Putting off the painting…
August 25, 2009
It has been fairly hot and humid here in the mid coast. It is not a great time to paint the walls in the ugly bathroom or my son’s bedroom. Nor is it particularly a good time to paint the new shelving we put in, the paint will not dry efficiently and with a kid and 2 cats stands a chance of getting trashed. I was going to go down and work on one of my art quilts. The problem again is the heat… I cannot stand the thought of painting the face of guy 4 in and having 3/4s of the work sitting on my lap… hot, ick. So here I am writing about music again.
Song of the day
8/23/2009 “Respect” Aretha Franklin
8/24/2009 was “Too Much Time on My Hands” Styx
Today 8/25/2009 is “Remember” by BT.
The album I am currently listening to is Thievery Corporation “Radio Retaliation”. I really enjoy the mesmerizing effect this album has. I really like to listen to this type of music when I am doing detail type quilting or painting that requires steady movement. It is kind of a reggae, electronica type of sound. I find it really relaxing and a pleasant listen. It definitely has its place in my pantheon of music…
There are some political overtones in this that I have not taken a ton of time to analyze… they are fairly obvious and very current affairs. One of my favorite tunes on the album is “Vampires” featuring Femi Kuti. This tune is uptempo and has politically charged vocals. Another tune that I like is “El Pueblo Unido” featuring Verny Varela. Again, slightly uptempo, reggae and Latin flavored, great sound. Again with a political overtone “(the forgotten people)” is a slower grooving tempo and has varied ambient sounds flowing through as background… interesting. “33°” is I think part of “the forgotten people” and I really like this music and thought about using it for a synchronized skating routine… It is repetitive and the beat is really tangible for all levels of skaters. Plus, I like the middle eastern flair. Another of my favorites is “the Numbers Game” featuring Chuck Brown. I really enjoy the uptempo groove and horns. Again, the lyrics are politically charged, but delivered in a manner that you are into the groove before you realize the impact of the lyrics. I really like Chuck Brown’s voice mellow with just a hint of grit. The album is really enjoyable and very comparable to some of their prior work.
Again, one of the areas that Thievery Corporation really excels is in the ambient instrumentals, admittedly this is what attracted me to the group in the first place. It was either “focus on sight” from the Mirror Conspiracy album or “Holographic Universe” from the Cosmic game that led me into their music… So I have downloaded the remix of “Mandala” (Pathaan remix)and that I may use for a stroking class… seriously uptempo with an eastern flair, good bpm so I would use it for exercise of some form…
If you are into the sort of trippy, reggae, electronic with political overtones type of music this is an album just made for you… If you enjoy the occasional relaxing type tune… I would recommend downloading some of the instrumental pieces on this album (the remixes are not relaxing!)… Overall, I think this is a well crafted album. I do not think that they are covering new ground necessarily, but I think they have expanded on their strengths.
Again, I am not a professional music critic… just giving an opinion…
have fun, I usually do,
mathea
