Concert Review: Brother Ali at the Granada

I went to a hip-hop concert and an Occupy Wall Street rally broke out.  Lacking a backpack filled with spray paint and Howard Zinn tracts, I felt a bit more out of place than usual at the Granada on Sunday.

Backed only by DJ Last Word, Brother Ali, Bambu and Mally performed over two hours of old-school hip-hop for the 100 or so people who had ponied up $15 to gain entry.

Ali explained that he embarked on a tour without a new album or promotional support in an effort to reconnect with his real fans.  He added that he selected his tour mates partly because they were good fathers to their children.  The Minneapolis rapper is so painfully sincere that I had to take him at his word.  Coming from most anyone else, the assertions would have seemed like weak rationalizations for the pitiful turnout.

Long one of my favorite MCs, Ali performed most of his best known material, from the scathing political attack "Uncle Sam Goddamn" ("Obama is killing people with drones") to the self-esteem anthem "Forest Whitiker" ("you ain't gotta love me").  A rap about raising children in the aftermath of the Mike Brown incident was the clear highlight of the evening.

The contradictory messages espoused by Los Angeles' Bambu irritated me so much that I considered giving him a piece of my mind after the show.  Minneapolis' Mally was likable enough.  The trio issued an informal performance of "Home Away" earlier this week.


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I reviewed a concert by the Flaming Lips and Electric Würms.

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The video for Kansas City Bear Fighters '"You're In Kansas" is clever.  (Via Tony's Kansas City.)

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Here's the video for Farout's "Bittersweet".

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Marc Myers' remembrance of Joe Sample is invaluable.

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Howard Reich reports on Steve Coleman's genius grant.

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Polar Bear is better on paper than on headphones.  In Each and Every One is RIYL: Radiohead, jazz for people who don't like jazz, the Pat Metheny Group.  Here's "Life and Life".

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Cold Specks' Neuroplasticity is another album I'm supposed to like.  I loathe it.  RIYL: Patti Smith, "Art", Neneh Cherry.  Here's "Absisto".

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Steve Arrington continues to funk everything up.

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From the Why Didn't Any of You Jerks Tell Me About This Department- GoGo Penguin's excellent v2.0 is RIYL: Esbjörn Svensson Trio, European jazz, the Bad Plus.  "Hopopono" is a representative track.

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The Mark Turner Quartet's Lathe of Heaven looks promising.

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Donnie McClurkin's Duets is RIYL: Sunday mornings, the Winans, clapping.

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Bahamas' Bahamas is Afie is RIYL: Jimmie Spheeris, lite rock, Dan Fogelberg.

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Death Metal Angola.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Album Review: The Ben Miller Band- Any Way, Shape or Form

I was surprised to learn that the Ben Miller Band was opening several concerts for ZZ Top.  How, I wondered, did the ruffians from Joplin land those enviable gigs?  Then I listened to the new album Any Way, Shape or Form.  The ensemble is no longer merely a poor man's version of Split Lip Rayfield.  Rugged new songs like "The Outsider" are capable of thrilling impatient fans of ZZ Top, Americana obsessives and jaded music bloggers.

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My notes on the opening night of the Kansas City Irish Fest are here.

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I contributed a Local Listen segment about Carswell & Hope to KCUR's Up to Date.

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Here's Ces Cru's video for "Give It To Me".

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A week after I named "Pieces of Me" as the #6 track of the decade, NPR posted Ledisi's excellent live performance of the hit.

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My observations about a 2011 Opeth show in Kansas City indicate that the band's transition from a metal band to a prog ensemble was underway three years ago.  The ridiculously overblown new album Pale Communion resembles Emerson Lake & Palmer, Jethro Tull and Kansas.  (And yes, I like it.)

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Pallbearer's Foundations of Burden is mighty.  RIYL: rolling thunder, High on Fire, haunted houses.

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The audio portion of Dio's recently released Live in London: Hammersmith Apollo 1993 makes me smile.  Here's corresponding concert footage.

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Somi's The Lagos Music Salon may be "important," but I just can't get into it.  RIYL: Esperanza Spalding, Art with a capital A, Abbey Lincoln.

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I may be the only person who's excited about the impending deluge of resentful recordings by graying rappers.  Cormega's Mega Philosophy is RIYL: bitterness, Nas, sour grapes.  I'm all about it.

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Spoon's They Want My Soul is first-rate.  RIYL: The Cars, craftsmanship, The  New Pornographers.

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DJ Mustard's 10 Summers is RIYL: YG, radio playlists, Jeezy.  Here's "Down On Me".

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I'd be lying if I suggested that I'd rather hear Steven Drozd and Wayne Coyne talk about Miles Davis than listen to the Electric Würms’ Musik, Die Schwer Zu Twerk, but it's a close call.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)