Max Romeo’s “War Ina Babylon”

His fourteenth single, Max Romeo recorded “Black Equality” in 1971. The song showed Romeo progressing toward a politically oriented consciousness, and his album “War Ina Babylon” was the project where his ideas coalesced into a moral value that could outlive the oldest, tallest tree in the forest…

Continue Reading →

The Autumnal Brilliance of “Mingus Ah Um”

When I listen to “Mingus Ah Um”, I rarely consider the many people, events, and pieces that form this magnificent puzzle. I instead always see a pathway lined with naked trees and carpeted with orange and brown leaves stirring with the breeze, and Charles Mingus never fails to engross me in his wonderful, autumnal world. Released in October of 1959, “Mingus Ah Um” plays like fall weather. It can turn from a gentle, relaxing breeze, to a whipping, howling gale in an instant, and Charles Mingus isn’t afraid to place those two sides together in stark contrast…

Continue Reading →

This Fall’s Anthem

Erykah Badu is a certified legend in all senses of the word. She is an empathic artist who has changed the game for all to follow. Rising to stardom in the mid nineties, her pure talent of both singing and songwriting separated her R&B, neo-soul hits from her peers, and she is still creating to this day. One of my most favorite masterpieces of her’s is the mix tape she released in 2015, ‘But You Caint Use My Phone’…

Continue Reading →

Remembering Halloween with The Misfits

With their conspicuously violent, horror-core sensibilities, the Misfits confounded audiences in the late 1970s—mainly childlike onlookers come to witness the primordial fatalism of East Coast punk rock up close. The Misfits greatest songs encapsulated a minimalistic post-Ramones translation of rock ‘n’ roll invoking peculiar 1950s doo-wop harmonies delivered straight from the warm coffin of Elvis Presley…

Continue Reading →

Wolfmother: It’s Essay Writing Time

There’s something about the swooning guitar and consistent drumbeat that gets my fingers moving across the keyboard. I’ve written some of my best—and by that, I mean “most passable”—papers while listening to Wolfmother or other music like it. Something hard, fast, and not commanding enough to distract me from my paper. The ticka-ticka-ticka of my keyboard joins the clashing of the drums and the shrill guitars in an orchestral harmony…

Continue Reading →

2020 New Release Highlight: Billie Eilish

My favorite single to come out this year was without a doubt from Billie Eilish titled, ‘My Future’. Not only is the melody and arrangement such an easy listen, but the lyrics are what make this song so special to me. She has a sense of candor that lets the listener in as she sings about how she is hopeful about the future…

Continue Reading →

In This Month: Rock ‘n Roll and Beatlemania

1963 was the year of screaming girls, wanna be rock stars, and strangers all squished in a frenzy for their love of none other than The Beatles. In fact, on August 4, 1963 they would be met by more fans than they ever could have imagined when they performed at the Queen’s Theatre in Blackpool, England. There were so many fans that The Beatles, themselves, couldn’t even enter through the performers entrance, and had to find a creative way to get inside…

Continue Reading →