#StankFaceMusic | The Reason I'm a Sound Engineer
(Originally posted September 29, 2014)
Like all other sound engineers, I LOVE MUSIC. Also like most sound engineers I myself am a musician....albeit a bad one :) It started in 5th grade when I played the recorder in music class - from then on I was hooked. Then came the trumpet, guitar, bass guitar and eventually the saxophone. I also took chorus even though I never wanted to sing in front of other people. I just wanted to hone my shower singing skills - I sound just like Whitney Houston in the shower.
Speaking of Whitney Houston, Whitney is what I would call a Stank Face singer. What is Stank Face? I wrote about this already in a previous post that you can read HERE. Basically, it is when you hear a song or a particular singer that sounds so good your face can't help but make an expression similar to what it does when you smell something foul - the Stank Face.
I have been boycotting mainstream music as of late, because let's face it - have you heard what's on radio nowadays? I have especially been disappointed by R&B music. My mom had us listening to Motown growing up. As I got older I heard artist like Shai, Silk, Jodeci, Guy, Babyface, Rome, Aaliyah, Brownstone, Jon B, Erykah Badu (I listened to the live album by Erykah Badu everyday for like a year) and so many other amazing R&B artist from the 90s and early 2000s.
When I was in middle school I somehow stumbled upon a late night metal TV show that came on in Miami. A jump from R&B I know but it clicked with me. There was also a time when MTV actually played music videos and I discovered different types of music there as well. That's where I learned about artist like Led Zeppelin, Cream, Bush, Dave Matthews Band, Counting Crows, Rage Against the Machine - the list goes on.
It has been awhile since I discovered a song and as soon as I heard it, I had to repeat it over and over, had to get the album and had to find out all I could about the artist. The music discovery experience is different now. Before when I discovered an artist I would watch MTV & BET so I could catch their video, listened out for them on the radio, saved my money so on Friday I could buy their CD or cassette at the music store and listened to it over and over while reading the liner notes. Sometimes in the case of cassette tape I would play it so much the tape would break and I had to pull the tape out, put scotch tape on it to mend it back together and continued to play it until it broke again. Those were the days!
Not until earlier this month I had a moment like that when I saw Elle Varner on the Queen Latifah Show.
I was like "What!? Oh I got to get this song." Which I did buy on Itunes and I will admit I did not know the song Refill was her - I'd been boycotting remember! I'm late on that one. I've been boycotting so hard, I had been listening to the Boomerang Soundtrack until I started listening to Elle Varner. So, Elle Varner is definitely a Stank Face artist!
I also discovered Snarky Puppy recently - they are STANK! Here they are with Lalah Hathaway who definitely is a Stank Face singer.
Tell me you didn't get Stank Face on that?! I know you did! Especially after the 6:00 mark when she breaks it down. OMG! Lalah make me wanna slap somebody!
If you like Stank Face Music you have to check out Live from Daryl's House. Daryl from Hall and Oates has guest come over to his house and they play music together. That's a Stank idea! He had Mayer Hawthorne on his show and the drummer had Stank Face the entire time.
Look at his face! That's what good music does to you!
Mayer Hawthorne is definitely Stank Face - I saw him last month and he puts on a great show - Stank Show!
Gospel music in the Black American Church is a genre that breeds Stank Face musicians and singers. Take Fantasia for example.
Fantasia starts off Stank! Her momma Stank too! (in context of this blog post, that was NOT a "yo momma" joke) That is the kind of singing that happens in Churches across America every week. You know it's been some Stank Face goin on when the musicians start pulling out those rags and start wiping their face when they're done playing.
Old school music had a lot of Stank Face artist in just about every genre. Otis Redding was Stank Face.
Guess where Otis Redding started singing? Yup, in Church. It's not just R&B and Gospel music that has Stank Face artist. Led Zeppelin was Stank Face.
Look at Robert Plant's face - STANK! Check them out live.
Look at those pants - STANK! Only Stank Face artist can wear pants that tight.
So in conclusion, let the Stank speak for itself :) Check out my StankFace Spotify playlist and follow me on Twitter for more #StankFaceMusic tweets. The playlist starts off with R&B and gets Stanker from there! So if you don't like it rough you better stop when you start hearing Bob Marley unless you want to get real Stank. LOL. On Twitter use the hashtag #StankFaceMusic so you can share some Stank Face with me.
Cheers and Stay Stank!