If any of that sounds familiar, it should. He's joined by a small combo Chris Donahue on bass, Bryan Owings on drums and percussion and guest stars such as Shemekia Copeland, Brigitte DeMeyer on individual cuts. I'll enjoy the record and stay here. This is artisanal music that sounds almost deliberately like its opposite. In doing so, Boochani deftly avoids constructing lattices of merit among refugees, with some more deserving of humanity than others.
He's also one of the world's most visible and prolific Kurdish writers, a beacon for that embattled people's hopes in a world where Kurds remain one of the most targeted and persecuted of minorities, alternately abandoned and abused both by repressive governments like Iran and Turkey as well as supposedly democratic, rights-loving governments in North America and Europe, which either turn a blind eye to the Kurds' plight or participate in their persecution by designating them terrorists for fighting for their autonomy and survival. Soon a simple keyboard figure, doubled by reverberating steel drums, illuminate the song whenever it needs to edge out of the shadows. The tie has been loosened. What at the time was a makeshift band turned into the lineup that endures today. Unfortunately for him and his fellow asylum-seekers, a right-wing Australian government had just passed a repressive law targeting refugees. Reigning Sound carry a torch that Shaw himself also held aloft for many years. Connell and Marianne doubtlessly feel that pressure, but they've also internalized it, unwilling or unable to rise above the judgment of the masses.
His music isn't necessarily meant as background sound, much less something to dance to or hum along with; it's like a soundtrack to an eerie, broken world. Kimbrough sometimes might act like a dumb hick on his latest album, but as its title suggests he loves the South, flaws and all, and is smart enough to recognize its failings as well as its charms. Plus, over the past five years Priority has fallen behind the curve somewhat, struggling to find a successor to the G-thang that defined upward pop star mobility in the '90s. This album is not short of boisterous good times, so if you don't want to take the Morby course in spiritual exploration there is no proselytizing here, just in case you were wondering you can certainly feel free to tap into the more visceral elements of the experience. In that book, the central pair have to navigate their lovers' lovers, not to mention the socially mandated secrecy innate to having an affair.
That we end with this suite of immaculate Zimmerman pastiche replete with echoes of Morrison, and a final flourish toward Leonard Cohen's backing singers in the last moments ties a beautiful bow on the whole experience. For all these reasons it is quite fascinating and at the same time utterly exhausting. These sections, at least, should be required reading for schoolchildren in any country that receives ocean-going refugees. Suicide was common, as was death and illness from easily treatable diseases and infections. Each component is skillfully stratified to create something with a distinct emotional pull. While this notion may be more than a little familiar in our technology-obsessed culture, Typical Sisters have found a way to harness aural desires into 45 gorgeous minutes of studied yet deeply emotional technique. Meanwhile, we grab more drinks and rave about the band while we wait eagerly for the next set on a perfect night out.
But upon reflection, this set of songs from the latter part of the album seems to mark a shift as well as punctuation, both of which are much needed after the frenetic sequence that was the first seven songs. The Indigenous Papus appear as genuinely good people, yet are also manipulated into serving power and brutality through relationships shaped by colonialism, class, and race. In 2014, he visited the prison camp on Manus Island. Kimbrough has a pleasant voice that's frequently conversational in tone. Even the prisoners turn against each other, marking out turf by region of origin and other identity markers, seizing opportunities amid the scraps of privilege that appear. Who haunts who as the characters transcend into reflections, shadows, and hopelessness.
Infused with hooks and conjuring images of wide-open spaces, the song challenges our basic notions about pop music while giving us hope for the form's future. So what you have is 19 standout songs from Priority's vaults that illustrate everything that's wonderful about the West Coast gangsta sound. Hints of damaged relationships crop up, as do allusions to a world slightly off-kilter. Overall, there's little to complain about. Instead, in the uncertain geopolitics of the contemporary era, he was plucked out of the sea, tossed into a prison camp and tortured for his efforts to stand up for human rights and democratic dignity. That has been a Southern trope since the end of the Civil War, if not earlier think of Joel Chandler Harris' Uncle Remus stories. It is a frankly dizzying experience that takes no little unpacking.
This is exactly what is absent today from Australia's political culture. With bassist Clark Sommers and drummer Matt Carroll, the trio clicks into place, with a sound that's not a million miles removed from their self-titled 2016 album, but more lush and intoxicating. Manus Island Prison Theory, kyriarchy, the blending of poetry, mythology and hard-edged reportage, all speak to the rich quality of refugee-led efforts to spark a more critical understanding of the crisis. And Typical Sisters are making music that creates a unique blend of the genre's familiar and not-so-familiar tropes. It recounts Boochani's underground escape from Indonesia and the two dangerous ocean journeys he made in an attempt to reach Australia. His book is a tremendous literary accomplishment, but more importantly, it offers a profoundly unique theoretical and conceptual window into understanding the complex operation of the abhorrent refugee prison system at a time when it continues to spread around the world.
That doesn't stop them from stuffing the first 15 minutes with the biggest names at any gangsta party. But what makes Nuthin' But a Gangsta Party 2 worth the whole mix is who we're left with for entertainment when Snoop's off mingling. It's a sad coincidence that Boochani is a journalist who has been subjected to the brutality of refugee prison camps, but he reminds us that it's the voices of those who are suffering through these experiences that ought to be centralized in dialogue about the crisis. Those two components are, more or less, a plaintive and often somewhat unsettling kind of folk music alongside or up against the counterpoint of a bigger, dirtier, rockier, fuzzy guitar sound. That is swiftly contrasted by the shuffling beat and percussive samples that quickly usher it into the present. So how does Kevin Morby fare as he navigates this potentially treacherous territory? Reigning Sound is the perfect engine. Australia needs to think very seriously about the value of life and what constitutes a democratic and humane society.
But upon reflection, this set of songs from the latter part of the album seems to mark a shift as well as punctuation, both of which are much needed after the frenetic sequence that was the first seven songs. In practice, it's slightly baffling how two white, straight students could feel so taboo in their relationship that they sabotage something so clearly meaningful. Morby seems to be acutely aware of the tradition in which he is working, while also forging new paths for himself. Instead, in the uncertain geopolitics of the contemporary era, he was plucked out of the sea, tossed into a prison camp and tortured for his efforts to stand up for human rights and democratic dignity. But more often than not, the realities of the music business tend to mess up the venture of selling pre-mixed mix tapes, making the best tapes strictly underground, unauthorized, invitation only affairs.
He also integrates a keen socio-political analysis: on the meta-level, it explores the operation of the refugee system in Australian and global politics and its role in perpetuating colonialism and white supremacy; on the quotidian level, the operation of a prison camp; and on a cultural level, the complex and hierarchized relations between racialized refugees, white Australians and Indigenous Manusians or Papus, as he refers to the island's local inhabitants. Only through a profound engagement with the lived experiences of refugees can one realise the extent of the human disaster, only by listening to the life stories of the prisoners can one understand the torture they have had to endure. From his cell on Manus Island, Boochani judges the Australian apartheid regime which imprisons refugees in these camps, and even if he doesn't personally enter the picture, the presence of Australia's prime minister is, nevertheless, felt. They have free games to play, but the only game that costs money is pinball. Got Ta Hustle, Make It Happen, and 4 Days In Cali are all previously unreleased and are exclusive to this album. As if by the grace of a higher power, Connell and Marianne must separate again.