Tag Archives: Guest DJ

Operators – Cold Light

So I guess it's my Guest DJ week again. OH LOOK IT'S DAN BOECKNER

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PdY3BXbE14

If everything goes as scheduled I'll probably play some other band Dan Boeckner is in by the end of this week, so keep your fingers crossed.

5 votes, average: 8.00 out of 105 votes, average: 8.00 out of 105 votes, average: 8.00 out of 105 votes, average: 8.00 out of 105 votes, average: 8.00 out of 105 votes, average: 8.00 out of 105 votes, average: 8.00 out of 105 votes, average: 8.00 out of 105 votes, average: 8.00 out of 105 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10 (5 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10)
You must be a WGOM Citizen to rate WGOM Videos.
Loading...

Khatchadour Tankian – Bari Arakeel (feat. Serj Tankian)

The love – the love for the music, the love for the culture, the love of father & son – is palpable in this video.

Pops Hayes and I had a falling out when I was sixteen. I moved out of his house and never moved back. I spent a lot of time in my teens and early twenties trying to define myself as anything other than what I saw in him. Eventually that meant running away from the life I was living. The dangers implicit in that new life eventually led to a reconciliation, one which he initiated & worked at until I trusted him enough to reach for the outstretched hand. Getting to know Pops again as an adult eventually led to friendship. Getting to know him as a humble, dying man ennobled by his approach to mortality led to admiration. Getting older without him has led to recognition – I see him in my face, I see him in my better moments, I see him in my less admirable moments. I might have succeeded in completely defining myself as something apart from him, but I don't think I would succeeded at maintaining that difference forever.

Pops laid the foundation for a lot of my musical taste. I grew up listening to Johnny Cash & Chicago, Louis Armstrong & CCR, polka on KWNO, bluegrass on WIZM, & oldies on KQEG. As I got older, my sonic adventurism led me to new musical places. Once we were back on speaking terms, we spent a fair amount of time talking about music. Pops didn't always like the stuff I brought him – he didn't care for Johnny Cash's American Recordings albums, for example – but he kept an open mind.

With one exception, the music I've played this week is stuff I've discovered since Pops died. It's stuff I would've liked to share with him, to hear what he thought. I think he'd really have enjoyed most of it, and at least been intrigued by all of it. We aren't Armenian, so "Bari Arakeel" has no special cultural significance to my family. But the performance...I know Pops would have been interested in the music. I know he would've recognized the love.

It'll be five years tomorrow. I love you, Pops.

2 votes, average: 8.50 out of 102 votes, average: 8.50 out of 102 votes, average: 8.50 out of 102 votes, average: 8.50 out of 102 votes, average: 8.50 out of 102 votes, average: 8.50 out of 102 votes, average: 8.50 out of 102 votes, average: 8.50 out of 102 votes, average: 8.50 out of 102 votes, average: 8.50 out of 10 (2 votes, average: 8.50 out of 10)
You must be a WGOM Citizen to rate WGOM Videos.
Loading...

Cécile McLorin Salvant – Nobody

What makes a vocal artist truly incomparable? Power? Range? Fluidity? Tone? Idiosyncrasy of delivery? Some singers have all three: Hank. Ella. Sinatra. Odetta. Sam Cooke. Elvis. Little Richard. Johnny Cash. Ray Charles. Patsy Cline. Otis Redding. Aretha. James Brown. Diana Ross. George Jones. Wilson Pickett. Nina Simone. Solomon Burke. Mavis Staples. Al Green. Dolly Parton. Marvin. Stevie Wonder. Tom Jones. Freddie Mercury. Prince. Tina. Michael Jackson. Chris Cornell. Adele. Gregory Porter.

Cécile McLorin Salvant has all those same qualities. She sings in a genre not many people are listening to anymore, but she's only 26. She'll be on that list someday. One more from the same WNYC session:

2 votes, average: 9.00 out of 102 votes, average: 9.00 out of 102 votes, average: 9.00 out of 102 votes, average: 9.00 out of 102 votes, average: 9.00 out of 102 votes, average: 9.00 out of 102 votes, average: 9.00 out of 102 votes, average: 9.00 out of 102 votes, average: 9.00 out of 102 votes, average: 9.00 out of 10 (2 votes, average: 9.00 out of 10)
You must be a WGOM Citizen to rate WGOM Videos.
Loading...

Ibrahim Maalouf – True Sorry

There are some amazing, groundbreaking jazz trumpet players out there right now: Tomasz Stanko, Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, Avishai Cohen, Enrico Rava, Arturo Sandoval, Ambrose Akinmusire, Terrence Blanchard... and Ibrahim Maalouf. Maalouf's music blends the sonic landscape of his Lebanese heritage with classical training at a Parisian conservatory, a self-cultivated jazz impulse, and funk-inflected rock.

I gave you the longer, more intimate, small-venue live cut of "True Sorry," but if you like it I hope you'll check out this more expansive, atmospheric live recording made possible by the concert venue a Alcaline. I don't think I can pick between them.

I know you may have been expecting a video by Prince today. Instead, I'll leave you with footage of Ibrahim Maalouf in concert, showcasing a sound that embraces everything Prince stood for (and which he would have most certainly dug):

0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 100 votes, average: 0.00 out of 100 votes, average: 0.00 out of 100 votes, average: 0.00 out of 100 votes, average: 0.00 out of 100 votes, average: 0.00 out of 100 votes, average: 0.00 out of 100 votes, average: 0.00 out of 100 votes, average: 0.00 out of 100 votes, average: 0.00 out of 10 (0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 10)
You must be a WGOM Citizen to rate WGOM Videos.
Loading...

Souad Massi – Ghir Enta

httpv://youtu.be/sYStxC90iqE

Souad Massi's music has an amazing lineage, steeped the tumult of her native Algeria and its rigid cultural mores. From a 2005 profile by The Independent:

From the beginning, she was drawn to wildly different musical styles. "I listened to folk rock and hard rock," she says, "and then, later, pop music and, I guess, world music. But at first, it was basically through movies, the spaghetti westerns." Joan Baez, who played Algiers in the 1970s, was a formative influence, as was the flamenco and jazz guitar that her uncle played, and even, incongruously, the country star Kenny Rogers. "Folk rock has been a big influence," Massi says, "and I was inspired by the poetry in the songs of that time, its rich metaphors and phrases that had double meanings. I pushed myself to work in the same way."

She learnt guitar with the help of her older brother Hassan, and her first professional gigs were with a short-lived flamenco group, before she joined the Algerian rock band Atakor. She stayed with them for seven years, touring a country where musicians were routinely shot by Islamists and army alike, and playing festivals picketed by extremists, patrolled by armed police and, more often than not, torched by the crowd itself. The Big Chill they were not.

The first time I heard this – I don't even know where I came across it – I was transfixed. The album versions more enchanting than this performance (a clever fella on YouTube dubbed the studio track over this same video), but this is still very nice.

I don't know all the words to the song, but I'm translating the refrain from the Russian translation on this video:

No one but you
No one but you
No one but you
Has entered my heart

No one but you
No one but you
No one but you
In my heart only you

1 vote, average: 10.00 out of 101 vote, average: 10.00 out of 101 vote, average: 10.00 out of 101 vote, average: 10.00 out of 101 vote, average: 10.00 out of 101 vote, average: 10.00 out of 101 vote, average: 10.00 out of 101 vote, average: 10.00 out of 101 vote, average: 10.00 out of 101 vote, average: 10.00 out of 10 (1 votes, average: 10.00 out of 10)
You must be a WGOM Citizen to rate WGOM Videos.
Loading...

Boban Marković Orkestar – Mesecina

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBDtRhxLwoI

 

This one's for Rhu_Ru. Boban Marković Orkestar is frequently heralded as best brass band in the world. These guys – and Boban's group with his son, Marko – are awesome, but it's just about impossible to find a decent video where you can hear the low brass & accordion as well as the upper brass. In a typical example, here's Marko Marković taking lead on a Balkan-inflected cover of Lee Dorsey's "Ya Ya" nonsense song from 1961:

httpv://youtu.be/WkSVsdHalmU

1 vote, average: 8.00 out of 101 vote, average: 8.00 out of 101 vote, average: 8.00 out of 101 vote, average: 8.00 out of 101 vote, average: 8.00 out of 101 vote, average: 8.00 out of 101 vote, average: 8.00 out of 101 vote, average: 8.00 out of 101 vote, average: 8.00 out of 101 vote, average: 8.00 out of 10 (1 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10)
You must be a WGOM Citizen to rate WGOM Videos.
Loading...