All posts by Kevin

general

Help J. Robbins, Janet Morgan and their child

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Idolator posted about this yesterday and it’s worth repeating anywhere someone may read it: The 2-year-old son of J. Robbins (Channels and ex-Jawbox and ex-Burning Airlines) and Janet Morgan (also in Channels) was born with a genetic motor neuron disease called Type 1 SMA, or Spinal Muscular Atrophy. According to the SMA Foundation Web site, SMA is the leading genetic killer of babies and toddlers. Their son, Callum, will never walk and will be bound to a wheelchair for life.

DeSoto Records details the disease and the uphill battle Robbins and Morgan face, especially in a family in which the sole income comes from Robbins’ job as a producer/engineer for indie bands.

DeSoto has set up a PayPal account to which you can donate at the same page detailing this ordeal.

I went on a bit about J. Robbins and Channels here and have been a fan his various projects (especially Burning Airlines) and always admired his production work on other bands, including DeSoto’s The Life and Times and Maritime.

I hope you’ll think about donating. The only J. Robbins-related material I have (other than CDs) worth auctioning off is a Jawbox 7″ with Jackpot Plus! and Motorist. If anyone has any other ideas, I’m all ears. I’d love to make a sizable donation on behalf of this blog and music fans.

Here’s a few mp3s to inspire some generosity.

Jawbox | Cooling Card
(From For Your Own Special Sweetheart.)

Burning Airlines | The Escape Engine
(From the freaking great Mission: Control!)

Channels | Chivaree
(From Open.)

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Trunk Federation: Recipe for Mud

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Sometimes I don’t catch reader comments until they’ve long left the main page. That’s the case here, when a reader named Clodbuster was jonesing for a B-side of a Trunk Federation 7″ I posted about in September.

Quick recap: Trunk Federation from Tempe. Should have been big. Weren’t. Sad. 7″ in dollar bin at Amoeba. Read more here.

Recipe for Mud is the B-side to the Hi-Fi for Small Fry 7″, which includes History of Dead Ends on the A-side. Why these guys weren’t popular when Gin Blossoms were is a question that never can be answered.

Here’s both tracks. Enjoy, especially you, Clodbuster.

Trunk Federation | History of Dead Ends
Trunk Federation | Recipe for Mud

Related:
Tim Fite resuscitates Trunk Federation.

hip-hop, vinyl

De La Soul: Sh.Fe.MC’s

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The Q-Tip Mix (Side A and Side B) brought an e-mail request (thanks, Matt) for a song called Sh.Fe.MC’s, a collaboration between De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest. It just so happens I have that puppy on vinyl on a De La EP called Clear Lake Audiotorium, which, in its original form (clear vinyl), was limited to 500 pressings. If Wikipedia is to believed (and, come one, I believe EVERY word on it), I have a bootlegged copy of Clear Lake because mine is on black vinyl. (And I probably was ripped off: I still have the receipt with the record – $25. Ah well. I was young and naive.)

Either way, the EP features four songs from De La’s great Buhloone Mindstate and two extras: Sh.Fe.MC’s and Stix & Stonz, featuring Grandmaster Caz, Tito of the Fearless Four, Whipper Whip, LA Sunshine and Superstar.

Nothing quite brings me back to such a time of music discovery as hearing De La and Tribe together. These guys were IT, the pinnacle. I went crazy for a time in the early-mid 90s, getting my hands on anything I could by these two groups – CD singles, cassette singles (ahem, “cassingles”), 12″ vinyl, anything (even bootlegs, apparently). And it was all far too sentimental to ever get rid of. So to have someone years later ask for it really makes me proud to be the pack rat that I am when it comes to music.

And to think I saw saw them live in 1993 (with Souls of Mischief) really blows me away more than 10 years later. Ah, stories for the grandkids.

De La Soul (feat. A Tribe Called Quest) | Sh.Fe.MC’s

general, hip-hop

The Coup/Mr. Lif bus crash

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Thanks to Soul Sides for pointing this out. The Coup and Mr. Lif, on tour together, were involved in a near-fatal bus crash outside of San Diego. The bus flipped over and burst into flames.

Boots Riley of the Coup is asking fans for help in the form of donations on the group’s MySpace page. I’m trying to put together a possible auction of some goodies to help the effort. More on that soon.

Do yourself a favor and check out some tracks, purchase their albums and help them get back on their feet.

The Coup | My Favorite Mutiny
(From Pick a Bigger Weapon.)

Mr. Lif | Mo’ Mega mixtape (mixed by DJ Big Wiz, also in the crash)
(Buy Mo’ Mega.)

hip-hop

Q-Tip Mix, Side B

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So here’s Side B of the Q-Tip Mix. Get Side A here and the cover art here (thanks to Garrison).

In the interest of time (and bandwidth), I know I’m missing a couple – notably, Jungle Brothers’ Black is Black; Nas’ One Love (produced by Tip, who also sings the chorus); Organized Konfusion’s Let’s Organize (another chorus-only refrain for Tip).

However, on this side, you’ll get a previously unreleased De La Soul track from the A Roller Skating Jam Named Saturdays CD single and a Buddy remix that’s just about as great as the original; ditto for the Scenario remix. And, yeah, that’s Janet Jackson. What of it?

What else am I missing?

Essential Q-Tip Mix, Side B :
7. Janet Jackson (feat. Q-Tip, Joni Mitchell) | Got Til It’s Gone
8. De La Soul (feat. Q-Tip, Phife and others) | Buddy (remix)
9. Del the Funky Homosapien (feat. Q-Tip, Pep Love) | The Undisputed Champs
10. Beastie Boys (feat. Q-Tip) | Get It Together
11. De La Soul (feat. Q-Tip) | What Yo Life Can Truly Be (previously unreleased)
12. A Tribe Called Quest (feat. Leaders of the New School) | Scenario (remix)

Also, check out the Phoenix New Times’ Ear Infection blog, to which I provided my top three hip-hop albums of the year as part of its 2006 Pandemic Poll. Who knows, maybe I’ll even get a list on my own blog of my albums/songs of the year.

hip-hop

Q-Tip Mix, Side A

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(Garrison Reid created this fine artwork.)
About a week ago, Gorilla vs. Bear tried to help the hip-hop impaired (specifically, Skatterbrain) with a “How Can You Not Like Hip-Hop?” mix. It’s a great idea and it got me thinking about ways I can continue to educate on hip-hop.Apropos of nothing, the first idea I thought of was a mix featuring Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest, only my (and whole lots other peoples’) favorite hip-hop group. Back in the day, when I used to trade tapes and mixes on the Hieroglyphics Hoopla message board, one fine gal dubbed me a “Q-Tip Appreciation” mix. I see it as my karmic duty to pass on some of the goods.Now, Q-Tip never will be grouped among the greatest of emcees, but his raspy flow is comfort food for those of us brought up on Low End Theory and Midnight Marauders. (I even found it in my heart to forgive him that ridiculous album cover on his solo debut Amplified. Fur coat? Really?)

In his prime, Tip was all over the place, guesting as a producer and emcee for others; he’s made a bit of a comeback with Tribe’s reunion and a spot on DJ Shadow’s new album (included below). That’s what I’ve tried to compile here – some of his finest cameos.

Twelve tracks. Side A is today. Side B comes tomorrow. This isn’t meant to be all-inclusive, though I think you’ll dig a few of the gems in there (esp. a couple B-sides coming tomorrow).

Essential Q-Tip Mix, Side A:
1. Deee-Lite (feat. Q-Tip) | Groove is in the Heart
2. Mos Def (feat. Q-Tip and Tash) | Body Rock
3. The Roots (feat. Q-Tip) | Ital (The Universal Side)
4. Chemical Brothers (feat. Q-Tip) | Galvanize
5. DJ Shadow (feat. Q-Tip and Lateef) | Enuff
6. Busta Rhymes (feat. Q-Tip) | Ill Vibe

hip-hop

k-os: Sunday Morning

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First off, I don’t even know if k-os’ new album Atlantis: Hymns for Disco is available in the U.S. I’ve looked at the usual spots and can’t find it, other than having to pay exorbitant prices to get it as an import. That means you should buddy up with a Canadian right quick and beg him to get this album and send it to you.

Born in Trinidad and raised in Toronto, k-os (stands for knowledge of self, pronounced like “chaos”) draws from so many styles it’s difficult to absorb at first. He slides in and out of hip-hop, dancehall, reggae, rock. But then, after about two listens, I found myself humming the chorus to Sunday Morning out of the blue, leading me right back to the disc.

The promotional folks want to call this the Crazy of the new year, and they might not be too far off. It’s uplifting, catchy and has a hell of a singable chorus: “Every day is Saturday night, but I can’t wait for Sunday morning.” That theme of daily renewal probably would be corny in the hands of a less talented writer. Here, it’s rewarding and contagious.

Go on. Sing it.

k-os | Sunday Morning

BONUS:
Broken Social Scene (feat. k-os) | Windsurfing Nation

hip-hop, remix

Four Tet: As Serious As Your Life (Jay Dee Remix)

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I’m guessing my man Royce – see him over there under “contributors”? (zing!) – could tell you more about Four Tet than I ever could. Royce is the electronic music brains of this operation. Me? I see Jay Dee’s name and I’ll listen. Hip-hop, y’all. So it’s a beautiful thing when it all comes together.

I’ve actually never heard this song in its original form. In a way, I sort of like that, going in reverse. Listen to the remix first, then the original. So many times I become too enamored with an original that I don’t want it to be rearranged. So here I’ll take the rearranging first and strip away the dynamics of it and absorb the original later.

Jay Dee, whose name you’ll see popping up on year-end lists for Donuts and The Shining, took a walking bass line (or maybe it’s jogging) as a foundation and layers over it with a cooled-out front-porch beat and various vocal elements, including raps from Guilty Simpson.

The Four Tet Remixes album is available through Domino Recording Company.

Four Tet | As Serious As Your Life (Jay Dee Remix)

general

awesome guest blogger post

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Hi, I’m Chris from gorilla vs. bear. So, Kevin is up in Flagstaff for some reason, probably becoming one with nature or whatever those hippies do up there. So I guess I can stop playing with my Wii (get it? ha.) long enough to take over So Much Silence and post some songs that hopefully you guys won’t hate too much.

Kevin asked that I post a photo of men in a bathtub, so here’s Menomena

2007 is almost here, and here are a couple tracks from ’07 releases that, based on these first singles, might be worth seeking out. The Menomena record, out on Barsuk on January 23, 2007, is one of my most anticipated releases of next year, and this single reinforces that. It’ll be the band’s first release on Barsuk.

Menomena Wet and Rusting mp3

**************************

This band the Ponys, however, I knew nothing about. They are Matador Records‘ newest signees, and will release Turn the Lights Out on March 20, 2007. Here’s the infectious first single: The Ponys Double Vision mp3 Edit: Matador doesn’t allow deep-linking. Go here to get the mp3 from their site.

covers, general

Bossa N’ Roses

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I can’t decide if this is going to be one of the lamest things I’ll ever have posted or, possibly, one of the more unique. (Based solely on the cover, I might be inclined to go with the former. Her fingers … they’re smoking! Guns! And there’s roses in the background. Guns and roses!)

Music Broker’s previous “Bossa N” series – Bossa N’ Stones and Bossa N’ Marley – apparently were huge in Europe. I suppose if you can’t stomach Axl in his original form, this is a little easier to digest. I was actually just out at a bar with co-workers over the weekend, and Paradise City came on. I think I’ve heard that song enough for a lifetime – and then some – so I suppose some creative interpretation of the Guns N’ Roses catalog isn’t a bad thing. I sort of feel numb anymore when old GNR songs (circa Appetite for Destruction) come on: They aren’t good, they aren’t bad. They just exist.

This version of November Rain is calm and loungy and not nearly as epic as the original (oh, how I love that video, though). This is good for background, atmosphere-type music. Probably also a good conversation piece among friends. I’m not going to argue whether it’s actually good or not. As the athletes like to say these days, “It is what it is.”

Gheto Blaster Ltd. | November Rain (B&H Version)

Stereogum has two more tracks: Welcome to the Jungle and Paradise City.