Playlist : May 3rd - 7th, 2010

Welcome to another week of tunes. It's Saturday lunchtime and it's blissfully quiet at my house as the girls nap and their Mother watches Gray's Anatomy. So I've been compiling my weekly playlist. I'm really looking forward to tucking into a couple of these - especially Malcolm McLaren.

Here's the whole list.

• The Waifs - Up All Night - Western Australia represent! A bit of Fremantle style folk for May Day.
  
• Nizlopi - Make It Happen - I was introduced to Nizlopi with the sparklingly sentimental JCB Song via @_pants_ when my first child was pending. I only just heard about this 2008 LP and can't wait to hear it.
  
• Bright Eyes - Noise Floor (Rarities: 1998 - 2005) - While it doesn't contain my very favourite Bright Eyes rarity, Lua (feat. Gillian Welch), I am still excited to give this a spin.
  
• Melissa Etheridge - Fearless Love - I was once an unashamed ME fan. I saw her live in 1996 and her Unplugged set got me to start playing guitar again. Then she went a little pop. Then she was diagnosed with Leukemia and went (understandably) a little perky and sappy. From the cursory scan I have had of this LP, it sounds like a return to more tight musical rock stylings. Fingers crossed.
  
• Boogie Down Productions - Criminal Minded - This album was the soundtrack to all Hip Hop culture in 1987. Songs like 9MM Goes Bang and South Bronx were the first taste of 'gangsta' rap most of us (in Perth anyway) ever heard; and Scott La Rock was the first Rap artist we heard about getting shot and killed. It doesn't get anymore classic than this for the Old Skool.
  
• Richie Cunning - Night Train - A recommendation from a Hip Hop Jazz blog I follow. This is warm brass, wet streets, cold air and train tracks in the dead of night.
  
• Malcolm McLaren & The World Famous Supreme Team - Buffalo Gals : Back To Skool - A tribute to the often overlooked contribution that Malcolm McLaren made to New York Hip Hop back in the day. Featuring legends like KRS-One and Rakim, and made while McLaren was still alive, this is a fitting memorial for the crazy geezer and iconic 'ranga.
  
• Branford Marsalis Quartet - Music from Mo' Better Blues - Bebop bliss from Spike Lee's jazzy joint Mo' Better Blues (starring Denzel Washington and Wesley Snipes) written by the cooler of the Marsalis brothers.
  
• VA - What It Is : Funky Soul & Rare Grooves Vol. 1 - Funk and dusty Soul from well known as well as some obscure artists from 1967 - 1977. Part of a four disc set, I'll be adding one volume to each of my next three playlists.
  
• Editors - The Back Room - Another band I picked up on via Twitter, from @bronwen of Twitterati fame, this Editors album has a very UK 80s indie pop sound but with louder guitars - like the Smiths collaborating with Oasis.
  

So that's me done for the week. If you're reading this and you know and love any of these albums, or are going to check some out, feel free to comment or turn me on to some different sides.

Playlist : April 27th - 30th, 2010

Another short week. Do we really have so many crammed together? Maybe we should space some out. Move the non-important ones like Queens Birthday. I'll talk to Parliament.

Speaking of parliament (the government, not the awesome Funk band), there appears to be a bit of a political theme running through this week's list. I put that down to watching Chicago 10 last week, followed by some Black Panther produced documentaries and listening to Gil Scott-Heron and the Last Poets.

This week's list:

• Billy Bragg - Back To Basics : Conscious tunes from the darling of UK left-wing socialism and heir to Guthrie's throne.
  
• John Coltrane - Giant Steps : I've been enjoying bebop via iTunes radio while working lately. I figured I better bring in some of my own. To say Trane is a genius is a ridiculous understatement.
  
• The Roots - Things Fall Apart : Another political leaning album, this time from the ghettos of Philadelphia.
• The Staple Singers - Soul Folk In Action : More politics of civil and human rights from the sweet 60s Soul of The Staple Singers and the always amazing voice of Mavis Staples.
• Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes : I think it was @crich who tweeted "Whatever happened to Fleet Foxes?" last week. Turns out their second album has been delayed by touring demands. It's due later this year. In the meantime...
• VA - Judgment Night : Music from the motion picture Judgment Night (1993) - a thriller about some boys in the wrong hood. The soundtrack consists of some unintentionally humorous pairings of rappers and rockers.
  
• Natalie Merchant - Leave Your Sleep : The latest offering from the 10,000 Maniacs former lead singer. This double CD is a collection of newly composed and anciently inspired children's folk songs.
• Sly & The Family Stone - There's a Riot Goin' On : If The Staple Singers are sweet with their soulful political determination, Sly & Co. are polar opposites. This is a raised left fist and a funky chicken dance in one.
  

During the week I will also be listening to the latest The National LP, High Violet via the New York Times. Click the link to read Nicholas Dawidoff's profile of the band as well as stream the new album.

Happy listening. All power to the people.

Review : Syl Johnson - Is It Because I'm Black

Mississippi born, blues and soul artist Syl Johnson began his solo career recording and producing hits for Twinight Records, Chicago in the late 60s. Previously he had played harmonica and sang with Blues artists Magic Sam, Billy Boy Arnold, and Junior Wells - even touring with Howling Wolf for three years from 1959 - 62.

Released as it was in 1970, Is It Because I'm Black? was a product of the heightened racial and socio-economic problems in the US at the time. This was not to be the only Syl Johnson LP with a message, but it was the most rounded and thematic whole about race and class.

The desperate titular track is a cry of frustration through Johnson's soulful vocals at prejudice and it's poisonous effects on its victims. Concrete Reservation takes the message to the money with a tale of what poverty means to people stuck in the ghetto. Walk A Mile In My Shoes is a funky plea for understanding between people of all colours and social standing. Sounding somewhat like an aggressive Nina Simone at times, I'm Talking About Freedom demands action of the downtrodden to claim their 'God-given' right of America's favourite noun; 'Freedom'.

For all its political rhetoric and down-trodden destitution, Is It Because I'm Black is not without it's groovier moments. A cover of The Beatles - Come Together adds a dash of rock to the record and the closing track, Right On, dares you not to dance while it crackles with the sounds of horns and a 'live' party atmosphere. The track is a celebration of the African American culture of the time (with reference to the Funky Chicken and a nod to the attitude of Black is Beautiful).

Best heard on vinyl, Is It Because I'm Black is a pleasing mix of Soul and early Funk with an important if at times over-earnest message - over-earnest as only our US cousins can do it, God bless them.

4 Stars - Soul/Funk Classic