Michael Franti of Spearhead is hands-down, bar-none my favorite musician alive, today or ever. Lately his music has been popping up on the radio, on TV in video game and Corona beer ads, and elsewhere in the public sphere, so you’re probably familiar with Franti and his band Spearhead’s reggae-funk-ska-hip-hop-world beat fusion, whether or not you know it. But were you aware of how deep his tracks really go? I recommend you buy each and every album since Franti became the figurehead of the group (denoted as ‘Michael Franti & Spearhead’ as opposed to ‘Spearhead’) – on a 12 track album you’re getting 10 cuts of killer jams, 2 of pretty-damn-good music, and zero percent filler. Incidentally, this album merits a precisely inverse review of the quality rating generally awarded to blink(-182) butt-nuzzlers Sum 41 on their late-90s album “All Killer, No Filler!”
This is the first of many Spearhead cuts that will become a staple of this column…
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Absolutely beautiful…
Great choice Dave! I was listening to some Michael Franti today. He’s also got a really great documentary called “I Know I’m Not Alone.”
He travels to Iraq, Palestine and Israel to examine the cost of war to the local people and does a lot of really cool stuff with music and explains how it’s a medium that connects all cultures. Definitely worth a try.
http://www.iknowimnotalone.com/