Music of the Week: Common “Universal Mind Control”
by
Marcus Lewis
Sat Jan 9th, 2010:
Some music is an acquired taste and some you just have no choice but to like because of the beat it lays down.
Personally I have song for everyone and some songs simply to get laughs out of friends and family. I’m not opposed to some (emphasis on some!) country music, love me some good ole caribbean reggae, dancehall music, baltimore club, definitely must have classical music in there too. Lots of R&B as well as old school hip hop and R&B can get the mood right, can’t turn away from pop and recently a little bit of rock. I have to place Michael Jackson and The Jackson 5 in their own category and I’m definitely not against some good folk music (going to see The Wiyos in a little over a week).
*The Robot is Pharrell
Today we bring you Common’s Universal Mind Control ft Pharrell. Read More…
This week check out of the collaboration ‘DangerDoom’ which is a collaboration of DJ Dangermouse, and MF Doom. I took interest at first by the masked mouse illustration, and when I started absorbing the smooth old school beat with the clever, sometimes humorous, sometimes too sharp rhymes, and read up on a little bit of the background story driving the cartoonish aesthetics, it was obvious this should be music of the week.
DJ Dangermouse is a producer whom I first heard of when he combined Jay-Z’s ‘Black Album’ with the Beatles ‘White Album’, creating the Grey Album.. which was pretty interesting. He also has worked with Gnarls Barkley, and the Gorillaz who are famous for appearing only as their cartoon character incarnations in videos and even a ridiculously elaborate .
So this collaboration is with one, MF Doom. The ‘Doom’ in his name references supervillain Doctor Doom because of their similar masks. After reportedly going through some hard times he re-emerged on the scene in NY masked.
Image taken from hiptics.com
MF Doom is an underground lyricist with some sharp rhymes, combined with the unexpected beats, and on top of everything for the shroud of mystery. They get my stamp of ‘awesome’ approval.
Syracuse has an artistic atmosphere to it, whether it be drawing, design, photography, architecture or musical talent. There I always something artistic to see up here and it is extremely motivating waking up an having it all thrown in our face everyday. Lately there has been tons of amazing musical talent coming to various venues around down town Syracuse, last week friday Mickey Powell showed up at Jazz Central to wow the crowd with his amazing performance. Tonight at the Westcott As Tall As Lions and Twin Tigers will be playing and Minus The Bear will be the featured artists of the night, doors open at 7:00pm, show starts at 8:00pm. You may see us there as well. For more show details visit The Westcott. Here are a couple of sample songs/videos from Minus The Bear that are pretty entertaining.
I was invited to Jazz Central in Syracuse yesterday night to sit in on some music played by a few professors at Syracuse University and the featured artist of the night Mickey Powell. He’s a singer/songwriter raised in Carthage New York and travels the country booking gigs and enjoying the gift he’s been given. I was floored by his performance, as we sat to the right of the stage if facing the crowd, in a studio sized room that holds close to 100 people.
I think it’s amazing to hear talented individuals really know how to sing without any gimmicks and tricks and this is definitely someone you need to hear in person. Listening to it anywhere else doesn’t give him justice, but since the show has past I think its necessary to share his work.
You can learn more about Mickey, where he came from, inspirations and motivation from his site The Polite Rebel. Also check out where his upcoming shows will be and try to get to one, it’s definitely worth it!
