2011- what I want to remember and share

[work in progress]

ok there is not gonna be top 5, 10 or however many, I am just going to try and remember all the amazing stuff I've come across in 2011, in no particular order I guess, we'll see.

LV& Joshua Idehen Routes
I loved this album from the first listen but then I was bound to. I'd already fallen in love with Josh Idehen by then. But in the case of Routes it's not about my crash on the 'guest vocalist', a phrase quite inadequate when describing Idehen's role here -he's an integral and indispensable part of this journey. The four members of the project move without hesitation in directions that many different musical and topical routes available take them and each leap feels both adventurous and comfortable - just like you would move around a city you understand and can't help loving in spite of shit you see on every corner. the result is diverse and surprising and yet feels coherent and familiar, looking back as much as forward. Coupled with the humour and urgency of Josh's thoughtful ramblings, off-hand, tongue-in-cheek remarks and barked out half-cooked and sometimes raw observations, it is simply brilliant and unlike anything else I've heard. dope dope dope. what I love most about it though is how MOODY it is! one minute playful and energetic, the next cold and detached, not indifferent to anything but not too bothered either. it resonates brilliantly with my own moods when I walk through town.



Aquarius Heaven Can't Buy Love



The Roots Undun
when the preview of this rhapsody by the Roots - and their fourteenth album! - appeared on okplayer in December I listened to it 3 times in a row. i listened to it only three times because it was very late and i really needed sleep. it is a work of musical and lyrical genius masterfully arranged by ?estlove and simply beautiful. for me this album is perfect, it has virtually no weak points and it's highlights are high.



DJ Quick The Book Of David
obnoxious and blaze but also lyrical and somehow vulnerable. always very, very quick. some of this guy's lyrics make me wince and and laugh at the same time, there's a lot of vitriol here but always underlined with humour and stoicism. musically it's a feast too. the man's a genius. he knows it, he says it and you can't help but agree. put him in a burner there's a good chance he'll stay there for a while.



wiley 100% publishng
I am a dedicated wiley fan. the best and seemingly effortlessest flow around, he can't go wrong as far as i'm concerned. I got really excited when I first saw this cool lil home-made advert back in april (thanks kravat for sending it me) I'd only just seen him and the roll deep crew at islington academy - not my first choice a venue but it was packed with fiends and fam (not mine obviously, wiley's) and fans, many half my age haha and good vibes - as part of the elusive tour, and though it was great to see the whole crew on stage, I'd been craving pure wiley. and boom boom da na:



oh and I bought this album.

danny brown - xxx

2011

best year of my life so far

home sweet home... x2

back from an obligatory xmas holiday (that may have not exactly seemed like medicine while it lasted but cleared my head soul and body beautifully) to My Life which is a mess, yeah, but what can I do?

it was good to rest for a week, do nothing, run nowhere, chill with mum, even watch tv! can't remember the last time I'd done that! it was good to still see so many of my people even though I made so little effort to arrange it and didn't go to the one party I really should have gone to coz I couldn't be arsed to get dressed....

arrived there as a nervous wreck, left cured. now it's good to be back to this mess I love. back to the world of music. 2011 has been all about music and the last four months of it more so than "hardly never ever" but that's another post

ben

see I don’t sleep at night
sometimes I might most times
I try while my mind races
around me space is filled with
traces of the day just gone
plans and dreams of future success

don’t sleep but dream yes
and in the dream caress your coffee coloured arm
my lips linger over its silky skin
I gently stroke with my finger
in the dream
your coffee coloured ear and feel alarm