This self-proclaimed curmudgeon always enjoys when he is presented with music (yes the Derek Blanks directed video looks great, the concept is great, Ledisi looks great) music that falls squarely into the arena of what should be blatantly obvious and possible. Often this music doesn’t materialize because the blatantly obvious and possible is a lot harder to create I would argue than many realize. Oh I’m not talking about predictable music or music that falls into an obvious pattern that you know will be played and promoted on the oh so ever tired terrestrial airwaves. Nope, “I Blame You” doesn’t fall into any of the above referenced categories but here’s where this song does fall I believe…
Totally by accident the other day I happened to have the radio tuned to WPredictablity101.9 (obviously not the real name of the radio station here but you get the point) usually when my 11 year old (who definitely has some musical opinions) gets in the car I’ll switch to a station a little more up her alley. My mind must have been on other things and as “I Blame You” continued to play my daughter inquired “Who is that?” ans she did her little musical headbob. I told her it was Leidisi and proceeded to tell her a little bit about the music that Ledisi has been creating over her career and encouraged my daughter to checkout more music from Ledisi.
No, I’m not basing my review on the reaction of my 11 year old however I did want to point out that there is absolutely nothing wrong with creating music that you can literally hang your hat on. It seems like there are a couple of camps that have sprung up over the last 12 or 13 years: One camp where the music is so abstract that you need an abacus as well as headphones to hear it. Camp two where the music playing is so predictable that you’re singing the lines and chord changes in your head before they happen on the first listen. Then there’s camp three where a majority of music abides where it is so immature you’d have to be an 11 year old to truly appreciate it.
So as I crawl back under my rock what am I really saying? Well, there’s nothing wrong with and in fact I’m sure there are lots of folks like me that welcome songs that we can actually remember the chorus, songs where we truly enjoy the vocal deliver because it’s tastefully and skillfully done and the overall sound of the production elicits a great feeling. Is that really too much to ask? I don’t think so and in fact sooner or later I’m going to start a movement where that’s what we demand. You’ve been warned 🙂 Of course you all will know who to blame for this <--- see what I did there. Laters.
Ivan Orr is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, performer, and writer. A native of Charlottesville, Virginia Ivan was involved with the forming and nascent days of The Music Resource Center as its first Program Director. A graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Department of Music, Ivan currently resides in Richmond, VA where he maintains an active performance and production schedule while serving as the Music Editor for Grown Folks Music, a position he has held since 2010.