SYNESTHESIA: NOW PLAYING IN THE SAVAGE JUKEBOX JUNE 2020

"FOR YOU"

PRINCE

Released April 7, 1978

"THE TIME"

THE TIME

Released July 29, 1981

"METTAVOLUTION"

RODRIGO Y GABRIELA

Released April 26, 2019

Flying Lotus: Flamagra Album Review | Pitchfork

"FLAMAGRA"
FLYING LOTUS
Released May 24, 2019

It Is What It Is (Thundercat album) - Wikipedia

"IT IS WHAT IT IS"
THUNDERCAT
Released April 3, 2020

NEW 2020 MUSIC: Experiencing new music while quarantining has been odd and truth be told, slow going. You see, before COVID-19, I spent so much time in my car driving here and there and in doing so, the bulk of my music listening occurred there, and furthermore, when I do experience new music, there is nothing more wonderful for me than to leave one of my local record stores, crack open the plastic, slide the CD into the drive and just find myself surrounded by sound--me and the music introducing ourselves to each other.

And so, like all of you, since early March, I have been home and even though the world had changed, my excitement towards potential new releases had not died down in the least. In fact, it made for a perfect distraction from the anxiety. Well...in order to help support my local record stores, I ordered this album upon its release, but really only just began to listen to it as the re-opening of life, and return to work, has allowed me more time in the car to become acquainted with these new friends that have been accumulating in my home.

First up, is the latest album from songwriter/singer/producer and bassist extraordinaire Thundercat, a work that already distinguishes itself from its grim predecessor "Drunk" (released February 24, 2017), by having composed fully developed songs rather than what felt like to be fragments stitched together into a disturbingly cyclical whole, richly approximating the psychological state as evidenced within that album's title.

For this new album, the newly sober Thundercat ruminates even greater over themes of love, loss, loneliness, mortality and mourning as the work functions primarily as a tribute to his friend, rapper/songwriter Mac Miller, who passed away in 2018. And yet, the work is not without any sense of Thundercat's signature oddball blend of comedy (the ridiculous slow jam "Dragonball Durag") and copious amounts of cosmic soul, all filtered through his splendid sense of melody and stack vocal harmonics, which often recalls 1973/1974 era Todd Rundgren, and of course, his spectacularly liquid bass playing.

"JAZZ IS DEAD 001"

ADRIAN YOUNGE & ALI SHAHEED MUHAMMAD
Released March 20, 2020

NEW 2020 MUSIC: One of the year's most ambitious projects arrives from The Midnight Hour, the duo comprised of producer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Adrian Younge and former member of A Tribe Called Quest and Lucy Pearl, DJ/musician Ali Shaheed Muhammad.

March saw the initial release of a new series the duo is cultivating entitled "Jazz Is Dead," a collection of albums in which the twosome compose, perform and produce alongside a variety of jazz artists while recording upon vintage equipment. This initial release essentially serves as a sampler as we are gaining a window into what was created with the likes of Roy Ayers, Brian Jackson, Gary Bartz and more...and the results are intoxicating, succulent, exciting and enlivening.

This group of material, showcasing where the fusion of jazz and hip-hop can continue to lead, has made me extremely anxious to hear the complete results, especially whatever they have cooked up with Azymuth, whose nine minute plus collaborative track entitled "Apocaliptico," is this album's standout.