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Dj Spooky + Sussan Deyhim: Azadi (The New Complexity) by Dj Spooky

Lyrics to the song AZADI
by Rumi


SHOW ME YOUR FACE
i crave
flowers and gardens
open your lips
i crave
the taste of honey
come out from
behind the clouds
i desire a sunny face

your voice echoed
saying "leave me alone"
i wish to hear your voice
again saying "leave me alone"
i swear this city without you
is a prison

i am dying to get out
to roam in deserts and mountains

i am tired of
flimsy friends and
submissive companions
i am blue hearing
nagging voices and meek cries
i desire loud music
drunken parties and

wild dances
one hand holding
a cup of wine
one hand caressing your hair
then dancing in orbital circle
that is what i yearn for

i can sing better than any nightingale
but because of
this cityʼs freaks
i seal my lips
while my heart weeps

yesterday the wisest man
holding a lit lantern
in daylight
was searching around town saying
i am tired of
all these beast and brutes
i seek
a true human

we have all looked
for one but
no one could be found
they said

yes he replied
but my search is
for the one
who cannot be found

Lyrics and images from http://www.djspooky.com
post inspired from nevermind the bricolage

Wow. Just Wow.

Found this from my friend Reuben...he's right...so simple, yet so amazing:

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo.

Is our response to music hard-wired or culturally determined? Is the reaction to rhythm and melody universal or influenced by environment? Join host John Schaefer, Jamshed Barucha, scientist Daniel Levitin, Professor Lawrence Parsons and musical artist Bobby McFerrin for live performances and cross cultural demonstrations to illustrate music's note-worthy interaction with the brain and our emotions.

See the whole program here: http://www.worldsciencefestival.com/video/notes-neurons-full

Both graciously stolen from Tamie:

 

"In the West we have a tendency to be profit-oriented, where everything is measured according to the results....In the East - especially in India - I find that people are more content to just be, to just sit around under a banyan tree for half a day chatting to each other. We Westerners would probably call that wasting time. But there is value to it. Being with someone, listening without a clock and without anticipation of results, teaches us about love. The success of love is in the loving - it is not in the result of loving. Of course it is natural in love to want the best for the other person, but whether it turns out that way or not does not determine the value of what we have done. The more we can remove this priority for results the more we can learn about the contemplative element of love."

- Brother Geoff, as quoted by Mother Teresa in the book, "A Simple Path"

Thanks to the fine folks at Losanjealous, I was able to head over to the El Rey to see Alexi Murdoch last Wednesday.  I had conflicting plans the last opportunity I had to see him perform (at the Doug Fir Lounge in Portland a few years ago).  I arrived a little after 9pm, to a pretty full crowd already standing around (and sitting on the dance floor).  The opening act, the Portland Cello Project (or PCP as they joked), consisted of 5 cello players and a percusionist.  They played a wide variety of interpretations of songs from such diverse artists as Dave Brubeck and Pantera.


After a short break out came Alexi.  The place was completely quiet as Alexi began his set, and really for the most part remained that way throughout the entire set.  He played a nice mix of songs from his LP and new songs from a forthcoming "long EP or short LP."  A nice surprise was that they had just received a limited run of this new materials that were hand stamped and individually numbered (I ended up getting number 26/5000).  I've got to say, Alexi hasn't missed a beat with the new songs.  Of them, the one that's been played over and over again is called "Through the Dark."  The album should be in stores in a few months.  He doesn't tour often, so if you get the chance, go see him.  It'll be worth it.

 

as inspired by Röyksopps Remind Me video:



Slagsmålsklubben - Sponsored by destiny from Tomas Nilsson on Vimeo.

School assignment to reinterpret the
fairytale Little red ridning hood.
Inspired by Röyksopps Remind me.

Music: Slagsmålsklubben, Sponsored by destiny
www.smk.just.nu
Animation: Tomas Nilsson
www.tomas-nilsson.se

Her Morning Elegance by Oren Lavie

Info about the Video

One of the guys in The Sweet Remains, used to attend the same church as I do in LA.  So when his band was booked to open for K'Naan and Mishka at The Roxy in West Hollywood, a bunch of folks from church decided to go.

I got to the club a little early, and asked someone who looked like they worked there if he knew when they would be selling tickets.  He asked for which show, and I said tonight, to which he responded..."I think tonights sold out."  Since I hadn't eaten yet, and there was still plenty of time before anyone I was going to meet was going to be there, I decided to walk down Sunset in search of some food (I hadn't eaten yet.)

Around 7pm, a few of the folks I was meeting showed up, and the ticket office opened.  We tried to get our ticket and were told that sorry, the show was sold out.  It was looking kind of bleak for awhile.  Eventually, a couple of the folks in our group who were on the list, were able to get in and talk to the guy in the band, who was able to talk to the folks at the venue and they let us purchase tickets (though we were supposed to leave after they played).



Most of my group filtered out after The Sweet Remains were done, but I hung around, curious about Mishka and wanting to see at least a little bit of K'Naan's set.

Mishka, was celebrating the release of his new album Above the Bones, his first release on Matthew McConaughey's record label.  Matthew was of course in attendance as well.  I hadn't heard of Mishka before, but I enjoyed him quite a bit.  He's got a mellow reggae style...definitely influenced by the beaches and "roots reggae."



The last act of the evening was K'Naan, who I was first introduced to when he opened for Stephen Marley at the Roseland in Portland.  He's a Toronto based, but Somali born Hip-Hop artist.  His music is definitely influenced by the rhythms of Africa and reggae as well.  In fact, he recorded the majority of his new album at Bob Marley's home studio in Jamaica.

K'Naan is a blast, and I had wished it wasn't a work night, so I could have stayed for the whole set.

I'm really behind in posting things...but I feel like procrastinating right now...so here we go...

Thanks to LA Metblogs, I was able to check out Michael Franti & Spearhead @ Club Nokia on Jan 30th.  Club Nokia is part of the newish LA Live development next to the Staples Center.  It is designed to complement the much larger Nokia Theater.  It is still a fairly large venue, holding up to 2,300 people.  It has two levels...the main floor and a balcony.  For this show, the main floor was open floor space, and the balcony provided seats (Most of which were also general admission).

My friend and I staked a claim to a couple seats in the balcony to enjoy the show in a more relaxed setting than the "pit" of fans directly in front of the stage.  Despite getting there shortly after 8pm (when the show was supposed to start), the second opening band was already on stage.  The first thing I noticed, was how incredibly good the sound quality was.  The mix was spot on for the space.  No distortion, and the vocals weren't overpowered by the instruments.  Second, there really isn't a bad seat in the place.  The balcony seats all still feel very close to the stage, so for such a large venue, you still get the feel of an intimate show.

Franti & Spearhead were amazing.  They came on around 9pm and played for a little over 2 hours.  I wouldn't have been disappointed at all if I had paid for tickets.

Relentless7 is Ben Harper's new band.  They announced two shows around noon on Wednesday at The Mint, a small venue near my house.  I decided to throw caution to the wind and get a ticket to the Thursday night show and check it out.

Technically the Thursday show, was actually on Friday, as the doors opened at midnight and the show was scheduled to start at 12:30am.  Thankfully, the show started pretty much on time.  I found a nice spot near the middle of the stage, with only a couple of girls in front of me.  Basically I was no more than 3-5 feet from Ben Harper.

The show was fun.  The band played an 11 song set.  It's a little more "rock" oriented than his stuff with the Innocent Criminals.  There were a few issues with the sound, but I think that mainly was because of the venue.  Too many clubs have the mains up so loud, and then the guitars/bass/drums up so loud, that the vocals can get drowned out.  A few songs into the set, Ben had them turn around one of the monitors to use it as a vocal field.  So yeah, the mix wasn't great in the venue.

I've got a couple pictures from my Blackberry, that I may upload later, I haven't had a chance to see if they are worth putting out there.