Morcheeba – Minimalist Music Meditation

Artful alliteration in my title, mayhaps?

Ok, I had a hella’ week at work, learned that late nights and Saturdays will be required of us drones soon, tried to put my children to sleep five times (try getting three babies to go down easy to sleep some time, I dare you) and am pretty much at wit’s end if I had a wit to begin with.

I’ve been trying to sit down to work on writing my current book/project and nothing is coming out of these fingers.

So, I open up ITunes with the intent of finding something in my Library that will put me in the writing mood. 

Maybe some Kenpo Flute a la Stan Richardson?  Too Minimalist.

Or some Azam Ali?  Maybe…but I’m craving something else.

Or Azam’s beautiful work with Niyaz, that never fails?  No…

I’m a recovering metalhead who loves Middle Eastern Music, Sufi poets, Brazilian spiritual writers, Japanese Zen anything…yet I still can’t shake the day’s frustration.

Maybe I should rock out?  as much as a 37 year old can these days? 

Pearl Jam Live in Buffalo?  Listened to it all day at work.

Tea Party a la Tryptich?  Middle Eastern with an edge but still not right.

New Ozzy?  Not out yet.

I need something to cut through my tension like the sharpest scalpel…yet delicious and delicate to coddle my psyche.

Then I see that Morcheeba just put out a new album.  The Kings and Queen of Trip Hop…more than a decade ago.  Then singer Skye left the fold and they put out a few albums with a mediocre cast of singers over the last several years.

Trip Hop.

If you’ve never listened to it, it’s Sonic heroin.

Entirely minimalist.  You typically hear a simple, rhythmic, repeating drum beat….no fills really.  Always some nice bass in there, but it appreciates the spaces between the sounds, more so than the sounds themselves.

Then there is some soft guitars and keys. 

And a soft, breathy singer.

It is so entirely Minimalist.

I almost let this album go.  Bands separate and then they suck. 

But I needed Morcheeba in a bad way tonite, so I give the first track, Crimson, a try on their new record Blood Like Lemonade and it’s her.

That sultry voice.

Skye’s back and that simply divine Trip Hop sound.

I don’t write about music though it’s a lifelong passion of mine.  It’s very much a part of my life.  I’ve been playing in bands and as a solo artist for twenty-two years now.  My minimalist office lovingly displays my Alvarez MMY Acoustic guitar, my Roland AC90 Acoustic amp, everything I need for minimalist gigging.

Crimson coming through my speakers…at low volume and five minutes in I’m ready to be the beacon for the words out there in the Universe…I’m ready to tap in.  The music melts in the background, soothes me, yet still lets my mind wander so that I can write.

Check out Morcheeba’s Blood Like Lemonade.  Just head over to ITunes and sample 30 seconds of Crimson and the Title track.  Then check out some of their classic stuff like Big Calm and Trigger Hippie (Love, love, love, I’m the trigger hippie) Who Can You Trust…and I promise I’ll start making sense again next week.

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For those interested in poetry, you can purchase my new collection here:  Foundations

Tagged as: Blood Like Lemonade, Morcheeba, Trip Hop