Welcome to Sound Projections

I'm your host Kofi Natambu. This online magazine features the very best in contemporary creative music in this creative timezone NOW (the one we're living in) as well as that of the historical past. The purpose is to openly explore, examine, investigate, reflect on, studiously critique, and take opulent pleasure in the sonic and aural dimensions of human experience known and identified to us as MUSIC. I'm also interested in critically examining the wide range of ideas and opinions that govern our commodified notions of the production, consumption, marketing, and commercial exchange of organized sound(s) which largely define and thereby (over)determine our present relationships to music in the general political economy and culture.

Thus this magazine will strive to critically question and go beyond the conventional imposed notions and categories of what constitutes the generic and stylistic definitions of ‘Jazz’, ‘classical music’, ‘Blues.’ 'Rhythm and Blues’, ‘Rock and Roll’, ‘Pop’, ‘Funk’, ‘Hip Hop’, etc. in order to search for what individual artists and ensembles do cretively to challenge and transform our ingrained ideas and attitudes of what music is and could be.

So please join me in this ongoing visceral, investigative, and cerebral quest to explore, enjoy, and pay homage to the endlessly creative and uniquely magisterial dimensions of MUSIC in all of its guises and expressive identities.

Saturday, December 20, 2014

Janelle Monàe (b. December 1, 1985): Multitalented musician, composer, singer, songwriter, arranger, dancer, and ensemble leader



SOUND PROJECTIONS 
AN ONLINE QUARTERLY MUSIC MAGAZINE
EDITOR:  KOFI NATAMBU
WINTER,  2014
VOLUME                   NUMBER ONE
MILES DAVIS

 Featuring the Musics and Aesthetic Visions of:

 ANTHONY BRAXTON                  
November  1-7 

CECIL TAYLOR                
November 8-14

 STEVIE WONDER             
November 15-21

 JIMI HENDRIX                  
November 22-28

 GERI ALLEN                    
November 29-December 5

 HERBIE HANCOCK   
December 6-12

 SONNY ROLLINS    
December 13-19

 JANELLE MONÀE   
December 20-26

 GARY CLARK, JR.   
December 27-January 2

 NINA SIMONE         
January 3-January 9

 ORNETTE COLEMAN   
January 10-January 16

 WAYNE SHORTER    
January 17-23

 *[Special bonus feature:  A celebration of the centennial year of musician, composer, orchestra leader, and philosopher SUN RA, 1914-1993]   

January 24-30



 




http://uptownmagazine.com/2013/10/janelle-monaes-secret-agenda





Janelle Monae’s Secret Agenda


Posted by
uptown janelle monae cover nov 2013

“I have an agenda in this world,” says Janelle Monáe. The proud pompadour-sporting singer is sharing her secret plot during a mid-afternoon phone call. Two nights before, I had just witnessed the Lilliputian stunner take over New York City’s Pier 84 as she performed a mini-concert to a select throng of celebrities and VIPs rejoicing in the release of her latest project: the critically hailed double album The Electric Lady, her second full-length record. As we speak, the jet-setting beauty is in Paris promoting her new baby, and her excitement is palpable. In between directions to a manicurist (don’t let the tuxedos fool you: She is an admitted “girly girl”), who is apparently trying to rip away the gel from Monáe’s delicate nails, she tells me more about these mysterious machinations of hers.

“It is my goal to mislead you into believing one thing,” she continues with her best sense of irony. When talking with Janelle Monáe, I must warn you, metaphorical winks come in such rapid-fire succession that only later do you realize that you are struck. And not from a shocking crimson drip, à la Walter White; it’s more of a delayed Big O “aha” moment. “There has to be some misinformation out there about Janelle Monáe,” she teases.

And if the singer has indeed been the source of it all, then she’s got a hell of a side hustle as a PR girl—the plethora of prattle swimming around the intensely private singer could fill Wendy Williams’ juicy “Hot Topics” segment for days. Rumors mainly question her sexual orientation. Almost from the moment she popped on the national scene, her adopted “uniform” of the masculine, but always luxuriantly tailored, tuxedo and the absence of sex-driven lyrics have prompted lesbian whispers. Electric’s first single, “Q.U.E.E.N.,” hasn’t quieted them either, as some fans and the simply curious have honed in on the lyric, “Am I a freak ’cause I love watching Mary?” Naturally the blogosphere erupted with speculation that she had finally stepped out of the closet. Adding more fuel to the fire are the words to “Giving ’Em What They Love,” another song from the album: “Hey, sister, am I good enough for your heaven?” sings Monáe, who writes all of her music. Her response to the scuttlebutt is just as murky. “I only date androids,” she deadpans. But when pressed to elaborate, she quips: “Was that even me that day? Who knows? I have clones, and they all come out and fight. Maybe that’s why I wear this tuxedo. There may be an ancient Chinese man fighting this rich African queen to get shine,” she says. Then adds, “I think it is so boring to be figured out in one conversation.” Well-dressed clones? Figuring out Janelle Monáe quickly isn’t likely. There are better odds on Kanye West and Taylor Swift becoming BFFs.

Monáe was born in Kansas City, Kan. She began performing in high school musical productions, and her dreams soon grew too voluminous for the town. As all good girls with talent from small towns do upon coming of age: She made her way to New York (attending the American Musical and Dramatic Academy), joining the gaggle of hopefuls rushing around the theater district on any given day, hoping that the next audition would land them on the Great White Way, with their name filling a marquee.

Janelle Monae Discusses Love, Politics, Sexuality on "The Electric Lady" - Sound-Savvy.co--August, 2013:

Janelle Monae talks with Sound-Savvy.com about her forthcoming sophomore album "The Electric Lady", featuring appearances by Esperanza Spalding, Solange, Miguel, Big Boi, and the legendary Prince! Thematically, this album continues Monae's "Metropolis" Saga, which she also discusses in detail in this interview.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7czpr_x0mo

http://www.wired.com/2014/09/6-things-janelle-monae/

6 Things You Should Know About Janelle Monae 
Janelle
Josh Valcarcel/WIRED

This concert hall is either too big or too small. The Warfield in San Francisco holds about 2,300 people, but its cavernous stage looks like it could all but swallow Janelle Monáe. And maybe it could, if her powerhouse voice and manic energy weren’t so outsized they threaten to blow the roof off the joint.

Monáe isn’t actually on tour right now, but she’s been playing a lot of shows lately. Radio City Music Hall with Dave Chappelle. Atlanta with OutKast. Sesame Street with Big Bird and crew. In a few weeks she’ll bring her meticulously uniformed live act back to San Francisco for the Treasure Island Music Festival. Tonight, though, it’s a benefit for REDF, a California non-profit that helps create jobs for people who have been homeless, spent time in prison, struggled with mental health issues, or dropped out of school. The evening started as a fairly formal dinner affair, but Monáe has the crowd out of their coats and shawls before you can say “black tie optional.”

This is what Monáe does best, next to writing and recording music. Her shows are flurries of excitement that speed through her hits, a few well-curated deep cuts, and even some frenetic covers (tonight’s selections include the Jackson 5 and “Let’s Go Crazy” by Prince, who it’s worth noting is a fan of Monáe’s). She’ll end her set by walking into the crowd and standing on one of the benefit’s finely-appointed tables. The Electric Lady has owned the room.

The Electric Lady, for those who don’t know, is Monáe’s latest album. It’s also the most recent single from said album—an incredibly catchy summer jam with a similarly intoxicating video. It’s also also a huge part of her aesthetic. Electric Lady, like much of Monaé’s past work, is inspired by Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, as well as themes ranging from Afrofuturism to class oppression. But that’s just the beginning. Here are six other things you should know about Monáe:

Her Uniform Is a Political Statement, Not a Fashion One 

Call it The Janelle Monáe Look. Sometimes it’s riding pants and suspenders, sometimes it’s a tuxedo; almost always it’s black-and-white. She’s a Cover Girl and always looks #Flawless, but her look isn’t really about fashion. “I have been very vocal about why I wear black and white, why I wear a uniform—it’s to pay homage to the working class,” she says. “People like my mom, who had to leave school early because she was pregnant with me. She was a custodial worker. My dad was in prison and the first job—the only job—he could get was being a trash man. They raised me and for this organization to create jobs for high school dropouts, people who have been in prison or homeless, hits home for me.”

Monáe Is Reading Creativity, Inc.  (Stars, They’re Just Like Us!)

The influence of science fiction like Fritz Lang’s film Metropolis is obvious in Monáe’s work. (The cover of her 2010 album The ArchAndroid shows her rendered in the image of the female android Maschinenmensch from the film.) But that’s just the beginning of the sci-fi seasoning in her music and style. “Films like Her, I loved that. The Singularity Is Near by Ray Kurzweil. I love him. That was a huge inspiration to me and my writing process,” Monáe says. “I love Octavia Butler. Isaac Asimov. Aldous Huxley’s A Brave New World.” When she was younger, she used to watch The Twilight Zone with her grandmother and these days she’s reading Creativity, Inc., the book about creativity in the workplace by Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull and (sometimes WIRED) writer Amy Wallace. She also really loved Snowpiercer. “I try to look outside of the music industry, so science fiction is a great way to tell a universal story in an unforgettable way,” Monáe says.

Her Androids Are Metaphors For a Lot of People

If there’s one concept that comes up more than any other in Monáe’s songs, its androids. That is, after all, what an “electric lady” is. The hero of her Metropolisseries (her two most recent albums and the Metropolis: Suite I EP) is a persecuted android named Cindi Mayweather sent from the future… who turns out to be a messiah to the people of a class-divided city. “When you talk about androids there are so many parallels between androids and African-Americans, androids and minorities, androids and gay people, androids and females,” Monáe says backstage following the REDF event. “We’re talking about those who are oftentimes discriminated against or treated as less-than, and I just thought it was such a world that hadn’t been talked about in that way and I wanted to be one of the first to do it.”

GAME CHANGERS [PART 1] - Lupe Fiasco, Estelle, B.o.B & Janelle Monae

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=To6q_q9IpXA



GAME CHANGERS [PART 2] - Lupe Fiasco, Estelle, B.o.B & Janelle Monae

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiL1BqJvBt4

  

http://www.jmonae.com/#
 
6 Janelle Monae Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oxls2xX0Clg&list=PLd6pWDl8nMg9wkNMl5fH6mQPcv38DUtGr&index=1

Janelle Monae

Follow
 

Top Janelle Monae Scholars


 Scholar Janelle Monae IQ
Stockade Kids's photo Stockade Kids 3,219
Misskimari's photo Misskimari 1,801
YeezyTaughtYouWell's photo YeezyTaughtYouWell 944
NKD's photo NKD 800
Chihuahua0's photo Chihuahua0 682
danielwarhol's photo danielwarhol 679
Superflyronald's photo Superflyronald 539
Spinelli's photo Spinelli 312
nsuviolin2005's photo nsuviolin2005 309
P3RSONALITY's photo P3RSONALITY 288

Janelle Monae's Albums:



Popular

Janelle Monae: "Music as a Means to Unite"  (2010)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrVOwVGd1OE








Janelle Monae A–Z

« Back to the list of artists
Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,