2009 September » Passion of the Weiss

Sep
24

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0wPNow3ymc When I first heard Fool’s Gold in May of this year, I pigeonholed them as trend-hopping Echo Park poseurs who decided to play afro-pop following a weekend of smoking cotton candy kush, snorting Dexedrine, and listening to “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” on repeat. As you can see from the video above, they seemed too… Continue reading »

Sep
24

Mary Anne Hobbs, Live at Low End Theory

The intent was to transcribe and post the entirety of my Q&A with BBC Radio One DJ, Mary Anne Hobbs. Unfortunately, it’s 1:00 a.m, I’m exhausted and as much as I like you guys, I enjoy sleep that much more. So, a link to my Times piece, the promise that I’ll do it sooner than… Continue reading »

Sep
23

Koushik-”Ghostless + Bonus Beats”

I typically avoid posting on the same artist in consecutive weeks, but if Koushik is going to insist on giving away his entire catalog for free he’s forcing my hand. After one-upping the bootleggers by offering up his Bleep Tape for free download, he’s now insisting on offering the instrumentals from last year’s excellent Out… Continue reading »

Sep
23

Mo Hud: The Return of Hudson Mohawke

Back before Timbaland abandoned the pursuit of futuristic 33rd Century R&B for tepid Buck Rogers-lite, ray-gun rap (or as normal people refer to it, America’s most popular album two weeks running), he laced Missy protege/possible paramour/self-love advocate Tweet with one of the best beats he never slid towards Aaliyah. Hudson Mohawke–who you might remember from… Continue reading »

Sep
23

Disco Vietnam: The Correct Chords of Sondre Lerche

Disco Vietnam is a Twitter wunderkind. Writing from his New Yorker blog, Sasha Frere Jones recently offered his praise to Norwegian wunderkind Sondre Lerche’s latest album Heartbeat Radio, citing the songwriter’s use of “fancy chords” as what most readily distinguishes him musically from his peers. Forgive me if I find this a bit reductive. While… Continue reading »

Sep
22

Even on a Gallon of Cisco, I Could Never Go Disco, Dude I Ain’t From Frisco

Due to a combination of serendipitous circumstance and a Snake Plisskin need to escape from LA, I have decamped to San Francisco for the next six weeks. My mission is to prowl the Fillmore for the ghost of Andre Nickatina, uncover the secret location of Rappin’ 4-Tay’s Playaz Club across the water in the “Biggiddy… Continue reading »

Sep
21

Tinariwen-”Lulla”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcqlOq1cjjc Off their new album, Imidiwan, another classic aptly described by guitarist and vocalist Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni as “a faithful record…a good rendition of our sound at its most natural and most ‘easy’…but a difficult album to make. We wanted to record in the desert because that’s where we feel most relaxed and happy. “But… Continue reading »

Sep
21

The Next Spot: Killer Mike–”I Pledge Allegiance to the Grind II”

The Next Spot is a recurring series dedicated to the albums that could’ve, would’ve, should’ve made the Decade Top 50. Michael Render first attracted attention with his guest appearances on Outkast’s “Snappin’ And Trappin’” and “The Whole World”, but he never sounded completely at ease over Dungeon Family space-funk. I Pledge Allegiance II is backed… Continue reading »

Sep
20

Madlib-Blunted in the Bomb Shelter

The story goes: “in 2002 some good folks who have the Trojan & Greensleeves catalog asked Madlib to make a mixtape of these classic reggae records. They sent him a huge box with every record they had. For about two months Madlib played these records, smoked trees, made hip-hop beats, and recorded with YNQ in… Continue reading »

Sep
19

Trevor Ariza, We Hardly Knew Ye

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao18DpJZjbQ Words cannot describe how happy I am that this man is on the Lakers. There is so much here that there is nothing to say.