Apr
19

Enter the Robin Byrd Era

Robin Byrd is an ex-porn star who has spent the last 30 years interviewing sex industry staples and other bizarre figures on public access in New York City. Blockhead is a producer best known for his collaborations with Aesop Rock and a string of stellar instrumental records on Ninja Tune. DJ Pizzo is the man… Continue reading »

Apr
05

Baller Blockin

Maybe it’s because the latter half of my college years were soundtracked by Labor Days, Float and Music by Cavelight, but I still consider Blockhead better than almost all of the new barrage of instrumental beatmakers who cultivate semi-anonymous public images to mask (presumably) boring personalities. Like, I know people are trying to get me… Continue reading »

Mar
28

Beats and Bats

Part of an ongoing series intended to edify one-time underground darlings about how to age gracefully in rap. Fuck your insincere Lil Bow Wow collaborations or euro-trash Ed Hardy dance-rap (we all see you Kweli), Aesop Rock and Blockhead continue to sustain relevance a decade after Float fractured the minds of a nation of bong-toting… Continue reading »

Oct
08

Ninja Tune Week: Blockhead’s “Music By Cavelight”

Jeff Weiss also enjoys kerosene light, Lightning Bolt, Usain Bolt, and a Lighter Shade of Brown.  You invite false expectations when you call your record Music by Cavelight, more so when you include a song called “Sunday Seance.” Understandably, people expected Blockhead to be a dude who made beats while bathing in the blood of… Continue reading »

Jun
21

Blockhead – The Music Scene

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhheiPTdZCw The first video from last year’s Music Scene gets a pretty awesome treatment that looks like it erupted out of some unearthed Dr. Seuss fantasia.  In reality, it is animated/directed by Anthony F. Schepperd., who describes it as an “animated mind melt into a post human New York where TV and animals rule. All… Continue reading »

Jan
21

Question in the Form of An Answer: Blockhead

Had Blockhead chased trends or devised a corny back-story to match his noirish smoked-out instrumental hip-hop, it’s likely that he would’ve garnered more acclaim and media attention. But that’s not what the New York City producer is about. With a no bullshit approach and a caustic wit, the man born Tony Simon has racked up… Continue reading »