Bad as Me

by Tom Waits

Basically, you either love Tom Waits, or you don't.  Anyone who has looked over the types of music I usually write about on this site would perhaps be surprised to see that Ol' Tom is one of my favourite musical artists, but there is something so appealing about most of his music, and I've been listening to him for close to twenty years now, having first been introduced to him by a co-worker in retail who often used Waits as a means of clearing the store of lingerers a half hour before closing.


Bad As Me is Tom's newest album, and he plays things safe within the context of his experimental roots/rockabilly/punk/cabaret mash-ups.  It starts off strong - in fact, the first few seconds of 'Chicago', the opening song, sounded more like the beginning of a Michael Nyman piece than Waits.

We get the usual mix of Brawlers and Bawlers, with just a couple Bastards (to use the classification system that Tom introduced for his songs with his triple-album Orphans).  My favourite song is the closer to the first disc (I picked up the 'deluxe edition', which came with a second CD comprised of three songs), 'New Year's Eve', which has Tom paint a scene of urban disaffection, borrowing the chorus from 'Auld Lang Syne'; it's a formula that worked so well for him years ago with 'Tom Traubert's Blues' (aka 'Waltzing Matilda').

It's terrific to see that Waits is still producing new music, and continues to do it the way he always has, with staunch individualism and little regard for radio play or marketability.  This is not Tom's best album, but it's pretty good.

Crate Digging: Pick a Bigger Weapon

by The Coup

It's hard for me to believe that it's been four years since this album dropped; I find that it still gets fairly regular play, and many of the tracks on here have places of honour on my ipod.

Pick A Better Weapon is a classic album.  As with their previous offerings, Boots Riley and Pam the Funkstress work to convey complex political and sociological ideas in a manner that is fun and easily accessible, without sacrificing the clarity of their message.  I can think of no one else in hip-hop, and hardly anyone in any other form of media, who are as skilled at taking an idea that could be considered by many to be unpalatable, and turn it into something both thoughtful and entertaining.

Aside from a short intro track, the album begins with 'We Are the Ones', which has Boots rapping in a quicker, slightly hysterical voice, justifying a career in the drug game:  "now philosphically you'd be opposed to one inhaling coke via mouth or the nose, but economically i would propose that you go eat a dick as employment has froze."  From there, we go into 'Laugh/Love/F***', which makes the revolution sound like a lot of fun.

The fourth track, 'My Favorite Mutiny' is one of my all-time favourite songs.  It has appearances by Black Thought and Talib Kweli, although Boots outshines them both.  'Ijuswannalayaroundalldayinbedwithyou' is a lovely song about love, and the ways in which crappy jobs can ruin it.  'Head (of State)' is classic Coup - a bouncy song about the political (and perhaps sexual) relationship between G.W. Bush and Saddam Hussein.  Songs like 'ShoYoAss', 'Get That Monkey Off Your Back', and 'MindF*** (A New Equation)' continue the call for revolution.


A couple of skits and the irritating 'Ass-Breath Killers' weaken things in the middle of the album, but it picks up again with 'I Love Boosters!', Boots's tribute to the urban phenomenon of professional shoplifters.  Leave it to him to see them as soldiers of a Marxist revolution...

'Tiffany Hall' is an important song that examines the consequences of men discussing womens' bodies, told through the story of Tiffany, an activist and intelligent girl who died from complications with liposuction.  'BabyLet'sHaveABabyBeforeBushDoSomethin'Crazy' is a pretty little song sung by Silk E which helps remind us of the uncertainty of the Bush era.

The album finishes with my other favourite Coup song, 'The Stand'.  This is the only track not produced by Boots (instead the beat is done by Organized Elements), but in many ways, I think it offers the best example of his quiet rage and the indignity of being one of the working poor.

Pick A Bigger Weapon is a great album, and I hope that The Coup releases something new soon.  The age of corporate buy-outs and foreclosure needs someone like Boots to help interpret it.

Glitter and Doom Live

by Tom Waits

I recognize that Tom Waits doesn't really fit with the rest of the music that I write about on this blog (even if he did do some beatboxing on the last Atmosphere album and did a duet with Kool Keith), but he is, and pretty much always will be, one of the coolest artists that I listen to.

This album is a collection of live recordings from a variety of cities, covering a wide sampling of Waits's career. Strangely, he manages to include hardly any of my favourites, although I still love this disk.

Generally, the songs on here are the larger, louder, more performance-based pieces. Things like 'Such a Scream' or 'Get Behind the Mule' are designed to be sung in large venues. Waits's quieter, darker pieces need an intimate setting to be effective, and that's not what this album is about.

Included on the disk are a few examples of Waits's concert patter, which is as witty as it is occasionally surreal. A second, bonus disk, consists entirely of 'Tom Tales', more jokes and stories from a variety of concerts edited into a continuous monologue. It's funny once, but doesn't really hold up to repeated listens.

This entire package really only creates more demand for live Waits recordings. He has such a rich catalogue of songs to mine, I would love to hear more, especially as his voice continues to develop into something ever gruffer and more wonderful.

The Spirit of Apollo

by N.A.S.A.

'There's a party, and and we're all invited. Not just some of us, But each and everyone.' It's not just the chorus to the George Clinton/Chali 2na collabo on this disk, it's pretty much the album's theme.

Sam Spiegel and Ze Gonzales, two dj's representing the two American continents, have assembled a very mixed bag here. They've pulled together a virtual Live Aid hip-hop album, with tons of artists contributing to their electronic, hip-hop themed endeavour. This cd is the musical equivalent of the first day at a new school, where you get paired up randomly with people that you might get along well with, or not, but have to spend some time working together.

Thus, we get tracks featuring David Byrne, Chuck D, and Z-Trip, or Spank Rock and MIA. At times, it works wonderfully, while at others, the different styles are just a little too jarring. The high point of the album for me has to be the song 'Spacious Thoughts', which features Kool Kieth and Tom Waits. It's not the best track here by any stretch, but the concept is pretty damn cool.

This album has more successes than failures, and I imagine many of the tracks here will become favourites as they appear randomly on my ipod.

All Rebel Rockers

by Michael Franti & Spearhead

Michael Franti is an artist I have respected for a long time. His work in Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy showed me that hip-hop could be a vehicle for much more than what was coming over the radio and television waves at the time, and I have watched the Spearhead side of his career with interest.

This is a pretty standard, high-quality Spearhead album. Much of the production has been handled by Sly & Robbie, giving the album a more islands feel, which fits nicely with Franti's voice and sound.

As usual, these are political songs which wrap Franti's beliefs and ethics in catchy rhthyms, making them easily digestible and enjoyable. There are some very beautiful songs on here - 'Hey World (Don't Give Up Version)' is a lovely indictment of our environment and youth culture. 'Life in the City' chants "One day Guantanamo will fall", giving the album a slightly prophetic feel, seeing as it was released in the tale end of the Bush era.

I've had this album on pretty steadily since it came out in the fall, and I must say that I've never gotten tired of it.

How's It Hold Up? Security

by Antibalas

I hadn't listened to this album for a while, but then played it three or four times over the last few days. It's amazing.

Antibalas plays a very political form of Afrobeat funk. Their song Filibuster X asks 'What is GOP?' and can be heard as an expression of disgust with Bush-era politics.

What I like most about that song, and the album's best, 'Sanctuary' is the way that the lyrics come in about six minutes into the piece, reinvigorating the beat around the time you're programmed to expect it to end.

This is a great cd for a rainy morning like today.