My 10 Most Listened-to Albums in 2020

My 10 most listened-to albums this year (in no particular order):

A Song for Paul – Ghost Funk Orchestra
Favorite tracks: Modern Scene; A Song for Paul

The debut album from local funk/soul band with a D.I.Y aesthetic. I learned about the band from Instagram. During the quarantine, primary songwriter/mastermind Seth Applebaum posted videos of his recording process for Notes from Quarantine. A Song for Paul blends jazz, funk and soul into a psychedelic journey to ghost-funk land. The tonal qualities of the record remind me of the sort Daptone Records re-invented. I look forward to finally seeing G.F.O. live once music venue restrictions are lifted. The band just released a new album Ode to Escapism which I will be checking out as well.

 

Preludio – Fabiano do Nascimento

Favorite tracks: Rainha; Preludio Amazonico  

I learned about Brazilian guitarist Fabiano do Nascimento from his recent NPR's Tiny Desk (Home) Concert. I loved his performance and immediately downloaded Preludio. I've listened to this record endlessly; while working, walking or just sitting down and listening. I love the musicality, sparse instrumentation, and beautiful, meditative arrangements. Though I am not too familiar with Brazilian music, I feel do Nascimento is drawing on a rich history with this album and I am interested in discovering some of his influences.

All My Relations – Cochemea

Favorite tracks: All My Relations; Al-Mu'tasim; Mescalero 

A veteran of Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings, saxophonist Cochemea Gastelum assembled the Daptone crew in exploring his Indigenous roots on this record. Blending traditional percussion and melodies, with nods to jazz and other genres, this record is at times empowering, haunting and beautiful. When I listen to this record, I feel it's weight; the songs are ceremony, lifelines to ancestors and family traditions. While exploring his own roots, Cochemea shows us that we are all related.

Medaho – Kaleta & Super Yamba Band

Favorite tracks: Medaho; Goyito; Super Yamba Theme; La Guele

I saw Kaleta & Super Yamba Band open for St. Paul & The Broken Bones last December at the Brooklyn Bowl. Before the show, I sampled some of the band's music and knew I'd be getting there early to see them. The band was tight and powerful, with driving Afrobeat rhythms and rock solid bass lines. The group consists of singer/guitarist Kaleta, who toured with Fela Kuti, and Brooklyn Afro-funk band Super Yamba Band. I enjoy the deep percussive grooves and memorable horn lines on this record. During the protests following the death of George Floyd this past summer, I found this record uplifting and that it gave me spiritual strength.

Ilana: The Creator – Mdou Moctar

Favorite tracks: Karmane Tarhanin; Inizgam; Anna; Takamba

Ilana, the first studio album from Taureg rocker Mdou Moctar, blends Saharan desert blues music with Hendrix-inspired intensity. Moctar, from Agadez, Niger, became popular through cell phone bluetooth music sharing. His discography (and also the Sahel Sounds label) includes a treasure trove of lofi mp3s and field recordings from the desert and local community weddings. I can certainly imagine the interaction between the musicians and the audience on tracks which have several vocalists or sing-along parts and lots of rhythmic clapping. While Moctar may stick to more traditional tones on some parts of the record, he takes off on overdriven guitar solos on songs like 'Tarhatazed'. This record never fails to pull me in and transport me to the Sahara.

Guilty – Billy Martin

Favorite tracks: Home Beat Home; Across The Street; Xporto.

Billy Martin, of legendary jazz-funk band Medeski, Martin & Wood, plays drums and bass on his latest release Guilty. Martin, one of my favorite musicians and percussionists, draws on an eclectic assortment of influences here, with spaghetti-western vibes on 'Home Beat Home', surfer punk on 'Lonely Surf' and ambient compositions on 'Montaukett Sky'. Initially, Martin released short videos of himself on Instagram, looping bass parts and playing drums over the loops. These videos became the genesis of the record, eventually being compiled by Martin and then overdubbed by friends including John Medeski and Marc Ribot. Martin's inventive bass lines and masterful percussion creates a world inside each of these tracks which I frequently return to explore.

Resonate – Lettuce

Favorite tracks: Blaze; Moksha; Silence is Golden; Resonate.

Funk outfit Lettuce is without a doubt one of my top five favorite bands. When I heard the band was releasing an album this year, despite not being able to tour due to the pandemic, I purchased the vinyl and received a downloadable copy which I could listen to until the vinyl arrived. Resonate is the twin and follow-up to last year's grammy-nominated Elevate. As always, Lettuce brings the funk with ragers like 'Blaze' and 'Checker Wrecker'. 'Moksha' was the track that initially hooked me, with its incorporation of Indian music and classic Lettuce vibes. With indoor performances and touring being mostly impossible this year, I'm certainly looking forward to hearing these songs live – whenever that may be.

Universalists – Yonatan Gat

Favorite tracks: Medicine; Fading Casino

Back in January, I was able to see Yonatan Gat perform with the Eastern Medicine Singers, a group of Algonquin drummers and singers. Gat, a modern guitar legend, combined his frenetic riffs with the pounding rhythms and chanting of the Eastern Medicine Singers. The energy coming off the stage felt like shamanic ritual. With elements of avant garde, jazz and other genres, Gat looked like a crazed sea-captain while he steered the ship from one song to the next, utilizing his guitar and sampling instrument. I was already hooked on Universalists by the time I saw the show and I continued to revisit it throughout the year. Certain melodies, like on 'Fading Casino' would be on endless repeat in my mind. On 'Medicine', the track which initially hooked me, the pairing of Gat with the Eastern Medicine Singers seems like a strange one, but it works. Gat is able to break down all musical borders, seamlessly weaving in and out of genres while producing tracks which are thoughtfully composed but retain a feeling of improvisation.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard

All right I couldn’t name just one! Polygonwandaland, Nonagon Infinity, Flying Microtonal Banana, and K.G. have all been on constant repeat.

Folksinger Vol. 2 – Willie Watson

Favorite tracks: Gallows Pole; Walking Boss

Willie Watson, formerly of Old Crow Medicine Show, sings and plays guitar, banjo, and harmonica on this interpretation of classic folk songs. During the summer, I'd lay in the grass, soaking in the sun and watching the clouds while listening to this record. I find it comforting to hear these old tunes of hard times and struggles, while our world now is itself in constant turmoil. Watson's cover of traditional folk song ‘Gallows Pole’ (first recorded by Leadbelly in 1939) moved me to tears the first time I heard it – and still does.

Throughout this tumultuous year, I am reminded of the special place music holds in my life. Music allows me to relax and reflect; to get lost in a song or album and temporarily leave my earthly problems behind. Music also gives me energy and inspiration. I am especially grateful for all these artists and their music and I thank them for guiding me throughout the year.

Notable Mentions:

Cinematics Vol. 1 – Soulive (My favorite band)

Beat Music! Beat Music! Beat Music! - Mark Guiliana 

A Love Supreme – John Coltrane (A record I frequently revisit). 

The Universe Smiles Upon You; Con Todo El Mundo - Khruangbin 

Naxatras – Naxatras (I've been listening to this a lot at the time of this publication).

Links

• Ghost Funk Orchestra
• Cochemea
• Fabiano do Nascimento Music & Tiny Desk Concert
• Kaleta & Super Yamba Band
• Mdou Moctar Music & KEXP performance; Sahel Sounds
• Billy Martin
• Lettuce
• King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard
• Yonatan Gat & Medicine music video
• Willie Watson

Music projects

This past week I worked on a few music projects (instead of writing!).

I wrapped up a project in Ableton and sent it off to my brother and bandmate Eric for his thoughts and additions. I chopped up a Youtube sample of a former soldier speaking about his experiences during the Vietnam war and made trigger-able oneshot samples to 'play' over a jam we recorded recently. I will post the finished version at a later date.

Over the weekend, I performed a simple repair to an old Technics SL-BD22 turntable (see manual). The turntable played well but over time developed a speed issue. The turntable would speed up and slow down, making the pitch of the record sound warped (I should’ve recorded a sample of it!). From past experience and research, I've learned that sometimes this issue is caused by dirty controls and knobs.

With some help from Youtube, I took off the back plate of the player and located the speed control circuit board. I sprayed the controls and the switches with Deoxit. This seemed to do the trick - the turntable plays perfectly now. I ordered a new needle as well; I haven't changed it since I received the turntable and I noticed some high-end distortion.

 turntable backing plate removed

Speed control circuit board 

vr101 and vr102 - the speed controls; below is the

Pitch wheel

Update

After not posting for a week, I thought I should write about something, which is the purpose of this blog after all. I created the blog to practice researching, note-taking and writing. I hope it will act as a catalyst as well as an archive for projects. Through writing, I am able to understand my thoughts better as well as the topic I am studying. I look forward to sharing and thus 'letting go'.

Some topics I am interested in:

• Audio/music
• Current events
• History
• Nature/the environment/climate change
• Reading
• Photography and film

What I am currently working on:

• Writing
• A longer piece on the history of Fort Tilden (Queens, NY)
• Pieces on current social issues
• Writing samples for jobs
• Book notes of recent books I've read Audio
• Compiling field recordings from this past year
• Creating and writing my own music and sound experiments
• Working on music with my band

A little about me:

Currently 31 years old, living in Brooklyn, NY with my partner and our pet rabbit. I was born and raised in Queens, NY. I am a paralegal and digital court reporter. I play percussion as well as write, record and produce for my band. I enjoy walking, hiking, running and cycling.

Election Day

Today is Election Day here in the U.S. Early voting has been open and many votes have also been cast by absentee ballot. We are in the middle of a pandemic. There is social unrest and economic hardship. No doubt this is a historic year.

Over the past four years, my connection to news, social media and politics has waxed and waned. Sometimes I was deeply involved, while other times I stopped following the news at all and learned what was going on only from those around me. (As an experiment, I also traded my smartphone for an old flip phone).

Always trying to find the hidden meaning, I began to look for the conspiracy behind each event. I learned though, that conspiracies are a self-fulling prophecy - everything becomes a conspiracy. This is a very negative outlook that I adopted; it doesn’t allow for hope.

When the protests began following the death of George Floyd, my whole perspective shifted. I saw injustice everywhere I looked. I couldn’t look away anymore. By attending community solidarity meet-ups, I learned how to help fix the problems. First, I listened to my neighbors experiences. Then, I educated myself on social issues to environmental. I learned about my local and state governments. I listened to podcasts and watched documentaries. I became involved.

I am inspired by the strength of the community in this neighborhood and this city. What began with protests against police brutality has become much more. People want change in all areas. Recently I learned that protestors chained themselves to a fracked gas pipeline which is currently being built in our neighborhood. People are still involved and still fighting. The actions of normal people who try to make our country (and our world) a better place gives me hope.

This year has been tumultuous. I've learned a great deal since lockdown began in March. I am not apathetic as I once was. I am involved and I will continue to learn. We are all responsible. I want to do my part. After this election is over, the fight for better will continue.

-KW

Edgar Allan Poe in New York City

Around Halloween each year, I'm reminded of the works of Edgar Allan Poe. In high school English class, we were given the assignment of writing a college-style term paper. As part of the assignment, we were expected to visit the library of a local university to learn how to locate books, gather notes, and create an outline for the paper due later in the semester. I distinctly remember sitting at a desk among the library's bookshelves and reading Poe's The Masque of the Red Death. I researched Poe's use of imagery and symbolism throughout his popular works. His macabre texts still pull me into his dark and mysterious world. Recently, I listened to a podcast on Poe's life within New York City by historical duo The Bowery Boys (named after a 19th century New York gang). Here's a few facts I learned from listening and some further research on his life.

Born in Boston in 1809, Poe was raised in Richmond, V.A., and later moved to New York to find work. Though he spent portions of his life in Baltimore, Philadelphia and Richmond, Poe kept returning to New York. The Poe family lived in several neighborhoods including Greenwich Village, the Lower East Side, and in lower Manhattan near the present-day Financial District. In 1844 the family moved to the Brennan farmhouse in today's Upper West Side. Here, Poe worked on his poem The Raven, published in January of 1845. He frequently visited a nearby rocky area he named 'Mount Tom' which can still be seen in present-day Riverside Park. In May of 1846, Poe moved his family to Fordham village (located in the Bronx today) to find seclusion and cheap rent. He befriended the local Jesuit monks at St. John's College (now Fordham University, my alma mater). Poe's wife, Virginia Clemm, died here in 1847 from consumption, or tuberculosis. The Poe cottage survived and is now a museum located in Poe Park. 

Poe died in Baltimore on October 7, 1849. The facts surrounding his death are mysterious and the exact cause of death is still unknown. He left Richmond on September 27 on his way to Philadelphia for work, but never made it there. On October 3, Baltimore Sun compositor Joseph W. Walker discovered Poe lying in the gutter outside Gunnar's Hall, a public house which was being used as a polling place for an election. Poe was semi-conscious and wearing dirty second-hand clothes. The night before he died, Poe's doctor said he kept repeating the name "Reynolds". The death certificate states the cause as swelling of the brain but no information has surfaced about how Poe ended up in the gutter outside the public house or where he'd been for the week before Walker found him.

Many theories exist, including that Poe may have drank himself to death. Another theory is that Poe was a victim of cooping, a method of voter fraud whereby gangs would beat and force people into voting for a candidate multiple times under different identities. This could explain why he was found wearing second-hand clothes outside the public house.

The Poe Museum in Richmond, V.A. explains Poe's legacy on American writing:

• one of the most influential writers of the 19th Century and the first to try to make a living solely as a writer.
• transformed the horror genre and was also an early pioneer of science fiction.
• credited with inventing the modern detective story with Murders in the Rue Morgue and the concept of deductive reasoning, thus influencing Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes.

Sources:
https://www.boweryboyshistory.com/2017/10/edgar-allan-poe-new-york-places-master-gloom-horror-made-mark.html
https://www.boweryboyshistory.com/2020/01/raven-edgar-allan-poe-published-170-years-ago-today-2.html
http://bronxhistoricalsociety.org/poe-cottage/history-of-the-cottage/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Allan_Poe
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/still-mysterious-death-edgar-allan-poe-180952936/
https://www.eapoe.org/index.htm
https://www.poemuseum.org/poes-biography

Upgrading my Macbook

I’ve had my 13” aluminum Macbook 5.1 since my second year of college, back in 2008. Over the years, I made several modifications to increase its functionality while running music recording software.

Several years ago, I increased the RAM to the maximum 8GB, replaced the original hard drive with a 120GB SSD and installed a 500GB HDD in the CD bay. The SSD functions as the startup drive where I run all of my applications, while the HDD is storage for various projects.

After I updated to Mavericks, I never again updated the OS. Why? I had obtained (via torrents) perfect working versions of Ableton Live 9 and Pro Tools HD and I didn’t want to risk losing their functionality with an update. I taught myself how to create and record music with these programs. I used Ableton to record my band's first album. Years later, when we recorded in a friend’s state-of-the-art studio, I was able to edit the recordings using my Pro Tools copy.

Now, due to security concerns about my old drive, I picked up another SSD to install El Capitan, the most recent OS compatible with this Macbook.

I also purchased (finally) Ableton Live 10. Live’s license allows the user to download to two authorized computers. I plan to install a copy on my brother's computer as well. Per the license, both copies may not be able to run at the same time, but they will both be fully functional. This will allow us to work on projects together and send each other project folders.

Below are the steps I took to install the new SSD with El Capitan:

• I purchased a SATA 120GB SSD and a USB enclosure from OWC. [Note: I believe OWC states that the enclosure is recommended for HDDs only, but it seems to work fine with the SSD installed. I wanted to setup the drive externally first.]
• From the App store, I downloaded El Capitan to my current startup drive.
• Next, I Installed El Capitan on the new SSD. The installation would not complete due to the ‘no package was eligible’ error. Apparently, changing the date in Terminal fixes this issue. Open Terminal, type: date 101615072016. This completed my installation. 

I now have a (mostly) updated OS installed on a new SSD. In the future, I may swap it out with one of the current internal drives. The new drive will run Ableton and other apps, with files being saved elsewhere. Here’s to the joys of new gear, legal software and most important of all - a blank slate.