June 25th, 2009
Between Randall Roberts’ West Coast Sound post and Reed Johnson’s Pop and Hiss post, you’ll find plenty of specifics, plus pictures. Besides, if you missed Femi Kuti, Santogold, and Saadiq last Sunday, you either live outside Southern California or you’re a huge fan of Million Dollar Password. In other news, Regis Philbin is alive? Who knew.
I’d rather pontificate on the notion of shadows, and how Femi Kuti escaped them on a honey-baked and halcyon summer night at the Bowl. I’d never listened to much Femi before Sunday, thanks to the same logic that’s led me to avoid Ziggy Marley like I avoid cess (unless it’s inside a blunt passed to me by 40-year old women at a DJ Quik concert–which by the way, thanks ladies.)
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Posted in Beards, Blazers, & Glasses | 1 Comment »
June 24th, 2009
Interview starts with a perfunctory, “how are you doing,” and segues into:
Quik: Man, I’m feeling great. We just finishing up lunch—drinking these Italian beers, you ever had a Menabrea. It’s like a cross between an Amber and a coffee-colored ale. We Patron heads so usually don’t drink much beer, but we feeling great.
How did you guys come together to make BlaQKout?
Kurupt: We was working on this record for Snoop’s album, and it was so banging we figured we should just make a whole album together. Quik was like, we can really do this, so we just locked up in the studio whenever we had the time and were off the road. It’s definitely got that classic Quik production, but I like that he took a different turn with his sound, and there’s just that chemistry between us that’s so good.
Quik: The first thing that I remember hearing from Kurupt was this song called “Sooo Much Style.” I was like this dude is hard. I knew Dogg Pound was going to blow and we toured and did all those shows together with 2Pac. But then it really hit me when I heard his collaboration with Battlecat on “We Can Freak It.” I had a $25,000 sound system in the trunk of my Ford Explorer. I think that record busted all the sub-woofers. I was a little mad at Battlecat for that.
I never lost that respect for him. He makes the kind of records that get better with time like a Pinot Noir, a real dope red wine. You can’t catch lightning in a bottle twice, so we tried to make our own Tesla Coil and bottle our own lightning.
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June 23rd, 2009
With songs like this, who else could Gothenberg belong to? At this point, only Studio–their fellow brothers in Balearic–can match the dulcet dub disco of Air France. Their ode to their Swedish seaside home is nothing less than magnificent–redolent of sun-singed strolls, fish fries along diamond-laced shorelines, and the benevolence of the warm season. Few names are more apt than Air France–everything they make seems to soar.
Download (Via Gorilla Vs. Bear):
MP3: Air France-”GBG Belongs to Us”
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June 23rd, 2009
There’s no right way to write about your friends’ music. Gush effusively and you look like a fawning cheerleader. Ignore it and you do a disservice to the people that should matter the most. That said–conflict of interest aside–The Slow Twilight is not only one of the finest indie-rap records of recent vintage, but it’s a flat-out great record.
You probably know Zilla Rocca and Douglas Martin from their various blogs, their Clean Guns and Fresh Cherries from Yakima material, and occasional contributions to this website. They’re two of the most uniquely gifted talents I’ve encountered in my nearly four years of blogging, and The Slow Twilight is the finest manifestation yet of their prodigious talents.
In some small way, this site helped incubate The Slow Twilight, and I had the privilege of A&R’ing the project from start-to-finish. I’m still not sure exactly what that title entails, as no money was exchanged, and my entire creative input seemed to consist of little more than, “you need to re-do that hook.” However, I’m proud to have played even a small role in helping bringing this album to life.
Sach O will write a more comprehensive and un-biased review soon. In the meantime, if you’re interested in an excellent album inspired in equal parts by Aesop Rock, the Gza and murky film noirs, I highly recommend downloading The Slow Twlight for free at Zilla Rocca’s Clap Cowards blog or from this link. For those interested, the hyperbolic but sincere one-sheet that I wrote for the album is below the jump.
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June 22nd, 2009
A regular contributor to the Singles Jukebox and See Magazine, Renato Pagnani blogs at Until the Train Stops. He is currently vying with Cadence Weapon and Michael J. Fox for the throne of most awesome Edmontonian.
Download: http://www.zshare.net/download/61118024337f19df/
Tracklist:
1. The-Dream, “Walkin’ on the Moon (feat Kanye West)”
2. Miniature Tigers, “Dino Damage”
3. A.C. Newman, “There Are Maybe Ten or Twelve”
4. Project Pat, “I Be Fresh”
5. Phoenix, “1901″
6. Ryan Leslie, “Quicksand”
7. The Whitest Boy Alive, “Courage”
8. Wale, “Penthouse Anthem”
9. Kid Cudi, Kanye West and Common, “Poke Her Face”
10. Death Cab for Cutie, “My Mirror Speaks”
11. Harlem Shakes, “Strictly Game”
12. Metric, “Blindness”
13. Röyksopp, “The Girl and the Robot”
14. Little Boots, “New in Town”
15. DJ Quik and Kurupt, “Hey Playa!”
16. Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, “Difference Is Time”
17. Franz Ferdinand, “Ulysses”
18. Gorilla Zoe, “Echo”
19. Yeah Yeah Yeahs, “Zero”
20. Junior Boys, “The Animator”
Glance at the tracklist for my entry in this year’s Summer Jamz series and it might appear the least creative of the mixes submitted thus far–which it probably is. But I’m totally cool with that, because, well, that’s sort of the point. Hear me out: I started making summer mixes four years ago with two goals in mind: a) compile mixes to soundtrack my summers while chronicling what listening habits during that period and b) introduce my friends–who in real life love music just as much as I do, but might not share the same unhealthy obsession–to music they might not be exposed to otherwise. Which isn’t to say my taste is any superior to theirs or anything like that, but simply that I listen to more (and more “obscure”) music than most of my close friends do — partially because it’s sorta kinda my “job” (so I tell myself) but mostly because I spent most of the day at work (or class) reading music blogs instead of, you know, actually working (or paying attention to my profs).
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June 21st, 2009
YouTube user Suprefan has graciously posted videos from both of Grizzly Bear’s sets this weekend at the Wiltern and Troubadour. Their Friday show at the former was one of the best I’ve seen this year, and despite typical Youtube graininess, the videos bear it out.
My review at the Times doesn’t come close to Derek Miller’s Vecktamist opus, but hopefully does the performance some justice. Every time I see this band it’s nothing short of amazing. More videos after the jump.
Download:
MP3: Grizzly Bear-”Cheerleader”
MP3: Grizzly Bear-”Owner of a Lonely Heart (Yes Cover)”
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June 20th, 2009
A link for those of you who don’t obsessively troll rap blogs. Zeus is already calling it the best release of the year thus far. I haven’t listened yet, but if Wale uses “bojo,” or “trank” to diss other rappers, I’ll de facto concur. The cover is heavy.
ZIP: Wale-Back to the Feature
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June 19th, 2009
I know I say this roughly every other interview, but the unexpurgated transcript of my conversation with Quik and Kurupt ranks among my all-time favorites, with the pair waxing eloquent about everything from Quik is the Name, to Dilla and Pac, to the virtues of Italian beer. Expect it Monday or sooner.
In the interim, my piece on the BlaQKout duo is up at Pop and Hiss in advance of their show tomorrow night at the House of Blues–Sunset. Avoiding the Strip on weekends is one of the secrets to navigating Los Angeles with a modicum of sanity intact. These are two of the only people for whom I’m willing to make an exception. Well, them and Pauly Shore.
LA Times: DJ Quik & Kurupt Talk Tupac and BlaQKout
Amazon: DJ Quik & Kurupt-BlaQKout
Download:
MP3: DJ Quik & Kurupt-”Ohh”
MP3: DJ Quik & Kurupt-”Hey Playa”
Posted in LA Times | 5 Comments »
June 19th, 2009
In the wake of the recent and rightful attention paid to Quik and BlaQKout, I’m surprised I haven’t seen anyone mention “Buck Bounce,” his Space Age 4 Eva collabo with 8Ball & MJG. The song that didn’t make either of their greatest hits, but should have.
More on this topic later.
Download:
MP3: 8Ball & MJG ft. DJ Quik-”Buck Bounce”
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June 19th, 2009
Photos by Jeff Cowan
Los Angeles doesn’t really do civic pride. We’re too aloof and jaded for that sort of thing. We’re a secular, sunglasses indoors, windows up, bowling alone type of town (except that when we bowl, it’s usually at some swanky alley with a Jerry’s attached that lets you order duck at four a.m.). People love the Dodgers, but you can count on one hand the number of playoff games they’ve won in the last 20 years. We don’t have a pro football team, and for all the fervor inspired by USC football, it’s a private institution that charges 40K a year for the privilege of rubbing shoulders with the sons and daughters of people named Chip. The Lakers are the nexus that binds us. The Lakers are ours.
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