Some joints I’ve been listening to lately courtesy of the high grade downloads at emusic.com. My thoughts on some of these tracks are after the jump….

Ah cruel world, how you make me move so.
My shoulder hurts.

That’s alright tho - by the time it starts snowing, I’ll be ready for the board!

This may sound something like a review of software - in fact it is something like a review. More accurately, this is about how I was reading some emails and was tasked with a question from a colleague that I could easily answer with a “yes” or a “no.” Nothing too interesting about that - I know.

But the thing is, I realized that such tasks of pristine simplicity are way more rare than not. The typical mental errand requires steps and tool initiations, analysis, and then concluding statements well manicured and properly influenced. (Or is that just me?) Emails that are completely satisfied with a two or three word reply are a joy.

As summer is moving along, I’ve been blessed to get some new works to focus on:

• Reflect-Connect-Move is a non-profit that has tapped me for a logo and a website. Fresh!
• The Safiya Nuh Foundation is also in need of a website - on the quick fast too! I’ve got about two weeks to knock this one out, but I’m confident about it since the style they want is minimalist and clean. Dope!
• The New York Chapter of the Black Data Processor’s Association is in desperate need of a new website. I mean desparate. Which is not to say anything about the organization - I actually don’t know much about the organization just yet. But I reach out to them to see if they were interested in a new look for their site … they were … but only pro-bono style. Eh, I thought about it for a bit, but I’m down if they can be patient while I make a living at the same time.
• The Black August Hip Hop Project’s annual benefit concert is coming up in a few weeks; so I jumped on in there and volunteered to work with the ever-talented Aaza Blue on this year’s logo … and ultimately on the website: www.blackaugust.com

There are a few other things here and there that are bubbling up … so the summer’s bounty continues to be … well, bountiful.

This review was excerpted and published by The All Music Guide: see the review on their site.

Artist: Soulive
Album Title: Get Down
Label: Soulive recordings
Catalog Number: SLR 10012
Release Date: Spring 1999
Rating: 4/5

The organ? Oh yes, there’s love for the organ! Jimmy Smith, Jimmy McGriff, Johnny Hammond, and John Patton have all been at the core of some of the legendary organ groups in the history of jazz. Well, it’s time for the history books to make room for another group of truly talented musicians focused around that wonderful, warm, and expressive instrument: the organ.

This review was excerpted and published by The All Music Guide: see the review on their site.

Artist: The Roots
Genre: Hip-Hop
Album Title: Organix
Label: remedy Recording, Inc./ Cargo Records America
Catalog Number: CRGD81100
Release Date: 1993
Rating: 2.5
Review:

Although to knowledgeable natives of Philadelphia they may have originally been known as The Square Roots, the sound of this group on this album was only occasionally square. When first listening to Organix, The Roots first commercial release, it seems a little hard to digest, especially at this vantage point in time: late 1999.

At this point, The Roots have released 4 decidedly strong albums including an album of live performance recordings. (Their creative flow has even survived all of the drama that went on during the merge of Universal Music Distribution and PolyGram Distribution, which saw their label, Geffen Records, shed all of its urban music projects which were mostly picked up by MCA Records.) The sound, feel, and quality of Organix is much less developed than their subsequent recordings, but that is only to be expected.

This review was excerpted and published by The All Music Guide: see the review on their site.

Artist: King Tubby
Genre: Dub
Album Title: King Tubby & Friends: The Rod of Correction Showcase
Label: Abraham / Clocktower Records
Catalog Number: CTLP876
Release Date: 1974-1979
Rating: 4.5 /5

King Tubby & Friends: Rod of Correction Showcase features titles recorded during a golden period of years for all types of music - and art in general: 1974 to 1979. What makes this collection of songs even more thick with significance is the fact that they were all either recorded at Channel One studios or at King Tubby’s studio. As you might guess of a compilation that bears his name, King Tubby was heavily involved in these songs. Not only did he engineer the recording of these tracks, but he mixed them as well. Give thanks for that because it’s a good thing to be able to pump King Tubby’s music.

The instrumentation of these songs is partly provided by King Tubby & The Aggrovators. Musicians also included were Augustus Pablo, Touter, Scully, Brad Osbourne, Tommy McCook, Bobby Ellis, Chinna Smith, and Ronald Robinson. History has proven that each of those artists are skilled and accomplished. However, the sound of the Aggrovators fascinates this listener with few [but identifiable] exceptions. Made up of Carlton Barrett, Sly Dunbar, Carlton ‘Santa’ Davis (drums), Robbie Shakespeare, Aston Barrett (bass), and Tony Chin (guitar), the Aggrovators seem to be able to maintain rhythms eerily unwavering in timing and melodically interesting in structure. These songs are not influenced by American and British pop music as is often found in some of the other groups playing Jamaican music at the time. The tempos are higher more often than not: on the danceable side of things. Apparently it was not meant for one to just sit around� while listening to King Tubby & Friends: The Rod of Correction Showcase.

There are a handful of sites that I check in with on a regular to keep up on code developments, design trends, design tools, and just to try and be aware of the collective consciousness of design and development entrepreneurs. Here are a few of them:

Technical Tools / Code / Standards

• A List Apart
• Boxes and Arrows
• BoagWorld Podcast
• Vitamin
• Digital Web

Design Styles and Inspirations

• CSS Globe
• CSS Beauty
• Design Meltdown
• Speak Up
• Digital Thread

The Freelancer’s Life

• Freelance Switch
• LifeHacker
• Smashing Magazine
• You Suck At Web Design Podcast

This is a a brief story of a meeting with that older brother from around the way that we all know - his name is Doc. Here’s an excerpt:

On the train Sunday morning with church goers
We’re taking different kinds of trips
But we’re all headed to the same place.

Then the New Jersey Turnpike South, headed towards the parkway. Its almost as if I fell asleep on the A-train from Brooklyn and woke up in the strange and bizarre world of my Grandmother’s. Here, things don’t make sense when they should. Papers disappear when you know you had them just a minute ago. Strange things happen and strange people populate this universe.

Take in the long version of this short story with the PDF version here:

Sunday Morning Church with Doc (PDF)

Based on an ancient sufi tale originally told by Halqavi, The Food of Paradise is an adaptation that tells of a man’s quest in vivid detail and rhyme … a quest for the ultimate truth that ends in a surprising twist of fate.

Here’s an excerpt:

The Food of Paradise in rhyme,
A story that transcends time.
Although it dates back to a period some would call medieval,
In this story there are no sieges, no plagues, no monarchs, no cathedrals.
This is a story about truth and what it means to search for such,
How truth is illusive and always seems to vanish once in our clutch.

The entire story is available as a PDF download here:

The Food of Paradise (PDF)

What do you think of the story? Be kind, be mean. Be it in the comments.