Ween - Ocean Man

Yo whats up friends, after an extended hiatus Im back with some funky jams from my wanderings.  I want to thank everybody that kept the Jam alive especially Big Leks, the heartbeat of the blog, and also Mitch, and Sina.  I love the support of the readers and Im stoked to be back.  Ween is a band that has been gettin down since the mid 80s but that Ive only started to get into real recently.  The thing I love most about them is the diversity of their sound.  These cats have put out a ton of music and none of it sounds the same.  From 70s rock to funk, and from pop to punk you can hear so many styles in their music that they are simply impossible to define.  The best I can do is weird...really fucking weird.  But theyve got a bunch of dope songs.  Gabriel (which I coulda sworn was Thin Lizzy) and Voodoo Lady are two of my favorites, but for me you cant beat Ocean Man.

Like many things in life I cant quite say what it is that makes me like this jammer.  Whatever it is though, I dig it.  Theres something about that funky voice and light melody that makes me feel like Im at a suboceanic shakedown.  Throw in a twangy guitar rift and goofy breakdown and you got yourself a super jam.  Im not sure what the lyrics mean or who this ocean man may be, but I am sure that this is a jam.

 Ocean man by MooDawg 

Ben Harper & The Relentless 7-Eldorado

Ben Harper is an artist that you have to appreciate. Seemingly never content to stick around any given genre for too long, Harper gets his Hindu god on, and has appeared in various reincarnations over the years: with the Innocent Criminals, the Relentless 7, the Blind Boys of Alabama, and his most recent project, Fistful of Mercy. As a music fan this is incredibly refreshing: seeing an artist explore the limits of his talents, seeing him tackle new styles and influences.

While the majority of Harper's music is unique, his instrumentals are just magic. Like "The Three of Us," "Eldorado" is a showcase of the emotions that an instrument can have. With a drum and keyboard keeping pace, Harper once again shows us his virtuoso slide guitar skills. Each note rings with supreme confidence, each measure feels wholesome and full. The song meanders along, sonically rich yet simple enough to be a reflection of how you are feeling, easily alternating between being pensive, joyous, and melancholy. In a music scene that seems to reward fitting in as much sound into each song as possible, this is a stark contrast, and a novel idea, letting the instruments speak for themselves.

Buy Eldorado

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Cut Copy-Need You Now

This song drips with '80s influence. The '80s never really seem to die when it comes to music, with each year bringing new artists and bands who revisit the decade, each time falling back on a different part of the 80's aesthetic. Cut Copy in their new album, Zonoscope, present a sample platter of '80s sounds, leaving it up to the listener to decide which ones they take, which they come back for seconds, and which they leave on the platter.

After listening to Zonoscope something heavy for the past day or so, "Need You Now" is the song that seems to not want to leave me alone. Like one of my students here in Spain who shouts "A-lek-sis" every time he sees me walking down the halls, this song has found a way to pop up out of nowhere, consistently. I can't decide what it is about this jam won't let me go. The over minute-long intro sets the mood perfectly leading into the heart of the song with its fast tempo juxtaposing the melancholy lyrics. The beat leaves itself as a canvas for your funkiest dance moves-upbeat enough to let you experiment, slow enough that it won't drown you in BPM. The icing on top of this '80s love fest pie is the layers of sound effects, many popping out of nowhere, intent to not miss another second of the party.

Download Here

Buy Zonoscope

Tupac-Broken Wings (Until The End of Time)

Lennon, Hendrix, Biggie, Pac: some of the most iconic names in music history-artists who epitomize the very point of this blog, artists who made music that transcends people’s personal favorite genres and styles to become some of the most internationally loved artists of all time. Each artist’s music helps define their genres; combined, each artist’s music begins to mold an answer to the impossible question of “what is good music?” All had lives that were cut short, silencing their voices, but luckily for us the cliché that "music is forever" is true.

Tupac’s brilliance was that he balanced being a thug and a poet with an ease which made both sides equally believable. On “Broken Wings,” a track off of the posthumous album Until The End of Time, Pac seems to both be apologizing for the life he lives while admitting that he is who he is. One bar he is philosophizing, followed by another about drinking Hennessy: combined you get a fascinating picture of a man. What standouts most about this track is Tupac’s flow. Recorded soon before his death, his flow is masterful, rolling along with a forceful pace, not lingering over any syllables but hitting each word and accent with a controlled strength. Many of his songs are peppered with references to his own death, and this jam is no different, especially with its haunting last line, “maybe it’s the thug in me.” Maybe it was the thug in him that led him to be shot in Las Vegas, but lord know that thug also helped him become the artist that he was.

Buy Until The End Of Time

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The Heavy-How You Like Me Now

This song has swag. I'm not talking about the Lil' B swag! swag! swag!, but real musical swag: real energy, real soul, real power. "How You Like Me Now" continues a style of music which is deeply rooted in the past, songs that borrow heavily from old-school soul and sunk, but with a modern edge. This minigenre, a genre that includes bands like Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears and Fitz & The Tantrums seems to be intent on taking styles of the past and injecting Tahrir Square energy into into them, an energy that makes it impossible to not wanna bust out your best soul two steps.

The Heavy are a band supposedly from Noid, England, although it seems strangely appropriate that a place with that name doesn't actually exist. Because with a jam like this it doesn't matter where they are from, where you are from, where you are, or whether you like soul music or not. This song moves to such a reckless beat, a beat flirting with chaos, that I dare you to not feel something after you hear this song. And if you do feel something, it's a jamandahalf.

Buy How You Like Me Now

 The Heavy - How You Like Me Now by jammininthenameof

Amos Lee-El Camino

Combined between the Moodawg (who is taking a sabbatical of epic proportions from this blog) and myself, Amos Lee is probably the artist we've listened to the most who hasn't appeared on these pages. With a discography full of mellow jams that slightly tiptoe the overly sappy line, Amos Lee is great mood music and even better thinking music. Amos is definitely an artist that you either love or hate, either you embrace the cheesiness like Bobby from the Goofy Movie, or you're terrified at knowledge of our slightly suspect taste of music. His newest album dropped today, and it is what you would expect from Amos. And that's a great thing.

"El Camino" is the first single from Mission Bell, and continues in the lineage of a lot of Amos's earlier work. With his mesmerizing voice, Amos talks with his impeccable honesty about making a journey, starting a trip to an unknown destination. Tinged with regret but forever looking forward, this song is a poignant look at what it really means to move on. "El Camino" also reflects the slightly more Western feel of the album, borrowing from influences such as the trumpets on this track to the Willie Nelson guest-spot on the "reprise" to this jam. 

Some artists nail a sound perfectly, stick to it, and make great, unique, music. Amos does exactly that.

Buy Mission Bell

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Lupe Fiasco-Words I Never Said

Lupe's first two albums are some of the best hip-hop of the last two decades. Thoughtful, hard-hitting, with amazing lyrical dexterity to backup great storytelling, Lupe quickly became a mainstream artist whose music begged being listened to over and over again, each listening uncovering another dope metaphor or allusion. It's almost impossible to give a Lupe song one listen-through and make a judgement, and I'm not going to do that today. A good Lupe song is like a big Christmas dinner, you gotta give it time to digest. But here's a new Lupe song for all of you, which for some reason just sounds really really good to my ears right now. And is a lot to digest.  As a good Lupe song should be. Welcome back Lupe.

Jon Hopkins-Light Through The Veins

First off just wanted to welcome AMitch back to the blog. An incredible writer, Mitch also has a treasure trove of jams which he keeps hidden from most of the world. Keep checking back for dope write-ups from the Mitch master. 

My iTunes playlists rotate all the time, but other than a few playlists for this blog, the one that gets the most love is my sleepy playlist. Full of the mellowest of melodies, I rock the playlist something serious every time it's either time to go to bed, or when my brain needs a breather. I listen to songs for all occasions: sometimes to get me going, other times to make my walk to work fly by, but the sleepy playlist is full of jams that are my sonic siesta.

This jamandahalf is the perfect mental breather. Like pushing the snooze button, putting on this jam lets you place life on hold for a few minutes. This song moves in waves, each one building on each other until you have the musical equivalent of the supertubes at J-Bay in South Africa-the perfect ride. My favorite part of this jam comes at 6:48. After building up for a few minutes, the energy disappears, replaced by a piano that is threateningly chill, teasing you with the dream of snoozing for days. Put it on and see where it takes you. 

Download Here

Shout Out Louds - Candle Burned Out

Every time I find a band or song I like I go to Pitchfork Media to see if my novice opinion on the artist's quality is up to the pretentious level of excellence Pitchfork recites daily. If Faulkner referenced electronica it would sound exactly like a review on the acclaimed music blog. The New Yorker of cutting edge tunes. Of course, I reference Pitchfork to find good music. It is somewhat of a dictionary. Although I am often annoyed while sifting through the density of literature that is written by writers with egos for the musically conscious individual. If my little sister tried to punch through the meaning of rich Pitchfork lines she'd be caught in the crossfire of far reaching analogies and over defined genres. I don't know. Maybe I just loathe the disappointment of finding a song I like, only to be told differently by the professional perspective of some Brooklyn Hipster. Or maybe I would rather read clever Groupon write ups that actually impress me. Pitchfork writers, please start sounding like human beings.

In tribute to all the songs I have loved in which Pitchfork has shat on, I give you Candle Burned Out by the Shout Out Louds. I don't know why this song affects me so much. I don't even think it is the best on the album. But when I was writing a letter to my professor who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer I kept it on repeat (surely a Pitchfork faux paux). Not for the lyrics; "candle burned out" might be a tad macabre for an uplifting letter to a cancer patient. Maybe it is the soft voice of Adam Olenius that makes me feel comfortable, or inspired, or deeper than usual. Whatever it is I poured my heart out to the steady strumming of Carl von Arbin. It's music that makes you feel something. Not a science broken into synths and meticulous fragments of cynical metaphors.

I am going to be writing for JamandaHalf more consistently in the future. I hope you'll enjoy my less critical evaluation of songs. I like to use the words good, great, awesome, cool, sweet - generic terms. Read what you want, but base your opinions on the way music affects you.

Shout Out Louds - Candle Burned Out by Cardboard Smile

Damu the Fudgemunk-Prosper

People got dope musical knowledge all over, and a reader and friend of Moose's from Switzerland comes through with some underground hip-hop from the Chocolate City, Washington DC itself. Thanks a lot Sina, and keep the jams coming!

As Moose knows, I'm from Switzerland and although I wish I could present you an unbelievably fresh and innovative Swiss band, I’m afraid I’m not doing this just right now (although my brother is working hard on building one himself). So instead I’m writing to you about an American musician that has become one of the most often played artists on my iPod ever since my brother introduced me to his music.

Damu the Fudgemunk is a hip hop music artist and producer from Washington DC. So far I think he’s been mostly working in the underground and is not that big yet, but I might be mistaken. He’s made some projects with MC Insight under the name of "Y Society," produced a few free singles and albums to download online, and recently released his new LP with the slightly provocative and ironical title “How It Should Sound." He’s made a lot of good jams. But my favorite song by him so far is “Prosper” from the Kilawatt EP series, which is a set of EPs that will be released with one producer handling the production duties for each volume.

On Prosper he features the lyrics of MC Raw Poetic from the group Panacea. The song shows Damu’s strength as a sampler and his love for old school elements, while Raw Poetic eases into the track, sits back on the beat, and just lets the lyrics ride on the music. Too bad that as a non-native speaker I don’t really get all the lyrics, but I do like the ones I do understand, like: "Prosper, hopefully you live long like Spok does." All in all, it’s just become one of these songs that I keep on playing over and over again, whether I’m on my way to school, driving to soccer practice, or just hanging around, and I’ve never gotten bored with it so far.

Sina