Album Review by Dawoud Kringle
Artist: Banning Eyre
Title: Bare Songs Vol. 1
Format: CD
Label: Lion Songs Records
Genre: African guitar music
Buy CD here: https://didier-garcia-x6sp.squarespace.com/store/bare-songs-vol-1
Banning Eyre requires no introduction for those of you who are regular readers of doobeedoobeedoo.info and members or friends of MFM.
Text by Dawoud Kringle
Andre Benjamin (a.k.a. Andre 3000) succeeded with the Atlanta-based hip-hop duo Outkast, collaborated with Beyonce and Erykah Badu, and made his mark as an actor. In 2023, he shocked the music world by releasing New Blue Sun, an all-instrumental collaboration with Carlos Nino, where he played flute. Nothing could have prepared audiences for one of the greatest rappers in hip hop making a bold move into ambient, flute based improvisational music. And against all odds, it was a great success.
Musicians have been improvising music for thousands of years. I could (and occasionally have) write about the musical traditions of ancient and classical cultures where musicians were expected to improvise. In the last several decades, jazz, some arcane offshoots of rock music, and all variations and subgenres have established improvisation as a mainstay in its canon.
Text by Bruce Gallanter (Downtown Music Gallery, September 9th, 2024)
“Part of the Union” Song by The Strawbs, from the album Bursting at the Seams (1973)
Now I’m a union man
Amazed at what I am
I say what I think
That the company stinks
Yes, I’m a union man.
Album Review by Dawoud Kringle
Artist: Philip Ellis Foster
Title: The Cosmos Project
Label: Infrequent Seams
Format: Digital
Genre: experimental/avant-garde music
Stream and buy here: https://philipellisfoster.bandcamp.com/album/the-cosmos-project
In the realm of experimental avant-garde music, Philip Ellis Foster has carved out his niche.
Text by Bruce Gallanter (Downtown Music Gallery, 9/26/2024)
“Janis” by Country Joe & The Fish, from I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ to Die (rel late, 1967)
Into my life on waves of electrical sound
And flashing light she came
Into my life with the twist of a dial
The wave of her hand, the warmth of her smile.
