" I Left This Bullwhip With The Night Stand "

Swan Lake – Enemy Mine  (Jagjaguwar: March 2009)

For those not in the know, Swan Lake is a trio of Canadian indie musicians hailing from 3 (or 4 or 5) of the best rock groups currently populating the Great White North:  Spencer Krug, of Wolf Parade and Sunset Rubdown; Dan Bejar of Destroyer and the New Pornographers; and Carey Mercer of Frog Eyes.  The unlikely triumvirate emerged in 2008 with their debut album, Beast Moans, a Schumpeterian result of their distinctive and chaotic styles.  The album is thrush with the kind of apocalyptic gothic imagery you would expect to encounter at the event horizon of hell.  That being said, Enemy Mine offers the same type of style and imagery but it is infinitely more subtle, and one might say, more careful in its total outward perception.


Continue Reading...

“ Get smart with your smartness. Too busy survivin’ to argue ‘bout Darwin, darlin’ ”

Mos Def – The Ecstatic (Downtown: June, 2009)

In university I became more interested in hip-hop but I would not for a minute consider myself anywhere close to an expert on hip-hop music. I was more interested with the things that surrounded hip-hop music, i.e. the history of the oppressed, inner-city realities, and the attitudes of (predominantly) young men. Needless to say, I always put a priority on hip-hop that delivered sharp and insightful lyrics, was politically charged, and told a story rather than had "killer sample." There were many artists that I truly enjoyed for this reason alone, Mos Def being one of them.

Mos Def is a somewhat polarizing figure that much of mainstream society simply cannot handle. He is outspoken and articulate (almost enough in itself), he is a Muslim (again), and he is politically conscious hip-hop artist with a chip on his soldier (and for good reason). He has appeared in feature films, on talk shows, and in several television series but it’s not his work on the screen that is most impressive. His most inspiring work involves his collaboration with Talib Kweli as Blackstar and his own amazing solo work, the latest of which is called The Ecstatic...


Continue Reading...