Ode to Chicago

So my wife and I are headed to Chicago on Thursday with the entire family to celebrate my dad’s 60th birthday. My brother and his wife ingeniously planned this suprise trip to my dad’s stomping grounds, planned a party and nobody in the extended family let the cat out of the bag. Beautiful.I’m pumped to see family I haven’t seen in awhile, a good friend from high school we’re staying with and to perhaps see Digable Planets on Friday at the Metro.

Throughout the week, I’ll be giving my hometown (OK, so it was the ‘burbs … Palatine, y’all! Here’s the old house!) some props with Chicago-related tunes.

In related Chicago news — and much to the dismay of Chris and his beloved Lions — the Bears are in first place. So what if they’re 4-3 and play in perhaps the weakest division this side of the Canadian Football League. It’s all about defense, baby. If the Ravens won the Super Bowl with Trent Dilfer as quarterback, surely Kyle Orton is sufficient.

On that note …

Chicago Bears Shufflin’ Crew | The Super Bowl Shuffle (vocal mix)
Chicago Bears Shufflin’ Crew | The Super Bowl Shuffle (instrumental)

Also …
Sufjan Stevens | Chicago (on KCRW)

A Friday for The Pharcyde

I’ve been reminicising about The Pharcyde of late now that ex-member Fatlip is releasing his very long-awaited solo LP.

I hate to sound bitter or resistant to change, but I haven’t been excited about The Pharcyde since the group dwindled to two members. And Fatlip’s disc doesn’t rank high on my to-buy list. I’m just not sure if I can take a whole album of Fatlip solo; kinda like when Phife did his own thing after A Tribe Called Quest broke up.

Anyway, it got me digging into the vinyl stacks. So I pulled out some special B-side goodies for ya. (And the new XP-202 arrived in the mail Thursday, which should improve my vinyl conversions.)

The Pharcyde | Passin’ Me By (Fly as Pie remix)
The Pharcyde | Ya Mama (remix)
The Pharcyde | Otha Fish (L.A. Jay Remix )

Samples: Organized Konfusion/Charles Mingus

My last post on sample usage seemed to create some buzz, and my web stats tell me that people were searching for the original track used in Kanye’s Gold Digger. Today’s before and after sample usage comes courtesy of Organized Konfusion’s massively underrated album, Stress: The Extinction Agenda.

The title track Stress takes a fairly high-pitched horn loop from Charles Mingus’ Mingus Fingus No. 2. The loop is the centerpiece of the chorus: “Crush, kill, destroy stress.” Man, this album HAS to be one of the best of the ’90s. If you slept, you need to rewind and pick this up.

My knowledge of Mingus, a bassist, is limited, although I own two CDs, including Mingus Ah Um, which is name-dropped in the Digable Planets song Pacifics: “Checkin’ out some Fromme, some Sartre, Camus/ Mingus’ Ah Um / damn Roach can drum.” Read up on Mingus here.


I think one of the best things about the ’90s era of hip-hop was the sampling of jazz greats. I religiously read liner notes, and it always piqued my curiosity to see who some of my favorite artists were sampling. It inspired me to dig into the music that was inspiring them.

Organized Konfusion | Stress
Charles Mingus | Mingus Fingus No. 2

Nada Surf on KCRW, Pt. II

Here are the rest of the tracks from Nada Surf’s performance Monday on Morning Becomes Eclectic. If you missed Part I, scroll down. Or go here.

While I’m at it, I’ll say that The Weight is a Gift is nudging its way into my top 5 for the year. I dig Matthew Caws’ songwriting and the relative simplicity of the music. Good, clean pop/rock.

Nada Surf | Your Legs Grow (on KCRW)
Nada Surf | Blonde on Blonde (on KCRW)
Nada Surf | Inside of Love (on KCRW)


Meanwhile, I read this story at ESPN.com about Paul Wall’s hometown Houston allegiance. I’m not a big Paul Wall fan, but he remixed They Don’t Know to give some props to his Astros, who can use all the mojo they can get right now. Thought it was pretty cool. He name-drops every player and coach: “Whatchoo know about Jason Lane?” Um, actually, nothing. Who’s Jason Lane?Via The Fader magazine.

Paul Wall | They Don’t Know (remix)

Nada Surf on KCRW


Nada Surf made its KCRW Morning Becomes Eclectic debut Monday morning. I was looking forward to this set, especially because the band skipped Arizona on its current tour. I’ll forgive them this one time.

Anyway, they played eight songs, pretty much equally split between The Weight is a Gift and Let Go (and, surprisingly, they did NOT play the single Do It Again). They did play Stalemate from High/Low, which I won’t include because Nic Harcourt starts talking over it near the end in a frantic attempt to wrap up the show.

I didn’t think the interview was very probing, although the band did touch on the whole aspect of being judged based on the song Popular.

In a cheap attempt to lure return visitors, I’m splitting the seven tracks into two posts. Enjoy.

Nada Surf | Blizzard of ’77 (on KCRW)
Nada Surf | What is Your Secret (on KCRW)
Nada Surf | Always Love (on KCRW)
Nada Surf | Hi-Speed Soul (on KCRW)

Sean Szafran


It’s about time I propped up another Phoenix artist, and he’s a great one at that (come on, did you expect anything less?).

Sean Szafran is a longtime — not to mention versatile — player in the Valley’s music scene. His 10-track long player, Stumblefoot of the Century, is Szafran’s debut as a solo act, with the emphasis on solo. He tracked every sound and every instrument you hear throughout the CD.

The results are excellent, specifically the sturdy and rhythmic piano bars (see also, Crimson Hair, Hazel Eyes). Bright melodies are underpinned by lyrics of love and longing. Heartache always feels so much better when it’s enveloped by inspired instrumentation.

Visit Sean at his Web site or at on his My Space page. Buy Stumblefoot here.

Sean Szafran | Jennifer
Sean Szafran | Crimson Hair, Hazel Eyes
Sean Szafran | I Wonder Why

capitalSTEPS


It’s rare you’ll find me listening to/posting about electronic music. Typically, it just ain’t my thing. That is, unless a Nintendo GameBoy is being used to create the sounds. Which brings me to Seattle’s capitalSTEPS (born Matthew Kenall).

In a stroke of MacGyver-like wit, Kenall composes, manipulates and squeezes sounds out of a GameBoy and Nanoloop, a sound editor for GameBoy. Kenall calls it “gritty, 8-bit techno.” I love it because it appeals immediately to my jones for video games and rhythmic drum beats. And it’s just unique, a totally refreshing change of pace.

Matthew was cool enough to hook us up with two mp3s he didn’t post on his MySpace page, where you can stream four more tracks. While there, you can also purchase his July release, Stacy, a 10-track LP for only $10. Dig it.

capitalSTEPS | Evelyn’s Ride
capitalSTEPS | Stinky

The Jade Shader

Hailing from Encintas, Calif., the Jade Shader brings together parts of popular San Diego bands, Boilermaker, No Knife and Tanner.
Chris Prescott (of No Knife) and Terrin Durfey (Boilermaker) got together in 2003 while on hiatus from their respective bands. That was the genesis of what would be become a seven-song EP released this month: Curse of the Tuatara (out now on Seattle’s Sonic Boom Recordings).

There are traces of the members’ roots in previous bands. But — and I can only compare to my fondness of No Knife — the Jade Shader has a more open-ended feel to it: great tempo shifts, stops and starts and layered guitars. “Dissonant while tuneful,” is how the band’s bio puts it.

Visit the Jade Shader My Space page here to stream two songs. Buy Curse of the Tuatara here for $8 (that’s only 800 pennies, people).

The Jade Shader | Eraser


By the way, thank you to all who took part in the sound test for me. You all were correct: The No. 1 tracks were recorded using the M-Audio device. In other words, Griffin’s iMic is shoddy at best, although I see now it has been updated.Whatever, I did some more digging and bought this precious piece of machinery from XPSound through Blaze Audio. RIAA-calibrated preamp? USB? With Bias SoundSoap software? Sold. I’m eagerly awaiting shipment, and I’m predicting much better sound quality on the vinyl-to-digital conversions.

Halloween, Alaska


On Tuesday I stumbled across Halloween, Alaska, thanks to an NPR interview at its Web site. The four-piece from Minneapolis formed in 2002, and recently released the full-length Too Tall to Hide.

The music is a compelling marriage of acoustic instrumentation and electronic technology; a Powerbook is listed as an instrument on the bio. What sold me was a low-key — albeit truncated — cover of LL Cool J’s classic I Can’t Live Without My Radio. Granted, an indie act covering a hip-hop song isn’t all that novel these days, but I find this version absurdly endearing. That could be because I love Cool J’s album Radio or, more likely, it’s because singer James Diers somehow pulls off some of the lines with total sincerity: “Don’t mean to offend other citizens, but I kick my volume way past 10.” Great stuff. Even if you don’t like it, they get points for having the cajones to tackle it.

Buy the CD here, which includes enhanced content and instrumental mp3s.

Halloween, Alaska | Drowned
Halloween, Alaska | I Can’t Live Without My Radio
Halloween, Alaska | Call it Clear (from self-titled debut LP)

For comparison’s sake …
LL Cool J | I Can’t Live Without My Radio

El-P and Bomb the System soundtrack

So I made my weekly visit to the Definitive Jux Web site on Monday and came across some intriguing news. The ubiquitous El-P has posted a new song for the Bomb the System soundtrack on his My Space page. (Relax, mp3 is below.)

From what I can tell, Bomb the System — an indie flick centering on a group of NYC graffitti artists — came out in 2003 but only recently was released on DVD, on Oct. 11. El-P wrote the score for the movie.

I don’t know if there will be a soundtrack to buy or what. I hope there will be because this track, Krazy Kings 3, is some insane shite. The thing I love about El-P is you always know what to expect and yet his style and production never get old or stale. Krazy Kings 3 has some bombin’ drums and that grimy, street styling that El-P has perfected.

El-P | Krazy Kings 3

BONUS BEATS
Murs (feat. El-P) | The Dance