I took my PTO the last few weeks of the year to maximize family time and attempt to alleviate the burnout. That almost lasted through the new year, but not quite. It seems like things might be making a shift in life, trending towards a necessary reset.
To aide this process along, and make my hours at the computer far more enjoyable, I’ve been leaning on the songs below. Enjoy.
Zo! & Tall Black Guy “Talking to Myself feat. BeMyFiasco“
We can chalk this up as another win from the Phonte musical family. I’ve been listening to Zo! for years, thanks to collabs with Te. You might recall I featured Dallas’ own BeMyFiasco on the Lemonade was a Popular Drink edition off the blog.
This record is off the stellar Zo! & Tall Black Guy album Abstractions, released in 2021. I didn’t see it on many EOY/AOY lists, but I think that means I’m looking at the wrong lists.
Some of my favorite albums from 2021, in the cop-out format of “no particular order”:
Links are to previous blogs the tracks were featured on.
- Zo! & Tall Black Guy Abstractions (duh)
- Catbite Nice One
- Th1rt3en A Magnificent Day for an Exorcism
- We Are the Union Ordinary Life
- The Lillingtons Can Anybody Hear Me? A Tribute to Enemy You
- Sincere Engineer Bless My Psyche
Ernest Ranglin “Up on the Downstroke”
My buddy Sles randomly texted me an Ernest Ranglin song a few years ago called “D’accord Dakar”. It had these amazing ska, jazz, and rocksteady grooves. What the Jamaicans, and the title of this record call, riddims. The song below follows that one on the album. It was one of the first ska records I had listened to for quite sometime. Flash forward a few years and it’s the genre and subject matter of the majority of my media consumed in 2021.
Fun Facts: Ranglin has been playing reggae, mento, jazz, ska, and rocksteady guitar for `over 70 years. He wrote a few songs for the Jamaica scenes in the James Bond film, Dr. No. His guitar and riddims can be heard in the best selling ska song of all time. Aaron Carnes is wise to point out it’s not a Reel Big Fish or MMB song, it is the (frankly annoying) Millie Small track “My Boy Lollipop”.
The Heptones “Book of Rules”
Our last selection of today fits right in with the previous. The Heptones are a vocal trio focused on Jamaican reggae, ska, and rocksteady. This one has a great groove to it, perfect for escaping the general malaise and angst of the modern world.
They don’t pay their artists well, but Spotify’s radio stations based on songs concept is rad. I was calming myself with The Frightnrs record, Nothing more to say, and this lovely track was the first one up on the related playlist. I felt my head bobbing before registering the artist had changed. I was happily surprised to learn it was The Heptones, whom now have plenty of tracks in my daily selections.
