Jose James, Paul Michell Drop By "Live From Studio 5!"

Blog by Seth Hynes Marquette

Final Pledge Drive Show

Jose James

Jose James dropped by Live From Studio 5! this week for the first hour to promote his new CD, Beyond Reason, and play his bass flute to a few backing tracks. Jose’s smooth, milky melodies were laced perfectly with the low, droning synthesizers and slow, rhythmic percussion in the background. 

Jose is a multi-instrumentalist, as well as a singer and songwriter. His music has been featured in movies and television shows such as The Price Of, Daddy’s Girl, Human Giant, Things to Try Before You Die, and more. He has been inducted into the Minnesota Hall of Fame three times, as a member of Shangoya, Willie & The Bees, and Ipso Facto, and was voted best Brass / Reed Artist at the Minnesota Music Awards in 1994. 

He describes his new album as “music to meditate to”, as the music induces relaxation and a state of calmness, a fantastic way to eliminate stress or focus one’s energy. The overall performance bears an aura to an idealistic, calm summer’s day. However, Jose also knows how to completely switch things up in the best kind of way, in that a few tracks are much more R&B oriented, with some serious groove and romantic ambiance.

Be sure to check out Jose James’ new release, Beyond Reason.Check out the video on our You Tube page here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlYjGS8MgT0&list=UUMeJC71i9gFjLQ8jjM2DHWA

You can see the Flickr pix from that show here:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/kfai-fm/sets/72157648013806512/

Paul Michell

Singer / songwriter Paul Michell also stopped by the studio for the second half of the show to promote his own new CD, entitled We Keep On Dreaming. Paul was born and raised in Minneapolis, and began his craft at a young age, becoming a fluent pianist and singer and performing throughout the Twin Cities. Paul mentions artists such as Elton John, Ben Folds, and The Civil Wars amongst his key influences. His latest release was recorded with Owen Sartori, amongst others. 

As well as adding horns and strings, the entire album was done electronically, all things that were new for Paul and his craft. As he puts it himself: “The album was done electronically, but made to feel organic.”

Paul is not afraid to be poppy. With his driving piano riffs and brutally honest vocals, he delivers heart wrenching songs about the most relatable incident in human existence - heartache. However, his music is not sorry-for-thyself doom and gloom drudgery, but instead bears distinct undertones of hope and readiness for a fierce approach at a better future. His lyrics are a sorrowful catharsis of broken relationships, life changes and the biggest question of all: what next? Though we’ve heard the skeleton of this kind of story before, Paul stands out in his declaration of a painful situation, but his persistence to make things work out in the pursuit of happiness.

Paul plans to move to New York City soon to continue his music career. 
Check out the video on our You Tube page here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9smvKY36ic&list=UUMeJC71i9gFjLQ8jjM2DHWA
Flickr pix are here:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/kfai-fm/sets/72157647965995876/ 
You can listen to this entire show at ANY time from ANYWHERE on the planet on our FOREVER archives by clicking here:
https://archive.org/details/222JosePaulPledge

Pledge Update:  Thanks to all KFAI listeners. KFAI has reached its Pledge Drive goal.  This, however, is not enough to sustain KFAI to continue broadcasting the great programs you've become accustomed to.  KFAI still needs about twice the pledge goal to keep us cooking.  All other options will be explored but in the meantime, if you haven't showed your support to KFAI, please do it now to keep us on the air.  All you gotta do is click here:  Pledge Now   And please indicate "Live From Studio 5!" as your favorite program.  Thank you very much!