A Tribe Called Quest – 7th Level Music

Top 40 albums of 2016 – 2020: #’s 10 – 6

We’ve reached the “David Letterman” moment – the top 10 albums of records I’ve reviewed in the last five years. Shall we begin?

#10: Priests – The Seduction of Kansas (2019)

This post-punk album is as sharp as a straight razor and as sexy as a femme fatale wielding that razor. Priests call out toxic masculinity, the changed political climate that arose from the Trump administration, and rich elitism with a mixture of snark, shredding, and, yes, seduction. Priests amicably split up after this. I hope they’ll put out new material someday, but they went out on a high note if not.

#9: The Besnard Lakes – A Coliseum Complex Museum (2016)

Easily the lushest album on this list, A Coliseum Complex Museum is full of soaring psychedelic riffs and vocals and songs about hope, strength, and the cosmos. It’s an uplifting record that preceded four years in which most people were trying to put each other down. It reminded us that we’re better than that, and always have the potential to move ourselves and others forward.

#8: Automatic – Signal (2020)

Good heavens, this is a stunning debut of post-punk and synthwave gems. Automatic threw down a gauntlet with this record after slapping all of us across the face with it – and looking fabulous while doing it. Signal arrives sounding like these three women have been making albums together for a decade and is perfect for dance floors, bedroom romps, and action scenes filmed in neon-lit nightclubs.

#7: A Tribe Called Quest – We Got It from Here…Thank You 4 Your Service (2016)

The final album with A Tribe Called Quest made with founding member Phife Dawg before his death, We Got It from Here…Thank You 4 Your Service is a powerful record that reminded the world of many things: ATCQ still had the hip-hop chops that many still envied, Phife was an amazing MC, and that hip-hop (and music in general) can be a powerful tool of change and resistance.

#6: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Nonagon Infinity (2016)

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard could’ve appeared multiple times on my top 40 list due to their prolific output alone, but Nonagon Infinity was the surefire winner of everything they released in the last five years. The album is masterfully engineered as one long track that, when looped, plays infinitely without any noticeable bumps. This was the album that propelled them to massive popularity and is a wild ride from never-beginning start to never-ending finish.

What albums made the top five? Post-punk makes another appearance, as does more doom metal, powerful rock, electro, and an album by a legend.

Keep your mind open.

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Top live shows of 2017: #’s 20 – 16

We’ve reached the top 20 live shows I saw this year. Read on to see who made the cut.

#20 – A Tribe Called Quest – Pitchfork Music Festival – Chicago, IL July 15th.

It was one of their first performances without Phife Dawg, and they paid him many great tributes during it. ATCQ also came to preach and teach, and Q-Tip was absolutely fierce on the mic. The whole crowd was with them the entire time.

#19 – Cut Copy – Mamby on the Beach – Chicago, IL June 25th.

Cut Copy were easily the best band we saw on Day 2 of Mamby on the Beach. They played an energetic set that had the whole beach crowd jumping before it was even halfway done.

#18 – Will Clarke – Mamby on the Beach – Chicago, IL June 24th.

Speaking of great Mamby sets, DJ Will Clarke‘s was our favorite DJ set by far. He seemed to be having a great time behind the decks and inspired me to dust off my digital turntables.

#17 – Nicolas Jaar – Pitchfork Music Festival – Chicago, IL July 16th.

We ended our Pitchfork experience with Nicolas Jaar, and it was a lovely, trippy way to end the festival. He created a neat soundscape that drifted and swirled around the crowd like a warm fog.

#16 – Derrick Carter – Pitchfork Music Festival – Chicago, IL July 16th.

If you need a boost to start your final day of a big music festival, go see Chicago house music DJ legend Derrick Carter. His set in the early hours of the last day of Pitchfork was outstanding. Everyone worked up an early sweat and enough energy to make it through the rest of the day. He put on a clinic.

Who’s in the top 15? Come back tomorrow to see.

Keep your mind open.

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Pitchfork Music Festival 2017: Day Two recap

We were happy to learn that the folks at Pitchfork Music Festival decided to open a second entrance on the east side of Union Park. This saved us from having to walk around the park to get into the lone entrance (unless you were a VIP), and saved probably thousands of people from waiting in another long line at the start of the day.

The new entrance, located at Ogden and Washington, sent us straight into the poster and print exhibition.

We immediately noticed it was far busier than the previous day. The weather was better, too. It was sunny and just a tad humid, whereas it had been mostly cloudy on Day One. The new entrance also put us near the craft and record fairs.

Clothes, jewelry, sunglasses, hats, one-hitters.

It’s a bunch of wrecka stows under one roof!

I’m curious to see how much prices drop on Day Three, as I’m sure all of the vendors would like to pack up as little as possible.

As for the music, we started off the day with George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic. We managed to find a college housemate of mine in the crowd. I hadn’t seen him in over 20 years, and it was fun to jam with him, his husband, and Mandy while Mr. Clinton and crew went nuts. I was surprised when they ended their set with some trap music. I expected more funk. As my friend said, “They need to have about fifteen more people on stage.” The group did include a foxy lady whose job was to stand next to the drummer and look sexy. She succeeded on all counts.

Mr. Clinton is in the striped shirt. The foxiest go-go dancer / back-up singer I’ve seen in a long while is to his right. MEOW!

We had plenty of time until the next set we wanted to see, so we headed to the food vendors for drinks and snacks. The festival organizers made another smart decision by not checking I.D.’s at the entrance gates (like they’d done on Day One, creating an even longer wait time to get into the park), but instead checking them by the tents where you bought drink tickets. One extremely dry cider and two teriyaki chicken buns later, we were off to see Madlib.

Madlib not caring if you expected more bass or trance beats. He’ll play what he wants, and we’re all better for it.

Madlib gave a master’s course in mixing and spinning. He played a lot of tracks features different rappers he’s collaborated with in the past such as J Dilla and MF DOOM. I geeked out when part of his visual display showed clips of the psychedelic movie Phase IV.

I caught part of S U R V I V E‘s set, which was a neat blend of dark wave and film score music. I saw more than a few kids at their set and figured they were probably jazzed to see the guys who made the Stranger Things score. One man was tripping hard during their set and dancing like he was having a religious experience. More power to him.

S U R V I V E gets bonus points for one of their members (far left) wearing a Goblin shirt.

We couldn’t get even halfway to the stage for A Tribe Called Quest. The crowd for them was massive, and having P.J. Harvey on a nearby stage before their set only added to the number of people on the main lawn of the park.

A photo of a video screen. Mandy and I are somewhere in the back right of that crowd.

Nevertheless, we had a blast during ATCQ’s set. They ripped through classic and new tracks, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad is still one of the best DJs in the business.

The crowd around us was a bit low key, for reasons unknown to us. One woman was wandering around asking random strangers if they had any weed to share. A drunk man danced with Mandy and mumbled nonsense before learning I was with her and then freaking out a bit when he saw me. I patted him on the shoulder and told him not to worry.

One of the best, and most bittersweet, parts of ATCQ’s set was the unmanned microphone on stage for Phife Dawg, who died last year from diabetes. They still played his vocals, and even an a cappella version of one track that had the stage dark and only Phife’s vocals carrying across the lawn. The band was big on “Dis Generation” and “Award Tour,” which they restarted twice.

It was a fun way to end the day, but getting out was another story. Pitchfork has VIP entrances and exits, but they don’t open these exits to everyone at the end of the day. As a result, hundreds (at least) of us who figured we could get out through the east VIP exit were sent back through the record fair tents to the entrance and exit gate for the plebeians. This gate still had a folding chair, a box, and some cattle gates across it that should’ve been moved before thousands of people started to leave.

Day Three will involve Derrick Carter, Ride, the Avalanches, and Nicolas Jaar. Wish us luck.

Keep your mind open.

Pitchfork Music Festival artist spotlight: A Tribe Called Quest

Hip-hop legends A Tribe Called Quest are bringing their final tour to Chicago’s Pitchfork Music Festival on July 15th. The impact of ATCQ on rap music is probably incalculable, and they were (and still are) a bright contrast to gangsta rap. Don’t let that sentence confuse you, however. ATCQ were (and still are) powerful voices for the causes of racial, gender-based, and economic equality, solutions for gang violence, and freedom of speech.

Founding member Phife Dawg died last year, so the band announced that this will be their last tour and the outstanding We Got It from Here…Thank You 4 Your Service will be their last album. It’s sure to be a raucous set full of hip-hop favorites, power anthems, and political commentary.

Keep your mind open.

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Pitchfork Music Festival announces full 2017 lineup.

Chicago’s annual Pitchfork Music Festival has announced its full lineup for 2017. As usual, it’s an interesting mix of artists and genres.

At first glance, the most exciting picks for me are LCD Soundsystem, the Thurston Moore Group, A Tribe Called Quest, P.J. Harvey, George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic, SURVIVE, Nicolas Jaar, The Avalanches, Derrick Carter, and NE-HI.

Ticket prices have gone up at least $25.00 since the announcement and will go up more as the festival dates get closer, so don’t wait.

Keep your mind open.

My top 25 albums of 2016 – #’s 10-6

We’re into the top ten!

#10

If you know me well, then you shouldn’t be surprised that a new record by Deap Vally made it into my top test list of any given year. Femejism, besides having the greatest album title of the year, is solid beginning to end with the sizzling guitar, sexy / snarling vocals, and powerhouse drumming they do so well.

The debut LP from Goggs (or is it “G0ggs?”) is the loudest, wildest punk rock record I’ve heard all year. Ty Segall, who plays guitar on the record, has quickly become one of the most prolific artists in music, and everything he puts out is worth hearing.

Of course a Radiohead record was going to be in the top 10. A Moon Shaped Pool continues the band’s metamorphosis into this generation’s Pink Floyd. It’s beautifully crafted, but a heavy listen. It might be the saddest break-up (Thom Yorke from his long-time girlfriend) record of 2016.

“Holy crap” is the way I described my reaction upon first hearing A Tribe Called Quest‘s We Got It from Here…Thank You 4 Your Service to a friend. This friend, Dee Tension, is a hip-hop producer, beat maker, and MC in Boston, and he claimed he’d been listening to it daily since its release. You might, too, upon hearing it. It’s not only a loving tribute to founding member Phife Dawg, but also a sharp critique on race, politics, gentrification, and much more.

Speaking of great returns, Underworld had another one we needed in 2016. Barbara, Barbara, We Face a Shining Future is the most uplifting and optimistic record of the year. Every song is about seeing good times ahead and remembering how every moment is divine.

We’re almost there. Who makes the top 5? Tune in tomorrow!

Keep your mind open.

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A Tribe Called Quest – We Got It from Here…Thank You 4 Your Service

Hip hop legends A Tribe Called Quest (Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Q-Tip, Jarobi White) have returned after a long hiatus, the Paris bombings of 2015 (which happened the night of their appearance on The Tonight Show), and the death of Phife Dawg with perhaps the best rap album of the year – We Got It from Here…Thank You 4 Your Service. The two-disc album is loaded with guest stars like Andre 3000, Jack White, Elton John, Kendrick Lamar, Talib Kweli, Kanye West, and Busta Rhymes and is a great send-off for Phife (who named the album before his death). It’s a bit tough to hear Phife’s everyman flow knowing he’s left us, but he went out on a high note.

The album starts with “The Space Program,” which encourages all of us to “get it together to make somethin’ happen.” Smooth synth grooves and a looped Vincent Price laugh from Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” back even smoother rhymes about the 99% of us looking out for each other while the 1% run away with everything. “We the People…” is a scathing rant against gentrification. “Guilty pleasures take the edge off reality,” Q-Tip says in a verbal backhand to all of us who bury our heads in our phones and TV screens to ignore the harsh reality for many around us.

“Whateva Will Be” starts with a Rudy Ray Moore sample (“Girl, this motherfucker’s got rhythm!”), so it’s an instant win, and a triple play when you add Phife’s flow and Muhammad’s killer cuts and beats. Speaking of killer cuts and beats, Muhammad gives a master class on “Solid Wall of Sound” as he twists, warps, and reforms Elton John’s “Benny and the Jets” (with Sir Elton playing and singing the classic track, no less) like it’s Play-Doh. He does it again on “Dis Generation,” sampling Musical Youth’s “Pass the Dutchie” and some jazz guitar while Phife, White, Q-Tip, and Busta Rhymes move around the song with effortless flow.

“Kids…”, a song about the illusions we have as teenagers, and often continue to have as adults, starts with rhymes from Andre 3000 and sounds like an Outkast tune with its simple beats and distorted chorus (“Kids, don’t you know that all that shit is fantasy?”). “Melatonin” has a great funky swagger. “Enough!!” ends the first half of the album. While the title could be a summary for everyone’s feelings on 2016, it’s a bit of a slow jam seduction as the Tribe flirt with foxy ladies and wonder if they’re doing enough to land them.

The second half starts with “Mobius,” bringing popping beats and warped loops with it. “Black Spasmodic” has a reggae groove, which isn’t surprising when you consider ATCQ have often acknowledged their reggae and dub influences. “The Killing Season” goes after the rash of violence against black youth in the country, and the low, creeping bass line throughout it underlines the seriousness of the issue. “Lost Somebody” continues the conversation. We’ve all lost somebody, some from illness, some from age, some from violence.

“Movin Backwards” is about surging forward when life pushes you backward. White’s opening rhymes give way to soul vocals by Anderson Paak and then the synth beats fade in and get your head bobbing. The low-end synths on “Conrad Tokyo” remind me of John Carpenter tracks, but Phife’s strong rhymes are classic Quest. “Ego” is another song about illusion; particularly ones our egos create. “Ego has no ending, has people pretending…This is the last Tribe and our ego hopes that you felt us,” Q-Tip says. We have. This record makes it impossible not to feel what they’ve done.

The album ends with “The Donald,” and you might think it’s about Donald Trump, but it’s actually a loving tribute to Phife. Every line from Busta Rhymes in the beginning namedrops him, and all of Q-Tips lyrics pay tribute to him (i.e., “You speak wicked every verse.”). Phife’s name is the last lyric on the album. It’s a great way to end a great record.

This is one of those albums that everyone wanted, but didn’t realize how much until they heard it. It begs multiple plays just to hear all the great beats and to attempt to catch all the wicked lyrics. It was in my top 10 of 2016 after the first listen.

Keep your mind open.

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The Five Foot Assassin’s mission is complete. RIP Phife Dawg.

Rest and peace to Malik “Phife Dawg” Taylor of A Tribe Called Quest. Phife Dawg was a powerful MC whose flow bounced off Q-Tip‘s like they were winning a doubles tournament at Wimbledon. Phife Dawg’s style of rapping was in the everyman vein. He made you think you could rap, even if you had no flow. He was effortless. His loss is a hard blow to hip hop and music fans everywhere, but we have his rhymes with us forever.

Keep your mind open.