I've got a treat for anyone with true musical taste. I heard about the FX show Justified last year, and was able to catch up on it when its first season came out on DVD a few months ago. It's now one of my personal faves, and I got amazingly lucky when FX was added to my cable package in February at no additional charge just before the start of Season 2. The show is good enough that I could blog about it, but it's actually the theme song and the band who sings it that I want to give some Amens to. The band is Gangstagrass, a group of musicians that combine authentic bluegrass (which is a natural fit with the show's Kentucky setting), and... wait for it... rap (!) into a new genre. It sounds like a potential disaster, but I dig it. This particular video is the full-length version of the song, with clips from the show interspersed. Elmore Leonard, the fiction writer who wrote the short story on which Justified is based, (and who is now 85 years old), says it best: "Rench (the vocalist and producer) and his friends have done nothing short of creating a new form of music. Gangstagrass takes two types of music that are opposites and mixes them together brilliantly in a way that is natural and enjoyable". I've heard several of their songs and have to tip my hat to people who are willing to think waaaaay outside the box. I hope you enjoy.
I don't hate it as much as regular old rap...
ReplyDeleteAnd don't you go saying that I don't have true musical taste! Josh Groban is my number one!
Justified is great. The show runners have a great grasp on tense undercurrents. Instead of showing you a man screaming "There's no time!"*, you get understated performances that you can feel something dangerous is about to happen. Also it's set in a piece of the country that is a hole in the American self image. Kentucky, West Virginia, any of the Appalachians are either ignored or mocked.
ReplyDelete*I liked 24, at least the first 3-4 seasons, but towards the end, you could make a drinking game out of which of 4 things Jack would scream at Chloe.
I love it
ReplyDeleteOkay, I am about as anti-rap as you can get, and I am so surprised to hear myself say that there is something catchy about it! I can't wait to check out this show, too!
ReplyDeleteNow, about your having spent a few years in Portugal, would you say that my sassy/bratty streak is congruent with the typical Portuguese woman's?
Good to catch up with you, Aaron! Hope life is going well!