I’ve heard of A Tribe Called Quest but I don’t know if I’ve ever heard their music. The hip-hop group put out five albums in the 90s before splitting, then reunited last year to release their sixth, titled We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service.
The album was very well-received and shows up in the third spot on Village Voice’s Pazz & Jop poll.
The track ‘We the People’ is at #5 on the singles poll (following Rae Sremmurd’s ‘Black Beatles’ at #4).
It was a banner year for the Knowles family. While Beyoncé took the top spot on the Village Voice Pazz & Jop singles list, her sister Solange landed at #3 with ‘Cranes in the Sky.’
Solange also claimed the fifth spot on the albums list for her record A Seat at the Table. Stellar showing, no doubt, but I kind of feel bad that Solange put out a critically-acclaimed, career-defining album the same year her sister put out an even more critically-acclaimed, career-defining album. It’s like Venus making it to the finals at Wimbledon only to lose to Serena.
Each January I like to check out the annual Village Voice Pazz & Jop poll, now in its 44th year, to get a sense of what critics thought of the previous year in music.
It usually leans a little more toward infuriating than illuminating, as critics tend to flock toward the same obvious choices. If Kanye West farts on record, it has a 100% chance of making the top ten in this poll. That said, I have also discovered some great songs there that I wouldn’t have otherwise heard.
Sometimes a Random iTunes Weekend selection pops up and I just got nothing. No feelings about the band or the song one way or the other. No anecdote about how the selection made it to my music library in the first place. Nothing.
Such is the case with today’s SOTD, ‘Mind Eraser’ by The Black Keys. Fine song, reminiscent of every other Black Keys song I’ve heard, but that’s it.
The Hunger Games soundtrack is the gift that keeps on gving, popping up on Random Weekends to deliver somber ballads appropriate to the film’s dystopian Appalachian setting.
Today’s example is from Punch Brothers, a “progressive bluegrass” band that formed a decade ago in Brooklyn (of course).
It’s lovely, like most of the album.
Meet Me In Montauk 