January 17th, 2009
Despite being AARP eligible, David Byrne continues to stay cooler than the proverbial polar bear’s toe nails (a simile only usable for the next decade thanks to global warming), teaming with Brooklyn’s finest, Dirty Projectors, to record a track for Dark Was the Night, a compilation raising money for HIV/Aids charity, Red Hot Organization. Not to be confused with the equally worthwhile Red Hot Entertainment.
As for “Knotty Pine,” it’s as good as you’d expect: Byrne’s rubberband voice blending seamlessly with Dave Longstreth’s knuckleball wail. Surprisingly smooth stuff for a title that tangled.
Download:
MP3: Dirty Projectors-”Knotty Pine”
Posted in Are You From the Lester Bangs School of Thought? | 1 Comment »
January 17th, 2009
Glad to know that Erick and Parish are still making dollars when everything from Circuit City to Saturn (the mediocre automobile, not the planet) have gone the way of the Labrador duck. As Ian Cohen points out in his Pitchfork review, their last jaunt is surprisingly enjoyable, particularly this Method Man-aided ode to invincibility. Of course, it doesn’t explain EPMD’s inability to crack the Billboard 200, but hell, these guys made “Crossover”/”You Gots to Chill”/”You’re a Customer” et. al, so if anyone deserves a free pass for doing Ron Artest numbers, it’s these two.
From We Mean Business
Download:
MP3: EPMD ft. Method Man-”Never Defeat Em”
Posted in Are You From the Lester Bangs School of Thought? | 2 Comments »
January 16th, 2009
I don’t begrudge John Legend his popularity. I wished I liked the guy more. He seems nice enough, wears argyle, went to Penn. It’s not that he isn’t talented. He’s a nimble piano player and wields a powerful singing voice. That said, there may not be a more cloying performer out there. The guy’s sappier than a Hallmark card. At one point, he sang a track called, “P.D.A. (We Don’t Care),” featuring the hook, “Let’s Go to the Park.” Which wouldn’t have been so bad were it not for the matching jumbo screen images of people holding hands on swing sets. Vanilla latte soul at its most soporific. “Green Light,” remains great. “John Legend” remains the worst misnomer since Stoner’s Pot Palace.
Opener Estelle was similarly professional. A slick and well-produced diva-in-training with a few choice cuts, none of which match up to “American Boy.” She’s a solid cipher for expensive beats and a paucity of ideas. As far as Estelle’s go, I still prefer Getty.
LA Times: John Legend, Vanilla & Sugar
Download:
MP3: John Legend ft. Andre 3000-”Green Light”
MP3: Estelle ft. Kanye West-”American Boy”
Posted in LA Times | 1 Comment »
January 15th, 2009
How last month of me….However, since I sleep on the hometown scene all-too-frequently, consider this mild penance.
10. Dengue Fever-Venus on Earth (M80)
Dreamy and druggy psychedelia built on a bedrock worship of 60s Cambodian pop, and the ethereal buoyancy of Chom Nmol’s voice. Adorned with a filagree of B-movie spy scores, Dick Dale surf strut, and the occasional sax-a-ma-phone belt, Dengue Fever’s aesthetic could be described as overly nostalgic–slightly troubling when the period they pine for ran concurrently with the Killing Fields. Still as far as pan-global dream pop goes, this is one of the best things since The Aladdin Soundtrack.
Download:
MP3: Dengue Fever-”Seeing Hands”
9. Abe Vigoda-Skeleton (Post-Present Medium)
On first listen, Skeleton sounds like a horde of 12-year Chino kids using the garage as a garrote, unleashing clangorous punk riffs after a Bahamian vacation where they’d listened to nothing but Harry Belafonte. It’s jarring. Repeated listens limn a deceptive knack for melody and structure lurking beneath Abe Vigoda’s post-adolescent angst. Ryan Atwood would not have been been friends with them.
Download:
MP3: Abe Vigoda-”Dead City/Waste Wildnerness”
8. Mae Shi-HillyH (Team Shi)
Andrew Gaerig rendered the Mae Shi meticulously in his “Run To Your Grave” singles blurb, so I’ll spare the redundancy. The Mae Shi have been local favorites for years; they won the LA Weekly’s Best Punk Band Award in ‘05, and all the local blogerati love them. HillyH marked the first time the Mae Shi pared the spastic, Casio velocity of their stage show with serious songcraft. I’m less concerned about whether or not the Mae Shi are one of Los Angeles’ best bands (they are), and more what chemical alchemy one needs to ingest to be to like them.
Download:
MP3: Mae Shi-”Run To Your Grave”
7. Le Switch-And Now…Le Switch (Autumn Tone)
Thank Justin “Aquarium Drunkard” Gage and his Autumn Tone imprint for releasing the full-length debut from Silverlake stalwarts, Le Switch. A shambling, boozy and beautiful 38-minute bender, Aaron Kyle and his talented bandmates, eschew au courant influences for simple, straightforward songcraft. With a skeleton of Ram-era McCartney, Nilson Schmilsson, and The Band, Le Switch are Los Angeles’ answer to Dr. Dog. Dismissing their sound as overly familiar misses the point; Le Switch’s influences might be well-worn but their voice is unmistakably unique. Don’t miss their February Monday night residency at Spaceland.
Download:
MP3: Le Switch-”Simple Gifts”
6. Johnson & Jonson-Johnson & Jonson (Tres)
Originally known as Powder and Oils, the eponymous Johnson & Jonson debut was intended to be a pre-Below the Heavens mixtape, with Mainframe behind the boards and Blu kicking self-described “swagger raps.” Instead, Okayplayer buzz convinced local indie, Tres, to release it as a full-length. While the C.R.A.C. Knuckles project showcased Blu’s versatility and eclecticism, it felt uneven. Johnson & Jonson, finds the rapidly rising Blu matching the success of his acclaimed debut and cementing his positition as the leading light of the LA underground.
Download:
MP3: Johnson & Jonson-”Mama Always Told Me”
5. Beck-Modern Guilt (Interscope)
The 60s pysch of Modern Guilt is the best thing Beck’s done since Mutations. Granted, it’s nowhere near perfect. There’s something soulless and robotic to it– the work of a prodigiously talented craftsman on auto-pilot, capable of churning out great song after great song without breaking a sweat. Yet removed from the context of “another Beck album in 2008,” it’s better than most guitar rock records made last year. Sure it’s a little dull and lacking in joie de vivre, but that never stopped you from liking Fleet Foxes.
Download:
MP3: Beck-”Modern Guilt”
4. No Age-Nouns (Sub Pop)
I tend to side with Fluxblog in the great No Age debate. There’s an undeniable brilliance to their ability to seamlessly fuse punk, shoegaze and ambient; their live show is vicsceral and snarling, and their tee-shirt game is vicious. Nouns is a very good record–no doubt. But what’s most thrilling about it, is the potential Dean Spunt and Randay Randall evince. If they treat Nouns as a starting point and avoid letting their quirks ossify into mannerisms, No Age are a lock to become the best Los Angeles punk band since The Minutemen. And thus, help wash away the stain that was/is Social Distortion.
Download:
MP3: No Age-”Teen Creeps”
3. Flying Lotus-Los Angeles (Warp)
Between Nate Patrin’s Pitchfork review, Sasha Frere-Jones’ New Yorker profile, and Sach O’s year-end blurb for this website, Los Angeles received more critical justice than anything released this year. So I’ll just selfishly utter that this was the One Word Extinguisher follow-up that I had always hoped Prefuse 73 would make.
Download:
MP3: Flying Lotus-Breathe . Something/Stellar STar
2. The Knux-Remind Me in Three Days (Interscope)
Now is the time that I should point out that the LA Weekly also recently issued its official Top 10 Best LA Albums list. I wrote the blurb for Remind Me In Three Days. It’s probably overly pretentious, but I think it speaks to the greater context of this album. At this point, saying that I have nothing left to say would be total meosis.
Download:
MP3: The Knux-”Fire”
1. Madlib-Beat Konducta V0l. 5: Dil Cosby Suite (Stones Throw)
I also wrote the Madlib blurb for the Weekly. If you aren’t already aware, Otis Jackson Jr. is my favorite beat-maker of the decade. You probably won’t agree if you’re into that whole sobriety thing.
Download:
MP3: Madlib-”Do You Know (Transition)”
Honorable Mention:
Mezzanine Owls-Mezzanine Owls EP, The Parson Redheads-Crowds EP, The Broken West-Now or Heaven, HEALTH-HEALTH/Disco, Gary Louris-Vagabonds
Where The Fuck Was My Promo Award? (For The Albums That I Wanted To Hear But Never Did)
Everest-Ghost Notes, The Henry Clay People-For Cheap Or For Free
Posted in Lists | 3 Comments »
January 14th, 2009
While thinking about the Flying Lotus album, I remembered how much I love “Storm Returns.” Probably my favorite thing that Prefuse 73 ever did
Download:
MP3: Prefuse 73-”Storm Returns”
Posted in Are You From the Lester Bangs School of Thought? | 4 Comments »
January 14th, 2009
At times, I’m convinced that Scott Towler and I were the only ones who found Prime Time Glick hilarious.
“I’d rather be rapping and blogging at the same time—it’s like DJing my thoughts! On a computer!” – Zilla Rocca 1/7/09
Scott Towler: So what exactly is a Zilla?
Zilla Rocca: A female lizard from Armenia.
ST: So are you a fan of Godzilla then?
ZR: I am not a fan of one diety of “Zilla.”
ST: Let’s get to the real root of the question though…why are the Japanese so scared of giant animals? Aren’t pandas like their go-to cuddly?
ZR: Because giant animals cannot so easily get shots, tags, etc. Imagine if Godzilla got an ear infection, or Mothra jumped over the back fence? We’re talking a catastrophe the size of “The Spirit.”
ST: Do you have a go-to cuddly?
ZR: I’m a rapper. We only cuddle with Teflon. And old school Teddy Ruxpin dolls. And Teddy Ruxpin dolls covered in Kevlar.
ST: The streets is rough, huh?
ZR: If you’re an ‘80s automated teddy bear with a cassette player in your back with a penchant for children and D batteries…hell yeah
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Great Scott | 4 Comments »
January 13th, 2009
Via Hidden Track.
Wanted: book publisher to fork over an advance for me to follow the Dead this summer. Involves acid, the decline of the Hippie dream, and involute analysis of the songs, “Morning Dew,” “Loser,” and “Box of Rain.” I am not joking. Really. I know.
Download:
MP3: Grateful Dead-”Morning Dew” (from Fillmore West–March 2, 1969) (Left-Click)
Posted in Are You From the Lester Bangs School of Thought? | 3 Comments »
January 13th, 2009
Sach O kills at Chinese 4AD karaoke and still prefers reverb on his vocals to autotune.
So I’m trading music and talking shit with Douglas “No one on the corner got Fresh Cherries like Us” Martin and the subject of 4AD came up. To me, one of the lazier cliches in music writing last year was the comparing of any reverb heavy band to 4AD artists, particularly the label’s flagship act The Cocteau Twins. Thing is, anyone with a set of ears knows that NO ONE sounds like the Cocteaus. Granted, Elizabeth Fraser kicked down the door for alternative female singers to fully explore the studio space and is quasi-responsible for everyone from Bjork and Cranes (yay!) to Enya and that Deerhoof chick (ugh!). But all ground breaking influence aside, none of Frasier’s successors sound remotely like her and the early digital sheen which formed the soundscapes she worked with is totally absent from any of these new releases. It’s like comparing Neyo to Marvin Gaye: sure there’s an obvious debt but no one’s going to confuse one with the other. I’ll go as far as to say the only person whose music ever sounded remotely like the Twins is Faye Wong, a 39 year old Queen of Canto-pop who’s best known as “the Celine Dion of Asia”.
Bear with me here, it’s going to take a few paragraphs to sell you on this.
Faye Wong is a huge star in places where the music industry is a disturbing mix of b-grade MTV dance-pop and 1940’s style celebrity glamour. If you’re a 20 something male (read: the target audience) you’ve probably heard her unbearably maudlin theme to Final Fantasy VIII and based on that, there’s nothing that hints at anything beyond “middle of the road foreign pop star”. But there’s more to Faye Wong than meets the intro to her wikipedia profile. For one thing, she made Restless.
Released as a contract ending experimental “fuck it” in 97, Restless is the rare art record from a traditional pop star that works. Having already covered the Cocteau Twins’ work earlier in her career, Wong collaborated with them on new songs capturing the ethereal (I know…) sound the group mastered on Heaven and Las Vegas without ever sounding second rate or plagiaristic. Ranging from giddy guitar pop to digital torch-blues to post-electro film music, Restless manages to merge disparate genres into a cohesive whole and remains surprisingly accessible to western audiences. While more lyrical than the Cocteaus’ early work (topics touched upon include Buddhism, death, happiness and other “big” issues), Faye Wong matches Elizabeth Frasier by conveying the full emotion of the song solely through her vocal tone. You get the gist of it without understanding a word of Chinese. Standout Cocteau collabo Repressing Happiness somehow manages to split the difference between achingly slow blues and cheap casio synthesizers without losing the earth and grit of the former or the modern sheen of the later. Instrumentals Uneasy and Wild Three Hills sound like Low-era Bowie in an alternate reality where post-punk was a mid 90’s reaction to Tiananmen-square. Meanwhile on the lighter side, pop songs like Where come closest the Cocteau sound with digital funk and airy vocals that are perfect for sunny days.
Not that I’m complaining, but with all the shallow international influence-jocking going on, you’d think that more people would name-drop this album. While the studio-sheen isn’t indie-ready and there’s a sense of professionalism that separates it from alternative music proper, Restless is also one of those rare instances where a big budget star goes left and delivers a meditative, personal album that experiments with the boundaries of the pop-format. It’s certainly more radical in the conservative context in which it was conceived, but like all good music it manages to transcend its story to exist solely as sound. Plus it totally sounds like 4AD.
Download:
MP3: Faye Wong-”Repressing Happiness”
MP3: Faye Wong-”Where”
Posted in Diggin' in the Digital Crates, Sach O | 4 Comments »
January 12th, 2009
I’d been wondering why Brother Ali’s, Rope-A-Dope, elicited so little buzz from net-denizens, until cursory research revealed that it’s an odds-and-sods comp, rather than an official mixtape. That said, it’s a highly listenable, if not poorly sequenced collection of Ali rarities that you’ll want if you’re into bald, albino, Twin Cities rappers. Personally, I prefer, MC St. Pale Paul, but that’s just me.
Posted below (in addition to a ZIP D/L link) are my favorite cuts from the tape, culled from Ali’s work on the Jake One album and the Benzi & 10Deep jaunt. Both collaborations show and prove that despite his indieground roots, Ali’s Pharoahe Monch-lite flow can match up with any of the Fader’s finest. Also, note the subtle Rawss jab on the Wale collab.
Download:
MP3: Brother Ali ft. Freeway-”The Truth”
MP3: Brother Ali ft. Wale-”2nd Time Around”
MP3: Brother Ali ft. Slug & YZ-”Did I Ever”
ZIP: Brother Ali-The Rope-A-Dope (Left-Click)
Posted in Are You From the Lester Bangs School of Thought? | 9 Comments »
