How many pop-songs are inspired by girls? Probably impossible to count… From the Beatles to Weezer, Chuck Berry to Bon Iver, there’s infinite inspiration for any heavyhearted roses-are-red-type-boy when he starts musing upon the varied facets, fantasies and features of the female.
But what about darkly fuzzed, sample/loop-laden, left-field hip-hop instrumentals and ambient electronica songs…inspired by girls? That’s a fresh spin, I’d say.
Ypsi-area rapper/producer Jah Connery (a.k.a. Joshua Davis) is pouring a bit of the personal into his latest batch of hazy-clattered, beat-scattered electro-ruminations, cut-punched and sprawled with his signature spacey/nervy aesthetic on this months Girls, Man.
The goal, Davis said, “was to make it multi-faceted. Most people don’t know how to make music about the opposite sex that isn’t gushy or emo. Men and women relate in a lot of ways, so I made a record about that.”
The 10-song album, featuring some fine rapsmanship from lyricist Grimm Picasso and a remix of a song by Toronto-area hip-hop/electronica composer Octavio Santos, is up on bandcamp with a name-your-own-price-tag (but generous listeners might consider that the dude’s gonna be getting married soon…)
In the meantime, Davis is keeping busy with his other projects, including his fiercely-fuzzed rap-project with emcee Leaf Erikson, Smash Television. Rooks, a collaboration with Duece Freight, has its next album just about lined up, a follow-up to their recent Rooks Rooks Rooks collection (which, by the way, also featured Grimm Picasso). Stay tuned.
Info:
http://jahconnery.bandcamp.com/album/girls-man
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And then:
“Sometimes you need to get further away from reality to get closer to the truth…”
So said Chris Bathgate, Arbor/Ypsi’s heavy/heady/hearty indie/folk sage, in indicating his aim towards a recording-focused hermitage. “Sort of entering the cocoon…”
Cryptic and curious. Bathgate hinted that next weekend’s performance at the Blind Pig (9/21) and the next day’s show at Founder’s in Grand Rapids (9/22) might be among his last live appearances for 2012.
Nothing to dread, though, since the last time he went into a cocoon-ish recording phase, he came out the other end with the radiant gloom-jangles and swooned stomp of the Salt Year LP, so this is probably for the best: let the man work!
Minimalist-electro-dance-pop duo Nightlife join Bathgate at the Pig next Saturday. Also serenading this quasi-seasonal send-off for the esteemed music-maven are Lightning Love, swinging back into town from their self-booked Blonde Album tour.
Info:
