Category Archives: music reviews

Enigma

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(This is Cross-posted)

I’m listening to an old CD…Enigma” MCMXC a.D.”

I love this CD. It rocked my world when I first found it. At that time, I didn’t notice that it had all kinds of sub-texts going on.

All I cared about was the beat. I had never heard that kind of mesmerizing synthetic beat before, and I could not get enough of it.

And the album is so sexy!

Later, when I actually listened to it, I did hear all the intelligence put into it. THe juxtapositions of desires inside a person. The music is very trace-like, and it nudges your thoughts in the direction of contemplating very deep desires, the desires of the spirit, soul and body.

Enigma was smart about it. They (he? I don’t even know) used a lot of very interesting sounds to let the listeners create their own train of thoughts.

I still love it.

Even though I’ve found additional sources of synthetic beats.

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Song of the Year

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My vote for Song of the Year 2002 goes to Elvis’s “A Little Less Conversation”.

Before that song came out, I really didn’t have any feelings about Elvis at all. He seemed to have had some kind of place in history, so I meant to find out about him. But I was never that inspired.

I got the Elv1s album for Christmas, and then I got a chance to get up close and personal. The whole album is great, I enjoy it a lot. It gets me grooving. There are a lot of stupid songs, like Teddy Bear. But stupidity in pop music is ubiquitous, really.

Being a fan of both the swing scene and electronica music, i LOVE what JXL has done with this one song. There is so much that is interesting and exciting, I could dance to it forever.

ENHANCED CD

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I had a fabulous weekend. Lots of fun and fun people.

Sunday was the day I caught up on all my errands and chores. While I was out grocery shopping, I decided to give myself a treat and go to Eastside Records. It’s a great record shop near where I live. My co-worker had recommended it. She said that poeple who work in the industry sold their extras there, and they were cheap.

Cheap is good! They had a lot of different things for sale: CDs, Vinyl, VHS and DVDs. There was not very much organization; they are really set up to browse. They only have the mediums organized into general categories, such as rock & pop, COuntry & Folk, etc. No other order is imposed on the stacks. But there is a lot of room, and things are cheap.

I was thrilled to pick up the latest Alanis Morrissette CD and the latest Counting Crows. I’m gonna get pissed and depressed really good!

Anyway, I didn’ t have a chance to listen to them at home, so I brought the CDs to work. I have a huge set of headphones plugged into my computer.

My boss jokes that I look like I’m landing planes. I tell him that at least no one will talk to me and THINK I’m hearing them when I’m really listening to music.

Whatever. I’m not buying new headphones to please him.

So I pop in the Alanis CD into my CD rom, all set to be pissed.

No Dice.

I pop in Hard Candy, ready to be depressed if I can’t be pissed.

No luck.

KNOW WHY? The stupid record execs, who had made these two enhanced CDs, have forgotten to put a listening link on the menu of choices available.

Didn’t they realize that people who would use the enhanced CD technology would be the same people who use their computers to listen to the CD?
Yes, thank you very much, I can access the “secret website” from the CD, i’m thrilled, yadda yadda.

HOWEVER, I cannot listen to the CDs I paid for.

Sheesh. Get a clue.

TRAVELING MUSIC, PLEASE

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I ran across an article by Angela Davis called ” I Used to Be Your Sweet Mama: Ideology, Sexuality, and Domesticity”. It had to do with the birth of the blues. Now, i like the blues, but I am not really an expert.

She had a really interesting theory about the evolution of the blues. Basically, it is an African American art form, and it grew up after the slaves were emancipated. Prior to emancipation, African Americans sang in groups, because they never really had a place for the solo performer.

When freedom came, the soloist had a place to perform, and people had a place to congregate to listen. Apparently, the earliest blues singers were women; she names Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, Ida Goodson, and some others. But the part that really grabs me is the subject matter.

One of the major freedoms granted with the release from slavery was the freedom to MOVE. If you are enslaved, you cannot go anywhere of your own free will. When you are your own person, you can go anywhere you want.

So traveling was sung about; it continues to be subject matter for the blues. “Movin’ on.” I am so excited to see that a historical event, which created new possibilities for travel, revealed itself in an emerging art form.

ALSO!

It gives me new insight into what traveling means to me. Being able to travel is an ultimate expression of freedom. When I am uncertain about where my life is headed or what is in store for me around the bend, I often comfort myself with the idea that I could just get up and go to any place I wanted.

I keep my passport current for that reason.

It’s not so much that I WOULD, it’s just that I COULD.

It is a form of power. Having a plan. These women who sang and made a new music called the blues knew they had a backdoor; they could leave. Sometimes knowing that makes all the difference. Because when you stay it’s your choice. And if it gets bad enough, you know that you can pull the ripcord, hit eject, GET OUT.

It gave her the power again. Being able to travel meant that she was the one in control.
And that can make all the difference.