{"id":15291,"date":"2018-10-16T05:30:07","date_gmt":"2018-10-16T09:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=15291"},"modified":"2018-10-18T07:25:21","modified_gmt":"2018-10-18T11:25:21","slug":"fantastic-negrito-we-can-turn-it-around-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2018\/10\/16\/fantastic-negrito-we-can-turn-it-around-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Fantastic Negrito: We Can Turn It Around (Part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part One<\/a>…<\/i><\/p>\n

A 2014 EP titled Fantastic Negrito<\/i> debuted Xavier’s new approach. Ostensibly blues, the five-song EP draws from a wider array of influences. Released to enthusiastic critical notices, the EP created a buzz but didn’t break through on a large scale. Undaunted and sure of his musical direction, Xavier created a low-budget video for a new song, \u201cLost in a Crowd,\u201d and submitted it to National Public Radio’s Tiny Desk Contest. The performance features Xavier backed by three musicians on acoustic instruments, and looks to have been shot in a freight elevator. The song is a hypnotic amalgam of field holler and country blues, somehow delivered with a feel that recalls heavy metal. The claustrophobic visuals and impassioned singing and playing combine to create a tension that threatens to burst out of the cramped industrial setting.<\/p>\n

\"\"Fantastic Negrito won the first annual contest, earning a high-profile spot on Bob Boilen’s taste-making Tiny Desk Concerts<\/i> program. Soon thereafter, rocker Chris Cornell took notice of Xavier’s music, and in 2016 Cornell asked him to open for him on tour. Their first leg together was a string of European dates; that was followed by a North American tour. And in Fall 2016 \u2013 after Fantastic Negrito’s full-length debut had been released \u2013 he and his band opened for Cornell again on the latter’s tour fronting Temple of the Dog. \u201cHe had more belief in me than I had in myself,\u201d Xavier says.<\/p>\n

In 1982 Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders wrote \u201cMy City Was Gone,\u201d a lament over the changes she saw as having affected her hometown of Akron, Ohio. In some ways, Fantastic Negrito’s The Last Days of Oakland<\/i> is a cousin to Hynde’s rocker. But his perspective is quite different. \u201cI remember being in New Orleans, and thinking about Oakland,\u201d he says. \u201cI hadn’t been there in 20 years, and it was a different place. But then I thought, ‘Everything’s<\/i> a different place, and everything changes. And if you\u2019re yearning for what used to be, that\u2019s a road of misery.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Xavier effortlessly cites a laundry list of influential artists who came out of the Oakland scene: \u201cSly Stone, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Too Short, the Grateful Dead, E-40, Green Day, Tony! Toni! Tone!, En Vogue, MC Hammer \u2026 you can go down the list \u2026 Metallica, Santana.\u201d But nearly all of those artists represent the past. \u201cAll these things used to be,\u201d he says. \u201cBut we’ve got to reach for something else right now, and build upon what we have.\u201d And that, he emphasizes, is what Last Days<\/i> is all about. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of a celebration,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s over. Now, let\u2019s do this.\u201d<\/p>\n

I first spoke to Dphrepaulezz in 2016, a few months after The Last Days of Oakland<\/i> was released. Though the presidential election was still a few weeks in the future, Xavier expressed worry and concern about the \u201cdownward trajectory\u201d in which he saw the United States heading. He explained that the album was his attempt to contribute something to that conversation, and that he took that opportunity very seriously. \u201cIf I wanted to make money,\u201d he laughed, \u201cI’d do something else.\u201d Xavier characterized The Last Days of Oakland<\/i> as the work of \u201ca man in his 40s who really understands the meaning of life.\u201d And though the lyrics and delivery on that album are impassioned, Fantastic Negrito never comes across as preachy.<\/p>\n

The Last Days of Oakland<\/i> won a 2017 Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album. While Xavier is visibly pleased with the award, he chafes at his music being consigned to a specific genre. When the subject comes up, he often provides a pithy quote: \u201cGenre is a good place to hide,\u201d he says. \u201cFor me as an artist, creativity is my attraction to writing, playing and performing music.\u201d for Xavier, connecting with the audience is the the primary motivation, irrespective of genre.<\/p>\n

But he does draw inspiration from blues men of old. \u201cI was very influenced by all the Delta musicians when I embarked on the idea of Fantastic Negrito,\u201d he says. \u201cOf course I was not going to do exactly what they did, but it\u2019s all in the spirit. I listened to Skip James and Robert Johnson and Charley Patton when I was coming up with concepts.\u201d But his goal was never to model his music after theirs. In fact he cites influences as stylistically far-flung as Cornell, Miles Davis, Kendrick Lamar, Led Zeppelin and Johnny Cash.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Live onstage, Fantastic Negrito is deeply engaging; without a hint of show-biz artifice, he involves the audience in his performance. \u201cMy live show is like church without the religion,\u201d he says with a broad smile. \u201cThat\u2019s the only way I can do it. If I don\u2019t feel it, I don\u2019t think people are gonna feel it. And I want<\/i> to feel it. To me, it\u2019s like group therapy.\u201d He says that he approaches every performance as if it’s going to be his last. \u201cI draw upon the spirit, the vibration that\u2019s out there. So many great artists who have come before me have laid out this groundwork for me, and I channel that. I gotta be able to feel it, man. That\u2019s why I don\u2019t do any drugs: that stage is my drug.\u201d<\/p>\n

Xavier has very specific and exacting ideas about the instrumental components of his songs. When he played a high-profile afternoon set at the LEAF Festival in Western North Carolina, his band included a stand-in keyboardist. To the audience, the man’s playing seemed fine. But Xavier clearly found it wanting. \u201cI find a group of people, whip them into shape and we go,\u201d he says. \u201cMy touring band is ever-changing until it doesn\u2019t change anymore. I interchange people depending on availability and mood and things like that.\u201d But, he notes, \u201cYou just have to get everyone on the same page.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the studio, Xavier is similarly focused on creating the sounds he has in his head. \u201cI have a definite vision of what I am trying to portray sonically \u2013 the tone, textures, how many notes to play \u2013 every time I sit down to produce a record,\u201d he says. And he gets what he wants. \u201cI\u2019m fortunate enough that I\u2019ve invested in those relationships that people put up with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Click here to continue<\/a>…<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part One… A 2014 EP titled Fantastic Negrito debuted Xavier’s new approach. Ostensibly blues, the five-song EP draws from a wider array of influences. Released to enthusiastic critical […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15307,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,31,41,49,60,69],"tags":[2868],"class_list":["post-15291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blues","category-funk","category-interview","category-new-release","category-rb","category-soul","tag-fantastic-negrito","cat-9-id","cat-31-id","cat-41-id","cat-49-id","cat-60-id","cat-69-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15291"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15370,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15291\/revisions\/15370"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}