In Heavy Rotation (October 2016)

When you take a month off from one of your most popular series, things can change without fair warning.  What was supposed to be the September edition was on the verge of being a "Late AF Post of the Week" anyway and, to be honest, I wasn't extremely pumped to write it in the first place.  However, a family tragedy ended up being less of an obstacle and more of a blessing as skipping my birth month's edition made way for newer and disputably better music to surface and allowed me as a music lover to stay true to the spirit of this series.  Long story short, only two of the original albums in my rotation for September remained on the list for October while the other three were pushed back for the last two posts for 2016.  Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if the next two months give me even better albums to listen to and those other projects get bumped altogether.  So since you didn't come here for lengthy backstories and stall tactics, I apologize to the most faithful supporters of "In Heavy Rotation" and bring you the long-awaited good part...

THROWBACK PICK OF THE MONTH: CAN, Ege Bamyasi (United Artists, 1972).  If not for watching Netflix's The Get Down, then I probably would've gone another four decades without knowing a thing about German experimental rock band Can.  Featured while Dizzee (Jaden Smith) ventured into the New York City nights and graffiti bombed subway cars, Japanese vocalist Kenji "Damo" Suzuki complements Jaki Liebezeit's diverse drumming and Holger Czukay's rhythmic bass lines to provide the ideal backdrop for the most liberated Kipling brother.  With a strangely hypnotic sound, I was drawn to the critically-acclaimed Ege Bamyasi.  While you definitely need the lyrics to remotely understand Suzuki's quirky delivery, "Pinch" sets the tone from the door by establishing the band's roots in avant-garde and free jazz while signifying their ability to transcend contemporary and rock influences.  Although much of the second half of "Soup" is simply an experiment with sound, the ten-minute track finds guitarist Michael Karoli as well as Liebezeit and Czukay dwelling in a gritty pocket of rock once the groove gets going.  However, the album's highlight is what drew me to it in the first place: "Vitamin C", which is largely driven by some of Liebezeit's steadiest and commanding drum performances on Ege Bamyasi.  A more discernible Suzuki also has one of his finest moments: "Her daddy got a big aeroplane/Her mommy holds all the family cash/A beautiful rose is standing at the corner/She is living in and out of tune..."  With sample-worthy achievements in musicianship, Ege Bamyasi is sure to have me digging through the crates for more Can.  OTHER NOTABLES: "I'm So Green" and "Spoon".

AGAINST THE GRAIN PICK OF THE MONTH: TAME IMPALA, Currents (Modular/Universal/Fiction/Interscope, 2015).  If I can't give Rihanna credit for anything else, then remaking Australian psychedelic rock band Tame Impala's "New Person, Same Old Mistakes" not only worked wonders for her as a vocalist, but also in solidifying my reasons for listening to Currents.  Granted, one of my longtime buddies had already heavily touted it, but since my blog was down and out for most of 2015, I put off the opportunity to treat myself to one of the most musically and lyrically relatable albums I've listened to in years.  Although the quintet's "man of many hats" in Kevin Parker said this "shouldn't be on a Tame Impala album because it has this dorky, white disco funk", "The Less I Know the Better" is still saved by a "gnarly bass riff" and some of Parker's simplest lyrics: "She said, 'It's not now or never/Wait ten years, we'll be together'/I said, 'Better late than never/Just don't make me wait forever."  With Julien Barbagallo drumming with presence, Cam Avery strumming the bass with soul and Jay Watson adding synthesized fullness, Parker fluently speaks my language in the vulnerable "'Cause I'm a Man":

Like the brutal autumn sun/It dawns on me, what have I done/Saying sorry ain't as good as saying why/But it buys me a little more time/Lost in the moment for the second time/Each f-----g doubt I make, unleash a cry/I'm just pathetic, that's the reason why/In desperation, all that you can do is ask me why...'cause I'm a man, woman/Not often proud of what I choose/I'm a human, woman/A greater force I answer to...

Despite having plenty of tracks to love, arguably the album's best song, "New Person, Same Old Mistakes," was saved for last.  I've already expressed my thoughts of how musically dope this song is via Rihanna's version, but this is the perfect opportunity to share more of Parker's fantastic lyrics:

Finally taking flight/I know you don't think it's right/I know that you think it's fake/Maybe fake's what I like/The point is, I have the right/Not thinking in black and white/I'm thinking it's worth the flight/Soon to be out of sight/Knowing it all this time/Going with what I always longed for...

Having no awareness of this fact at the time, I realized my four of my five favorite songs from Currents were singles, which lets me know two things: 1) my ear for exceptional music with hit-making potential is still intact and 2) Tame Impala successfully managed to make an accessible masterpiece.  OTHER NOTABLES: "Let It Happen" and "Eventually".

(KINDA) HOMETOWN HERO PICK OF THE MONTH: AARON ABERNATHY, Monologue (Aaron Abernathy, 2016).  I usually prefer to reserve this pick for D.C. area natives because our artists don't get enough widespread respect and recognition as is.  However, like several brothers and sisters who graduate from the legendary Howard University, Cleveland native Aaron Abernathy also known as "AB" has made D.C. his home away from home for over a decade and has shown our great city plenty of love.  Having worked with the likes of Slum Village, Black Milk, Jack White, The Foreign Exchange and Eric Roberson while also independently endeavoring with Ab and The Souljourners and Nat Turner, the soul brother has put in the necessary work leading up to my favorite project of his to date, Monologue.  On one of his finest vocal performances, AB floats on the slow and steady "I Need to Know":

Baby in my past/I built a house of love that crumbled/I stumbled on the path/Of hurt and pain and sorrow/But I hope tomorrow, you'll still be different/You'll still treat me beautifully/You'll be everything I'm looking for and nothing will be missing/I'll still love when I'm with you/Love to treat you like a queen/But without a commitment, then tomorrow's just a dream...

Riding the sentimental groove of "Favorite Girl", he spares no expense creatively on this ode to his mother, especially in the opening verse which perfectly captures how I feel about my own mother:

Hey mama, I love the way you talk to me/And show me that you care, yeah/So full of generosity/Please know that I'm aware, yeah/Of all the things you do for me/Your love is not in vain, no/So thankful that you pray for me, yeah/You're a blessing, you're a friend...

Unlike Currents where I assumed "New Person, Same Old Mistakes" would remain my favorite song, the pleasant surprise leapfrogging my love of "Favorite Girl" is the silky smooth, romantically sensual "Kiss Me Again".  On the most resonant song from Monologue, he delivers more timeless lyrics:

Eyes meet, my heart speaks/Is this real love?  I don't know the feeling/My heart's unwinding/The door is open, please let yourself in/Hugs from behind me/Makes me feel you want me to stick around/Your lips, they find me/Girl, you got me now/Kiss me again, I love your lips on mine/Kiss me again, tell that you'll do it, do it...

If your album boots long-awaited projects from more renowned hip hop and R&B artists, then you know you have some fire on your hands and Monologue provides plenty of heat.  (BTW: quick shout-out to Nat Turner band member and my homie Malik Hunter for not only blazing many of these tracks with his incomparable bass playing, but for also putting his pen to work.)  OTHER NOTABLES: "When Reality Sets In" (feat. Zo!) and "Monologue".

PERSONAL PICK OF THE MONTH: SOLANGE, A Seat at the Table (Saint/Columbia, 2016).  When 16-year-old Solange Knowles first released Solo Star in 2003, I immediately thought she had no chance of emerging from the intimidatingly gargantuan shadows of her older sister--who would release her solo debut five months later and truly define the term "solo star".  Fast forward five years later to the more mature and soulful Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams, she made me do a double take and say, "This is Solange?!?!  Eff that...she's nothing like her sister!"  Including 2012's True, she has continued an upward trajectory toward establishing her own greatness and creating her own lane with the socially-conscious, musically-superior and now universally-acclaimed A Seat at the Table--the second album to bump out one of my original September choices.  Set up perfectly with one of several Master P interludes where he says, "If you don't understand my record, you don't understand me, so this is not for you," "F.U.B.U." (featuring The-Dream & BJ The Chicago Kid) draws its inspiration from the clothing line to exhibit "Blackness in any space, on a huge global level":

When it's going on a thousand years/And you pulling up to your crib/And they ask you where you live again/But you running out of damns to give, oh/I hope my son will bang this song so loud/That he almost makes his walls fall down/'Cause his momma wants to  make him proud/Oh, to be us...

With an Amel Larrieux-like delivery over one of her many collaborations with Raphael Saadiq and Sir Dylan, "Weary" challenges the concept of hierarchy while insisting everyone should have an equal shot at greatness:

But you know that a king is only a man/With flesh and bones, he bleeds just like you do/He said, "Where does that leave you?"/And, "Do you belong?"/I do, I do/Be leery 'bout your place in the world/You're feeling like you're chasing the world/You're leaving not a trace in the world/But you're facing the world...

On Seat's tour de force, "Cranes in the Sky" perfectly manifests why Saadiq and Knowles are a match made in Heaven.  Speaking to all of the ways in which she as a Black woman in America has avoided pain like the plague, the song she wrote eight years ago contains always-relevant gems:

I tried to drink it away/I tried to put one in the air/I tried to dance it away/I tried to change it with my hair/I ran my credit card bill up/Thought a new dress would make it better/I tried to work it away/But that just made me even sadder/I tried to keep myself busy/I ran myself in circles/Think I made myself dizzy/I slept it away, I sexed it away/I read it away...

The beauty of "Cranes" is the simplicity of the lyrics: they're not deep for the sake of being deep, but they're undeniably profound and engaging.  Although Solange has no idea who little old Dirk Scribbler is, you would've assumed we were best friends because there are few greater presents in this world than phenomenal music and, released two days after my 37th birthday, A Seat at the Table is the unexpected gift which I expect to keep on giving.  OTHER NOTABLES: "Junie" and "Don't Wish Me Well".

SOCIAL MEDIA PICK OF THE MONTH: NXWORRIES, Yes Lawd! (Stones Throw, 2016).  When I received an email from Apple Music that the one-two punch of drummer/singer/rapper/instrumentalist Anderson .Paak and producer Knxwledge were releasing their follow up to their debut as NxWorries, Link Up & Suede, I immediately clicked the link to the album and took a quick listen to a few of the tracks.  Then as I was preparing meals for the week, I had Yes Lawd! on blast and could barely concentrate on cooking because I was in my Jay-Z pulling the Gucci bucket hat over his face mode.  Once I got halfway through, I knew another artist left from the September batch was about to get the axe and didn't care because this album is that good--perhaps even more addictive (although not necessarily better) than .Paak's last solo effort, Malibu.  With glimpses of Bobby Womack, his raspy delivery and genuine candor thrive on the immensely soulful "Best One":

I think she could be in it for the long run/My n----s said I'm on one/I never knew a love stronger/My heart is a great big boulder/Hey, you f--k me like you know this could be something like your very last moment/I could leave it at the drop of a Fedora/But damn it girl I want you...

He rides the mellow groove of "Khadijah" smoother than the unreliable car he describes in this set of vivid sentiments:

Cops wanna see a n---a dead/My plug chargin' double for the strain/My lady been on a young n---a's head/My sidepieces just shows up and fled/Kutless ain't runnin' like it used to/Money ain't comin' like the usual/Look to the sky and lift up my head/Word to my mother, mother's grave/Heaven I need ya...

Making the sample from the late Webster Lewis' "The Love You Give to Me" cooler than it already was, "Get Better / Do U Luv" is my favorite marriage of Knxwledge's solid production and .Paak's ability to effortlessly vacillate between singing and rapping on Yes Lawd!  Reminding me of a young Kokane, his second verse was the nail in the coffin:

Too on, everybody rooting for me since I got a new jawn/Other b---h was too corny/My routine, fixing turkey and cheese/Now I got a new broad who can run and cook for me/Couldn't tell a n---a nothing, she couldn't do wrong/Had my nose wide open, I could sniff a cue ball/Tenderoni, taking all of my time/It's the power of the P-*-S-S-Y, ain't that right/Split up the bank, gave her all of my change/Coppin' diamonds and rings/I can't lie/Stomach to leave/She said, "Music or me?"/The f--k do you mean, this ain't right/Closing my eyes visioning/Living with this b---h could end up giving me instant misery/Open my eyes, she was kissing my constituent/I threw that b---h off the cliff/And as I get bigger...

In the end, I should've expected nothing less than dopeness from one of the best new duos in music right now and Yes Lawd! puts on a clinic of taking something already amazing, i.e., what they accomplished with Link Up & Suede, and elevating even more.  If any album from this month's impressive arsenal of music has a shot to remain in my rotation for months and years to come, then it's Yes Lawd! without batting an eye.  OTHER NOTABLES: "What More Can I Say" and "Lyk Dis".

Whether it's old or new, what's been "In Heavy Rotation" for you?  PLEASE feel free to spread the love with some dope albums in the comments--and don't be surprised if it makes the cut soon.  Don't forget to return on Tuesday, November 29th for the next edition of "In Heavy Rotation"!!!