Under The Influence (6-15-09)

Bonga - Mona Ki Ngi Xica



There are other things i SHOULD be doing right now: Sleeping, working out lyrics, or simply painting the words "collaborate and listen" underneath random stop signs...but after a long drive of listening to this track over and over (and a few more times after that), i couldn't help myself. i'm throwing this in the Under The Influence header because this song has been a fave for years now and is a reason why i even *do* Blue Stahli. Something i absolutely love about this track is that it truly demonstrates how amazingly universal music is. i don't speak the Kimbundu language and i've never been to Angola (where this talented mofo originates), but i feel every bit of passion in this performance. Not only that, but this is simply one of *the* most cathartic songs i know, and if i need to be calmed the hell down or brought back from the edge, this is definitely a piece of music that can handle it. Whether it's heartache, loss or something too abstract for a name, taking a breath and listening to this keeps me from doing something stupid, like hijacking a city bus and splitting for Tijuana to live out my days as a wisecracking, hardlivin' vigilante character who walks in slow motion and is hellbent on vengeance of some sort (i'll figure out "for what" later...i already bought a leather jacket, a pair of sunglasses and have begun working on a brooding scowl, i can't just return this crap).

At any rate, this is the drive behind why i do what i do, and why i'll pursue it at any cost. The goal is to do for other people what this does for me. If i can pull that off, then it's all worth it.

Under The Influence (4/29/09)

i'll have a bit of news later on this week regarding ULTRAnumb, but first i wanted to kick start a new little segment/header/feature/excuse-to-do-something-that-only-i-find-interesting type of deal. Every now and again, while i'm driving aimlessly and singing badly to myself, taking long walks down the road while various passing drivers decide this is a good time to throw things, or threatening to stab said drivers with a screwdriver, i start thinking how cool it would be to share a few songs that i dig with the 2 people reading this blog (since pretty much anything i remotely like becomes an influence in some way...and music IS a hell of a drug). And thus "Under The Influence" was born.

For the first installment, i felt we could all use something hugely uplifting and happy as a Lisa Frank trapper keeper full of rainbows and puppy farts. This is one of my favorite songs of all time, and hearing it performed live by Diamanda with complete unrestrained, gut-wrenching passion stops me dead in my tracks.