Lucky you. I woke up two hours early today, which means I had time to work out (read: lift weights and make faces in the mirror), ascertain my long-forgotten clothes from the dry-cleaners, and post a song to commemorate the day this week when I woke up two hours early. Yay!

Thursday - Asobi Seksu

Asobi Seksu is lovely. If you need another pick me up, check out the dude (is it a dude?) in the pea green sweater singing back-up for The Turtles "Happy Together" on YouTube.

-- Jess 

Ask any band and they’ll tell you it is pretty impressive for a band to be around for 25 years. This feat is even more impressive if you’re an American ska band, facing the continual cycle of battling out shows in the underground in between momentary appearances on the mainstream radar. The Toasters have managed this feat remaining amazingly consistent in the quality of material they’ve produced despite an ever-changing lineup. With the release of their latest album, “One More Bullet” The Toasters add one more quality chapter to their impressive 25 year resume.

Fronted by Rob “Bucket” Hingley (the only constant in the bands lineup over the years), the Toasters have been putting out material to keep their fans happy. As pioneers of what is best known as the Third-wave of ska , which peaked in popularity in the mid-1990s, the band has resisted the opportunity to drift away from their roots like so many of the other bands that took off during that time. I think this deserves particular credit, as ska music isn’t exactly burning up the charts these days. Ska bands take particular pride in their roots and the Toasters can be proud that they have stuck to their guns.

The themes in the album are consistent with other work Hingley has written in the past: government interference in people’s lives, revenge and a bit of relationships for good measure. The opening two tracks dive straight into an assault on what I would guess is the Patriot Act . “What a Gwan” is a straight up third-wave ska song, showing the traditional up-beat rhythm and tempo and instrumentation that screams “dance music”. With lines like “What a Gwan/ Photo ID license/...where ya gone and where ya been” and “Big brother’s watchin’/ At home and in your car…we’re all strugglin’ in 1984” it’s pretty straight and to the point. The fun part about ska is that it can tackle a serious subject like personal freedom and make it sound like you should be dancing at a beach on a sunny summer day about it. It appeals to people who want depth in their music and those who just want to have a good time.

The third track “where’s the freedom?” carries over the theme from the first track, only this time it tacks a distinctly different sound, focusing on the toasting vocal skills and bass licks of new band member Jason Nwagbaraocha, formerly of underappreciated Florida ska group the Strangeways.

“You’re Gonna Pay” is really the quintessential Toasters track on the album: catchy guitar into by Bucket followed by a catchy horn riff to a sped-up, up-beat tempo and a simple catchy chorus and some fine solo work from tenor sax player Jeff Richey. It fits in the mold of a track you would hear on many of the other Toaster albums of years past.

Instrumentally, the Toasters always seem to alter their album sounds based on the horn players in the band. On past several albums there was a strong focus on trumpet, as insanely talented trumpet player Brian Sledge anchored the horn section. Prior to that in the ‘80s there was a focus more on trombone. This time around the focus seems to be sax, a position anchored well by Richey. Having said that, I think it would have been nice to hear trombone brought out more based on the talent of the individuals brought in to play the instrument. Two trombone players split the duty on the album, Chris Rhodes, who has spent time with the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Spring Heeled Jack, and Greg Robinson, best known for his work with the late, great Mephiskapheles. Although you do get to hear it a bit on tracks like “Step Up” (Robinson soloing with Richey and old Toaster standby Dave Barry on keys) and the opening “What a Gwan” (Oddly unaccredited to either…).

The disc is rounded out by a couple of old soul covers, as is characteristic in a Toaster album. This time it’s the Everly Brothers “When will I be loved?” and a bit of a Blues Brother shout-out at the end of the disc. Additionally, as is custom for the Toasters, they re-do one of their older songs on the record: “Run Rudy Run”.

The Toasters can be proud to be the standard bearers of the American ska scene for the past 25 years. If the band can keep rolling out solid albums in the vein of “One More Bullet” we’ll thankfully have them around for years to come.

For additional tracks, check out the band’s website for tons of live downloads.

The Toasters - Where's the Freedom?

The Toasters - You're Gonna Pay

-- Kevin

The liner notes of Baaba Maal's full-length record, Djam Leelii, instructs us on the origins of this magical album. It started with a battered cassette tape Baaba Maal made with the blind guitarist Mansour Seck. For years, the tape was only available in Senegal, but an original copy managed to float up to Biritian, where it acquired legendary status among West African music fans. Music afficianados spent several years attempting to track down the tape's origins. It wasn't until Baaba Maal's English debut in 1988, that the multi-track tapes of most of the songs were unearthed in Dakar. The remaining songs were never recovered, but while searching for these tracks, a tape of an earlier, nearly-forgotten session was uncovered. The liner notes conclude, "What you have here is a nearly-lost classic of modern Senagalese music." (Okay, did you follow all that?)

Djam Leelii: The Adventurers. When a grain ripens to perfection, it has to be harvested; otherwise the birds will eat it. So in life there is a right moment for everything. The saddest of times are the goodbyes. When the land has dried up and there is not enough to keep young men at home, the Toucouleur youth know they must leave Gabon, or the Congo, or Ivory Coast or Burundi, or even Europe. Their future is uncertain; they don't know what they will find or when they will come back. But one thing is for sure -- there is no reason for them to stay.  

But you don't need to read the liner notes to know this is a melancholic album.  And this is the power of music: wthout translation, and across cultures, you can hear the soft sadness in these melodies. The endings and the goodbyes. The fear of unknown destinations. These are songs about coming undone. They're lullabies, encouraging us to surrender, and let change have its way.

1. Maacina Tooro - Baaba Maal and Mansour Seck

2. Bibbe Leydy - Baaba Maal and Mansour Seck 

Here's a trailer from the Baaba Maal documentary by Palm Pictures. Beware of the stuffy British narrator.

-- Jess

Broken hearts. At this moment, there are 3,678 photos tagged "broken heart" in Flickr.  I've been reading this book that a friend shipped to me called When Things Fall Apart. Doesn't that title make you want to hurl? Yes, me too. But the book itself is like a perfect, little nerve pill that I keep coming back to. Take this passage, for instance:

 

The experience of certain feelings can seem particularly pregnant with desire for resolution: loneliness, boredom, anxiety. Unless we can relax with these feelings, it's very hard to stay in the middle when we experience them. We want victory or defeat, praise or blame. For example, if somebody abandons us, we don't want to be with that raw discomfort. Instead, we conjure up a familiar identity of ourselves as a hapless victim (check!). Or maybe we avoid the rawness by acting out and righteously telling the person how messed up he or she is. We automatically want to cover over the pain in one way or another, indentifying with victory or victimhood.

Heartache is not something we choose to invite in. It's restless and pregnant and hot with the desire to escape and find something or someone to keep us company. When we can rest in the middle, we begin to have a nonthreatening relationship with loneliness, a relaxing and cooling loneliness that completely turns our usual fear patterns upside down.

I gotta tell ya, this buddhist stuff works.  It's amazing what happens when you stop running away from pain, and instead try to observe and honor it. Relief.

Then again, sometimes you just need a healthy dose of loud, angry music. Sometimes, you just need to thrash around in your shoebox-sized apartment, blasting a classic tune and screaming at the top of your lungs "Ten, Ten, Ten, Ten for EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING!"

1. Kiss Off  - Everyone's Favorite Break-Up Band

You'll need more than just one song, of course. And much to every bachelor's delight, the Femmes have put out a ton of records in the last twenty years.  Buy something.  

-- Jess

Into each life some rain must fall, some days must be dark and dreary. 

Every good break-up mix has at least one song that gives voice to that inevitable moment when the weather outside behaves as an orchestral accompaniment to our emotional agony. Wallowing in the rain. It's almost required.

So, on this utterly gray Saturday, it seems fitting to provide a few rain-related tracks. 

1. In the Rain - The Dramatics 

2. Dry the Rain - The Beta Band

3. Date with the Rain - Eddie Kendricks

-- Jess

For the next few weeks, I'll be posting songs for a break-up mix. The blues seemed like a natural place to start. And who better to sing a soft, velvety blues song than the one and only, Lou Rawls.

The Lou Rawls Live!  album is a hidden gem in Rawls' long, and sometimes overly sentimental, career. It is a flawless record, with highlights that include Rawls' impromptu monologues and stirring, souful performances. One reviewer writes, "When Rawls sings, everybody wants to absorb the lyrics." But I wouldn't stop there. I want to become the lyrics. Wrap myself up in his silky songs. Lap up the piano notes. Roll naked in his crooning baritone. Okay, maybe not naked.

In 1962, Rawls was signed to Capitol Records. His first solo release on Capitol was Stormy Monday. The Live! album was recorded in a studio (which explains the awesome sound quality), but with a live audience. The experiment could have gone horribly, but Rawls pulls it off. When you listen to these tracks, you actually feel like you're sitting in a smokey, dark club right alongside the other patrons. I hope you enjoy!

1.  Stormy Monday - Lou Rawls

2.  St. James Infirmary - Lou Rawls 

3.  A World of Trouble  (with monologue) - Lou Rawls 

-- Jess