From the town of Leiden in the Netherlands, Oscar de Jong, Mark Kneppers and Wim Plug make up a music production trio known as Kraak & Smaak. This song below is one of their many mixes and creative music videos from several years ago that still has legs. It features the vocals of Ben Westbeech. Enjoy!
Can't not post this video of Mavis Staples telling a little bit of the story about her father's final record titled Don't Lose This.
She tells about how Pops asked to hear the recordings when he was not feeling good near the end of his life, months after they recorded it. She took it up to his room and he heard it, smiled and said "... don't lose that". It was the final recording that the Staple Singers ever recorded together with Pops in 1998 through mid 1999. Unfortunately, Robuck "Pops" Staples died in December of 2000 after a concussion he had suffered from a fall in his home. This was a very emotional project for Mavis to help complete, as you will see. But she finds joy in it all.
The album is a true delight and should be enjoyed with the volume turned up enough to hear more of the detail and intricacies of Pops technique. It was recorded in 1998 at the Hinge Recording Studio & The Loft in Chicago, Illinois. But, on some of the songs there is some additional production that was recently added by Jeff Tweedy of the band Wilco. Lucky guy got the gig because he had worked well with Mavis on her solo albums.
The entire record is brilliantly minimalist, so soulful and funky in mostly a subtle way. It's old school. Absolutely love track 3: No News is Good News and track 7: The Lady's Letter, but all the songs are a real good dose of authentic from a true pioneer.
Thank you to Anti- Records, a division of the indie label known as Epitaph Records for providing the Full Album Stream featured below.
Connect direct with the Staples' family legacy through Mavis Staple's website at MavisStaples.Com
Just below is Bob Dylan's latest music video directed by Nash Edgerton (see full video production credits at bottom of post). The video is to Dylan's recording of The Night We Called It A Day. The song was written by Matt Dennis and Tom Adair in 1941 and covered by numerous artists including Frank Sinatra. All the songs on Dylan's most recent ten song album titled Shadows In The Night were songs handpicked by Dylan as a tribute to Sinatra and songs he had recorded at some point in his career. This extraordinary video for The Night We Called It A Day is more like a classic gangster film, than a music video, depicting the genre films from a period in the Sinatra era. It's the kind of work that music lovers expect from greatness, and no less.
Just below is a nice interview of one of the most legendary music engineers of all time, Al Schmitt. He had the privilege of working on this Dylan project and talks about how it came together and how it was recorded. Music producer and journalist Stephen Peeples is the host of the interview.
Full Credit List for Production of Music Video for The Night We Called It A Day
Production Company: The Directors Bureau
Director: Nash Edgerton
Executive Producer: Sue Yeon Ahn
Producer: Benjamin Gilovitz & Kimberly Stuckwisch
Commissioner: Bryan Younce
Director of Photography: Morgan Susser
Production Designer: Toby Corbett
Stylist: Francis & Pereira
Editor: Luke Doolan & Nash Edgerton
VFX Artist: Denis Sharabarin
VFX Producer: Kevin Cornish
Color & Conform: Bonch
Colorist: Bill Pollock
Cast: Bob Dylan, Robert Davi & Tracy Phillips.
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Tonight I was walking down the street and heard a very beautiful and soulful voice and a piano emanating from an outdoor restaurant and just had to walk in to figure out who it was.
Her name is Alex Nester. When I got home I looked her up. I learned that, besides the fact that she has been honing her craft and paying her musical dues for quite a while, at age 16 she was diagnosed with Non-Hodgekins Lymphoma, but overcame it all and is now cancer free.
The song I heard tonight that brought me in off the street was one that sounds like it was just meant for Joss Stone to cover. Ms. Nester said it had not been recorded, yet.
As I was browsing through her websites looking for a music video to feature here, I couldn't help but laugh when I saw her "No Auto-Tune" logo posted on much of her promotional material.
I found this song below that is obviously sung from the heart of a girl who overcame what was most likely assumed an early death. Kudos to you, Alex Nester, for staying in the game and keeping it 100% organic.
In 1978, legendary Boston concert booker, Fred Taylor (read the Music Museum of New England biographies on his life here and here) and his company H-T Productions, were doing one-off shows at the Music Hall in Boston. They booked Bob Marley & The Wailers during the period that the group was promoting it's Kaya album and tour. This show in Boston was dubbed Easy Skanking in Boston '78. Filmed by a solo hombre with the audio beautifully captured, it was recently released from the Marley family vault and made available in February 2015 for the first time.
Just below is the recently released video of I Shot The Sheriff from this show. What I really love about it is that it was shot by a solo hombre, meaning there was only one camera operator and he used film! It's cool hand-held footage, from one perspective in the front row of the event, and as enjoyable as many professionally filmed concerts that switch back and forth to additional cameras. A animation house, known as S77, filled in some blanks on this production, with some nice transitions, perhaps to cover gaps during the periods when the camera man was switching out rolls of film in his camera.
Bob Marley – "I Shot The Sheriff" (live) | Easy Skanking In Boston '78
And we found one more clip from this wonderful release that is a song that captures the essence of Bob's fight for the underdogs of the world in a quest for liberty and freedom, that is not reserved only for the privileged. When Bob Marley proclaims: "Yeah, Rastafari. Until the philosophy which hold one race as superior and another inferior, is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned", one should know what song is coming. WAR
Bob Marley - War (live) | Easy Skanking In Boston '78
Review the full array of digital, DVD/BluRay and Vinyl offerings related to this recent February 2015 release. here.
