Blog is a Mix Tape Vox 2008-03-23T19:46:38Z Jason http://negroplease.vox.com/?_c=feed-atom-full tag:vox.com,2006:6p00c10e0f6f1fd3b4/tags/song+for+sunday/ rumor has it, a blogger once lived here. song for sunday: twisted tag:vox.com,2008-03-23:asset-6a00c10e0f6f1fd3b400f48d05f78e0001 2008-03-23T19:37:50Z 2008-03-23T19:46:38Z Jason http://negroplease.vox.com/?_c=feed-atom-full
Twisted
Twisted
Ultra Nate

The standout is TWISTED, an atmospheric, acid-jazz track that bears the stamp of its producer 4 Hero, but once Ultra pours her sultry, soulful vocal into the mix it is all hers. Given a fair shot -- and the right promotion -- TWISTED could be the one that takes Ultra into the urban mainstream, placing her alongside the Erykahs, Lauryns and Mary J.'s. Of course, the great irony of her career is that after 10-plus years of riveting, thoughtful, provocative music that meshes, bends and spans several musical genres, she is still commonly referred to as a "dance diva". Stranger than fiction, indeed. Whatever they may call her, the rest of us know that Ultra will always be in a league of her own.

- Evolution: an Amazon.com User Review, 04.24.01

I turned 33 (I think) last week. I honestly was debating with myself whether I was turning 33 or 34 or perhaps 32 all over again. I find time very fluid of late. It passes. It doesn't. Months move at a lightning quick pace but days can seem to go on forever. Moments linger. I occasionally dream the future. Deja Vu is common. I'm convinced I've had conversations before yet I know I haven't but, yet, maybe I have.

I've always been fascinated with time travel stories. It's probably why I love this current season of LOST. I imagine time travel is exactly like how they are portraying it. A sense of being in multiple moments at once, every instance of time sitting on top of each other. The future has already happened. The past is here with us. Twisted.

I don't celebrate my birthday any more. SXSW is my gift to myself. Honestly, every day is that gift. I have no other responsibilities other than taking care of me...and I do. My money, my attention, my time belong to only me and I do with them what I will. So why should I celebrate my birth? I'm celebrating me the other 364 days (plus one more in 2008) of the year. The only thing my birthday stand for this year is a time for quiet reflection and envisioning that future.

Tracy and his family made vision boards at the beginning of this calendar year. So, this week, I've been doing the same. I cut out words, images, and sounds from the magazines around my apartment and today I'll be placing them -- collage style -- on a cork or bulletin board. It is what I predict for myself for the next year.

I like words so there are lots of phrases:

  • "We Love the Web"
  • "Party to Learn"
  • "...and culture"
  • "Investing in positive social change is easier than you think."
  • "Listening to My Life"
  • "Respect the Planet"
  • "Hesitation Can Wait"
  • "Reserved. But Not Tame."
  • "A Simple Kind of Life"
  • "Frisco"
  • "We Are The People We've Been Waiting For"
  • "Soul Chameleon"
  • "Record Your Visions"
  • "Black Girls Rock!"
  • "Carpe Whatever"
There are places:

  • The Hollywood Bowl
  • A Spank Rock Party
  • A San Francisco Parade
There are people:

  • Jay-Z (in Africa)
  • Lightspeed Champion
  • Wale
  • Justice
There are things:

  • a Paul Frank watch
  • a stylish formal tux...rocked with fitted dark jeans
  • a how to on getting promoted
  • The Wire
  • Headphones
And from this, I see my past, present, and future.

Twisted.

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]]> song for sunday: the 2007 album that haunts me tag:vox.com,2007-12-16:asset-6a00c10e0f6f1fd3b400e398c8db5f0005 2007-12-16T16:33:57Z 2007-12-16T18:21:44Z Jason http://negroplease.vox.com/?_c=feed-atom-full
Archangel
Archangel
Burial
if it's the reclusive life that Burial seeks, he might just be his own worst enemy, because his new album, Untrue, bests Burial's fans' wildest hopes for the followup. Burial was a worthy, sometimes thrilling record-- an impressive debut-- but it sometimes lost focus, particularly when it attempted to carve out something closer to "proper," clubwise dubstep. But Untrue maintains the style and the vibe of the first album and yet does it better. It's a deeper album-- richer, more complex, more enveloping. The irony is that almost nothing has changed. Burial still makes his beats (at least, so he claims) with relatively lo-fi audio editing software, eschewing the comfort of sequencers and MIDI clocks. His string sounds, which on Burial let many a critic to call his music "cinematic," sound as unabashedly canned as they did last time, and his manipulated vocals-- warped, time-stretched, pitch-corrected-- are just as unabashedly emotive.

-Pitchfork Record Review (8.4/10), 11.13.07

I've only had this album for a week so I'm not ready to call it "Album of the Year" but it just might be. It's haunted me since the day I bought it (8.99 in the Amazon mp3 store, also available on eMusic) and I find my mind constantly returning to its complicated rhythms. Right now, it falls as #3 on my 2007 album chart.

It's just that good. When listening to this track, I want to sing along. I randomly break out in dance. I head nod. I listen intently. I listen casually. I listen all the time.

I haven't sat with the album enough to form a compelling review and maybe I'll get to that later. For now, I just want you to enjoy as I am.

Ghost Hardware
Ghost Hardware
Burial


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