Episode notes
The Album: William Onyeabor: Who Is William Onyeabor? (2013)
Benjamin Booker rocks.
His soulful blend of blues, rock soul and punk, together with hella honest lyrics and an inimitable voice has moved folks across his self titled debut and latest album Witness.
He joined us to talk about his discovery of Luaka Bop’s World Psychedelic Classics 5: Who Is William Onyeabor? It was love at first listen. He loved the moog and the drums, the minimalism and the disco elements.
He loved the message.
We talked about William Onyeabor’s reclusiveness, foreshadowing in lyrics, African music across many genres and the coolness of a white cowboy hat.
More on William Onyeabor and Who is William Onyeabor :
- “Review: William Onyeabor: Who is William Onyeabor? (NPR)
- “Who the Hell is William Onyeabor?” (Noisey)
More on Benjamin Booker:
- Can We Get a Witnees (Stereogum)
- Tiny Desk Concert (NPR)
- WebsiteShow Tracklisting (all songs from Who Is William Onyeabor? unless indicated otherwise):
- Atomic Bomb
- Benjamin Booker: Witness
- The Funkees: Akula Owu Onyeara
- Benjamin Booker: Truth is Heavy
- Body and Soul
- Love is Blind
- Anita Ward: Ring My Bell
- Love is Blind
- Heaven and Hell
- Why Go to War
- Something You Will Never Forget
- Fantastic Man
- Heaven and Hell
- Good Name
- New Order: Blue Monday
- Benjamin Booker: Overtime
- The Lidaju Sister: Life’s Gone Down Low
- Heaven and Hell
- Let’s Fall in Love
- Why Go to War
- Love is Blind
- Fantastic Man
Here’s the Spotify playlist of as many of the songs above as we can find on there.
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In this episode...
Guests
- Benjmain Booker
About the show
Hosted by Oliver Wang and Morgan Rhodes, every episode of Heat Rocks invites a special guest to talk about a heat rock – a hot album, a scorching record. These are in-depth conversations about the albums that shape our lives.
Our guests include musicians, writers, and scholars and though we don’t exclusively focus on any one genre, expect to hear about albums from the worlds of soul, hip-hop, funk, jazz, Latin, and more.
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