Singleversity #10

Audiversity’s weekly column on random music in a predetermined number of words between 1 & 150. This week's randomly generated number: 90.

(Ed. - Originally this was called Threeversity, but in the spirit of simplicity we've decided to retroactively relabel all of these posts. The content remains unchanged.)

MA:
(#90 of a random playlist generated from my ever-changing database of 12,500+ songs)



Tony Allen is finally getting his props. After years of sitting patiently behind the legendary personality that was Fela Kuti and providing the most important aspect afrobeat, that mind-blowing rhythms, Allen is finally getting the respect he deserves. And of all things, it’s his subdued playing on a fucking Brit-pop record that is spreading his name through the mainstream. Well whatever. 2002’s HomeCooking kicked off Allen’s revitalized recording career, and though it’s intent was to bridge afrobeat with London hip-hop, tracks like "Crazy Afrobeat" are what the people want.

PM:

After many attempts at trying to figure out just why I should like This Heat, “Makeshift Swahili” was the one that finally won me over. Sandwiched between “Radio Prague” and the infamous “Independence” on their 1981 masterpiece Deceit, “Makeshift Swahili” has both Charles Hayward and Bullen shouting the words to a storyline based around Native American relocation as the atmosphere shifts with the late change of a pedal. Though they were sorely overlooked in their own time, the British trio finally got re-examination treatment with 2006’s Out of Cold Storage.

JR:

Apparently Jordan's Jazz-Warriors NBA playoff party took its toll on him last night, so in his place Patrick will be doing another track. What's one song you'd probably never catch Jordan listening to? Here's one guess: “The Poet Acts” is in the opening to “The Hours,” a movie based on the Michael Cunningham book about Virginia Woolf. Woolf would’ve been impressed with the drama here as Michael Riesman plays piano for a score dreamt up by Philip Glass. Riesman was a cohort with Glass for years before the 2004 release.