well Arcade Fire (that should have been pretty obvious I did after all set it up).
This is a pretty big no-brainer when it comes a compilation disc, put all the biggest names in indie music on one disc, get them to perform some kick ass tracks and raise money for a charity, and...AND there is even the standard Death Cab track, well it's only Ben Gibbard (otherwise known as Mr. Zooey Deschanel.....) but still they are on almost every charity disc.
For more information on the Red Hot Organization visit www.redhot.org
Buy It - It would be ridiculous not to, and don't illegally download this one as it's for charity and karma is bound to catch up with you and kick your ass for this one!
MUSIC NEWS
I know everyone has been waiting for this news for a long long time. Yes! Tom Jones still rocks!! Check out his small desk concert at www.npr.org.
That is really all I have. I haven't been able to keep as up to date as I normally am, but as I get settled I will be able to catch up.
Hope those in Calgary are doing well and I miss you guys!
Till next time.
-- Dave
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