Finnegan
I like a bit of a cavort
Me too, astonishingly brilliant musicianship. Yeah, yeah, I know it’s a completely different style and approach but his playing is a reminder that the jazzers blow the rock gods into the middle of next month.
Glastonbury 22
- Thread starter Ponty
- Start date
Tony L
Administrator
If you missed them check out the Snarky Puppy set. For me of the jazz stuff there they seemed the most relaxed and at ease and settled into some great grooves. That obviously takes nothing away from Herbie Hancock, Nubya Garcia etc who were wonderful, but Snarky Puppy really left an impression.
PS The level of musicianship these days is truly astonishing across all genres IMHO. I guess I’m rooted in my punk, DIY, new-wave, ‘80s indie and techno era, but to my eyes the level of musical proficiency these days is through the roof. It may not always be put to the most original or inventive use, but the skills on show these days are seldom short of a very, very high level.
jimbob75
pfm Member
Seemed a good mix of stuff. From what I managed to see, I enjoyed Khruangbin, Angelique Kidjo, and Nubya Garcia. Must buy her Source LP.
Kendrick Lamar was impressive. Tempted by the double vinyl To Pimp A Butterfly, but I think I need something a bit funkier to offset the rapping. More Thundercat maybe.
Kendrick Lamar was impressive. Tempted by the double vinyl To Pimp A Butterfly, but I think I need something a bit funkier to offset the rapping. More Thundercat maybe.
Graham H
pfm Member
Graham H
pfm Member
For those that are interested in such things, Terence Blanchard’s horn is the last on the page on the link above, designed specifically for him. Nice find Flapland.
Whaleblue
Southbound
I’ve read the two part review linked, and also read the Wikipedia article on Tupac Shakur.
I am now better educated, but also confused about subjects I previously knew nothing of. Your previous comment “It took me months as a dumb white guy with no understanding of the culture to understand what To Pimp A Butterfly was actually about” now makes some sense, but I’d disagree about “dumb white guy”. No need to self deprecate for having no understanding of the culture, especially when you’re switched on enough to go digging.
Anyway, I’m off to listen to TPAB.
matthewr
spɹɐʍʞɔɐq spɹoɔǝɹ ɹnoʎ sʎɐld
Thankfully, the "Rap is not music" thing is pretty rare these days. Although I do have a cousin -- degree educated and without any extreme politics -- who insists it's all terrible and refuses to listen to any Kendrick and thinks his Pulitzer was a portent of cultural doom.
PS I've known Tony for years and I can say without fear of contradiction that he's definitely white
PS I've known Tony for years and I can say without fear of contradiction that he's definitely white
Tony L
Administrator
I felt the same, though I came to the conclusion it is better to view it along with other challenging art as being something that just expects some effort on behalf of the end-user. I do like a lot of challenging music, late-period Coltrane, ‘2nd Viennese School’ serialism, minimalism etc and they all require a little effort to get to grips with. This stuff is obviously about interpreting the lyrical content, the music, though vastly more complex than some give credit for, was what attracted me to To Pimp A Butterfly in the first place as it showcases Kamasi Washington, Thundercat etc and has some amazing riffs and crazy clever timing to it.
The lyrics have a depth, layering and complexity I have seen nowhere else. It was totally new to me. I’ve never disliked rap. I still have the Grandmaster Flash 12” singles I bought in the early ‘80s (Wheels Of Steel, Message, White Lines), so I was in fairly early back when I was still a new-wave teenager. I also rate Gil Scott Heron as one of my favourite artists of any genre. This is all really accessible and unambiguous music to my mind. I did however lose touch with rap when it went more underground aside from a couple of things like NWA, Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy etc. As such when the music aspect sucked me back in with Kendrick Lamar I was more than a bit surprised that I had no real idea what he was on about and I even made the mistake of taking some lyrics at face value, being put off by the swearing (i.e. not understanding the context, the reappropriating of abuse terms etc).
I also had no knowledge of the history. If a jazz band refers musically to Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Mingus, Coltrane, Ayler etc, or a rock band to Can, Neu!, MC5, Stooges, Wire or whatever there is a good chance I’ll get the nod. If someone refers lyrically to Tupac or Snoop Dog I’ve got no chance. I’ve got a massive gap here to the point I need an instruction manual! I’m also really not good lyrically. I’m not the sort of person who can remember song words at all, e.g. I could probably burp-up a sentence or two of T. Rex or Joy Division, but even there not a full song. Just not how my brain works. I’d actually stand a far better chance of telling you the catalogue/matrix number of the record! As such this may well be more of a challenge for me than for many others.
I’ve found it fascinating and rewarding anyway. This is cutting-edge/next-level protest music. It is exceptionally clever and powerful stuff, and that alone means I want ‘in’. The thing I will avoid at all costs is any attempt to ‘whitesplain’ it to anyone else, and I hope nothing I have written on this thread has been anything other than suggesting it is great art and deserves some effort by the end-user. It is certainly not for me to try and explain what it is about.
PS I really enjoyed Megan Thee Stallion this week too. She was great fun! Who’d have thought a couple of rap acts without live bands could end up my top/most memorable performers of the whole festival?!
daytona600
Registered User
Enjoying Kendrick Lamar , Megan , Confidence Man , Supergrass , Jack White , Caribou & Yves Tumor
I feel a bit funny about a lot of black music that is conveying a message or depicting black experiences, am I allowed to like it if I just enjoy the music but can't relate to the subject matter? Feels a bit wrong.
graystoke4
pfm Member
Hi, well with some iplayer and the beeb, its hard to see all that you want, and who when and where they are playing, but I'm with mikeyb, on this one, it was dire, i have never been, should have gone about 20 years ago, i have tried for tickets a few times, no luck, if someone offered me a free ticket, i still would not go, this year, girl pop bands, trying hard to wear the least clothes, with thin talentless voices, and geriatric's, realising that their best days are long gong, then all weekend the lgbtqia posse, trying so hard to tell everyone that they are gay, no one cares,,, jack white was v-good, also Billie eilish, she should have had a full backing band though, it seems, that the only thing that matters is TOO be seen there, again bbc dj's try their best, to be better than the acts, but the crowd seemed to have a good time, and the weather was nice, now if you had offered me a ticket for the test match, the beers would have been on me, and who was headlining on Sunday, Christ he was shockingly bad,
and who was headlining on Sunday, Christ he was shockingly bad, 
foxwelljsly
Me too, I ate one sour too.
Can you appreciate Bach’s Easter Oratorio without being a god botherer?
matthewr
spɹɐʍʞɔɐq spɹoɔǝɹ ɹnoʎ sʎɐld
I am struggling to understand how someone can not find something they like across the Glastonbury output. Assuming they actually like popular music rather than being, say, only interested in classical music.
matthewr
spɹɐʍʞɔɐq spɹoɔǝɹ ɹnoʎ sʎɐld
Although you can certainly talk about Lamar's music and other hip-hop from a technical point of view without getting into difficulty. Like how it's hugely influenced by Jazz and full of of 7th and 9th chords, or how the whole genre is based on inventive rhythmic ideas.
Here's three white blokes on Lamar and Kanye West for example
Or my favourite video on the rhythmic aspects of the genre starting with J. Dilla
Tony L
Administrator
I’d argue a lot, if not all of my political beliefs have been formed via protest music. Initially Rock Against Racism, bands like TRB, Steel Pulse, Patti Smith, the whole Two Tone thing, Au Pairs, Gang Of Four, Crass, Billy Bragg etc etc, later to artists such as Gil Scott Heron, Fela Kuti, Disposable Heroes, McCarthy etc through to eventually deep-diving jazz and blues history and context. Every year as I discover more stuff, old and new, I hopefully become just a little wiser and better informed, gain just a little more perspective. I’d certainly never feel guilty about gaining any enjoyment from any music, and if it can open your mind to considering alternative perspectives and even changing your mind then it is I’m sure working exactly as the artist intended.
To be honest it is the opposite perspective I find troubling, I certainly struggle to enjoy music where I know the artist’s politics absolutely blows chunks.