Oct
13

People Under the Stairs-”Trippin’ at the Disco”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2Ct12ZGJL4 In predictable People Under the Stairs fashion, the video for “Trippin’ at the Disco,” the lead single from “Carried Away,” released today on Om Records, remains severely unsung, rivaling Alchemist and Oh No’s “Under Siege” for funniest rap video of the year.   Assuming the premise that “in March of 1980 two young rappers from… Continue reading »

Oct
13

DITDC: A Bluffer’s Guide to Dionne Warwick (Pt. 2)

Sach O never joined the Psychic Friends Network. Paper Mache Dionne Warwick built her career by flipping the conventions of easy listening and infusing them with soul and passion but it’s still shocking to hear her weary, resigned kiss-off to the 60’s consumer culture she was supposed to embody. While the hippies were raging from… Continue reading »

Oct
12

Boosie Believe It

Superbad suffered from the weight of the absurd expectations that Boosie created for himself. Coming off a string of excellent mixtapes, notable for both their ferocity and fearlessness, Torrence Hatch’s sophomore Asylum release seemed formulaic and calculated. With his mixtapes keeping an equilibrium between searing political polemics like “Fuck the Police,” weed anthems like “Loaded,”… Continue reading »

Oct
12

DITDC: A Bluffer’s Guide to Dionne Warwick (Pt. 1)

Sach O would have totally hit that back in the 60’s. When it comes to pop music idolatry and indie cred name-dropping, composer Burt Bacharach, lyricist Hal David and singer Dionne Warwick are simultaneously too conservative and too radical to get theirs. They didn’t rock the pop world like The Beatles, waste-away in an acid… Continue reading »

Oct
09

Memory Tapes-”Seek Magic”

Seek Magic. Really? That sounds like the album title for a group of yoga instructors from Topanga Canyon unveiling their latest opus involving theremin, timpani, and really sweet vibes, bro. But it’s perversely appropriate. Memory Tapes’ implicit intent is to mine magic from the mundane, mixing sounds you faintly remember from faded childhood nostalgia with… Continue reading »

Oct
08

Felabrations: Like Normal Celebrations But With More Weed and Polygamy

Since it is widely accepted logic around these parts that Fela Kuti is the G.O.A.T., I’d be remiss not to mention the Felabrations being held in 15 cities across North America over the next month. According to the flacks, “the original Felabrations date back to the early 1970s when Fela and his band took over… Continue reading »

Oct
08

Mulatu Astatke: He’s So Hot Right Now

Poor “Jacobim” Mulatu Astatke–the man rivals Haile Sellassie for popularity in his native Ethiopia, and domestically, he’s still mistakenly conflated for the designer from Zoolander whose fashion aesthetic resembled a gay Colonel Sanders. I imagine I am the only one who thinks this. Regardless, it’s been a good year for the father of Ethio-Jazz, with… Continue reading »

Oct
07

Royce Da 5’9 ft. Busta Rhymes-”Dinner Time”

The song commences with Busta admonishing Royce for “sharing your food in a recession.” Judging from Bussa Bus’ ever-expanding waistline, he hasn’t been sharing food since his salad days. It doesn’t help when he starts confusing rappers with hamburgers and frankfurters. If you consider “Fried Chicken,” his 2008 collaboration with Nas, it’s clear that Trevor… Continue reading »

Oct
07

Vatican Creates Commission to Investigate Miracle Reports at Thom Yorke Solo Show

Following a spate of reports from several attendees at Thom Yorke’s recent solo set at the Echoplex last week, the Vatican has created a commission to investigate reports of celestial visions and miracles performed, including a Los Angeles native who claimed that Yorke’s celestial wail and boisterous dance moves miraculously cured his gout, rickets, and… Continue reading »

Oct
06

Breakestra’s Break-Beat Funk

Considering that Breakestra’s last album was released in that antediluvian pre-Winehouse era known as 2005, people listening to From Dusk Till Dawn might wrongly peg them as carpet-bagging members of the Mark Ronson fan club (comes with free fedora-shaped Mezuzah and a CD-R mix of Le Tigre’s greatest hits via Samantha).  After all, retro-soul has… Continue reading »

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