Five musicians we have recently lost and who left us amazing legacies.

David Bowie:

David Bowie was 69 when he passed away but will be remembered forever. He was one of the great musical artists of the 20^th century, a performer who was not afraid to be himself which was the message he put forward to his generation. He inspired people who weren’t accepted in the mainstream such as the LGBT Community, his music was ground-breaking for its time because he was one of the first to really bring forth the concept album in Ziggystardust and be thought provoking and offending along the way.

Lemmy Kilmister:

Lemmy Kilmister the great frontman and bass player of Moterhead was a rock/heavy metal icon that liked to play music loud and heavy. He also lived the sex, drugs and rock n’ roll lifestyle like no other rock star could. He sold over 30 million records with Moterhead and his influence is quite paramount in the early development of heavy metal and other musicians like Dave Grohl, Lars Ulrich and Slash all payed respect to his inspiration.

Scott Weitland:

Frontman of Stone Temple Pilots, Weitland was one of the pioneer rock singers of the 90’s grunge era, his vocal delivery was angry and powerful and his lyrics dealt with some painful subjects such as betrayal. His output with S.T.P and other bands is an influential catalogue of music that has inspired younger generations to start bands and sing in an honest and raw way that he did.

Chris Squire:

The Legendary bass player of prog band Yes past away at the age of 67 and will be remembered as one of the great rock bass players of his era with the likes of John Paul Jones and John Entwistle. Squire’s bass playing was a fusion of styles complimenting the music whilst leading the band with fantastic improvisations. Contemporary bass players such as Les Claypool and Squarepusher cited Squire as an influence. He was the only musician in Yes to play on all of their albums and if you really want to listen to what he could achieve on bass I would recommend the songs The Fish and Heart of the Sunrise.

BB King:

The Iconic blues guitarist, singer and songwriter was one the great musicians to really push guitar playing to new heights. Guitarist like Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix owe a lot to the way BB King crafted his style. Along with Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker BB King planted the seed for what great bands like the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin were to become. King played music for 6 decades and his passing was a reminder of how important the blues was to American music.

Is Martyr Loser King a Winner?

by Daniel Jaramillo

Martyr Loser King is the latest album by poet and hip-hop artist Saul Williams. In all of his albums Williams has attempted to make music that defies labels making them difficult to categorize. Martyr Loser King is no exception to his rule however M.L.K offers a comprehensive blend of electronic beats, African and tribal rhythms, spoken word and intense singing to top it all. It’s accessible but the music demands your attention and the lyrics especially will make you think about issues such as wealth inequality and the government’s fear of cyber hackers that release secret documents.

Musically the album also makes cool use of a lot of hip hop’s stylistic production techniques such as the chipmunk voices or the chopped and screwed vocals and of course the beats are layered in 808 drum machine patterns. In the past Saul Williams has recruited heavyweight producers such as Rick Rubin and Trent Reznor and has also attempted the role himself, this time Justin Warfield who is not so well known but has dozens of underground rock and hip hop albums to his credit as well as his own band’s She Wants Revenge releases took charge of the production.

In M.L.K Williams and Warfield have created a hybrid of all the music that the artist respects and admires. The album is part of a graphic novel to be released later in the year and without creating a “spoiler alert” about the storyline it certainly focuses on the digital age and what the life of a “hacktivist” is like. Williams is an artist that doesn’t compromise his creativity and wears many hats including being an actor and a writer. However his work is not about trying to be popular or commercial it is there to serve a deeper purpose which is to inspire and encourage us to all think outside of the box musically and conceptually.

This album would certainly work well in a club setting but it also appeals to a much more alternative crowd, balancing the two styles quite nicely. Songs like Ashes and the Bear have a really club/dance style about them yet the chorus line on Ashes which goes “Dancing on the Corpses Ashes” is a lyric borrowed from an At the Drive-In song called Invalid Litter Dept. As a Saul Williams fan I am always excited to hear a new album from him and when I finally got the chance to listen to M.L.K it was what I new Williams to have always done which was something that was experimental but accessible at the same time. M.L.K is a decent album but not one of Saul Williams’s best releases and if you’re new to his work I would recommend listening to his first 3 studio albums which have a more rock influenced sound. Those albums will give any listener a better understanding of Williams approach to making music of a left field and hybrid persuasion. 

Musings on Music and Politics

For as long as popular music has been around there has always been a fair share of rebels and artists who have challenged the status quo and exposed greedy oligarchs and elites for who they really are.

Music is around when transformation is occurring in society whether it was the folk music scene of the 1960’s opposing the Vietnam war, the punk rock and heavy metal scenes of the late 70’s and 80’s being angry and nihilistic about the future or the hip hop scene of the early 90’s that was challenging racial and economic inequality in America and globally. What all these genres have in common is a “fuck you” attitude towards authority and the powers that be.

Today we face a number of issues from the recognition of first nation people being incarcerated in very high numbers due to a criminal justice system that is run by corporations aiming to maximise their profits by keeping as many black people locked up as they can.  We are also seeing police murders of young African Americans and the Black Lives Matter movement being born as a way to protest and resist the brutality on the streets of America due to people recording these incidents on their smartphones. The issue that affects nearly everyone today is the gap between the rich and the poor and a fragile environment that is being destroyed because of climate change, a human made problem that is especially being perpetuated by the fossil fuel industry.

With all these issues being real and affecting people’s lives, the only way to overcome them is if we take direct action and realise that we can all make a difference. Music has a role to play in motivating and inspiring people to take action and over the last few decades young people have become aware of such issues when their favourite bands start to educate fans about the issues of the day. In the 60’s and 70’s the voices of Bob Dylan, Gill Scott Heron and Nina Simone gave rise to political consciousness for people all around the world. In the 80’s Bruce Springsteen stood out and spoke about the ugly truth of American patriotism in “Born in The U.S.A.” The song would be a huge hit for Springsteen in a decade when the music industry was being swept away by the rock star lifestyle of fame and riches.
In the 90’s Rage Against the Machine wrote many anthems that would champion political causes from the Mexican guerrilla group the Zapatistas to causes the political left cared about such as immigration and getting the common person to stand up against exploitation and injustice. They also wrote songs that spoke up against corporate greed and America’s offshore wars. The music was always angry but that anger was speaking truth to power which not many bands have been able to achieve in a music industry dominated by disposable pop music. In the 00’s System of a Down made their fans aware of the Armenian Genocide that occurred in 1915 by the Turkish government and Turkey denying it was a genocide, it was a personal issue for the band because they are all of Armenian heritage and their grandparents were survivors of the genocide.

Radiohead’s Kid A album cover depicted snowy mountain tops in flames and the song “Ideoteque” lyrics forewarns “Ice age coming.  We're not scaremongering this is really happening”. What Thom Yorke is referring to is climate change and the dangers that it will bring to current and future generations.
Hip Hop artist have also given their voice to the struggles of racism and poverty around the world. Hip Hop in the early 90’s had Public Enemy, KRS-One and Ice Cube rapping about issues of the ghettos and how being poor and black in America made you a target of the police and the C.I.A. Rap today has been hijacked by masculinity and having more wealth than common sense but last year Kendric Lemar’s “To Pimp a Butterfly” was the first mainstream hip hop album to be candid about the issues of police brutality, particularly in the video for the song “Alright” with the Black Lives Matter movement using it as an anthem for protesting.  Lemar also brings up the issue of institutionalized racism but he is mainly interested in the politics of the neighbourhood of Compton where he grew up and where many great hip hop artists carved their legacy and left a mark in popular culture.
America has had a black president for 8 years and now Obama’s time is coming to an end but there are still a lot of problems to be sorted out and it will take a president with a lot of guts and determination to really fix the major problems America and the world is facing. Senator Bernie Sanders is the first truly progressive politician running a campaign that is focused on issues like tackling greed on Wall Street, the income inequality in America and providing free education and healthcare to everyone. Already many artists are in support of Sanders but it remains to be seen if he will win the democratic nomination and become the next president of the United States. It certainly should inspire musicians to write songs about the issues of the day and to get young people interested in politics. I got interested in Bernie Sanders after Killer Mike from Run the Jewels and Dr Cornel West came out and endorsed him and I would recommend watching this video of Killer Mike interviewing Bernie Sanders at his Barbershop in Atlanta.