Abstract Index Playlist - January 7/09

This is hard for me to admit, but I finally bought my first digital music device this past Tuesday. Now I join the rest of North America's music consumption habits. My wife is laughing at me, and rightly so.

I'm looking forward to how this MP3 player will change the Abstract Index. Although I get lots of physical promo, there's always more digital stuff to be had. For someone who loves to go off on tangents, it's amazing that I've been such a luddite for so long.

Back in the world of CD promo, though, I recently got Femi Kuti's long awaited disc. I was looking forward to seeing him in Toronto next week, but then word came that the entire North American tour had been cancelled.

The album is interesting, especially in light of younger brother Seun's recorded debut this past summer. As with most of Femi's oeuvre, he strains against Afrobeat, often with imaginative results - though it must be said that the retro vibe which Femi had always eschewed is more prevalent here than ever before.

At worst, as on the title track's waltz time, his ideas seem forced. But at its frequent best - like this week's "You Better Ask Yourself" - the pacing is masterful, with an unfolding energy that his younger half brother has yet to discover. Femi sounds troubled throughout the disc, not in the sense that he is confidently denouncing the evils in the world today, but that he's just hanging in there making his points though he's suffering and hurting too. That's a different point of view from many Afrobeat practioners who often posture themselves as proud, righteous and invulnerable. I really enjoy where this album is coming from, though I'm sure some will take issue with exactly those qualities I find praiseworthy.

Podcast

the birds - telefon tel aviv (bpitch control)
intense love - sultan peppa rmx. by naw (pawn shop)
xberg ghosts - deadbeat (wagon repair)
union hall (rexxa remix) - juba dance (audio 8)
you better ask yourself - femi kuti (mercer st)
djanfa magni - tidjani kore & orchestra poly-rhytmo (analog africa)
coba guarango - novalima (cumbancha)
dakar pockey - incubator (ptr)
got to get your own - reuben wilson (cadet)
stop and make up your mind - arnie love and the lovettes (numero)
happy fingers - barnyard drama (barnyard)
oriente - galerie stratique (statik)
dancando no escouro - curumin (quannum)
the blue bus - pigeon funk (risquee)
cumbia limatronica - dj negro (no label)
black sabbath - venetian snares (planet mu)
jah goddess - auresia (moonsplash)
dread reckoning dub - dubmatix (7 arts)
dub mission - big bass theory feat. jornick jahnick (sirbassa sounds)
i'm just a dread - jacob miller/trinity (joe gibbs)
ordinary version 3 - impact all stars (17 north parade)