Were this a truly inspired collection, Mike Love would’ve embraced his Beach Boys nomenclature, and forced the rappers in question to rhyme over “Surfin’ Safari,” “Surfin U-S-A,” and “Be True to Your School,” to say nothing of the 2Pac contrast implied in “I Get Around.” Still, the Chicago hip-hop radio staple did rap nostalgists a… Continue reading »
Unfortunately, I can’t embed the video for Black Moth Super Rainbow’s “Dark Bubbles,” a clip that Kanye has declared better than both fishsticks and reading. Like Eating Us, it’s worth checking it out, preferably in an altered state. I wrote a fairly extensive feature on the band for LA Weekly. A full transcription of my… Continue reading »
My favorite High Fidelity moment is Rob Fleming’s (patron saint of music nerds) soliloquy describing the art of the mixtape. The rules: Stick to a theme, no mixing black music and white music, no two songs by the same artist on the same side (unless you’re doing doubles) etc. While the advice is rote (and… Continue reading »
My interview with that infamous drinker of aquariums is up at Pop and Hiss now. We talk the blues, the stubborn persistence of Southern regionalism, and juke joint drinking etiquette. I’ll be at the reading tonight. If you don’t know what I look like, I’ll be the guy in need of a haircut, drinking 60… Continue reading »
Kool & The Gang’s, “Summer Madness,” is one of the most gratifying seasonally themed records of all time and the inspiration for a plethora of songs that could lay claim to the same title. Recorded in 1973 (incidentally, the year credited as hip hop’s official birth date) and released on the group’s seventh studio album,… Continue reading »
I’ll take the new Caetano Veloso record over the new Bob Dylan any day. Maybe it’s because I have no idea what he’s saying. For all I know, this could be a concept album about McDonald’s cutting down the rain forest. Or the Brazilian Relapse. Kevin Elliot speaks Portugese and he likes it. I trust… Continue reading »
Summer’s a mess, this year more than ever. Not only do we have to cope with the usual mix of baking heat, overexcited crowds and a seemingly never-ending run of bad television, the warm months of 2009 come packaged with a recession swamping the globe, a Swine flu pandemic and Dick Cheney hanging around like… Continue reading »
Congrats are in order to Andrew Barber, the impresario behind Chicago hip-hop, one-stop shop, Fake Shore Drive. Today marks the release of the site’s first mixtape, hosted by The Cool Kids, and featuring cuts from the likes of Lupe Fiasco, Kanye West, Rhymefest, Twista, and of course, the duo of Chuck English and Mikey Rox.… Continue reading »
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThDL6joJfDs Despite the sickening suspicion of similarities between myself and the extroverted pseudo-Bohemian asshole up above, I spent the majority of my Memorial Day weekend camped out at the UCLA Jazz and Reggae festival. I previewed it for the Times last Friday, so if you’re interested in the logistics head there. As for the event… Continue reading »
I suppose it’s own fault. “Don’t Touch Me (Throw ‘Da Water on Em) was so vintage Busta that I figured that he had another The Coming/When Disaster Strikes in him–or at least another Anarchy. Wrong. There’s nothing “bad” about “Back on My B.S”–Busta’s talented and likeable enough to carry most tepid tracks.* But his 8th… Continue reading »
Excellent Adventures
Bogus Journeys
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Listening
Jeff Weiss
Sach O
Douglas Martin
Aaron Matthews
Abe Beame
Evan Nabavian
Tosten Burks
Matt Shea
Jonah Bromwich
Reading
Jeff Weiss
Sach O
Douglas Martin
Tosten Burks
Aaron Matthews
Abe Beame
Jonah Bromwich
Watching
Jeff Weiss
Sach O
Douglas Martin
Tosten Burks
Aaron Matthews
Evan Nabavian
Jonah Bromwich
Inner Sanctum
Miscellaneous Apostles
Local Natives
Understanding Media
The Sporting Life
2011
2010
2009
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2006
Miscellaneous
