All posts by Kevin

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

I Used to Love H.E.R.: Max Tundra

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The 43nd 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 and songs, comes from English multi-instrumentalist/producer Max Tundra (born Ben Jacobs), who opened for Junior Boys in Phoenix back in April in support of his 2008 release Parallax Error Beheads You (Domino). While he admitted he wasn’t much of a hip-hop die-hard, he expressed an affinity for one particular song and its Spike Jonze-directed video.

The Pharcyde, “Drop”
(off Labcabincalifornia, Delicious Vinyl, 1995)

“The video for this used to come on MTV when I was working a nightshift at a shitty post-production company which has since gone out of business. At the end of a long day making coffees and teas for unappreciative clients in the edit suites, it was a pleasure to see these goofballs messing around backwards, splashing around town with their trousers falling down. The song itself is phenomenal – one of the most eery, mesmerising, wordy slaps round the face of me at the time. I haven’t followed much of hip-hop before or since, but this edgy track got under my skin for good, and infuses what I do, to this very day. Hey.”

general, hip-hop

Incoming: The Cool Kids, Aug. 14 (?)

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I haven’t found any information on this show other than a listing by a our friends at Silver Platter, but if it’s true, The Cool Kids (assuming we aren’t talking about another group with the same name) are booked for the Clubhouse in Tempe on Aug. 14. That would be about nine months since they played Marquee Theatre with Q-Tip and the Knux as part of the 2K Sports Bounce Tour.

There’s still no release date for the Kids’ debut LP, When Fish Ride Bicycles, but it’s supposed to perhaps/possibly/maybe come out this year. I’m not holding my breath.

In the meantime, they released the free mixtape Gone Fishing, featuring Don Cannon, whose name is blasted ad nauseam throughout the mix.

Related:
The Cool Kids: Pennies (video)
The Cool Kids: Gold and a Pager (live in Atlanta)
The Cool Kids: 2K Pennies
The Cool Kids: Delivery Man (9th Wonder remix)

general, video

Phoenix: Live on The Interface

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Some friends have been posting favorite albums of the half-year, and if I had to pick, I’d say Phoenix’s Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is floating near the top for me (along with Mos Def’s The Ecstatic, Neko Case’s Middle Cyclone and Jason Lytle’s Yours Truly, The Commuter).

Phoenix stopped by to record a session for The Interface – sans drummer, though his importance to the band cannot be overstated … for example. Sorry, a canned drum beat sucks all the vital energy out of what makes this album great. And is it just me or does singer Thomas Mars always look a little out of it while he performs?

Lisztomania:

1901:

general, video

The Gaslight Anthem + The Boss: The ’59 Sound

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A friend posted this performance from Glastonbury up on Facebook and correctly points out that Bruce butchers the chorus by singing, “Did you hear the old gospel song” and not “old gospel choir.” But it seems like by the end of the song, Gaslight frontman Brian Fallon is saying “song,” too. So influential is The Boss that he’s making bands change lyrics mid-song. You do not question The Boss when he’s wearing aviator sunglasses.

Still, pretty fucking cool.

(Thanks, Luke.)

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Best Coast: The Sun Was High (So Was I)

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If I didn’t like contributor Jason Woodbury so much then I might have killed him for not telling me he was going to mention Wavves. Just this once.

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OK, so while the whole mess of “Psychedelic Horseshit on Wavves plus Black Lips on Wavves plus Wavves on Wavves” is starting to feel pretty overcooked, it’s undeniable that in the wake of the Pitchfork-stoked hype fire of Wavves and Vivian Girls, people have rightly been asking if substandard tunes covered in tape hiss and fuzz deserve to lauded as “Best New Music.” Bands given the “lo-fi” tag run the gamut from the remarkable (Ganglians, Woods and Crystal Slits) to underwhelming (No Age, the aforementioned offenders), linked less by their songwriting than by their aural presentation.

L.A.’s Best Coast certainly run the risk of being lumped into the whole thing. The signifiers certainly do little to distance the project from the glut of like-minded acts: the blown-out drums, scuzzy guitars, and, of course, plenty of hiss, as well as gigs at L.A.’s ubiquitous The Smell. But Best Coast, current project of ex-Pocahaunted (“the Olsen Twins of Drone”) member Bethany Cosentino, breaks from the herd with a liberal dose of pure pop at her side. Best Coast hasn’t actually released anything, but the songs on the MySpace go a long way in cultivating anticipation for her upcoming 7-inch on Art Fag Recordings. All six tracks hosted are the kind of breezy, gentle power-pop that is tailor made for beach listening, at once wistful, engaging and elemental. And her fan base (cult?) is a quick-moving one. Standout track The Sun Was High (So Was I) is weeks old but has not one, but two excellent fan-made videos making the inter-tube rounds. Scuzzy and “lo-fi” for sure, but most importantly, awesome jams.

Previous posts by Jason:
Kissing Cousins: Pillar of Salt
Review: The Hold Steady, A Positive Rage
Anni Rossi, Modified, 2/9/09
Stephen Steinbrink: Ugly Unknowns
Obi Best/Towncraft, Modified, 1/22/09

general

Kissing Cousins: Pillar of Salt

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Contributor Jason Woodbury – he of Hands on Fire and Cardiac Party – returns to discuss a Richard Swift-produced project.

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A couple months ago, I had the extreme good fortune of catching the fantastic Richard “Dickie” Swift in Tucson, opening for Jason Lytle at a pre-SxSW gig. Swift and the boys put on a stellar show (though they outdid themselves a couple weeks later at Modified. After the show, we chatted and he informed me that he had just finished up producing and recording a record by a band called Kissing Cousins. He described the record as the Shangri-Las-meets-Black Sabbath. I was instantly curious.

Thanks to the good folks at Velvet Blue Music, my curiosity has been sated, and well rewarded. Recorded straight to tape using a Tascam 8-track purchased from Jeff Tweedy of Wico, Pillar of Salt makes good on Swift’s description, with fuzzy riffs smoldering under girl group vocals and reverb heavy tambourines, while lithe flutes drift overhead, recalling the dark psychedelic approach of Black Mountain.

The sinister vibe suits the girls well, as singer/songwriter Heather B. Heywood wraps her tales of snake handlers and being “slain in the spirit” – nods to her charismatic Pentecostal upbringing – in plenty of sultry swagger, somehow making Judgement Day sound impossibly sexy. First in the Fire marches with ominous, thundering percussion, while Red Lamb employs shoegaze guitars and a soulful, Berry Gordy approved melody. The record ends with a devastating double shot, Don’t Look Back, featuring a finger-wagging, spoken bit that simultaneously sounds like a benediction and slow dance request, and the instrumental Snake Handler (Part II) closes the record with a graceful note of redemption.

With any lucky, the girls will tour a bit more in support of Pillar of Salt. The drive from Silver Lake to Phoenix isn’t that bad, and this stuff begs to be heard live.

You can pick up Pillar of Salt directly from Velvet Blue Music.

Previous posts by Jason:
Review: The Hold Steady, A Positive Rage
Anni Rossi, Modified, 2/9/09
Stephen Steinbrink: Ugly Unknowns
Obi Best/Towncraft, Modified, 1/22/09

general, video

Phoenix on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic

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Phoenix stopped by KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic on Monday for a set, and I’m so glad the band didn’t resort to an acoustic set. I don’t ever wanna hear 1901 in acoustic form again; it just doesn’t do the song justice.

And I’ll agree with Casey that Lisztomania is quickly rising as one of the year’s best songs. No surprise it’s the first song Phoenix plays here, but they immediately follow it up with older tracks Long Distance Call and Consolation Prizes. (And, yes, three years qualifies as “older.”)

hip-hop, remix, samples

A few hip-hop tracks that sampled Michael Jackson

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By now, you’ve probably had all the Michael Jackson tributes you can handle. (This is probably the first place you should have turned to for that.) Anyway, I’m not one to weep over the death of a celebrity – one of the strangest phenomenons to me (especially after watching events unfold on Twitter).

That’s not to say Jackson didn’t influence my listening habits. Of course he did. I can remember playing my brother’s vinyl copy of Thriller and friends dressing as Jackson for Halloween when I was younger.

But in many ways, hip-hop offers the best kind of tribute through the art of sampling. It’s a tangible form of gratitude and recognition of inspiration. And while I’m sure there are dozens and probably hundreds of others that I don’t have or haven’t heard, here’s just a few hip-hop tracks from my library that sample Jackson, with Nas’ It Ain’t Hard to Tell my favorite.