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Television ads are like the new radio. I discovered the Austin-band Spoon after hearing its funky “I Turn My Camera On” in a Jaguar commercial. And a few weeks ago, after hearing “List of Demands (Reparations)” in a Nike spot called “My Better Is Better Than Your Better,” I picked up the second, self-titled album by poet/musician/actor Saul Williams. William's song marries the anti-authoritarian sensibilities of 80s hip hop and punk. Imagine Grand Master Flash and the Dead Kennedys collaborating on the militant tip. The Nike commercial juxtaposes Williams' pointed lyrics against images of athletes showing an equal level of aggression. Ironically, the song could be interpreted as an attack on the very corporate mindset that funded the whole venture. Williams spits: “I want my money back/I'm down here drowning in your fat/ You got me on my knees praying for everything you lack/I ain't afraid of you/I'm just a victim of your fear/You cower in your tower praying that I'll disappear. . ..”
I was already a fan of Williams before I heard “List of Demands (Reparations).” He starred in the 1998 Sundance film, “Slam,” which was about a poet dealing with prison and street life, and he's produced a few books of poetry, a couple of which I own. Earlier this year, “The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Ziggy Tardust,” Williams' collaboration with Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, was available online for free. That record sounds like what you would expect from Nine Inch Nails and a spoken word poet, industrial grooves and a lot of alienation. For me, nothing on that record, save maybe “Tr(n)igger” and “WTF!,” reaches the peak of “List of Demands.” The problem with Williams' albums is that too often he kills the momentum with slow, introspective spoken word pieces. However, there is another song on “Saul Williams” (which really is a good album), where the poet does meld the different facets of his creativity together perfectly. “Black Stacy” has a deep message about color consciousness within the African American community and musically it quotes both scatting jazz and the Fat Boys. Williams' middle name is Stacy and in the song he remembers childhood taunting from other blacks due to his dark hue: “My complexion had me stuck in an emotional rut/ 'like the time you Flavor Flaved me and you called me, 'Yo Chuck, they say you're too black, man'/ I think I'm too black/Mom, do you think I'm too black?”
Madison Avenue's embrace of artists like Williams and the rapper Common (did you see those Zune ads?) is a sign that our cultural tastemakers have discovered, or should I say rediscovered, the black bohemian. It's like the Harlem Renaissance with beats. Maybe the success of Gnarls Barkley hipped the mainstream to the fact that there are black musicians making cutting edge music. A few months ago, the New York Times did a story about the rise of black hipsters (blipsters) in indie rock. In fact, two of the bands featured in the article had Louisville natives as members: TV On the Radio, which has drummer Jaleel Bunton, and Apollo Heights with singer and rhythm guitarist Carolyn “Honeychild” Coleman. Also, last month's Spin had a great oral history of black rock. Unfortunately, they made it seem like it started out with Bad Brains and Living Colour, but it's the thought that counts. I would have mentioned bands like Parliament-Funkadelic, Love, and Sly and the Family Stone.
TV On the Radio happens to be both my and David Bowie's favorite band, if that means anything. TOVR makes rhythmically complex, experimental music that you can dance to. Their new album, “Dear Science,” is their most accessible work to date, it debuted at number 12 on the Billboard charts. But none of the songs have appeared on any commercials as yet. I guess it's too early to get rid of the iTunes.
Michael L. Jones is a veteran journalist and cultural critic who has worked as a staff writer for LEO, the Louisville Defender, the Jeffersonville Evening News, and the Courier-Journal. He is also the author of “Second-Hand Stories: 15 Portraits of Louisville,” a compilation of articles and profiles about prominent local figures and institutions. (www.lulu.com/shstories) Bands or artists interested in having their work reviewed in this space should send it to: Michael L. Jones, P.O. Box 4373, Louisville, KY. 40204.
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Michael L. Jones