Childish Gambino's new video may be his best yet, which is saying something. Give it a watch or two and then check out the lyrics.
The less this video and song make sense to you, the more I would encourage you to check the analysis of the lyrics on Genius. And yeah, I could have done without the Nudy part, too.
The Pudding does a deep-dive into Rolling Stone's "Greatest Albums of All Time" rankings.
I'm not much of a fan of Rolling Stone, or the ranking of music in general, but thought this Pudding page was very well done.
My number one non-Jazz album of all-time is Veedon Fleece by Van Morrison. It's one of my most revisited pieces of art. I also love his album, Astral Weeks. And though I like some other here-and-there tracks by Morrison, most of his other stuff bores me.
Interestingly, Rolling Stone originally gave Veedon Fleece one star and called it "self-indulgent... pompous tripe." In 2008, they re-evaluated the album, giving it four stars and said he "never again hit the majestic heights of this one."
It's a favorite record of artists as diverse as Elvis Costello, Josh Klinghoffer (Red Hot Chili Peppers), and Sinead O'Connor, who said it was what she listened to right before going on stage.
You can check out the Pudding deep dive before or after you listen to Veedon Fleece on YouTube. They're both below.
NTS Live has an archive of Black Classical's extraordinary Spiritual Jazz playlists. In addition to the 12 hour streams, there's focuses on Strata / Strata-East, Three Blind Mice, and more.
NTS Radio
F Major (below) was the first I'd heard of Hania Rani, but I've loved everything I've heard her play. I missed her in Toronto a few years ago and was angry for weeks.
Probably my favorite video of hers is this set from Studio S2 in Warsaw:
And while I have your attention fixed on a woman killing it on piano, allow me to share this video of Kadri-Ann Sumera playing Piano Piece 1981, composed by her father, Lepo Sumera.
I first heard this track in 2000 in the film Der Krieger und die Kaiserin. Frustrated that the track was not identified in the credits, I sent a letter to director Tom Tykwer, who wrote back with its identity. I had an mp3 of it for a while, which then went astray — and the title and composer with it. Fifteen years later I was thrilled to find the above video after playing one of my favorite piano pieces, The Homeless Wanderer, composed and performed by Tsegue Maryam Guebrou, who died last year at the age of 99.
