MC MZ Presents

Writing update #2: My review for Pitchfork of Daymé Arocena’s vibrant new record, Cubafonía. You should read it. I worked hard on it. Same with the Ibibio review I posted before this.

Writing update #1: The review I wrote about Ibibio Sound Machine’s idea-heavy sophomore release, Uyai, for Pitchfork. 

this jambinai video is beautiful.

Thinking of our Purple Hero on this MLK Day.

Back in November, in that sliver of time before the nightmare of election day, I wrote about visiting Paisley Park for Condé Nast Traveler. It went up a couple weeks ago. Give it a read if u like.

MCMZ

Favorite Albums & Tracks of 2016

Not even two weeks into 2017, and 2016 seems like so long ago; shit just keeps coming harder and faster; white nationalists in Congress continue to try to push as much of their agenda through before Jan 20.

I was going to write some meditative intro about last year transitioning into this year, but every time I’ve tried, I just feel sadder. So here are my best of 2016 lists–tracks first, albums second–even though it already feels like we’re years into 2017. 

TRACKS

23 Princess Nokia - “Tomboy” My lil titties n my fat belly…my body little, my soul is heavy.

22 Yemi Alade - “Tumbum”

Musically and thematically, there’s a lot of overlap with “Johnny,” but “Johnny” is perfect, so. Additionally, “Tumbum” involves jollof and soup.

21 Carly Rae Jepsen - “Fever” When you’re oscillating between feeling like the fucker can piss off forever and feeling like you’ll never get over them, so you write a lavishly passive-aggressive kiss-off instead :)

20 Mikael Seifu - “Vector of Light” The slow build is so good. The release feels like a thousand points of light breaking off into the night and then the night folding back in on itself and reconfiguring and then disappearing in a gassy, screechy haze. Or something.

19 Dawn Richard - “Not Above That”

At first, I didn’t like the EDM-y feel of Dawn’s first single of the year, but it grew on me. True to DAWN form, she gives us soft and hard, luminous and shadowy, lucid and faded, all at once.

18 Danny Brown - “Downward Spiral” Chillingly dark, oppressive, claustrophobic. 

17 Esperanza Spalding - “Unconditional Love” Lush

16 Frank Ocean - “Ivy” As if in a dream, Frank grapples with an old flame and with himself, trying to come to terms with the actions he could’ve controlled and, to his increasing frustration, the dreams he can’t.

15 Eryn Allen Kane - “Sunday” Eryn is the real deal.

14 Blood Orange - “Best to You” ft. Empress Of Best song on the album, which had some good tracks but could’ve been cut in half.

13 Jubilee - “Spa Day”/ “Opa Locka” combo In the mornings, I would set my first alarm to “Spa Day” and my follow-up alarm to “Opa Locka.” There’s a meditative quality to these two tracks that helps ease my body into the daylight and all the bullshit daylight brings.

12 LSDXOXO - “Lady Vengeance” Men are trash, yet somehow we still keep finding ways to live.

11 Rihanna - “Higher” Not the best song on the album, but surely the drunkest and most relatable.

10 M.I.A. - “Go Off” Ima talk n you gon listen, Ima talk n you gon listen

9 Kamaiyah - “I’m On” It is a joy to hear Kamaiyah rap about her come-up at a stage when she’s still kind of in awe of it. The beat is so good–identifiably Bay Area, fat and sparse, but with a minor-key marimba-like motif and skittering tambourines that give it a different edge.

8 Jamila Woods - “Way Up” The three-song run at the end of HEAVN is perfect: “Stellar,” “Holy,” “Way Up.” If on “Stellar,” Jamila looks outward for escape and on “Holy,” she finds & claims it within herself, then on “Way Up,” she celebrates.

7 A Tribe Called Quest - “We The People…” We could not have asked for this album and song at a more necessary time. One of the most memorable moments of the year was Phife Dawg’s larger-than-life image unfurling from the SNL stage ceiling as his voice cut through our screens. “The fog and the smog of news media that logs/False narratives of gods that came up against the odds.” And then Q-Tip holding his mic up to Phife’s silent face…? Man.

6 Beyoncé - “DON’T HURT YOURSELF” Do you remember the exact moment when you first witnessed Beyoncé in her giant fur coat and underboob and braids going the fuck off and quoting Malcolm X while she was at it? Of course you do.

5 Chance the Rapper - “Summer Friends” ft. Jeremih This was my summer song.

4 Anderson .Paak - “The Dreamer” I wrote about “Come Down” for p4k’s eoty tracks list, but my favorite tracks were ones like “The Dreamer” and “Celebrate” and “The Bird,” where .Paak digs into his and his family’s past in order to love and dream in the present.

3 Solange - “Weary”/ “Cranes in the Sky”/ “Mad” 

In the days after the election, probably like a lot of people, I couldn’t listen to anything, because everything was still too raw–like when you get a really bad burn but can’t dress it right away because otherwise the flesh sticks to the gauze. Turning to music for comfort would’ve required some level of acceptance of the new reality. Of course, that had to change quickly, and when it did, A Seat at the Table was there to catch me.

2 Mitski - “Your Best American Girl”/ “Fireworks”/ “A Burning Hill” I couldn’t decide which track to pick of these three, but “A Burning Hill” was probably the one I listened to the most on repeat. It’s a surrender: you watching yourself and your desires burn up, resigning yourself instead to the small and mundane. Which, for some of us, is a triumph in its own. It reminds me of when Mitski tweeted, “I used to rebel by destroying myself,but realized that’s awfully convenient to the world.for some of us our best revolt is self-preservation.”

1 Kanye - “Ultralight Beam” This is Everything.

ALBUMS

It felt impossible to listen to anything that wasn’t Prince or Prince-adjacent after his passing, at least when it wasn’t too painful to. Yet somehow the world still kept spinning, new music still got released–in droves by giants no less–and at some point, I had to catch up. My “top 10 albums” of 2016 were all Prince records, so I’ll refrain from ranking them, out of respect. The others are below, in rough-ish order. By no means the only ones I enjoyed:

Mitski - Puberty 2 Solange - A Seat At The Table Kanye - The Life of Pablo Anderson .Paak - Malibu Beyoncé - LEMONADE Chance The Rapper - Coloring Book A Tribe Called Quest - Thank You 4 Your Service… We Got It From Here Jamila Woods - HEAVN Jubilee - After Hours Kamaiyah - A Good Night in the Ghetto Frank Ocean - Blonde Tanya Tagaq - Retribution Danny Brown - Atrocity Exhibition Rihanna - ANTI MIA - AIM (very mixed bag, like half of it should be cut, but also it’s got bangers)

Thanks for reading. Hope you’re taking care.

best gif 

Wrote about James Brown, Fela Kuti, and Manu Dibango for Pitchfork’s Best Songs of the ‘70s list that came out last week, pp. 8 & 1.

Wrote a detailed reviewed of Now-Again’s 2-part 70s Nigerian rock comp for the fork. Wish they’d chosen different cover art, but there’s some good music in there. Read up.

I profiled electric lady Yuna for MTV News, following the release of her 3rd (internationally-released) studio album Chapters. It’s my debut on MTV proper. Hope it connects.

Drank many Naked juices to bring you this Pitchfork review, published last week: Stones Throw’s Egyptian Lover box set 1983-1988. (FYI, sidenote, last I checked, Naked juices are 2 for $5 at Target...I suggest the “red machine” one, bc it tastes good and doesn’t try to tout its contents as eXoTiC, which apparently the company thinks is what gives the fruit known as the mango that extra sexy boost in consumer appeal.. Which probably it does, which is too bad.) 

Anyway, this is the first box set I’ve ever reviewed, and I’m told it's an engaging read. Writing it, I wanted to highlight as much of Prince’s influence as I could. I also wrestled with how to address the more off-color aspects of Egyptian Lover’s whole presentation/schtick and incorporated a bit of that into the review, though more secondary to some of the other historical/cultural/musical details.

in purple,

"Here's Prince's acoustic demo version of Kiss, which was recorded on this day in 1985.

All rights Paisley Park - posting to share the man's amazing gift and artistry.”

Reviewed Oddisee’s incisive track “Lifting Shadows” off his Alwasta EP for Pitchfork last week. His EP is also available for free DL.