Monazimba’s Neighborhood

[Au début, ça m'a fait penser à Chris Rea (je sais, je suis trop une femme des années 80)]

I want to say that gangster rap is out of fashion, but there's still the troubling hip hop songs that addresses women as ho's and bragging rights of doing criminal things. That's why the following artists is spreading their message of love, peace, and understanding.

STATE OF EMERGENCY
billcosby.com

Most people will know Bill Cosby from The Cosby Show or Fat Albert, but did you know that early in his entertainment career, that he released a music album called Silver Throat: Bill Cosby Sings? He also plays drums and bass... so it shouldn't surprise anyone to know that he's the person behind State of Emergency.

Before we continue, let me be clear in one thing: Bill Cosby does not sing on this album. Most of the singing is done by Jace the Great, with some help from Cedric Miller and Brother Haz. It's not clear on the music writing credits, most of the songs are credited to W.H. Cosby Jr (Bill Cosby), William Patterson, Cedric Miller, Jamal Gary (Jace?) and Hassan McMillan (Brother Haz?).

My favorite song off the album is "Dads Behind the Glass", with its refrain "I wish my daddy was home/tired of sitting here all alone/Mommy's not here she's working two jobs". The song also features samples from Bill Cosby and Friends' performing "Ursalina".

Some of the song's message, I can see Cosby writing. Like the constant "Why?" question, or "In a Perfect World", or "Runnin'". But songs like "Where Did I Go Wrong?", about being a Blood gangster, with being the son of a Muslim, I can't see Cosby writing this... but I can feel it's Brother Haz's contribution to this song.

Even if Cosby have little to do with this album, he's involving and lending his name to the project - and for most people, that's good enough. He believes in the project enough to do talk about it and promote it, and I think that's awesome. Though, I would've pegged him as a Jazz guy, considering his love for jazz music, but it's refreshing to see him working in the hip-hop music industry.

State of Emergency is available now at BillCosby.com. There's a variety of packages, but I recommend getting the CD and book (New York times bestseller Come On People: On the Path from Victims to Victors by Bill Cosby and Alvin F. Poussaint) combo.

THE GOSPEL OF HIP HOP
powerhousebooks.com

Having spent all of my holiday reading on and off KRS-One's The Gospel of Hip Hop, I came to the conclusion that, like the Holy Bible, understanding of its message does not come overnight... but through years of practice and study.

If you love hip hop and embrace all of its kulture and lifestyle, then I say this is a wonderful book for your library shelf. This 800+ page hardcover, gold embossed cover, words of wisdom, is well worth its price of $24.95. I have bought more expensive books for less content and value, so take it from me, this is a good deal. Plus, I noticed that your order of The Gospel of Hip Hop via Powerhouse Books will come autographed by KRS-One.

So, this book does not necessary require you to read front-to-back, but you can't just skip around either - considering that it makes sense to read "The First Understanding" vs "The Eighteenth Understanding". What KRS One, who, in the book, refers to himself as the teacha, tries and break down some of the components that makes hip hop - in particular: graffiti art, DJ, emcees, b-boy, and free styles.

The book isn't necessary all about the hip hop culture, but also faith, religion, and, most of all, love. Love to stop the violence, and love to help others in need. I'll give you evidence, this past Thanksgiving, KRS-One practiced his teaching by serving meals to thousands of New York's homeless at the Bowery Mission:

I am participating in The Bowery Mission's Thanksgiving food drive and event because I myself was once homeless, walking these very streets, and spending time with these wonderful people at The Bowery Mission. I depended on them to survive. I am showing up for Thanksgiving this year to not only lend a hand, but hope that I am may inspire others in the Hip Hop community to consider their role towards helping the homeless, and join me by helping those in your community that need help during this holiday season.

I chose the Bowery Mission because it epitomizes the spirit of true human resources, love, care and compassion. I have stayed at many shelters were you are called "the client" and the administration made you feel like a prisoner in a system. At the Bowery Mission you feel at home. Homelessness is a pandemic, and most people do not realize the severity of the situation. You may be homeless one day yourself. I urge the Hip Hop nation to live up to the true nature of our culture and give.

- KRS-One

My favorite chapter from The Gospel of Hip Hop is the Fourth Understanding: The H-LAW. What the H-LAW is an acronym for Health, Love, Awareness and Wealth. For anyone, a healthy body & mind also translate to peace and positive attitude. There's an interesting bit in the section that describes that not all food is life-giving, that everything edible is not food. What follows Health, Love and Wealth, seems pretty obvious. Love is not lust, while Wealth doesn't always mean riches in the monetary sense. The Awareness part, that seems more like Knowledge. KRS-One gives you an example of a normal person and an electrician, who looks at a room with very different perspective. For instance, the electrician, with his knowledge of wiring knows a little more than the average person.

Again, let me be clear: the understanding of all of The Gospel of Hip Hop's teaching and written words does not come overnight. In some ways, this book will require multiple reading. Below, I leave you with a small teaching from the book, which you can apply in any situation:

Disobedience, stubbornness, suspicion, criticism, fear, doubt and/or arrogance toward your teacher only hinder YOUR learning. We must not unnecessarily criticize each other; we must question and always acknowledge our collective development as a young nation.

THE PEACE
hipfolkinc.com ♥ myspace.com

The impossible to search for The Peace, a band out of Vermont, plays what they bill themselves as "hip hop folk" - a combination of their inspiration of music from Dave Matthews and KRS One. At least that's what they describe themselves, personally, in my opinion, I don't believe The Peace to be hip hop (or even folk). They seem like a jam band, their influence is closer to funk and improvisation progressive rock.

The most hip-hop/rappish song on the album is "Heaven", but based on Bobby Kendes' singing style (which actually sounds so much like Dave Matthews), it's not really a hardcore rap song. I did enjoy hearing Kurt Cobain's name drop in that song. And speaking of name-dropping, there's a ton of that on "Rookie And The Vets".

As their name suggest, this album is about zen, harmony, and peace. Songs like "This Is Life" and "Goin To Yoga" are great theme for the album - but some song like, "Racing The Devil", seems conflicting. The thing I remember about the Devil song is that the f-word is censored.

My favorite song on the album is "Seven", I think mostly because I enjoyed the Spanish and can pick out "siete", "por favor" and "callate". Not sure about the last word, I could've sworn he said 'shut up' in the song.

If you live in New York, The Peace is spending some time there. I know they played a few dates prior to this writing. Their next show is at Arlene's Grocery (which is famously not a grocery store) on December 13^th. The Peace's self-titled debut can be bought via hipfolkinc.com. If you don't mind a milder Spin Doctors, you'll enjoy this. If you were looking to Notorious BIG-type, I would avoid.

Below are late entries from The Turf Club! The first entry is written and from Brody (original entry here). Miles sounds like such a friendly guy, he even dropped over Brody's house to play something (see video).

Miles Benjamin Turf Club, St Paul (11/13/09) photo by Brody

Miles Benjamin at the Turf Club, St Paul (11/13/09)

Mark Mallman at Turf Club, St Paul (11/7/09)
As you can see, a special guest star showed up at the end of the set to end it on a bang. Since I didn't attend the event, I can tell you that it looked like a lot of wild energy and fun... I've seen the dude before, he's wonderfully mesmerizing to watch. If I had half his energy, I would explode.

Opening up Mallman were The Magic Castles (myspace) and The Alpha Centauri (official/myspace).

All photos below are from Erik Hess.

This is the latest series in my EPs reviews. I like doing these because I don't think they take that long to listen to these four or five songs. You get the gist of the band, but unfortunately, it's probably not as detailed and explored as reviewing albums.

Also, I am back on reviewing music as I have stopped going out to see live bands. I am still not accepting new music as I still have to clear out what I've already been sent/requested. Apologies to any promises that I may have made.

SARAH ELIZABETH FOSTER
sarahelizabethfoster.com ♥ myspace

Sarah Elizabeth Foster's EP, Gardening From the Ground Up Part 1 from Studio Sarah Records, is the first submission I've received for a 2010 release. Generally around this time, I get a ton of Christmas music offers (which, hey, I will be doing a roundup next week!).

Foster actually has a degree in music, singing French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, and, of course English. While this EP is only in English, it does showcase her classically singing abilities. My favorite song is actually the title-track, "Gardening From the Ground Up". There's something about this love song, from rain drops to the up-beat jazzy tempo, that I really like. This is in contrast to the opening song, "Wake Up", for a song that's about waking up, it sounds like "take it easy" evening song.

While people will automatically associate Foster to 60s girl singers, I think her vocal styles, would actually lends itself really well to modern indiepop music. I'm certainly interested in hearing what part two sounds like. If you live in New York, Foster will be playing tomorrow, December 4^th at Pete's Candy Store in Brooklyn.

FERAL CHILDREN
myspace.com/feralchildrenseattle

Feral Children is a "backwoods" band from Seattle, Washington. Their self-titled EP was a free released on Sarathan Records, while their forth-coming album, Brand New Blood, will be available digitally December 8^th, while a physical release on January 19^th, 2010.

As their name suggest, their music seems, I don't know, wild. Like "grizzly bear", "panda bear, "deerhunter" and "animal collective" wild, and this isn't surprising, considering Scott Colburn (Animal Collective's Feels producer) is their producer on the Feral Children album. Compared to previous bands I mentioned, Feral Children seems more melodic and less experimental. I'm not sure who produced their EP (I rarely get liner notes for digital submissions), but they certainly have that collective-like influence.

I did give the EP a few listens, and not entirely impressed with the singer (is it Bill Cole?). His vocals is very rough, voice cracking comes to mind on tracks like "Saint". While this may possibly be the greatest song done live, listening to it on headphones made me cringe.

Who knows, maybe their album will be much better than the self-titled EP. It is, after all, their first release, I'm sure they'll improve over time. Information on the free downloads, head over to Sarathan Records.

MOJORISING
mojorisingband.com ♥ myspace

I keep mis-reading this band as Major/ising, so I'm not sure if other people might have the same problem reading the name (it's OK people misread W♥M as "we love music" all the time...)

Mojorising recently moved from Los Angeles from Australia. So prices for their EP at $12 on the merch page might seem high, until you realize it's in AUS dollars.

My impression is that this duo makes some really funky music, but with classic rock attitudes (think Jamiroquai). The funk soul translate well on a few of their songs, "She Woke Up To Me" and "Sooth Me And Use Me". The later is very dancey, I suspect it will play well to a live audience. Incidentally if you are interested in hearing the first song, it's available as a free download.

The band is playing a few dates in California:

Dec 20 2009 THE MINT Los Angeles
Jan 10 2010 EL CID Los Angeles

SEA OF BEES
seaofbees.com ♥ myspace

Lara dismissed Julie Baenziger, aka Sea of Bees, as being too "CocoRosie/Joanna Newsom", and really - what's wrong with that ? As expected, Baenziger's vocal style is that of a small cute child. And also cute is the title of the EP, called Bee Eee Pee. This is a collection of four songs and one intermission song.

All of the songs are pretty minimalistic, usually with just acoustic and Baenziger singing. The stand-out track for me is "Willis", because it  does feature a melodic backing music (vs just acoustic alone). Also, the inclusion of the random intro is nice - it explained that this particular recording happens to be the third take.

Julie is doing some winter dates:

Dec 4 2009 Fox & Goose Sacramento, California
Dec 15 2009 Sacramento, California
Jan 26 2010 Matadero Huesca, Huesca
Jan 30 2010 Tanned Tin Festival Castelo, Castellón
Feb 10 2010 TBA w/ Mountain Man, Chelsea Wolfe and Dead Western Sacramento, California

Bee Eee Pee is out now on Bot Bot Records/Digisquad Records, you can find it on iTunes and Amazon.

PS, That's all I can manage today. Check out Ryan as he's retweeting on twitter/weheartmusic. You can see some of the tweets on the right-side of this page. The account is kept active by live blogging by myself, Ceji, and Ryan. Not just a robot account!

This is The Books' last date on their national tour, so they seem very comfortable being on stage. Since this was the Cedar Cultural Center, the audience consists of an older "NPR"-type of crowd. This was one of the most full show I've seen at the Cedar.

Baby Dee ♥ Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis (12/01/09)

Opening up for them was Baby Dee (official/myspace), an outrageous soloist cabaret that sings showtunes. Her flamboyant performance style lends itself to not-so-serious songs like "Big Titty Bee Girl (from Dino Town)". She spent most of her set on the piano, before heading over to the ominous harp for two songs. Apparently, this was just a small taste of what's to come, as she's heading back to the Cedar on April 19^th, 2010.

Before her last song, she introduced The Books by telling this joke about next to the dog, a man's best friend is a book. Next because inside a dog, it's too hard to read.

The Books set up two chairs and their movie projector at 9 o'clock. Remember, this is the Cedar, their shows starts early and ends early (no later than 10:30pm). Which its audience is an older (and probably gainfully employed crowd), so they like early shows.

So, back to the Books, they provided the live soundtrack to their movies. Everything is in sync, no technical problems at all. They even went so far as having a one-minute intermission song as they tune up their instruments. The intermission song features anagrams of the word "Immediate". Everything is calculated.

I find that trying to watch the movie and watching Nick Zammuto and Paul de Jong was somewhat distracting. I think they prefer you watch the screen, because watching the duo play isn't exactly that exciting.

The Books ♥ Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis (12/01/09)

Most of their songs are instrumentals, usually with samples, so the few songs that they actually sing on (like "Take Time"), I thought those stood out. The other thing about The Books is that they seem to find inspiration in anything and everything. For instance, their song "Smells Like Content" is basically 10 hours of audio recording from Nick's older brother. Their most interesting song, "Cold Freezing Night", are audio loops from Talkboy tape recordings that they found at thrift stores.

As for the encores, which incidentally is predetermined because of the movies that is associated with the songs, they did two songs. The first is a Nick Drake cover "Cello Song", which Paul explained is their only cover they do. It was for the benefit of the Red Hot organization for Aids awareness. If you recall, I've previously endorsed the organization by buying many of their music releases. Their final song is "An Owl With Knees" from their 2005 album, Lost and Safe.

PS, This is my final concert for 2009 (I hibernate during the winter), I would like to thank everybody for offering shows for me to review. I will be able to accept assignments in March-ish 2010, and/or whenever it stops snowing.