The Kidjo Coincidence

As I was preparing to return to my workplace after having lunch at home today, I was talking to daughter Ivi and noticing that the upstairs music system, in shuffle mode, was playing an old Angelique Kidjo number. As all things Africa are on our mind these days -- since we are almost on the eve of Ivi's departure to Ghana -- I idly asked whether she happened to know which country Kidjo was from. Neither of us knew.

However, after I returned to work and some of the dust had cleared, I checked my Gmail and discovered that NPR's All Songs Considered newsletter had arrived in my inbox with the news that Angelique Kidjo's new album, Eve, was now available for streaming:

  http://www.npr.org/2014/01/19/262401474/first-listen-ang-lique-kidjo-eve

And as I read the accompanying introduction, I found the answer to our question: Benin.

Kate Tempest

Last night we saw Brit rapper/poet/spoken word artist Kate Tempest on Charlie Rose's This Week PBS program.  Watch this amazing woman now:



This immediately sent me scrambling for more:







And here's her tribute to Gil Scott-Heron:



See more video performances and much more on Tempest's web site.

Also see YouTube for the growing treasure trove of Kate Tempest work there.

The Handsome Family: True Detective

Only seconds into hearing its opening theme, I had the feeling that I would be absorbed by the new HBO drama, True Detective. And that was the case, indeed. The first episode has me hooked; I'm thinking this may be the new TV series of the season.   How much of it is down to the mood set by the music?  No way to really test that question now, but listen to the remarkable theme music done by Rennie and Brett Sparks -- the Handsome Family -- to judge for yourself the effect of their "Far From Any Road" (from the 2003 album, Singing Bones) :




The Handsome Family goes back quite a while, at least since the late 90s.  The first time they really registered with me was with their cover of "Famous Blue Raincoat" from the 2005 Leonard Cohen I'm Your Man film.  Or was it when I watched that fascinating 2003 documentary, Searching For The Wrong-Eyed Jesus?  The Sparks definitely deserve the widespread exposure that this HBO hookup could bring to their wonderfully dark and haunting and sometimes humorous (alt-country/folk/gothic?) sounds.

Jon Hopkins: Immunity

What is becoming my "favorite album of 2013" wasn't even mentioned in my previous posting of my past year's favorites.  Because I had barely heard the thing at the time of that writing, I didn't have a basis for listing the album, Immunity, by Jon Hopkins.  However, based on a couple of his earlier albums I have -- Insides and Contact Note -- and knowing that he had worked with Brian Eno, I should have known that it would be a good one.

Jon Hopkin is an English composer of electronic/ambient music, who studied classical piano in his youth, and went on to play keyboards for English singer-songwriter Imogen Heap, known for her electronic-infused rock and pop.

Hopkins has scored for films and produced a number of albums besides the ones mentioned above.  Here he is in live performance at my old "home-town" radio station, KCRW in Santa Monica, working out on the Korg Kaoss pads and other electronics.

A List for 2013

As family tradition would have it, once again we compile our own list of favorite artists/albums from 2013.  Just for fun; for whatever it is worth.  Here goes:

My clear favorite this year, interestingly, comes from an artist featured on last year's top pick.  That would be Valerie June and her "Pushin' Against a Stone"; she made an appearance on a track ("Be My Husband") on the 2012 Me'Shell N'Degeocello album, "Pour Une Ame Souveraine - A Dedication to Nina Simone."

The remaining favorites, in no particular order, are:

Sarah Neufeld: Hero Brother
Atoms for Peace: Amok
Lucrecia Dalt: Syzygy
The Necks: Open
Agnes Obel: Avertine
The Bryan Ferry Orchestra: The Jazz Age
Olafur Arnalds: For Now I Am Winter
Latvian Radio Choir: On Photography
The National: Trouble Will Find Me

Others were considered, and gave some good listens, including:

James Blake: Overgrown
Bombino: Nomad
Emika: Dva
Ludovico Einaudo: In A Time Lapse
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: Push The Sky Away
Tim Hecker: Virgins
Arcade Fire: Reflektor
Neko Case: The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight
Laura Mvula: Sing to the Moon
Courtney Barnett: A Sea of Split Peas

A special mention is deserved of Caroline Shaw.  I haven't heard a full album from her, but the Pultizer-award-winning composer's "Partita for 8 Voices", performed by the vocal ensemble, Roomful of Teeth, made me eager to hear more of her work.  You can do that, too, on her site, on YouTube, on Vimeo, etc.

I probably forgot some other respectable contenders, but that it as good as memory serves at the moment

Yusef Lateef Passes On ...

In the early 60s, I first heard Yusef Lateef, and still have his Eastern Sounds album from 1961.  I hear these sounds frequently as I walk about as they have a more or less permanent home on my MP3 player.  He died yesterday at age 93. Long live Yusef Lateef!  Let's revisit some of Yusef's great music:

Open

"Open" by The Necks is a 68 minute long single number album:



This Australian minimalist-jazz-ambient trio has apparently been around a long time, but they are new to me. I am wanting to explore everything they have ever done. My first hearing of "Open" conjured up the likes of Brian Eno's "Music for Airports" for me. If this keeps up, I'll be adding this album to my (yet to be posted) favorites of 2013.