The Bird and the Bee

If you were to ask me, "what is the greatest music label of all time," I would quickly reply, “Blue Note.” Blue note has had everybody on it; Miles, Monk, Mingus, Mcferrin, even Madlib! So, when I made my regular stop by the Blue Note site to see what’s new and I see these two goofy looking White people, my curiosity took over. A few minutes later I was listening “Again & Again.” The Bird and the Bee is not a jazz band. Their music is more indy electronic, like Psapp, or Frou Frou. Fortunately, their music is just as good as them as well. Their debut self titled album was incredible. Their numerous EPs make you hunger for more. Their sound is quirky and dreamy, and where I lack in eloquence, I’ll let their music speak. You should be listening to the Bird and the Bee.

The Beach Boys

Summer is almost here, so it’s only right to address a band that’s renowned for their summer anthems. The Beach Boys are the quintessential surf rock band. I first decided to dig into the Beach Boys catalog after hearing a J Dilla tribute, by a producer named Bullion, Pet Sounds in the Key of Dee. Bullion sampled each song from the album Pet Sounds to make new tracks reminiscent of J Dilla’s last style. I knew Dilla but I didn’t know Pet Sounds, so I picked it up, which lead me to get Surf’s Up, which led to Smilely Smile, and so forth. The Beach Boys are another one of those groups whose discography is just too vast for me to sit here and type out everything. They’ve produced a myriad of classics that have appeared everywhere from movie soundtracks, sitcoms, to cleaning agent commercials. What most people don’t know is that their style was constantly evolving, and the surf rock sound they are best remembered is only representative of their early work. My person favorite is Smilely Smile but I’m weird. I mean, how can you not love a song about eating vegetables? Even if you only know them for songs like “Little Deuce Coup” or “Surfin’ USA,” You should be listening to the Beach Boys.

Jamiroquai

That video was ill. You know the one. The “Virtual Insanity” video was one of the dopest videos ever. That’s where I came on board the Jamiroquai bandwagon. I should have had the album too. My sister had Traveling Without Moving, and for whatever, reason didn’t want it. She said I could have it. Unfortunately for me, when she left to return to what ever southern state she was living in at the time, she took it with her, and then gave it away to someone else. That was still messed up. You gave my CD away. It was a few years before I began to seriously give Jamiroquai a serious listen. I can’t recall exactly but I believe the first album I copped up was The Return of the Space Cowboy. After that it snowballed quickly and I had everything. I guess, it’s somewhat appropriate that Stevie snatched up Jamiroquai’s day, given that their music has a certain Stevie quality. Jason Kay’s voice has a definitely Stevie sound to it. A Funk Odyssey, Dynamite, Emergency on Planet Earth, Synkronized, The Return of the Space Cowboy, Traveling Without Moving; with six albums they have built an incredible library of hit, most of which are slept on in America. “Little L,” “Cosmic Girl,” “Black Capricorn Day,” even laid back joints like “7 Days in Sunny June,” every single song on every single album is a kill shot. How and why it is that these things don’t seem to be break out hits in the US is, well honestly, it’s not very surprising. All most American’s know is “Virtual Insanity,” and “Canned Heat,” thanks to Napoleon Dynamite. If you don’t have at least two Jamiroquai CDs or mp3 albums you need get up and go get 3 at random. I’m serious. Go right now. GO! You should be listening to Jamiroquai.

Stevie Wonder

Today was supposed to be about Jamiroquai, but a revelation has forced me to switch gears so check in tomorrow for that. I love Stevie Wonder. I have always loved Stevie Wonder. It’s another one of those “born-Black” things. As I got older, and became more aware of his accomplishments, I became more amazed, but nothing amazed me more than when I saw Stevie Wonder play the drums. The Drums! How does a blind man learn to play the drums?!?! That put Stevie into the super human category, for me. That’s a Daredevil move. Well, yesterday I was having a Stevie day. I, pretty much, went to my Stevie Wonder folder and hit play on the entire thing. I was listening to “Sunny,” off the For Once in My Life album, when something dawned on me. Stevie Wonder talks a lot about “sunny” and “bright” days for a man who can’t see. Come to think of it, he also talks a lot about “dark” and “black” times too, for a man who’s been blind since birth. He’s talked about Black and White people, and how exactly does he even know what a “Woman in Red” is? That’s when it hit me… Stevie Wonder is faking! I’m calling shenanigans right now. It all makes sense when you think about it. It’s one thing if you’re an amazing multi-talented instrumentalist/vocalist, but if you’re blind on top of that, that’s takes you to legendary. Despite all of this you should be listening to Stevie Wonder.

I see you Stevie. And apparently you see me too…

MC Delta T

Sci-fi, politics, hip-hop, I never had a chance to not like this. I’m an Okayplayer, meaning I’m one of the many people who lurk about the forums at Okayplayer.com and occasionally engage in the discussions. Some time in ’05 I was hanging in The Lesson when I see a post that says Sci-fi Hip-hop. Naturally, I investigated. What I found was an incredibly brilliant album from an emcee no one had ever heard of. The album was Robot Wars. The artist called himself MC Delta T (it’s a physicist nerd joke of a name). I actually began to correspond with Delta T for a while. He’s from Portland, Oregon, and he originally made the album as a joke. He had just finished watching the cheesy sci-fi classic Robot Wars (which was a sequel to Robot Jox), and decided to make a song about it with a friend, just as a lark. The result is the first track on the album “Robot Life.” Later, he decided to make something more material out of the concept and the end result was Robot Wars. The album describes the rise of robots in a Marxist analogy. It ends with the realization that often after such revolutions the end result is the same or worst than what proceeded it. The album struck me as brilliant. Delta T, a producer emcee, has since gone on to form the group The Unified Theory with fellow Portland native ADM (I’m not a physicist but I love science jokes), as well as help found the label Paragraph records. You should be listening to MC Delta T and Robot Wars.

Robot Wars
This is the album Robot Wars. I know Delta T doesn’t mind it being given away for free.

"New boss same as the old bass, man, but this time around it's the robots, damn." - MC Delta T


"Rise UP"

Al Di Meola

Al Di Meola released what is, to me, the single greatest album ever created by a human being. This is spanning all time and all genres. To my current awareness there is no greater album than Elegant Gypsy. Now, that’s a serious statement to make and I advise you to ignore it when you listen to the album. If there is one thing I’ve found if there’s one thing that can skew your perspective of an album, it’s preconceived expectations. It put me off of Nas and Redman for years. Just the same, for me, Elegant Gypsy is the end of all albums. Al Di Meola is a jazz guitarist. His Latin sounds create these beautiful soundscapes. They can be hard and fierce like on “Race With Devil On Spanish Highway,” or light and loving on “Mediterranean Sundance.” I found Al Di Meola a couple summers ago. A coworker and I regularly exchange music and she put me on to him. Sadly I only have 2 of his albums; the already mentioned Elegant Gypsy, and Heart of the Immigrants. What I can say with certainty is that you should definitely be listening to these two albums.

Ice Cube (circa ’88 to ’93)

Yeah, I had state a time period. In 1988, when Ice Cube stepped on the seen with NWA, he was a beast. On Straight Outta Compton he was as gangsta as it gets but he was also witty and poignant. On AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted he began to get more political. Some were between AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted and Death Certificate, the next true album, he began palling around with Nation of Islam (NoI), more specifically, NoI national spokesman Khalid Muhammad, so when Death Certificate was released it had a new NoI slant to it. Death Certificate was still a tremendous album just the same. Cube had 2 more good albums in him in the form of The Predator and Lethal Injection. The Predator is probably best remembered for the songs "It Was a Good Day" and "Check Yo Self." Unfortunately, Lethal Injection marked the last worthwhile effort from Cube. It’s then that he begins to devote himself more to his acting career. He wouldn’t release another album until ’98 in the form of War & Peace Vol. 1 (The War Disc). After that I like to pretend no more albums came out. You can go look them up on your own if you want to. I came to Ice Cubes music late in the game. I knew who he was but didn’t have any desire to check into it. Then, I just forgot about him. He stopped being in good movies in ’95 with Friday. It was last year about this time I rediscovered Ice Cube. He released a new single called “Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It.” He was talking about all the things that had been going on recently, like the Imus situation and Michael Richards, and how the defense people like this always toss out is how Black people say it all the time. That album wasn’t out yet but I decided to give Cubes past music a listen to. I still haven’t heard the recent album with “Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It,” so I can’t speak on that, but where his past efforts are concerned, you should be listening to Ice Cube from ’88 to ’93.

Puccini

I was a weird kid. I wasn’t interested in music for a large part of my childhood. I didn’t dislike music; I just wasn’t particularly enamored by it either. Dad was a fan of Jazz. Mo-Ma listened to R&B and Soul. I listened to whatever they were listening to up until age 12, or so. At puberty I began a quest to learn more about myself and wanted to define myself. I liked what my parents like, fine enough, but I didn’t have anything that I really was into. That was when I discovered 91.5 FM WXXI. I was just searching through the radio for something to listen to when I heard these strings. I didn’t know what it was but I liked it. I liked it a lot. My first musical love became classical and opera. I never really learned who did what but I would still just listen.

When I was 14, I received one of those music club solicitations. You know the ones. They offer you X number of free albums if you agree to buy 1 at the regular price. I decided to go for it. I got music from a variety of genres (by then my pallet was more developed). One I got stood out the most to me. Puccini in Love was the name of my first opera album. It was a compellation of love songs from his operas. I loved this album. I was probably the only Black kid in my school bumping “Sì. Mi chiamano Mimì” in his walkman.

Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini (yeah, that whole thing is his name) composed some of the most well known operas of our time. You may have never listened to a single opera before, but you’ve likely heard of Madame Butterfly. Most of Puccini’s catalog reads like a laymen’s list of operas they’re aware of. La bohème, Turandot, these are universally known operas. These are pop culture references. That’s reflective of genius. Genius is often inescapable and undeniable. You should be listening to Puccini.

Israel Kamakawiwo'ole

When I die, though I have said numerous times that I don’t want one, if I have a funeral, I want Israel Kamakawiwo'ole playing. Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, or Iz, is best known for his rendition of “Somewhere over the Rainbow,” from his second album Facing Future. What most people hear is actually only half the song. The song in its entirety is also a cover of “What a Wonderful World.” Israel Kamakawiwo'ole was a Hawaiian musician. He played the ukulele and provided the vocals for his song. He began releasing his solo works in the early 90’s but was part of a group in the 80’s called Makaha Sons of Ni‘ihau. He released for albums in his lifetime; Ka 'Ano'i, Facing Future, E Ala E, and N Dis Life. He died in 1997 from complications due to his weight but posthumously has had 4 more albums released; Iz in Concert: The Man and His Music, Alone in Iz World, Iz: The Man Behind the Music, and Wonderful World. He was a known advocate for Hawaiian sovereignty and has been honored by the Hawaiian people and government both in life and death. You should be listening to Israel Kamakawiwo'ole.

Translucia

It’s probably not fair for me to write on this next band, for various reasons, but it’s my blog and I’ll do as I please. Sometime in the mid to late 90’s (I can’t be certain but I believe it was ’95) three musicians in Rochester came together to form a band that will forever be renowned by the fortunate few who got to hear them. Their music was Dark and hauntingly beautiful. They only had two releases, an EP and an album, but the emotion conveyed in those two albums is almost overwhelming. The vocals were from a girl I only know as Lisa. The guitar was played by a guy I only know as Erick. And the bass was played by, someone I was fortunate enough to know personally, Cavalier Anton Romagnolo, better known as Tony. Why he went by Tony rather than the much cooler sounding name Cavalier I will never know. What I do know was that he was an amazing bassist, producer and friend. Translucia was the name of the band they formed. Their music has an ethereal gothic (in the modern term) sound. I hate that the only band I can liken them to is the Cocteau Twins, but that’s the only band which has a sound in the same vein as them. Theirs is not a genre I’m overwhelmingly knowledgeable about. Their two releases were a 4 tack long self-titled EP and a 9 track, hour and 13 minute long, album Ghostpheria. I would never have known anything about them had it not been for the fact that my girlfriend at the time was one of Tony’s best friends. After I found out he had been in a band I asked a few time to hear some of his music. One day my girlfriend came over and she had a CD he had burned me with both albums on it. While I expected it to be good, I had no idea just how good it would be. Of all the music I’ve heard from any of the musicians I know personally, this stands out and above all of them (and I’ve got a friend with a Grammy). Of course personal preference dictates just how much you may like them, but the level of talent is undeniable. Translucia broke up in early 2000 and never released another album. Then tragically, my friend Tony passed away on November 29 of 2008. I’d only known Tony for a short period of time, but in that time he gave and taught me a lot. He taught me a lot about how music is made and which artists I should look into. I’m grateful for what time I had, though regretful for the things I didn’t get a chance to share. Translucia’s music is virtually impossible to find now. Both the EP and album are now out of print. I considered uploading and posting them, but don’t feel I have the right to give away their music. I will however post one track so that you can at least get a feel for who and what they were. You should be listening to Translucia, unfortunately, you likely never will…

See ya when I see ya Tony…
"WitherLily" 8:26 by Translucia from the Tranclucia EP

Instituto Mexicano del Sonido

Imagine if Fatboy Slim was Mexican, that’s Instituto Mexicano del Sonido. If you don’t know who Fatboy Slim is, don’t worry, I’ll get to him sooner or later. Instituto Mexicano del Sonido is this amazing blend of traditional Mexican music and dance DJ type programming. I’m actually surprised no one ever thought of doing it before, but I’m glad that the people who did think of it were Mexican. I found Instituto Mexicano del Sonido through MySpace. One day I was logging in, and they were the featured band. I looked into them, and here I am a fan. MySpace has only successfully put me onto one other band, but that’s another story for another day. They take older Mexican songs and added electronic elements, sampling brilliance at work. That's not to say that they don't make original pieces or sample other things. I have two of their three albums; Méjico Máxico and Piñata. Their third album, the amusingly named, Soy Sauce came/comes out this year, but I haven’t had a chance to get it or it hasn't come out yet. I'm not exactly sure either way. You should be listening to Instituto Mexicano del Sonido.

Roy Ayers

I’ll start by saying if you want to know all the albums Roy Ayers has released; you can look them up yourself. Check Wikipedia, they’ve got a pretty comprehensive list, so does Discogs.com. I’m not even going to list all the albums that I have. Roy Ayers is a jazz musician best known for playing the vibraphone. In fact, I didn't even know what a vibraphone was before Roy. I just thought he was playing a xylophone (which as a child I pronounce "X Y-lophone"). I came to know Roy Ayers by being Black, and having Black parents. It’s true. If you’re Black and your parents were born in the 50’s or 60’s you have to know Roy Ayers. The first song I can remember knowing is “Everybody Loves the Sunshine,” the title track off the album of the same name. I knew and loved that song before I even knew who composed it. “My life, my life, my life, my life in the sunshine,” I swear, this is one of those songs that completely embodies a bright summer day. The next song I can remember resonating with me was “We Live in Brooklyn Baby” from the album He’s Coming. The strings on that song are like a tuning fork for your soul. The soundtrack to the movie Coffy starring Pam Grier was composed by him. Like I said, there’s just too much to name. You should be listening to Roy Ayers.

Michael Jackson*

Nine albums. Nine consecutive bulletproof albums. Is the man weird, without a doubt. Is the man talented, without question. I was born in the Michael Jackson Era. My favorite song or video is "Rock With You" from my favorite album Off the Wall. I remember being, like everyone else at the time, obsessed with the "Thriller" video. I had to learn the dance and did. I think as much as I loved his music, his videos played an equal role in pulling me in. "Billy Jean," "Beat It," "Scream," "Leave Me Alone" these were amazing. Oh and how could I forget "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough." GET UP! And who remembers Captain EO? Yes! Captain. Freakin'. EO! I know I saw it when I went to Disneyland but I'm almost certain it was shown on TV at least once before. I still say Gene Roddenberry pulled his idea for the Borg from Captain EO. I don't even need to talk about his albums for you to know them. That's how great his music is. I can sit here reminiscing about old times and you can relate to all of it. That's how universal his music is. Michael Jackson's music is like the universal language on Earth. Probably in space too! Where were you when the "Smooth Criminal" video debuted? I remember it was on, seemingly, every channel!!! If you aren't listening to Michael Jackson, you had better be deaf.



I used to think "Say, say, say" was MJ's song. It's still dope.

*we're going to pretend that Invincible never happened.

Dead Can Dance

I think I can say, with some certainty, that you have never heard of Dead Can Dance. Well, I’m going to set about the, seemingly, impossible task of explaining who and what they are. Dead Can Dance was formed by two Australians, Lisa Gerard, and Brendan Perry. I found Dead Can Dance the summer of ’06. I was on my way to a cottage with my girlfriend, at the time, when she told me to put it in the CD player. She said it would be perfect traveling music and she was 100% correct. Dead Can Dance is a band that defies classification. Sometimes they may sound Celtic, sometimes they Persian, sometimes it’s Gothic, in the classical sense of the term, and sometimes you’d think they were a gypsy band. And that’s all just on one album. While you would think this shifting from one sound to another would, ultimately, result in a cluttered mess of an album, Dead Can Dance make it all effortlessly mesh together. Their earlier work, like the their self-titled fist album, were very much goth sounding (in terms of how we use it today.) They sounded like they could open for the Cure, or even having the Cure open for them. As the years went by they evolved and grew and became much more sonically diverse. While they have 9 studio albums they also have a myriad of live albums. The 9 albums they released together as Dead Can Dance were; Dead Can Dance, Spleen and Ideal, Within the Realm of a Dying Sun, The Serpent's Egg, Aion, A Passage in Time, Into the Labyrinth, Toward the Within, and Spiritchaser. While their breakup wasn't offical until 1998, their last album together as Dead Can Dance was released in 1996. Lisa went on to record a number of solo and collaborative albums which include, The Mirror Pool, and Duality, which was done with Brendan, but not as a Dead Can Dance album. Brendan also continues making music and released Eye of the Hunter in '99. Whether you like dark goth music or worldly sounding music, you should be listening to Dead Can Dance.

DJ Girl Talk

Sampling is an art form in itself. To those who claim it’s merely stealing and uncreative, I present to you DJ Girl Talk. I came across Girl Talk while watching a documentary on file sharing, Good Copy Bad Copy: A documentary about the current state of copyright and culture. Girl Talk was addressing and discussing copyright law and its effect on sampling. I went and copped one of his albums and all I could say is, “wow!” He blends so many songs seamlessly. On the first track of his third album, Night Ripper, he blends 19 different songs in the span of 2 minutes and 40 seconds. I have a hard to placing a genre on Girl Talk because he blends so much into so many different things. A rap song can become a metal song. A metal song can become a pop song, and so forth. Girl Talk displays the immense complexity and creativity that is involved in sampling. Girl Talk has 4 albums; Secret Diary, Unstoppable, Night Ripper, and Feed the Animals. You should be listening to DJ Girl Talk.

Cornelius

If you like your music Japanese and weird, then have I got an artist for you. Cornelius is a Japanese musician who makes some of the best unclassifiable experimental music you’re likely to hear. I have to admit I had to consult Wikipedia just to get an idea about a genre. Apparently there is a genre called Shibuya-kei which pretty much is a general term for Japanese pop music. Along with Shibuya-kei, he’s also listed as Experimental, and “Art Rock.” I only have two of his albums, Point and Sensuous. Point definitely have a lot of rock influences but songs like “Tone Twilight Zone” and “Brazil” are more Electronic and Down Tempo. Sensuous is just a battery of different genre’s; Ambient, Electronic, Techno, Rock, Folk, and a lot of those genres blend on the same track. Cornelius is one of those artists I can’t recall discovering. It just seems like one day I was going through my music files and there was Sensuous. Some songs like “Omstart” as so minimalist its almost amazing that you can pull a melody from it, yet there it is in all it’s simplistic glory. I’m not sure if it’s a fair, or accurate, analogy, but I almost want to say that Cornelius' music sounds the way Haruki Murakami books read. You should be listening to Cornelius.

J-Live

I've been around the sun 25 times,/
And I still find new ways to recognize shine/
It's like life gets better with age/
The way a song sounds better on stage/
And rhyme books get better with each page/

These are the first word of the song “A Charmed Life” from the album All of the Above by J-Live. Who is J-Live? That’s a question that is painfully all too common. J-Live is an emcee from New York. Correction, J-Live is a producer/DJ/emcee from New york. More than that, J-Live is a teacher with a degree is English from SUNY Albany. I came to find J-Live in the summer of ’02. My ace Moe was listening to something and I asked to hear it. After that I was hooked. J-Live is one of hip-hops overlooked gems. His first album The Best Part was buried by the label, bootlegged, and finally released in 2001. Since then he has released 3 more albums and 3 EPs. J-Live is a brilliant writer who expresses creativity in every line of every song. Whether he’s splitting a song in two and then recombining it on “All in Together Now,” using the letters M and C for all the word of the song on “MCee,” or talking about a beat as though it were a woman on “Kick it to the Beat,” J-Live practically embodies what a lyricist should be. His four albums The Best Part, All of the Above, The Hear After, and Then What Happened are all the things that the casual observer of rap music misses out on; intelligent, creative, complex, emotional, spiritual, and fun. You should be listening to J-live.

Joy Division

One of my favorite bands of all time will never release another record due to the untimely death of their lead singer. No, I’m not talking about Nirvana. I’m talking about Joy Division. Joy Division was a British band in the late 70’s. I only just discovered them, after seeing the biographic film Control, this past summer. Some of their songs like “Love Will Tear Us Apart” and “She’s Lost Control,” you’ve likely heard before. Joy Division’s music has a very dark feel to it, though not always overtly so. The lead singer, Ian Curtis, sang in a baritone that perfectly suited the dark imagery of his lyrics. Curtis suffered from epilepsy and was known to have seizures on stage. He had a spastic dance style that often left people wondering whether he was having a seizure or if he was just doing his thing. Joy Division released two albums, Unknown Pleasures in 1979 and Closer in 1980. Closer was released posthumously due to Curtis having committed suicide in May of that year. They’re last show was May 2, at the University of Birmingham's Great Hall. The other members of Joy Division would go on to form the group New Order. You should to be listening to Joy Division.

Koushik

Have you ever heard of Koushik? If not, it’s time you did. Koushik is a Canadian musician, of Indian decent, signed to the Stones Throw label. His style is very down tempo and at times almost ambient. I first found him just before the release of his album Be With, which was a collection of songs from various EPs he had released. He had several song on the Stones Throw 101 DVD. His voice can be heard on nearly all the tracks. It’s has an ethereal quality that hangs in the air. Be With is a perfect album for sitting back and letting your mind wander. Those of you who enjoy “herbal” relaxation will find his music perfect to let your mind slip away into. He’s recently released a second album titled Out My Window. While, I don’t feel it’s as strong as Be With it’s still an astounding album just the same. It’s like comparing RJD2s Deadringer to Since We Last Spoke, regardless of your preference they’re still two magnificent albums. So, you should to be listening to Koushik.

Welcome and congratulations!

Welcome and congratulations! Why congratulations, because you just found the only music blog you’ll ever need. This is “What You Should Be Listening To.” As the name implies, I’ll be hitting you with artists, new and old, that if you aren’t following then you need to be. Who am I? I’m Monroe. I happily embrace the title of “music snob.” I love music, good music. There is rarely a time that anyone ever sees me without headphones and some sort of music playing device. I’ll be covering a myriad of genres and time periods. You’ll find out about underground artists you likely have never heard of and mainstream ones you never would have considered giving a try. So, you might as well bookmark this page now and save yourself the keystrokes.