October 19th, 2007
Yeah yeah yeah, the Cold War Kids are so uncool. They’re like mustaches, or leggings or Hall & Oates. Ok wait, those are terrible examples. I mean this is 2007, what’s in is out and what’s out is in and I’m not even talking about the relationship between L’il Wayne and Baby. My point is, that just because Pitchfork doesn’t like the Cold War Kids and thus making them anathema to the hipster nation, it doesn’t mean the Cold War Kids are bad. In fact, they’re pretty good.
Are they great? Not yet. But I still stand by my Stylus review of Robbers and Cowards and the live show is rock-solid. Ultimately, it’s good to know that for all the snark and bile that’s been lobbed at a bunch of hard working and talented dudes, they’ve managed to come out unscathed, scoring NPR airplay, getting hand-picked by Jack White to open for the White Stripes and headlining the So Co Music Festival in Phoenix this weekend. Sadly, I won’t be in attendance, but I did write a preview story for the AZ Republic after talking to CWK guitarist Jonnie Russell about getting to meet Jessica Alba, Jack White and a few details about their new record. So check it out if you have a second, mustache not required.
Cold War Kids Feature in the Arizona Republic
Download:
MP3: Cold War Kids-”Heavy Boots”
MP3: Cold War Kids-“Hang Me Up To Dry”
Posted in AZ Republic | 3 Comments »
October 19th, 2007
Chances are you’ve already heard of Black Mountain. Their 2005 self-titled debut won BNM raves and the band ended up getting tabbed to open for Coldplay, proving once again that Chris Martin is a much better music critic than an actual musician (hey Chris, I’ve got some guest-blogging spots available on the Passion). If you haven’t heard of Black Mountain, get ready to hear a lot more about them soon, the rumor-mill has already started buzzing that their sophomore effort, In the Future, is fiercely great.
Anyhow, I interviewed the band’s bassist Matt Camirand and wrote a piece on them in the Arizona Republic. To be completely forthright it wasn’t the greatest interview I’ve ever had. The band was just coming off three straight press days of talking to every media outlet on earth and I’m reasonably certain that every question I asked had already been asked by someone else. Camirand seemed like a nice enough dude and all, but I’ve gotta’ say that I was a bit disappointed that he wouldn’t talk about the bands use of psychedelics in recording this album. C’mon dude, you guys recorded a 17 minute song this time around. You have a song called “Druganaut” on the debut. It isn’t exactly a secret. Like Ralph Wiggum, we know the score.
Black Mountain Feature in the Arizona Republic
Download:
MP3: Black Mountain-”Druganaut”
MP3: Black Mountain-”No Satisfaction”
Posted in AZ Republic | 1 Comment »
October 18th, 2007
The Grateful Dead are my favorite band. A lot of people scoff when I tell them that. It’s not like I’m not well aware that it would sound much cooler and impressive if I said it was Can or Brian Eno, or Yoko Ono, or possibly their top-secret love child, Yoko Eno Jr. (she’s in an obscure Japanese noise rock band that only communicates by clicks and triangle chimes. They kick ass).
But the truth, I really don’t care. The Grateful Dead were/are awesome and I say that with the zeal of the converted. Truth is, I used to loath the Dead, finding them long-winded and boring, with the exception of the video for “Touch of Grey.” Which was obviously awesome. In fact, it was only four years ago when I got past by the hippie-burnout baggage and finally learned to appreciate them.
However, it has only been in the last year and a half, after delving into the band’s endless array of bootlegs and Dick’s Picks compilations, when I started to seriously entertain the thought that maybe they might be my favorite band ever. And even then, it still seemed like awfully high praise for a band with only two objectively great studio albums. But last weekend was a stark reminder why I eventually decided to take this long and strange trip in the first place, a journey that indirectly took me to Tennessee (where I did not play a game of horseshoes) and more recently the El Rey on Saturday night, to see the world’s greatest Grateful Dead cover band, the Dark Star Orchestra. But as strong as the band’s ability to channel the Dead was, the minor epiphany actually occurred during a conversation that I had between sets.
Admit It: Skulls And Lightning Look Cool
While waiting in line lamenting the fact that none of us had remembered to sneak a J in, my friends and I ended up talking with an amiable hippie seeing DSO for his second night in a row. The night previous, he’d gone with his father for what he described as “therapy” and the show had been so good he decided to drive the hour-plus from Orange County just to see the band again. And despite how how peace, love & harmony he made his love of the Dead sound, I have to admit that I completely understood where he was coming from. Watching the Dark Star Orchestra, one felt a a sort of catharsis as the band re-animated the Dead’s October 12th, 1984 show in Augusta, Ga., warts, synths and all, complete with a devastating show-stopping rendition of “Morning Dew.”
Bonded by our shared ardor for the Dead, my friends and our new hippie pal, starting arguing about our favorite era of the Dead (this is apparently, what Deadheads do in the interim stretches between doing drugs). I’m partial to the electric blues and orange sunshine-laced shows from the late 60s. While my friend dismissed the period as “not having enough good songs in the set list yet,” instead opting for the shiny disco-funk of the late 70s. New hippy friend (who thankfully came more suitably prepared to the show than us), had high praise for the Europe ‘72 era. We all nodded our heads with mutual respect at the difference of opinion, when my friend pointed out the obvious fact that what makes the Dead so special is their ability to get three seemingly normal people to turn out to see a Dead cover band, despite appreciating vastly different era.
The exchange served as yet another reminder of the sheer breadth of the body of work that the Dead left behind, with each show unique in its own right, preserved and cataloged thanks to the good people at the Internet Archive. As for the DSO, it’s been said before, but the orchestra portion of their name is certainly apt. More than just a cover band, they’re curators of the Dead’s musical legacy, allowing those of us who never had the chance to see the Dead to view the closest approximation possible. I’ve written about these guys before and I’ll probably write about them again, so I’ll spare the specifics. But if you like the Dead, you should most certainly check out the DSO the next time they come through your city. It’s a lot cheaper than therapy.
Download:
From Ithaca: 30 Years Later
MP3: Dark Star Orchestra-”Loser”
MP3: Dark Star Orchestra-”Brown-Eyed Woman”
Stream:
The Grateful Dead: Live at Augusta Civic Center-10/12-84
Posted in Beards, Blazers, & Glasses | 5 Comments »
October 17th, 2007
I’ll try to keep this short. God knows at this point, it probably looks like Def Jux has been paying my rent for the last 36 weeks (in actuality, it’s only been 12). But the truth is, in a year where “underground” hip-hop has produced more good albums than at any point since its glory days of 97-02, no indie rap label around has produced anything close to I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead and None Shall Pass.
The weird thing is, no one really seems to care. Of course, I understand the reasons why. This is 2007 and in a way, the Jukies have already missed their window of opportunity. What they’ve done this year should’ve really gone down in 2003, but instead Aesop followed up Labor Days with the really bad until you listen to it 50 times and it becomes really great, Bazooka Tooth. El-P followed up Fantastic Damage by going completely AWOL for the next half-decade and Cannibal Ox are apparently trapped in some strange shadowy netherworld with Kevin Shields and Jeff Mangum.
Instead of striking while the iron galaxy was hot, the label put out a bunch of mostly mediocre releases before re-gaining its footing with Cage’s Hell’s Winter in late ‘05. But in the five years since ‘02, a lot changed: Aesop, El-P and Lif all hit 30, Murs decided he wanted to be a major label hyphy rapper, RJD2 fancied himself the third member of Steely Dan, and the majority of the label’s fan base graduated college, swapped their backpacks for a beard and blazers and suddenly Aesop Rock and The Shins found themselves drawing from the same demographics.
Aesop Rock: Beards, Blazers But No More Backpackers
But as I wrote in my review of None Shall Pass, you can’t blame an artist for their fan-base (but you can blame Zach Braff), and I certainly understand why Aesop’s detractors mock the legions of white kids with M.F.A’s. that hang onto his every word, yet had never heard Camp Lo until Bazooka Tooth. But rather than pander to his bearded and bespectacled acolytes, Aesop has consistently straggled the line between erudite dense wordplay and prodigious mic skills that owe a heavy debt to the holy Golden Age trinity of KRS, Rakim, & Kane.
Last Friday night at the Henry Fonda was no different. No gimmicky ham-fisted live backing band. No obnoxious hype men (just Rob Sonic who seems to look more like Jonah Hill from Superbad with each day). Just a DJ, a mic cord, some baggy tees and backwards fitted Yankees caps. In addition, frequent Aesop collaborator, Bay Area artist Jeremy Fish, constructed a series of dazzling background visuals that synchronized with the songs themselves. As for the set list, it understandably hewed closely to the stuff from None Shall Pass, but Aesop did manage to bust out an impressive rendition of “Nickle Plated Pockets,” “Holy Smokes” from the Fast Cars EP and a show-stopping acapella performance of “Puff Tuff,” the B-side from the 7″ release of “None Shall Pass.”
I understand I’m probably blinded in a sense because Aesop has long been and continues to be one of my favorite rappers. But I’ve continued to hold him in such high esteem because unlike many artists (I see you, Talib Kweli) he’s never disappointed. A decade into his career, this show might’ve been his best that I’ve seen and None Shall Pass remains a lock for my top 10 best records of the year list. If you get the chance to catch Aesop on this tour, I highly recommend it. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a check from a Mr. Jaime Meline to cash.
Download:
From None Shall Pass
MP3: Aesop Rock-”39 Thieves”
From “None Shall Pass 7″”
MP3: Aesop Rock-”Puff Tuff”
From Daylight EP
MP3: Aesop Rock-”Nickle Plated Pockets”
Posted in Beards, Blazers, & Glasses | 6 Comments »
October 16th, 2007
I usually re-post my Stylus articles in their entirety here, but it feels wrong to to do so for this one, as seems to make a lot more sense over there. I told my editor, Todd Burns, it’s either one of the best things I’ve ever written for them or one of the worst. Hopefully, it’s the former, apologies for wasting your time if it’s the latter. Either way, this is a great record from what I consider to be one be the finest songwriters I’ve heard in a long long time. Even though their band name still sucks.
My Stylus Review of Sunset Rubdown’s Random Spirit Lover
Download:
MP3: Sunset Rubdown-”Up on Your Leopard, Upon the End of Your Feral Days”
MP3: Sunset Rundown-”Winged/Wicked Things”
From Shut Up I Am Dreaming
MP3: Sunset Rundown-”Stadiums and Shrines II”
From Sunset Rubdown EP
MP3: Sunset Rubdown-Three Colours II
Posted in Album Reviews | 2 Comments »
October 14th, 2007
Zilla Rocca likes Tribe Called Quest more than he likes Hammer. Though he does like the girls with the “pumps and a bump.”
The first time I heard Lupe, he was spitting a forgettable verse about anime, peach fuzz and Mrs. Butterworth on Kanye’s “Touch the Sky.” I didn’t like his voice, nor his rhyme scheme, nor the fact that his name was Lupe Fiasco. It sounded like a Spanish liquor or something. At best, I thought he was a new GOOD Music weedcarrier like Really Doe or GLC who would only pop up on Kanye albums but never actually release anything.
My next encounter with Lupe was at Tower Records, looking through the magazine section and seeing an issue of Fader with the bespectacled one on the cover. I thought “Hey it’s the Lupe dude with the shitty verse on Kanye’s song. Why the hell is he on the cover of this magazine?” I do this a lot with new artists who are on magazine covers when I’ve never heard of them—I hate their guts for no real reason, then 6 months later I discover them on my own, buy their music and try to convert everyone else. See: Bloc Party.
I ended up hearing “Kick, Push” and was quiet impressed. The beat was dope as hell, the concept was original and the hook was catchy. I even did a freestyle to it on the Clean Guns mixtape. I also picked up the DJ Envy assisted mixtape titled Chi Town Guervera and downloaded some random joints from his Revenge of the Nerd mixtapes.
Finally, Food & Liquor dropped and I listened to it about 10 times straight, front to back, while in NYC last September for a week. I was hella impressed with Lupe’s lyrics and unconventional concepts, especially “American Terrorist” and “The Cool.” I knew he wouldn’t sell tons of units, but that didn’t matter—there was hope in the land of commercial hip hop. He was truly an emcee’s emcee. Some of his beats were a little too Just Blaze-lite for me after repeat listens. Nevertheless, I championed him and his record to my friends and fellow hip hoppers.
Since that time, I’ve had a love/hate relationship with the guy. I love the fact that he spends a lot of time concocting intricate metaphors and ripping off stories from anime’s I’ll never watch.
Excelsior!!!!!!!!
Here’s what I don’t like:
1. He goes out of his way to say how much he doesn’t like hip hop. He talks about how he only listens to jazz and that he never got into Tribe or De La. He wanted Pink Floyd on his new album. He prefers It Was Written to Illmatic. He seems to enjoy being contrarian. Remember when he was supposedly getting Three Six Mafia on his album after it leaked? I’m sure a Muslim from Chicago and three southern ding bats who wrote “Tear Da Club Up” have a whole lot to say on a track together. Thankfully, he did that shitty song with Mike Shinoda instead. If you don’t like hip hop, don’t do hip hop. Make your Electric Circus or Love Below and get it out of your system.
2. He started the craze of overcrowded-designer hoodies along with Pharrell. It’s officially over now because you can buy the knock-off joints at Forman Mills for $13.
3. One of the producers on his label, Prolyfic, is a certified douche. Peep his MySpace bio: www.myspace.com/prolyficfnf
4. He messed up the lyrics to “Electric Relaxation” on VH1’s Hip Hop Honors. Since he clearly did not grow up listening to Tribe, why did he agree to do this song? Was Little Brother unavailable? They’ve spent their entire career trying to re-make this song. Throw them a frickin bone.
5. Lupe is known for being “internet savy.” Call me old school but I don’t like major label rappers posting comments on blogs or forums on a weekly basis. Phonte from Little Brother does this sometimes and it annoys me too. They are still fans. They read these sites and may catch feelings when someone talks about them. But if your full-time job is to be an emcee, leave the bitching and crying and hyping to us rap dorks who have jobs that give us internet access. If I wanted to know your direct thoughts on why cats like snap music but don’t buy the latest Mic Geronimo internet-only release, I’d send you an inflammatory email on MySpace because I know you check it every day on your phone.
Get Down, Do You?
Things I’d like to see on The Cool:
1. Ten or more songs produced by Kanye (“The Cool” is Kanye’s best produced album cut since “Never Change”) and Soundtrakk (of “Kick, Push” fame. Kid is nice and he’s Hawaiian. Bonus!). Less songs produced by Douche Lord Prolyfic.
2. One CRS supergroup song. “Us Placers” was interesting from Kanye’s Can’t Tell Me Nothing mixtape. This is highly unlikely though—Kanye has too much ego to get outshined by Lupe on a consistent basis as an MC. And Pharrell is too busy rapping about Italian bandaids and Peruvian shower curtains to make a coherent song on a real album—just look at his verse on “Mr. Me Too.”
3. Three tracks produced by Q-Tip. I really think the Abstract’s loose, warm, jazzy style would be a good contrast to Lupe’s nasal voice and layered lyrics. There were too many loud, epic bangers on Food & Liquor that drowned out Lupe, and he was too complex for his own good sometimes. Pharrell made “I Gotcha” specifically as a Native Tongues-style track and Lupe was right at home—bouncy, fun, simple (even though he posted somewhere on the internet that he is NOT a Native Tongues fan but Pharrel thought he was…so he did the track anyway?!? Whatever, it’s hot still).
4. Two club records produced by Needlz. They did a joint called “Tilted” on the Best Buy version of Food & Liquor that was f*cking FIRE!!! More please.
5. No more hoodies or skateboard references. It would be cool if he did a De La Soul is Dead theme and put to rest the anime/video game/hipster fashion persona. I think people are drawn to Lupe because he has substance as an emcee, he offers an alternative to coke/ringtone rap and he definitely makes you hit rewind several times during the course of an album. Right now, he strikes me as MF Doom shopping at Urban Outfitters.
Unlike my love/hate relationship with Mos Def, Lupe is capable of putting out another record that actually has some raps on it. He also has the capability to make a classic hip hop album that could cross over. I just hope realizes it’s okay to rock out to Low End Theory.
Download:
MP3: Lupe Fiasco-”Daydreamin’”
MP3: Lupe Fiasco-”Kick Push”
Posted in The Beat Generation | 8 Comments »
October 12th, 2007
It’s no secret around these parts that I’m a huge Aesop Rock fan (see my Stylus review where I try to re-invent what it means to be pretentious,) so needless to say I was pretty amped to interview Mr. Bazooka Tooth himself. Of course, when it came time to write my interview questions, I was completely stumped. At this point, I’m reasonably convinced that there is an inverse relationship of my interview ability with how much I respect their work of the artist I’m interviewing. (the Will “Okkervil River” Scheff interview was just straight awkward).
So maybe it’s for the best that Aesop flaked on the phoner and wanted to do things via e-mail. This saved the futility of stammering around like some sort of tongue-twisted yahoo (no Serious). Bottom line, the story’s up now at the Arizona Republic and I think it came out fairly well. Aesop talks MTV (he was recently named Artist of the Week), the state of contemporary hip-hop and why Blockhead won’t do another Party Fun Action Committee. Also, be sure to scoop up the B-sides and rarities tracks below. They’re all highly recommended if you’re into that sort of thing.
My Aesop Rock Feature in the Arizona Republic
Download:
MP3: Aesop Rock-”Wise Up”
MP3: Aesop Rock-”Take me to the Basement”
MP3: Aesop Rock-”Water”
MP3: Aesop Rock ft. Vast Aire-”Sinister”
Posted in AZ Republic | 4 Comments »
October 11th, 2007
The legend of elusive love guru, Will IM, is as long as Fergie’s humps are humpy. They tell stories of him from Argentina to Antartica, from Uruguay to the Ukraine (where, the stories are often used to wrap potatoes). After spending many moons trying to decipher his true identity, I believe I have unmasked him. Follow the link below and see who he really is (if you don’t Fergie will haunt your dreams for eternity).
The LA Weekly: Will IM Online Casanova
Download:
MP3: Black eyed Peas-”Joints and Jams”
MP3: Black eyed Peas-”Que Dices”
Sometimes doing an online background check can be useful, and not just for an employer running a background check on a new hire.
Posted in LA Weekly | 3 Comments »
October 10th, 2007
Apparently in an effort to save itself from total insolvency, the recording industry is now taking tips from Hollywood. Meaning sequels. So by the logic that Kanye Vs. 50 ended up actually making everyone go to the record shop for the first time in years, the powers that-be are now presumably trying to make every single big release an “event.” So mark your calendars because Dec. 4th is going to be ridiculous, with the the new Ghostface album, The Big Dough Rehab, the Wu’s 8 Diagrams and uh….The Carter III. As Ian Cohen said, “The Internet’s gonna’ be a fun place that day.”I’m supposed to be interviewing Ghost next Tuesday. Which means I’ll probably end up sitting alone with Sean Wiggs. Hopefully, his weed carrier title will prove to be valid.Download:
MP3: Wu-Tang Clan: “The Heart Gently Weeps”
MP3: Ghostface Killah ft. Cappadonna-”The Odd Couple”
Posted in News | 7 Comments »
October 10th, 2007
Kevin Murphy didn’t really ask me if I wanted to interview Mickey Avalon for a piece in the Arizona Republic, it was closer to a dare. Like when you’re 12 years old and you tell your friend that you’ll give him $5 if he runs into a cinder-block wall as hard as he can, wearing nothing but a bike helmet and a cup. Seeing that at 26, I’m apparently not much wiser than a judgmentally challenged pre-teen, so I accepted Kevin’s challenge and agreed to do the story.
For those not familiar with Avalon, he’s essentially created the soundtrack for LA’s coked up scenester set for the past two years. A former junkie, prostitute and drug dealer turned white rapper, Avalon is essentially the bastard child of Kid Rock and Tommy Lee, which means that he’s due to sleep with Pamela Anderson in roughly 15 minutes. I accidentally caught Avalon’s act once, when my friend’s ex-girlfriend opened up for him at the Roxy one night. I left well before Avalon came on, but in my drunken stupor I forgot to close my bar tab. When I returned, Avalon was in the midst of his set and it was pure pandemonium as his excruciatingly attractive female fan base rushed the stage. As for me, I waited patiently for the bartender to get my card while trying not to gawk at Cisco Adler and Mischa Barton simultaneously playing paddy-cake and stealing a bottle of vodka.
Needless to say, the experience (coupled with being subjected to “Jane Fonda” at Sharkeez in Manhattan Beach surrounded by ex-sorostitutes) led me to conclude that Avalon and his ilk were everything wrong with Los Angeles. And maybe probably they are everything wrong with LA, but our conversation sort of felt like Marilyn Manson’s scene in Bowling from Columbine, where strangely enough Manson seemed to make way more sense than everyone else in the film. Hands down, Avalon was one of my favorite interviews and while he might not be nearly as sharp as Manson, regardless of what you think of the man’s music, at the very least he makes for an interesting story. Don’t get me wrong, it’ll be a cold day in Hyde before I bump his “My Dick” from my car stereos, but rather than re-enforce the mythology he’s created around himself, Avalon spent most of the interview talking about how much he misses his daugher when he’s on the road, how lame and pathetic rich coked-up LA girls are (he’s a fan of Texas), and how much he loves Public Enemy, Slick Rick and Red Gone Wild. And honestly, how was I supposed to argue with with that?
My Mickey Avalon Feature in the Arizona Republic
Download:
MP3: Mickey Avalon-”Waiting to Die”
MP3: Mickey Avalon-”So Rich So Pretty”
Posted in AZ Republic | 2 Comments »
