All posts by Kevin

hip-hop, vinyl

UTFO: Hanging Out

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While I’m on the subject of RJD2, I forgot to mention his appearance in the “getting to know” section of the latest issue of Filter magazine (Winter ’07).

This section typically includes a neat feature: “3 albums that inspired (artist) to make music.” Well, RJ’s selections stood out: Pharcyde’s Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde; D’Angelo’s Voodoo and UTFO’s self-titled debut. Pharcyde seems like maybe a no-brainer – that album is unreal. His choice of UTFO made me perk up, especially because I found that album on vinyl for $2 at Bookmans, a local used book/record store; definitely one of my better finds.

That said, I had to go dust it off and give it a whirl. It was released in 1985 on Select Records. That debut is best known now for the single Roxanne, Roxanne, a dis track about a (presumably) fictional girl who tells them, basically, to talk to the hand. That one song spawned answer records, including Roxanne Shante’s Roxanne’s Revenge.

That whole phenomenon deserves a week’s worth of posts. In listening to the record, though, the track I love is Hanging Out, a song about, yep, hanging out. And that simplicity – in the lyrics, the beats, in the cheesy synth lines – sums up what’s so great about rap of that era. What else would you expect from guys named the Kangol Kid, Doctor Ice, the Educated Rapper and Mix Master Ice?

As for RJD2, he tells Filter that album “started my fascination with rap.”

Ripped from vinyl, a great track to start your weekend.

    UTFO | Hanging Out
general, hip-hop

New tunes at Gray Kid’s MySpace

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The prolific Gray Kid has posted a couple new jams on his MySpace page (streams). I’m already particularly fond of Soothsayer — check the funky, 80s-esque synth line. Oooooh!

The man who signs his checks as Steve Cooper also is playing a slew of dates at SxSW, which I will not be attending. Boo.

Onward to Gray Kid’s MySpace. Be on the lookout next week for possibly a new mp3 from Coop. I’d call it “exclusive,” but some people get a little uptight about that.

general

Upcoming Phoenix shows

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The concert calendar is starting to pick up in a major way around here. Just thought I’d run down some of the more appealing options coming up in the Valley:

Feb. 15: The Autumn Defense (w/John Stirratt and Pat Sansone of Wilco) with the Broken West, Modified.
Feb. 20: Pete Yorn with Aqualung, Marquee Theatre.
Feb. 20: Oh No! Oh My!, Modified.
Feb. 28: Midlake with Tacks, the Boy Disaster, Rhythm Room.
March 4: Deerhoof (if you’re into that sorta thing), Macromantics, Rhythm Room.
March 6: Aqueduct with Annuals, Rhythm Room.
March 8: Birdmonster, Modified.
March 9: Saturday Looks Good to Me with Ladyhawk, Modified.
March 12: Viva Voce with the Cassettes and Village Green, Modified.
March 12: Panther, the Paper Heart.
March 15: Sebadoh, Clubhouse.
March 18: Jonah Matranga with Joshua English and Frank Turner, Modified.
March 19: Page France with Headlights, Modified.
April 3: Richard Buckner with Six Parts Seven, Rhythm Room.
April 9: Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Clubhouse.
April 18: Lymbyc Systym with Back Ted N-Ted, Modified.
April 25: Sunset Rubdown, Modified.
May 8: John Vanderslice with St. Vincent, Modified (and/or Stinkweeds).

Venues:
Marquee Theatre.
Modified.
Rhythm Room.
Clubhouse.
The Paper Heart.

Also see Stateside Presents.

general, vinyl

Panther 7-inch and tour dates

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Panther

Like RJD2’s The Third Hand, another album to look out for on March 6 is Panther’s Secret Lawns (Fryk Beat). I haven’t heard the album in its entirety, but the single How Well Can You Swim, with its danceable beat and trippy falsetto vocals, is getting major airtime around here.

A 7-inch of the single is available for pre-order on Gold Robot Records. It contains the single, an alternate take on it and two unreleased tracks, including Tennis Lesson (seriously, he’s really into these recreational activities). Gold Robot says the release date is Feb. 30, though I’m guessing that’s supposed to be Feb. 28. It’s only $5. Get it.

Meanwhile, Panther is hitting the road in March and will be stopping at the Paper Heart in Phoenix on March 12. Check out more dates here.

  • Panther | How Well Can You Swim
general, hip-hop

RJD2: Get It

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A year after laying the groundwork as DJ/producer for albums by Aceyalone (Magnificent City) and Soul Position (Things Go Better with RJ and Al), RJD2 gets a little me-time in on his upcoming solo LP The Third Hand, his first release for XL Recordings (due out March 6March 5).

I’ve yet to hear the record in full (it’s illegal and stuff to download albums prior to their release dates, you know), but it’s been told through this here series of tubes that RJ sings on this album. It’s a fact I approach with trepidation and curiosity. Marathonpacks already waxed elegantly on the subject, cringing a bit at RJ’s “sometimes elitist suburban soul lyrics.”

In a way, I feel the same dread as I did with DJ Shadow’s lastest, The Outsider, which took a sharp turn from his Endtroducing soundscapes. Bravo for open-minded experimentation? Or please stick with what has worked best? My guess is, creative types deal with this struggle constantly. No doubt, RJ will gain some detractors, but it’s also likely he’ll earn new followers who appreciate this whole singing thing.

I’m not writing anything off yet. But it’s probably no surprise that of the available tracks, I was drawn to Get It, an instrumental track with a wicked ride cymbal rhythm and some well-played organ work.

RJ will be at the Clubhouse in Tempe on May 12 with Pigeon John (all dates).

Related:
Soul Position pics.
10 questions (via e-mail) with RJD2.
Soul Position on KEXP.

hip-hop, i used to love h.e.r.

I Used to Love H.E.R.: Tim Fite

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The 10th installment of I Used to Love H.E.R., a series in which artists/bloggers/writers discuss their most essential or favorite hip-hop albums (read intro), is unlike any contribution I’ve received so far; frankly, I was blown away by the idea. It comes from Tim Fite, a folk-rock eccentric whose new album Over the Counter Culture (Epitaph), a sharp-witted hip-hop satire, will be available as a free download on his Web site on Feb. 20. (See previous post.)

    Tim Fite | I’ve Been Shot (From Over the Counter Culture)

(Click for full size.)

Tim Fite's favorite rappers

general, radio rips

Josh Ritter on NPR’s Talk of the Nation

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Josh Ritter appeared on NPR’s Talk of the Nation on Jan. 29 with author/Washington Post reporter Thomas Ricks, who wrote the book Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq.

It was a fascinating discussion of that point where war and music cross, political protest through song. Ritter spoke of being wary of writing anything that sounded like a traditional anti-war anthem. Instead, he said, “most of the things I write are about confusion.” It’s an interesting view, a less obvious and more thoughtful approach: “All of Animal Years is about America. … I love this place, but I do belive it’s important to question it. … How do you respect those sacrifices while at the same time questioning the necessity of them?”

Ricks apparently is a huge fan of Ritter and listened to the Animal Years while writing the final two chapters of his book. He also outed Ritter by saying that Ritter listens to Shakespeare while he runs.

Anyway, Ritter performed Girl in the War and Thin Blue Flame. I captured Girl in the War via streaming audio. But I’d recommend listening to the whole interview.

    Josh Ritter | Girl in the War (on Talk of the Nation)

By the way, I have Bows + Arrows to thank for introducing me to the greatness of Josh Ritter.

general, TV

Richard Buckner on Friday Night Lights

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I’m not at all ashamed to admit that I’m a big fan of NBC’s Friday Night Lights (we Tivo it, in fact). Of course, I spent two years in Lubbock, Texas, as a sportswriter after college, covering high school football, among other things. It was a culture shock, to be sure. But it was an eye-opening experience to see how these one-stoplight towns bow down to the altar of football.

I became pretty engulfed in it, which meant reading H.G. Bissinger’s Friday Night Lights was practically mandatory. For the sake of space, I won’t rattle on about the book, a compelling look at the 1988 season of the Odessa Permian Panthers (a powerhouse in those days) and how a high school sport, trivial as it seems, carries a sometimes unhealthy influence on racial, economic and social ties in a small town. With a movie and now the TV show, it’s pretty much become a franchise.

It’s probably fair to say the movie and TV show (and people in Odessa will say the book) take creative license with some story lines. But the TV show represents pretty fairly, in my opinion, the prevailing attitude in some of those towns; that is, high school football is it. It’s what you do on Friday nights.

West Texas is a large, expansive region, all flat and dusty. Worse, it can be lonely and isolating, emotions the TV show mines nicely. (Will Johnny Footballplayer ever escape this crappy town or will he become another in a line of never has-beens who live in the past?)

That’s why when I lived there I clung to the music of Richard Buckner, who I always felt grasped those feelings of loneliness so precisely. (His amazing album Bloomed was produced in Lubbock.) So I was pleasantly surprised to hear his familiar husky voice during a particularly emotional moment in last week’s episode (No. 13: “Little Girl I Want to Marry You”).

The song Figure (from Devotion + Doubt) played as the starting quarterback, a shy, hesitant fella (who is the caretaker for his ill grandmother and also happens to have the hots for the head coach’s daughter … baaaad idea, dude), is seeing off his soldier father, who is returning to Iraq. The relationship between the father and son is strained – the grandmother, his absence at war – but Matt (the son) starts coming around, wanting badly to impress his father (at home and on the field) until he has to say goodbye all over again.

Surely, the song was written in the context of a boyfriend-girlfriend sort of relationship, but it’s placement in this scene made it no less powerful:

“When it’s down to the this /
overturned and at the roof /
and the words are done /
and the silence just smokes on through”

OK, I didn’t cry or anything (no, seriously, I didn’t), but it was cool for such a great artist to get that spot, though you could argue Buckner had bigger play with the song Ariel Ramirez on a Volkswagen commercial a little ways back.

  • Richard Buckner | Figure

Watch the full episode here (the particular scene is in “part five”).

general, hip-hop

Thom Yorke’s iTunes celebrity playlist

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Did you see this? It made my day. Not only does Radiohead’s frontman have Madvillain and Quasimoto on there, he calls Spank Rock’s YoYoYoYoYo one of his favorite records from last year (along with Liars’ Drum’s Not Dead).

Here’s what he had to say about the Spank Rock track What it Look Like:

“when this record came out last year, it cut through all the sh*t for me. it was like a slap ’round the face. the computers speaking over their reference points and pointing to something brand new. turn it up. night night.”

But don’t take his word for it. Give it a listen. I’m sure you’ll agree. Night night.

  • Spank Rock | What it Look Like
general

Earlimart’s new album

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Photobucket - Video and Image HostingBecause I’m not a devoted reader of Pitchfork (sorry, I while away my time at other, more sophisticated sites), I sometimes miss cool stuff, like Earlimart releasing three new MP3s through Pitchfork … LAST FALL. Yeah, so I’m really behind. (Go here, here and then here.)

Nevertheless, I’m caught up enough to know Earlimart has named its new record Mentor Tormentor, a title frontman Aaron Espinoza says on the group’s Web site, “holds plenty of meaning and mystery.”

Of the three new tracks, Everybody Knows Everybody strikes me most, though that’s not to say the others aren’t good (they are). But Everybody is a distinct departure from Earlimart’s usually sullen temperament. It feels angry and full of purpose, and its title seems to resentfully suggest an inner circle that’s become increasingly suffocating and too close for its own good. “Revenge” comes up often here.

“Choose an alternate end /
without involving my friends /
I always thought that you’d keep it to yourself /
But can you keep it from everybody?”

It reminds me of the similarly titled Everyone Knows Everyone by the Helio Sequence. People change, friends betray, feelings are hurt, people talk, nothing’s the same again, and it’s too much to take when everybody knows everybody (or everyone knows everyone).

    Earlimart | Everybody Knows Everybody

Visit Earlimart’s blog.

Related:
New Earlimart: “Answers and Questions”