New Culture & Reggie Watts

I’m looking for new rising cultural heroes. If you are aware of any, please provide a link and description in the comments to something different, unique, and awesome. Mainstream is okay, but underground would be even better. Perhaps you have a friend who performs hard rock with a theremin, or a relative who builds chairs out of old recycled VHS tapes. Do you know someone who has an uncomfortable ability to sculpt copper? Comment it up!

I’ll start.

I’ve linked to Reggie Watts a whole heap of times on this very dot com. He’s a very strongly haired dude who engages in comedic and musically intense solo performance work. He is the lead singer in the soul band Maktub and also performs alone with a loops sampler. He’s extremely entertaining and has amazing vocal and rocking skills. I first heard of him a few years ago, but lately his popularity has been expanding somewhat dramatically. His push into the mainstream boomed recently with his performance (linked to below) on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

A few of my musical favorites (I’ve linked to some of these in the past):

Out of Control
Freestyle
I want Candy.

Reggie’s comedic style is different. His performance often seems disjointed and a bit unexpected, but definitely funny and laced with skill of a professional.

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (starts at 35:18 (right after the last commercial))

Fuller, longer version of a similar performance:
Reggie on The Sound of Young America

Maktub music samples.

Buy Maktub music.

reggie4.PNG
Reggie MSPaint.

I’m working to try and score an interview with Reggie, which would, of course, be posted here on MikeDiDonato.com. we’ll see if it works out. In the meantime, if you’ve discovered some secret underground artist or musician that you’d like to share, please post your find in the comments!

4 thoughts on “New Culture & Reggie Watts

  • 5/19/2009 at 3:38 pm
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    My best friend’s wife’s cousin who I met at my best friend’s wedding just released her first full length album. This isn’t normal fare for this web group, so think Feist before you give a listen. This is so new (hence with the underground theme) that she doesn’t have a website yet, so here’s her myspace: http://www.myspace.com/adrienreju

    Reply
  • 6/9/2009 at 11:25 am
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    Although this has little to do with your actual post, have you listened to the This American Life episode where they form a band for a day from the classifieds? A thermin is involved. The episode was rebroadcast a week or two ago.

    Reply

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