Singleversity #43

Audiversity’s weekly column, slightly modified, on random music in a predetermined number of words between 1 & 150. This week's randomly generated number: 104

MA:



With one of the most interesting fusions of styles in modern music, Thomas Mapfumo’s chimurenga music intertwines funk, soul and 60’s pop-rock into Zimbabwe’s native Shona music. While the groove of a track like "Matiregerera Mambo" [please refer to this site if you are still interested] (which I have a sneaking suspicion is actually titled “Hokoyo” and my tracklisting is just off) may reflect a Motown aesthetic in the music, the lyrics are unabashedly political and rebellion rousing. Pulled from Mapfumo’s debut album with the Acid Band, the 1978 LP Hokoyo! (Shona for “beware” or “watch out”), the message nearly condemned the “Lion of Zimbabwe” to jail by the then suppressing white minority government.

PM:












Though it’s been over two years and I’ve done a lot of growing since, Million Dead will always occupy a very special place for me; as such, I keep up with even the most trifling matters of its former members. Turns out that while they’ve all been busy pursuing separate projects, three unreleased instrumental demos and a flat-sounding Total Rock session surfaced this past week from their former band on the fansite Milliondead.org. This "Pop-punkyone" is, like the others, of subpar sound and mostly unremarkable bar a spacey middle section that hints at a new sonic angle they unfortunately never survived to see realized.