SOUNDTRACK-XAVIER OMÄR-Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #181 (March 15, 2021).
Xavier Omär has a fantastic voice–one that I thought was rather unexpected given his appearance. He’s a pretty big guy and seems like he’d have a deep resonant voice, but his voice is really soft and high. And powerful.
He’s also had a pretty interesting career.
Omär’s career began in Christian music under the moniker SPZRKT, before he moved into secular R&B and hip-hop. Through his first couple of projects and work with Seattle DJ and producer, Sango, the 27-year-old singer’s heart-on-sleeve approach quickly created a buzz.
He says that the whole band is from San Antonio Texas.
Xavier Omär decided to turn his Tiny Desk home concert into a whole Texas affair. Initially, Omär wanted to recreate the look of the Desk: “I wanted to kind of bring the feeling of Tiny Desk back, so I had booked a library,” he said. Ultimately the library didn’t work out, but Rosella Coffee and Wine in his home base of San Antonio proved to be a great match for his sound–spacious and airy.
“Like I Feel” opens with some grooving bass from Korey Davison and wailing sax from Kevin Davison. Josh Greene adds some big drums fills and guitarist Billy Ray Blunt Jr. plays some wailing leads. Xavier trades off lead vocals duties with Talyce Hays whose voice is also terrific.
During “Blind Man” he throws in some rapping–a softer cadence, but to good effect. There’s some response backing vocals from Jay Wile while Alana Holmes and Hays fill in the backing vocals. Lyrically the song is kinda lame (sweet, but lame), but there’s some cool musical moments–splashes of four notes and more than a few tempo changes.
For good measure, he plays the song that put him on the map, 2016’s “Blind Man.” This is undoubtedly Xavier Omär’s best live performance on record.
I had no idea that this was his breakthrough song.
He tells a quick story (it’s amusing) about how he wishes he was at the beach. But even if he can’t get there he can think of the the rhythm of the waves and the “SURF.” He says he could enjoy the surf because his woman has that “splah” (?). Its’s a pretty ripping song with, again, surprising tempo changes. The song has moments that I would say come from Frank Zappa’s oddball melodies. Ands once again, the drums are massive.
He says “So Much More” is the wedding song of the year. It features Justin Crawford on keys and is a much more mellow song than the other. It also allows Xavier to really show off his voice.
The Alamo City resident and his cohorts orchestrated a charismatic and vocally rich show. The set list perfectly depicts the emotional arch of if You Feel. He’s on a clear path to greatness in R&B music.
It was probably a smart move to go secular.
[READ: March 31, 2021] “A Man in the Kitchen”
The September 3, 2007 issue of the New Yorker contained several essays by their writers about the subject “Family Dinner.”
Donald Antrim starts this rather sad memory with an amusing story.
His father learned how to cook when his mother served “hot tuna-and-mayonnaise casserole with potato chops as a decorative garnish.”
This story had become Received History in the family: “Baked mayonnaise! I had to take action!”
Soon cooking had become his father’s second full time job. He taught literature at the University of Virginia and then he would drive around buying all of the food stuffs for their meals. He would travel to different markets for different foods and he was an early adopter of the Cuisinart. (more…)
