May 9th, 2008
When ex-Just Blaze proteges, Kidz in the Hall released their debut album, School Was My Hustle on the newly revived Rawkus Records, I didn’t listen to it for a variety of reasons. Chief among them was the “Ivy League Rap” label critics ascribed to the duo of Nawledge and Double-O. Still scarred from having heard Brown grad MC Paul Barman, I figured Ivy League Rappers were the last thing the world needed, besides something seemed corny about Kidz in the Hall’s insistence on trumpeting their Penn degrees and posing for their album cover in letterman’s jackets.* And by all accounts, their debut seemed stuck in the “conscious” neo-Native Tongues albatross that has flapped over indie rap since Rawkus’ first-go-around. To say nothing of the fact that one of the Kidz’ had the audacity to bestow himself with a rap name as openly condescending as Nawledge.
But that was two years ago, an eternity in rap time. In the interim, something people persist on calling “hipster rap” has come into vogue, an inane classification that Kidz in the Hall have roundly rejected (like the Supreme Court and prior restraint.) But no matter how vehemently they deny such labels, there’s a bit of truth to them, as the retro-aesthetic dominates the very funny and very good video for “Drivin’ Down the Block,” the jump-off single from The In Crowd, the Kidz’ new record slated to drop next week on Duckdown Records. **
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May 8th, 2008
The other day, I received a phone call from official Passion of the Weiss, Secretary of Shadowboxin’, Barry “Disco Vietnam” Schwartz. In between Barry’s lectures on why the dumb are mostly intrigued by the drum and why I need to stop haranguing U-God, he asked me if I’d heard the new Busta Rhymes song.
I answered no, as other than “Goldmine,” his pretty great 2006 collabo with Raekwon, I haven’t taken Busta seriously since he decided to re-invent himself as a Pablo Escobar-like coke dealer, one who had apparently forgot the fact that he anchored “Scenario.” But when I finally heard, “Don’t Touch Me (Throw Da’ Water on ‘Em),” it was fairly clear that this is the best Busta cut since the days when he used to don dresses and bake brownies with Martha Stewart. To paraphrase Barry, sometimes an artist, even one as presumably washed-up as Busta hears the right beat, gets inspired and the next thing we know, he’s produced something comparable to his past glories.
So as long as Busta doesn’t ultimately reveal that “Don’t Touch Me” is a bizarre, anti-gay manifesto, its got a reasonably good shot at ending up as one of my top singles of the year. MP3’s are below, complete with instrumental, which means that one of the MC’s reading this (I know you’re out there), should hit it with your best shot like Pat Benatar. I promise this will be the first and last Pat Benatar joke I ever make. Good day.
Download:
MP3: Busta Rhymes-”Don’t Touch Me (Throw Da Water On Em)”
MP3: Busta Rhymes-”Don’t Touch Me Instrumental”
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May 7th, 2008
According to Portishead producer Geoff Barrow, the group’s latest jaunt was purely influenced by old hip-hop: “Public Enemy, Marley Marl, EPMD, Flying Lotus and Madlib. So it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that Zilla Rocca decided to go in over III’s lead single, “Machine Gun.” The result is dazzling, a fast and furious stab over the beat’s cold industrial drums and Beth Gibbon’s ethereal banshee wail. Or as Rae so aptly put it on “It’s Yourz: “machine gun raps for all my n—z in the back.” Y’know the kind of stuff to listen to while rocking a fly jersey in the summertime, god.
Download:
MP3: Zilla Rocca-”Machine Gun Remix”
MP3: Portishead-”Machine Gun”
Video: Portishead-”Machine Gun”
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May 7th, 2008
You’ll have to forgive me this one. I know I’m late. Ian Cohen tossed a 7.8 to Crystal Castles’ in his Pitchfork review of their eponymous debut back in March and the blogosphere had been incessantly buzzing about the Toronto duo of Ethan Kath and Alice Glass for well over a year prior. But dance music has never been my forte and besides I’d always suspected there was a hint of hipster hype to Crystal Castles’ sudden rise to fame. I’d articulate concrete reasons for this, but I feel the picture above more than suffices. To say nothing of the unfortunate and hopelessly nebulous “blog-house” appellation that music journos coined to describe Crystal Castles, Justice, Simian Mobile Disco and the rest of the video-game inspired electro acts that have levitated to the top of the hype machine Most Blogged charts.
Granted, a significant portion of Crystal Castles, sounds like the mind of an ADD-addled, Atari-addicted 8-year old circa 1984, in those halcyon (or horrific) days before adderall was prescribed to every pre-teen averse to quiet time. “xxzxcuzx me” is as grating as its name, a two-minute conflagration of keyboard farts and hellish screams striving towards “existential horror” but landing closer to timorous caterwauling. As for “Love and Caring,” let’s just say that in ten years if they ever come out with one of those special edition deluxe re-packages of this record, I sincerely hope it comes with a bottle of Nuprin. (Ah. Nuprin. Little. Yellow. Better.)
But more often than not Crystal Castles succeed, creating something simultaneously dreamy but danceable, ethereal yet visceral, ideal for you and that weird friend of yours with a Jobu-like shrine to DJ Mehdi and Busy P in his room.* The record’s twin highlights “Crimewaves (Crystal Castles VS HEALTH”) and “Vanished” are some of the best songs of the year, not because they strike the main vein of whatever it is that could pass for the sound of our jittery zeitgeist (which they probably do), but because the way in which they sound infinite. They’re the kind of tunes ideal for late night driving, the pitch-black sky, the un-broken asphalt and the empty road, conjoining with the tribal thump of the drums and the anachronistic Atari assault at some vague vanishing point in the distance. Just don’t stop at the blog-house. **
*Is it safe to say at this point, that everyone in Ed Banger save for Justice sucks. And honestly, even Justice aren’t that good.
**Lodging at the Blog House costs $99.99 a night, including a hearty breakfast of Sparks and organic egg whites sprinkled with salt and mustache trimmings.
Download:
MP3: Crystal Castles-”Crimewave (Crystal Castles VS HEALTH)”
MP3: Crystal Castles-”Vanished”
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May 6th, 2008
Inspired by the Straight Bangin’ mixtape that kicks off with unsung gem, “Older Gods,” I’ve been listening to Wu-Tang Forever non-stop today. I feel like I say this every two years or so, but jeebus, this thing is so much better than I remember it being. Maybe it’s because I *get* it now but maybe it’s because the thing’s aged incredibly well. I used to give Life After the Death the nod as the best rap double-album ever, but now I’m not so sure. I suppose it comes down to what you think is worse, “Fuckin’ You Tonight” or “Black Shampoo.”
Download:
MP3: Wu-Tang Clan-”Older Gods”
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May 5th, 2008
It’s reductive to say that if you like Deadringer and Entroducing, you’ll probably like Standing on the Shoulders of Giants. Then again, that’s just the sort of thing you’re going to get when you explicitly invite the comparison in your album title, not to mention referencing Shadow and RJD2 in your bio. I don’t know much about Metaform, other than the cryptic and cloying one-sheet sent to me, where he calls himself, “a multi-instrumentalist, vinyl villain…whose anonymity, coupled with the divine knack for gleening [sic] the essence of countless genres has positioned him as an act to be reckoned with, as well as enhanced the mystery of his identity. ” By my count, there are 17 things wrong with that statement, but I’ll let them slide because the guy’s produced a great record.
The music hews to the template Shadow established over a decade ago. Dusty samples, cinematic dialogue stitched in (”The telephone” mines Weird Science for excellent results), crackling hip-hop drums and that gauzy stoned haze ideal for users of tangerine haze. When They Reminisce Over You called it “the most complete hip-hop instrumental album [he’s] ever heard.” I’m not willing to go that far, but certainly along with Dilla’s Donuts and Blockhead’s Uncle Tony’s Coloring Book, this is one of the best hip-hop instrumental albums in recent memory. Now if only Metaform can get someone to spell-check his bio he’ll be just fine.
Buy Metaform-Standing On the Shoulders of Giants
Download:
MP3: Metaform-”Crush” (especially recommended for fans of Rappin’ 4-Tay’s “Playaz Club”)
MP3: Metaform-”I Feel Good”
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May 3rd, 2008
For Week 2 of Feed the Beast (see week one here) , Nico the Beast has murked the instrumentals for “They Know” and “Paul Revere.” According to Zilla, Nico hated the minimalist 808 claps of “Paul Revere,” but you’d never know from the finished product, and its impressive tongue-twisting lyricism. But the stand-out is “They Know,” particularly the Beast’s side-splitting Lil Wayne impression/diss at the end. Every time someone downloads it, somewhere another blogger dies.
Download:
MP3: Nico the Beast-”Paul Revere Freestyle”
MP3: Nico the Beast-”They Know Freestyle”
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May 2nd, 2008
Lost somewhere in the shuffle of the 43,214 stories on the potential impact of Obama’s ex-pastor’s crack-pot comments*, was the news that Albert Hoffmann, the founder of LSD, died this week at the ripe old age of 102. Along with completely dis-proving everything you ever learned in D.A.R.E class and befriending Aldous Huxley, Allen Ginsberg and Timothy Leary, Hofmann also invented methergine, a drug for postpartum hemorrhaging, the leading cause of death from childbirth. Understandably, he’s more remembered for his other invention, the one that allowed hundreds of thousands of people to expand their minds, and hundreds of thousands more to roll their eyes. The New York Times obit on Hofmann is fascinating and recommended reading. In the meantime, this muxtape goes out to the memory of the father of LSD, with songs selected that wouldn’t have been possible had Hoffman not accidentally ingested some ergot fungus on a fateful day in April 1934. Ergo.
Passion of the Weiss Muxtape #2: A Tribute to Albert Hofmann-”Pour Out A Little Lysergic”
* Question to ponder: Do you think at any point in the past week, Obama turned to Michelle and said, “Damnit, why did Rev. Wright have to become such a little bitch?”
Tracklisting After the Jump
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May 1st, 2008
Not sure whether this is the jump-off for a new album or just a stand-alone single, but either way Pharoahe’s new Mr. Porter-produced joint has been on repeat since it leaked a few hours ago. For my money’s worth, Monchichi does the love-lorn break-up thing as well as anyone in hip-hop, navigating the complex emotions of jealousy, anger and regret in just over three minutes and still finding time to call his ex-girl’s new man a bitch. That said, this is what you get for dating a girl who rocks 2Pac posters on her walls.
Download:
MP3: Pharoahe Monch-”Broken Heart”
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April 30th, 2008
This came on the iPod today. Great song. Among other things it brought up three questions.
1. Was the Rza’s Gravediggaz phase the most unintentionally funny alter ego of the 90s?
2. Shaquille O’ Neal circa ‘94. A better rapper than Young Jeezy?
3. In terms of sheer ability to spit 16 bars, was anyone smoother/better than Method Man 93-94?
Game on.
Download:
MP3: Shaquille O’ Neal ft. Method Man & Rza- “No Hook”
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