All posts by Kevin

vinyl

Sound test: need your input

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Today I have a blind taste test for you. I’m trying to perfect (or at least improve) my vinyl-to-mp3 conversions. To do so, I have to use an external sound card because my Mac lacks a line-in port.

I have been using the Griffin iMic. But my boy Royce has turned me on to the M-Audio line, especially this bad boy. The price difference is extreme, but I think it probably parallels the sound difference, too.

This is where you, my loyal reader, comes in. I converted two tracks twice apiece — using the iMic for one and the M-Audio for the other. Would you be so kind as to sample both tracks and leave a reply as to which sounds better? You get something out of this. For starters, a pretty f-ing cool Jungle Bros. B-side from a 1989 45 for Beyond This World. And you’ll get high-quality vinyl tracks delivered to you in mp3 format in the future.

Just vote No. 1 or 2 for each test. Or perhaps you can’t tell the difference. Any comments would be appreciated.

Thanks!

1.) Flaming Lips | She Don’t Use Jelly (from 45 single)
2.) Flaming Lips | She Don’t Use Jelly

1.) Jungle Bros. | Promo No. 2 (Mind Review ’89)
2.) Jungle Bros. | Promo No. 2 (Mind Review ’89)

hip-hop

Tajai and SupremeEx: Nuntype

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You know what I love about the Hieroglyphics crew? They’re always doing something new, even if it is hard to keep up with it all the time.

That brings me to Nuntype, the collaborative full-length project between Tajai (of Souls of Mischief) and Philadelphia producer SupremeEx that will drop on Oct. 25 (Rumble Pack Records). The pair released an EP, Projecto: 2501, in 1999.

Nuntype seems to have a futuristic concept (perhaps in the vein of Deltron) that also focuses on artwork and visual storytelling. If you ask me, Tajai has become one of the Hiero’s most stellar and versatile emcees, so I’m looking forward to this release.

Tajai and SupremeEx | Formless
Tajai | Do It (from his solo record Power Movement)

general

Chris Walla’s Hall of Justice

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My wife and I just finished watching the Death Cab for Cutie DVD Drive Well, Sleep Carefully. It was good: lots of interviews and great live footage. We have yet to tackle the bonus material, which includes an acoustic set.

A small part of the doc showed Death Cab guitarist Chris Walla at his Hall of Justice recording studio in Seattle, where he recently recorded and produced Nada Surf’s The Weight is a Gift, among others.

Walla blogs on his Hall site and has a few mp3s stashed there as well, including two he just posted on Tuesday. One is The Rhone Occupation, a “superhereo theme song” in honor of Nada Surf. Pretty funny stuff.

He also keeps a MySpace page.

Chris Walla | The Rhone Occupation
Chris Walla | Note to Self

vinyl

The Black Keys: vinyl only track

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Patrick Carney kills it at ACL.
If Chris, Dodge or I didn’t get our point across from our ACL reviews, let me say it again: The Black Keys are g-damn ridiculously cool. I’ve spent a lot of time with Rubber Factory after we were lucky enough to see them twice in three days in Austin.

Even better, I found their album The Big Come Up on white vinyl a couple of months ago in Los Angeles. The record includes a “vinyl only” track, No Fun (which I believe later has popped up on a CD single for The Moan).

Since the glow of ACL hasn’t worn off yet, I converted this track into an mp3 for your listening enjoyment.

The Black Keys | No Fun
The Black Keys | Heavy Soul (alternate version)

arizona

Secret Life of Painters

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Secret Life of Painters is a Phoenix-based band that has essentially been together for five years, and has stockpiled enough songs that the guys have their first two full-length albums already mapped out. Impressive.

The group — John Hofmann (vocals, guitar), Aaron Kiley (guitar), Dan Cortez (bass), Matt Castleberry (drums) — released The Sound of Your Chains EP in April, which drew a positive response from the weekly alt-newspaper New Times:

“I like these lo-fi revisits and impressionistic word jumbles, like Guy Bowcock’s Second Coat and Fast Black Rats, the closest thing here to a radio-friendly cut (well, “Redefine your acronym,climb into your bastard skin” is shower singing, anyway).”

A 7-inch single is due shortly, and the guys are wrapping up recording a full-length debut, Careers in Poverty. You can find demos from Careers and even some material from their older bands here. Quite generous they are with mp3s.

What about the name, you ask? Well, Hofmann and Kiley were, in fact, house painters,but they never let on to their co-workers they played in rock band. Hence, Secret Life of Painters. They’ve given up the trade, but the name remains the same.

Secret Life of Painters | Hold Your Flashlight
Secret Life of Painters | Magnets and Energy
Secret Life of Painters | Fast Black Rats (this comes with my highest recommendation)

Also on the Phoenix front, sourceVictoria has posted a couple mixes of new tracks — The Fast Escape and Heartless Boy — for a forthcoming LP at their MySpace page. Be sure to check them out.

hip-hop

The Coup: new track

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Spine Magazine hooks us up again. This time, it’s a new cut from the Coup called My Favorite Mutiny, featuring Black Thought of the Roots and Talib Kweli. I love this track, especially the piano loop. But — and I may take some heat for this — I’m not a huge fan of Talib Kweli. Not sure how to describe it. I’ve tried to like him, I just don’t. Oh well.

The Coup | My Favorite Mutiny
The Coup | The Shipment (from the classic Steal this Album)

covers

Kaiser Chiefs cover Marvin Gaye

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Ricky Wilson at ACL.
I used the weekend to catch up on my KCRW podcasts. If you don’t subscribe to any of these, I highly recommend you rectify that. In particular, Nic Harcourt and BBC’s Steve Lamacq’s Music Exchange podcast.

That’s how I heard about the War Child benefit CD Help. War Child, as its name suggests, benefits children affected by war. The CD appears to be available only in the UK at this point. (Anybody in the UK wanna hook a guy up?) The CD (22 songs) includes tracks (most new, I believe) by Radiohead, Elbow, Gorillaz, Damien Rice, Bloc Party, The Manic Street Preachers and the Kaiser Chiefs, who cover Marvin Gaye’s I Heard it Through the Grapevine.

The Music Exchange podcast played the Kaiser Chiefs track in two parts. So, using Audacity, I cut and pasted the two parts together to make an mp3; it’s choppy only in one part (where I had to paste the two parts together). Regardless, it’s a pretty cool cover, and I’d be really eager to buy this CD if it were available in the U.S.

Kaiser Chiefs | I Heard it Through the Grapevine

hip-hop

Digable Planets: Best of CD

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More news on the Digable Planets front: The group will release a best of album on Tuesday, Beyond the Spectrum: The Creamy Spies Chronicles on Blue Note Records. The album includes some remixes and a previously unreleased track. Buy it here.

After a reunion tour this summer, the trio is back out on the road this fall.

A couple tracks from Creamy Spies:

Digable Planets | Dedication (converted from 12″ 9th Wonder single)
Digable Planets | 3 Slim’s Dynamite (stream recorded from Giant Step jukebox)

arizona, hip-hop

DJ Radar’s Concerto for Turntable

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I’ve talked up Z-Trip quite a bit on this site, but now I’m shifting gears (pun intended) for a post on his former Bombshelter DJs mate Radar.

If you live in the New York area, Radar is providing a special treat on Sunday. He’s performing his Concerto for Turntable, a three-movement concerto that features the turntable as the centerpiece instrument alongside sixty collegiate classical musicians. Oh, did I mention the performance is taking place at Carnegie Hall? Buy your tickets here.

Radar is like a mad scientist on the turntable. He developed a system called “scratch notation,” which, according to the concerto site, documents all of the scratching techniques that can be performed on a turntable and translates them into Western musical notation.

Watching Radar live is pretty amazing. He was the turntable technician of the Bombshelter crew. Having seen the Bombshelter boys on a regular basis back in the day, I dare say his scratching is unmatched by any of his peers. His dexterity is absurd, and his fingers move with wild precision.

I wouldn’t pass the chance to see this event.

DJ Radar | Radar Frees Tibet (Gasho mix)
DJ Radar presents Four Hand Stroke | Antimatter

general

David Garza

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I’m having issues with Blogger uploading my final ACL photos. So, I’ll just scrap that and send you to Dodge for photos. Be sure to check out Kaiser Chiefs pics; they rocked. And, hey, if you were kind enough to pocket one of my cards at ACL and not toss it on the ground, I thank you.

In the meantime, my trip to Austin got me listening to David Garza all over again. I’m not really sure what happened to him after he released Overdub on Atlantic; I know he released a four-disc set A Strange Mess of Flowers. But I got pumped when he made a cameo with Hairy Apes BMX at ACL. So I checked his Web site and he’s offering a download of a five-song EP Chuy Chuy Yall.

Check the EP, but This Euphoria is a great introduction to Dah-veed.

David Garza | She’s My Ocean
David Garza | Float Away (from This Euphoria)