Here’s a sampling of what we’ve been enjoying this past week.
Maria
It was around the time Yeezus leaked when I first heard about The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust!, an album released by performance poet Saul Williams in 2007, which was produced by Trent Reznor.
Williams is probably best known for his starring role in the 1998 independent film Slam (co-written by and also starring Sonja Sohn from The Wire). Williams had opened for Reznor a few times, and the two decided to collaborate on an album. A little over a week ago, I noticed some unusual chatter in my Twitter feed, some of which was coming from Saul Williams who was re-tweeting his fans‘ responses to Yeezus. Several of his Twitter followers said that Kanye West’s album was “a more egotistical and less creative” version of Niggy Tardust! I could see there being something to the allegations of Yeezus being derivative since West’s recent SNL performance indicated that he seemed to have evolved into something different. I immediately bought Niggy Tardust on Amazon, and I wasn’t disappointed. I think it’s a five-star album.
The songs on Niggy Tardust! are very much influenced by Public Enemy, Southern hip-hop, industrial, punk, Living Colour, and, of course, NIN. Trent Reznor’s presence on Niggy Tardust! is felt in the production as well as the way Saul Williams’s vocal performance bears an uncanny resemblance to Reznor’s on a couple of tracks. For example, check out the cover of U2’s “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” a song that, if nothing else, proves that Saul Williams would beat Kanye West in a singing battle.
I can’t say to what extent Yeezus borrows from Niggy Tardust! since I haven’t heard West’s album yet, but reviews indicate that is Yeezus is similarly a mélange of hip-hop and industrial with lyrics that explore racial politics. However, Saul Williams’s perspective on the black experience isn’t as mediated by the experience of privilege, which is more of Kanye West’s obsession. I actually came away from Niggy Tardust! not with a firm sense of Williams having made a definitive statement about black identity, but rather feeling like the album has an important place in the Post-Blackness movement as defined by Thelma Golden and Glenn Ligon as artistic expression rooted in but not restricted by one’s Blackness.
You may ask yourself, “If this album is so great, why haven’t I heard of it?” Did Niggy Tardust! fall under the radar because of the title or because Williams is recognized more as a poet than a musician, or did Trent Reznor somehow drop the ball? It turns out that the album was initially distributed in a manner similar to Radiohead’s In Rainbows. Fans had the option of downloading the album for free or purchasing a higher-quality copy for $5. This business model apparently didn’t work in favor of The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust! reaching a broader audience.
Another of my favorite tracks is “Scared Money”.
So I’m writing this endorsement because I think The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust! is an ambitious and well-executed album that successfully incorporates different genres of music while still reflecting Williams’s method to the madness. Niggy Tardust! deserves to find its audience.
Marian
There’s a small park in Madison, no larger than a city block, that has been one of my favorite places to frequent since I moved to the city nearly a decade ago. There’s much to recommend the old park: the cozy houses surrounding it on all sides; the curving path that traverses it diagonally; the modest, unassuming gazebo. But the primary reason this park is better than all the others is because there is one particular tree there, a tree that, for some reason, has captured my affection. It is tall, and elegant, and for me it is unlike any other tree.
It’s no embarrassment to fall in love with a tree––and I’m not the only one to have done so. Recently, I’ve been following the daily photographic dispatches of photographer Mark Hirsch, who for over a year now has been photographing one particular tree in southwestern Wisconsin and posting the images on a page called “That Tree.” It took him nineteen years, passing by the tree without taking a single picture, but eventually he began to see it differently:
At first it was just a tree in a cornfield. Then it became this entity that I grew to respect for its precarious existence and its longevity. Then I began to recognize its role as the source of life, food, habitat and protection for so many other plants and animals living within its little realm. Kind of like a mother in the forest. Having spent so much time with her, I felt a communal relationship with her as a silent friend. I cannot drive by ‘That Tree’ now without glancing down to be sure she is still safely standing there.
If you’ve never fallen in love with a tree before, I highly recommend it. And if long distance relationships do it for you, you might consider falling in love, via daily photographs, with “That Tree” in southwestern Wisconsin.
Scott
Since Scott Walker’s election in 2010 those of us in the troubled state of Wisconsin have witnessed a non-stop exhibit on the importance of state politics. One organization we were forced to learn about is ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, which is in Bill Moyers’ words, “a nationwide consortium of elected state legislators working side by side with some of America’s most powerful corporations.” Its agenda includes a variety of pro-corporate legislation as well as right-wing political aims such as increasing restrictions on voting rights. The documentary points out that the Trayvon Martin case brought national attention to ALEC because of the “Stand Your Ground” law in Florida, which was an ALEC product passed on behalf of the National Rifle Association. The ensuing attention caused many companies to distance themselves from ALEC, but it continues to be a powerful force in state politics around the country.
The United States of ALEC is a crucial documentary, and Moyers has, more generally, become an important muckraking voice for our new gilded age. Check your local schedules for the 2013 update of the film, which is being broadcast this week.
Dave
My endorsement this week might be a bit unorthodox, and not necessarily in a good way like Keith telling us to listen to Kai Ryssdal hammer Rumsfeld or Sigrid gettin’ off on internet Pong. This one’s a little near and dear as my good friend, Claude Coleman Jr. just kicked off a crowdsource campaign to raise money for his new Amandla album. (Worse, although Amandla is Claude’s one-man band, recording project, I’m in the touring version of Amandla. But I can promise I will not be seeing a dime of any money he raises–though I do hope that some of the tracks I’ve recorded over the years will eventually make it on the record). Much more important than my investment here is Claude’s killer musicianship. Since playing with Ween in 1994, he has been their only drummer (except for the year he took off after suffering massive damages when he got T-boned by a semi-truck on the Jersey Turnpike in 2002), and he’s currently working steadily with the Eagles of Death Metal. But the thing is, he’s a killer, killer songwriter and a terrific multi-instrumentalist. Like Stevie Wonder and Prince, Claude plays it all. And it’s a tough time for working musicians whose primary band just fell out from under their feet. So give CCJ a listen, and consider kicking down some dough or spreading the word to anyone who likes Soul, Rock, and/or tasty songwriting.
