Now and then I get to share my enthusiasm for music with others. Music has been a big part of my life, though only recently.

Growing up I never experienced much music. It was something the family listened to in the car, on the way to something, more to fill the silence, but I never was really that important to who I was or what I felt back in the day.

It wasn’t until high school that I really started listening to music.

Then, it wasn’t until I lived with David Vandervelde back in my Nooma days that I actually learned to hear it.

I’ve been blessed to be around people who have much better taste in art and music than I ever did. Still, people often appreciate songs I talk about. I figure every week or so, a blog post about certain songs on my playlist might make for some interesting listening and discussion.

I don’t think I have any huge amount of insight on the songs themselves, but here are three tracks that have impacted me this week.

“Running” by Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie xx

Now in case you don’t know, Gil Scott-Heron is a spoken-word jazz poet. He called himself a “bluesologist”. He pretty much influenced and inspired most of hip-hop. He passed away in 2011. His most famous composition was something many people are familiar with, called “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.”

The song consists of Scott-Heron reciting a piece of his work, which Jamie xx put to music. It’s simple. Scott-Heron’s recitation is subdued. But the words hit you, as good poetry does. I dug it. And it’s about running, which a lot of you crazy people are into. So there’s that.

“No Diggity” by Chet Faker

Who doesn’t remember BLACKstreet? I mean, the kiddies might not know who the heck these dudes were but “No Diggity” remains one of the songs that shaped my thug life, son! It’s a song that gets the head bop from me, whether I’m chillin’ with the hipster cats at some BS “slow pour” coffee shop, or making urrrybody fall in love with me as I cut it up in the club.

Regardless, it’s a song I don’t take lightly when someone starts to mess with it. That is, until Chet Faker did his thing. Ooooooooooooohweee! That’s the stuff! Come get you some new No Diggity, son! And do work!

“Walk On By” by Noosa

At first I thought this was Mirah, who I love for her song “Jerusalem” but then I noticed it was someone called Noosa, who has a richer voice than Mirah (though I love Mirah’s lighter playful lilting). I wasn’t familiar with this Noosa girl (obviously). This song kind of started out slow but picked up into a more poppy, catchy hook. I dug it and it was different enough that I wanted to feature it this week.

Good driving music…then again I usually listen to music in the car and if I like it, I usually say it’s good driving music. Maybe you can come up with another scenario.

So that’s it, gang. Let me know if you like this sort of entry and we’ll get you some more sweet tunes.

###