Two years ago, as I was mindlessly zapping through the TV channels, I had the fortitude to stumble upon a recording of DJ Champion’s 2005 show at the Festival de Jazz de Montréal. My wife and I stared in awed disbelief, transfixed by sheer energy of this most unusual music. This mix of electronica, heavy guitars, high-caliber vocals and hard-edged lyrics was unlike anything I had every heard before and haunted me for months until I decided to purchase the album.
Part of the impact of this innovative sound is are the mournfoul lyrics from “Negro Songs of Protest”, such as No Heaven (see below) and “The Plow”. Suffused with themes of pain, injustice, hope and despair, this is heady stuff indeed and well worth listening to.
