SOUNDTRACK: BAS-Tiny Desk Concert #875 (August 5, 2019).
I’ve never heard of Bas, but he performs a surprisingly upbeat-sounding set of songs for lyrics with so many curses.
Bas, the Paris-born, Queens-bred MC delivered an energetic and comical set. Just like his lyrically impressive and sometimes dance-inducing Tiny Desk — peep his headbanging and seated sambas throughout — Bas always balances his bravado with a relatable sense of humility.
The four songs are from his third studio album, Milky Way.
“Barack Obama Special” starts with this fascinating lyric:
This one is dedicated to
My bitch ass neighbors, haha, yeah
‘Cause I’m living better now, better now
Bitch I’m living better now
Yeah
I had to move ’cause neighbors so racist
But he makes sure to clarify
“My new neighbor’s mad cool. So shout out to Peggy. Peggy be picking up my mail when I’m on tour. I don’t want her to watch and be like I thought you was such a nice young man.”
The song segued into “Purge” which starts with a simple but cool sounding guitar riff from Nathan Foley. Sweet keys are sprinkled over the top. Mereba and Justin Jackson provide gentle backing vocals. Ron Gilmore adds some very cool bass lines from the keys throughout all the songs.
“Designer” has some cool off tempo synth lines and ends with a ripping distorted Prince-like guitar solo.
The song finishes with a bouncy instrumental section and Bas says, “I feel like I just won the whole circuit in Mario Kart. Where’d you get that music from? Don’t get me sued. Nintendo coming for us.”
Ron Gilmore then plays a fun little circus music riff and Bas says, “Nintendo cut the check!”
Throughout the set, Johnathon Lee Lucas on drums is a lot of fun to watch as he’s got a whole array of drums and pads to play.
They are having so much fun they almost forget to play the last song “Tribe.” This one ends with another nice instrumental jam which Bas says went on for much longer than they rehearsed–that was cool.
[READ: August 1, 2019] This Bridge Will Not Be Gray
Dave Eggers has written all kinds of books through his career. This was his first children’s book (with cut-out art by Tucker Nichols).
Eggers is from San Francisco and he loves his home city. This book is a love letter to the Golden Gate Bridge and the area that inspired it.
I honestly had no idea about any of the information in this book, so it was educational for me as well.
For instance, I did not realize that the passageway between the bay and the ocean was called The Golden Gate. Thus, that’s why the Bridge is named that, not because it was supposed to be gold. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 