"Truth" by Alexander

Song: Truth
Artist: Alexander
Commentary: Heard it on Breaking Bad. I like the singing?

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"Conversation with Sam" by Aristotle Nice

Song: Conversation with Sam
Artist: Aristotle Nice
Album: Blood River (2017)
Commentary: Aristotle Nice was handing out his CDs at an event for justice for Sam Dubose. Abolish the police.

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"Hall of Death" by Matt Sweeney & Bonnie 'Prince' Billy ft. Mdou Moctar

Song: Hall of Death
Artist: Matt Sweeney & Bonnie 'Prince' Billy with Mdou Moctar & Ahmoudou Madassane
Album: Superwolves (2021)
Also try:  Superwolf (2003); Mdou Moctar, Les Filles de Illighadad
Commentary: I heard this song and thought, "WOW. Matt Sweeney has been studying those Tamashek desert blues." But it's actually just Mdou Moctar playing lead guitar plus Ahmoudou Madassane of Les Filles de Illighadad. Which is DOPE. And I was also already excited about a 2nd Superwolf album. A nice release!

UPDATE: Saw this live in Feb 2022 (no Mdou Moctar :( :() but Matt Sweeney definitely learned how to play in the desert blues style from Mdou for this song, so it was great.
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"Tiptoe Thru' The Tulips With Me" by Tiny Tim

Song: Tiptoe Thru' The Tulips With Me
Artist: Tiny Tim
Album: God Bless Tiny Tim (1968)
Also try:  Danielson Famile haha, maybe outsider music
Commentary: I have had Songs in the Key of Z (a collection of outsider music for YEARS and somehow I have still neglected to appreciate Tiny Tim. Hot DANG. I would tiptoe thru the tulips with Tiny Tim anyday!!!! Those tongue clicks? He would make a great kids' musician.
EDIT: I liked Tiny Tim for like 3 days before I googled him and heard more about his reactionary fundamentalist beliefs.

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"Thru it all" by Wintertime

Song: Thru It All
Artist: Wintertime
Commentary: Heard this on Queen & Slim.

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"Qongqothwane" by Miriam Makeba

Song: Qongqothwane
Artist: Zenzile kaMakeba kaQhwashu nguVama Yikhetile Ngxowa Bantwana Balomzi Xa Ufun’Uk’bajabulisa Ubathengele Ibotela Yotshwala, professionally often known as Miriam Makeba or Mama Africa
Commentary: A beautiful, traditional Xhosa wedding song. You'll probably wanna open in youtube so you can get closed captions (couldn't figure out how to embed with that option). I need to look up more about the artist. was involved in antiracist/anti-apartheid work and in the process married Stokely Carmichael?! Dope!

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"All the King's Men" by Wild Beasts

Song: All the King's Men
Artist: Wild Beasts
Album: Two Dancers (2009)
Lyrics that resound: 🎵 Girls from Shipley, girls from Roedean. Let me tell my darling what that means 🎵
Commentary: This song popped up in my head after lying dormant for years. I liked this album in 2009 -- might have to give it another listen. The song title makes me want to re-read Robert Penn Warren's excellent novel of the same name.

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"Womp womp" by Valee

Song: Womp womp
Artist: Valee ft. Jeremih
Commentary: Pretty sure I heard this on The Chi. Got bored of the show (not bad, though!) but the music was definitely good. Good Chicago representation.
Edit: I accidentally had this playing in two windows making this post, and the slightly offset combo was not bad

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"Caos e Ordem Tiveram um Neto" by Brii

Song: Caos e Ordem Tiveram um Neto (tr: chaos and order had a grandson)
Artist: Brii
Album: Entre Tudo que é Visto e Oculto (2020)
Commentary: Sometimes I try not to post longer tracks on here, which is probably a mistake.

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"E Zzine Emlih Yamana" by Mohamed Ben Hamadi

Song: "E Zzine Emlih Yamana" ("The Beautiful One is a White Dove")
Artist: Mohamed Ben Hamadi
Album: Opika Penda, Disc 1 (2011; track from late 40s or early 50s)
Commentary: I finally got Opika Pende, a collection of 100 songs of of old 78s from all around the African continent. I appreciate the curation efforts of the Dust-to-Digital label as they sample and distribute world folk musics. Count on me posting more from this compilation -- it's only track 2 of 100.

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"IDK" by Siri Imani

Song: IDK
Artist: Siri Imani ft. TJG
Commentary: Cincinnatians two days in a row. And it's not something from the Free Billy Day Concert, even though Siri Imani was there. Watch this vid though.

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"Ludacris" by Neptune Tha King

Song: Ludacris
Artist: Neptune Tha King
Album: Free Billy Day Concert (2020)
Commentary: I'll be posting more from this show (link above) from the concert of Cincinnati artists benefitting efforts to #FreeBilly, aka getting William Pennington out of prison. Go drop some cash there and download all the tracks Robert is offering up for free. I loved Neptune Tha King -- he was great live (I thought his vocals were overshadowed by autotune on the one album I've heard of his). This was a beautiful day of solidarity. Love to my fellow abolitionists out there #FreeThemAll

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"Fancy" by Amaarae

Song: "Fancy"
Artist: Amaarae
Album: The Angel You Don't Know (2020)
Commentary: Catchy pop music! This album will be on my year-end list for sure.
🎶I like it when you call me Zaddy🎶
Watching this makes me think of how fun it must be to make music videos: dressing as rad as you can imagine and just rocking out to your own music.

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"Judgement (I Demand)" by Andre Antunes

Song: song title is unclear, haha
Artist: Andre Antunes, featuring Kenneth Copeland
Commentary: This one's a little different than my usual, but it is catchy. And to be clear, I am absolutely down with mocking Kenneth Copeland, a White Evangelical charlatan making millions with his perverse religious fraud. Andre Antunes seems to be a pretty talented guitar player.
Song itself starts around 43 sec.

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"Jame Jam" by Carl Stone

Song: Jame Jam
Artist: Carl Stone
Album: Himalaya (2019)
Also try:  Dan Deacon, Steve Reich
Commentary: I think minimalism is pretty interesting, but especially artists that draw on pop & folk musics. Yay.

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"Knuckles" by The Hold Steady

Song: Knuckles
Artist: The Hold Steady
Album: Almost Killed Me (2004)
Commentary: The Hold Steady is catchy music. This is another high school throwback for me, but definitely an earworm that still pops into my brain on occasion: "we got taxmen coming round in their kevlar vests..."

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"Big Beast" by Killer Mike

Song: Big Beast
Artist: Killer Mike with Bun B, TI, & Trouble
Album: R.A.P. Music (2012)
Commentary: I really appreciated this album when it came out. I'm posting it here though because the TI verse... *phew*. So good. I've kept an eye on TI since, without seeing him approximate it (although this year's LIBRA album is not bad). Also seems relevant to note that Killer Mike has been a disappointing public figure since I've known who he is.

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"January 1979" by mewithoutYou

Song: January 1979
Artist: mewithoutYou
Album: Catch For Us The Foxes (2004)
Also try:  La Dispute, other post-emo/post-hardcore stuff?
Commentary: This video seemed gloriously weird when I was a freshman in high school in 2004. Also, I still appreciate them musically. I was also smitten by their tour bus powered by used vegetable oil. haha.

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"Bye Bye Baby" by noname

Song: Bye Bye Baby
Artist: noname
Album: Telefone (2016)
Also try: 
Commentary: There was a time when I was spinning a lot of noname ... I guess I was also not updating my blog at the time. Now that noname is tweeting out that abolition wisdom, back on my mind. This was prolly my fav off a wonderful album.

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"I Look Good" by Chalie Boy

Song: I Look Good
Artist: Chalie Boy
Album: I Look Good (2009)
Lyrics that resound:🎶 On my momma, on my hood. I look fly. I look good. 🎶 Commentary: If the chorus has never gotten stuck in your head ... is it just me? The song, on the whole, is not good though :D

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