~ "White Lies For Dark Times" concert & album review~
White Lies for Dark Times - (c) 2009 - was released 05.05.2009 and I just have started listening to it a couple of weeks ago as I was fortunate enough to have a copy. In all earnest it is so new that there is no data yet on the Billboard 200 about it's release as of yet, but they say, "Other albums looking to start high on the Billboard 200 next week include Devil Wears Prada's "With Roots Above and Branches Below" (Ferret), Ben Harper's "White Lies For Dark Times" (Virgin/Capitol)."
I have a personal kinship with Ben both legitimately and via the songs themselves even though I did get the boot, post show, by some roadie who looked like he was 103 and hopped up on about 40 grams of 'meth' that started like I mention previously on the floor, freshman year of college hearing him live for the first time. If you are like me, like John Cusack and how he rants in Hi-Fidelity (Nick Hornby's first novel) that you can organize your life by music. Music isn't just an art form according to Hornby, "In a way Rob's job in High Fidelity is a trope, if you like...He listens to very raw stuff all day and it probably doesn't do you any good. I think over the last 10 to 20 years we've all had much more opportunity, more leisure time, and there's certainly more stuff around in terms of radio and TV, so I think we have a slightly distorted sense of what life is." And that's it, our lives might be distorted by what we feel a connection to, real or imagined, it is ours and it is personal and often times related to specific music. That is why you see so many blogs and sites out there like this, because we find company in our collective misery, joy, sadness, whatever emotion the music helps us feel, there is that collective kinship among the listeners, the fans, you and me. I personally can link several of Ben Harper's songs to moments of my life that come to me like a scene in some movie where your life flashes by quickly or via that slower montage that they teach you about in film school or books on how films are made, as a dramatic effect, because it's something that most music lovers, and lover in general can relate to, it's why you hear that guy say, "Oh sh*! this is my favorite song," and start bouncing, moving, hopping, dancing or whatever you might call it.
I personally don't have a name or a genre for that feeling of association, but it is often what I am trying to give readers who are kind enough to visit and read the words here at the Riddled Phantasms website of the Brass Hat Group. It is the tie that binds us here or at concerts or at anything artistic and entertainment filled. It is what I love and it is so genre-less that I want to be certain it never gets caught and caged like the sad lion or giant silverback gorilla at the zoo that has lost its will to be free. Music, especially the kind Ben Harper writes and sings and performs, both live or via album - this one being "White Lies For Dark Times", gives us back that internal freedom even if only for a brief instant, and allows us to have something that loves company that isn't just "misery".
Ben Harper's songs and my memory of the events around them work like that. From what I know personally of Ben is he is a helper, he cares about people, just ask Jack Johnson who literally just gave Ben his demo and the rest is history, i.e., Jack Johnson is huge with a large record contract and nominations yearly for songs and albums all the accolades that accompany fame and success, simply because Ben Harper cares. There was a point during the show where Ben, spoke to the audience expressing a hearfelt thank you and speaking in terms that everyone could clearly understand about how he does it for the love of music, the passion of music and the love of his fans whom without he would have no career or anything.
His new album goes back a little to the roots of rock and roll, post blues, with less of a focus on Ben Harper solo acoustic artist and more a push towards his Burn to Shine and Innocent Criminals days where he seethed with a hot-blooded vocal tonic that really drove the masses to Ben Harper and whomever he has backing him. The relentless 7 is made the band Ben formed in 2008, Relentless 7 with Texas-based musicians Jason Mozersky (guitar), Jesse Ingalls (bass) , and Jordan Richardson (drums). They receive their first musical credit with Ben on this new album release and accompaning tour (http://relentless7.benharper.com/#/tour).
If you want to read an excellent Q&A with Ben Harper I strongly suggest you take a look at the Ampersand's by Brad Frenette. This is one of the better artist/writer interviews that induldge the belief that music is more than just a hobby, but a passion that kindles with each spark and what makes it unique is that those sparks range the whole gamut as people have different parts, songs, albums, moments that tie them all together. The way Ben talks about music reminds me a lot of the way Bob Dylan talks about it in his book Chronicles, Volume 1. I hope you all enjoy the music and the video and everything The Brass Hat Group has to offer.
Cheers!
"Faithfully Remain" - White Lies For Dark Times (c) 2009 - Ben Harper
(The cover art: "Le Petite Mort" by Sanithna Phansavanh - more of his art will be covered shortly in another post, please contact me at ross@brasshatgroup.com if you have any questions or would like to download any full sized images -- Also this MP3 is available for download from my hosting site link and is covered by license I use on everything, but just as a reminded this is covered by the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License (c) 2009 - The Brass Hat Group)
"Thin Skin" - White Lies for Dark Times (c) 2009 - Ben Harper
(Photo Art: "21 Grams" by Sanithna Phansavanh (c) 2009)
"Faithfully Remain" - Live Video - 5.2.9 Variety Playhouse - Atlanta, GA
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