Miss Celie’s Blues (Sister)
[given] to love
daily scribblings, inspirations + my evolution.
DIY of the Day: Deep Conditioning Henna Hair Treatment
An excellent way to add a tinge of color and to deep condition your hair, I’ve been doing this henna treatment for about two year and I love it. It darkens my hair, adding a deep burgundy black to my strands that’s best visible in the sun. So for someone like me, who’s scared of committing to a color I may hate, this is great! And the conditioning properties are incredible. Try it! (via moptopmaven)
Red Baraat is a Brooklyn-based bhangra band that infuses their sound with funk, go-go, jazz and latin. They were just added to the lineup and I was totally intrigued by Bonnaroo’s description of their music. I couldn’t help but bounce around a little and practice my Bollywood moves. This will be dope to see live.
Danny Brown | “Radio Song”
Danny Brown is a Detroit MC who embraced his unique hood/hipster personality, took full advantage of social media, and — fueled by his experiences with drug dealing and drug taking, as well as a wicked sense of humor — delivered some of the most vivid and side-splitting rhymes of his era. Brown (real last name: Sewell) surfaced during the mid-2000s as a member of Reser’vor Dogs. The group advanced far enough to get the attention of the Roc-A-Fella label; a deal was not struck, but an A&R rep assisted Brown with the recording and release of a mixtape, Detroit State of Mind. New York recording sessions placed him in the company of several contemporaries, including G-Unit’s Tony Yayo. In 2010, Yayo and Brown released Hawaiian Snow, while Brown also released The Hybrid, among other mixtapes, such as additional volumes of the Detroit State of Mind series. While it was rumored that Brown would be signing to G-Unit, label head 50 Cent allegedly balked due to the rapper’s fashion sense (including a preference for skinny jeans). Brown eventually linked with the Fool’s Gold label, where he issued XXX, his highest-profile mixtape to that point.
*1) His gapped toothed mouth.
2) His nonsensical hair.
3) His hilarious lyrics.
This may be one of the few new hip hop acts I’m actually looking forward to seeing live.
Charles Bradley | ”Summer Jammin’ With Ice Cream Man”
Soul and R&B singer Charles Bradley definitely didn’t arrive as a recording artist by taking the easy route. Born in Gainesville, FL in 1948, but raised in Brooklyn, NY, Bradley spent a good part of his childhood living on the streets. A transformational moment came when his sister took him to see James Brown at the Apollo in 1962. Bradley was struck by Brown’s energy and stage manner, and began practicing microphone tricks with a broom at home, dreaming of being a star on his own stage, and it was a dream he would never abandon in spite of all sorts of mishaps, misdirects, and general hard times. Bradley escaped Brooklyn by joining the federal program Job Corps, which took him to Bar Harbor, ME, where he learned to cook, a profession he was to fall back on time and time again. He also put together a band in Maine and began playing local gigs. The band didn’t last long, though, and when most of its members were drafted, and with the Vietnam War hanging in the air, Bradley moved to Wassaic, NY, where he worked as a cook at a hospital for the mentally ill. Nine years later, he left that position and hitchhiked west, ending up in Alaska for a time before moving to California, again taking a job as a chef, and for the next 20 years, he performed music on the side, playing whatever gigs he could find. When he was laid off from his position, though, he began to doubt the decision to live in so far from where he grew up, and he relocated back to Brooklyn, this time working at odd jobs instead of returning to being a chef. He never let go of his musical dreams, however, and he began performing his James Brown-inspired routines in such local clubs as Black Velvet, attracting a loyal following, and eventually capturing the attention of Gabriel Roth from Daptone Records, who immediately brought the fiery singer into label sessions, releasing a single, “Take It as It Comes,” that showed what Bradley had to offer as a vocalist. Roth also introduced Bradley to Thomas Brenneck, then a guitarist, songwriter, and home producer for Dirt Rifle & the Bullets. The pair had an affinity for each other musically, and together they released two singles on Daptone as Charles Bradley & the Bullets before the actual group by that name disbanded, with most of the members going in an Afro-beat direction with the Budos Band. Brenneck and Bradley continued to work together, though, and after Bradley told him about waking up in his home one morning to discover his nephew had shot and killed his brother, Brenneck suggested they tell the story in music as a catharsis and as a cautionary tale. The result, tracked with the Menahan Street Band, was a pair of impassioned singles, “The World (Is Going Up in Flames)” and “Heartaches and Pain,” which Brenneck released on his Daptone sub-imprint Dunham Records. These weren’t songs drawn from Bradley’s Black Velvet act, but were instead highly personal and striking outings that put his own emerging voice as a singer and songwriter at the center of things. A full album for Dunham, No Time for Dreaming, appeared early in 2011.
*Reading his story and hearing his music, I feel inspired to keep my long lost dreams alive; to keep pushing past all the voices in my head and all the many obstacles I’ll face to get to my ultimate goals. That’s what music should do right? Make you feel something.
Fruit Bats | “You’re Too Wierd”
*Hmm… yea, I wasn’t so sure about these guys and then this video pulled me to the other side. I’m a fan. What can I say, cheesy 80s-inspired parody video warm my funny bone.
Gary Clark Jr. | “Bright Lights”
Texas guitarist Gary Clark, Jr. has been compared to guitar icons like Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan, and his playing is a powerful and inspired mix of blues roots with contemporary soul and hip-hop, and when he’s rolling at his best, he sounds like nothing so much as a natural hybrid of both the past and the future of the blues. Born and raised in Austin, Texas, Clark first picked up a guitar at the age of 12 and spent his teens playing whatever gig he could get in the Austin area, eventually meeting Clifford Antone, promoter and owner of Antone’s, the city’s premier blues club, who began featuring Clark at his venue. An amazing live performer, Clark soon became one of the brightest players on Austin’s blues and rock scene. He released an independent album, 2005’s Tribute, followed by a pair of self-produced albums in 2008 for Hotwire Unlimited, 110 and Worry No More. An EP, Gary Clark Jr., also appeared from Hotwire in 2010. But Clark was far from just a one-trick pony guitar gunslinger. He could also sing, write, and arrange. He wrote the original score for the film Full Count and also appeared as an actor in John Sayles’ 2007 film Honeydripper. In 2010, Clark was selected by Eric Clapton to perform at the Crossroads Guitar Festival, and a DVD of the show featuring Clark led to a recording deal with Warner Bros. Clark was soon in the studio working on his major-label debut. An EP called Bright Lights was released in advance of the new album in 2011
*Another musician I’m late to discovering. I like this track. Leads me to daydream about being in a dark smoke-filled den where I’m interpretive dancing and writhing in my skin-tight bell bottoms and my suede vest. I like it!
Major Lazer f. Amber of Dirty Projectors | “Get Free”
*Until last week, I hadn’t realized who Major Lazer is and that the song that pushed Beyonce’s last record to the top of the charts sampled a Major Lazer track that’s more than 3 years old. I’m just not hip to what’s hot these days I suppose. Anyway, I’m excited to see Diplo and Switch live for the first time and I’m hella excited to hear more of their music!
(Source: bloodorangemoon, via fmsharp)
Mariachi El Bronx | “Holy”
Born out of a desire to challenge themselves musically, Mariachi El Bronx is the alter ego of Los Angeles punk band the Bronx. Conceived in 2006, the idea came about when the Bronx were asked to play an acoustic set and, rather than simply pare down their sound, they took their music in a whole new direction, moving away from hardcore and exploring Latin sounds. The band worked on material for the new project while the Bronx toured, and in 2009, Mariachi El Bronx released their eponymous debut. True to the form of their main gig, the bandmembers followed up with a second self-titled album in 2011.
*I was pleasantly surprised by the music and story behind this group and their music. I’m reminded of an L.A.-bred Mexican-Chinese friend of mine from college who didn’t speak spanish but loved to listen to the spanish radio in his car. He didn’t understand the words but was moved by the emotion behind the singer’s lyrics. I’m having fun watching clips of Mariachi El Bronx online. Their elaborate costumes, the rhythms, the lyrics… I like it!
phil collins + phillip bailey | “easy lover”
*forgive me for indulging on this trip down memory lane.
phil collins | ”don’t lose my number”
*phil collins is a staple in soundtrack to my childhood. i thought he was just too cool!
whitney houston | “how will i know?”
*this fell into my head this morning at the gym. works about as good as caffeine :)
Rodrigo y Gabriela | ”Tacuna”
*I don’t know this duet, but they make my hips shake and my ribs pop. Rodrigo y Gabriel are “a Mexican musical duo who specialize in playing fast, rhythmic acoustic guitars. The duo’s members are Rodrigo Sánchez, lead guitar, and Gabriela Quintero, rhythm guitar.” They’ll be performing at Bonnaroo with CUBA, a 13-piece Cuban orchestra! Man I can’t wait for this festival!
Michael Kiwanuka | ”Tell Me A Tale”
*I saw last night that Michael Kiwanuka was just added to the Bonnaroo lineup, and you can all thank me and my psychic mind for wishing this into existence. I remember the first time I heard his voice on this track and the horns, I fell in love! So pretty and sincere and so anti so much of what makes up popular r&b music today. It’s going to be so romantic listening to him live. Le sigh…
