Black Pumas (debriefing)


Alright, we all agree that Black Pumas is fantastic, right? Winner of the Bottle of Beef award for Best Album We've Heard Since the Last Best Album? Gladys is clapping, 4 head nods plus mine, op! GREGORY'S seems to have popped loose. C-d starter, be a dear and hand it back to him. Ok, where was i? Oh yeah, why? Certainly not simply because Trump isn't president any more. Sandra?

That voice.

Cucumber?

Quesada. He's not just some random guy from Austin, but he heard Burton and was like "yeah, you're perfect for this project i've been toying with."

GREGORY?

THE WHOLE PACKAGE. EVERYONE IS DOING THEIR OWN THING, BUT IT ALL FITS SO WELL TOGETHER.

Yep, all of that, plus fantastic guitars and keys, and it's totally devoid of trickery. Honest love, honest perseverance, and engagement with the actual world. It's old school, but right now. And lastly, the lyrics aren't stupid. That was my real criticism of Kenny Rogers, wasn't it. He was singing about stupid crap from a self centered view of how everyone else makes the world moderately terrible. This is exactly the opposite, this is "here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna get dressed up, go to town, lift everybody up, and be the best. Not for prizes or bragging rights, but because it's who we are."

Sure, Colemine did limited color runs for the first press (i have 1 of only 750 of this red/black), but the next deluxe run is surely paid for by now. I don't care about that stuff, i just want more music with some passion behind it. 

They call it Psychedelic Soul because of the guitar effects, but this is just honest to goodness modern day Soul to me. None of it is really trailblazing or wackadoodle, but it understands the evolution and cross blending of genres that happened between the late 60s and now. It knows hip-hop, it knows that "hide me from what's mainstream popular" ethos from the 90s, it knows the light and the dark, it's obviously a very Austin sound/style, but it transcends that local hipster vibe.

This, unlike industrial rock and nu-metal, is the appropriate place for that end of phrase rise to falsetto. Here it signifies bliss.

It's not a coincidence that Burton's folk-strumming self accompaniment plays in counterpoint to Quesada and the band. It's one voice supported and lifted up rather than drowned out by the eclectic background. It's easy to drool and say "this is fantastic," but it's hard to put all of it into words.

GREGORY was right, there aren't words to describe how the combination of all that stuff feels. Whatever it is you feel is the experience, and for me this is sublime.

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