Album Review: Fold It! Mold It!, Random Recipe

Soooo...


Here's my first attempt in music criticism. I've always been a bit of a snob when it comes to my listening pleasure and disdain. Why not write about it?




Now, when it comes to finding honest and relevant music, I find myself digging deeper into the crates these days. In an era where anyone can buy pro-tools and even make beats on their cell phones, modern music has become cluttered with half-assed noise on constant rotation. 


Last Thursday, I had the honor and the pleasure of meeting two phenomenal women, Fab and Fran, that hail from Montreal at Arlene's Grocery. I missed their set, but they blessed me with an impromptu sidewalk private show on Stanton Street. See my videos for Random Recipe in previous posts to see their energy in full force. Ignore my "drunken swagger". Shout out to the Sound Surgeon... Ah, I owe you pizza and shots.


Anyway, the next day, I downloaded their album "Fold It! Mold It!":

Random Recipe is comprised of a dynamic foursome including band members Fran (Vocals and Guitar), Fab (EmCee and BeatBox), Vincent (keys/guitar)  and Liu-Kong (percussion). The combination of live instruments, raw Beat-Boxing and Fran's earthy vocals are engaging and definitely ear candy. Fab's flow roughens the edge of their sound with her French-Fried delivery on the microphone without distracting from the blended ranges of sound that makes Random Recipe an absolutely charming listening experience.


The album is seamless and can be easily enjoyed from beginning to end. The tracks are far from redundant and each song provides a different dimension to sound exploration without killing the floating vibe that Random Recipe's sound has undeniably targeted. "Without You" has a light airy, whimsical bounce and still retains its slickness and cool. "Dangerous" is probably one of the more aggressive tracks with its drum and bass explosive rhythmics, blowing up the track through beat-boxing and percussion. However, the song gets pulled back into that easy cool again with a mellowed out down-break on Fab's flow.


All in all, Random Recipe is definitely chock full of the right ingredients, making the perfect dish to satisfy your ears. One part grrrl, one part Hip Hop, one part fresh and all the way hot.




This novice critic gives Random Recipe 5 out of 5 Red Pills. (That's a good thing)

Who the @^#& are YOU !?

Sooo...

1512 Boulevard Baby Designs, Cafe Press

I recently installed a stat counter on my blog to get a better understanding of my audience. Almost a thousand visits and very few comments are left on my page. I got a little weirded out by the idea that my thoughts are on display to...everyone and anyone...and not too many people are responding to my blog site directly. Although, I do appreciate the emails that I have received from those of you sharing your experiences with depression and anti-depressants. That was cool.

googlebot logo by Tyler Jordan, eVisibility

While my counter isn't specific enough to list names and addresses, I have a general idea of whether or not my blog is being read by human beings. I can assume that my readers from the Virgin Islands, Slovenia, Denmark, Brazil and the States are actual people based on certain statistics and clearly defined criteria.


However, what I found alarming was the googlebot, OneRiot and opensocial traffic spiders that crawl across my page daily, monitoring my usage and the usage of my audience. What it's doing, in fact, is indexing my entries and updating google's searchable database. It's automatic and invisible and really frightening as hell that technology like this is so intrusive and unseen. Documenting, documenting everything we do....


A big part of me wants to shut my blog down and disconnect from the world wide web. The concept of being constantly, automatically monitored by big brother or Robocop or whatever makes me feel, dare I say, a bit violated.


There is that small part of me that actually believes that my drivel is helping someone out there, so...I kind of feel responsible to continue saying whatever it is I have to say.

From 123greetings.com

Maintaining humanity at this point, in this era where love, relationships and friendships are wrapped in wires, is getting more and more surreal by the day. Can I really throw caution to the wind and naively step into this World Wide Webernet and attempt to display humanity even though this paranoia of a watchful eye constantly lingers overhead?


I don't know...

At the end of the day...

At the end of the day, I love you and that love is never, ever going to go away. Your Happiness is paramount.


Short Entry. Big deal...

On Drunken Sex

On Drunken Sex

^Interesting Blog - click the link

The dilemma...

When the lines are blurry... If one side can blame it on the alcohol and claim victim...can the other counter the claim and say he is not the attacker?

In the UK, the courts are passing legislation stating that a woman who has sex with someone while drunk can be considered a rape victim because she's not in her right mind to engage in consensual sex.

See article here:

MEN FACE JAIL TIME FOR SEX WITH DRUNK WOMEN


So what do you think? If a sober man would not commit an act like rape or date rape, but the same man in an intoxicated state would because his sensibilities are impaired, should he get a pass?

If a woman calls rape even though she was drunk and doesn't say no, does it make determining clearly defined cases of rape more challenging by blurring the boundaries of non-consensual sex?

Hmmm.... food for thought.

Either way, if no is said by one party even once, it IS rape. No way around that...

Share your thoughts....

Art Break: Pearl Necklace Series (maybe)

This is me playing around with a concept for a series "Pearl Necklace"...

Still haven't found the right look I want to project. Anyone out there in the NY Metro interested in modeling, drop a line. It's time for some fine art photography. 

*****edit to add*****

If interested in modeling, please note full body shots and full or partial nudity might be required to realize the vision. Male and female models. Don't be skurrred.

Open Doors

I see a world out there...all for you to shape and nurture. A world for you to build.... I peek through doors and I see your throne, empty and waiting for you to believe in yourself enough to rule...enough to claim your destiny.

So many things are happening and the world spins solely in favor of YOU. 

Grab it. Lay your heavy hand upon the axis and set your own cycle.

So many things are coming in order and in line and the only thing that's missing is you.

Wake up.

Claim it.

Randomness

I'd like to punch you in the necktie.

Of all the things I've lost, I miss my time the most.

Al dente spaghetti is for suckers. Make mine well done.

Heyyy...There's nothing musical about these chairs.

Instead of quietly leaving a tip for my waitress, I hand her my tip and say, "keep the change..ya filthy animal" - Angels with Dirty Faces, Gangster Johnny

Next time you see a lady with a big booty, she might be wearing an adult diaper...and it might be full.

Urine is a smell that you'll never forget.

Refund is "dunfeR" spelt backwards.

Fellas, next time you want to take a lady home, instead of buying drinks and making stupid conversation just say, "I'm the star of the show! Me! This is my big dick and I wanna fuck right now!" - Dirk Diggler, Boogie Nights. I promise, something WILL happen.

If a tree falls on an ex-boyfriend in a forest with no one around...would anybody give a shit?

No, not manslaughter your honor...I'm just making up for an abortion that should have happened 46 years ago. His mother would thank me.

Randomness... 

Writing on the Wall: A Performance Review/Epiphany

Last night, I photographed the “Why did I get Married Live, Vol. Too” event in downtown Brooklyn. I didn’t know what to expect and I was a little bit afraid that, given the title, the show was going to be covered in Tyler Perry’s stink.

To my surprise, the show was actually quite innovative. It was a fusion of spoken word-smithery, comedy and music with a live panel of married guests to answer questions about…well, marriage. Sustaining a marriage, to be exact. The theme that linked every artist that graced the stage was love. Every aspect of love. Self love, soul love, real love, star-crossed love, lusty love..in a sincere manner. I was impressed with how each artist personalized their experiences with love, through various modes of microphone art, painting pictures of what love means through their own visions and through their individual hearts.

My overall impression was the production was relevant, sexy, relaxed, candid and honest. Above all, it was needed and will be needed to promote its message of love, Black love and marriage, to carry on throughout the community. Brooklyn and beyond.

This isn’t really a review of the show. This is an epiphany. This is a message.

As usual, when the topic of marriage arises, I find myself thinking about my own failed relationship with my ex and thinking about my experience with falling in love with someone else that I could never marry. Guilt, failure, anger…the matrimonial thing often left a bad taste in my mouth. That bad taste, the creeping bile from stomach, curling the walls of my esophagus, choking me, gagging me…leaving my mouth foul and bitter.

With every engagement announcement in the mail, with every conversation with a married couple that speaks only in terms of “we”, with every indication that everyone else in the world is falling in love and being caught…everyone but me, I felt myself shrink smaller and smaller. Bitter and small, I found myself forcing comparisons on married women and me. “I’m hotter, so why not?” or “She’s sooo mean, why did he?” or “Why? Just why?”

At the end of the day, it didn’t matter because at the end of the day, as desirable to an extent as I am, I was still alone.

Not something enough. Not something. Not the marrying kind…I guess.

But last night, after seeing that show…

I woke up this morning renewed from heartache. I mean, I still hurt, but I felt hope after light was revealed to me.

The light revealed this message, “Stop looking at these encounters with love as a failure or as an attack. Start looking at it for what it is: knowing what you want, need and knowing you’re on the road to the right thing. THIS IS A TIME OF SELF DISCOVERY AND HONESTY. Keep your eyes open and see the writing on the wall. It spells love and it is for you.”

Photographing weddings, seeing couples in love and experiencing love for myself has shown me what I want and need out of the right person. I want monogamy, I want to build and share my life with someone that fits. I want to enhance someone and I want him to do the same for me. I want to hold him down and hold my head up in the process. I wanna be held down and feel safe and NOT held down and feel oppressed. I want love at its purest to wash over me and secure me.

I want these things. I deserve them and so do you.

A bad relationship or a bad marriage shouldn’t make you bitter about love forever. Take that experience as an education in self discovery and understanding what it is that you want and deserve. Instead of harping on how foul the person is who broke your heart, be honest with yourself and see how you’ve failed the relationship. After all, you can’t change anyone but yourself. So, why exert the energy mulling over how someone should change...especially when the changes you want that person to make are only a reflection of a damaged you? That person’s issues should be their own battle.  Your only focus should be what you can do to improve yourself. I think all of this heartache from the past is nothing more than preparation for the real thing to come along.

Head up, eyes open…the writing is on the wall. Read it.

I think that’s all I have to say about that.