June 12th, 2009
Few artists deserve the cover of LA Weekly as much as Busdriver, a Project Blowed vet, Low End Theory staple, and one of the most visionary local artists of the last 10 years. Granted, his music is more fun to debate than to dance to, but despite the obliqueness, he remains one of the most trenchant writers around. Succesfully stuffing 42 words into every bar isn’t as easy as it looks, (no Barman), nor is sustaining innovation in a underground landscape that often champions comfort food over creativity.
There are B-sides that I will hopefully have time to edit and re-arrange this weekend. In the meantime, the article is up online, and available all over the city. Jhelli Beam is in stores now too. It’s not as good as actual jelly beans, but what is?
LA Weekly: Busdriver–Crushed Groove
Download:
MP3: Busdriver ft. Nocando-”Least Favorite Rapper”
MP3: Busdriver-”Sun Shower”
MP3: Busdriver-”Cool Band Buzz”
Posted in LA Weekly | 6 Comments »
June 7th, 2009
I don’t need to explain the Playboy Mansion. You’ve probably seen Girls Next Door, the E! Entertainment show that managed to successfully de-mystify the estate like the channel did Saved by the Bell, Puff Daddy, and Fabio. But despite the camera’s depiction of Heff as goofy and groping grandpa, with three ditzy but well-meaning Barbies, the mansion still retains a certain cache.
When you tell other males that you’re going to a party there, they tend to lapse into Pavlovian response, as though the per capita rate of orgies and salvers of strawberry cocaine hadn’t been on the decline since Dynasty was canceled. At least, that was the reaction when I told people that I was going to attend the Marijuana Policy Project’s fourth annual fundraiser gala at the legendary Gothic-Tudor mansion.
This leads to a state of heightened expectations. You’re not supposed to go to a party at the Playboy Mansion, sample a few rolls from the sushi bar, devour a few vegetarian paninis, and peruse the Spider Monkey cages. No, conventional logic dictates drunken and drugged debauchery like you were a British rock star named Keith, until you wake up in a cut-off New York Jets jersey, beside three girls named Amber, several drained bottles of Dom P., and smothered in viscous solution. The mansion’s steward does his best to preserve the adult Disneyland image, recruiting a corps of models, playmate manques, and random attractive girls ostensibly recruited off the street.
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Posted in LA Weekly, It Got Weird, Didn't It? | 8 Comments »
June 2nd, 2009
Aside from the fact that Jigga now apparently takes fashion cues from Slipknot, I can’t knock his hustle exhibited at the DJ Hero party held last night at the Wiltern. However, my misanthropy game stays tight over at the Weekly, where I ponder the idea of the DJ hero vis a vis DJ AM, the secret to corporate survival in the midst of economic depression, and whether or not Kim Kardashian and Simon Rex will make an impromptu sex tape on the red carpet. All this and more…
I also spent the first half of yesterday on a beach in Malibu with Lil Wayne, Mack 10, Rick Ross, their blunt holders, and 25 video hos. There was jai alai, badminton, and a motorized Good Humor Ice Cream cart. I could not make this up if I tried. We’ll talk more about that tomorrow.
LA Weekly: Jay-Z, Eminem, and the Celebrity Cult of the DJ Hero
Download:
MP3: Da Ranjahz f/Jay-Z-”Event Horizon”
MP3: Jay-Z-”Get My Shit Off”
MP3: Eminem ft. D12-”My Words are Weapons”
Posted in LA Weekly | 3 Comments »
May 29th, 2009
Unfortunately, I can’t embed the video for Black Moth Super Rainbow’s “Dark Bubbles,” a clip that Kanye has declared better than both fishsticks and reading. Like Eating Us, it’s worth checking it out, preferably in an altered state. I wrote a fairly extensive feature on the band for LA Weekly. A full transcription of my conversation with Tobacco will run sometime next week. It involves his love of Biz Markie, Scott Weiland, and why you shouldn’t offer to smoke him out when Black Moth comes to your town. In the meantime: go Lakers.
LA Weekly: Black Moth Super Rainbow’s Kaleidoscopic Surgery
Download:
MP3: Black Moth Super Rainbow-”Born on a Day The Sun Didn’t Rise”
Posted in LA Weekly | 4 Comments »
April 28th, 2009
Would that I had 2,000 words to wax rhapsodic about the extra-terrestrial stage presence and bizarro genius of Crystal Antlers percussionist, Sexual Chocolate.
Sundry facts about Sexual Chocolate that did not make the finished piece:
1. His first band was named Kiddie Porn.
2. His all-time favorite album is Babes in Toyland’s, Fontanelle.
3. His hobby is Karoake, specifically songs by Prince and The Cure. One of his life’s aspirations to form a Cure cover band called, If Robert Smith was a Black Man. They would wear white face and sing The Cure’s greatest hits.
4. His drink is Steel Reserve and anything free.
5. After getting fired from his previous band, Geisha Girl, Chocolate was left bandless. As such, he started a new band called Black Geisha, with Crystal Antlers frontman, Jonny Bell and a few other friends. They played four songs that Chocolate had written for Geisha Girl and two Joy Division covers. All the songs were entitled, “Don’t Fuck With Chocolate.”
6. His three favorite places in the world are Cork, Ireland, Coppenhagen, and Amsterdam–even though he got a a battle wound in the latter city. Said battle wound occurred when he fell on the train tracks and rolled around. Chocolate enjoys hash.
7. Chocolate found the hospitality wonderful in Ireland. Moreover, he was impressed by the fact that “girls in Ireland have really nice butts.” He maintains that “more black folks need to go there. It’s like a Sir Mix-a-Lot video.”
LA Weekly: People 2009: The Re-Percussionist–Sexual Chocolate
Download:
MP3: Crystal Antlers-”Andrew”
MP3: Crystal Antlers-”A Thousand Eyes”
Posted in LA Weekly | No Comments »
February 26th, 2009
Expect a Cypress Hill rarities post sometime soon. In the meantime, the title of this piece says it all. Getting baked with B-Real via a contraption called “The Birthday Cake.” My 14-year old-self was proud. I think the only way I can top this for him is if I record a rap song with Jay-Z. I can’t be that much worse than Amil.
LA Weekly-”B-Real of Cypress Hill: Smoking “The Birthday Cake” With a Master“
Download:
MP3: B-Real ft. Damian Marley-”Fire”
MP3: B-Real ft. Xzibit-”Don’t You Dare Laugh”
Posted in LA Weekly | 2 Comments »
February 13th, 2009
Forgive the saccharine sentimentality and the trite notion that a concert can have capital “M” meaning. But if it couldn’t, these words would be even cheaper. Dilla died three years ago Tuesday and his music meant myriad things to a million people. Brandon’s Dilla/Donuts extravaganza, best explicates what separated James Yancey from your run-of-the-mill crate carrion. If you’re curious to the cult of the cream of Conant, Donuts month comes highly recommended.
This Wednesday, I saw his younger brother, Illa J(ohn) perform at Amoeba Records. The show was fun, but it’s gravity sprang from extracurricular circumstance. LA was/is the Yancey’s adopted hometown, and while this city’s focus is typically more James Franco than James Yancey, it did Jay Dee right. 200 people, Dilla chants, Donuts on the sound system before and after, no hipster archness, just a bunch of people who really loved music and wanted to pay their respects. The write-up and interview with Illa J is at the Weekly. Interview B-sides below the jump. Like Ralph Wiggum , you know the score.
LA Weekly:Live @ Amoeba Records–Illa J and the Timelessness of J Dilla
Download:
MP3: Slum Village, Frank Nitty & Illa J-”Homage”
MP3: Illa J-”Timeless”
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Posted in LA Weekly | 3 Comments »
February 6th, 2009
Have you noticed your blog posts vanishing without any prior warning? Have you wondered about the dubious legality of the MP3’s you dole out for free on your blog? Have eggs been frying on your kitchen counter whilst strange voices roared “Zuul” from the refrigerator? If so, you might want to peruse my piece in LA Weekly. It involves a little investigatory journalism, interviews with Google execs, the RIAA, the Web Sheriff, half the blogosphere, and bad MGMT and Metallica jokes galore.
If you’re still looking for worthy reasons to incinerate time this Friday, might I also recommend Jessica Hopper’s excellent exegesis of The Smell, and its rise from ashy to classy. I like that.
LA Weekly: Google’s New Killer App? Why Are Music Bloggers’ Posts Disappearing, and Who Is Deleting Them?
Download:
MP3: Black Milk-”So Gone”
MP3: Blind Lemon Jefferson-”Gone Dead On You Blues”
Posted in LA Weekly | 4 Comments »
January 23rd, 2009
I won’t pretend that I’m capable of articulating my thoughts on Merriweather Post Pavlion more eloquently than Alfred Soto: “The obscurity of the lyrics doesn’t jive with the moves towards greater openness and focus in the music and singing. Something is being signified, but what? The words half-articulate a joy the band hasn’t deeply considered; marriage is a state, the band argues, that reduces late twentysomethings into apostles blessed with Pentecostal fire, without the attendant clarity of expression. It’s like holy love turned its supplicants into graceless fools. If lyrics like “I’m really lost in your curls” sung by a twentysomething male is your idea of an endearment, have at it. Plenty of eighteen-year-olds are happily married. ”
I’m certainly not immune to the record’s charms. “My Girls” and “Summertime Clothes” are worthy of their advance billing–while “Bluish,” “Brother Sport,” and “In the Flowers” all have their merits. If you enjoyed the record (and you’re reading a blog, so the answer is probably “yes,”) no panegyric came more poignant than Mike Powell’s Village Voice review But even to an ardent 808s & Heartbreak advocate, the lyrics felt particularly lacking–particularly for such such an “Important” band.” My piece for the Weekly attempts to parse the semantic gibberish. It involves Macauley Culkin and Anna Chlumsky’s My Girl, a Ponzi scheme involving Geologist, and Poor Richard’s Almanac. The usual.
LA Weekly: Parsing the Mysterious Lyrical Challenges of The Animal Collective
Download:
MP3: Animal Collective-”Summertime Clothes”
Posted in LA Weekly | 9 Comments »
January 18th, 2009
Trying to relay the phenomenon of meeting Sam Jackson, I fell into the trap of comparing the actor with a role he played 15 years ago. Attribute it to the iconic nature of said performance, with Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction always overshadowing Jackson’s greatness in the Spike Lee joints, Jackie Brown, and Menace II Society. The details are in the Weekly link.
Also, be sure to scoop the songs from Afro Samurai’s Rza-helmed soundtrack. I’m sparing you the tracks with Prodigal Sunn and 60 Second Assassin–though it’s nice to see them gainfully employed during a time of economic distress.
LA Weekly: Samuel L. Jackson Interviewed-Discusses Hip-Hop And Comics for the Premiere of Afro Samurai
Download:
MP3: Kool G. Rap, Ghostface Killah, Tash Mahagony & The Rza-”Whar”
MP3: Kool G. Rap, Inspectah Deck & Suga Bang-”You Already Know”
Posted in LA Weekly | 3 Comments »
