I posted this track a few weeks ago, but the video(s) need to be shared, since they're so baller.
I love the Dirty Projectors unabashedly, as I have intoned in this space on multiple occasions. But despite giving them thousands of spins, I have only seen them live once - a subpar show in Dartmouth College's Fuel Rocket Club where a broken amp and a questionable sound mix made for a dodgy-but-still-good experience. After hearing them get a little lost in a tiny basement space, I was terrified that they would be overwhelmed at Boston's cavernous House of Blues - where they opened for TV On The Radio on Thursday night.
I am stuck on soul music. And I’ve been stuck on it for a while. Usually these phases pass, but I keep discovering new recordings, and the music just generally seems to lend itself to the warm sunny joys of early summer. So I’m going to write about it today, and make a (perhaps misguided) attempt to describe why I find the genre so powerful.
For me, much of soul’s power lies in its gospel roots. Early on, soul music was decried for mixing religious musical styles with the devil’s music—rhythm and blues. Ray Charles met such criticism when, in 1954, he released the classic “I Got a Woman.” Eventually, though, people found the music simply too good to be stifled. And for that I thank my lucky stars.
It’s difficult, I think, to understand soul music without thinking about gospel music. Gospel music is a shared music—though performers stand at the front of an audience or congregation, there is no invisible wall separating the two groups. The audience lends its own voice, whether it be in the form of clapping hands, joyful utterances or an echoing of the performers. The salvation sought is to be gained through communal experience, a shared expression of joy, sadness or devotion. And so each lends a voice, and the sum is greater than its parts.
Whenever I listen to gospel music, I am always struck by how powerfully and purely the emotion pours from the music. And while gospel tunes are undoubtedly best experienced live, the next best thing might be a live recording. Here’s a live recording of Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers, singing “Nearer to Thee.” If you listen to it, you can hear the contributions of the audience, rising and falling in proportion to how impassioned Cooke’s voice is at any particular moment. And it gets pretty ridiculously impassioned by the end—it’s certainly worth a full, eight-minute listen.
Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers – Nearer to Thee (Live) (YSI) (filesavr)
So at least part of what makes gospel music so powerfully emotional is its communal nature, and soul music maintains many of these communal elements. This is particularly apparent, again, in live recordings. Cooke provides a wonderfully instructive example of traits common to soul and gospel, as we have sublime (live) recordings of him singing in both genres. Take, for example, the superb Sam Cooke Live at the Harlem Square Club (seriously, you want this album). The concert features a loud, responsive audience interacting with a particularly impassioned Cooke. The subjects of the songs, largely consisting of simple romantic notions, are entirely secular. I don't mean “simple” in any derisive way. Indeed, in the case of soul, the simplicity allows the music to speak to a common experience. Cooke’s songs speak to naïve teenage love or to nights of carefree dancing, subjects with which many have some experience. And he invites you to dance along, to sing along, to clap along, and to get caught up in this sweaty, shared outpouring of emotion.
Sam Cooke – It’s All Right/For Sentimental Reasons (Live) (YSI) (filesavr)
Listen, for example, to this recording of a medley featuring the songs “It’s All Right” and “(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons.” Sam begins the song with a sort of lesson:Fellas, I want to tell ya, when somebody come and tell you something about what your girlfriend has done, or what your wife has done, I want you to remember one thing: Don’t go home and hitting on her and all that stuff. Whenever they tell you anything about your baby, go home and, if she’s sleeping, shake her and wake her up. And wait til she wipe all the sleep from her eyes, you understand? And when she got all that sleep wiped from her eyes, look her there in the eye and tell her: it’s alright.
It’s not unlike a preacher talking to a congregation, here with a simple secular lesson of nonviolence and forgiveness. And later in the song, Cooke invites the audience to join him in singing “For Sentimental Reasons,” in traditional call-and-response fashion. These are elements right out of the gospel tradition. Or, listen to the recording of "Somebody Have Mercy." The title alone speaks to religion, and the recording begins with a simple, powerful call-and-response. Oh yea.
Sam Cooke - Somebody Have Mercy (Live) (YSI) (filesavr)
People sometimes describe soul as secularized gospel, but to me soul music is just as religious—it just places religion in a different, everyday context. I believe that those people in the crowd at the Harlem Square Club dancing and singing along and clapping were looking for the same sort of feeling of collective salvation that members of a congregation listening to/participating in gospel music seek. It’s all about the shared experience. They call it soul (hardly a non-religious term) for a reason. Or at least that’s what ignorant ol’ me thinks.
I’ve tried to distill what I find powerful about soul music into this piece. And you’re welcome to listen to me, but you’re also free to just listen to Sam Cooke himself, in this chilling recording of Sam Cooke humming “eight bars of what soul represents.”
Sam Cooke – Untitled (YSI) (filesavr)
If I were you, I'd listen to him.
Last night I had the pleasure of catching Grizzly Bear at the Berklee Performance Center. Great show. Here We Go Magic opened up with some great tunes - really utilizing vocal harmonies from all 5 members of the group. Creator/lead-singer Luke Temple anchored the band, but it really was an ensemble production throughout.
Here's the video for Major Lazer's first single Hold the Line. Reminiscent of an old GI Joe cartoon episode, Major Lazer is unnecessarily jacked and battles a variety of Egyptian zombies and vampires. The animation certainly has that 80s feel and who doesn't love some bright colors. What genius to include the action figure promotional portion at the end of the video. Every kid in America is going to be clamoring for a Major Lazer figure soon. I certainly want one.
Major Lazer is blowing up right now and I am jumping on the bandwagon. Under the moniker Major Lazer, Diplo and Switch have put together an absolute barnstormer of a single in Hold the Line. With hypnotic dancehall reggae vocals provided by Santigold and Lexx and driving baseline, complete with horses sounds, Hold the Line is an instant hipster delight. The video is also an awesome throwback to the old GI Joe cartoons that always were following by cheesy action figure ads. I'll post up the video this afternoon. Here's also the inevitable M.I.A. Major Lazer mashup thats pretty good itself. Can't wait for the entire album to arrive later this month.
Major Lazer - Hold the Line (YSI) (filesavr)
Major Lazer vs. M.I.A. - Pull Up the Line (Twist It! Goes Baile Funk Mashup) (YSI) (filesavr)
I spoke last week a little about the ongoing label dispute that is going to preclude a proper release for the phenomenal Dark Night of the Soul. Now I would like to touch on the music. While still managing to make a cohesive album that conforms to their vision, Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse mold each song to fit the style of its guest vocalist. Insane Lullaby featuring James Mercer of the Shins sounds like a twisted Chutes Too Narrow track, while on Little Girl one instantly recognizes Strokes-esque guitars. More than simply the vocals, Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse are so fluent in their craft that they can apply their dark, creaky (but fun) vision to a variety of different song structures and overal feelings. Tracks range from dark folk to pop, but the album's finale Dark Night of the Soul is a terrifyingly languid piano dirge featuring David Lynch (!) on vocals as well. While differing enough to continually entertain, Dark Night of the Soul manages to become a cohesive opus that reveals it true purpose through its final, massive track. Get this album if you can.
Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse - Little Girl (YSI) (filesavr)
Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse - Insane Lullaby (YSI) (filesavr)
Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse - Dark Night of the Soul (YSI) (filesavr)
