All posts by Kevin

general, video

Monday: The Kills at Club Congress (Tucson)

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After seeing Junior Boys on Sunday night at Rhythm Room, we are driving down to Tucson today to see The Kills at Club Congress. (The mini-marathon of concerts continues Tuesday night with The Gaslight Anthem at the Clubhouse in Tempe.)

I saw The Kills last year on their first trip out in support of Midnight Boom, a show that quashed some of my skepticism about using a laptop as a drummer. Though I still insist it probably restricts some creative impulses, Alison “VV” Mosshart has enough verve to make up for it.

Check out the video for U.R.A. Fever, one of my favorite songs of last year.

arizona, video

Phoenix’s Miniature Tigers on Daytrotter

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I had been checking Daytrotter religiously since I found out about a month ago that Miniature Tigers swung by the studio for a session.

Wouldn’t you know: The one day I don’t check, it’s posted. Thanks to Ashley for the heads up.

The Mini T’s played four songs, including two from the excellent Tell It to the Volcano (Dino Damage and the title track) and two unreleased tracks (Egyptian Robe and Dark Tower).

Go check it out.

Here’s their video for Cannibal Queen, which was not performed at Daytrotter:

RELATED:
Guest list: Charlie Brand of Miniature Tigers

hip-hop

Incoming: Mr. Lif, April 29

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Other than, say, Chuck D, the Coup’s Boots Riley or El-P, is there another rapper more equipped to provide commentary in these uncertain times than Mr. Lif?

The Boston-based MC returns this year with a new full-length, I Heard it Today, which is out now on iTunes, a week ahead of its actual release on his own Bloodbot Tactical Enterprises imprint.

In support of the album, Lif will be at Chaser’s in Scottsdale on April 29. Tickets are $12 for the show, which also features Grieves and Willie Evans Jr., one of a few producers who lends his talents to the new album (also, Headnodic, Edan, J Zone and more).

I’m not sure who produced The Sun, the lead single, but there’s certainly an uplifting vibe to it, as Lif puts fellow rappers on notice: “MCs will be the vessel as long as they don’t aim the minds of our youth toward material gains.”

covers, general, hip-hop

El Michels Affair cover Wu-Tang’s Bring Da Ruckus

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Last year I posted a video of retro-soul instrumental group El Michels Affair performing Da Mystery of Chessboxin’ with Wu-Tang Clan.

The group has returned this year, prepping for next week’s release of Enter the 37th Chamber, an album in which El Michels Affair interprets 15 well-known Wu-Tang songs. You can see the tracklisting and order the CD at Fat Beats.

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Incoming: John Vanderslice, June 28

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Great news: John Vanderslice is returning to Modified Arts on June 28 (via Stateside Presents). When we last saw JV at Modified in 2007, he was ordering pizza and taking a collection from the crowd for the delivery man, who walked out with at least a tip in excess of $100. He also played Nikki Oh Nikki outside in the parking lot with St. Vincent, which was, without a doubt, one of my greatest moments at Modified (or any show, for that matter).

This year’s show will come in support of his May 19 release Romanian Names, his first for the Dead Oceans label. No opener has been announced yet. Tickets are $12, and I might add, worth every penny. If memory serves, he and his band played for at least two hours and something like 20 songs. So long as Time Travel is Lonely remains in the set list, I’ll be a happy fella.

RELATED:
John Vanderslice/Magik*Magik Orchestra rehearsal
John Vanderslice: Time Travel is Lonely (with Spoon)

general

Incoming: The Album Leaf, July 22

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While Jimmy LaValle has kept busy as a member of the newish Adam Franklin/Sam Fogarino band Magnetic Morning, he appears ready to unleash a new record by The Album Leaf.

According to a MySpace blog post from December, a follow-up to 2006’s Into the Blue Again should hit our ears by fall 2009.

“We are going back to Bear Creek Studios to record our next record in February!! Sub Pop Records will again release it and it should be out Fall of 2009!! We’re excited and you should be to!! It will be the first record recorded with the full live band (everyone you’ve seen playing live since 2003) and not just Jimmy.”

It’s probably a safe bet to assume that Jimmy & Co. will be trotting out new material when they play July 22 at the 200-seat Farnsworth Studio Theater at Mesa Arts Center. Tickets ($15 plus venue fees) are on sale now.

I’ve not been inside this particular theater at Mesa Arts Center, but at 200-seat capacity, this has a chance to be a spectacularly intimate/exclusive sort of event (I see only four tour dates listed for The Album Leaf).

P.S. I’d like it noted that I made it through a post about The Album Leaf without using the term “soundscape.”

general, hip-hop, samples

Serge Gainsbourg as sampled by The Beatnuts

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The Light in the Attic reissue of Serge Gainsbourg’s Histoire de Melody Nelson has garnered some heady praise, including a 10.0 and Best New (Old?) Music status from Pitchfork.

I don’t claim to be at all familiar with Gainsbourg’s work, but when I listened to the album, the opening bass line to the first song, En Melody, was instantly recognizable: The Beatnuts, the criminally overlooked New York-based trio (now duo), sampled it on Superbad, which appears on their 1994 full-length debut Street Level.

The Beatnuts push the tempo on the sample, turning the provocative mood of the original into the perfect low-end foundation for one of the best tracks on Street Level (and possibly The Beatnuts’ catalog).

general, video

Loney Dear on Daytrotter

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I’m sort of ashamed to admit that we didn’t make it in time for Loney Dear’s set when Emil Svanangen and his band opened for Andrew Bird on Feb. 14 in Tucson.

We caught a couple songs and I’ve since downloaded the 2009 release Dear John on Polyvinyl (get it at eMusic).

Svanangen recently recorded a Daytrotter session and it includes one of the Dear John standouts, I Was Only Going Out, a slow-building, layered bit of goodness with some expert whistling (no wonder Andrew Bird likes him).

Video for Airport Surroundings, the first song off Dear John:

general

Review: The Hold Steady, “A Positive Rage”

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Jason Woodbury returns! He’ll keep writing as long as I keep promising him beer. His band, Hands on Fire, opens the Vivian Girls/Ariel Pink show on Monday at Modified. You should go.

Live albums are a tricky thing. All my favorites are either very genre specific (Donny Hathaway Live, Sam Cooke at the Copa, Otis Redding – Live in Europe), or so studio doctored they they don’t really count. Needless to say, live albums so rarely live up to their expectation: to deliver in recorded form the energy and spirit of a live show.

The Hold Steady has a reputation as being a stellar live act, and they are. I first saw them in 2005 at Modified Arts not long after they’d released my favorite album of theirs, Separation Sunday. Guitarist Tad Kubler dropped his brand new Les Paul, and singer/dynamo Craig Finn showered everyone up front with saliva. The show was incredible, and each subsequent show I’ve seen of theirs (in bigger and bigger venues) has been, too.

Vagrant Records has just released A Positive Rage, the Steady’s first live album, documenting their successful jaunt hot off the release of their critically lauded Boys and Girls in America. The album is fine, but, as often is the nature of the beast, fails to encapsulate what makes the band such a joyful presence live. However, it’s especially nice to hear the band rock some oldies from their early days (Barfruit Blues) and one of their best songs, Ask Her for Adderall, which inexplicably got relegated to bonus-track status on their 2008 record Stay Positive. The album comes packed with great liner notes by Finn and includes an enjoyable, if totally congratulatory, DVD documenting the tour. It’s certainly a blast for Hold Steady fans, and might serve as a nice introduction to their live show, but the only way to really experience these guys is to go out to a gig, get sloppy drunk and sing a long like you’re in church.

– Jason P. Woodbury