Monthly Archives: May 2008

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Rob Dickinson audio ecard

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Being that I’m in New York, thousands of miles away from the comfort of my home (and external hard drive), I’m a little out of sorts this week.

But I do have an audio ecard from Rob Dickinson, former singer of Catherine Wheel who is rereleasing his solo debut Fresh Wine for the Horses. The reissue includes a new track, The End of the World (see below), and a second disc of newly recorded Catherine Wheel tracks done acoustically.

I could go on here and question why this album is being rereleased (we already bought it once, thanks), why Dickinson seems to be holding on a little too hard to the CW salad days (see CW logo plastered on ecard) and why he doesn’t just give us some new material. But I’m really tired. It’s 4 in the morning. I’m not even putting a picture in this post, for crying out loud.

And, besides, Black Metallic is probably my favorite CW song and the ecard includes that audio stream. And you should listen to it.

Click this thingy:

Really, just get Catherine Wheel back together already, mmmmkay?

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Spoon: Don’t Let it Get You Down (demo)

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I’m not sure how long Spoon will keep offering a bonus download every month, but I’ll keep going back until the band stops.

May’s bonus baby is a demo version of Don’t Let it Get You Down, the original of which appears on 2002’s Kill the Moonlight.

Previous bonus downloads included I Turn My Camera On (first version) and Cherry Bomb (demo).

Even better news for Spoon fans: June is just around the corner.

  • Spoon | Don’t Let it Get You Down (demo)
  • Spoon | Don’t Let it Get You Down (album version)
hip-hop, remix

Mama Said Knock You Out (DJ Z-Trip remix)

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A few of you seemed to dislike the last DJ Z-Trip remix I posted, his reworking of Nirvana’s Lounge Act.

Well, I’m here to tell you I won’t quit posting anything he does so long as he’s making them available.

This time, Z-Trip takes on a hip-hop heavyweight – LL Cool J’s Mama Said Knock You Out – and adds a touch (OK, more than a touch) of rock to it.

Check out summer tour dates for Z-Trip.

  • LL Cool J | Mama Said Knock You Out (DJ Z-Trip remix)

NOT REALLY RELATED AT ALL: I’m headed to New York on Monday for a week. For those that don’t know, I’ve worked at The Arizona Republic the past five-plus years (my second time around after working there part time in college). Well, that all ended after I took a job with MLB.com, the Web site (and its team sites) of Major League Baseball. Thus, my trip to New York for training.

I’ve already got some good recommendations for record stores for whatever spare time I’ll have. I’ll take any other suggestions for music, restaurants, shopping, etc. Unfortunately, I’m working nights, so I won’t get to any shows.

Besides feeling blessed for working for the professional league of the sport I’ve loved since I could wear a hat, this also means I’ll be doing some freelancing about town here, including for, yes, The Republic. My first bit of work was a review of the Kills show last Thursday.

hip-hop, video

Slick Rick gets full pardon

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From Yahoo/AP:

ALBANY, N.Y. – New York Gov. David Paterson is granting a full and unconditional pardon to rapper Ricky “Slick Rick” Walters for the attempted murders of two men in 1991.

The pardon is expected to halt efforts to deport Walters to the United Kingdom, the country he left as a child.

The eyepatch-wearing star behind the ’80s rap classic “La-Di-Da-Di” served more than five years in prison after the shooting of his cousin and another man. Both survived.

The governor says Walters is now a rap artist and landlord in the Bronx who hasn’t had any criminal problems since his release from prison in 1997. He also says Walters has volunteered to counsel youths against violence.

Slick Rick: Children’s Story video:

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New Travis!: J. Smith

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It’d been awhile since I hit the Travis Web site, so I was a bit surprised to see the band is putting the wraps on a new album, this after releasing its first album in almost four years in 2007 (The Boy With No Name).

This new track, J. Smith (the album is called Ode to J. Smith), has Travis fans in a tizzy, describing it as everything from “Queen-ish” to “so rockier!”.

Singer Fran Healy and bassist Dougie Payne have been blogging about the recording/mixing. Emery Dobyns (Mobius Band, Battles) is the producer.

Healy requested the song, which debuted on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic on May 1, not be upped to YouTube so as to avoid mass compression. I assume the copy I found from the Travis message boards is a rip from the KCRW broadcast.

  • Travis | J. Smith

Elsewhere in the land of Travis, Healy discusses Sing and Driftwood on the Sky Arts series Songbook.

Lastly, the band is offering on its MySpace a muzak version of Closer, which was featured in the video. “Would make quite a cheesy ringtone.”

RELATED:
Travis: New Amsterdam (video).
Favorite albums of 2007 (The Boy With No Name was No. 10).
Travis, Marquee Theatre, 11/25/07.
Travis: Selfish Jean (video).
Travis: My Eyes (video).
Travis: Closer (video).

(I like Travis; so sue me.)

hip-hop

New Vast Aire: The Crush

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Vast Aire says at the beginning of The Crush, an unreleased track that originally was scheduled to be included on his forthcoming Deuces Wild (June 24), that this “is not a love song … naaah.”

But let’s be honest: That’s just macho posturing. Because seconds later, Vast launches into a love letter of the highest order: “She got the sweet potato, I got the corn on the cob / tuck your shirt in, she don’t date no slob.” OK, so Barry White might have put it in a subtler manner, but you get the idea.

It got me thinking about my favorite hip-hop odes to love. Without a doubt, the Pharcyde’s Passin’ Me By ranks No. 1. As I look at the list, combing for common traits in the songs, I think the best of them are heartfelt without being cheesy, humorous without being juvenile.

LL Cool J’s I Need Love is the closest you’d come to an R&B jam, and, at the time (1987), it had to be a bit of a surprise – this was, after all, the days of the I’m Bad Cool J, before he sexed us up in every song/video he put out. You could argue, though, that LL made it OK to drop a verse or three about love.

Some more of my favorites (in no particular order):

A Tribe Called Quest, Electric Relaxation.
The Pharcyde, Otha Fish.
Aceyalone, Annalillia?.
The Nonce, Bus Stops.
Atban Klann (ex-Black Eyed Peas), Focus On You.
Del the Funky Homosapien, Why You Wanna Get Funky.
J-Live, Like This Anna.
Mos Def, Ms. Fat Booty.
Murs, Silly Girl.
LL Cool J, I Need Love.
The Roots, You Got Me.

I made a Muxtape out of these. Check it out. What hip-hop love songs did I miss?

  • Vast Aire | The Crush
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The Hold Steady: Sequestered in Memphis (stream)

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The Hold Steady is streaming Sequestered in Memphis, the first single from the forthcoming LP Stay Positive, on its MySpace page.

The track, available at iTunes, features Ben Nichols of Lucero on backup vocals.

Pretty classic Craig Finn here, with bright horns and prominent piano: “She said I know I look tired but everything is fried here in Memphis.”

[STREAM]: The Hold Steady | Sequestered in Memphis

hip-hop, remix, video

Young MC: Bust a Move (Diplo remix)

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If you grew up in the late ’80s/early ’90s, there was no avoiding Young MC’s Bust a Move. It was a hip-hop hit that crossed over to the highest degree – it might blow up and it did go pop. (Personally, I preferred Principal’s Office, but that’s neither here nor there.)

So it only seemed like a matter of time before Delicious Vinyl commissioned a little remix action on one of the biggest hits of its catalog. The label has digitally released Bust a Move RMXXS – no vowels is so cool – followed by a release on 12-inch vinyl. (Get the digitals at eMusic.)

Frenchman Don Rimini and Mad Decent’s Diplo update Bust a Move for the 21st century.

This is one of those cases where a remix isn’t really necessary, but if it draws a new generation of kids to the original, well, then I’m all for it. (Grab Marvin Young’s classic Stone Cold Rhymin’ at eMusic.)

  • Young MC | Bust a Move (Diplo remix)
  • Young MC | Bust a Move (Diplo remix instrumental)

What the hell: