Blog

My name is Brandon. I am sitting at my computer at 1pm eating cold pizza and drinking Mountain Dew. This is my breakfast. On finds that they run out of food at home while working two different restaurant jobs that supply free meals.

I spend the majority of my life working or complaining about working. I am on a 1 month drinking hiatus which leaves me bored and restless and unsure of what to do after work instead of going out. I am quitting dishing at the Hamburg Inn at the end of this month and saved money from the last couple months of 60 hours a week, and the money I save from not drinking are going to help keep me afloat while working only one job. I was supposed to get my vacation money with my last pay check at the Hamburg but my boss apparently forgot as he is a royal asshole and a large reason why I am dumping my dishing shifts there.

I listen to music. Who doesn't? I find funk and hip-hop absorbing a lot of my time with a little psychedelia and dance music mixed in for variety. I recently obtained some tracks by a 70's band called Amnesty. They have a re-release of their album coming out at the end of this month through Now Again records (a branch off of Stones Throw). It's fun jazzy funk full of vocal harmonies and meandering smooth instrumentals. It is awesome. I've also been listening to another 70's funk band called Black Merda that features political funk with psychedelic Hendrix style guitar accompaniment.

I've also been on a Alice Coltrane kick recently since her death last month. A friend threw some Joe Henderson tracks she was featured on at me as well as her album "Ptah the El Daoud." And the track Caballeros off of her album "Eternity" is amazing.

60's German psychedelic noise band Can has reentered my mp3 players play lists as well. Tago Mago and Ege Bamyasi are awesome and crazy. These guys were making sounds that wouldn't enter popular music until the late 90's.

A recent barrage of Stones Throw compilations, from "Chrome Children" volume 2 to the Stones Throw 10 years release has absorbed my hip-hop habits. Oh No's Exodus into Unheard Rhythms and The Disrupt has also absorbed my attention. When I first heard that Madlib's brother had his own music on stones Throw, I worried it was going to be riding on the coattails of his sibling. Boy was I wrong. Oh No's beats in no way resemble the out there surreal beats of Madlib. Oh No has feel good old school bounce in his beats whereas Madlib is all jazz and free jazz backing his efforts. Considering that their father is soul singer Otis Jackson, I'm convinced there must be something in this family's genes or their drinking water that makes musicians. It's amazing.
<p>-Brandon