It's funny to examine the acts that get signed to major record deals these days. In every prior decade major labels signed artists often because of their unique perspective or sound. While some labels still sign people based upon those traits, more often than not your chances of a career recording and performing music with serious money backing you comes down to your appearance and whose sound you can ape the best. I'll never understand the popularity of Lady Gaga beyond the assumption that the youth of this generation haven't listened to Madonna, that or her history isn't impressive in much the same way that some people simplify so-called "classic rock" as just old. Of course these unique acts still exist, and many of them can still get deals with smaller labels, but the days of the Laurie Andersons' of the world getting a record deal when they couldn't get a performance grant are over, at least for the time being. I still have hope that the music industry will smooth itself out eventually, although who knows what will be left of the remaining major labels by that point, let alone many of the smaller independent labels. Most likely there will be more indie labels than ever, most dedicated to one or two artists, and if they have distribution it will be via the majors. Label identities will start to congeal with those of their artists even more than ever before. This could be a great thing for the self-starters of the world, but the money aspect is probably gone for the most part when it comes to truly unique artists.
I mentioned Dana Bryant in this month's mixtape, and she is one of the aforementioned "unique artists" I spoke about in the previous paragraph. A beauty to behold with a brilliant vocabulary and the ability to hold your attention far beyond mere sentences, she was something of a rising star in the world of spoken word and laid back hip-hop. She had released a single named Heat in 1994, a narrative about southern women in black churches, as well as Dominican Girdles, a remembrance of her pre-pubescent experiences trying to impress boys when her figure simply wasn't showing. Via her performances at Giant Step and other hot venues, she somehow managed to capture the attention of the folks at Warner Brothers Records who quickly signed her to record an album. I'm sure they were taken by her beauty, but her voice and words had to be just as strong a motivation.
Miss Bryant went to work on her album, Wishing From The Top, with a number of big name producers including Brendon Lynch, Speech of Arrested Development fame and PM Dawn with equally big name guests like Zap Mama, Masta Ace and the aforementioned Speech helping out and making appearances, but none of this could have looked good on paper. Warners wanted to sell Dana to the hip-hop and R&B world, and while she had beautiful beats on her record and she was a statuesque black woman, this was not a hip-hop, R&B or even commercial album. Apart from college radio, who would play this record? Would MTV play her videos? Did anyone care about her guests and collaborators any longer? Would she get attention from the world outside the field of artists who would flock to her performances? Her album had to have been completed by 1995, most likely early in the year, but it sat on the shelf until 1996, a sign the label had no idea what to do with it, making it clear why her name isn't spoken by the masses. Even worse, she was attacked by hipsters for trying to be a "singer", although there is practically no singing on the album and there are certainly no "songs", at least not by standard definition.
Dana Bryant's career on a major label was probably over before it started, which I'm sure you've guessed I take as a shame. Her voice was wonderfully unique and she was a natural writer and performer. Her album was filled with tales of youth like those in the aforementioned Dominican Girdles and the heartbreaking Margaret (Second Cousin), a recollection of she and her cousin's childhoods and Margaret's premature death. She oozed eroticism on tracks like Bone Simple and mocked "players" on the hilarious Cat Daddy (At The Sugah Shack). She even managed to make a Big Mac sound sexy on her ode to the joys of digestive consumption, Food. But alas, one can only get so far trying to take over the world on their own. And so she has fallen into the realm of the forgotten.
Let's jump forward to a few years ago, whereupon I found some tapes of my college radio shows at BGSU and decided to give them a listen. It all came back to me when I heard the commercial for my second show, as I sampled Wishing From The Top in it's intro. The song was on there too in it's entirety. It was sweet and painful at the same time, bringing back more memories of those cold winter days than anything I still carried with me from that era ever could. I made a point to keep an eye open for a copy of Miss Bryant's album, assuming I'd find it in a dollar bin eventually, but it was a long time until that day came. When it did arrive, it was fifty cents, the tray was water damaged and the disc was good and beaten, though I wasn't going to turn it down at such a low price, so I grabbed it and gave it a spin. Luckily it played just fine and I drove around listening to it on a warm day towards the end of summer. It's too bad most don't remember Dana Bryant, but I do, and maybe other people will find her wonderful and fascinating too.
Dana Bryant - Wishing From The Top
01 Heat
02 Wishing From The Top
03 Heavy Mellow
04 Cat Daddy (At The Sugah Shack)
05 Bone Simple
06 Religion
07 Heat (Slight Return)
08 Food
09 Electric Skies
10 Dominican Girdles
11 Ode To Chaka Khan (Canis Rufus)
12 Margaret (Second Cousin)
