The New Respects - "Before the Sun Goes Down"

In honor of Black History Month all the posts for this month will feature artists of color.

They’ve got the fresh bright sounds that just makes you crack a smile when you hear it. Bursting with hope and potential they bring their eclectic roots together to makes majestic new wave - old soul sound, and it’s awesome.

The Fitzgerald siblings — Darius and twins Alexandria and Alexis — and their cousin Jasmine Mullen realized as teenagers that there was really no established template for the band they wanted to be: a coed quartet of Tennessee-bred, African-American kids initially playing a variation on folk-rock. Their response was to keep at it, experimenting with whatever styles struck their fancy at the moment and sifting through the influences they'd absorbed from their upbringings. (Mullen's mom, Nicole C. Mullen, rose to contemporary Christian popularity in the early '00s as a singer and songwriter of inspirational ballads and, as homeschooled preacher's kids, the Fitzgeralds were steered toward modern gospel and Motown.) Now in their early 20s, they're releasing their bright-eyed take on throwback rock 'n' roll, peppered with blues and soul references and calibrated for maximum pop effect, under the moniker The New Respects.

So today, with toes tapping and smiles cracking, I choose The New Respect’s “Before The Sun Goes Down'“ as my, give it a chance, make your own taste, find your own style, song for a, like a good cocktail that gets better the longer you drink it, savory in unexpected ways, sweet to the taste, Monday.

I’m also giving you one of their earlier songs “Trouble” because it’s gritty and gripping!

Esperanza Spalding - "Wild is the Wind"

In honor of Black History Month all the posts for this month will feature artists of color.

Esperanza Spalding is an organism of creation. She finds magical ways to continue pushing boundaries and growing her style. It is rare that we see a prodigy like this live up to the potential that was promises, but live up to it she does. She shines with it.

Spalding was raised in Portland, Oregon, and was a musical prodigy, playing violin in the Chamber Music Society of Oregon at five years old. She was later both self-taught and -trained on a number of instruments, including guitar and bass. Her proficiency earned her scholarships to Portland State University and the Berklee College of Music. In 2017 she was appointed Professor of the Practice of Music at Harvard University.

She has won four Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Award for Best New Artist at the 53rd Grammy Awards, making her the first jazz artist to win the award.

Ben Ratliff wrote in The New York Times in 2006 that Spalding's voice is "light and high, up in Blossom Dearie's pitch range, and [that] she can sing quietly, almost in a daydream" and that Spalding "invents her own feminine space, a different sound from top to bottom." Spalding was the 2005 recipient of the Boston Jazz Society scholarship for outstanding musicianship. Almost immediately after graduation from college later the same year, Spalding was hired by Berklee College of Music, becoming one of the youngest instructors in the institution's history, at age 20.

When asked in 2008 why she plays the bass instead of some other instrument, Spalding said that it was not a choice, but the bass "had its own arc" and resonated with her.  Spalding has said that, for her, discovering the bass was like "waking up one day and realizing you're in love with a co-worker."

So today, with clouds in my coffee, I choose Esperanza Spalding’s cover of "Wild is the Wind" (though any of her original work would also do), as my go on and dare yourself, try the wild ones, rebel hearts need no taming, song for a, fly on, clouds like silk sheets, the sun is calling, Friday.

Nat "King" Cole - "Stardust"

In honor of Black History Month all the posts for this month will feature artists of color.

Nat King Cole crowns a very short list of the most identifiable and memorable voices in American music. This ground breaking American icon’s impact continues to cross the world’s cultural and political boundaries. The story of his life is a study in success in the face of adversity and the triumph of talent over the ignorance of prejudice.

Born Nathaniel Adams Coles on March 17, 1919 (although 1916 and 1917 have also been cited), in Montgomery, Alabama, Cole was born into a family with a pivotal position in the black community; his father was pastor of the First Baptist Church. In 1921, the family migrated to Chicago, part of the mass exodus seeking a better life in the prospering industrial towns of the north. At four years old, he was learning the piano by ear from his mother, a choir director in the church. At 12 years old he took lessons in classical piano, but was soon to be bitten by the Jazz bug — inescapable in Chicago. He left school at 15 to pursue a career as a jazz pianist. Cole’s first professional break came touring in the revival of the show “Shuffle Along.” When the show folded he was stranded in Los Angeles. Cole looked for club work and found it at the Century Club on Santa Monica Boulevard, where he made quite an impression with the “in” crowd.

In 1939, Cole formed a trio with Oscar Moore on guitar and Wesley Prince on bass, notably they had no drummer. Gradually Cole would emerge as a singer. The group displayed a finesse and sophistication which expressed the new aspirations of the black community. In 1943, he recorded “Straighten Up And Fly Right,” for Capitol Records, inspired by one of his father’s sermons. It was an instant hit, assuring Cole’s future as a pop sensation. With the addition of strings in 1946 “The Christmas Song” began Cole’s evolution into a sentimental singer. In the 1940s he made several memorable sides with the Trio, including “It’s Only A Paper Moon” and “(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons.” But by 1948, and “Nature Boy,” the move away from small-group jazz, towards his eventual position as one of the most popular vocalists of the day, was underway.

During the 1950s, he was urged to make films, but his appearances were few and far between, including character parts in BLUE GARDENIA, CHINA GATE, and ST. LOUIS BLUES. However, Cole was not a natural actor — his enormous appeal lay in concerts and records.

During the years of Cole’s enormous popularity in the “easy listening” field he said he felt that he was “just adjusting to the market: as soon as you start to make money in the popular field, they scream about how good you were in the old days, and what a bum you are now.” At this time jazz fans had to turn out to see him in the clubs to hear his phenomenal piano — an extension of the Earl Hines style that had many features of the new, hip sounds of bebop. If Cole had not had such an effecting singing voice he might well have been one of bebop’s leaders. Bebop was an expression of black pride, but, it should be noted, so was Cole’s career, proving that whites did not possess the monopoly on sophistication.

Cole took racism on the chin, once attacked on stage in Birmingham, Alabama (after which he stuck to the promise that he would never return to the South) and refusing to move when he met objections from white neighbours having bought a house in fashionable Beverly Hills. Significantly, Cole became the first black television performer to host a variety TV series in 1956, but was forced to abandon the role in 1957, when the show could not find him a national sponsor.

Nat Cole’s “unforgettable” voice, with its honeyed velvet tones in a rich, easy drawl, is one of the great moments in music, and saw him accepted in a “white” world. With high profile friends, such as Frank Sinatra, his position entailed compromises that gained him the hostility of civil rights activists in the early 1960s. But Cole was a brave figure in a period when racial prejudice was at its most demeaning, Cole suffered the indignity of being “whited up” for some of his TV performances, to make him more “accessible” to a white audience. Before his death from lung cancer in 1965, Cole was planning a production of James Baldwin’s play, “Amen Corner,” displaying an interest in radical black literature at odds with his image as a sugary balladeer.

This song specifically is one of my favorites. Playing deeply into what Nat did best, his warm rich tones and a soft dreamy orchestration make this song the perfect way to escape into a midnight daydream.

So today, with dreams dusting my shoulders, I choose Nat "King" Cole’s "Stardust" as my, with each little miracle, hope for the hopeless, one small candle in the night, song for a, belief can move mountains, let your heart make it’s wishes, find the music you were destined to make, Thursday.

Jessye Norman - "When I am laid in Earth"

In honor of Black History Month all the posts for this month will feature artists of color.

In the 1980s, Jessye Norman’s roles in Aïda and Les Troyen made her one of the most popular and highest paid soprano opera singers worldwide.

The exceptionally gifted black American soprano, Jessye Norman, received in 1961 a scholarship to study at Howard Univversity in Washington, D.C., where she had vocal lessons from Carolyn Grant. She continued her training at the peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore and at the University of Michigan, where her principal teachers were Pierre Bernac and Elizabeth Mannion. In 1968 She won the Munich Competition.

Jessye Norman made her operatic debut in 1969 as Elisabeth in Tannbauser at the Berlin Deutsche Oper. She appeared in the title role of L'Africaine at Florence's Maggio Musicale in 1971, and the following year sang Aida at Milan's La Scala and Cassandra in Les Troyens at London's Covent Garden. Subsequently she made in 1973 major recital debuts in London and New York. After an extensive concert tour of North America during 1976-1977, she made her USA stage debut as Jocasta in Oedipus rex and as Purcell's Dido on a double bill with the Opera Company of Philadelphia in November 1982. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut in New York as Cassandra in September 1983 (or Les Troyens of Berlioz, which opened the company’s 100th anniversary season in 1983). Numerous operatic appearances at the Metropolitan Opera followed, the most recent of these was her celebrated portrayal of the title character in the Met’s premier production of Janacek’s The Makropulos Case in 1996.

In 1986 she appeared as soloist in Strauss's Vier letzte Lieder with the Berliner Philharmoniker during its tour of the USA. In September 1989, she was the featured soloist with Zubin Mehta and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. in its opening concert of its 148th season, which was telecast live to the nation by PBS. In 1992 she sang Jocasta at the opening operatic production at the new Saito Kinen Festival in Matsumoto. In September 1995, she was again the featured soloist with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, this time under Kurt Masur's direction, in a gala concert telecast live to the nation by PBS making the opening of the orchestra's 53rd season.

Jessye Norman’s 1998-1999 performances included a recital at Carnegie Hall in New York City, which had an unusual program incorporating sacred music of Duke Ellington, scored for jazz combo, string quartet and piano, and featuring the Alvin Ailey Repertory dance Ensemble. Other performances during the season included Das Leid von der Erde, with Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a television special for Christmas filmed in her hometown of Augusta, Georgia, as well as a spring recital tour, which included performances in Tel Aviv. The following season also brought performances of the sacred music of Duke Ellington to London and Vienna, together with a summer European tour, which included performances at the Salzburg Festival.

This rich history continues to be made as Jessye Norman e brings her sumptuous sound and spontaneous passion to recital performances, operatic portrayals, and appearances with symphony orchestras and chamber music collaborators, to the delight of listeners worldwide. Her extraordinary repertory ranges from Purcell to Richard Rodgers. She sings a widely varied operatic repertoire, having appeared at La Scala, Milan; the Teatro Communale, Florence; the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; the Stuttgart Opera, Vienna, and Hamburg State Operas; Opera Company of Philadelphia; The Lyric Opera of Chicago; Aix-en-Provence Festival; and the Salzburg Festival. She commended herself in Mussorgsky's songs, which she performed in Moscow in the original Russian. In her recitals she gave performances of the classical German repertory as well as contemporary masterpieces, such as Arnold Schoenberg's Gurrelieder and the French moderns, which she invariably performed in the original tongue. This combination of scholarship and artistry contributed to her consistently successful career as one of the most versatile concert and operatic singers of her time.

The vocal phenomenon that is Jessye Norman has long been acknowledged as possessing one of the world’s most beautiful voices. The sheer size, power, and luster of her voice share equal acclaim with that for her thoughtful, provocative music-making, prompting one writer to observe that "her vocal phrasing moves beyond mere seamlessness to convey a more ardent, spontaneous passion." Often cited for her innovative programming and fervent advocacy of contemporary music, she has earned the recognition of another writer who describes her as "one of those once –in-a-generation singers who isn’t simply following in the footsteps of others, but is staking out her own niche in the history of singing."

In December 1997, Jessye Norman was invested with the USA's highest award in the performing arts, the Kennedy Center Honro, making history as the youngest recipient in the Honors’ 20-year existence. Her many other prestigious awards and distinctions include honorary doctorates at the some thirty colleges, universities and conservatories around the world. In 1984 the French Government bestowed upon her the title "Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres" and the National Museum of Natural History in Paris named an orchid for her. In October 1989 she was awarded the "Legion d’Honneur" by French President Mitterand, and in June 1990 she was named Honorary Ambassador to the United Nations by U.N. Secretary Xavier Perez de Cueller.

Norman authored her memoir, Stand Up Straight and Sing!, in 2014. She received forty-five honorary doctorates from institutions such as Howard University, Juilliard School of Music and Harvard University. She was also the recipient of five Grammy Awards, including Best Classical Vocal Soloist Performance and a lifetime achievement award. 

Needless to say the size of her impact on the musical world can’t be measured. She literally shifted what it was to think about classical singers. Hers is a voice that can shift from Folk Songs, Hymns, to Haydn in moments.

So today, with awe in my eyes, I choose Jessye Norman’s version of Purcell’s "When I am laid in Earth" as my, crack open the sky, crisp and clean, like seeds cracking from their winter womb, song for a, fight for your life, tear down the walls you’ve built, out of difficulties grow miracles, Wednesday.

As a treat, I’m also giving you her rendition of Schubert’s “Ave Maria”. It’s purity and crystal clear squillo resonates through her body.

Leontyne Price - "O Mio Babbino Caro"

In honor of Black History Month all the posts for this month will feature artists of color.

Mary Violet Leontyne Price was born February 10, 1927, and raised in the colored section of Laurel, Mississippi. Her mother, Kate, was a midwife, and her father, James, worked in a sawmill. She was nurtured under the watchful eye of the community, which extended even to her aunt’s employers, The Chisholms, a family who lived in a white, affluent section of town. Her musical talents were encouraged, and her voice frequently was heard at area social events.

Price received a scholarship to attend Central State University, Wilberforce, Ohio. She began as a music education major, but she completed her studies there in voice.  After hearing Price perform at an earlier engagement, famed bass-baritone Paul Robeson agreed to appear in concert in Dayton, Ohio, to raise money to support Price’s continued vocal studies.

With Robeson’s assistance–proceeds from the concert totaled $1,000 (over $10,400 in 2018 dollars), as well as that of the school’s administration and the Chisholm family, Price was able to begin her vocal studies at Juilliard.

While attending Juilliard, she appeared in revivals of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess and Four Saints in Three Acts, by Virgil Thomson. The Porgy and Bess cast toured the United States and Europe with baritone William Warfield and Price singing the title roles. The two singers married in 1952, but the pressures of their separate careers eventually forced them to part.

Price was engaged to sing the lead for the National Broadcasting Company’s production of Puccini’s Tosca in 1955. There were strenuous objections, and some cancellations, from local affiliates; nonetheless, her dramatic portrayal and vocal performance in this historic broadcast were a critical success.

Other televised operatic roles soon followed. Then, in 1957, Price sang Verdi’s Aida for the first time. She identified strongly with the character, and her success led her to Vienna to sing for conductor Herbert von Karajan and, in 1960, to the stage of La Scala.

In January, 1961, she debuted at the Metropolitan Opera as Leonora in Verdi’s Il Trovatore. Her performance was a success not only to the audience who witnessed it, but to the New York critics as well. She was signed for additional roles there and at other houses around the world.

By the mid 1960’s, her reputation had grown to the extent that she was offered the lead in the Samuel Barber opera commissioned especially for the opening of the Met’s new facilities at Lincoln Center. The opening performance of Antony and Cleopatra in 1966, though marred by the extremes taken in costuming and staging, solidified Price’s place as one of the world’s great divas.

In the years that followed, Price’s notoriety allowed her the freedom to select roles she wanted, often taking rests between runs. She increased the number of recitals in the 1970’s and made several operatic and concert recordings. Price retired from the opera stage at the Met in 1985 with her signature role, Aida. This live telecast was viewed by millions, and her performance of the aria, “O Patria Mia,” was the top ranked “Great Moments at the Met: Viewer’s Choice” selection.

Leontyne Price received many honorary degrees as well as the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1965), the Kennedy Center Honors (1980), and the National Medal of Arts (1985). Her many recordings earned nineteen Grammy Awards, and she received a special Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1989. For her performance on Live From Lincoln Center, Leontyne Price, Zubin Mehta and the New York Philharmonic, Price received the 1982 Emmy award for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program.

Price has been described as a “lirico-spinto” soprano with a 3-1/2 octave range. Her rock-solid vocal technique and purity and her dramatic flair have been combined to create a mix suitable both for the opera and concert stage.

So today, with breath and support, I choose Leontyne Price’s breathtaking rendition of "O Mio Babbino Caro" as my, hold to your star, never let it stray, find the light to carry you into day, song for a, let no one tell you your limits, this is the fire to forge the steel, white hot passion, Tuesdday.

I’m also giving you her farewell performance, because it’s legendary, as well as a beautiful portrait interview she did in 1981 that shows you want an exemplary human and artist she is.

Ma' Rainey - "See See Rider Blues"

In honor of Black History Month all the posts for this month will feature artists of color.

MA RAINEY MAY NOT HAVE BEEN THE FIRST WOMAN TO SING THE BLUES, BUT SHE MIGHT AS WELL HAVE.

Her sturdy, tough vocals wiped away any memory of other blues singers. Whatever you heard before, it was not the blues—because no one else sang the blues like Ma Rainey.

If Bessie Smith is the acknowledged “Queen of the Blues,” then Gertrude “Ma” Rainey is the undisputed “Mother of the Blues.”

As music historian Chris Albertson has written, “If there was another woman who sang the blues before Rainey, nobody remembered hearing her.” Rainey fostered the blues idiom, and she did so by linking the earthy spirit of country blues with the classic style and delivery of Bessie Smith. She often played with such outstanding jazz accompanists as Louis Armstrong and Fletcher Henderson, but she was more at home fronting a jug band or washboard band.

Ma Rainey was born Gertrude Pridgett on April 26, 1886 in Columbus, Georgia. She was the second of five children of Thomas and Ella (née Allen) Pridgett, from Alabama. She had at least two brothers and a sister named Malissa, with whom Gertrude was later confused in some cases. She made her performing debut at the age of 14 in a local show called “A Bunch of Blackberries.” In her late teens, she married William Rainey, and both toured with the Rabbit Foot Minstrels.

That troupe is said to have featured Rainey singing the blues. If that is true, those performances precede the blues boom by some seventeen years. Regardless, by all accounts she was the first woman to incorporate blues into vaudeville, minstrel and tent shows. In fact, it is believed that Rainey coached a young Bessie Smith while touring with the Rabbit Foot Minstrels.

In 1914 she and her husband began touring as Rainey and Rainey, Assassinators of the Blues. They often spent their winters in New Orleans, and there she met such musicians as Joe “King” Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet and Pops Foster.

In 1923 Rainey signed with Paramount Records. That December she made her first eight recordings for the label. These included the songs “Bad Luck Blues,” “Bo-Weevil Blues” and “Moonshine Blues.” Over the next five years, she recorded more than one hundred songs for the label. Paramount marketed her extensively, calling her the “Mother of the Blues,” the “Songbird of the South,” the “Gold-Neck Woman of the Blues" and the “Paramount Wildcat.” In 1924 she made some recordings with Louis Armstrong, including "Jelly Bean Blues,” "Countin' the Blues" and "See, See Rider.”

With her broad, toothy smile, multi-directional horsehair wig and necklace of $20 gold coins, Rainey was a sight to behold. “They said she was the ugliest woman in show business,” Alberta Hunter once said. “But Ma Rainey didn’t care, because she pulled in the crowds. Some of us used to laugh at her, because she was so countryfied. But I think her looks were part of her act—just look at some of those kids out there today, those young men with the wild hair and makeup. Are they pretty? No, but people notice them, and they’re making money.”

When the blues faded from popularity in the Thirties, the earthy Ma Rainey returned to her Georgia hometown, where she ran two theaters. Ma Rainey died from a from a heart attack on December 22, 1939.

Ma Rainey was inducted into the Blue Foundation’s Hall of Fame in 1990, the same year she was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. In 2004 “See, See Rider” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

So today, with determination like a boulder in the river, I choose Ma’ Rainey’s “See See Rider Blues” as my, be yourself, there is no other like you, I like you just the way you are, song for a, believe in your heart, right from the start, yours is the only song you need to sing Monday.

Stevie Wonder - "Overjoyed"

In honor of Black History Month all the posts for this month will feature artists of color.

Genius, Prodigy, Revelation, all are apt terms for this man. He singlehandedly changed the face (and sound) of modern Pop and R&B music. He brought funk to the mainstream, trailed motown everywhere he went, and gave us genius every step of the way. His is a voice that time will not forget and his words are those that the world will ever remember.

Stevland Hardaway Morris (born May 13, 1950 as Stevland Hardaway Judkins), was a child prodigy, and he has become one of the most creative and loved musical performers of the late 20th century. Wonder signed with Motown's Tamla label at the age of eleven and continues to perform and record for Motown as of the early 2010s. He has been blind since shortly after birth.

Among Wonder's works are singles such as "Superstition", "Sir Duke", "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" and "I Just Called to Say I Love You"; and albums such as Talking Book, Innervisions and Songs in the Key of Life. He has recorded more than thirty U.S. top ten hits and received twenty-two Grammy Awards, the most ever awarded to a male solo artist, and has sold over 100 million albums and singles, making him one of the top 60 best-selling music artists. Wonder is also noted for his work as an activist for political causes, including his 1980 campaign to make Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday a holiday in the United States. In 2009, Wonder was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace. In 2008, Billboard magazine released a list of the Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists to celebrate the US singles chart's fiftieth anniversary, with Wonder at number five. 

A prominent figure in popular music during the latter half of the 20th century, Wonder has recorded more than thirty U.S. top ten hits and won twenty-two Grammy Awards (the most ever won by a solo artist) as well as a Lifetime Achievement Award. He has also won an Academy Award for Best Song, and been inducted into both the Rock and Roll and Songwriters halls of fame. He has also been awarded the Polar Music Prize. American music magazine Rolling Stone named him the ninth greatest singer of all time.  In June 2009 he became the fourth artist to receive the Montreal Jazz Festival Spirit Award. He has had ten U.S. number-one hits on the pop charts as well as 20 R&B number one hits, and has sold over 100 million records, 19.5 million of which are albums; he is one of the top 60 best-selling music artists with combined sales of singles and albums. Wonder has recorded several critically acclaimed albums and hit singles, and writes and produces songs for many of his label mates and outside artists as well. Wonder plays the piano, synthesizer, harmonica, congas, drums, bass guitar, bongos, organ, melodica, and clavinet. In his childhood, he was best known for his harmonica work, but today he is better known for his keyboard skills and vocal ability. Wonder was the first Motown artist and second African-American musician to win an Academy Award for Best Original Song, which he won for his 1984 hit single "I Just Called to Say I Love You" from the movie The Woman in Red.

Wonder's "classic period" is generally agreed to be between 1972 and 1977. Some observers see in 1971's Where I'm Coming From certain indications of the beginning of the classic period, such as its new funky keyboard style which Wonder used throughout the classic period. Some determine Wonder's first "classic" album to be 1972's Music of My Mind, on which he attained personal control of production, and on which he programmed a series of songs integrated with one another to make a concept album.  Others skip over early 1972 and determine the beginning of the classic period to be Talking Book in late 1972, the album in which Wonder "hit his stride".

His classic 1970s albums were very influential on the music world: the 1983 Rolling Stone Record Guidesaid they "pioneered stylistic approaches that helped to determine the shape of pop music for the next decade"; Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time included four of the five albums, with three in the top 90;  and in 2005, Kanye West said of his own work, "I'm not trying to compete with what's out there now. I'm really trying to compete with Innervisions and Songs in the Key of Life. It sounds musically blasphemous to say something like that, but why not set that as your bar?" Even though I don’t much like Kanye, I applaud his sentiment here. He wants to compete with something greater than what is standard or adequate, he wants to be matched up with greatness, and though he may fail (and more oft than not does) he is still holding himself to a higher standard than most modern artists.

So, today, with humble reverence and joy in my heart I choose Stevie Wonder’s “Overjoyed” as my, let your heart alight like the butterfly on its wing, watch your soul fly like the golden eagle in the sun, feel your energy blazing and buzzing around you like a swarm of hummingbirds song for a let yourself be caught in the flight of murmuration, feel yourself grounded to every other living thing, dare yourself to be better, brighter and stronger Friday.

Ezra Furman - "Every Feeling"

A queer music maker who knows how to put words and music together in heartbreakingly honest snippets of human life. Ezra Furman has spent years looking through the window and the rest of society, and the pictures that he creates in his music because of this are incredibly clear, precise, and tragic. He’s like an early Neil Young, taking each treasure of an experience and faceting it in a the golden light of music, crystalized like amber, immortal for the world to keep until the world is gone.

A thoughtful lyricist taking his poetic inspiration, songcraft ideas, and even a few fashion cues from Bob Dylan, Ezra Furman sings in a nasally style similar to the Violent Femmes' Gordon Gano while making unpretentious indie folk/indie pop that's raw, deep, and achingly sentimental.

As students of Tufts University, guitarist Jahn Soon, bassist Job Mukkada, and drummer Jordan Kozer formed the Harpoons as Furman's backing band in 2006 and self-recorded Beat, Beat, Beat in their dorm rooms with the help of engineer Dave Kant of Outtake Records. After self-releasing a limited run of the album and making their first tour of the States, producer Brian Deck (Modest Mouse, Iron & Wine) took notice and pulled the band into the studio to record. The result was Banging Down the Doors, a sincere, awkward, and moving debut released by Minty Fresh in August of 2007.

Only a year later, despite extensive touring, Furman found time to write another album's worth of material, and the second Ezra Furman & the Harpoons record, Inside the Human Body, was released in October of 2008. Mysterious Power followed in 2011 before Furman released his first solo album, Year of No Returning, in 2013. By 2014, his reputation in the indie world had grown considerably, especially in Britain, leading to his signing with the London-based Bella Union label later that year. His second solo release, the critically acclaimed Perpetual Motion People, was released in June 2015.

After extensive touring, Furman decided to wind down his live band the Boyfriends, reshaping them into the Visions. In keeping with the spirit of change, Furman altered his sound for the next record, 2018's Transangelic Exodus, which featured a darker, more dramatic approach with a clutch of songs about synthetically created outlaw angels, those who love them and fear them, and those who refuse the current state of repression in the 2010s political world order and are likely to be persecuted for it.

So today, with my sleeves heavy with burden, I choose Ezra Furman’s "Every Feeling" as my, with a little more strength, one more step, like a million pounds worth of feathers, song for a, sometimes you just need to feel all of them, what does one more matter, enjoy the vortex of swirling emotions - it means you can still feel them, Thursday.