Forgotten 90s Gem

During middle school I signed myself up for BMG's 12 for the price of 1 deal. Actually, I did it several times at once using my sister's name and my dad. Also, I would cancel after I paid and then do it again. Anyway, after I had gotten everything they had to offer that I knew I wanted I began choosing things at random.

I had heard of this band called Quicksand, but didn't know much about them. I had heard that they sounded a bit like Helmet. That would turn out not to be true exactly, but I liked it!

So, I got the record Manic Compression. It starts out rolling and seemed to pick up right in the middle of a story and even though I didn't know how the story started I understood what was happening. This record was full of energy and was just what I was looking for...

I played it for some friends who promptly went out and bought Quicksand's earlier record, Slip. These records were not necessarily prophetic. But, they had an undeniable presence. They were confident and competent and I liked the fact that no one else knew who they were! Somehow, these guys escaped notice; possibly because of timing. Regardless, they have been forgotten and, as this record is shockingly cheap, anyone interested in harder rock ought to hit re-wind and dig 'em up!

Blackitolism

I think I was a junior in high school when my friend Kyle introduced me to Digable Planets. I remember looking at the album cover and it was a huge hair pick. The record was called Blowout Comb. The music was like no other hip-hop I had ever heard. Of course, I already knew the jazzy beats of A Tribe Called Quest and others, but this was different. This was vastly superior to anything I had ever heard before or since!

A handful of groups rode the jazz vibe in the late 80s and early 90s, but I have never heard anyone as laid back as this. Of particular interest to me is the song '9th Wonder (Blackitolism)'. In my estimation, it is in the top 5 all-time greatest hip-hop songs ever recorded!

Truly, if you want to hear the kings (and queen) of jazzy hip-hop then you need to dig Digable Planets!

Perhaps some of their charm and power comes from the fact that they only made two albums. They burst on the scene with a fresh, cohesive sound and within a few years they were gone. If you dig the sound of Blowout Comb dig their first album: Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space). Criminally neglected hip-hop masterpieces!

B-Boys in the Burbs?

I don't get it. Why do suburban kids LOVE hip-hop? Is it because it portrays a lifestyle they know nothing about? Is it the "machoness" of it? Is it the style or language of the performers? Does the substantial rise in popularity of a now 40+ year-old genre have a greater cultural significance? Or am I overreacting?

Whatever the reason, one thing is for certain... affluent suburban kids, a large percentage of which are white, LOVE hip-hop! It seems like the more inane, boastful, violent, misogynistic or homophobic the music is the more it sells. This bothers me because I am a fan of hip-hop.

Though there is still pretty good stuff coming out these days (Blackalicious, Jurassic 5, Immortal Technique, etc) it is WAY underground! In the 80s and early 90s there was plenty of thoughtful and artistic mainstream hip-hop. The stuff kids consider to be real hip-hop today is the stuff I take issue with. The Billboard's list of top rap songs is loaded with offensive, obnoxious and ostentatious 'music'. I challenge anyone to read the lyrics to the songs on this list monthly. They rarely move out of the realm of macho violence...

My first tape was RUN-DMC's Raising Hell. This is the one that ends with 'Proud To Be Black'. I was about eight years old. Even if the word fuck wasn't in the song twice I would have gotten its importance. I remember asking my mom who Harriet Tubman and Jesse Owens were because of this song. I graduated to Young MC and Eric B. & Rakim and Slick Rick. Then in middle school I had Tribe and De La Soul tapes. High school brought The Fugees and Digable Planets. There were others, but my point is the lyrics in a random song by one of these groups are vastly different than the Top 40 today.

Sure, Young MC got famous with a song about picking up a girl, but his video didn't show him swiping a credit card through her ass crack! Slick Rick had songs about the ladies too, but despite their somewhat macho lyrics they fell short of being full-on vulgar.

Ok. A very long story cut very short... the white-controlled music industry creates, hypes, markets and distributes shockingly awful 'music' with socially dangerous themes! The suburban white kids who make up the majority of the market are fed consistently reinforced negative stereotypes of black men and women. The genre of hip-hop is a stunning musical revelation with endless possibilities. It is a shame that the thoughtful stuff gets sidelined and that the young black artists that create it have their music dubbed as 'backpacker' hip-hop or 'hippie-hop'!

Jurado

Sometime last year my wife and I visited friends in Seattle. I made a (very) quick stop at an independent record shop called Easy Street Records in the Queen Anne district. In an effort to not leave my wife stranded in the car for hours, which I could have easily done, I motored over to the 'Used' section and began rifling through things. I was a a man on a mission and I suppose I had a few things on my mind that I was on the lookout for, but generally speaking I was just looking for a diamond in the rough... and I was looking quickly!

Somehow I started in the middle of the section and the first heading I saw was 'J'. So, I started flipping through looking for June of '44, the first band to come to mind. After many bad albums by bad bands, I came across a visually inviting and colorful record by Damien Jurado. I didn't know his stuff well, but had heard one song on KEXP and really dug it. The record, from 2002, was called I Break Chairs. Sub-Pop released it, so I figured there was a good chance of it being a solid record. As it was $6.99, it was in my price range and I headed for the register.

This was actually our last stop before the drive home and Mr. Jurado's record was to be the first thing we heard as we headed back south. From the anthemic ringing of the first guitar lick on the song "Paper Wings" I knew I had made a good choice!

Damien has a gruff, commanding, immediate voice that still manages to be trustworthy and inviting. I was in love with the record and listened to it twice all the way through before my wife got sleepy and I put on something much mellower.

My next encounter with Jurado's music was with an altogether different album from 2006 called And Now That I'm In Your Shadow. The quietness of this record was not something I had considered Jurado apt to venture into. However, he pulls it off with 1960s coffeshop mastery! The record is mostly him and his guitar telling earnest, mature confessional stories.  Another great record from a totally different angle!

At this point I was hooked on Damien Jurado's breadth and depth. So, last week I went backwards in his catalog and bought his second full-length from 1999 called Rehearsals for Departure. This is another relatively quiet album. It was at this early stage in his career that folks began to compare his lyrics and delivery to the likes of Dylan, Woody and others. And, while I don't see that connection, I definitely enjoy his music enough to recommend it to anyone! He is a great artist with plenty to say!