It was a beautiful fall day. The sun was shining, the wind was blowing a slightly cool breeze, and I just parked my car near a tree to read my bible of pagan spirituality. As I cracked open the book, I found myself getting more and more excited to practice pagan spirituality (Wicca in particular) as the story promotes it so well. Just like watching the movie Back To The Future encouraged me as a kid to build a time machine, Batman made me want to get a tight-ass outfit and fight crime with my own hands, and Scooby Doo made me smoke weed and find a dog that could talk, now the Harry Potter story has me wanting to get back into Wicca!
Can anyone recommend a good covenant?
Of course, with my tongue firmly planted in cheek, I'm bullshitting right now. And speaking of bullshit, is anyone other than me sick and tired of all the "Harry Potter promotes evil" garbage? I am. In fact, I think the ones who rail against the HP series so much are actually creating their own monster. How? Well rememeber when you were young and your mom or dad told you NOT to do something? Like, "Now stay away from this movie because it's no good for you." What's the first thing that comes to your mind after they tell you that? To go and see the movie the first chance you get! As well meaning as they were, they peaked curiousity in your mind, with fear as their motivation. I swear, I have been a huge fan of the HP series, and I never once got curious about checking out Wicca or anything like it because of the stories. Now I'm not into Wicca, but I used to be. And nothing encouraged me to get into Wicca other than my own curiosity. You see I was spiritually searching for something. And Wicca happened to be one of the paths I chose, but certainly NOT because of some fantasy story! In fact, what did influence me from the HP series are things like sacrificial love and loyalty.
So to all of the anti-Harry Potter arguments going on, I say "Accio-Bullshit"!
Mark Ronson
Version
A good DJ is someone who can breathe life into a dead song. On the chance that a DJ happens to make his own album, a good DJ will always recruit the top artists. Mark Ronson did just that, bringing in Lily Allen and Amy Winehouse to contribute on his album Version. The opening track God Put A Smile Upon Your Face sets the tone with a nice instrumental mix then jumps right into Oh My God featuring Lily Allen. Three songs after is Valerie featuring Amy Winehouse. Now I don't know who would win in a catfight, but Amy's vocals definitely blows Lily's out of the box. But Lily has her own unique style which sets her apart, so having both of them on here was a definite plus. One thing you will notice is that trumpets play a key part all throughout the album, giving it a nice jazzy feel. Overall it's a nice album to dance or chill to.
Kanye West
Graduation
When I was a teen growing up in NJ, I consumed massive amounts of hip-hop, most of which came out of NYC. There were bands like A Tribe Called Quest, Naughty By Nature, Das EFX, Black Sheep, Redman, Wu Tang Clan, Nas, and countless others. I had a hunger for hot beats and great rhymes. It used to be that you could only get your hands on mixtapes by guys like DJ Clue if you went to NYC yourself, or if you knew anyone who had a copy. Those days are long gone. Artists now in the hip-hop scene have more potential to reach a larger audience other than those in "the hood". Not only that, but we are seeing many artists cross genres to make songs with musicians in other scenes. And what better example of that than Kanye West. You gotta admit, the man knows how to promote himself. From public rants to a confidence that's mixed with a narcicisstic complex, he draws attention. So naturally you had to assume there would be much publicity surrounding his latest album Graduation.
The guy's not a drug dealer, didn't grow up in the hood, and doesn't have much street cred. But he's a slick musician. And that's evident all throughout the album. Whether he's doing a collaboration with Coldplay's Chris Martin on the song Homecoming, or banging out a radio hit like Stronger, his capability to cross musical genres puts him at the top of his game. You'd find more lyrical depth in his songs more than you would other rappers as he sings about persistance in reaching for your dreams and the flesh and blood of striving for a better life. Sometimes I think the guy bitches too much and tries to make a scene all to promote himself. But listening to his music, I realize it's not all hype and he is talented in his craft.
Skinny Puppy
Mythmaker
I was never much of an industrial music fan. I had an appreciation for the way they tried to infuse techno and rock, but it never really peaked my interest. I remember the first time I was introduced to Skinny Puppy. I had a friend back in 1996 who was heavy into acid. And you can tell how much LSD this guy consumed in his teens due to his twitching and the flashbacks he got. It was a mess. He was a poster boy of why you should not try acid. Anyway, another thing I remember about him was that he had music a lot of people weren't familiar with. There was DJ Keoki and another band called Skinny Puppy that he always talked about. DJ Keoki I thought was ok, since he was more in the rave scene. Skinny Puppy I had a hard time getting into. Nothing against them personally, it just wasn't my thing. So, that's how I got introduced to them. Fast forward to now and I recently heard they put out a new album in 2007. Again, I wasn't that interested in checking it out, until I read a press release quote about the song "ugLi", by the singer Ogre:
The simultaneous percolating and grinding “ugLi” (with its refrain “Jesus wants to be ugly”), is not an attack on spirituality, but a treatise on how religion is used as a tool by the morally bankrupt as a means of control. “I wrote those lyrics over a year ago, because I felt that the concept of Jesus was being used in an ugly fashion,” says the singer. “Now, you’re seeing a large body of the Christian movement questioning that utopian union and questioning the morality of the current administration.”
There's a lot of truth in that quote. Since I related to what he said, I was now intrigued to hear the album. Soundwise, the music is what you would normally expect from an industrial album. Themes include questioning the current political administration, as well as dealing with issues of trust. Along with the mesasage in the song ugLi, the aggressive beats in it are probably the best on the album, making it the standout track for me. I'm still not much of industrial music fan, but I can appreciate the approach that was taken on this.
What if I say I'm not like the others?
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays?
You're the pretender
What if I say I will never surrender?
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