Monthly Archives: August 2007

general, remix

Hang Me Up To Dry (Ingo Star Cruiser Remix)

2 Comments

OK, so maybe everyone really is a DJ. I stumbled across this remix of Cold War Kids’ Hang Me Up to Dry while just trolling around the Internet for nothing in particular. Ingo Star Cruiser? Never heard of him … her … them?

Well, his name is Pete Ingo. He’s from London. He has a MySpace page. And I assume he’s a legitimate musician/DJ/whatever. He looks just like that guy in the photo, too.

I’m guessing this isn’t an officially sanctioned remix. Nevertheless, Ingo drops the Cold War Kids smack dab in the middle of a sweaty club dance floor on this one. As with many remixes, the tempo is jacked up considerably, though the tone of the bass line – the foundation on the original – still anchors the proceedings here.

In case you were curious, the BPM is 125. Ooooh, the strobe lights are making me dizzy!

  • Cold War Kids | Hang Me Up To Dry (Ingo Star Cruiser Remix)
general

The Cave Singers: Seeds of Night

2 Comments

cave.jpg

I’ve been pretty smitten with this single from the Cave Singers’ forthcoming album Invitation Songs (out Sept. 25 on Matador).

In fact, I sent the link for the mp3 to a co-worker, who, much to my dismay, was not into it. She said she “didn’t get it.” I’m not sure what there is to get, really, other than it being a pretty gorgeous piece of indie folk – and not in that sad/sappy sucker kind of way. Something compels me to invoke a Jayhawks comparison, though I’m not confident that’s entirely accurate.

Anyway, I also got my hands on the 7-inch that contains the unreleased B-side After the First Baptism. You can buy it here for $3.

The Cave Singers are opening for Black Mountain on Oct. 21 at Modified in Phoenix.

  • The Cave Singers | Seeds of Night
hip-hop, vinyl

Meanest Man Contest 7-inch

6 Comments

goldrobot.jpgIt’s time for a little honesty: I’m on the take. Yes, my man Hunter at Macktronic just hooked me up with a T-shirt from his 7-inch label, Gold Robot Records. And now I’m going to post on the label’s latest release with Meanest Man Contest, due out Sept. 1. It’s shameful, but I’ll do anything for a free T-shirt (a pretty cool one at that).

But seriously, I’d already done posts on Gold Robot’s previous two releases – Panther, Roman Ruins – and I have a little fetish for 7-inch/45 records anyway.

To be honest, I’d never heard of Meanest Man Contest before Hunter tipped me off. The duo consists of Noah Blumberg (aka Quarterbar and formerly of Jim Yoshii Pile-Up) and Eric Steuer (aka Ericsolo). Maybe you’ve run across Quarterbar’s stash of remixes.

Anyway, this 7-inch’s focal point is Throwing Away Broken Electronics (love the title) with a B-side remix by COPY, which can be heard at Gold Robot’s MySpace page.

Broken Electronics balances a dusty, old-school beat with the fractured edge of experimental sampling, a contrast that seems to fit the theme of the chorus: “I’m throwing away broken electronics.” Basically, it’s a jam.

Pre-order the 7-inch here, which has two cover options and includes a code for digital downloads of all four tracks.

Read Hunter’s contribution to Circa 45.

  • Meanest Man Contest | Throwing Away Broken Electronics
general, hip-hop

Galactic with Z-Trip: Bounce Baby

1 Comment

galactic.jpg

On Wednesday, I went with a couple friends to see DJ Z-Trip with Aceyalone and Gift of Gab at the Brickhouse in Phoenix for the final stop on the tour to promote Z-Trip’s All-Pro Soundtrack (previous post No. 1, previous post No. 2).

What do I even say about this guy that I haven’t already? This tour was a spectacle: visual elements, a live drummer (Pete McNeal, who has worked with Mike Doughty and the Breakestra), MCs … there was even a temporary sound outage, which isn’t really surprising seeing as how the bass was making the hairs on my arms shake.

We even went to an after party at a small art gallery where Z-Trip and DJ Tricky T, a Phoenix boy Z took on tour, spun even more – a great time that upstaged the real show.

Z-Trip’s feel for an audience always has been his greatest strength. He’s a guy that can make hip-hop fans like rock and rock fans like hip-hop without them even thinking about it. He got the crowd jumping to Rage Against the Machine’s Killing in the Name just as easily as he did laying down a hip-hop track.

And, oh, he played the drums just for good measure. As Tricky T said: “How many DJs do you see doing this shit?”

That’s why it’s not a surprise to see him working with New Orleans funk band Galactic on the group’s newest CD From the Corner to the Block (Anti), an album that features crazy guest spots: Mr. Lif, Gift of Gab, Lyrics Born, Chali 2na, Boots Riley, Juvenile, etc.

I haven’t absorbed the album in full yet save for a couple tracks – Bounce Baby with Z-Trip and Think Back with Chali 2na (mp3 available at Chali’s MySpace).

An instrumental exhibit in funk, Bounce Baby is so tight Z-Trip just seems to effortlessly blend in without disrupting Galactic’s flow.

Here’s a story I just wrote on Z-Trip, previewing his Phoenix stop.

Pick up From the Corner to the Block at eMusic.

  • Galactic with DJ Z-Trip | Bounce Baby
general, video

Travis: My Eyes video

1 Comment

Thanks to Mike, who made me aware of the new video for Travis’ My Eyes, off The Boy With No Name.

Honestly, this song – about the birth of singer Fran Healy’s son – goes against my hating tendencies of all things potentially touching and/or cheesy. Yet, I absolutely can’t get enough of it. In fact, I was just listening to the album yesterday on my way home from work. Pretty sure I was singing in the car. Yeeeah, now that’s cheesy.

In the video, Travis opts for more of a comedy than a drama (what’s with that ‘stache Healy is sporting?). Ahhh, deflecting emotion with humor … my kind of guys. And I don’t even wanna try to start interpreting the metaphor of them going down a water slide.

hip-hop, vinyl

The Pharcyde: Pork

3 Comments

I had quite a day on Sunday stumbling upon old 12-inch hip-hop gems. A DJ must have unloaded his collection at Zia Records (on Indian School and 19th Avenue in Phoenix), and I came in like a vulture to pick it apart.

pork.jpg

Of the seven 12-inches I grabbed (list below), I listened first to the Pharcyde Passin’ Me By single for the B-side I’d never heard: Pork. I already own one Passin’ Me By 12-inch, but it’s an import with three remixes and a Ya Mama remix. So I was more than happy to snag this one for $1.49.

I can’t believe this is from 1993 – 14 years ago. The hip-hop I grew up listening to is feeling very vintage these days. Sigh. Nevermind that I’m turning 30 in less than a month.

Anyway, Pork (it’s what’s for dinner) might not be Pharcyde at its best. For starters, it’s about a six-minute track and the guys seem far less animated than they do on Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde. And instead of the witty interplay on Bizarre Ride, Pork (produced by L.A. Jay) follows more of a verse-verse-chorus-verse-verse pattern.

Still, I can have a collector’s/completist’s mentality, so I’m happy to have it in my library now (though I still haven’t figured out the difference between the OG version and the Cosby edit).

Note: Dusty Groove has the cover image of this Pharcyde single.

  • The Pharcyde | Pork (OG version)
  • The Pharcyde | Pork (Cosby edit)
  • The Pharcyde | Pork (instrumental)

My Sunday haul:

The Pharcyde, Passin’ Me By 12-inch b/w Pork (1993).
Ultramagnetic MC’s, Give the Drummer Some 12-inch b/w Moe Luv’s Theme (1989).
OutKast, Player’s Ball 12-inch b/w remix and instrumental (1994).
Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth, Straighten It Out 12-inch b/w T.R.O.Y. (remix) (1992).
De La Soul, Me Myself and I 12-inch (three sided) with three “but-out bonus cuts” (1989) (I already owned a copy, but for $1.49, I wasn’t about to pass it up).
The Pack, I’m Shinin’ 12-inch b/w Candy (2006, marble vinyl).

And the grand daddy of ’em all …
MC Hammer, Turn This Mutha Out 12-inch (the Mutha Mix) b/w Ring ‘Em (two mixes), (1988).

general, radio rips

Vampire Weekend on KEXP

2 Comments

vampire.jpg

I wrote a little bit at Circa 45 about seeing Vampire Weekend last month.

Pretty sure we’re going to be hearing a lot more from this band, considering the buzz it’s generating is coming from just a three-song EP (available at eMusic).

If you haven’t heard Vampire Weekend yet, think Paul Simon (via Graceland/Rhythm of the Saints) with an indie-rock twist. As a live band, the quartet is tight and polished and craftily pulls off its world sound without any of the instrumentation you might expect to see. (I should note that in the interview on KEXP, the band mentioned Arizona as a tour highlight. Holla!)

The guys stopped at KEXP for an in-studio session and played four songs and even left off what I think is their best: Oxford Comma. Also check KEXP’s blog for an mp3 of Walcott (Insane Mix #2), the first song Vampire Weekend recorded.

You can also read a story I wrote when the band came through Phoenix.

Vampire Weekend, live on KEXP, 7/22/07:

1. Masnard Roof
2. Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa
3. A-Punk
4. The Kids Don’t Stand a Chance

(Note: Original session, including interview, available via KEXP’s great Live Performance Podcast.)

general, radio rips

Travis on KCRW

4 Comments

My brother and I have spent a good number of e-mails recently discussing how much we like the new Travis record, The Boy With No Name.

Mostly we’ve talked about how it feels like a return to the group’s pinnacle of The Man Who. I know what you’re thinking, that UK lineage: Travis begat Coldplay who begat Keane who begat countless other imposters. But I will defend Travis to the death.

Where these others feel contrived and forced in their writing, I get the sense of pure sincerity and emotion from Travis. Normally, my cynicism would not allow me to take Fran Healy’s introduction of My Eyes in this KCRW session without a bit of an eye roll: “I wrote this song the day I found out we were going to have a baby.” Corny but sincere.

If you have the time, listen to the interview. It’s revealing in how Travis functions, not only as a band but as friends. The guys talk about how they took a hiatus – I thought the 2005 compilation of singles was the death knell – because the foundation of the band was what great friends they were. But they had to step back and reassess after starting to think of each member as one-quarter of a business.

Needless to say, Healy says the band “has the hunger back.” They wrote 41 songs during the break, recording 21 for The Boy With No Name; 12 made the cut (two bonus tracks come on iTunes version).

Travis, live on KCRW, 7/24/07:

1. Eyes Wide Open
2. Selfish Jean
3. Up the Junction (Squeeze cover)
4. My Eyes
5. Closer
6. Pipe Dreams
7. Love Will Come Through
8. All I Want to Do Is Rock

Also be sure to check out selfishjean.com, where, according to Healy, you can “report or confess random acts of selfishness through written confession/report, photographs or video, grade how selfish you think your act was and judge other reports.”

general

Jeremy Enigk: The Missing Link

1 Comment

Suddenly, you can’t turn your back on Jeremy Enigk. The guy goes 10 years between solo releases, but here he is ready to release The Missing Link, a collection of new material and acoustic tracks from last year’s World Waits.

Maybe Sunny Day Real Estate really is dead for good.

To be honest, I didn’t like World Waits as much as I wanted to. Maybe my anticipation for it – 10 years since the brilliant Return of the Frog Queen – far outweighed its actual presence in my hands. There are incredible moments on it: Been Here Before, River to Sea, Canons. And there are overdone parts I could live without, specifically City Tonight and it’s cringe-inducing opening line: “Am I late to the kingdom of love?”

Yet Enigk has stored enough credit with me that I’ll pick up anything by him, and that includes The Missing Link, due out Aug. 21 on his Lewis Hollow Recordings. According to the Lewis Hollow site, The Missing Link has four unreleased songs from the World Waits sessions and five live songs recorded with Enigk’s band at Sony Studios in Santa Monica, Calif.

Pre-order at Insound.

Ugo.com has a live acoustic performance on video with Enigk.

  • Jeremy Enigk | Oh John
hip-hop, live

Pictures from Paid Dues Festival

6 Comments

I spent Friday afternoon/night at Mesa Amphitheatre for the Paid Dues Festival, a gathering of some of the finest names in indie/underground hip-hop.

Despite the heat, the show seemed to be a success. More than 1,500 turned out. For a Friday in immense heat, that ain’t too shabby. As promised, I did live blog it for work if you want a more detailed rundown of the day.

Otherwise, I was impressed with the entire show. Specifically, I got to see some acts I hadn’t before: Brother Ali, Sage Francis, Felt (Murs and Slug) and Living Legends.

A few pics after the jump, and you’ll notice no pics after the sun went down because, well, I’m not a professional photographer: Continue reading Pictures from Paid Dues Festival →